Book Description
Reyner Banham (1922-88) was one of the most influential writers on architecture, design, and popular culture from the mid-1950s to the late 1980s. Trained in mechanical engineering and art history, he was convinced that technology was making society not only more exciting but more democratic. His combination of academic rigor and pop culture sensibility put him in opposition to both traditionalists and orthodox Modernists, but placed him in a unique position to understand the cultural, social, and political implications of the visual arts in the postwar period. His first book, Theory and Design in the First Machine Age (still in print with The MIT Press after forty years), was central to the overhaul of Modernism, and it gave Futurism and Expressionism credibility amid the dynamism and change of the 1960s.
This intellectual biography is the first comprehensive critical examination of Banham’s theories and ideas, not only on architecture but also on the wide variety of subjects that interested him. It covers the full range of his oeuvre and discusses the values, enthusiasms, and influences that formed his thinking.
Amazon.com
For a smart young black woman from the South Bronx carving a niche for herself as a writer, the f-word was feminism. Joan Morgan's book debut, When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost, is a passionate, funny--and occasionally self-indulgent--look at the contradictions inherent in being both a strong woman and an African American sister attempting to process the machismo of the hip-hop world through the perceptions of her own strongly feminine soul. "As post-Civil Rights, post-feminist, post-soul children of hip-hop," Morgan writes, "we have a dire need for the truth." Her book chronicles the quest to fulfill that need through a series of essays ranging from social issues like the blatant misogyny of rap music ("From Fly-girls to Bitches and Hos"), the mythic stereotype of the strong black woman ("Strongblackwomen"), and the epidemic of single motherhood in the black community ("Babymother") to wickedly witty takes on her own life ("Lovenotes," "Chickenhead Envy").
Morgan is gifted with that rarest of all talents: her own voice. Her language is vivid and imagistic, its rhythms dipping effortlessly between the beat of the street and the meter of pure poetry. In this look at hood versus womanhood, Morgan serves up many of the same conclusions that sociologists have offered in drier, more academic form--but brings them to life with the freshness of her literary talent. --Patrizia DiLucchio
Book Description
In this fresh, funky, and irreverent book, a new voice of the post-Civil Rights, post-feminist, post-soul generation has emerged in Joan Morgan: a groundbreaking and unflinching author who probes the complex issues facing African-American women today.
When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost is a decidedly intimate look into the life of the modern black woman: a complex world where feminists often have not-so-clandestine affairs with the most sexist of men; where women who treasure their independence often prefer men who pick up the tab; where the deluge of babymothers and babyfathers reminds black women, who long for marriage, that traditional nuclear families are a reality for less than 40 percent of the African-American population; and where black women are forced to make sense of a world where "truth is no longer black and white but subtle, intriguing shades of gray."
Morgan ushers in a voice that, like hip-hop -- the cultural movement that defines her generation -- samples and layers many voices, and injects its sensibilities into the old and flips it into something new, provocative, and powerful.
Customer Reviews:
Is she serious?.......2002-11-04
As a strong black woman and proud of it I didn't understand Ms.Morgan's definition of a strong black woman so I didn't see eye to eye with her on that point. Overall I struggled to read through this book I wasn't feeling a lot of what Ms.Morgan had to say and plus I thought the book would be written in a more story telling type of fashion. The book is written as just Ms.Morgan rambling on about her opinions and ideals. I give a sista props for her opinions and being able to share them with an audience but I didn't understand her hatin' on "chickenheads" in one breath then wanna talk about her bond with sistahood in the next. She sound hypocritical to me. Ms.Morgan went on and on putting the "chickenheads" on blast for their sopposed wrongdoing but didn't say a word about the brothers that fall for these type of women I don't get that! I personally couldn't hate on a sista for doing her thing I don't want to hate on another woman period I feel that's the reason why us women can't and won't get far because we want to tear each other down before anybody else. I'm sure Ms.Morgan is an educated,opinioned,strong,classy woman but in her book she just comes off as hateful and bitter.
Ms. Morgan did fine job dissecting 'Chickenheads'!!!.......2001-07-08
I have say that I was pleasantly surprised by Ms. Morgan's discussion of issues that have been rolling through my mind for the past couple of years. I could identify IMMENSELY with the STRONGBLACKWOMAN ideology. I guess you could say that I'm a STRONGBBLACKWOMAN type myself. I would say that I'm recovering, but it's really hard to do so when you're in college, holding an excellent GPA, and being a part of so many different ogranizations. It's just SO hard to say no!!! LOL
As far as the rest of this masterpiece of feminine literature goes, I have to say that there were certain parts that I disagreed with. I was kinda hurt when she down talked African-American peeps from middle class backgrounds...I mean, why did she work so hard to have a good income to take care of her son if middle class peeps "don't wanna be reminded of their kinky roots"? Just something to think about...maybe I took it the wrong way, but that's just the way I see things.
Secondly, I have to say that I in NO WAY envy Chickenheads...in fact, I'm glad that they're around to take all the weak men who fall for them off the market. One thing I can't stand is a man that's weak enough to fall for anything that has a big behind and a C cup!!! I want a strong, intelligent man that can appreciate a woman with class, home training, a solid head on her shoulders, and plenty of goals with the ambition to follow through on them like myself!!!
I guess this book was a wake up call for me to write my own view on things. I come from a middle class home, unlike most African-American feminists that come from very poor backgrounds. I feel my voice needs to be heard and you can believe that I WILL put the work into writing a novel that speaks from the standpoint of sistas like myself!!! Good work Ms. Morgan!!! Thanks for encouraging me to keep perfecting my craft!!!
Amen!.......2001-01-18
I could not put this book down. The book articulated thechallenges I felt in my own relationships and experiences. I certainly enjoyed the chapter "Love Notes". The author by no means male bashes but frankly puts out there the real deal.
The book just had me saying AMEN!
So That's a Chickenhead.......2000-06-13
Being caught at the tail end of the Baby Boom, I'd say that this book is really written from the viewpoint of young women a few years younger than I am. Still, it is reminiscent of Michelle Wallace's "Black Macho and The Myth of The Superwoman" which debuted some 20 odd years or so ago. Being a strong willed, independent Black woman is still as hard today as it was 20 years ago and I am glad that there are still fierce sistah's out there willing to address the issues at hand.
Great view on a never vanishing topic from a new voice and new perspective !
When chickenheads come home to roost.......2000-02-18
This is a must read for the black feminist who doens't quite get the "N.O.W." viewpoint on feminism. Joan Morgan puts into words the conflicting feeling and emotions of being black, female, and a feminist from the generation X-ers viewpoint, using language that is easily related to. She doesn't sink down into dense theory that could be exclusionary in language and nature. Theory that can leave one feeling as if they should have taken a beginners course before attempting to delve into the mind bogling, high handed concepts. She maintains her focus and is concise as well as insightful. Most feminist theory tends to be a turn off since a lot of such material is geared towards a limited, elitist audience who leaves black feminist and other of an outside group feeling even more like an outsider because they don't address the differning issues and concerns that pertain especially to woman of color. Moreover, this is a book that should not only be read by black woman but by latina's as well. As a black female of latin descent I fould myself relating to almost every word. A must have. A must read.
Book Description
A new voice of the hip-hop generation speaks out about the reality of being a black woman in America today.
In this fresh, funky, and ferociously honest book, award-winning journalist Joan Morgan bravely probes the complex issues facing African-American women in today's world: a world where feminists often have not-so-clandestine affairs with the most sexist of men; where women who treasure their independence often prefer men who pick up the tab; and where the deluge of babymothers and babyfathers reminds black women who long for marriage that traditional nuclear families are a reality for less than 40 percent of the African-American population.
Customer Reviews:
Understanding Chickenhead Speak.......2007-03-29
This book is a must for any 'older schooled' hip hop female heads worldwide. Morgan has a wonderful street/hip hop rhetoric that speaks to women who have a love for this thing called hip hop and life. Ladies pay attention to her words! She is rough, rugged raw and honest. Mama's, try this book out on your daughters, you may need to read it with them or break Morgans pearls of wisdom down for them as their heads bob in and out of the book either agreeing, disagreeing or shooting looks of confusion. She hits the chicken head directly on the head, there is a little bit of chicken head in every women, depending on how you define chicken head and your own personal beliefs pertaining to the f word.
THIS IS A MUST READ FOR ALL BLACK WOMEN .......2006-07-12
This book effortlessly addresses the many issues that have infiltrated the minds of black women in the hip hop culture...Products of absentee fathers, failed relationships, and questionable loyalty to our black men...Jane Morgan gives it to you straight with no chaser, not afraid to share her own experiences to let her audience know that she is not just an observer of the conflicting issues that leave many successful black women wondering "what the hell is wrong with me", but allows her experience to serve as a reference to the countless women like myself who seldom feel alone in their thoughts, their struggles and their quest to balance their independence in the face of sexism that has plagued the hip hop culture. Salut to Joan Morgan!!!!
Leslie's "Chickenhead" Review.......2006-03-04
I believe this book is recommended reading for anyone who loves Hip Hope and/or anyone who questions and/or struggles with the place of Black women in this mordern Hip Hop age, while staying true to Black Feminist thoughts. I found myself agreeing with Morgan, but mostly enjoying her fun and playful writing.
It's like this book was written just for me!.......2006-02-06
I like this book in that the author, Joan Morgan, does not try to act like her book has all the answers for everything. Instead, she just tries to offer her view and let you take what you can from it.
First she explores how feminism has traditionally been interpreted in Black culture, and how this limiting definition has evolved in the 21st century, especially as it relates to being a part of the hip-hop culture. She also explores how the history has influenced the current relations between black men and women, and their evolution into the strongblackwoman and endangeredblackman stereotypes. Joan also talks about the animosity between "chickenheads" and strongblackwomen, and encourages women to really be themselves.
I especially like how Joan explores the relationship between black women and their fathers. She provides a unique insight and solution for this dilemma.
This book is a timely message for "strong" black women who are looking for a way to absolve thier independence with their innate feminism.
Incisive and brutally honest.......2005-09-18
Joan Morgan's book is essential reading for anyone who wants to appreciate the Black woman in the age of hip hop. Not only does she talk about the 'bitch' and the 'ho' but she also talks about the dilemma of the 'strong black woman'. This SBW persona is something that's thrust upon us and most times it's like an albatross around your neck.
All young Black women should read this book because it gives us the validation we need in a world where validating the Black woman isn't something you see very often.
Book Description
When she was seven, Rachel Manija Browns parents, post-60s hippies, uprooted her from her native California and moved to an ashram in a cobra-ridden, drought-stricken spot in India. Cavorting through these pages are some wonderfully eccentric characters: the ashram head, Meher Baba, best known as the guru to Pete Townshend of The Who; the librarian, who grunts and howls nightly outside Rachels window; a holy madman, who shuffles about collecting invisible objects; a middle-aged male virgin, who begs Rachel to critique his epic spiritual poems; and a delusional Russian who arrives at the ashram proclaiming he is Meher Baba reincarnated. Astutely observed and laugh-out-loud funny, this astonishing debut memoirnow available in paperbacksignals the arrival of a major new literary talent. The hardcover edition was named a Book Sense Pick and was selected as aBook of the Week by BN.coms Book Club.
Customer Reviews:
Yes, we know you're intelligent. .......2007-07-08
I hate to disagree with my Fellow Readers, but I found this to be an insufferable diatribe about how intelligent the author is. Yes, we know she was an early reader. Yes, we know she had a terrific vocabulary by the age of 7. I was so tired of hearing how bright this child was that I found it hard to finish the book. As an American Educator, I found her mother's quote insulting as well; "American schools don't know how to deal with kids as bright as you are." Give me a break; we are trained to enrich as we are trained to remediate~her experience shouldn't be fodder for such an unfair generalization. Maybe she should have elected to edit her mother's comment or leave it out altogether. At any rate, I have better things to do with my summer vacation than finish this essay. I did enjoy some of the snippets into Indian and ashram life so if you can get by this author's attempt to hit you over the head with her brilliance, it may be worth your while.
A Very Bitter Person.......2007-03-29
I heard about this book from a friend and read it out of curiosity. Brown really has a way with words and a gift for evocative description. However, from the very first, I was struck by her deep-seated resentment and bitterness, and the impression that as a child she wasn't much fun to be around. Although Brown tries to be funny, I find it hard to forget that she is vilifying real flesh-and-blood human beings, not her own imaginary characters. True, she changes their names, but I doubt this makes them hard to recognize by the people who know (or knew) them.
This is not a story, but a series of episodes that are linked together by Brown's need to condemn her parents for taking her to India to live in an ashram with a collection of oddball spiritual seekers. When it comes to plot in the Aristotelian sense, there is no "there" there.
In this work, Brown is critical and derisive towards everyone, while portraying herself as a special, heroic, and misunderstood victim. Reading between the lines, she needs to rationalize her own bratty and hostile behavior towards everyone around her except, I think, one kid named Walter. I can understand a child being self-centered, and utterly devoid of compassion or tolerance, but it's hard to understand these traits in an adult looking back on her life.
Given what's happening in today's world, I was especially disappointed by Brown's gross insensitivity to the principles of religious tolerance. I'm not a religious person myself, but I respect the beliefs of others, and especially their Constitutional right to religious freedom in America. There may be abusive nuns and priests, but that doesn't give anyone the right to abuse a religion that encompasses millions of sincere Catholics. It's just plain wrong to make fun of people -- even those who follow the teachings of an obscure Indian guru -- based on their religious or spiritual convictions.
In addition, I was quite disturbed by Brown's veiled implication that one of Meher Baba's disciples touched her with sexual intentions. If the disciple touched Mani inappropriately, then this is a very serious charge that should be addressed by her parents and the entire Meher Baba community. If he didn't touch her inappropriately, then it's very wrong of Brown to make this implication. Brown is honest to the point of cruelty throughout the book, so why the sudden coy ambiguity surrounding such a serious issue?
This book was not a page-turner for me, but I kept hoping for the kind of insight that often arrives to people who make an inquiry into their own lives and behavior through the medium of writing. I'm very sorry for the suffering that Brown went through as a child and hope that writing and publishing this book was a way for her to find personal healing. It's just too bad she had to hurt so many other people in the process. In some cases this was revenge, but in other cases she was exposing innocent people who never meant her any harm to contempt and ridicule.
Funny, Informative and Honest.......2007-02-16
The memoirs that I have most enjoyed are well-written, containing elements of fiction such as a strong "plot," which even leads to a crisis point, making it read like fiction. When I find books such as those, they trump even a good novel in my book. All the Fishes Come Home to Roost is exactly that kind of read. Rachel Munija Brown is an American misfit in India, as the subtitle proclaims. She writes about her less-than-ideal childhood, most of which was spent in an ashram (religious commune) in India. What I admire most is that the story is told for the most part without blame. She knows that it influenced who she was as a child and who she became as an adult, but she does not harbor bitterness or resentment. She tells her story in a straightforward manner, including the ups and the downs with a liberal dose of humor to lighten what would otherwise be seen as quite an unfortunate situation. It's not meant to be a tell-all, or a self-help book, or an attempt to prove what the author has overcome.
One way in which I could identify with Brown was in her love of books. She grew up reading, and throughout her memoir, she is reading, and she mentions the titles of the books, and sometime the plot if it helps to further her own plot. I couldn't help but smile when she mentioned books that I have read, like Cherry Ames, Student Nurse.
Interesting memoir.......2007-01-22
I am always reading biographies, memoirs and all kinds of true stories. This book is the true story of Rachel Manija Brown's life growing up as an Indian in a hippie and fanatical enviroment. She keeps you intrigued and interested in her entertaining way of telling the story.
A fascinating memoir emerges which is hard to put down........2006-12-12
The author's childhood in All the Fishes Come Home to Roost: An American Misfit in India was distinctive indeed: not only did she come of age in India, but she was the youngest resident of an Indian ashram populated by hippies and fanatics. Her memories of her childhood there are permeated not only by cultural observation of India and hippies alike, but by humorous notes on a child's-eye view of a culture we rarely get to see: hippies overseas. A fascinating memoir emerges which is hard to put down.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Average customer rating:
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Home to Roost
Gerald Hammond
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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| 18th Century
| 19th Century
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Hammond, Gerald
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Look Inside Mystery & Thriller Books
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ASIN: 0312063695 |
Average customer rating:
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And the Chickens Come Home to Roost
Floride M. Calvert
Manufacturer: PublishAmerica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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Literary
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ASIN: 1424119413 |
Book Description
Have you ever found yourself, through innocence, in a situation of much embarrassment to you and of possible legal consequence and/or deep hurt to people you know? Susan, the main character in this story, finds herself in such a situation. Like many people she breezed through life engaging in activities that met her immediate needs, never thinking of what these actions may mean to others and herself later in life. There is a lesson here that she, and we, could all learn as she remembers her old grandfather's philosophy that the “chickens” very often do “come home to roost.”
Average customer rating:
- Starless
- A Great Anti-Fiction Novel
- NOTHING
- Poor Attempt
- Incredible Analysis Of A Small Town
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Chicken's Come Home to Roost
David Moreland
Manufacturer: David F. Moreland
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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ASIN: 0967176905 |
Customer Reviews:
Starless.......2002-06-15
If "negative stars" were available, I'd have chosen that alternative instead of the lowest rating available, which is one star. I have no idea how much if any of this man's book is fact and how much is fiction. Its the worst writing I've ever had the misfortune to read. This fits in the "science fiction" genre! But that would be an insult to other science fiction writers. This man is no writer!
A Great Anti-Fiction Novel.......2000-09-06
Truth like love is in the eye of the beholder. We all have ourtruths and our lies and we all have our lives, too. Sometimes these lives and those lies and those very selfsame truths come into conflict and what we get from that, what comes out the other end of this anti-fictional vacuum, this cornucopia of veracity is a refined truth, a bright white refined version of the truth of some people without taking into account the truths of others, not so refined!
What Mr. Moreland has done here is to take the truth that we all know from reading the whiteman's newspaper
(and when i say whiteman's newspaper, i include all the middle class black men and women who have sold out to the vcr and the airconditioning and the big fancy buicks, and forgotten about those suffering descendants of Joseph -- a black man!) and he has turned that "truth" over a swizzling stick in a hot hot fire and used that truth to beat the real events from the stories and lies told by the newspaper and the luxurious people of Eatonton!
This book is the real truth, the truth that happened, not the anti-truth of the lying luxury classes. Mr. Moreland is no Hemmingway and he is no Rushdie and he is no "poet of the redbug belt" but he is the anti-paradise in the future let's have paradise right now on earth while we have the opportunity candidate for your reading habits. You will not find monsters from space in this book, and you will not find cannibalism (other than the one episode when he was a boy scout and the white scout leader made him) in this book, nor will you find gun play reminiscent of a pulp novel, (except for the detectives) what you will find is truth, anti-fiction and heart, the heart of a real beating heart, the blood of pulsing blood and the feet of clay we all pad about on.
I, too, know the story behind the events in this book, and I too, know the veracity of the story told by Mr. Moreland, i have lived in Eatonton, and i have driven through on my way to Florida many times, until they built the bypass, and I have seen the little colored rabbit standing on the courthouse lawn, reminding us all that Brer Rabbit lived there, and flourished there.
Yes, Eatontonians the truth is never a pleasant tale when you are the butt of the story. Black men and women have been for a thousand years the butt of the european luxury swindler's jokes, and now the tail is turned! Your tail is on the line and you are squirming, but never fear, you have the power and the law, and even the religion of the white man (don't get me started on how the white man drove the lies of the Christ down the throats of the black slaves who had no choice but to believe) on your side, as didn't the preachers of the early slavery times (we live now in the middle slavery times, as we are all slaves today of the machine of white luxury) preach how as once jews were slaves so must the black man serve his/her penance as slaves before breaking free of the bonds of bondage!
So Eatonton (what a pompous name EATON, trying to glom glamour from the playing fields) wriggles under the laser beam of scrutiny throughout the world and stumbles as the bastion of truth and justice, and we all know that locked in the refrigerator in the sheriff's office are the brains of the "Eatonton Five", black men who dared rise above their station in the fifties, and how can men and women of today expect justice from a sheriff who indulges in this sort of brain refrigerating?
I say we cannot, and this is what Mr. Moreland is attempting to explore and expose! Brains in the refrigerator leads to knight sticks on the head and then to blood on the highway. Eatonton is a corrupt little slum where if you have money you can kill poorer folks and run over poorer folks and steal their money and cattle and even their women. Eatonton is the triumph of luxury just as Thorsten Veblen said in his book on the Leisure Class. We all suffer from the depredations of these megalomaniacs and until we realize who they are and what they want and how they get what they want and then how they use their illgotten gains and how these illgotten gains crush us and they finally how they own the funeral homes and actually, literally they bury us, then we will continue to be down trodden and we will deserve what we take, for that is the way the world works and Mr. Moreland is attempting to rectify that, so yes, i recommend this book, i recommend it highly, read it and learn, read it and profit, read it and become educated, for the truth, THE ANTI-FICTION, will set us free if only we let it, if only we listen, if only we pay attention not to the siren call of the Circe of Luxury, if only we never gaze upon the Gilt-Medusa and fall prey to the Cerebus of our own hells, then perhaps one day in the near, or distant, future, we might be able to understand and deliver our own messages to the luxurious of Earth. No! we will scream, NO! NO!
NOTHING.......2000-06-04
Since I know the actual events surrounding Mr. Moreland's criminal acts in Eatonton, I was astounded to read his account. Surely, this man is indeed the "ego that ate Eatonton" as one reviewer coined, or he has absolutely no self-esteem and must resort to livng life through his fictional counterpart "Frank Moss". If not for the hurt he intends to inflict, I would just shake my head and say "How very sad." Because of his quite blatant motives, however, I must remember what my dear old mother always used to say: "If you can't say something good about someone, say nothing." So, Mr. Moreland - NOTHING.
Poor Attempt.......2000-04-19
I read this book with interest pursuant mainly to reviews I'd seen atthis site and others. ( ) While Moreland certainly exhibits tenacityin writing this book, apparently taking years to complete it, I don'tbelieve "Kudos" are in order and don't believe it exhibits a "bold heart". Just obsession. His is a mighty poor attempt at telling a cohesive & believable story. END
Incredible Analysis Of A Small Town.......2000-04-16
Although it was at times grammatically faulty, I enjoyed reading every word. The author truly 'calls it as he sees it' without worry of negative backlash from short or closed-minded readers. Kudos to the author for his tenacity and bold heart.
Books:
- Sailing Alone Around The World
- Sergei Rachmaninoff: A Lifetime in Music (Russian Music Studies)
- Speer: The Final Verdict
- The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost his Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden
- The Art & Life of Georgia O'Keeffe
- The Digital Photography Book
- The Essential Mark Rothko
- The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara
- The Kindness of Strangers: The Life of Tennessee Williams
- The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Entrepreneur's Notebook: Practical Advice for Starting a New Business Venture
- The Teenage Guy's Survival Guide: The Real Deal on Girls, Growing Up and Other Guy Stuff
- Straight Lick: The Cinema of Oscar Micheaux
- Negotiating Competitiveness: Employment Relations and Organizational Innovation in Germany and the U
- The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book
- The Snow Walker
- The Rough Guide to Southwest USA, 3rd Edition
- The U.S. financial system: Money, markets, and institutions
- SMEs in the Age of Globalization
- Fly Away Peter
A Critic Writes: Selected Essays by Reyner Banham (Centennial Books)
Theory and Design in the First Machine Age
Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies
Autonomy and Ideology: Positioning an Avant-Garde in America
A Concrete Atlantis: US Industrial Building and European Modern Architecture
