Memoirs of an Amnesiac

Customer Reviews:

What happened after Marilyn Monroe became Kosher?.......2006-10-13

My son had to explain (to my wife) the joke behind the title. An amnesiac can't remember and a memoir is a written record of memories. Hence, a contradiction, but still a great title and an emblematic preview of what's to come when you read this book. And you do want to read this book because Oscar Levant is unique, funny, honest, interesting, and weird. He is the kind of person that you want to read about because he seemed to know everyone who was anyone in American music or in American film and of course he has the inside scoop on those people including Harpo Marx, Louis Mayer, Irving Berlin, Fanny Brice, Aaron Copland, Arnold Schoenberg, Dorothy Parker, Paul Whiteman, Judy Garland, Arturo Toscanini, and Harry Truman. Oscar Levant, as SN Behrman said, is the kind of person that if he had not existed, could not be imagined. Yes, he's that bad. Because he is brutally honest about his life, his loves, his obsessions and compulsions, his drug addictions and his music and friends, we have here a real-life true quill biography that takes no prisoners and lacks the usual apology or gloss or pastiche so common these days. Brutal honesty - that's the ticket. Oscar has to tap eight times to get water from the faucet. He has to tap eight times to shut the water off. He needs to name each street his limo passes and if he misses the name, his driver has to circle back to get the name. He will throw away a pack of cigarettes if someone talks while he is opening the pack. His wife, June, (her title should be Saint June) who picked up the pieces after each nervous breakdown, still must have a separate waste paper pail in each room so that she doesn't contaminate the waste paper in his pail. When Oscar had his heart attack, he had to go through all his night time rituals before he could get into bed for the doctor to check him. In short - a real nut case. And yet, and yet, a world-class pianist, composer, television and film personality who led a life well lived. You wouldn't want him in your home for dinner unless, of course, he kept his mouth shut and just played his marvelous interpretations of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which, incidentally, I am listening to right now. Ah, genius, - it has its problems and it has its pleasures.

Name Dropping and One-Liners.......2005-11-05

This book was a disappointment although it covers the scope of Oscar Levant's life from Tin Pan Alley to Carnegie Hall to Hollywood to mental hospitals.

A major problem with the writing is that it consists of endless name dropping without context. If you aren't familiar with the names (which I wasn't for the most part) then a good deal of the story is lost.

Another feature of the writing is a constant stream of one-liners from Oscar and others. These were undoubtably funny when they were first said, but in the book they seem forced. For example, "I once said cynically of a politician, "He'll double-cross that bridge when he comes to it."" If you enjoy one-liners then this book showcases them throughout.

As a fan of Oscar Levant from movies like Rhythm on the River and An American In Paris, I was pleased that he was up front about many aspects of his life. However, the famous line, "Beneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character" had a lot more truth to it than I had assumed. Oscar really does exhibit rude behavior, selfishness, cheating and drug addiction. And of course neurosis. He is honest to his faults.

A better (but far briefer) description of Oscar Levant is in Harpo Marx's book "Harpo Speaks". That book also has a lot of name dropping, but the literary style is rich so that it's fascinating even if you are not familiar with the Algonquin Round Table.

With Oscar's book, I was satisfied about the scope of the writing, but disappointed in the terse style although it's an easy read.

More than just a nut case.......2002-07-04

In this book, the hypochondriac genius of movies, radio, television, and the concert stage delivers all the neurotic humor expected. But the author, a talented writer as well as one of the great pianists of the 20th century, also succeeds at conveying the ambience of the artistic world of the 1920s through 1950s. His insights about his contemporaries, including celebrated conductors, musicians, composers, and actors, are fascinating.

Laughing All The Way To The Nuthouse..........2002-06-26

This has always been one of my favorite books. I recall reading it for the first time as a pre-teen, and chuckling at his OUTRAGEOUS stories. I'm probably among the last generation that remembers this brilliant man, which is a shame. In the days of the great "talk shows", like Jack Paar, etc.., Oscar Levant was always one of the most coveted, and controversial, guests. I remember seeing him on t.v., as a kid, & being fascinated by this odd looking man who, though I quite honestly didn't get 90% of what he was saying, was obviously someone truly unique. This book has all his irreverent humor, the humor even evident in his telling of his long battle with mental illness, and his extreme, then un-named "obsessive-compulsive" disorder. His brutal honesty about his ordeal was unheard of at that time, and was long before the trend of todays celebrities, who do everything but hawk their x-rays on informercials. There's many names in this book that you will recognize, and his telling of his encounters with various celebrities is not always in their favor, and will have you rolling on the floor. He was literally thrown off the air in the 1950's, for a remark he made on a live talk show, pertaining to Marilyn Monroe and her conversion to Judaism, which is recounted in this book, but can't be repeated here. But at the time, the staid 1950's, it must have had the audience awestruck in utter shock at his outrageous (and incredibly humorous) statement. This is just a fabulous book about one of the greatest wits of this century, the man who started out as an incredibly accomplished and respected pianist, he was most known for his rendition of good friend Gershwins "Rhapsody In Blue", and became something more than just a clown. Totally touching, hysterical, and honest, this book will have you falling in love with dear, lost, brilliant Oscar. In todays, for the most part, [dissapointing] "celebrity" climate, we sure could use the likes of him again.

a must re-read.......2000-11-26

Luckily found this among my mother's books, the title caught my eye. When asked about it, my mother laughed softly. I thought, if it can make her laugh it must be funny; well it's the best humor, and I turned to a page and busted out laughing. It's more than that. I read the one I bought from time to time, and there is always a point of feeling I'm in the belly of a beast. Such integrity I'd never known, and never felt I could fit in this world 'til reading "Memoirs of an Amnesiac".

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Richie's Picks: MEMOIRS OF A TEENAGE AMNESIAC
A Book You Won't Soon Forget
The most romantic story EVER!
Courtesy of Teens Read Too

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
Gabrielle Zevin
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0374349460
Release Date: 2007-08-21

Book Description

If Naomi had picked tails, she would have won the coin toss. She wouldn’t have had to go back for the yearbook camera, and she wouldn’t have hit her head on the steps. She wouldn’t have woken up in an ambulance with amnesia. She certainly would have remembered her boyfriend, Ace. She might even have remembered why she fell in love with him in the first place. She would understand why her best friend, Will, keeps calling her “Chief.” She’d know about her mom’s new family. She’d know about her dad’s fiancée. She never would have met James, the boy with the questionable past and the even fuzzier future, who tells her he once wanted to kiss her. She wouldn’t have wanted to kiss him back.

But Naomi picked heads.

After her remarkable debut, Gabrielle Zevin has crafted an imaginative second novel all about love and second chances.

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Richie's Picks: MEMOIRS OF A TEENAGE AMNESIAC.......2007-09-05

"The first thing he did was kiss me. On the lips. And he didn't ask my permission either.
"I couldn't recall him ever having kissed me before.
"I actually couldn't recall anyone ever having kissed me before.
"So, in a way, this was my first kiss."

It's summertime, but Naomi Page Porter had been at school, meeting with her best friend. The pair are the incoming co-editors of their high school's award-winning yearbook. Remembering, belatedly, that they'd left the school's $4,000 camera sitting out, Naomi had gone back into the school to grab it. Running out, she had tripped on the steps. Fortunately, Naomi saved the camera. Unfortunately, she had landed on her head.

MEMOIRS OF A TEENAGE AMNESIAC begins with Naomi regaining consciousness on the way to the hospital. She is released after an extended stay. Fortunately, her cognitive skills are perfectly normal. Unfortunately, she does not remember any personal information from the past four years. Naomi doesn't recall such major changes in her life as the development of her body, the messy divorce of her parents, her moving to a new house with her father, that her mother has since had another daughter, her experiences in high school, her friends or, even, whether she has a boyfriend.

Naomi is, thus, in the unique and bizarre position of examining her own life from the point of view of a complete outsider.

"I went through the drawers of my nightstand. The most interesting thing I found was a plastic compact containing birth control pills, which meant I was either a) having sex with someone (!?!), or b) on the pill for some other reason. The second most interesting thing I found was a leather diary. This might have beat the birth control pills for the official title of Most Interesting Thing in Naomi's Nightstand, had it not been a food diary detailing every single thing I'd eaten for the past six months. Sample entry:

August 4
1 Bagel with Cream Cheese, 350 Calories
18 Mini Pretzels, 150 Calories
2 Diet Cokes, 0 Calories
1 Banana, 90 Calories
7 Reese's Pieces, 28 Calories

GRAND TOTAL 618 Calories [smiley face]

"Every entry after that was the same way. Page after page of it. Sometimes there would be a [frown face] if I thought I had eaten too much, or a [neutral face] if I was neither here nor there about my eating for the day. It went all the way until the day before my injury. I tried to toss the useless artifact in the trash, but I missed. I felt disgusted. I mean, really, what sort of person keeps a food diary?
"I wondered if the former Naomi Porter had been, in all likelihood, a complete and total jerk, someone that I probably wouldn't have ever wanted to know."

Gabrielle Zevin takes this terrific premise and crafts an entertaining and thought-provoking story that avoids the cheap laughs. Instead, we get to really know the characters in her life and see, along with Naomi, the shades of gray in each of them. It is certainly a tale that could inspire readers to try and examine their own lives and choices objectively.

Any reader who has ever looked back at what they've done and has wished for a "do-over" will be intrigued by the situation into which Naomi Porter falls headfirst.

A Book You Won't Soon Forget.......2007-08-29

It's a great thing to get to know a character as you read about them in a book. It's a phenomenal thing to get to know a character as they get to know themselves.

Such is the case in this book, "Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac", written by Gabrielle Zevin, a writer who has a rare talent. The protagonist, a teenager named Naomi, becomes a victim of (as the title says) amnesia, following an unlucky even involving a camera, coffee, and steps. Naomi, even without her memories, is a fully fleshed out character, making it a joy to see her explore the newness of a life that was once so commonplace to her, to see everything she does different, to see how her amnesia changes every single relationship in her teenage life.

The story is well-crafted in that its structure mirrors life more than the rising action model of a story. Some plot lines climax, and some just fade away like a forgotten memory; which, by the way, is a large theme in this story. What we have here is not the definitive life story of Naomi Porter, but simply a year in the life of a likable, complex, and flawed character who is going through a rough--yet she's not at all angsty/brooding about it--time. Nothing in this book is forced, though the touching and relatable moments are as plenty as usage of magic in a Harry Potter book.

Much like Zevin's previous novel, "Elsewhere", this book has a permanent place on my small shelf of favorites. However, unlike "Elsewhere", I was so swept up in the story that this book has become the first novel in God-knows-how-long that I finished in a single day. This is a book that a reader can truly, truly love.

10/10 Classic.

The most romantic story EVER!.......2007-08-26

I love this book. Gabrielle Zevin's Elsewhere was a great fantasy novel set in the afterlife, but this one is set in the real world and is just as great--maybe greater. Naomi is a wonderful character, but the characters I really love are the three boys. Ace is popular, a tennis star, and might be my favorite. But then James is so dark and mysterious, you can see yourself loving him. But of course you have to fall in love with Will, because he's so respectful and patient and he just adores her. This is a novel for people who love love stories, and for people who love great writing. I can't wait for Ms. Zevin's next book!

Courtesy of Teens Read Too.......2007-08-22

When sixteen-year-old Naomi Porter takes a header down the front steps of Thomas Purdue Country Day School, she loses a lot more than her pride. Although she remembers the ride in the ambulance to the hospital with James Larkin, and recalls that her blood ended up on his shirt, and even remembers that he assured the ambulance driver that he was her boyfriend, she's having a really hard time remembering anything prior to that. Anything, say, that happened in the last four years.

Awake and alert in the hospital with her dad by her side, Naomi knows that something's wrong. She knows her name, and she knows where she is. What she doesn't quite understand is that the last tangible memory she has happened when she was twelve. She can tell by the way her body feels that she's not twelve any longer. And then comes the first of many shockers: her parents are divorced. Oh, and her mother is remarried to her high school sweetheart, and they have a toddler named Chloe, who happens to be her half-sister. And she has a boyfriend named Ace, who conveniently enough is away at tennis camp. And her best friend, William "Coach" Landsman, is also the co-editor of the school paper, The Phoenix, a position she shares. And on and on the list goes, until all Naomi wants to do is scream.

In the course of a few minutes and one bump on the head, Naomi has lost four years worth of memories. She still knows she's adopted, she recalls her life up until the age of twelve, but everything between seventh grade and her current position as a junior in high school is a blank slate. For some, she's a girl to be pitied. For others, she's just another teen looking for attention. For herself, and her father, and her best friend, and her boyfriend, and the boy she begins to fall in love with, she's something else entirely -- an enigma, a girl without a past who must forge ahead to make her own future.

I truly enjoyed MEMOIRS OF A TEENAGE AMNESIAC. The tone of the story is a perfectly balanced mix of humor, seriousness, and the search for identity. There are moments that are sad, and even downright heartbreaking, mixed with scenes of hilarity. Ms. Zevin, the author of one of my favorite books ever, Elsewhere, has penned another story that will leave you wondering and thinking long after you turn the final page.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

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The Memoirs of an Amnesiac
Oscar Levant
Manufacturer: Putnam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NQIRUQ

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THE MEMOIRS OF AN AMNESIAC
LEVANT OSCAR
Manufacturer: G. P. PUTNAM' S SONS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PGO3Y8

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Memoirs of an Amnesiac
Oscar Levant
Manufacturer: Samuel French Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JJIMPW

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The Memoirs of an Amnesiac
Oscar Levant
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000PHDCIK

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Memoirs of an Amnesiac
Harry Parry
Manufacturer: Lulu.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 141167006X

Book Description

I have heard it said that everyone alive has a special gift. Therefore it stands to reason that we all have a special disability. Maybe sometimes the two go hand in hand.

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Memoirs of an Amnesiac
Oscar Levant
Manufacturer: BANTAM BOOKS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UD7YUQ

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Memoirs of an Amnesiac
Oscar Levant
Manufacturer: G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OL03PW

Book Description

This book explores the complex interrelationship and tension that exists between the different ethnic, national and religious identities of young Pakistanis in Britain.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent sociological research.......2001-04-04

Jacobson's research is particularly insightful, and sympathetic. Her groundbreaking work was very accurate in its descriptions of life as a British Pakistani Muslim, and is an absolute 'must have' for anyone interested in this issue. Jacobson should be congratulated for being one of the few Western researchers of Islam who writes without being patronising, or making generalisations. A very refreshing and thoroughly researched study!!

Salvaging Spenser: Colonialism, Culture, and Identity (Language, Discourse, Society Series.)

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Salvaging Spenser: Colonialism, Culture, and Identity (Language, Discourse, Society Series.)
Willy Maley
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Distorted Images: British National Identity and Film in the 1920s (Cinema and Society)

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Distorted Images: British National Identity and Film in the 1920s (Cinema and Society)
Kenton Bamford
Manufacturer: I. B. Tauris
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1860643582

Book Description

The 1920s is a neglected period in British film history, yet this is a fascinating period in the cinema when, confronted with audiences' preference for the American cinema of Griffith and deMille, the British cinema-going public was being encouraged to "buy British." In this rigorous, illuminating exploration of the cultural construction of "Britishness" by the British film industry, Kenton Bamford investigates the image of nation and of British men and women that films projected, the class attitudes and values that underpinned those images, and the realities of the reception of British and American films across classes. Using an exciting array of original source materials, he looks at the culture of the stage and popular fiction on which the cinema fed and demonstrates the stultifying aura of middle-class gentility that stifled creativity, innovation and democracy in British films. He also uncovers some unsung heroes of British cinema, including British star Betty Balfour and director George Pearson.

A New Imperial History: Culture, Identity and Modernity in Britain and the Empire, 16601840

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A New Imperial History: Culture, Identity and Modernity in Britain and the Empire, 16601840

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521007968

Book Description

While other histories of the British empire have focused on administration, politics and policy, this collection of essays examines the cultural impact of empire on British and colonial people's sense of self, as well as on their social relations in the eighteenth century. The contributions by leading scholars analyze the ways in which theater, sociability, artistic and literary production, history, slavery and identity were affected by Britain's contacts with America, India, Africa and the South Pacific.

The English National Character: The History of an Idea from Edmund Burke to Tony Blair

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The English National Character: The History of an Idea from Edmund Burke to Tony Blair
Peter Mandler
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0300120524

Book Description

What kind of people are “the English”? What characteristic traits and behavior (if any) distinguish them from other people? This highly original and wide-ranging book traces the surprisingly varied history of ideas among the English about their own “national character” over the past two centuries.
Two hundred years ago, the very idea of a national character was novel and not very respectable. Today, it is again difficult for the many who think of themselves as unique individuals to imagine a “national character” that binds the English together in a national unit. But in between, as Britain became a democracy, “national character” became part of the national common sense, reflected in depictions of "John Bull" and his twentieth-century successor, the "Little Man," and in a set of stereotypes about English traits, follies, and foibles. Not at all shy to talk about themselves, the English have produced a vast outpouring of material on what it means to be English—material on which this book draws: lectures, sermons, political speeches, journalism, popular and scholarly books, poems and novels and films, satires and cartoons and caricatures, as well as up-to-the-minute social science and public opinion research.
In this comprehensive and lucidly argued book, a leading historian of modern Britain challenges long-held assumptions and familiar stereotypes and proposes an entirely new perspective on what it means to think of oneself as being English.

British Cultural Studies: Geography, Nationality, and Identity

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British Cultural Studies: Geography, Nationality, and Identity

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0198742061

Book Description

British Cultural Studies includes over thirty essays written by expert contributors, covering almost every aspect of culture and identity in Britain today and addressing the current transformations of British culture and identity in the context of globalization. The opening section of the book deals with different conceptions of Britishness and identity, including English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Asian and Black British identities. Section Two then analyses the interplay between tradition and heritage in contemporary culture, whilst the final section looks at the world of lifestyle groups, subcultures, and cultural politics and the way in which they have come in many ways to substitute for notions of Britishness.

The Troubles in Ballybogoin: Memory and Identity in Northern Ireland

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The Troubles in Ballybogoin: Memory and Identity in Northern Ireland
William F. Kelleher
Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0472089781

Book Description

A fascinating exploration of how social memory serves to hinder communication and foster disorder in Northern Ireland

Divided Gaels: Gaelic Cultural Identities in Scotland and Ireland c.1200-c.1650

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The Gaelic World--just how unified?

Divided Gaels: Gaelic Cultural Identities in Scotland and Ireland c.1200-c.1650
Wilson McLeod
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0199247226

Book Description

In this detailed and absorbing study, Wilson McLeod challenges the familiar view that Gaelic Scotland and Gaelic Ireland formed a cultural unit during the late middle ages and early modern period. Many commentators have emphasized the strong cultural and political ties that bound the 'sea-divided' Gaels together during this era, when Scottish Gaels supplied crucial military forces to the Gaelic Irish chiefs, and poets and learned men travelled extensively between the two countries. Dr McLeod tests this view of a unified Gaelic 'culture-province' by examination of the surviving sources, especially formal bardic poetry. Although the evidence is patchy and occasionally contradictory, he is able to show that Ireland was culturally dominant. While Scottish Gaeldom attached great significance to the Irish connection, viewing Ireland as the wellspring of historical and cultural prestige, Irish Gaeldom, McLeod argues, perceived Scotland as distant and peripheral.

Customer Reviews:

The Gaelic World--just how unified?.......2005-08-07

The purpose of this book is to investigate the reality of the Gaelic culture province between Scotland and Ireland in the Late Middle Ages. This idea has been floating around since the 19th century, but probably received its mostly explicit exposition in the works of Kenneth Jackson in the 1950s.

The book opens with reviewing the idea of the Gaelic culture province, then shifts to the political and cultural backgrounds in Ireland and Scotland from the Early Medieval period to the Early Modern period. While this historical chapter goes beyond the main focus of the book, it is a crucial chapter. It carefully documents how parts of Scotland had to be "re-Gaelicized" after extensive settlement in the Viking Age by Scandinavians and the ensuing ties which lasted until the 14th century. The role of the galloglach in Ireland is also examined. It also builds a case for the Gaelic populations actually inhabiting fairly good land and not peripheral or marginal lands until the 18th and 19th centuries.

The second chapter looks at the intellectual climate in Ireland and Scotland. Sources are marshalled to demonstrate how the Scots often went to schools in Ireland, but not vice-versa. The third chapter looks at the bardic traditions between the two areas. A case is built from examination of the poems for a heavy use of Irish motifs, places, and figures by the Scots bards, but not vice-versa. The cause of this is left unanswered, but may in part be due to the bardic schools that existed in Ireland and not Scotland. Both of these chapters look at the families which supported bards and their fates.

The fourth chapter looks at the break in ties between Gaelic Ireland and Scotland. Partly due to the Reformation,
and partly the re-conquest of Ireland by the English brought the end to contact between the two areas.

The conclusion nicely summarizes the main points the reader is to take with them. Some of the major ones are:

1. The literary works make a strong case for a distinct Irish Gael identity, but not so much of one for a Scots Gaelic identity. The idea of a unified Gaelic identity is only weakly expressed in the literature, and McLeod doubts that it really existed.

2. In terms of the culture, Ireland had a heavy influence on the literary output of Scotland. Irish motifs, characters, and events all figure prominently in Scots Gaelic poetry.

This is a fascinating book, but not one that will be readily accessible to the general reader-it assumes a familiarity with the history and bardic poetry of both Ireland and Scotland.

At the Crossroads: Indians and Empires on a Mid-Atlantic Frontier, 1700-1763

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A good reference on pre-independence America 1700-1763

At the Crossroads: Indians and Empires on a Mid-Atlantic Frontier, 1700-1763
Jane T. Merritt
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 080785462X
Release Date: 2007-01-17

Book Description

Examining interactions between Native Americans and whites in eighteenth-century Pennsylvania, Jane Merritt traces the emergence of race as the defining difference between these neighbors on the frontier.

Before 1755, Indian and white communities in Pennsylvania shared a certain amount of interdependence. They traded skills and resources and found a common enemy in the colonial authorities, including the powerful Six Nations, who attempted to control them and the land they inhabited. Using innovative research in German Moravian records, among other sources, Merritt explores the cultural practices, social needs, gender dynamics, economic exigencies, and political forces that brought Native Americans and Euramericans together in the first half of the eighteenth century.

But as Merritt demonstrates, the tolerance and even cooperation that once marked relations between Indians and whites collapsed during the Seven Years' War. By the 1760s, as the white population increased, a stronger, nationalist identity emerged among both white and Indian populations, each calling for new territorial and political boundaries to separate their communities. Differences between Indians and whites--whether political, economic, social, religious, or ethnic--became increasingly characterized in racial terms, and the resulting animosity left an enduring legacy in Pennsylvania's colonial history.

Customer Reviews:

A good reference on pre-independence America 1700-1763.......2007-04-09

Jane Merritt gives an inside expose, on the clash of cultures in the Mid-Atlantic frontier(Delaware,Pennsylvania,Virginia etc.). The early relationship between a young Colonel George Washington of England and the Delawares is highlighted. The initial interaction between Washington and the Delawares, was poor. This lead to early military defeats to the French. The dynamics of the 7 years war, which changed the harmony of this region dramatically, is examined.

The odd antagonistic relationship between the Delawares and the Iroquois 6 Nations is analyzed to the fullest. It appears the Iroquois sold Delaware land inappropriately (walking purchase Treaty). You will gain insight into famous chiefs such as Delaware chief Shingas and chief Teedyuscung.

The shrewd business dealings of the European settlers is analyzed. You are made aware how simple semantics could misconstrue entire Treaties and agreements. Overall this book does a good job in clarifying, certain key points, in a very complex period, in American history.

Scars of Conquest/Masks of Resistance: The Invention of Cultural Identities in African, African-American, and Caribbean Drama

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Scars of Conquest/Masks of Resistance: The Invention of Cultural Identities in African, African-American, and Caribbean Drama
Tejumola Olaniyan
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195094050

Book Description

This original work redefines and broadens our understanding of the drama of the English-speaking African diaspora. Looking closely at the work of Amiri Baraka, Nobel prize-winners Wole Soyinka and Derek Walcott, and Ntozake Shange, the author contends that the refashioning of the collective cultural self in black drama originates from the complex intersection of three discourses: Eurocentric, Afrocentric, and Post-Afrocentric. From blackface minstrelsy to the Trinidad Carnival, from the Black Aesthetic to the South African Black Consciousness theatres and the scholarly debate on the (non)existence of African drama, Olaniyan cogently maps the terrains of a cultural struggle and underscores a peculiar situation in which the inferiorization of black performance forms is most often a shorthand for subordinating black culture and corporeality. Drawing on insights from contemporary theory and cultural studies, and offering detailed readings of the above writers, Olaniyan shows how they occupy the interface between the Afrocentric and a liberating Post-Afrocentric space where black theatrical-cultural difference could be envisioned as a site of multiple articulations: race, class, gender, genre, and language.

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