change Books

This is a great overview of concepts that are, by definition, very fractured. Harvey clarifies and pulls together a number of seemingly disparate elements in a masterful manner. Though this book could work as a good introduction to these concepts, I think readers with some background in the major writers of modernism and postmodernism will get more out of it. Dogmatic postmodernists may be put off that Harvey has the "temerity" to suggest that postmodernism might be an extension of modernism or that he finds some good in modernism and some excesses in postmodern approaches but, they should get over themselves and realize that their insistence that "all meta-narratives are bad" is their own meta-narrative. Overall, Harvey manages to convincingly express his ideas while maintaining a remarkably evenhanded approach. I especially enjoy the fact that he avoids the postmodernist tendency to ignore the complexities of modernism and, thus create a postmodern meta-narrative about the modernist project.

Ask ten academics about what to call our present fin-de-siecle epoch and you'll get ten different labels, but "postmodernism" seems always the default term. Although it's twelve years old, Harvey's book is the best I've read about the pluralistic fabric we daily inhabit. It's edifyingly reader-friendly (especially compared to some of the Franco-drunk rhetoricians out there trying to get a handle on our current world). In precise prose Harvey outlines the shift to our information-as-capital paradigm since the mid-sixties, and the causes of the growth of the temp sector and "just-in-time" production capabilities. Harvey traces the arrival of "flexible accumulation" to the collapse of Fordist production practices in the 1966-73 waves of recession, but covers far more than just economic factors--architecture, art, literature, cinema--without any self-conscious Neo-Marxist whistling-in-the-dark. In his project to articulate a new (meta?)narrative, Harvey's book will probably give post-structuralists a new constellation of ideas to obfuscate with hip terminology and dense prose...
Manuel Castell's "The Rise of the Network Society" is another good book along these lines.

David Harvey's "Condition of Post-Modernity" provides excellent representational cases to show the differences between modernity and post-modernity. Although sometimes difficult to follow (I had problems with the chapter pertaining to architecture), Harvey uses enough examples (i.e., economics, art, cinema, etc.) to make sure one understands the differences between post-modernism and modernism. The economic chapter, "Fordism and Flexible Accumulation" is particulary good and shows the gradual transformation from a moderninst to a post-modernist economy and society. I was disappointed, however, that Harvey didn't have a complete section focused towards the differences between modernist and post-modernist lit.

David Harvey's "Condition of Post-Modernity" provides excellent representational cases to show the differences between modernity and post-modernity. Although sometimes difficult to follow (I had problems with the chapter pertaining to architecture), Harvey uses enough examples (i.e., economics, art, cinema, etc.) to make sure one understands the differences between post-modernism and modernism. The economic chapter, "Fordism and Flexible Accumulation" is particulary good and shows the gradual transformation from a modernist to a post-modernist economy and society. I was disappointed, however, that Harvey didn't have a complete section focused towards the differences between modernist and post-modernist lit.

Wow, this book is about as dense as the crust of the earth. It takes at least a few reads over to understand what the arguments are. While the arguments in this book are very well articulated, I found myself wanting to shoot myself in the face sometimes while reading this book. It can be really boring, but brings up some very interesting ideas of 80's culture and society.

George Monbriot has written a great book on how to stop, or at least slow down global warming. His book does cover some of the basics on global warming, but then he goes beyond most books on the subject, and actually offers practical alternatives to reduce our energy consumption, and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Lots of great information on alternative energy and alternative ways to accomplish what we want to do, while still reducing our climate impact.

George Moonbat(?) writes entertainingly on an entirely false premise, that manmade CO2 emissions are having a deleterious effect on climate. To his credit, he does accurately state that reducing carbon emissions is a program for austerity, not prosperity. But thankfully science is beginning to back away from GW theory as observed evidence for CO2 driving warming is simply not materializing. The temperatures in 2007 have fully reversed the last two decades of warming and portend another naturally occurring cooling cycle, despite ever increasing amounts of CO2. In the last year, increasing numbers of climate scientists have changed 180 degrees to the position of GW skepticism, even some original True Believers who participated in the UN-IPCC reports. This book is destined for the $1 used book table at the local flea market, the same place that similar alarmist tomes from the '70s, predicting the catastrophe of an incipient new ice age, ended up.

Like many other books on climate change, this one assumes that if we reduce emissions, we can solve global warming.

Monbiot conjectures his way through a 90 percent reduction in the UK's carbon emissions. The premise is that if this were possible worldwide by 2030, world climate could "stabilize" at 450 ppm or so of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

His avowed purpose is to equip us with the arguments, technologies, and ideas to turn the situation around. But it is a strangely schizoid book, because 1) there is no provision for reclaiming the excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which will continue to heat the oceans and so on for 100 years, and 2) Monbiot knows that the message of "less" is politically infeasible in a democracy, particularly if the advocated solution won't solve the problem. It's like asking a chronically overweight person to lose weight by self-restraint alone, without exercise or other changes in attitude or lifestyle. Governments know, he writes, that "inside their electors is a small and insistent voice asking them both to try and to fail."

At the end of the book, in a remarkable passage, he almost confirms that effective solutions are beyond reach.

"For the campaign against climate change is an odd one. Unlike almost all the public protests which have preceded it, it is a campaign not for abundance but for austerity. It is a campaign not for more freedom but for less. Strangest of all, it is a campaign not just against other people, but also against ourselves."

If this noose around your neck discourages you from jumping into the fray, you're probably not alone.

A far more practical and hopeful look at the climate situation can be found in Priority One: Together We Can Beat Global Warming by Allan Yeomans (disclosure--I'm the US publisher, and it's a zero-profit operation). This unorthodox book shows how we can both stop using fossil fuels AND reclaim the excess carbon from the air back into the soil, where much of it came from in the first place.

George Monblot brings together the research (encouraging and discouraging) about many sources of energy including: oil, gas, coal, solar, wind, helium, tidal, gravity, biofuels, passive houses. He is extremely readable to anyone with a general understanding of science and a curiosity for these matters. He believes that people in the western world, with the best of intentions, will not make the necessary cutbacks in personal use of fossil fuels without the incentive of government policies. He is insistent while optimistic about the future of this world. "I hope to prompt you...to force [our governments] to reverse their policies..." He speaks with passion and a wry sense of humor giving us the "how to" of saving our biosphere. "Failing all that, I have one last hope; that I might make people so depressed about the state of the planet that they stay in bed all day, thereby reducing their consumption of fosil fuels." I can't stop talking about this book.Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning

Heat is a powerful, challenging and immensely useful book. It asks the hard question: What it would really take, in all the details, to shift our industrial carbon-dependent economy, in all its minute particulars, over to one that's sustainable? To do it with dramatic enough reductions of CO2 that we aren't even in the danger zone for the worst of the global warming cataclysms. And to do it in a way that is equitable for the rich nations and the poor nations, which means not just slamming the door on those just beginning to develop and saying, too bad.

I'm not certain I agree with Monbiot's every conclusion. I make my living lecturing on issues like global warming and have a certain vested interest in hoping they'll come up with a technical fix for airline travel. And he may be too harsh on the Clinton administration, though Clinton folded all too quickly once he got resistance in the Senate. But you don't need to totally agree with the book to recognize that it makes a major contribution. He looks at how we can heat our houses, travel to our work and to our friends, shop for goods we want and need, and generally maintain our twenty-first century lives, while making the radical shifts that may be necessary.

He asks the questions in a way that I haven't seen anyone else undertake. And by so doing, really helping us think through the different options. The book combines a visionary sense with hard-headed pragmatism in a way that I really admire.

Paul Loeb
Author Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time & The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear

George Halverson does an exceptional job at laying out the major issues facing the United States health care sector and systematically making practical suggestions for reform. Having been on the inside of Kaiser in California, Halverson has an in-depth knowledge of the complex interplay between physicians, payers, patients, providers, hospitals and the government. Four of his most powerful messages are how to harvest existing personal health records, the need to focus on chronic disease, how to create intermediary agents that pursue high quality and efficient care, and the fundamental necessity of universal health care coverage. Although that last reform is left-leaning, the author's perspective is balanced and he supports reforms to make health care markets work and reduce unnecessary administrative waste. One of his most resounding messages is that we get what we pay for in health care; currently we have over 9,000 billing codes for treating disease and not a single way to bill for a cure or maintaining wellness.

As a health care professional for the past six years, I highly endorse this book to both novices and experts alike. The challenges that await health care reform are large and complex, but it is the articulate and well-though advice of veterans like George Halverson that will make long-term advancement possible.

This is an excellent view at a most interesting time in our history. While some may not follow the level of detail, anyone who has experience within the healthcare arena (patient, provider, payer) will find this overview very interesting and thought provoking. A great 'must read' for those seriously thinking about how to improve healthcare in this country.

Halvorson has initiated a public conversation about health care in the United States. Halvorson postulates that adequate healthcare can be provided to everybody without increasing the cost of care. He would take advantage of the following:

* A small minority of the health care consumers use the major portion of health care dollars. The bulk of this is attributed to chronic illness that goes untreated until it becomes an acute (and expensive) crisis.

* The multi-provider model of health care currently in the market is extremely inefficient, especially when coupled with paper medical records.

* Cost shifting as the uninsured present to hospitals or emergency departments where they cannot be turned away. This is the most expensive care possible. These costs are shifted to private insurers.

Halvorson designs the idea of an IV or Infrastructure Vendor. The IVs will create medical record systems allowing individual providers access to all the information they need for a patient's total care. Reminders for tests and treatments for chronic illness will come up.

Halvorson sees that one primary problem with the American health care system is a badly incented market. Financial incentives exist for treating illness, not for securing health. His solution is to capitate payments for chronic illness so that the providers have more incentive to keep their patients healthy.

Finally, Halvorson would require health coverage for everybody so that no cost-shifting occurs. Halvorson embraces the "six sigma" concept for health care providers adhering to best practices and evidence based medicine.

Halvorson's reliance on medical information systems to help solve health problems is wishful thinking. The system deployed by Kaiser has been described as implemented in a way that fails to fulfill the requirements that Halvorson raises. One employee told me that she could order a vasectomy on a woman without raising any errors or flags.

Another problem is Halvorson's failure to address the roles of line workers. While he cheers for 6-sigma, he ignores the wisdom of Total Quality Management or other programs designed to allow worker input to help solve system problems. Again, this is a complaint of Kaiser employees who have some influence in corporate processes, but are mostly ignored when it's time for the big decision.

Still, Halvorson has good ideas, which ought not to be totally discounted. Providing preventative health care for chronic conditions CAN drastically lower care costs. Kaiser is one of the few insurance systems that provides full chemical dependency care at no extra charge, thus saving the costs of liver transplants, heart failure, pancreatitis, and other drug and alcohol related problems.

Think of this book as a conversation starter ... a point of starting a national dialog to move national health care forward.

I wanted to read this book to learn more about Kaiser's electronic medical records system. I had read about Kaiser's HealthConnect project to convert paper files to an electronic medical records system in a Wall Street Journal article about a young Kaiser employee, a whistleblower named Justen Deal; Mr. Deal wrote in an email sent throughout the company that Kaiser (headed by Chief Executive George Halvorson, the author of this book), was wasting up to 1.5 Billion Dollars every year on projects, primarily on the HealthConnect system.
Overall, I was disappointed to find few interesting new ideas in this book, and little concrete evidence as to how electronic health records have actually improved health care.

Exceptionally well written book with excellent, easy to understand, and timely problem definition. Obvious the author has significant experience, knowledge, and understanding of our health care system - and it's good and bad sides. A prescription for change is well founded and argmented Solution, well solution is neither that simple nor obvious. Universal Coverage Solution based on the reports from all countries, which have such coverage today, appears to leave quite a few open questions and unacceptable results. Could Universal Coverage be made acceptable and suitable to this country? I take the authors invitation for building a national consensus about the shape and form of the Universal Coverage for Health Care in our country very seriously and as a major contribution and message of the book. A stepping stone in building a just right health care system we all need. A book worth reading..Health Care Reform Now!: A Prescription for Change

This is an incredibly poignant and painful book to read--in my case being read to by my husband, sometimes with his voice choking. We both missed the story when it was making the news and neither of us had heard of the book when it first came out. So for us, it read almost as a mystery adventure. I did go online just before we finished the book and learned that David (the subject of the book) tragically took his own life in 2004.

I offer the title of this review "As GOD made him" because this is a more acceptable term for my fellow Christians than "nature" (or Mother Nature) as is used in the actual title of the book. But I'm certainly not challenging the author on this point. Nor do I challenge the author on any of his points---an unusual stance for me to take.

I would highly recommend this book for everyone. It's truly a DAVID and GOLIATH tale, in this case a "freek" kid throwing his smooth little stones at the giant medical establishment. For fellow Christians who so often see matters of sex and gender in black and white absolutes, the book also has a profound message. We are WAY too judgmental on such issues.

This is a heart-wrenching book. All along the way, year after year, I kept pleading for someone--for anybody--to hear the cry of "Brenda" the boy who had been unsuccessfully refashioned as a girl. But no one really listens. To parents and counselors, this is a striking message to listen to the voice that is not always clearly articulated.

The book has been a New York TIMES bestseller, and I hope it keeps on selling. David, bless his soul, performed an incredible service to medicine and psychiatry and the general public.

This is a wonderfully written book and a fascinating look into the debate of nature versus nurture in the area of gender assignment. Intelligent and insightful, the author draws a compassionate portrait of a family who, faced with a decision in the wake of a tragedy, relies upon the advice of a well-respected doctor, which reliance turned out to be misplaced. The book details the aftermath of the family's fateful decision and the impact it was to have on them all.

In August 1965, Canadians Janet and Ron Reimer gave birth to identical twin boys, whom they named Brian and Bruce. When they were about eight months old, they arranged to have them circumcised due to a medical condition that caused them pain during urination. Circumcision was to remedy the problem. Little did they know that the circumcision for Bruce would be botched, resulting in the loss of his penis.

A plastic surgeon with whom the Reimers had consulted in connection with the catastrophe that had struck Bruce had spoken to a sex researcher who had recommended that they raise Bruce as a girl. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic had suggested that they ought to get a second opinion with regards to that suggestion. The parents then consulted with a doctor affiliated with John Hopkins Hospital, Dr. John Money, a renowned doctor in the area of gender transformation, who had been the driving force behind the then controversial surgical gender re-assignment procedure for which the hospital was becoming known.

In 1967, the distraught parents met with Dr. Money and shortly after, Bruce became Brenda and clinical castration followed. Thus, their child, who genetically and anatomically had been born a boy, was for all extent and purposes now deemed to be a girl. Brian was now on the other side of the gender divide of his identical twin brother, the twin formerly known as Bruce.

Moreover, Dr. Money now had a dream scientific experiment, because he had a set of twins for which the unafflicted twin could act as a control by which to measure the afflicted one. In 1972, Dr. Money disclosed his "twins case" to the medical world, giving a slanted version of the experiment that made it appear to be an unqualified success. Unfortunately, his analysis of the situation did not disclose the difficulties that Brenda was having and her seeming inability to adjust to being a girl.

Apparently, though Brenda had no idea as she was growing up that she had originally been born a boy, she never felt that she was a girl. Years of follow-up visits with Dr. Money for both twins proved to be unsettling for them, as Dr. Money employed somewhat bizarre methods and procedures. Moreover, as Brenda grew older, she would resist additional surgeries and initially resisted the hormone therapy that was introduced on the eve of puberty. Even when confronted with a totally rebellious Brenda, Dr. Money, however, remained in denial about the failure of his experiment. He would continue to tout his treatment of Brenda as an unqualified success.

It was not until March of 1980 that Brenda was finally informed by her father about what had happened to her years ago and what had been decided in light of the circumstances. It was a revelation that was to dramatically change Brenda's life. What followed was a repudiation of Dr. Money's assertions with respect to his treatment. The book details the changes that Brenda was to make in her life, changes that would find her living the life she was originally meant to lead. Brenda would now become David and live the life of a male. Unfortunately, happiness would continue to elude him.

This is a simply wonderful, intimate look at a family that survived a hideous tragedy. It also sympathetically and sensitively details the personal journey of one family through the labyrinthine differences in opinion surrounding the age old debate over nature versus nature. I would certainly assert that nature, and not nurture, controls. This is a very well thought out book on the issue, grounded in the tragic experience of one family. Bravo!

I suffer from anxiety attacks every once in a while and fear every now and then of having one. I went to therapy for it...but this Audio help me understand MENTALLY how to control and help stop it. It really did make me feel better to know that I can stop it and showed me HOW. Gave me peace of mind. I recommend the AUDIO.

This CD set received great reviews, which led me to purchase it----but I discovered it mainly contains peoples' "stories" and basic information. I have been there and done that; I'm not a panic disorder "newbie", I know I'm not alone, I know the symptoms, etc. If you want more involved information regarding actual TREATMENTS, they advise you to purchase the book. The problem is, some people are wired to learn by LISTENING rather than having to sit down with a book and I feel short-changed.

Not always we have the time to sit down and start working on a new project. Not always we can concentrate good enough to have food for thought right out of the box. This CD of the well known Dr. David Burns does a good job to introduce to some ideas how to deal with cognitive therapy and to the point, to help you get the way of thinking in many situations where our mind thinks wrong and have missleading atitudes.

Well read, good enough examples/stories of how CBT and way of thinking, and some rules of this kind of (well thought out) therapy works.

I dont think that from this CD package (of 3) you can know every situation how to deal with, but enough good to get you gasoline until getting to the gas station.

By listening to it a few times in my driving time I picked up alot of clues.. and from there I picked up a book on CBT ..only after I listened to the CDs of this package I was able to read the book more fluently knowing many of the concepts. This CD tells you interesting enough situatons in the form of (real?) stories to get your attention into the learning curve easily.

David Burns, psychiatrist and author of best selling book "Feeling Good," once again writes a book that is easy to understand, and fascinating to read. This can help you with anxiety. The CD is a summary of the book. Burns addresses many causes of anxiety, and shows ways of reducing them, using Cognitive Therapy. If you don't like to read, but have anxiety, try the CD, and you might even decide to read the book.

Excellent audio cd/self help. Everyday listening and as needed, to get you back on track in life. I love to hear positive and motivating ways to steer through the curves of life's highway.

Guess I just found this at the right time. The concepts are clear and the examples help even more to make Heckler's ideas usable to me. Wish I could work with Heckler!

Mr. Heckler clearly and precisely summarizes 5 steps of growth and change. Using anecdotal examples to illustrate how the mind and body reflect one another, he encourages the reader to find their own means of remaining in balance through change. I have found this book helpful in reminding me of the potential riches within the "stuck-ness" of my life. An excellent, simplified presentation of a very timely subject.

I bought Kevin Touhey's book on the strength of the testimonials for what seemed to be bona fide teachers, etc. I remember one comment was, "There's not another book like this..." or something similar. That is true. I can't imagine another book so badly written, thin, amateurish getting published and having people like me buy it. Unhelpful. Not even interesting. Story not deep or really authentic--I finally pieced together that the father had serious troubles, but hard to find that in all of the glossing over. I feel I wasted my money and my optimism here.

I found Kevin Touhey's book a wonderful read. It was a combination of (1) a memoir and (2) a self-help book - written in a way for all to be able to read, understand and learn from. Kevin showed tremendous courage in writing this book and the progress he's made as a person (given his childhood) should give everyone a reason to be optimistic. And the life he shared growing up showed how you never really know what a person or family is going through behind the closed doors of a home - even if you think you may know them as a friend or a relative.
I recommend that you read the book twice. The first time, without doing the self-help exercises at the end of each chapter, so you can read through and fully appreciate the experiences that Kevin has had throughout his life. And the second time, by doing the self-help exercises at the end of each chapter. The book is interesting enough - and not so long - that reading it twice can be done in a reasonable amount of time. Also, this will prevent the temptation to go through the self-help exercises quickly in order to get on to the next chapter of the memoir. The benefits of the self-help exercises are maximized by taking the time to go through them in a quality way (and not be rushed).

This book has unblocked so many obstacles that created negative thoughts, depression and fear in my life. It has taught me how to appreciate and internalize how all of life's experiences(good and bad)have special meaning if we allow ourselves to embrace the positive energy that exists in what we perceive to be totally negative experiences. The wonderful thing about this book is that Kevin lays out a plan of action that is easy to follow. I can not thank Kevin enough for teaching me that my life has always been loaded with optimism, I just never knew how to find it.

I highly recommend reading Kevin Touhey's wonderful book, The Miracle of Optimism! In his book, Kevin inspires us with his big heart and the wisdom gained from healing a childhood of abuse and poverty. He outlines the principles that can activate optimism and healing during our bleak and dark times while telling his compelling personal story. This beautiful book is truly a guide for transcendence and living a life of fullness!

I have had the pleasure to work with Kevin Touhey one on one and although there is nothing like a personal experience, reading the book feels as if he is talking directly to me. I'm so glad that now everyone gets a chance to experience his stories and relive his childhood. I remember when he first told us these stories - we didn't believe him because he is such a caring and lovable person. He is a direct example that miracles happen everyday. I recommend this book to everyone who wants to seriously get a better understanding of their life and want to change it for the better.

This is a book with the NOW of Information needed for the Church Body and all Christian Nations would gain insight to what God is doing in His Kingdom. OWN IT, BUY IT, READ IT, INGEST IT! The book comes from the Heart of God as my belief, for much of this book was confirmational to me and a must read for those with an Eschatological Ministry. Especially for the Prophetic and gifted in the Kingdom of God. Jump into what the LORD is doing, pray and seek His face on your next move!

I believe this book is the heart of God for our generation. It is not only moving and challenging, but it gives practical suggestions on how to take action. Cindy Jacobs has long been a leader in the church and has written several excellent books, but this one is special. Her passion and heart to see a modern reformation in the church is contagious! This book will light a flame inside your spirit to join in the great things the Lord is doing in our generation!

Other that An Inconvenient Truth, not too much exists in the pop culture that describes global warming and its possible consequences in a way that is accessible for the general public to understand. More books need to "cross over" to increase public awareness and understanding about this pressing issue. This publication acts as bridge between the scientific community and concerned citizens who may just be interested in the topic. It is an easy read and is laid out in a straightforward manner. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for basic facts about climate change and what humans can do to change the course. However, it may not be captivating for those that are not interested in the topic to begin with.

to really understand the problem, and to really understand how one can make a difference and to really understand the forces at work that will prevent any solution this is an excellent primer. It reads in laymen terms so you don't get all boondoggled by the science. It lays out the facts clearly and concisely and examines all the alternate sources of energy and their drawbacks. The Kyoto protocol is examined and the USA's reasons for not ratifying it. A very detailed and interesting read. Maybe I'm just too cynical, maybe I don't have enough faith in mankind, maybe I'm just depressed about this whole global warming and the world we're leaving to our children but I think it might be better to get beyond the argument of global warming, is it? or is it not? are we responsible? or aren't we? maybe..we should move the questions to a higher plain, like what can we do to make sure mankind survives?

David King is reported to have said that unless we stop manmade global warming, by 2100 the only habitable continent will be Antarctica. Need I say more?
This book seems to be full of alarmist claims about what might happen if we do nothing and dubious proposals about what we should do.
The thing is that the people of the World are not doing nothing about climate change and nor will they. But hopefully they will think of more creative solutions to the problem than the same old same old injunctions to reduce emissions drastically in the next 20 years that we hear from King and Walker. Such reductions would likely have dramatic negative consequences -- especially for the poor. So it is imperative that we start thinking about smarter solutions, such as reducing barriers to adaptation. If catastrophe is a real possibility, then maybe we should be looking more closely at geoengineering? Meanwhile, a smart approach to incentivising reducing carbon emissions would involve improving the incentives to R&D, while possibly introducing low level -- and revenue neutral -- carbon taxes.

Far from being too alarmist, this book, like many others on this topic, does not go far enough in warning of the dangers of global warming. The problem appears to be that most authors are over-involved in particular areas of research, and have not seen the broadest view of the problem. Also, the available information is changing rapidly. I have done extensive research myself over the past six years, and had already concluded that the problem was more grave than generally known. My suspicions were confirmed when recent research by Russian Scientists found that the Methane Hydrates on the Arctic Ocean floor are already melting and releasing large amounts of methane into the atmosphere. This, coupled with the methane production of warming tundra and melting permafrost areas, creates a vastly greater danger of rapid climate change, since a conservative estimate is that these Methane Hydrates contain well over 500 billion tons of Methane, which is twenty times worse than CO2 as a "greenhouse" gas. Therefore, while this book is useful as another analysis urging action, new work needs to be done to demonstrate clearly to people such as the author of the previous review that the situation is truly urgent, and that calls for immediate action to cool the planet are anything but alarmist.

Was capitalism a cultural project? Were the structural changes that created modern nations (rooted in capital) accompanied by significant and corollary changes in values, faith, religion, kinship, individualism, art, and other cultural phenomena? From the vantage point of twenty-first century cultural studies, the answer is an obvious "yes." It is not clear that Eric Wolf shares this vantage point in his field and in his period. For the most part, this work centers physical geographic connection, inclusion, and exclusion - - local and macrocosmic - - as the greatest influence on human behavior. For example: the peasant, newly excluded from the enclosed commons, turns to wage labor due to a lack of survival alternatives. Perhaps the peasant's motive for this change is not the most important question of history, but rather the change that history inscribes upon the peasant's cultural constitution. In other words, is the peasant merely a rational economic actor to be inserted in an equation of geopolitical determinism, or are they compelled at this broad historical juncture to do something newly irrational, counter-instinctual, and alien to the preparation of their human constitution? The problem is that Wolf's cool and rational engagement with the spaces, places, motions, and control of objects still subscribes to a fairly static reification of the individual. This individual must be unmoving in spiritual and cultural practice, trauma, affection, embrace and rejection, or at least conceived of as stable and reasonable outside of this variability, in order for Wolf's historical narrative to be a complete explanation. Of course, no author claims a complete explanation so the question becomes whether or not this is a viable one.

Without a doubt, Wolf's study of objects as moving and formative in the rise of prevailing world power was a radical departure from "situated" anthropology and the isolated empirical engagement of cultural objects. His work takes an important stand against ascribing the exceptionalism of modern nation states backwards through time as an acceptable constraint on historical inquiry. He thus separates himself from the study of "Dutch capitalism" or "Italian mercantilism" and instead presents a vision of connected communities and urban centers. In important ways, he upsets the claim that contemporary geopolitical and cultural divisions make on nature, a fallacy that prevailed across disciplines and credible discourses for centuries. Wolf rocks this boat. Surely, after reading this work, one is less comfortable with terms like "English feudalism."

However, this work does not trouble the claim that capitalism makes on nature because that claim is rooted in a very specific and historically modern reification of the liberal individual. Capitalism constructs the individual qua reason, a mind without a body and a rational actor whose flow is enabled, diverted, reversed, or stopped by resource and object politics. I remain unconvinced that history is quite so simple as changing the levers of human functionalism so articulated. While it is impressive (if not decentering) to document the history and rise of Europe as contingent on global object politics involving diverse peoples - - and the author openly admits that there is great and varied cultural context in each of the areas he connects - - somehow I also saw the "people without history" as the majority of human beings entangled in the wide net of capitalism's reductionism of the individual. I am not convinced that "the migrant's position is determined not so much by the migrant or his culture as by the structure of the situation in which he finds himself" (362). While this is true of physical location and perhaps even economic endeavor, this reduction of positionality is a modern phenomenon of capital. Is there a better interpretive?

The rather odd name of this book refers to the tendency of many social scientists to evaluate non-western peoples without considering that they have a unique history that needs to be taken into account if we are to gain any understanding of them. Not surprisingly the author attempts remedy this shortcoming in a sweeping analysis of the last 600 years of human history. If you are a person who like myself would like to come to understand why human affairs are what they are today I recommend this book as the single best starting point. This is not to say that I think Wolf is right about everything that he writes, no work of this scope will achieve that, but he covers the field and knows the sources. The bibliography is a great resource, though a little dated. Ralph J. Pledger, Ph.D.

This is a looong read but it is well worth it in the end. I found that taking this book chapter by chapter was the best way to read, because sometimes you find yourself reading the chapter's twice. Wolf offers an insighful and opinionated view of European and Imperial history. I would advise anyone who is interested in history and modern political relations, its a great overview of well....everything that happened in European history involving trade, imperialism, and colonial relations.

Europe and the People Without History describes the very process by which capitalism has spread and permeated throughout the world. Wolf's narrative starts from AD 1400 and ends in the 20th century. He traces the historical events associated with the expansion of European commerce, paying extra attention to the people ignored by traditional history, those who either resisted to the death or toiled under the drudgery of capitalism.

Instead of viewing nations or "tribes" (a problematic term in anthropology) as isolated and coherent entities, Wolf is concerned with the international and intercultural processes that is continually creating new nations, new cultures, new identities. In turn Wolf warns against the reification of complex processes or elements into one seemingly unified term. I find this perspective especially valuable. Generalizations and broad categories must be used with caution, since words and concepts merely reflect aspects of reality, but they themselves are not to be equated with reality.

Another merit of Wolf is his world systems approach. He analyzes world history as a system in which disparate and distant social groups can have important influence on each other. This analytic method rejects the notion that countries are independent and self-contained systems, but instead they are interrelatetd in the larger global processes of change.

Finally, readers should pay extra attention to the concluding chapter. It discusses the nature of ideology, about how it is formed and how it is perpetuated. Wolf reminds the readers that common terms and categories are not innocent words - they are the offspring of constant construction, deconstruction, and redefinition of power relations.

In short, Europe and the People without History will impact the minds of those who have not been exposed to the history of capitalist and colonial expansion. It will force people living in developed nations to reconsider the historical source of their affluency and wealth. Despite the dispassionate and objective tone used in Wolf's analysis of global history, I cannot help but read the book as a somber epitaph to the silent victims of colonization and globalization.

- Malcolm Godwin

Wolf breaks the paradigm that the world ever was full of isolated pockets of civilized people void of contact with others. By tracing routes of fur trade, slave trade, early movements of people, materials and ideas, Wolf examines the world before Europe "civilized" the world. He is able to show how contact with European traders change the lifestyles of groups of people who already had fully developed cultural, linguistic and political traditions. How trade, bureaucracy, military force and violence influenced the people with whom the traders contacted illustrates the fact that "globalization" is hardly a recent phenomenon.
This provides the background for understanding the current changes in the transition of ideas in the world. Without Wolf's excellent work, it becomes possible to get lulled into the trap that the "Internet" changed the world. In fact, it did not provide contact for people where none previously existed. Electronic media does provide a new medium by which the transfer of ideas can take place. It changes the nature of that transmission, but it does not create a transmission where none previously existed.