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Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West

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A review from an armchair historian.
Distinctive and valuable history of urban growth & development
Solid on Both Facts and Theory
Great for readers interested in history, ecology, economics
Best 'textbook' ever

Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West
William Cronon
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393308731

Amazon.com

Cronon's history of 19th-century Chicago is in fact the history of the widespread effects of a single city on millions of square miles of ecological, cultural, and economic frontier. Cronon combines archival accuracy, ecological evaluation, and a sweeping understanding of the impact of railroads, stockyards, catalog companies, and patterns of property on the design of development of the entire inland United States to this date. Although focused on Chicago and the U.S., the general lessons it teaches are of global significance, and a rich source of metaphors for the ways in which colonization of physical space operates differently from, and similarly to, colonization of cyberspace. This is a compelling, wise, thorough--and thoroughly accessible--masterpiece of history writ large. Very Highest Recommendation.

Customer Reviews:

A review from an armchair historian........2006-08-13

There are going to be other reviewers who can provide more erudite reviews-- reviews better grounded in the study of cities or economic history. I am nothing more than an average reader who enjoys non-fiction.

First of all, potential readers should be aware that this is an econonomic history. It follows flows of goods and capital rather than following the lives and careers of the men and women of Chicago. I knew what to expect, but for people looking for a more standard history of Chicago this may make Nature's Metropolis difficult to engage.

I really enjoyed reading the book. It stretched my understanding of the economic growth of cities and raised issues that I had not considered about the role of the city *in* nature (not as opposed to nature). The examination of elements that made Chicago into both a city and The City was fascinating. The chapters tracing grain, lumber and meat as goods were clearly written and underscored the central theses.

I guess it goes without saying that Nature's Metropolis is far from a light read, but that does not make it less rewarding. As someone who does not have a background in history, I only longingly wished that the bibliography had been annotated to help support further reading.

Distinctive and valuable history of urban growth & development.......2006-04-21

This is a very distinctive, well researched and argued book about how Chicago developed. Starting with a standard model of Urban Economics - the von Thunen model of central place theory- the author quickly moves beyond it. The distinctive contribution of his book is Cronon's emphasis on how the roots of Chicago's remarkable development lay in the "soil" of its surrounding hinterlands. He carries this argument further by examining how the transportation and communication revolutions of the 19th century - the railroad and the telegraph - created unique advanatages for Chicago relative to other competitive metropolitan areas (such as St. Louis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee) and finally, how in turn, new metropolitan areas (such as KC, Omaha) arose to steal aways Chicago's dominance.

As other reviewers have noted, the book offers really fascinating, detailed discussions and original research on - for example - the grain and lumber industries as well as capital flows in the midwestern US creatively using court records on corporate failures to track the flow of investments.

This books contains a rich lode of intellectual wealth and it is well worth the effort to mine it.

Solid on Both Facts and Theory.......2004-01-07

Been dying to read this book for at least six months. Finally found it at a used book store for six bucks! Huzzah!

Having now read the book, I probably would have shelled out for it new or used at the 10+ bucks it commands here on Amazon. The 18 reviews below indicates that this is a fairly popular work. That's more then three times the reviews of the other history books I've checked out on Amazon.

Since the other reviews are substantial, I won't comment much, except to say that while several reviewers have commented on the role of "first" and "second" nature in this book, I didn't see anybody mentioning his use of "Central Place Theory", which was apparently developed by German theorists in the 1800's. He also doesn't discuss Lewis Mumford at all, even though he cites to that author in the bibliography.

I thought this book made an interesting contrast with "Imperial San Francisco", another book about the development of a western city. I was hoping Cronon would include more information about the "flow of capital" between Chicago and the FAR west, rather then focusing so intently on Chicago's immediate hinterland.

Cronon chose to focus on a description of the processes which led to the creation of Chicago. It might have been interesting to look at the ways in which the interests of wealthy individuals tracked across various industries and time. A point made in "Industrial San Francisco" was that the oligarch's who made money in mining gradually "cleansed" their money through the purchase of utilities and media firms(newspapers). Did something similar occur in Chicago? I suspect so, but Cronon's treatment of the newspaper/media industry is largely descriptive.

Great for readers interested in history, ecology, economics.......2003-11-21

I remember, many years ago, standing next to an Illinois corn field at the intersection 212th and Cicero and wondering how Chicago's street grid system had worked its way so far into the country side. What in the world did this corn field and the intersection of State and Madison in downtown Chicago have to do with each other? This book explained it to me along the economic history of Chicago -- a history that went a lot farther in explaining the citys size, influence, and even existence than the biographies Marshal Field, Potter Palmer, the Colonel, and the rest.

Great read.

Best 'textbook' ever.......2003-02-09

This was the best book I've ever had assigned in a class. It was part of the assigned readings for a Princeton University course "History of the American West". Perhaps the context of the class helped to make the book, but it is still well written and seems to strike a good balance between a historical view and an economic view of the story it tells.

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A glowing perspective
This is a short trip
A precious gift to readers
MUST READ

On Being Ill
Virginia Woolf
Manufacturer: Consortium
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1930464061

Book Description

In this poignant and humorous work, Virginia Woolf observes that though illness is part of every human being's experience, it has never been the subject of literature-like the more acceptable subjects of war and love. We cannot quote Shakespeare to describe a headache. We must, Woolf says, invent language to describe pain. And though illness enhances our perceptions, she observes that it reduces self-consciousness; it is "the great confessional." Woolf discusses the cultural taboos associated with illness and explores how illness changes the way we read. Poems clarify and astonish, Shakespeare exudes new brilliance, and so does melodramatic fiction!

On Being Ill was published as an individual volume by Hogarth Press in 1930. While other Woolf essays, such as A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas, were first published by Hogarth as individual volumes and have since been widely available, On Being Ill has been overlooked. The Paris Press edition will feature original cover art by Woolf's sister, the painter Vanessa Bell. Hermione Lee's Introduction will discuss this "extraordinary" work, and explore Woolf's revelations about poetry, language, and illness.

Virginia Woolf (1882â€“1941) is one of the great literary geniuses of the 20th century. Her innovative fiction and essays are revered by readers around the globe. She was a central member of the Bloomsbury group and a groundbreaking feminist, publishing book-length essays that continue to change the lives of women today. Her most popular novels include To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Dalloway, and Orlando. When she was not writing, Virginia Woolf operated Hogarth Press with her husband Leonard Woolf.

Hermione Lee is the acclaimed Virginia Woolf scholar and the author of Virginia Woolf (Knopf, 1997). Other books include Willa Cather and the forthcoming biography of Edith Wharton. She is Goldsmith's Professor of English Literature and Fellow of New College at the University of Oxford, England.

Customer Reviews:

A glowing perspective.......2004-02-27

In this discerning and somewhat humorous essay, Virginia Woolf remarks on humanity's experiences with illness, whether mental or physical, and on how it is rarely the subject of literature or art. She notes our contradictory nature toward sympathy and offers an opinion about what illness tells us about the natural world. Hermione Lee's fascinating introduction firmly places this remarkable work in the context of Woolf's life and writing. This Paris Press edition recreates the original artwork and typeset of the 1930 printing of "On Being Ill".

This is a short trip.......2003-03-25

This book is so small, the Introduction, pp. xi-xxxii, by Hermione Lee (April 15, 2002), plus notes to p. xxxiv, (the truly scholarly pages substantiating the material which ought to be considered, now that an entire book, VIRGINIA WOOLF'S ART AND MANIC-DEPRESSIVE ILLNESS by Thomas Caramagno (University of California Press, 1992) covers the topic), have more paragraphs than the main text, which only has nine or ten, unless you count multiple breaks for lines of some poet on p. 20 and Rimbaud at the top of p. 21 as indicating some flight beyond the normal bounds of the paragraph in which "Incomprehensibility has an enormous power over us in illness, more legitimately perhaps than the upright will allow" (p. 21) expresses itself as a single sentence.

The sentences are what astounds. The first sentence is constructed like an erudite train to somewhere: "Considering how ..., how ..., how astonishing ..., what ..., what ..., what ..., how we go down into the pit of death ...--when we think of this, as we are so frequently forced to think of it, it becomes strange indeed that illness has not taken its place with love and battle and jealousy among the prime themes of literature." (pp. 3-4). This hardly gives a firm foundation for those humorous moment when the primary reaction of anyone who is not in on the joke is: I think I'm going to be sick.

A precious gift to readers.......2003-03-17

From its magnificent cover, to its brilliant and sensitive insights into the psychology of illness--being ill, being near someone who is ill, anticipating being ill or well again--this book is a jewel. I love the way it feels in my hands. I love the way my eyes roam over the pages. I love the way it feels beneath my pillow. I've given it to friends and they have given it to their friends. And I am so pleased that Paris Press--"beautiful and daring feminist books"--has reprinted it as Woolf and Vanessa Bell intended. Precious!

MUST READ.......2002-12-11

On Being Ill is a small masterpiece. This is a unique book--compassionate, intelligent, affirming, and comforting, both for the "healthy" among us, and those who have experienced illness. This is Woolf at her best: brilliant, daring, probing, and Hermione Lee's Introduction is a gem.

Also, for those of us who care about design, the book is a beauty, a work of art in itself.

Put this book among those most dear to you!

Being Sick Well: Joyful Living Despite Chronic Illness

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Celebrating Life
HELP WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS
A fellow Caregiver
What better way than to learn from the best?
Finally a Doctor who understands

Being Sick Well: Joyful Living Despite Chronic Illness
Jeffrey H. Boyd
Manufacturer: Baker Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Disorders & Diseases | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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philosophy hope in a jar daily moisturizer

ASIN: 0801012686
Release Date: 2005-04-01

Book Description

Nearly half the U.S. population suffers from a chronic illness. Still, many have failed to recognize this epidemic, focusing too much on the problem rather than the solution. Here author Jeffrey H. Boyd sets out to change all that. Writing with a lively, engaging style, Boyd offers encouragement for those who suffer with a chronic illness and those who care for them. He draws on personal experiences of illness within his own family as well as the experiences of hundreds of other Christians he has interviewed, showing sufferers and their loved ones how to live fully in spite of their condition. Boyd tackles a variety of areas-defining the nature of illness, suffering with dignity, finding God in illness, and helping individuals and families facing chronic illness. Bottom line: Whether it be back pain or something more serious, chronic illness doesn't have to rule people's lives.

Customer Reviews:

Celebrating Life.......2006-04-21

Every once in a while, if we are lucky, something comes along that reminds us of the quiet courage of regular people. We remember the dignity and bravery of individuals who through their suffering have taught us so much about what it means to be alive and to be human. One of my colleagues has recently published a book that celebrates the lives of many such courageous people who have much to teach us about living joyously.

Jeffrey Boyd, M.D., M.P.H., has published Being Sick Well, a collection of interviews with people who suffer with long-term, life-changing illnesses. Through their intimate conversations with Jeff, who is an ordained Episcopal minister and Chairman of Behavioral Health at Waterbury Hospital, they share the depths of their suffering, the strength of their faith, and the ways that they have chosen to cope with their illnesses. While they endure unimaginable suffering, they have chosen not to give up. In fact, one of the gifts that they give us is their strategies for living satisfying lives.

Several of the people interviewed for Being Sick Well are from our communities: Fr. John Cockayne of Thomaston, Charlene Stephens and Bette Fern of Woodbury; Mary of Cheshire; Eileen Clark of Middlebury; Shiquirye Silvia Krosts of Waterbury; Sue Luchs of Milford; and Placido Mastroianni of New Haven. At some point during their diagnoses--or in Charlene's case in the diagnosis of her child--they decided that life still had its blessings. In many cases, they chose to use their illnesses to help others. Some have turned to humor or spiritual resources to maintain useful, meaningful lives.

Jeff's book combines his thorough research into the emerging epidemic of chronic illness with an interesting view of how the successes of medical science have failed to make us better. When doctors say that they will "cure" cancer, they mean that their goal is to turn cancer into a manageable chronic illness. We might live longer with cancer; however, this doesn't necessarily mean that we will be healthy.

Jeff also provides insights into the repercussions of chronic illness: how it will affect the rising costs of health care, the tough medical choices we will face, and the effect this epidemic has on so many people who have become caregivers to the chronically ill.

This book is compelling on many different levels. Jeff demonstrates the practical implications of strategies for coping through each individual's story. Diverse religious beliefs are represented, showing the critical role faith plays in one's ability to live with illness. This book addresses numerous approaches to managing illness, including taking charge of one's illness, taking the medicine as prescribed, and humbly doing the work of a caregiver. In our effort to bring comfort and meaning to those who are suffering, we will find Being Sick Well a vital resource filled with encouragement, hope, and inspiration.

HELP WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS.......2005-08-05

I HAVEN'T FINISHED THE BOOK YET. CAN YOU GET BACK TO ME IN A FEW WEEKS?

A fellow Caregiver.......2005-05-25

I wanted to share with you about a fantastic book I just finished reading. "Being Sick Well, Joyful Living Despite Chronic Illness," is probably one of the best books I have ever read. As someone who is a care giver of a chronic illness sufferer and the Founder & President of two chronic illness support & awareness organizations, The Invisible Disabilities Advocate and Where Is God Ministries, I was moved with a wide range of emotions and challenged with new ideas and wowed by the insight of the author, Dr Jeffery Boyd.

In "Being Sick Well," Dr Boyd states "When I talked with people who had chronic illness but remained upbeat, I discovered that they developed methods to help them get through the day." These methods which Dr Boyd gleaned from case histories are mentioned throughout the book and are insightfully turned into 20 strategies for joyful living despite chronic illness. The book is full of stories of sufferers and their care givers. There are even detailed statics and conclusions surrounding the continuing rise of chronic illness in America despite the notion we are getting healthier. Dr Boyd tackles these issues surrounding chronic illness with experience, intelligence and compassion.

Far from being dry, I cried and cheered and laughed. The stories are moving and what they teach in regards to "Being Sick Well" are practical and inspiring. Since my organizations do not target any specific chronic illnesses or disease, I wondered how they could have an greater impact on our world. Most people are drawn to a particular organization that deals with one specific disease or chronic illness such as the Arthitis Foundation or the MS Society. Dr Boyd addresses this issue by stating the following:

What is lacking is a sense of common cause among the different disease constituencies. If the families afflicted with diseases X, Y, and Z would cooperate instead of competing with one another, there would emerge an advocacy group representing a majority of the public, and suddenly the healthcare finance system would be forced to change so as to recognize and treat chronic illness. That would make life with chronic disease much more tolerable for everyone.

I was not only moved by his book, but I was also encourged and energized to rise to the challenge he set forth. Since currently "At least 45% of all Americans have a chronic condition" there is a lot of work to be done and I thank Dr Boyd for leading the challenge in "Being Sick Well."

What better way than to learn from the best?.......2005-05-13

As a medical practitioner who treats patients with kidney disease, diabetes, and many other chronic illnesses, I have found Dr. Boyd's book tremendously helpful for me, my patients and their families. He creatively and lovingly engages a group of people who have found their own way to live well with their chronic illnesses, and then brilliantly distills their stories for us. Dr. Boyd gives both knowledge and inspiration that all of us, and those who we care for, can use to improve the way we live.
This book reminds us that as physicians we must treat illness on many different levels besides prescriptions, tests and hospital stays. I know that many of my patients could minimize their need for medications and hospitalizations if we could find a way to follow the lead of these courageous people who shared with Dr. Boyd the wisdom they have found in adapting to some of the most difficult trials any of us can face. With this book, Dr. Boyd gives us the opportunity to learn from some of the best. Not only do I encourage patients with chronic illness who want to live well, and doctors who want to help them, to read this book, but I encourage anyone who wants to find inspiration for conducting a better life to read it.

Finally a Doctor who understands.......2005-04-27

For many years Doctors have ignored the role that one's faith, regardless of what religion or church, plays in our ability to live with pain and illness. Why don't more Doctors recognize that prayer or some kind of spirituality can be as essential to our wellbeing as taking our medicine as prescribed?
This book has so many interviews with people who are living with long-term illness and who use their faith (Christian, Moslem, Jewish, Buddhism etc) to sustain them in addition to their sense of humor and a supportive network of family and friends.
Thank you for beautifully illustrating that faith, family and friends really do help.

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Magnificent!
"Beautiful, menacing and slightly out of control."
Uncompromising look at human idiocy . . . . . .
"Think differently, behave differently."
JOY WILLIAMS IS FANTASTIC!

Ill Nature
Joy Williams
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0375713638
Release Date: 2002-06-11

Amazon.com

Best known as a novelist, but also an accomplished journalist, Joy Williams has a great gift for inducing guilt trips. No one is safe: in the opening pages of Ill Nature, she implicates every First Worlder in creation for causing the death of the natural world, the victim of our material urges. She writes that the thousands of new digital television towers being erected today, for example, are responsible for the deaths of millions of songbirds that unwittingly slam into them or their guylines in midflight; by extension, anyone who owns a digital TV set is partly to blame for this unforeseen episode in the larger ecological crisis, no matter how well-intentioned those viewers may be.

Turning a sharp eye on ecotourists, zoogoers, hunters, politicians, developers, expectant mothers, carnivores, conservatives, liberals, and just about anyone else who crosses her path, Williams decries the rapid loss of the wild, which in her eyes is no mere abstraction. Sometimes hyperbolic, but more often right on target, she argues that it will take more than a few cosmetic fixes to mend all the wounds that the environment has sustained. Dystopian to the last (as she writes, "You are increasingly looking at and living in proxy environments created by substitution and simulation," and not the real world at all), Williams brings plenty of heat to the page--and plenty of light, too. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

Most of us watch with mild concern the fast-disappearing wild spaces or the recurrence of pollution-related crises such as oil spills, toxic blooms in fertilizer-enriched forests, and violence both home and abroad. Joy Williams does more than watch. In this collection of condemnations and love letters, revelations and cries for help, she brings to light the price of complacency with scathing wit and unexpected humor. Sounding the alarm over the disconnection from the natural world that our consumer culture has created, she takes on subjects as varied as the culling of elephants, electron-probed chimpanzees, vanishing wetlands, and the determination of American women to reproduce at any cost. Controversial, opinionated, at times exceptionally moving, Ill Nature is a clarion call for us to step out of our cars and cubicles, and do something to save our natural legacy.

Customer Reviews:

Magnificent!.......2003-10-19

Williams is the greatest writer we have in America at this moment!

"Beautiful, menacing and slightly out of control.".......2002-07-15

Death and suffering are a big part of writing. A big part. (To paraphrase and turn upon the gifted Joy Williams; see page 49.) And you can't waste satire or pure hardcore ridicule on targets unworthy of the name. You've got to go after the people who kill animals, and you can't spare anybody. Sure it's duck soup to take aim at the National Rifle Association and the few Big Game Machos left in the world. Duck soup. And the sickie scientists who lobotomize chimps and torture rabbits just to see how long they can take it, their white coats starched and pressed, their nimble fingers taking copious notes. These targets are too easy. In the final analysis you gotta get the burger eaters, every one of them, not just the Super-Sized that waddle into the Burger King or the suburban Mommas sneaking out of the Krispy Kreme, bags of donuts like warm puppies under both arms, mouths stuffed. No, you've got to get the photo safari people who kill merely with their privileged, ignorant, dilettante PRESENCE in jungleland, a lily-livered affront to nature, over-tipping the guides and spilling martinis and overexposed film onto the purity of the veldt.

At any rate, this is the Joy Williams rant, and what I say is rant on, Voltaire!

This collection of magazine essays begins with "Save the Whales, Screw the Shrimp" in which Williams goes after the wishy-washy, faux lovers of nature, addressing them (in effect) as hey "you" with the "Big Gulp cups." Next is a short-short about rhesus monkeys being raised for laboratory research on an island charmingly called "Key Lois" (Laboratory Observing Island Simians). Williams follows this with "Safariland" in which she makes fun of the photo safari experience, reducing it to a kind of Disneyland with mosquito netting.

So far Joy Williams is just satirizing. Next comes a particularly brutal short-short on wildebeests, how they can't migrate to water during the dry season as they have for millions of years because there's a cattle fence that keeps them from the water they can smell. Williams is particularly vivid as she describes thousands of them up against the fence dying of thirst. But she's only warming up. In the next piece, "The Killing Game" and in a later piece, "The Animal People" we experience the full monty of Joy Williams unleashed. Now her writing becomes (as she describes it in the final essay entitled "Why I Write") "unelusive and strident and brashly one-sided." Her words are "meant to annoy and trouble and polarize, and they made readers...half nuts with rage and disdain." (pp. 209-210)

I believe it. I too love the animals, but I'd bet protozoa to primates that she'd find my efforts sadly lacking and my attitude wimpishly laissez faire.

I guess the best way to demonstrate the intent and style of this remarkable book is to just quote Joy Williams. Here's the opening lines of "The Case against Babies":

BABIES, BABIES, BABIES. There's a plague of babies. Too many rabbits or elephants or mustangs or swans brings out the myxomatosis, the culling guns, the sterility drugs, the scientific brigade of egg smashers. Other species can "strain their environments" or "overrun their range" or clash with their human "neighbors," but human babies are always welcome at life's banquet. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome--Live Long and Consume!

Joy Williams really is a kind of earthy Voltaire, a kind of meat cleaver (as opposed to rapier) Voltaire, a kind of take no prisoners master of satire, burlesque, ridicule and just plain old verbal assassination.

But she raises a profound and demoralizing question: what IS going to happen to all the animals that we claim to love so much? Both Joy Williams and I know. Only those fully compatible with humans (dogs, cats, aquarium fish) or those we can't do anything about (rats, mice, crows, sea gulls, sparrows) will survive. Joy knows this and she's angry. Her anger shows. But she's also resigned and that shows too. I know this not merely because of her tone but because of what she writes on page 209: "Nothing the writer can do is ever enough."

The denouement of the book (strangely it has one; Joy Williams is an artist) comes in the penultimate essay, "Hawk." Here we are stunned to learn that "Hawk," her German shepherd dog, whom she referred to as "my sweetie pie, my honey, my handsome boy, my love," whom she would kiss fondly on the nose, turned on her one day as she was leaving him at the vet and savagely bit into and ripped at her breast and then gnawed her arms, and had to be not destroyed, but given euthanasia and cremated.

I don't know what to say about this benumbing turn. Really I think Joy Williams is an artist whose inner artistic nature rises over and above her normal consciousness and tells us the truth in a way ordinary consciousness never could; and even here in a collection of non-fictional essays she has consciously or unconsciously employed the techniques of the master story teller that she is, and left us with a queasy sense of the madness of life while demonstrating that there is so much beyond our understanding.

This extraordinary book should be read not so much for the overpowering arguments against our misuse of animals, or for the undeniable demonstration of our "ill nature," but for the perfect power of her words. Anyone with any pretension toward mastery of language ought to read Joy Williams. In doing so we too might learn to write, as she does, in a manner that is "beautiful and menacing and slightly out of control." (p. 210)

Uncompromising look at human idiocy . . . . . ........2001-11-07

Joy Williams takes a clear-eyed look at the greedy, short-sighted and uncompassionate ways of humans, particularly the gluttonous, over-consuming American horde, and what small-brained humanoids have done to the natural world and the creatures who share this water planet.

The truth may set you free, but first it will make you miserable --- if your heart has not been sanitized, plasticized, and chemicalized into stuporous numbness. Williams outlines the enormity of the forces arrayed against those who would preserve some of this beleaguered planet for the plants and animals and natural lifeforms.

With ironical humor, razor wit and passionate uncommon sense, Williams takes aim at industrial agriculture, federal Wildlife Services (which "manages" wildlife by killing it), fertility clinics which allows infertile women to birth litters of babies on this overtaxed planet, hunters and the whole panoply of unbridled growth-is-good ideologues.(Unbridled growth, Edward Abbey wrote, is the ideology of the cancer cell.)

What gourmands call veal and seafood are, in reality, the corpses of slaughtered animals. Williams opens the blinders to reveal the reality behind the modern consumerist lifestyle and while it is not pretty, there is a dark and twisted humor to it.

Williams puts her money where her mouth is. When she had to sell some land she owned in Florida, she insisted, over the bellowing of the realtors, on deed restrictions that would preserve the land's natural character. Eventually, a nature-loving buyer appeared. Good show. I have had similar thoughts about preserving the trees on my little land; thanks to this author for giving me hope that I can protect them. Keep writing, Joy Williams, words can make a difference.

Buy this book, take it to heart, hear the clarion call, get sane, change your life!

"Think differently, behave differently.".......2001-05-10

I discovered Tucson writer Joy Williams through her essay, "Hawk." About her "big black German shepherd" (p.184) she writes, Hawk "was my sweetie pie, my honey, my handsome boy, my love. On the following day he would attack me as though he wanted to kill me" (p.185).

Williams' collection of 19 no-nonsense "rants and reflections" is a confrontational wake-up call. Each year three million migratory songbirds slam into towers and their guy wires (p.20). Seven thousand acres are lost each day in this country to land developers.(p.129) We are overpopulating the planet with "babies, babies, babies," Williams observes, "those heirs, those hopes, those products of our species' selfishness, sentimentality and global death wish"(p. 105). Neither hunters nor animal rights' activists escape the rant that becomes a roar in these pages. "Honor non-human life," Williams writes. "Control yourself, become more authentic, live lightly upon the earth and treat it with respect. Redefine the word progress and dismiss the managers and masters. Grow inwardly and with knowledge become truly wiser. Think differently, behave differently"(p.21). I couldn't put this book of eye-opening essays down. And for another rant you'll remember, try Ferenc Mate's A REASONABLE LIFE (2000).

G. Merritt

JOY WILLIAMS IS FANTASTIC!.......2001-04-10

I've been waiting for someone to speak my mind about the abuse of nature, the lip service of politicians regarding the environment, development run amok and other issues that seem beyond our control; Joy Williams does this with gusto, and one senses, a deeply passionate anger. "The Killing Game" especially runs true as I live in hunting country and hear the heart-sickening comments of hunters who can barely name a handful of the flora and fauna that surrounds them on their killing expeditions. "Wildebeest" is a poignant and sad tribute to that wonderful animal driven to survive and "The Case Against Babies" reminds us just out of control the human population is. You don't have to be a "liberal tree hugger" or nature mysticist to appreciate these essays: Ms. Williams speaks as a realist and she hits hard where it should hurt, which is to make us see our hypocritical ways. This is a fast-paced read and enjoyably sarcastic but beneath that lies a plea to speak out against man's selfish, selfish existence. She is also a fine writer. I will eagerly await her next book and hope more writers like her emerge into mainstream publishing.

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Hopeful encouragement and reflection on church life

Being Church, Becoming Community
John M. Buchanan
Manufacturer: Westminster John Knox Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Monasticism | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0664256694

Customer Reviews:

Hopeful encouragement and reflection on church life.......1999-12-03

John Buchanan has written a book that will uplift many a pastor and church member. He reflects on what it means for local churches to be and do community, in the context of his experience as pastor of a large, downtown church. In some respects, Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago is quite distinctive; yet Buchanan's discussion of the meaning of church and church life feels in no way elitist or unusual.

Many books have been published in the past several years that sing dirges over the plight of many churches. Buchanan does not ignore the problems that churches face, nor the conditions that create them. Neither does he spew out trendy techniques for pulling one's church out of a tailspin. Rather, he discusses stories in the Bible and how he sees those stories addressing churches today. And he dares to probe theologically about what it means to be God's people--without sounding either academic or superficial.

This is the kind of readable yet thoughtful book to give to a pastor or church leader who might be feeling discouraged about ministry. It is a book about hope in the face of change and forces that would diminish our capacity to join together in faith. I recommend the book without qualification.

George Thompson Associate Professor of Church Administration and Leadership The Interdenominational Theological Center Atlanta, Georgia

gthompson@itc.edu

Promoting The Emotional Well-being Of Children And Adolescents And Preventing Their Mental Ill Health: A Handbook

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Promoting The Emotional Well-being Of Children And Adolescents And Preventing Their Mental Ill Health: A Handbook

Manufacturer: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Adolescent Psychology | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Mental Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Being Mentally Ill: Sociological Theory (Social Problems and Social Issues) (Social Problems and Social Issues)

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Being Mentally Ill: Sociological Theory (Social Problems and Social Issues) (Social Problems and Social Issues)
Thomas Scheff
Manufacturer: Aldine Transaction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mental Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Mental Illness | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Social Psychology & Interactions | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates
Madhouse: A Tragic Tale of Megalomania and Modern Medicine
The Sociology of Mental Illness (4th Edition)
Behavior in Public Places
The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness

ASIN: 0202305872

Book Description

In incorporating social process into a model of the dynamics of mental disorders, Being Mentally Ill questions the individualistic model favored in current psychiatric and psychoanalytic theory. While the conventional psychiatric viewpoint seeks the causes of mental illness, Scheff views "the symptoms of mental illness" as the violation of residual rules—social norms so taken for granted that they are not explicitly verbalized. Throughout the book, the sociological model of mental illness is compared and contrasted with more conventional medical and psychological models in an attempt to delineate significant problems for further analysis and research.

The third edition has been revised and expanded to encompass the considerable controversy prompted by the first edition and sustained in the second, and also to evaluate recent developments in the field. New to this edition are discussions of the massive use of psychoactive drugs in the treatment of mental illness, changing mental health laws, new social science and psychiatric studies, and the controversy surrounding the labeling theory of mental illness itself.

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Being Mentally Ill
Thomas J. Scheff
Manufacturer: Aldine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000H3EZOW

Culture's garland: Being memoranda of the gradual rise of literature, art, music and society in Chicago, and other western ganglia (Ticknor's paper series of choice reading)

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Culture's garland: Being memoranda of the gradual rise of literature, art, music and society in Chicago, and other western ganglia (Ticknor's paper series of choice reading)
Eugene Field
Manufacturer: Ticknor and Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0008CK66I

On being insane in medico-legal places: the importance of taking a complete history in forensic mental health assessment.(Australia) : An article from: Psychiatry, Psychology and Law

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On being insane in medico-legal places: the importance of taking a complete history in forensic mental health assessment.(Australia) : An article from: Psychiatry, Psychology and Law
Peter C. Gaughwin
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, published by Thomson Gale on November 1, 2005. The length of the article is 8603 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: On being insane in medico-legal places: the importance of taking a complete history in forensic mental health assessment.(Australia)
Author: Peter C. Gaughwin
Publication: Psychiatry, Psychology and Law (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Page: 298(13)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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