Life; liberty and the pursuit of happiness is perhaps the most famous phrase of all in the American Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson's momentous words are closely related to the French concept of "liberté; égalité; fraternityé"; and both ideas incarnate a notion of freedom as inalienable human right that in the modern world we expect to take for granted. In the ancient world; by contrast; the concepts of freedom and equality had little purchase. Athenians; Spartans and Romans all possessed slaves or helots (unfree bondsmen); and society was unequal at every stratum. Why; then; if modern society abominates slavery; does what antiquity thought about serfdom matter today?Page duBois shows that slavery; far from being extinct; is alive and well in the contemporary era. Slaves are associated not just with the Colosseum of ancient Rome; and films depicting ancient slaves; but also with Californian labor factories and south Asian sweatshops; while young women and children appear increasingly vulnerable to sexual trafficking. Juxtaposing such modern experiences of bondage (economic or sexual) with slavery in antiquity; the author explores the writings on the subject of Aristotle; Plautus; Terence and Aristophanes. She also examines the case of Spartacus; famous leader of a Roman slave rebellion; and relates ancient notions of liberation to the all-too-common immigrant experience of enslavement to a globalized world of rampant corporatism and exploitative capitalism.
#2961481 in Books Bastian Dawn E Mitchell Judy K 2008-05-07Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 6.10 x .60 x 9.10l; .99 #File Name: 0195342321320 pagesHandbook of Native American Mythology
Review
18 of 23 people found the following review helpful. Extremely inaccurate and misleadingBy Turtle HeartI am sorry to say that I view this book as a big mistake. I am an American Indian cultural and religious consultant. For over 40 years. I often review books on subjects related to American Indians. It is my view that American Indian culture is drowning in a sea of really bad information. This book does not help the problem...instead contributing to it in a very negative way. I think the authors may have just done cut and paste with pieces of information they have found here and there. Many of the "stories" are not attributed to any tribe at all. By failing to let us know where these stories are coming from means you cannot trust them in any way. Many times they may attribute some quality to a tribe; but really get it wrong. This book does not reflect a good understanding of historical timelines and has stories or "legends" that belong to conflicting timelines in the same story. The article on bears is the best example of everything wrong with this book. Each tribe that recognizes some teaching or story about bears does so in a specific and distinct way. In the stories here we do not know if they are talking about the north or the west; the plains or the rivers. I am sorry; really; in my view this book is very poorly written and presents an important subject in a very inaccurate way.
