Enthralling....If so compact a book can be magisterial; [this] is it.―Michael Dirda; Washington Post Book World... A smart; literate survey of human life from paleolithic times until 9/11."―Edward Rothstein; The New York Times Why has human history been crowded into the last few thousand years? Why has it happened at all? Could it have happened in a radically different way? What should we make of the disproportionate role of the West in shaping the world we currently live in? This witty; intelligent hopscotch through human history addresses these questions and more. Michael Cook sifts the human career on earth for the most telling nuggets and then uses them to elucidate the whole. From the calendars of Mesoamerica and the temple courtesans of medieval India to the intricacies of marriage among an aboriginal Australian tribe; Cook explains the sometimes eccentric variety in human cultural expression. He guides us from the prehistoric origins of human history across the globe through the increasing unification of the world; first by Muslims and then by European Christians in the modern period; illuminating the contingencies that have governed broad historical change. "A smart; literate survey of human life from paleolithic times until 9/11."―Edward Rothstein; The New York Times 11 maps; 28 illustrations
#244976 in BooksColor: Multicolor Toi Derricotte 1999-06-17Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.00 x .70 x 5.00l; .46 #File Name: 0393319016208 pagesBlack Notebooks An Interior Journey
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A strong; bitter and beautiful dose of truthBy Nathaniel LevinI will borrow these words from the item page for this book: "The Black Notebooks is one of the most extraordinary and courageous accounts of race in this country; seen through the eyes of a light-skinned black woman and a respected American poet. It challenges all our preconceived notions of what it means to be black or white; and what it means to be human." These words seem true to me; but do not bear witness to the immense pain captured in this book. It is originally the multiple pains experienced and captured by the author; but it is also the pain we all share living in this racist (though also astonishing; beautiful; great and unfathomable) society we call America.I have read this book twice; each time in a concentrated interval of one or two days. Once read it weighs heavily on the mind and soul. The number of words consumed in reading it is not large; but those words form a potent dose of truth; one that I have difficulty handling. I started reading it again today but put it aside as I do not wish to undertake the difficult effort of absorbing that dose of truth on this particular day. I expect to have to read this book again and again to do it justice by eventually having my mind accept the bitterness of the truth it contains. It is fortunate that this book contains great beauty as well; for when I am finally able to accept its bitter truth; I will also have possession of its beauty.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Look insideBy ShopperofSituationalShoesExcellent viewpoint of the internal struggle racists creates coupled with the impact of external forces; too.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. SurprisedBy Sukaza4meshonI got this for a class that I was taking and was not expecting much as it was a documentary. The writer had published everything as if she was writing her day-to-day life in a journal. It was hard to understand at first (being that we're from different times) but this type of writing style was easy to follow and let me see aspects of the author that you usually wouldn't see.
