Informed Power maps the intricate; intersecting channels of information exchange in the early American South; exploring how people in the colonial world came into possession of vital knowledge in a region that lacked a regular mail system or a printing press until the 1730s.Challenging the notion of early colonial America as an uninformed backwater; Alejandra Dubcovsky uncovers the ingenious ways its inhabitants acquired timely news through largely oral networks. Information circulated through the region via spies; scouts; traders; missionaries; and other ad hoc couriers―and by encounters of sheer chance with hunting parties; shipwrecked sailors; captured soldiers; or fugitive slaves. For many; content was often inseparable from the paths taken and the alliances involved in acquiring it. The different and innovative ways that Indians; Africans; and Europeans struggled to make sense of their world created communication networks that linked together peoples who otherwise shared no consensus of the physical and political boundaries shaping their lives.Exchanging information was not simply about having the most up-to-date news or the quickest messenger. It was a way of establishing and maintaining relationships; of articulating values and enforcing priorities―a process inextricably tied to the region’s social and geopolitical realities. At the heart of Dubcovsky’s study are important lessons about the nexus of information and power in the early American South.
#1588976 in Books 1989-05-01 1989-05-31Ingredients: Example IngredientsOriginal language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x 2.06 x 5.50l; 2.38 #File Name: 0674474953824 pages
Review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Gedaliah Alon's Magnum opusBy C. R. FischerGedaliah Alon was only 49 when he died in 1950. Originally from Poland; he immigrated to Palestine in 1926 and studied for several years at Hebrew University before eventually teaching there as well. He had published a number of important articles; but had not finished his book at the time of his passing. Instead; the multitude of notes he made were collected and edited by his student Shmuel Safrai and published posthumously in this book.The book; translated into English as "The Jews in their land in the Talmudic Age;" made a number of radical suggestions that provide a fresh look at incidents in Classical Jewish History. The initial chapters give a brief overview of the periods he wishes to cover and decides to divide them into three periods. These are: The age of the Tannaim; the age of the Amoraim; and post Amoraic Byzantine Palestine; each of which span 200 years.Beyond this point; he starts presenting his analysis of what went on in the earliest of the periods. He begins with the lasting effects of the Jewish wars; including how it affected religious institutions; the relationship of the Jews to the Romans; the question of the move to Yavneh and Ben Zakai’s leadership; as well as focusing on a number of socio-economic issues. His most interesting analysis is his close reading of the traditions explaining how the Sanhedrin moved to Yavneh with his stunning conclusion that Ben Zakai did not make the request for Yavneh at all; as traditionally believed; but instead that Ben Zakai was imprisoned and sent to Yavneh which had become a de facto DP camp for Jews whom were made to leave their lands. Only then did the Sanhedrin begin to assemble itself there and slowly build up to the power greater than even what they had held before. In due time; the patriarch exceeded the priesthood in power and authority to the point that they could even push away and isolate the growing Christian sect in a way that they could not have dealt with the Sadducees and other previous groups.As interesting as all of the details are; Alon’s writing is never particularly impassioned. He clearly has worked to mentally remove himself from the material to create a sufficiently objective; if dry; history of these areas. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a thorough understanding of the Jews who lived in these times.
