The Daughter's Return: African-American and Caribbean Women's Fictions of History

Book Description

The Daughter's Return offers a close analysis of an emerging genre in African-American and Caribbean fiction produced by women writers who make imaginative returns to their ancestral pasts. Considering some of the defining texts of contemporary fiction--Toni Morrison's Beloved, Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, and Michelle Cliff's No Telephone to Heaven--Rody discusses their common inclusion of a daughter who returns to the site of her people's founding trauma of slavery through memory or magic. Rody treats these texts as allegorical expressions of the desire of writers newly emerging into cultural authority to reclaim their difficult inheritance, and finds a counter plot of heroines' encounters with women of other racial and ethnic groups running through these works.

Average customer rating:

Really Surprisine

The Return #3 (Flight 29 Down)
John Vornholt
Manufacturer: Grosset & Dunlap
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0448441292

Book Description

After a week of being stranded on an unknown island, the remaining seven survivors of Flight 29 Down have pretty much gotten their routine down. Everyone has his or her job and pulls his or her weight. But when an unexpected visitor suddenly reappears on the scene, will she disrupt their delicate balance?

Customer Reviews:

Really Surprisine.......2007-09-23

I was pleasantly surprised by this book series. All the books are well written and very enjoyable for any age. I'd seen a couple of episodes on tv and then my little brother bought book 1 at the book fair. Loved them all. Its got your mystery, suspence, romantic entaglements (teenage romance), adventure and lots more. It shows that everything takes team work. Very good series for young kids.

Average customer rating:

A good sequel.
better than i thought
Wait for the paperback

Piratica II: Return to Parrot Island
Tanith Lee
Manufacturer: Dutton Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0525477691

Book Description

Art Blastside has dodged the gallows and married her true love. But life ashore is too tame for a pirate queen, so she jumps at the chance to go to sea again. England is at war, and the government wants Art to use her talents against the French. Naval war is horrific, and her arch-nemesis is bent on revenge. What price is Art willing to pay for her life of freedom?

As gripping as the first Piratica, which Kirkus Reviews praised in a starred review as "a glorious roustabout of a tale," this book proves again why Tanith Lee is one of the world's most popular fantasy writers.

Customer Reviews:

A good sequel........2007-07-20

At first I wasn't so sure how I felt about this book. In the first several chapters it seems like Felix and Art don't really care for each other that much, and Art seems overeager for the sea, almost obsessively. But by about halfway through the book I was satisfied; what seemed like indifference was really just one of Art and Felix's trademark arguments. This plot line is well thought out, like that of the first "Piratica", and I LOVE the ending, not only because of the romance (although it is romantic as heck), but also the way Art and her crew contribute to the battle... It might be far fetched in another book, but in the world of Piratica it seems totally believeable.
I don't really know what to say about this book, except it's a really great read. There's no needless chatter at the beginning, it goes directly to the action. The writing is really good, as always with Tanith Lee, and though it seems like the plot line is going all over the place and it would be impossible to bring it all together, everything is ingeniously concluded in the end.
All I can say is, READ THIS BOOK! Although I have to admit that the first is probably a little better, the sequel is still very satisfying and I adore it. I love Piratica!

better than i thought.......2007-05-07

when i first read a review on Piratica 2, i was sure she had blown it, but when i saw it in the library i had to get it. almost immediately i was engrossed in its pages being swept along as Art skips back to sea. all in all this book is a growing up story. take a young woman who has never had to care for anyone before, marry her off, and keep her stuck on land for a long period of time and you get a spoiled little girl. but as she leaves her husband (not perminately mind) she begans to realize what a blessing she held in her arms. it isnt until she realizes there may be more on the way that she begins to realize that she needs to take more care for herself, if not for herself, then for her family. she goes from spoiled to considerate, from unapreciative to apreciative, and unfeeling to loving. all in all i thought this book was 10 times better than the reveiw made it out to be and i encourage you to read it for yourself. never put your whole oppinion on what others think.

Wait for the paperback.......2007-04-09

The first volume in this series is one of my all-time favorite books. So I splurged and bought the second in hardback. I should have waited for paper.

In the inaccurately named Return to Parrot Island, Art gets tired of being on land. Free England offers her the chance to go back to sea as a privateer (legal pirate). Her arch enemy, Goldie (boo hiss), is also itching to leave Judge Knowles and go back to sea to find the Parrot Island treasure.

Art's husband, Felix, is opposed to the idea of Art going back to piracy, but she blows him off and goes. My biggest problem with this book is that I felt no sympathy, empathy or anything toward Art. By the end of the book, I had lots more sympathy for the evil Little Goldie Girl than for Art.

Too many characters in this book. Too many things happening - most of which didn't interest me. There was a whole dumb section about Eban being made a Pharaoh. The whole book felt disjointed, strained and far fetched.

Some of the things I found charming in the first book started to grate, e.g. cutesy language, pirates talking like teenage girls, etc. It started to sound forced and mechanical.

On the positive side, I enjoyed the description of how everyone in Free England was going nuts about pirates. And I enjoyed reading the adventures of Muck, the cleanest dog in England.

I also enjoyed reading about Goldie, especially her revenge on puritanical Judge Knowles.

The names of the ships were funny at first but got slightly old. (Many of the ships have accidental names like "Ow Blast" because of something that happened just as they were being named.)

Usually, the second book in series is the weakest. Hopefully, Lee will write a third Piratica that is better. If so, I will buy it, but not until it is in paper.

Average customer rating:

Dated in some respects, but timeless in others.
Worth the read
A perfect book for those who read in short bursts!
Poor Descriptions of Indians
Disappointing Sequel

Return to Paradise
James A. Michener
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0394442911
Release Date: 1951-04-12

Book Description

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC returns to the scenes of those tales, which won him world recognition. Once again he evokes the magic of the blessed isles in the Pacific with stories and accounts glowing with color and alive with adventure.
"This is a book that should be read by everyone...and all who have seen the South Pacific will find on every page the odors of frangipani, copra, blood, and beer."
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK

From the Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

Dated in some respects, but timeless in others........2007-03-22

In this "sequel" to the more highly regarded TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC, author Michener adopts a somewhat different format. For each of the South Pacific islands included, he first writes an essay about its history and culture. He follows the essay with fiction, an original story set on that island. He not only writes about such obvious choices as Tahiti and Fiji; he also includes both Australia and New Zealand. His story set in New Zealand, a World War II homefront piece entitled UNTIL THEY SAIL, later became a film. That's the one part of this book that I remembered clearly, after a good 40 years, when I sat down to read RETURN TO PARADISE for the second time.

Michener's essays describe the South Pacific as it was in the late 1940s, several years before this "tail end" baby boomer was born, so today's reader needs to approach them as history and treat them accordingly. As such, they're intriguing. Some of the accompanying stories are equally dated, but I was surprised to find others echoing with human dilemmas only too familiar in today's world. UNTIL THEY SAIL didn't disappoint me a bit when read from a mature (think "old enough to be a grandma") woman's viewpoint, even though I last read it as a girl not long into adolescence. It helped me understand my parents' generation, then. This time around it reminded me that what happens to men and women separated (or brought together) by war is universal, and its dynamics never change.

Michener is always worth reading. 5 stars for sheer durability!

Worth the read.......2005-11-08

While I would be the first to say this is not as good as Tales of the south pacific, few books are. A very good read that any Michener fan will love.

A perfect book for those who read in short bursts!.......2004-01-09

Michener takes us on a tour of the islands of the Pacific Ocean with a collection of entertaining short stories of the people who inhabit them. Fictitious or not, dear reader cares less. The way he represents their populace is more than fifty years past and certainly, times may have changed. This reviewer hopes that holds equally true for Fiji !! This is one of those perfect books for someone who has limited time for reading or enjoys doing so only in short bursts.

Poor Descriptions of Indians.......2001-06-10

The pieces on Fijian-Indians in 'Fiji' and 'The Mynah Birds', in which local Indians are shown up in an ugly and racist manner, are just bad writing. To his credit Michener apologised about his untoward remarks years after the publication of the book.

Disappointing Sequel.......2000-09-12

Having read Tales of the South Pacific, one of the classics of 20th Century literature, I couldn't wait to read this 'sequel' by Michener. I wished I hadn't bothered. It seemed as if the great wordsmith was just writing because his publisher demanded to cash in on the success of 'Tales'. Disappointed, I put it down about a third of the way through and never bothered to pick it up again. It takes two to tango - even in a novel. Michener (the author) and I (the reader)danced our way through 'Tales' never missing a step. With the sequel it was if we had two left feet.

Journey to the Island of the Sun: The Return to the Lost City of Gold (Harper Odysseys)

Average customer rating:

The Proof Is In The Pudding
Reality or fiction?
ISLAND OF THE SUN by Alberto Villoldo, Erik Jendresen
Strong, but not as convincing as FOUR WINDS

Journey to the Island of the Sun: The Return to the Lost City of Gold (Harper Odysseys)
Alberto Villoldo , and Erik Jendresen
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0062508954

Book Description

Island of the Sun recounts the American psychologist Alberto Villoldo's return to Peru in search of the Quechua Indian shaman Don Jicaram. The authors' earlier book, Dance of the Four Winds, described Villoldo's first initiation, under Don Jicaram, into the secrets of the Inca Medicine Wheel and the spiritual journey of the Four Winds. Villoldo had begun that journey in the South, "where one goes to confront and shed the past." With use of the powerful mind-altering plant ayahuasca, he had continued to the West, a direction also inhabited by fear and death. Now in Island of the Sun he prepares himself for the journey to the North, where lies the wisdom of the ancient Inca shamans. Traveling from Machu Picchu to the "Island of the Sun," a sacred site in Bolivia, Villoldo uncovers a profound secret about the journey to the East--the journey home.

Customer Reviews:

The Proof Is In The Pudding.......2005-10-14

I must say how true it is when they say not to judge a book by its cover! Or, in this case by opinion only with no firsthand experience. I am currently studying with Alberto Villoldo through The Four Winds Society. Alberto will be the first to tell you that you must experience this to really understand and I will attest to that in full measure. The experiences and healing and wisdom of this system are profound. Having been a student and practitioner of alternative modalities since I was 15, I can attest to the fact that this system is like no other - and it works, as quickly as one is able to assimilate the process. Nothing else I tried, including traditional therapy - it only made things worse - has been able to fully release the deep seated issues of the extremely hostile enviroment I was born into and lived surrounded by for the first 30+ years of my life. If you are truly ready to be fully alive and free of the past - this will take you there in a graceful manner. And, it is fun as well as extremely effective. He also does not exclude useful modern medicine, there is a time and place for both.

Reality or fiction?.......2005-05-04

For those seeking more info about Dr. Villoldo's lack of detail and other concerns regarding truthfulness in contemporary shamanism, please see "The Selling of the Shaman and the Problem of Informant Legitimacy" which appears in the Summer 1990 issue of 'Anthropological Research', Volume 46, Number 2. Dr. Villoldo is prominently featured.

ISLAND OF THE SUN by Alberto Villoldo, Erik Jendresen.......2002-12-30

In ISLAND OF THE SUN, co-authored with Erik Jendresen, Alberto Villoldo relates his Peruvian odyssey in search of his teacher, Don Antonio. ISLAND OF THE SUN is a dramatic, poetic adventure -- a profound exercise in suspending ones disbelief, in expecting the unexpected, in stretching the imagination, and in shattering the boundaries of consciousness. In short, it gives a glimpse into the mind of a shaman. It has been said that to know and understand a shaman, one must become a shaman. Villoldo has become a shaman. His story is a captivating articulation of his journey into the unknown; its imagery, vivid and enchanting - "the Sun glistened in playful white sparkles of light on the green waters. I listened to the cicada hiss, the high-pitched cacophony of the birds and the insects, the whir and hiss and chatter and hum that bounced off its surface and filled the clearing with music."

Villoldo sees his mission as that of translating the ancient psychology and truths contained in the Medicine Wheel of the Incas into a Western framework - into a psychology of the sacred. He sees the Medicine Wheel as providing a neurological map for the evolution and transformation of our species by accessing the state of consciousness that informs life. He sees the Medicine Wheel as offering a path through which we can override the oftentimes violent survival mechanisms of our primitive limbic brain.

Villoldo presents the symbolic imagery of the archetypal energies contained in the Medicine Wheel. In the South (serpent), we confront and shed the past like a serpent sheds its skin. In the West (jaguar), we overcome fear and death. By experiencing ourselves as conscious energy, death loses its sting and becomes but a doorway to one of infinite phases in eternity. In the North (hummingbird), we experience the knowledge and wisdom of the ancients. We access a sea of consciousness as vast as time itself. In the East (eagle), we experience a transcendent, comprehensive, vision of what we have learned. We share our story with the world as caretakers of the earth. That, he says, is our return home.

The psychology of the ancients is based on direct shamanic experience in different domains of consciousness. Its approach -- of experience and exploration -- is from the inside out; its goal -- to know, understand, and be in harmony with the forces of Nature. In Villoldo's experience, that approach requires a new state of mind - one that allows but is not distracted by subjective experiences. The skills required come naturally in the process of "serving experiences." He explains that when one's intent is in harmony with the experience, it is served. Otherwise, it is just an experience.

In shamanic awareness, Villoldo experienced innumerable altered states of reality by shifting his perspective to unaccustomed dimensions. The most profound, for me, was his experiencing the integrity of a multisensory dream body awareness in which everything was reflected within him. He described it as like being a champagne bubble with all images of life reflected upon its inner surface. As his teacher later pointed out, in that, everything was reflected but the seer himself, for the seer is invisible.

Purity of intention is the key to shamanic exploration. Abandoning preconceptions is necessary and essential. To master the stillness required in the dream body, Villoldo says that one learns how to be conscious without being self-conscious. Through purity of intention, it is said to be possible to enter a realm beyond dreaming -- a wondrous, rich dimension of magnificent power and splendor. Maintaining purity of intention is the challenge.

Shamans of Peru practiced an alchemy of the soul. They were said to be able to influence the past as well as the future because they understood the relationship between time and light. It is said that in becoming light (an Inca, a Child of the Sun), time was dissolved. Shamans knew that time doesn't fly only in straight lines like an arrow - it also turns like a wheel. When those two kinds of time intersect, says Villoldo, that is sacred, ritual time -- one can influence the past and summon destiny from the future. The challenge is not to let knowledge of the future influence present actions or intent. Therefore, the shaman must be able to keep a secret from himself.

Villoldo's teacher, Don Antonio, points out that in all the great cultures developed north of the equator, God is a descending god -- the Divine comes from the heavens and descends to the Earth. For the Incas, the only great culture to develop south of the equator, the god-force is ascending -- it "rises from Earth to the heavens like the golden corn." Antonio envisions the new caretakers of the Earth as coming from the northern hemisphere. ( A prophecy of hope and perhaps even a vote of confidence, I think, for those of us in the northern hemisphere.)

Villoldo points out the paradox of psychology -- that when we study the human mind, it is the mind studying itself. He adds that modern science has failed to identify the psyche or subject of this study. The mind continues to evade us. From his extensive laboratory research as a psychologist and his inquiries as a medical anthropologist, Villoldo testifies that mind cannot be derived from the neurology of the human brain. He believes that psychology is like physics in that the act of studying the psyche alters it . Villoldo strongly believes that now is the time for humankind to turn consciousness on itself and step into a grander consciousness in the evolution of mankind. He sees the path of the shaman as giving us clues for this process of exploration, discovery, realization, and transformation. He sees the path of the shaman as offering hope for a better world and a new humanity.

Strong, but not as convincing as FOUR WINDS.......1998-12-13

This is a great tale, and fairly accurate and instructive. The Western world is sorely lacking in instruction about the non rational, can't put your tongue on it realities of which the author speaks. While what I know of Peruvian shamanism is very small compared to the author's knowledge and direct experience, I suggest that this effort to capture End Journeys is both admirable and riveting. I have used FOUR WINDS as a guide to non ordinary reality since my discovery of it as a legitimate map; my work in the Celtic otherworld supports what the author here describes in terms of the Peruvian landscapes of non ordinary reality. But personally, from a shamanic perspective, I want more of Antonio's accurate and real mentoring, and less of the neophyte journeyer's somewhat predictable story line. As a tale, the book is not as finely crafted as FOUR WINDS either. Nonetheless, a great read, but just not as instructive or as easy to read as I found FOUR WINDS. /D.L. Smith 12/12/98

The Return of the Dragon (Dragon of Lonely Island)

Average customer rating:

Great book!

The Return of the Dragon (Dragon of Lonely Island)
Rebecca Rupp
Manufacturer: Candlewick
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0763628042
Release Date: 2006-04-11

Book Description

In the long-awaited follow-up to THE DRAGON OF LONELY ISLAND, three adventurous children find further intrigue on a tiny Maine island where a talkative three-headed dragon lives out its days.

With their parents off to London on a special trip, Hannah, Zachary, and Sarah Emily are thrilled to be going back to Aunt Mehitabel's house on Lonely Island. Though their favorite aunt can't join them, they know their tummies will soon be filled with Mrs. Jones's mouthwatering cookies and their minds full of Fafnyr, the fabulous creature they befriended last summer. The glittering three-headed dragon remains safely hidden in a cave high above the ocean, waiting for the children's return.

But is Fafnyr's hiding place safe? As the children nervously discover, a white yacht is now anchored off the private island, and a crew led by billionaire J. P. King has been scouring onshore, supposedly watching birds. The children have promised to keep Fafnyr's existence a secret, but it's hard to know if the smooth-talking Mr. King is friend or foe. Only Fafnyr's own stories can lead the Dragon Friends to the heart of the mystery, as they teach the children to think more clearly, to make the right decisions - and to discover what's worth fighting for.

Customer Reviews:

Great book!.......2007-10-08

This book is a sequel to The Dragon of Lonely Island. The book is about a three-headed dragon that tells stories. In this book, a billionaire tries to capture the dragon and take him away. It is an exciting book and a little funny. It is almost as good as the first book, but I like the first one a little better.

I would recommend these books to everyone. Boys and girls would both like this book because the characters are both boys and girls. These books are so good that I read them both in two days.

Average customer rating:

How I see/Why I like the book
Retun To The Island
Return to the Island
A satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.

Return to the Island
Gloria Whelan
Manufacturer: HarperTrophy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0064407616
Release Date: 2002-05-07

Book Description

Is Mary home for good?

It is the spring of 1818 and Mary O'Shea has returned from England to her beloved Mackinac Island. She loves her life on the family firm and knows that she chose wisely in declining a marriage proposal from James Lindsay, a young duke she met during her travels. She is also delighted to once again spend time with White Hawk, her dearest friend. And although he is often called away to defend Indian claims to native lands, Mary cherishes White Hawk's visits, and hopes that one day he will stay forever. Then suddenly Mary's future comes into question when James appears at her doorstep to ask for her hand -- and refuses to leave until she consents. Now it seems that the only way for Mary to discover what her future holds is to uncover the truth of her own heart.

Customer Reviews:

How I see/Why I like the book.......2007-03-13

This book was based on some history and yes, its fiction too. I like it because its fun to read and its kid book too. Kid books are fun to read. This book gives a girl courage about herself...

The main character is about this girl MAry who is living on an island but when she went to visit her sister Angelique oversea, she befriends a duke's son. HE fell in love with her and asked for her hand in marriage but she had to return home b/c her father got sick and he folloed her back to USA. This book is about her adventure back on her island and how she found where her heart belonged. Where and to who it belong to. I love this book because it good a bit of romance and a bit of adventure in it.

Kid who loves history, romance and adventure would like this book.

Retun To The Island.......2002-05-11

I think this book was horrible because the author did not do enough research. I am an Odawa(spelled Ottawa in her book) girl. I have grew up learning my culture ever since i started school. One of the things wrong in her book is that she says Odawas lived in TeePees. which is certainly not true. She also spells Odawa wrong, she spells it the way the white man did when they first moved here. i would recommend to not read this book.

Return to the Island.......2002-04-10

I think this is a wonderful book. I have only one problem with it. The author (Gloria Whelan) has Ottawas (Odawas) living in teepees. I go to a Native school. All my classmates are Native, mainly Ojibwe and Ottawa (Odawa). One thing we try to tell people is that we DID NOT live in teepees. We lived in wigwams (structures with a wooden frame covered with bark or a similar material). I feel Gloria Whelan could have researched better and prevented this misinformation.

A satisfying conclusion to the trilogy........2000-07-15

Mary O'Shea is no longer a child, but a young woman of eighteen. Having returned to her frontier home on the Great Lakes island of Mackinac after a visit with her sister, she is able to bid farewell to her ailing father before his death. Now she is keeping up the farm she inheirited with the help of her older brother and his Indian wife. But when the English suitor she refused, James, follows Mary to Mackinac to once more try to win her heart, she finds herself torn between him and her childhood friend, White Hawk, an orphaned Indian boy raised by a childless white couple. Her feelings for White Hawk have become romantic, and a marriage to him will allow her to remain on the island she loves. It was quite clear to me from the beginning what the outcome of this book would be, but I enjoyed it anyway. I am a bit sad that this is the final book, but it is a fitting end - Mary, a child in the first book, has grown into a married young woman with a home of her own. A highly statisfying conclusion.

Strike and Return: American Air Power and the Fight for Iwo Jima

Average customer rating:

Impressive History of Iwo Jima Air War!

Strike and Return: American Air Power and the Fight for Iwo Jima
Cory Graff
Manufacturer: Specialty Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Japan | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

Aviation | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1580070922

Book Description

The Pacific island of Iwo Jima was the most expensive piece of real estate America has ever purchased. Lying halfway between U.S. air bases in the Mariana Islands and downtown Tokyo, the Japanese island was a threat to American aviation operations during the last phases of the war in the Pacific theater. So the United States took Iwo Jima, and in the process lost over 6,800 fighting men in some of the most brutal and bloody fighting of the war. Once the tables were turned, Iwo Jima offered valuable advantages to its conquerors. The island became a massive, unsinkable aircraft carrier," close enough to Japan to furnish fighter escorts for big bombers, a hub for air sea rescue efforts, and an emergency landing field for hundreds of crippled American bombers. This book examines all aspects of the aviation activities surrounding Iwo Jima during the last year of World War II with exciting and informative first-hand accounts and hundreds of color and black-and-white images many of which have never been published before.

Customer Reviews:

Impressive History of Iwo Jima Air War!.......2007-10-10

Though there have been many books on Iwo Jima, Cory Graff's book offers a unique, all-encompassing look at the various air actions related to Iwo that took place before, during and after the first Americans waded ashore on 19 February 1945. The American effort to invade Iwo and develop it as a major base for raids on Japan was truly a multi-service effort involving Navy, Air Force, Marine and Army units and aircraft as diverse as P-51s, Hellcats, PBYs, P-61s and even Sikorsky helicopters. Graff does a marvelous job of describing the roles played by each service in this well-written and well-illustrated book from Specialty Press.

To illustrate the complexities of the Iwo effort, consider the following: Iwo missions began in June 1944 with Navy carrier strikes; USAAF photo-recce missions starting the next month. August '44 saw the first Air Force bombing attacks (B-24s) with B-29s hitting the island in November. Air cover for the invasion force along with close air support was initially handled by carrier-based Hellcats, Avengers and Helldivers. Development of Iwo airfields in March '45 saw Air Force P-47s, -51s, -61s, artillery-spotting light aircraft, C-47s and PBYs along with Marine Corps Avengers and Mitchells setting up shop.

Graff gives each segment of this complex aviation mosaic its due. The book has it all: dogfights, CAS missions, banzai attacks on Air Force units on Iwo, B-29/P-51 VLR missions against Japan, night kills by P-61s, patrol plane missions against Japanese shipping, rescue of downed crews by Air Force PBYs, and so on. Some of this history can be found in other books but Graff gives the reader the whole picture. And in only 160 pages!

Likewise the book is brimming with over 320 black & white and color photographs, maps and diagrams. Though many photographs have appeared elsewhere, Graff's book draws them all together along with new shots.

In my estimation, STRIKE AND RETURN would be a candidate for six stars. It's a fresh perspective on a familiar topic, an adroit summary of a hugely complex subject and an entertaining read to boot!

Between Two Islands: Dominican International Migration

Average customer rating:

Excellent book
From Merengue to Washington Heights

Between Two Islands: Dominican International Migration
Sherri Grasmuck , and Patricia R. Pessar
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520071506

Book Description

Popular notions about migration to the United States from Latin America and the Caribbean are too often distorted by memories of earlier European migrations and by a tendency to generalize from the more familiar cases of Mexico and Puerto Rico. Between Two Islands is an interdisciplinary study of Dominican migration, challenging many widespread, yet erroneous, views concerning the socio-economic background of new immigrants and the causes and consequences of their move to the United States.
Eschewing monocausal treatments of migration, the authors insist that migration is a multifaceted process involving economic, political, and socio-cultural factors. To this end, they introduce an innovative analytical framework which includes such determinants as the international division of labor; state policy in the sending and receiving societies; class relations; transnational migrant households; social networks; and gender and generational hierarchies.
By adopting this multidimensional approach, Grasmuck and Pessar are able to account for many intriguing paradoxes of Dominican migration and development of the Dominican population in the U.S. For example, why is it that the peak in migration coincided with a boom in Dominican economic growth? Why did most of the immigrants settle in New York City at the precise moment the metropolitan economy was experiencing stagnation and severe unemployment? And why do most immigrants claim to have achieved social mobility and middle-class standing despite employment in menial blue-collar jobs?
Until quite recently, studies of international migration have emphasized the male migrant, while neglecting the role of women and their experiences. Grasmuck and Pessar's attempt to remedy this uneven perspective results in a better overall understanding of Dominican migration. For instance, they find that with regard to wages and working conditions, it is a greater liability to be female than to be without legal status. They also show that gender influences attitudes toward settlement, return, and workplace struggle.
Finally, the authors explore some of the paradoxes created by Dominican migration. The material success achieved by individual migrant households contrasts starkly with increased socio-economic inequality in the Dominican Republic and polarized class relations in the United States.
This is an exciting and important work that will appeal to scholars and policymakers interested in immigration, ethnic studies, and the continual reshaping of urban America.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book.......2006-05-05

This is not your typical ethnic studies book. In addition to theory, this book provides an impressive array of quantifiable data to justify the author's postulations. Anyone who is wondering about studying sociology or wondering why sociology, ethnography, history, and cultural studies are important ought to read this book. Anyone looking to start a discourse about migration, race, socio-economic, and political issues of migrants could use this book as a good source of vocabulary and analytical construct.

From Merengue to Washington Heights.......2000-06-03

Interesting, well-researched book on Dominican migration between the the Dominican Republic and the United States, "Between Two Islands," is an important book for those who want to understand the reasons and causes why many Dominicans leave their nation. The title, referring to the island nation and Manhattan Island in New York City (which houses the largest Dominican community in the world outside the island) catches one's attention, as this group stands to become the third largest group of Latinos in the United States (after Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans). The author has done careful and thoughful research in explaining the wave of Dominican immigration to the U.S., however little is covered on the large waves of Dominican immigrants to neighboring Puerto Rico or the Netherlands/Netherlands Antilles. You don't have to live in or near Washington Heights (the Manhattan neighborhood with the largest Dominican community in the city) to really grasp this books importance. As Latinos stand to replace African-Americans as the largest minority group in the country, it is important to understand why this is happening now and now back in the 1960's (Trujillo regime did not permit emigration from the country) or why many chose to go to New York. In addition to this book readers should also pick up a copy of the books "Why the Cocks Fight," and "Sugarball" to understand the Dominican experience entirely. Overall, this is one of the best anthropology books I ever read and I highly recommend it to all.

Goree Island: Island of No Return (Saga of the Signares)

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Goree Island: Island of No Return (Saga of the Signares)
Richard Harrison Goree
Manufacturer: Gold Leaf Press (MI)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1886769087

Book Description

An estimated 20 million newly-enslaved Africans caught their last glimpse of Africa as they passed through Gore Island between the mid-1500s and the mid-1800s en route to the New World. In this novel, author Richard Gore relates how the native women of this island-the Signars-managed to survive and live well within the political, cultural and economic niche in which they were thrust as a result of their mixed lineage. With suspence and mystery, Goree tells a compelling story of survival and in so doing, unveils a nuance of African history that explores and helps identify the original empowerment of the Black woman.

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