Amazon.com
As soon as you hear the conceit of this book--that there are two great opposing forces at work in the world today, border-crossing capitalism and splintering factionalism, and that they are the two biggest threats to democracy--you know it rings true enough to be worth reading. Although capitalism could have only grown to current levels in the soil of democracies, Benjamin Barber argues that global capitalism now tends to work against the very concept of citizenship, of people thinking for themselves and with their neighbors. Too often now, how we think is the product of a transnational corporation (increasingly, a media corporation) with headquarters elsewhere. And although self-determination is one of the most fundamental of democratic principles, unchecked it has lead to a tribalism (think Bosnia, think Rwanda) in which virtually no one besides the local power elite gets a fair shake. The antidote, Barber concludes, is to work everywhere to resuscitate the non-governmental, non-business spaces in life--he calls them "civic spaces" (such as the village green, voluntary associations of every sort, churches, community schools)--where true citizenship thrives.
Book Description
Barber offers a bold lens through which to understand the chaotic events of the post-Cold War world and, in the tradition of Alvin Toffler's Future Shock and Paul Kennedy's The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, explains the forces at work, why democracy is under siege, and what the consequences are for citizenship.
Customer Reviews:
interesting, but a little preachy.......2007-06-30
First of all, the cover art has been changed. Originally, it was a relatively prosaic cover, full of logos of religious symbols, corporate logos, and military equipment. The picture of the burka-clad lady sipping a Pepsi was undoubtedbly added after 9/11, to capitalize on world events. But the text has not been changed or revised, as far as I can tell....
On to the content. Almost half of the book is taken up by a description of "McWorld" (i.e. the multinational, comsumerist culture that would have us all drinking a Coke, going to McDonalds, wearing Nikes, etc., possibly to the detriment of local culture). Nothing I haven't really heard or read before.
Next, the author tries to describe "Jihad". (As an aside, although I am not a Muslim, I do know that Jihad is a specific Islamic term roughly meaning "struggle", but actually meaning different kinds of struggles, of which the violence that we hear about in the West is only one). In the book, the term "Jihad" is used to mean any opposition to "McWorld", or perhaps modernity or other cultures in general. I'm not sure that's appropriate; maybe another term, such as "neotribalism" (which actually is used in a few places in the book) might be more useful? Only a relatively short chapter talks about religion at all; it mostly tries to compare the Christian right (and far-right) in the US with the Islamic extremists.
A couple of chapters go over the "failure" of post-Communist Russia and East Germany; another describes the effects of "McWorld" on China and Japan. Also described in several places is the intersection of "McWorld" and "Jihad"; as "Jihadists" use the products and technologies of "McWorld" ,not only to propagate their ideas, but also as products for everyday living. (Maybe the new cover with the burka-wearing woman enjoying a Pepsi is more appropriate than I thought at first!)
According to the book, neither "McWorld" nor "Jihad" is a replacement for democracy. There are a number of social goals that are not met by either. Further, the current system of nation-states is no match for the power of the multinational companies; some sort of supra-national, global, democratic institution with power comparable to that of multinational capitalism. (Actually getting to that point, however, would require imposing democratic ideals on countries and communities that are now decidedly anti-democratic--this is not a task done overnight).
What I didn't like is that the book overestimates the power of "McWorld", portraying the multinational corporations worrying that some third-world kid is drinking tea rather than a Coke. Like all stereotypes, there is a kernel of truth in it, but that doesn't make it any less of a stereotype. The author plays favorites; the word "jihad" appears nowhere in the several pages on Hollywood domination of the movie industry in France; yet, right-wing American evangelicals, (rightly or wrongly) questioning changing societal values get dumped on the "Jihad" heap with the neo-Nazis and Islamic terrorists. The FCC gets dinged for not forcing a radio station for keeping its classical format (although setting formats wasn't, and isn't, a function of the FCC to begin with). And so on.
Then there's the out-and-out fingerwagging; the aside on (American) slavery seems to lacks any real tie-in to the theme of "McWorld and Jihad", but more like the author coming out and telling us how we should think. This is true to a lesser extent of the "Bowling Alone"-type material in the "Global Democracy" chapter. (It's a big step from leaving one's comfortable suburban home and joining a bowling league with one's fellow suburbanites, and forming a global government with people halfway around the world who believe in who-knows-what!)
There are also a number of lists; media mergers and top films (relevant, since it shows the domination of multinational over local media) and energy use per country (less so, since equality of energy usage could theoretically be imposed by a non-democratic global system as well as by a democratic one).
To his credit, the author doesn't present "McWorld" as an evil conspiracy, but more like a natural market force that really ought to be checked by some theoretical one-world government. The "Jihad" side, however, is more of a minefield of the author's personal biases and "Things-That-Must-Be-Defended/Derided-At-All Costs".
The unity between religious fundamentalists and big business elites EXPOSED !.......2006-06-23
It's amazing how despite all the tragedies and wars, big business elitists are able to cash in on the damage while religious fundamentalists never get caught, much less held accountable. The idiots who show their hate of this book are from terrorist nations that have a knack of socializing poverty and terrorism while at the same time privatizing wealth. Despite all the big talk about winning the so-called war on terrorism, the ugly truth is wars have not taught us anything. If it weren't for Big Business funding Hitler, Hitler would have had a harder time killing the Jews. Sadly though, even after World War II ended, the Big Business elites that funded and continue to fund dictatorships like Hitler, Stalin, and the modern ones are not only not held accountable but often end up walking away as "heroes". If we're really going to win the war on terrorism and/or poverty, we're going to have to stop supporting big business elite and stop allowing our uber-corrupt politicians from exploiting peoples fears on terrorism even while maximizing poverty.
An Important but Very Flawed Work on Socio-Economics.......2006-04-03
I tried to embrace this book--I really did. It was tempting to want to have at last found a piece of academic writing that deftly encapsulates and explains this clash of titans: jihad and globalism. Barber's main title is, however, more tantalizing than explanatory. This book demonstrates the dangers of allegiance to dichotomies; there are other forces at work in society that grapple with the headline-stealing titans.
This is an important book at least insofar as it captures a growing sentiment among academics interested in the socio-economic forces that compel current events. It is not, therefore, an easy read for the layman (particularly the last part of the book) which is ironic given his call to grassroots citizen action.
Barber asserts--really insists with an uncomfortable brand of academic arrogance--in almost narrowly political overtones that the world is immersed in a battle of opposing ideologies: the corporate, amoral and homogenized one that really is without ideology and the local, or tribal, and rigidly moral and fragmented one that is part ideology, part myth-making.
Unfortunately, in his earnestness to construct and defend his convenient dichotomy, he conforms exceptions to his rule. The jihadists--whether ethnic hatemongers or terrorists--have for Barber retained some residue of moral dignity while the globalist--whether gullible, materialistic and indifferent consumers or manipulative, multinational executives--have altogether lost their moral compass.
His solution (which he fails to outline, thus making his work more of a polemic and manifesto rather than manual for change) is an activist citizenry fully appreciative of their need and ability to shore up the civil sector of modern societies. Here again Barber is remiss, revealing that writing from one's desk rather than the field has its limitations. He fails to acknowledge, for example, the extent to which the lack of a civic tradition in such nations as Russia and China impedes social progress of the sort he pines for. And the following further indicates his lack of awareness of Chinese cultural resiliency: "What is striking is that even here where a native culture might be thought to have its greatest chances against the children of the Western Enlightenment, McWorld seems irresistible."(190)
Aside from this concern, and his lack of concrete solutions and elusive, often inaccessible writing style, Barber tends to exaggerate the extent to which corporate influence is mitigated by both government and civic organizations, especially in the Western democracies. He is undeservedly far too pessimistic in this regard and fails to note the many ways in which a bygone American lacked a collective sense of civic duty. Moreover, his analysis is flawed, as I believe you will also discover, by his apparent aspirations to global citizenship. Nor, as other reviewers have noted, has he given due credit to the government and business sectors in creating a climate for a civic society to exist, must less flourish with some degree of autonomy. The symbolic assault on McDonald's is both tedious and unfair. While guilty of promoting unhealthy diets to some extent, it is a zealous stretch to accuse this and other multinationals of single handedly distorting the cultural landscape of developing nations. And even in the U.S., McDonald's has played a civic role via the Ronald McDonald House, it's management hiring practices and provisions for inner-city employment.
This book, perhaps like this review, could have been thought out more and condensed considerably. For a far better articulated review of this book see Gary Rosen's piece online from the journal First Things.
Provactative but lacking in substance........2006-03-10
I read Barber's book in 1995, shortly after my return from my dissertation research in Indonesia. I was dismayed but what were clear errors in Barber's treatment of Indonesia. He talks about the marketing succes of Coke to sell the sweet syrupy beverage as a substitute to the more "native" tea. What he fails to see is for many if not most ethnic groups of Indonesia tea is served very sweet -- with what I hyperbolically refer to as "equal parts sugar and water." He also bemoan Indonesians taking up blue jeans in favor of saris. Saris? I know of no Indonesians who wear saris -- this is a garment better associated with India. Ok, I know these are perhaps trifiling errors. However, Barbers evidence is composed exclusively of little vignettes and reference like this. I do not know of the accuracy of his specific examples for other countries. However, if the problem he has with understanding the basic facts of Indonesian culture are replicated through all his examples, the argument he tries to support by them must be suspect.
That said, I found the book intriguing. I find the proposition that either the world will become a huge pave parking lot full of McDonald's Hard Rock Cafe's, and discos pumping MTV or it will be torn apart by attempts to assert local identity ludicrous. This idea of Barber's inspired me to write an article specificaly examine McDonald's in the Indonesian cultural landscape. In many important ways, McDonald's Indonesia is more Indonesian than it is anything else. And, it actively seeks to be so.
It came out shortly after the time I had Samual Huntington's Foreign Affairs article "The Clash of Civilizations" pointed out to me by my Indonesian Muslim interlocutors. I find Barber's argument interesting in regard to the Clash of Civilizations debate. Barber does not deal with either Bernard Lewis (who coined "Clash of Civilizations" or Huntington (who popularized it). However, I find in his work, the important corrective that the clash is not limited to Muslims but to all efforts to oppose global capitalism by emphasizing local identity. Also to the degree that there is such a clash, Barber's book can supply an understanding of its mechanism. Again, this was not Barber's point, but it can be drawn from his book.
With my critiques of this book, you might think that I discarded it shortly after reading it. I still have my original copy. I think that the book will make the reader think and if readers actually do that rather than accept it as gospel, then the book is very much worth the read. In fact, I will be assigning it as a test in course I will teach in the Fall of 2006.
Ron Lukens-Bull, PhD
Associate Professor of Anthropology
University of North Florida
McJihad vs. Reality.......2006-02-09
This book is inexplicably influential, probably due to its catchy but ultimately meaningless title. Barber fails to convincingly analyze an interesting thesis, instead delivering an exasperating 300 page-long list of every single thing on Earth that he disagrees with. Barber contends that natural human political behavior results in smaller and smaller ethnic enclaves trying to separate themselves from the larger world, while unchecked global capitalism is erasing ethnic flavor with bowdlerized mass-culture sameness. Interestingly, Barber contends that these two contrary movements are actually in an unholy alliance, using each other's excesses as excuses for their anti-democratic behavior. That is a fascinating thesis, which makes the weaknesses of this book all the more infuriating.
The first part of the book is an interminable tirade of lists within lists, of cultural trends that Barber disdains, in an avalanche of complaints that is not analytical but merely selective and arbitrary. It's all tied together with attempts at "edgy" pop culture references, made-up terminology (like the annoying "infotainment telesector"), and pseudo-intellectual quotations and namedropping. All is lumped together unconvincingly under the anemic term "McWorld," which is so vague and all-inclusive as to become meaningless. In his never-ending examples of how recent cultural trends are damaging the freedom and intelligence of the masses, Barber merely comes across as a condescending snob who thinks his own interests are superior, or a curmudgeon who thinks everything was better back in the good old days, or both. In the second part of the book, Barber proceeds to throw obtuse political science theories at various world hotspots, in which tribalism and separatism are damaging the integrity of nation-states. His umbrella term for this phenomenon is the dangerously loaded term "Jihad." Note that this book was published back in 1995, so that word was not as prevalent in Western discourse as it is now, but Barber still uses the term as a loose descriptor which is likely to offend both devout Muslims and ardent anti-Islamists.
When it comes to the specifics, many reviews here and elsewhere list out the numerous flaws in Barber's arguments, and there are so many of them that a lot of reviews are necessary for the task. You can agree or disagree with various critiques of Barber's contentions based on your own personal politics. But everyone will probably conclude that in this book's final section he does not deliver on the ironic implications of his initially intriguing thesis (embodied in the book's title), and simply forwards borrowed theories on civil society and the public sector. Overall, this book is mostly the longwinded grumblings of a nostalgic know-it-all who portentously predicts doom for every single cultural and political reality of the modern world. [~doomsdayer520~]
Book Description
Praise for Coming Together, Coming Apart
"Interesting conversation is Israel's most ingratiating commodity, and this is an especially interesting one. To read Coming Together, Coming Apart is to be engaged in an ongoing dialogue with one of Israel's most thoughtful observers--an American who made Israel his home, despite its imperfections and dangers. Gordis's conversational narrative is irresistible."
--Alan dershowitz, author of The Case for Israel
"Whether describing a walk through Jerusalem in snow, a hike in the desert, or a farewell family drive to the Gaza settlements, Gordis manages to capture the essential details that tell us the larger meaning of our Israeli lives. There is much irony in this book, and also anger, especially against those who unfairly judge Israel in its most desperate and noble times. Most of all, though, this book is the chronicle of a love story--of an immigrant family in Jerusalem falling in love with Israel and, through that love, discovering the strength to cope with life on the front lines of a jihadist war. As a fellow Jerusalemite, I feel a profound debt to Gordis for explaining what it means to raise a family in the middle of a terror zone, and the courage that average Israelis instinctively display in maintaining the pretense of normal life. Those of us who share his passion are fortunate to be so well represented by this book."
--Yossi Klein Halevi, Foreign Correspondent, The New Republic
Customer Reviews:
A must read for any zionist.......2007-01-05
It is easy to lose perspective regarding the importance of Israel in light of so many disheartening recent events in Israel. Yet Mr. Gordis's portrayal of Israeli society adds a much necessary positive spin to (as Gordis reffers to Israel) "the enterprise".
Understanding Israel does not only mean eating falafels in Tel Aviv and swimming in the Dead Sea - rather, it's the understanding that the State of Israel is the most important historical development of the Jewish people in 2000 years, and that we can (and will) never lose it.
Kol Ha'Kavod, Mr. Gordis, for this excelent book.
the title is what's inside the book.......2006-11-03
I read this book on the airplane from the US to Israel during the summer of 2006. It helped to prepare me for the attitudes which I found while in Israel.
Beautifully Written and Provocative.......2006-09-17
Coming Together is a vast improvement over Home to Stay. The writing is absolutely beautiful, the ideas provocative. The heart of the book is Gordis's account of his family's adjustment to life in Israel, beginning at the tail end of the Second Intifada, when the Gordis family is kept awake in its Jerusalem home by gunfire at night, and terrified by suicide murders that take place in their favorite haunts, and ending with mild optimism when the evil Arafat finally passes.
In the pages in between, Gordis, a liberal but not a "leftist," manages to efficiently and eloquently take down those Jews who ignore Israel's obligations to preserve Jewish moral values in its conflict with the Palestinians, as well as those Jews who reflexively oppose the very existence of Israel, because they prefer perpetual Jewish victimhood and the accompanying moral high ground to the inevitable moral compromises and errors that come with power and statehood. He also conveyed to me, as a "serious Jew" who has never had any significant desire to live in Israel, why he would uproot his family from a comfortable upper middle class life in L.A. and expose them to danger to fulfill his Zionist dream. As he expresses it far more eloquently than I can, I won't try to summarize it here. [UPDATE: I should point out that while Gordis emphasizes the very palpable dangers faced by Jerusalemites durng the Second Intifada, raising one's teenagers in L.A. carries some very real, though perhaps less palpable dangers [much higher crime rates, drug use rates, auto accident risk, and likely suicide rates], such that I doubt that Jerusalem in 2002 was more actually more dangerous for kids than West L.A. at the same time.]
One important caveat about this book: Israel is a country composed primarily of first, second, and third generation immmigrants, so there is really no such thing as a "typical Israeli". But to the extent there sort of is, Gordis surely isn't it. In one scene in the book, an Orthodox Jewish American says that Gordis isn't living in the real Israel because he lives in an "Anglo-Saxon" (what Israelis call native English speakers) community, hangs out mostly with British, American, and South African Jews, and works for an American-funded foundation employing yet more Anglos. Gordis bristles at the suggestion, and he's right that having moved to Israel and with a child in the army, he has as much claim to Israeliness as anyone. But in reading the book, one must keep in mind that you are getting the perspective of a relatively well-to-do American Jewish liberal Conservative rabbi/philosopher who recently moved to Israel, lives and works in in Anglo enclaves, and that the outlook and experiences of such an individual is pretty far removed from that of the "typical" Israeli. It's hard, for example, to imagine Gordis expressing serious concern about the "evil eye," a superstition that this spouse-of-an-Israeli finds to be pervasive in Israel. (I used to think that Israelis complain a lot, but I've since learned that refusing to acknowledge good fortune is a way to ward off the evil eye!)
Another interesting aspect of the book is that though it virtually drips with concern about Israel's future, Hizbollah only makes the obliquest of appearances, and Iran is never mentioned at all, not once. Instead, the book is preoccupied with the Palestinian question. A good example, I think, of how Israelis were so preoccupied with the Second Intifada that they paid too little attention to the looming fundamentalist Shiite threat until Hizbollah missiles starting raining down on them in June.
A Must-Read for Jews Inside & Outside of Israel!.......2006-08-13
"Coming Together, Coming Apart" is a must-read for Jews both inside and outside of Israel. An American family who makes the big decision to take their commitment to the ultimate level by making Aliyah finds their pre-conceived notions, idealistic concepts and religious faith tested by terror in their own backyard. How they cope with fear, how they learn to live with the uncomfortable ambiguity that is life in Israel, how their own internal family dynamics are strained and strengthened is a story that should not be missed.
As an American Jew from Los Angeles planning Aliyah myself, this book has helped me to see not only how another American family from L.A. has dealt with the challenges of both war and peace, but has confirmed my belief that life in Israel isn't perfect, but it is REAL, and do-able for those of us who, like our forefather Jacob, are willing to wrestle through the dark night of our soulds with our personal proverbial "Angels" and not release them until we receive the blessing for which we have struggled and fought. Although we may receive a unhealable wound we who prevail recieve a new name and a heritage uniquely ours. "Coming Together, Coming Apart" illustrates that Divine wrestling match and shows us what that heritage looks and feels like when the dawn finally breaks.
Thanks to Daniel Gordis for this well-written, passionate labor of love!
Must read book.......2006-08-04
I have read all of Daniel Gordis' books. Each one is extremely meaningful and thought provoking. The latest one, Coming Together, Coming Apart is a must read for anyone who cares about Israel,anyone who cares about humanity anyone who is a parent, or anyone who is a child. Very few books, that I will openly laugh, cry and make you think. It covers the period of two years, ending in October 2005 and is essentially the memoirs of Gordis, who emigrated to Israel from Los Angeles with his children. Especially in light of the current events, it helps one understand the day to day life that Israelies face, the challenges they face, and their love of life and their hope. Once you pick the book up, it is difficult to put it down. I cannot recommend it enough.
Average customer rating:
- Provocative, optimistic and challenging.
- Masturbatory
- the best ever, really
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Transculturalism: How the World Is Coming Together
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ASIN: 1576872181 |
Book Description
Transculturalism is about identity, and the modern quest for belonging in these troubled times of conflict and war. Claude Grunitzky and his network of writers and photographers from around the world examine - through essays, analyses, and personal tales - how certain curious, open-minded people manage, through perserverance and affinity, to adapt to new cultures. The basic premise of this optimistic book is that some individuals transcend their initial culture in order to explore, examine, and infiltrate alien cultures. These people are "transculturalists" and their experiences -- as seen in the 2002 Census - show that in the future it will become increasingly difficult to identify and separate people according to previously accepted delineations. In essence, Grunitzky and the book's contributors contend that transculturalism defies race, religion, sexuality, class, and every sort of classification known to sociologists and marketers. Transculturalists lead unusual lives: some people call them heretics. They date and marry inside their gender; they travel on a whim and venture into faraway lands; they dress unconventionally, and customize new dress codes regularly; they live in areas their parents were once barred from, and take jobs previously considered outside of their leagues; they listen to, create, and criticize music they are not supposed to listen to ; they display high levels of creativity in the arts and other progressive disciplines.Additionally, TRUE Agency and TRACE magazine will be organizing a series of symposiums on Transculturalism worldwide starting in the spring of 2004. "Claude Grunitzky says he doesn't mind if he is misunderstood, even if the reason is usually his name. 'I've noticed a lot of people can't figure me out.' he says. 'But once they figure you out, they label you and put you in a box. I like being complex, difficult to understand, because I don't want to be perceived with these stereotypes always associated with black people.' He talks a lot about a transcultural philosophy, a way of navigating many worlds. A French citizen who speaks four languages, he has an American-tinged accent. He calls it mid-Atlantic, from having lived in Togo, Washington, Paris, and London." (The New York Times)
Customer Reviews:
Provocative, optimistic and challenging........2004-08-16
How provocative, challenging and even optimistic is this anthology of essays, edited by the insightful Claude Grunitzky, you may ask? Very much so on all counts. The writers are well aware of the capability of thinking, visionary individualists to transform and improve an advanced capitalist consumer society that is within a century of decline due to the depletion of resources, overpopulation and incresing intolerance (including that of one "reviewer" below, Matt, who clearly has not read this anthology). The fusion of cultures is inevitable in a society with instantaneous communications capability, from the McCluhanesque "cold" medium of television to "hot" radio and interactive Internet media. The book amkes no claim that other cultures ghave "equal" voice with or within western imperialism, but that such a voice is subject to the cultural transformation. The book would indeed be offensive if Matt's allegations were true -- but they aren't. Get it. Read it. Judge for yourself. I do not agree with every assertion in the book -- but found it a terrific catalyst for thought and ideas. Get it. Read it. Enjoy!
Masturbatory.......2004-04-07
How terribly self-congratulatory this book is. All the people in it conveniently seem to forget that the live within the confines of an advanced capitalist consumer society. The idea that other cultures have an equal voice with western imperialism is ridiculous. The book would be more offensive if it weren't so ignorant. It's We Are The World for the ipod set.
the best ever, really.......2004-03-29
i LOVE this book! "transculturalism" says everything that needs to be said about now the world's citizens need to communicate with each other, and every page is CAPTIVATING. the illustrations are great, too. i want to know all the people in this book! my name is "curious georgia."
Book Description
Formerly a SkyLight publication.
Coming Together As Readers details the roles that teachers, parents, students, and communities play in the quest for developing key literacy skills. Ogle draws on her experience as a teacher, professor, and president of the International Reading Association to provide practical tools and classroom practices for forging partnerships to build successful reading at all grade levels.
This resource also explains how to use collegial contributions to help shape, inform, and support reading, and includes examples of how the community can contribute to literacy development and Web sites for government and professional organizations.
Customer Reviews:
The author holds background as not only a teacher and professor but former president of the International Reading Association.......2007-09-02
Donna Ogle's COMING TOGETHER AS READERS: BUILDING LITERACY TEAMS, 2ND EDITION is based on the idea that student growth in literacy is strengthened when all supportive factors are integrated into the effort. The author holds background as not only a teacher and professor but former president of the International Reading Association, and provides creative ideas for using university partnerships and family involvement alike to shape reading habits at all levels of education.
Amazon.com
The Two Sexes is a book about gender differences that takes on the big questions most of us have asked at some point: Why are men and women so different? How much of our behavior is biology and how much is learned? How do our gender roles in childhood affect the way we relate as adults?
One of Stanford University professor Eleanor Maccoby's key discoveries about childhood gender development is that girls and boys act far more alike on their own than they do with groups of their friends. Maccoby also offers sound evolutionary reasons why we might be biologically inclined toward sex- differentiated behavior. In the end, though, she asserts that "biology is not destiny."
With this in mind, she explores in The Two Sexes what sorts of changes can and should be made to the roles we play in our sexual relationships, work relationships, and parenting. This a complex and scholarly work, but Maccoby writes in clean, reasoned prose accessible to nonacademics. --Maria Dolan
Book Description
How does being male or female shape us? And what, aside from obvious anatomical differences, does being male or female mean? In this book, the distinguished psychologist Eleanor Maccoby explores how individuals express their sexual identity at successive periods of their lives. A book about sex in the broadest sense, The Two Sexes seeks to tell us how our development from infancy through adolescence and into adulthood is affected by gender.
Chief among Maccoby's contentions is that gender differences appear primarily in group, or social, contexts. In childhood, boys and girls tend to gravitate toward others of their own sex. The Two Sexes examines why this segregation occurs and how boys' groups and girls' groups develop distinct cultures with different agendas. Deploying evidence from her own research and studies by many other scholars, Maccoby identifies a complex combination of biological, cognitive, and social factors that contribute to gender segregation and group differentiation.
A major finding of The Two Sexes is that these childhood experiences in same-sex groups profoundly influence how members of the two sexes relate to one another in adulthood--as lovers, coworkers, and parents. Maccoby shows how, in constructing these adult relationships, men and women utilize old elements from their childhood experiences as well as new ones arising from different adult agendas. Finally, she considers social changes in gender roles in light of her discoveries about the constraints and opportunities implicit in the same-sex and cross-sex relationships of childhood.
Customer Reviews:
Comprehensive Coverage by Expert in the Field.......2000-08-31
Eleanor Maccoby has been doing gender for a long, long time, and her decades of academic and research experience contribute to a comprehensive, useful volume. She takes NOT a "men from mars women from venus" approach to gender, but instead focusses on the gender composition of groups in unravelling what initially appear to be differences between the genders. The 1st and 3rd sections of the book provide excellently layered literature reviews of gendered behavior in the context of specific group compositions; and the 2nd section offers objective coverage of the main theories of gender development. Highly recommended for an undergrad course!
Book Description
A practical guide that gives parents and teens the "how-to" information they need to navigate the bar/bat mitzvah process and grow as a family through this experience. For the first time in one book, everyone directly involved offers practical insights into how the process can be made easier and more enjoyable for all. Rabbis, cantors and Jewish educators from the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements, parents, and even teens speak from their own experience.
Customer Reviews:
Basics is the operative key word.......2002-07-03
As an adult preparing for bat mitzvah, this book was much too basic for me. I also attend synagogue regularly, and most of this stuff is routine from the service.
While this book was well written, it is for novices and non-attendees and their children.
I do not have a title to recommend for adults preparing for bar/bat mitzvah.
Truly the only book you'll need as a Bar/Bat Mitzvah guide.......2001-05-05
I'm amazed at how much information the author managed to get into this book, written with the guideance of Rabbis, cantors and educators frm the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements. If you hate reading pages of useless information and are looking for a well-researched, tightly written guide for preparing for and celebrating a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, I doubt you'll find many books better than this one. In addition to the basics you'd expect to find (Planning, Budgeting, the Ceremony), there are also special sections on interfaith and divorced families, what questions to ask about preparation (what a timesaver!), lessons and tips from families and teens who have completed Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremonies, making the Theme meaningful, whether or not to use a party planner, tips for families with special needs children and more.
Indispensable Guide to the Bar/Bat Mitzvah Experience.......1999-12-04
I have never written one of these "reviews" for amazon.com before, but I feel compelled to share with readers this fantastic, absolutely indispensable book. If you are planning a bar or bat mitzvah for your child or grandchild, or know of a family that is planning this important coming of age ceremony for their child, this book is for you. My daughter became Bat Mitzvah several years ago, and I really wish this book had been around when we were going through the experience. It is such a valuable guide! I gave the book as a gift to a close friend, and he said that it helped his family create a truly meaningful experience for all of them, in planning the service for his daughter's becoming Bat Mitzvah. The book is designed to help families "cope" with the myriad details involved in planning for this wonderful family life cycle event. The book is particularly sensitive to interfaith, divorced, and alternative families, and their unique needs and experiences.
There is also a particularly wonderful chapter on the Bar/Bat Mitzvah experience for a special needs child. What I particularly like about the book is the fact that it contains contributed chapters from rabbis, cantors, educators, sociologists, and other experts- and even parents and teens- all of whom share their unique perspectives. This isn't one person's "philosophy", but rather a compendium of insights, ideas, and advice. The cover of the book says "How to manage the process with grace, joy and good sense". The book succeeds in that, and I can't imagine anyone planning a Bar/Bat Mitzvah for their child without this handy family guide!
Book Description
This memoir tells the story of two teenagers of different classes and ethnic backgrounds who meet by chance, fall in love, find their parents will not allow them to marry, and go off to college only to discover that they are going to have a child. She is spirited away to a home for unwed mothers, gives birth, signs the relinquishment papers, goes home. In four years, when they are old enough to marry despite their parents, they do. In the next twenty-five years, they have five more children together. Their first child, adopted at three months old, grows up in the knowledge of being different because she is adopted, and as an adult begins the search when her father dies. She discontinues it out of fear, then begins it again in 1998. In the same month, July of 1998, they all find the New York State adoption registry and are reunited in February of 1999. This reunion is the impetus of the story, the cataclysm that begins it and ends it both.
Coming Apart Together recounts the stories that are necessarily part of any reunion experience, and meditates on what those stories mean (or don't mean). It is also an imaginative exploration of what it may feel like to adopt a child, to be an adopted child, to give up a child for adoption, what it might be like to be another mother, to find other relatives, to have a strange adult show up on the doorstep one day, claiming kin. Though the plot creates interest, the real beauty of the text is its language and its capacity for conveying the difficult emotional paths of the birth parents, of their parents and grandparents, of the adoptive mother and father, and the adopted daughter at parting, in living apart, and in reunion.
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