Book Description
Written for the violinist who longs to leave the confines of the written page, Improvising Violin is a comprehensive guide to the art and science of successful string improvisation. With clear, step-by-step explanations and instructions, acclaimed teacher and performer Lieberman breaks down all of the components necessary to master improvisation in jazz, blues, swing, folk, rock and new age styles, offering dozens of helpful tips on theory and technique along the way. Preface by Darol Anger. "Lieberman's book contains a wealth of information and is a gem of organization." - AMERICAN MUSIC TEACHER
Customer Reviews:
Very Detailed and Comprehensive.......2001-04-21
This book includes a lot of history on contemporary violin styles from jazz to rock. Readers are guided to pioneers of each genre and prominent musicians are highlighted. There is also a section on amplifying your violin, where traditional/classical violinist who are new to "loud" gigs will find very useful. Amplifiers, pickups, solid violins and radical violin styles, effects are all mentioned and discussed. The third part of the book introduces a lot of solid practices for nearly all the styles that are mentioned in the book, and 'licks' and music scores are provided. It is a book with lots of worthwhile information and very clear instructions, but the limited amount of music score material on each style kind of leave you hanging for more after you are all hyped up. The author have put out new, more focused books on specific styles in 2001, and I can't wait to get my hands on those. Definitely a very enlightening and helpful book. Good for beginning fiddlers and classically trained violinists. Performing violinist might find the music material too basic, but in my opinion worth owning anyway.
Amazon.com
In this series of lectures originally given in 1963, which remained unpublished during Richard Feynman's lifetime, the Nobel-winning physicist thinks aloud on several "meta"--questions of science. What is the nature of the tension between science and religious faith? Why does uncertainty play such a crucial role in the scientific imagination? Is this really a scientific age?
Marked by Feynman's characteristic combination of rationality and humor, these lectures provide an intimate glimpse at the man behind the legend. "In case you are beginning to believe," he says at the start of his final lecture, "that some of the things I said before are true because I am a scientist and according to the brochure that you get I won some awards and so forth, instead of your looking at the ideas themselves and judging them directly...I will get rid of that tonight. I dedicate this lecture to showing what ridiculous conclusions and rare statements such a man as myself can make." Rare, perhaps. Irreverent, sure. But ridiculous? Not even close.
Book Description
Many appreciate Richard P. Feynman's contributions to twentieth-century physics, but few realize how engaged he was with the world around him-how deeply and thoughtfully he considered the religious, political, and social issues of his day. Now a wonderful book-based on a previously unpublished, three-part public lecture he gave at the University of Washington in 1963-shows us this other side of Feynman, as he expounds on the inherent conflict between science and religion, on people's distrust of politicians, and on our universal fascination with flying saucers, faith healing, and mental telepathy.
Customer Reviews:
A pleasant read.......2007-10-03
I would describe this book as a "classic Feynman". It is witty, upbeat and very honest. The content is timeless in the sense that his "scientist view" of society and politics is very pure and well grounded in the scientific approach. The examples are well chosen and the book is therefor a pleasant read as I am sure it must have been a very pleasant set of lectures to attend. I did however also find the purity its pitfall. It leaves you somewhat unsatisfied. He demonstrates convincingly that the choices to be made in society are choices that contain values that must be derived outside science and then he more or less stops. This is scientifically commendable and correct but does leave you clammering for his personal opinion. Perhaps this shows an obsession of current times to want to extract the motivation behind every thought by discussion the point of reference of the author, he does actually comment on this behaviour and correctly points out that in science the motivation should be irrelevant. How true.
Feynman's three speeches do not impress in written form.......2007-08-14
Richard Feynman has been my favorite author-scientist. But having read this book, I wish I hadn't. Feynman's other books have been good. They impressed me. This book did not.
These three speeches may have been good, as speeches. This book, as a book, struck me as mediocre. Whole paragraphs, indeed whole pages, were difficult to understand. Throughout the book, distilling out meaningful ideas was hard work. As I struggled through the first two speeches, I thought "this will get better." It did not. The third speech was the worst.
All that tends to drag down my opinion of Feynman as a whole. Clearly many other people liked this book. Perhaps they were able to pick some gems out of the dross. Or maybe just reading more Feynman -- even not very good Feynman -- was good enough for them.
But as much as I like Shakespeare, I am never going to go see (or worse yet read) Titus Andronicus. For the same reason, I wish I had not read this book. My view of Feynman and his work has fallen a bit from the heights where I wish it remained.
Its title says it all and it is indeed one of the greates books I have ever read.......2007-07-10
Mr. Feynman wrote in this book how the basic things in life, such as its meaning if any are.
His writting style is even simpler than Einstein's while his ideas are just as profound.
The book is very thin and it is an easy read, so you learn a lot by reading very few pages and this is really extraordinary.
I could have been spared misery, only if I had read this in Jr. High!.......2007-07-06
This is the type of book that I love. It is a world-renowned expert explaining the basic nuts and bolts of his field. Then, adding spice, he talks about other related subjects. Sometimes it is a hit, sometimes it is a miss. But it is always insightful, and generally entertaining. The only flaw with the collection is that it could have been expanded with more material. Sigh!
The first lecture is "The Uncertainty of Science," and deals with the definition of science. We use this cliché a lot with Feynman, but this should be required reading in high school, or even junior high. I am surprised with how much science I have learned without anyone defining what it is, or explaining why we do it.
Feynman gives three definitions, then deals with them in reverse order. The first definition is the process of discovery; the second is the body of discovered knowledge, and lastly the applied or utilized discovered knowledge. He treats them in reverse order, since the application of science is obvious and tactile. Technology, applied science, is based upon the second definition. The body of discovered knowledge is, in turn based upon the process of discovery. This is the level at which science advances. It focuses on experimentation. And it can only flourish in an environment of freedom.
The second lecture, the "Uncertainty of Values," is where he gets out of his area of expertise. This chapter reminded me of Carl Sagan's book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, since it involves a critique of Christianity. This is a flaw, since there are more then one religion. 9/11? The second flaw is that he makes a sweeping generalization about all religions from the medieval experiences of the Catholic Church. See Historians' Fallacies : Toward a Logic of Historical Thought.
(I say it is a flaw, because it is illogical, non sequitur, and a hasty generalization. However, this does reveal a historical cut that has never quite healed. In all of my science-survey classes, the professors have sublimated these blasé historical events into a collegiate ritual. On July 4th, Americans dress up in tricorn hats, and eat cornbread. Each Sabbath, Christians put on their Sunday best, and eat symbols of Christ's Atonement. And each year, scientists ceremonially recall the conflicts early scientists had with the Vatican's adopting Aristotelianism. The Papacy has nailed his past mistakes to the cross, but have the scientists stopped carrying their shoulder-chips?)
However, Feynman correctly identifies the difference between science and religion as one between metaphysics and ethics. These are two different categories or disciplines, as explained in Philosophy: Who Needs It. This is a tricky area, since Copernicus's and Galileo's friction was not with Christian metaphysics, but the medieval Catholic Church's adoption of Aristotelian philosophy. Also, his divorce of Christian metaphysics from Christian ethics is also problematic. Ethical behavior traces itself back to the difference between human nature and God's nature. And miracles must be admissible, since the keystone of Christianity is Christ's divine nature and infinite atonement. See Miracles, chapter 13.
The last chapter is a potpourri of loosely-related ideas, all dealing with "The Unscientific Age." This lecture divides into two parts. The first section deals with critical thinking, akin to Carl Sagan's "Baloney Detection Kit." He talks about verification, but applies the process to commonplace things such as real estate scams, Red paranoia, religious hucksters, and Las Vegas casinos. All of this is helpful, if we wish a sane society.
The second part of the last lecture deals with where we get out ideas from. I wish he had expanded this into a fourth lecture, since it swerves into a discussion of using the scientific method to discover moral ideas, then ends with an abrupt jerk.
This last assertion is rather funny. He envisions a moralist following Galileo's method of experiment and observation, and having a morality based on this. This is laughable, since the consequences of deviations from Traditional Morality are the sum and substance of newspaper headlines. C. S Lewis said, "Really great moral teachers never do introduce new moralities: it is quacks and cranks who do that." (Mere Christianity). His book The Abolition of Man, another book of three chapters, deals with the consequences of devotions from Traditional Morality.
This question of overarching laws of history (akin to Hari Seldon's Psychohistory The Foundation Trilogy: Three Classics of Science Fiction) was discussed by Karl Popper in The Poverty of Historicism (Routledge Classics). There are, if not laws, at least principles of human behavior. After all, these principles make of the skin and bones of economics. Yes, the scientific method is helpful, but is it really being useful, if we are merely reinventing the wheel?
*
What an adventure! Feynman lives up to his hype. I just wish I had read him in junior high. My experiences in high school and college might have been better.
Great Book.......2007-04-07
This book is essentially a series of lectures given by Feynman at a university forum. The ideas and concepts expressed in the book are easy to read and very enlightening, even for people who are not scientists or philosophers. One of the most prevalent themes in the book is the idea that science and religion are set to answer different questions about our situation in this life, and that the questions proposed by science are not religious in nature, and the questions proposed by religion are not scientific in nature. Feynman's answer to these questions helps shed light on the current debate between scientists and theologians - and essentially, one feels that we are trying to make science into more than it was designed to be; more than it was designed to answer. Pretty amazing coming from one of the most accomplished scientists of our time. For further reading check out: Mere Christianity
Book Description
Among Howard Fast's historical fiction, Citizen Tom Paine-one of America's all-time best-sellers-occupies a special place, for it restored to a generation of readers the vision of Paine's revolutionary passion as the authentic roots of our national beginnings. Fast gives us "a vivid picture of Paine's mode of writing, idiosyncrasies, and character-generous, nobly unselfish, moody, often dirty, frequently drunken, a revolutionist by avocation"-Library Journal
Customer Reviews:
CITIZEN TOM PAINE-REVOLUTIONARY HERO.......2006-11-16
Howard Fast, as a part of a series on the American revolution, has written an interesting historical novel based on the exploits of the famous English-born American Revolutionary hero, Tom Paine. Thomas Paine is probably most well-known for his pamphlet COMMON SENSE which did much to galvanize the lower classes in American to support, even if haphazardly, the fight for independence. In fact, the part of the book concerning the distribution of the pamphlet is its most interesting part. If you like drama, history and an engaging, if sullen and unkempt, character this book is for you.
If Leon Trotsky was considered by many to be the "prince of pamphleteers" for his efforts on behalf of the Russian Revolution and socialism then Tom Paine can rightly be regarded as the "prince of pamphleteers" for his efforts on behalf of the American and French Revolutions (and its offshoot- the pro-revolutionary English radical movement of the 1790's) and plebian democracy.
Tom Paine, like many important revolutionaries in their time, had an impact on more than one revolutionary movement and therefore justly earned for himself an honored place in plebian democratic history much to the chagrin of some later historians of these movements. In an age when sales of printed matter were small his tracts sold in the hundreds of thousands and those purchases were not merely for the coffee table at a time when money was dear. That alone helps defines the impact of his work.
Tom Paine, like other revolutionary leaders, has suffered through the ups and downs of reputation depending on the times. His Age of Reason, the consummate tract in defense of 18th century popular deism, led to a steep decline in his reputation for most of the 19th century, an age in America of religious piety. Even the revolutionary abolitionist John Brown was driven by a religious furor. Paine has fared better lately, in an age that is much more secular and which is not shocked by deist conclusions. Paine also comes in handy as an ally when democratic rights are, like now, under full-scale attack in the name of the `war on terrorism'. Let me conclude by saying this, if a closet-Tory like Founding Father John Adams can look pretty damn good in comparison to today's bourgeois politicians then Tom Paine can rightly take his place as a Founder in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes.
Stirring, tragic historical novel.......2006-08-02
For those who need a refresher, Paine was the American revolutionary who helped transform a disorderly and often frightened collection of rebellious colonists into a nation with his series of pamphlets, beginning with the famous Common Sense.
When we first meet Paine, he is a frustrated loser on the verge of middle age, unable to break free of the class system that traps him in menial jobs in London. He forces his way into the office of Benjamin Franklin, the minister from the "colonies," who kindly recommends that he emigrate to America. When Paine, who tells Franklin that he "writes a little," comes to Philadelphia, he haltingly finds his true talent at last: as a propagandist. As the colonies hurtle towards revolution, it is Paine who roars the truth in his little pamphlets, giving courage and meaning to the efforts of the rebels.
For the first time in his life, this shambling, lonely, often drunk man is truly alive. Encouraging, exhorting, burning with anger and determination, Paine plays his vital role without thought of personal gain or a plan for the future. Before reading this novel, I hadn't realized how powerful the Tory forces were in America, especially in Philadelphia, nor how many folks simply sat on the sidelines during the war, wishing the whole mess would just go away. At the war's lowest point, Congress hightails it out of Philadelphia (then the capital) and begins talk of sacking George Washington.
Paine took personal responsibility for saving Philadelphia (the capital) from a Tory takeover, an action that may well have saved the country--but at the cost of making powerful enemies. Paine's passion and sacrifice for the cause sets the stage for the tragic second act of the book. Now a throughly committed revolutionary, Paine doesn't know what to do with himself after the American Revolution comes to an end.
He is once again a wanderer, but now he has a reputation to uphold. The only real satisfaction he can find is as a revolutionist, on the run from the authorities. He returns to England and tries to spark an uprising there. Eventually, disillusionment sets in. Paine learns that his desire to change the world is not enough.
Paine then becomes caught up in the French Revolution and is lucky to escape with his head. Falsely accused of atheism for some of his writings in France, Paine lives out his remaining years in America, despised by the very country he helped to create.
While not a jolly tale, Citizen Tom Paine is a compelling, gripping read. Fast himself was a radical, but this novel is no propaganda piece for radical politics. Instead, Fast examines with clear eyes and a compassionate heart the tragedy that befalls a creative man who can't be content with the temporizing and sorry realities of everyday life. This is a timeless story of idealism, its triumphs, and its limitations.
Don't Know Much About History?.......2005-07-24
Let's play word association. Thomas Paine. Did you say Common Sense? So did I. In fact, that's about all I knew of Paine before picking up Howard Fast's piece of historical fiction about the revolutionary. It's not surprising that this should be what Paine is best remembered for. The "small book" appears to have been a bigger hit than the Da Vinci Code and was read by people across the intellectual spectrum. Paine became known to American soldiers and militiamen as "Common Sense". Paine was perhaps America's first motivational speaker.
There is more to Paine than Common Sense, however, and Howard Fast does a marvelous job leading us up to the point that Paine writes his masterpiece and beyond to his eventual demise and ridicule until his death. Along the way, Paine wrote a series of "Crisis" papers that picked up where Common Sense left off and re-inspired discouraged fighters. It is to Paine that we owe the line "these are the times that try men's souls." Paine later tried to become a revolution mercenary, trying his hand (unsuccessfully) in England and (arguably more successfully) in France. He was so well received in France that he became a deputy to the National Assembly.
A better historian -- or high school student -- would probably already know all of this about Paine. If you fall into that category, Citizen Tom Paine may be a waste of time. But if your knowledge of this gruff, intelligent, less-than-handsome revolutionary is as shallow as mine was, Citizen Tom Paine is a worthwhile read that has become a classic piece of historical fiction.
Tom Paine - a Founder for the Common Man.......2004-11-12
The Tom Paine who Howard Fast creates in his excellent historical novel Citizen Tom Paine is not a traditionally sympathetic character. He is a course peasant with a chip on his shoulder, full of self-pity, usually rash, and often drunk, dirty, and mean. Yet through all of that, a fierce, pure light shines, that makes him the most compelling of characters, and an unlikely inspiring hero. Fast writes of him, "in the unshaven, hook-nosed, wigless head, there was something both fierce and magnificent, a grinding savagery that might be sculptured as the whole meaning of revolution, unrest and cruelty combine with a deep-etched pattern of human suffering and understanding." This Paine is good only for revolution, a continually lonely wanderer, who says that the world is his village, and wherever freedom is not, there he will be. He is the prophet of the age of the common man, old "Common Sense". And in the end, despite all that he contributed to liberty and his fellow citizen of three nations, he is forsaken by all to die alone, and even his bones are given no rest.
Fast surrounds Paine with a great cast of historical personages - Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Burke, Blake, Marat, Robespierre, and Bonaparte among others - all men that Paine knew and moved among. They are all bit characters here, though. Whatever their worldly greatness, in Citizen Tom Paine they serve only to provide background to this great monolith of peasant philosopher revolutionary. Likewise, Fast convincingly shows us the world's first two great democratic revolutions, but only as they are viewed through the fierce eyes of Tom Paine. (This view is not entirely the one that you may have studied in school.) Everything else in this novel fades into the background as it keeps a tight focus on this amazing, sad man, who always had the courage of his convictions, no matter what price must be paid.
Paine is arguably the most neglected of America's founders. His frank writings on religion in his book The Age of Reason made him a pariah in his last days in America, and blackened his name here for over 100 years. Howard Fast has done an excellent job of rescuing Paine from that unfair obscurity, and presenting him as a complex, troubled, but fiercely honest hero for the common man. When I first read this book over twenty years ago, it gave me a new hero, and I have since read Paine's works and biographies, so I would say that Fast did his work well. Read it yourself to discover the brilliant character that Fast created, and then go out and discover the Tom Paine of history. Neither will disappoint you.
Theo Logos
Transports the reader back to that time.......2004-08-09
First of all I found this book a pleasure to read. Howard Fast is an amazing writer. Reading the book I found myself carried back to the time of the revolution. Not only do you follow Tom Paine around, but you get peeks at Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and Napoleon. Reading a historical novel like this shows these historical figures as real people - brings them to life just as if they lived in your neighborhood. True, they are fictionalized but it seems that the author did his best to conform to the known facts. I have tried a number of writers of historical fiction and find that Howard Fast is among the best. What a pleasant way to become acquainted with history!
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DDT: Scientists, citizens, and public policy
Thomas R Dunlap
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
 Social Services & Welfare
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Natural History
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ASIN: 0691046808 |
Book Description
Frank von Hippel has been at the forefront of those scientists grappling with the troubled legacy of our Nuclear Age. Von Hippel offers insights about the choices we must make and how science can help us to make them. Topics include nuclear power, atomic weapons, disarmament, energy and the future of automobiles. The scientist's role in public life and the importance of "making trouble" is emphasized. Of interest to physicists, particularly those working in nuclear physics, policy makers, environmentalists and those concerned with nuclear disarmament and the role of science in society.
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Citizen of the World: Essays on Thomas Paine
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0312013000 |
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Citizen Paine: Thomas Paine's Thoughts on Man, Government, Society, and Religion
John P. Kaminski
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0742520889 |
Book Description
This compilation of over 1,000 quotations on 450 topics draws exclusively from the genius of Tom Paine. Accompanied by an insightful and concise biography, this totally unique volume broadens and deepens our understanding and appreciation of this quintessential yet enigmatic revolutionary, whose vision of a humane and democratic society shaped a philosophy for his time that still speaks to us today.
Average customer rating:
- Choppy
- Popular in Brooklyn
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Citizen Tom Paine
Howard Fast
Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding
United States
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General
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ASIN: 0808576321 |
Customer Reviews:
Choppy.......2001-03-02
The book is a choppy read. There are instances where the read flows like water from a Florida spring. However, it can be dry as Texas during a drought. To give it justice you must be a persistant reader.
Popular in Brooklyn.......2001-02-14
I had to read this book for school and it was pretty good. The only reason it is popular in Brooklyn is that you can't find this book anywhere else and since over 75 people had to read it for school, and our teacher suggested getting it here, everyone bought it.
Book Description
Concentration of the media has reached new heights, making it harder for alternative and critical voices to gain a hearing. The recent $86 billion merger of Time Warner and AOL is just one of many signs of the narrowing of information sources. Market pressures have also encroached on the original mission of public broadcasting, which was to "provide a voice for groups that may otherwise be unheard."
Yet around the country, creative journalists and activists are creating more democratic, informative, and engaging media. Whether they are working to defend and expand democratic access to existing media or building their own media alternatives through the radio, television, or the World Wide Web, they are pioneering new ways of sharing information. In the Decline and Fall of Public Broadcasting, David Barsamian gives an insider's account of these new media activists and the challenges they confront, drawing on his years of experience in public radio. Since 1986, Barsamian has been the producer of the highly acclaimed Alternative Radio, a weekly one-hour public affairs program broadcast in North America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia, as well
as short-wave radio and the Internet.
David Barsamian is the producer of the award-winning syndicated radio program Alternative Radio. His interview books with luminaries such as Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Edward W. Said have sold in the hundreds of thousands. His most recent interview book is Propaganda and the Public Mind: Conversations with Noam Chomsky (South End Press, 2001). He is also the author of Eqbal Ahmad: Confronting Empire (South End Press, 2000).
Also Available by David Barsamian
Propaganda and the Public Mind: Conversations with Noam Chompsky
TP $16.00 0-89608-634-8
CUSA
Eqbal Ahmad: Confronting Empire
TP $16.00 ISBN 0-89608-615-1
CUSA
Customer Reviews:
How Many Little Indians Are Left?.......2003-01-01
First there were...then they were...now they is...The numbers tell the story of the decline and fall of the American media. While others struggle to tell their story in the face of secret polie and oppressive governments, the American media and decided to much easier to beat themselves up and censor what sluices out down the trough to the American people.
"The Decline and Fall of Public Broadcasting" is a small, yet powerful volume that traces the end of PBS juxtaposing the mandate of Congress in passing the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 with the reality of a PBS whose programming has gone from "imagination, creativity and diversity" to a plethora of cooking shows, nature programs and Britcoms.
The "news," so called, consists of Jim Lehrer's blown dry stenographing of the opinions of the rulers and their corporate controllers. journalists, so called, simply pass onto the viewers
the opinions and slants of present and past representatives of the ruling class. Nowhere to be seen or heard are workers and those who suffer under the policies emanating from Washington and endorsed by these 'overpaid stenographers" who do not challenge the assumptions underlying public policy.
While there are literally thousands of students, workers, free lance journalists and writers free of the corporate yoke who can present "creativity, imagination and diversity" these individuals are rarely, if ever, invited onto PBS, a taxpayer supported, government controlled network.
To understand where PBS is and where it is going, Barsimian provides a small, powerful, well written volume that strips away the pretense and provides the reader with the essential information needed to challenge the comfortable, ruling class assumptions about American policy.
If your tired of being feed PBS pablum, read what you can do to change that in "The Decline and Fall of Public Broadcasting."
A brief but compelling argument.......2002-04-19
In this book David Barsamian quotes Ben Bagdikian as saying that in 1983 there 50 corporations dominating the media. In 2000 there were six. We have an ever shrinking handful of interlocking massive conglomerates controlling media outlets which people are forced to turn to for news. In the beginning of the book Barsamian covers the accession of Michael Powell, son of our eminent imperial foreign minister, appointed by George W.Bush, after he got the presidency to head the FCC. Now Mr. Powell wastes no platitudes about serving the "public interest." He says that his job is to serve his "clients" i.e. the major media conglomerates. And this means accelerating the process of removing anti-monopoly provisions, the type which say that one network can't purchase another network or that no company can own a tv station and a newspaper in the same region. The philopsophy of folks like Powell, extended to the other sectors of the economy as well, is that companies can buy up all the newspapers and tv and radio stations that they want, no matter how large a part of the market they might control.
Barsamian quotes from the commission that established American public broadcasting back in 1967. The stated goal, in brief, was to offer public media that would give a voice to marginalized groups in society, to those other than corporations and their representitives, intellectual or otherwise. After all the public owns the radio and television airwaves. The media, as Thomas Jefferson recognized, as the primary source of information for the citizenry, are maybe the most crucial component of a true democracy. If only a few conglomerates can buy space on the radio and TV airwaves to dissimenate information then something is wrong.
In the United States, the way it was set up, Public broadcasting was doomed from the start. Its funding is at the whim of annunal appropriations from our congresspeople. It must signficantly fund itself by looking for money from the corporate world. And it has been under attack from under right wing flacks particularly since the 80's who have called, for instance NPR a gathering place for the "discredited pro-Soviet left" (David Horowitz), the American mouthpiece for the Sandanistas during the 80's and other such incredibly stupid and silly labels. Recently NPR was denounced by the idiots at CAMERA for waging a hellish campaign of defemation of Israel, despite having reporters on the issue like Linda Gradstein being very supportive of the Israeli government.
Barsamian goes through the litany of documentaries and other productions--on issue ranging from genocide in East Timor and Iraq and corporate domination to domestic abuse and homsexuality. PBS often rejects them, for instance, on the grouds of conflict of interest between the position being advocated in the productions and the underwriters who are using the money to support that position. Of course they never have any qualms about showing advocacy films produced by corporations and other status quo interests.
Barsamian says that the government run public broadcasting occasionally does some good stuff like putting on Bill Moyers. But they are overwhelming slanted towards the center--right. William F. Buckley had "Fireline" on PBS for decades, as had Ben Wattenberg, John McClaughlin as well as the numerous shows dealing with Wall Street. And then there's The Lehrer News hour. All of this stuff gets plenty of corporate funding or "underwriting." And then there's Charlie Rose who, Barsamian notes, benignly hosts establishment guests like Henry Kissinger or Thomas Friedman and lets them repeat their balderdash, but when an occasional dissenter comes on, like Edward Said, he subjects them to relentless cross-examination.
Dealing with NPR, he notes that they are hardly cemented in the Political center and beyond. For instance dealing with Iraq last year, Barsamian quotes them as letting Colin Powell say that humanitarian supplies are able to be delivered to Iraq when he and his fellow criminals have been blocking billions of dollars of supplies from getting through the UN sanctions committee. He relates the time Noam Chomsky who is the leading intellectual of the Left had his one interview with NPR in 1988. If one accepts the theory of Horowitz and other such gifted analysts that NPR is home to anti-american subversives than you would expect Noam Chomsky to be all over NPR but of course the exact opposite is true as the story relates.
I don't quite know when some of the writing in here was produced. It was supposedly published in August 2001 but Barsamian says at one point that Chomsky has only appeared once in 1990 on The News Hour on PBS. He actually appeared again in early 1998 and then, I believe in early 99'. But of the point Barsamian makes is still very valid. Then he refers to Howard Zinn with producers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon trying to produce a series based on Zinn's book "A People's History of the U.S." for HBO but HBO actually canned the effort around two years ago.
He ends noting the courageous efforts, fortunately just recently fullfilled of Amy Goodman and the people at Pacifica, the oldest listener supported network in the U.S., to wrestle control back from the corporate thugs who hijacked it. He also says somethings about Microradio, Free speech TV, Indymedia and other such efforts. Goodman writes the foreward to this book and Mumia Abu Jamal writes the afterward.
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- Digital history - indispensable, yet a good read
- Informative and amusing
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Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, And Presenting the Past on the Web
Daniel J. Cohen , and
Roy Rosenzweig
Manufacturer: University of Pennsylvania Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
History
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ASIN: 0812219236 |
Book Description
Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web provides for the first time a plainspoken and thorough introduction to the web for historians--teachers and students, archivists and museum curators, professors as well as amateur enthusiasts--who wish to produce online historical work or to build upon and improve the projects they have already started in this important new medium.
The book takes the reader step by step through planning a project, understanding the technologies involved and how to choose the appropriate ones, designing a site that is both easy to use and scholarly, digitizing materials in a way that makes them web-friendly while preserving their historical integrity, and reaching and responding to an intended audience effectively. It also explores the repercussions of copyright law and fair use for scholars in a digital age and examines more cutting-edge web techniques involving interactivity, such as sites that use the medium to solicit and collect historical artifacts. Finally, the book provides basic guidance for ensuring that the digital history the reader creates will not disappear in a few years. Throughout, Digital History maintains a realistic sense of the advantages and disadvantages of putting historical documents, interpretations, and discussions online.
The authors write in a tone that makes Digital History accessible to those with little knowledge of computers, while including a host of details that more technically savvy readers will find helpful. And although the book focuses particularly on historians, those working in related fields in the humanities and social sciences will also find this to be a useful introduction. Digital History builds upon more than a decade of experience and expertise in creating pioneering and award-winning work by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University
Customer Reviews:
Digital history - indispensable, yet a good read.......2006-04-02
Practical. comprehensive,philosophical guide for any web user. This book is extensively annotated and illustrated - Deft and witty, it is a boon to academics and the rest of us in understanding the revolution to the way we think about framing our world, it's past and present and preserving it in digital form accurately efficiently and cheaply.
Informative and amusing.......2005-10-25
A remarkable mix of history and "xml", presented with a readable and often amusing text. The "screenshot" examples were very helpful.
Average customer rating:
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Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web.(Book review) : An article from: Social Education
David Hicks , and
John K. Lee
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
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ASIN: B000FO46OC
Release Date: 2006-05-11 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Social Education, published by Thomson Gale on April 1, 2006. The length of the article is 1156 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web.(Book review)
Author: David Hicks
Publication:
Social Education (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 70
Issue: 3
Page: 165(2)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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