Atlas of Oregon Wildlife: Distribution, Habitat, and Natural History

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The difference between an atlas and a field guide

Big book with too little detail

Atlas of Oregon Wildlife: Distribution, Habitat, and Natural History
Thomas A. O'Neil , Margaret M. Shaughnessy , Eleanor P. Gaines , and John C. Hak
Manufacturer: Oregon State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Wildlife | Animals | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
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Ecology | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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Land Mammals of Oregon

Birds of Oregon: A General Reference

Oregon Wildlife Portfolio

Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest

ASIN: 0870715356

Book Description

From the common deer mouse and the elusive Spotted Owl to the tailed frog and the painted turtle, the comprehensive "Atlas of Oregon Wildlife" has become the standard reference for all who study or have an interest in the state's wildlife. It combines current knowledge on the habitats and life histories of Oregon's wildlife species with a new generation of computer-generated species distribution maps.

The Atlas devotes a full page to each amphibian, reptile, breeding bird, and mammal found in Oregon. Each species account features:

-a drawing of and measurements for the species;

-a map linked to a high-resolution land-cover map that shows where each species is likely to be found within Oregon;

-the taxonomy, habitat, reproduction, food habits, and ecology of each species, as well as its global range and status;

-selected references for additional information.

For this second edition, new and improved distribution maps have been added for all 474 species. The coverage has been expanded to include all introduced vertebrates recognized as established in the state, all species of seals and sea lions found along its coast, and six extirpated species, including the California Condor, the grizzly bear, and the gray wolf, which may someday return to Oregon.

This new edition of the Atlas will provide interested citizens with a basic understanding of Oregon's remarkable wildlife and serve as an invaluable reference for serious naturalists and wildlife professionals.

Customer Reviews:

The difference between an atlas and a field guide.......2001-01-05

With regard to the above comment, I'd just like to point out that this book is an atlas of Oregon wildlife, not an identification guide. If you've ever tried to scope out the range of a species from the tiny maps in most field guides, you'll appreciate the large size of these maps.

Big book with too little detail.......1999-08-03

I was disappointed that a book this size had such limited descriptions of the animals. Nearly half of each page was devoted to a map which showed the areas where the animal might be found. The pictures of the animals are black and white sketchs with no color descriptions in the text. Can you imagine trying to identify birds without knowing what color they are? If the map had been scaled down there would be plenty of room to give more detailed descriptions of the creatures. The idea is very good, but the book is a disappointment.

Book Description

15 maps including 9 colour

Customer Reviews:

Prejudice with misinformation to boot.......2001-02-20

This book is so biased against anything Jewish in Jerusalem that it borders on an anti-semitic screed. It waxes hysterical about ultra-orthodox Jews and neighborhoods. In real life, these are the safest places in the city, and offer some of the most interesting sights and shops. Beautiful churches and mosques are described in detail, but the one decorative Jewish place of worship, the Great Synagogue, is dismissed with a single statement: that its construction was a waste of money!

The relentless axe-grinding leads to some dubious advice. Readers are told to patronize Arab taxis and hotels to make up for their loss of business during the intifada. That's an awful lot like the Jews of Germany being billed for the cleanup after Kristallnacht.

Ordinary misinformation makes this guide next to useless. The Botanical Gardens are not free, entrance is about $10--and well worth it. Descriptions of Jewish ritual are skewed and include some real howlers. I wonder if their source was pulling their leg.

In addition, while I'd always thought that it's impossible to take a bad picture in the Holy City, this guide is peppered with the most boring photography I've ever seen. Any kid with a disposable camera could have done better.

CONDENSED YERUSALHAIM.......2000-06-12

This fascinating city, eternal and enticing in all its aspects, is here visited in a summary but useful way. The Capital of David's Kingdom and seat of the Temple, as well as Jesus' place of crucifixion and Mohammed's ascent to Heaven, Jerusalem is also a laboratory of modernity. From the holy places to the most fashionable night clubs, this guide leads you to discovering the immortal city, one of the most complex and intriguing in the world. The book includes excursions to Betlehem, Jericho, Masada and the Dead Sea. Good value.

Get the Israel LPG instead.......2000-02-09

The information in this slim volume is taken directly from the Lonely Planet Guide to Israel, and the coverage in the latter guide is better for the day trips North and South that you'll want to take. Buying both is a complete waste of money, and I'd really recommend getting the LPG Israel even if you don't plan to stray far from Jerusalem.

A perfect city guide.......1999-02-05

This guide gives you all the informations you need. It contains all nessesary information the backpacker need for a holiday in Jerusalem. Buy it and you would not be dissapointet.

Lonely Planet Jerusalem: City Map (City Maps Series)

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Lonely Planet Jerusalem: City Map (City Maps Series)
Lonely Planet
Manufacturer: Lonely Planet Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Map

Maps | Atlases & Maps | Reference | Subjects | Books

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Reference | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

Lonely Planet | Guidebook Series | Travel | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Easy-to-use, this durable new map series covers the world's great cities, both on and off the beaten track. Features include: full-colour, fold-out maps; downtown and metropolitan maps; transit routes and unique walking tours; full index of streets and sights; essential information and telephone numbers; up-to-date and accurate content; plastic-coated, double-sided, 240mm x 100mm; 9.5" x 4" folded.

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Heinemann Scottish History: Renaissance, Reformation & the Age of Discovery 1450-1700 (Heinemann Scottish History)
Tom Monaghan
Manufacturer: Heinemann Educational Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0435320904

Book Description

The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in our understanding of early animal development. The revised edition of this excellent book describes the results of this revolution and explains in detail how the body plan of an embryo emerges from a newly fertilized egg. The book starts with a critical discussion of embryological concepts, and with simple mathematics describes cell states, morphogen gradients, and threshold responses. The experimental evidence of the mechanisms of regional specification in vertebrates, insects, and selected invertebrates, namely frogs (Xenopus), mice, chicks, fruitflies (Drosophila), mollusks, ringed worms, sea squirts, and nematode worms (Caenorhabditis), is then discussed. The progress with Drosophila has been particularly impressive, and there is an entire chapter devoted to it that provides a clear guide to the subject and includes a new table of developmentally important genes. Throughout, the emphasis is on conceptual clarity and unity, and the book brings together mathematical models, embryological experiments, and molecular biology in a single comprehensible and coherent account.

Customer Reviews:

Embryology for those not just interested in humans,.......2000-09-06

I first read this book as a graduate student in a developmental biology program. It is well-written, engaging and deep. It is not geared towards medical students but towards those interested in what processes are used by a broad spectrum of animals to develop from a one-celled egg to complicated life-forms. Now that I am no longer in the field I find myself wanting to read it again and wishing there was an up-dated version, given all the advances in our understanding of the cellular and genetic processes that underly development of the last decade.

From Egg to Embryo: Regional Specification in Early Development, 2nd Edition

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From Egg to Embryo: Regional Specification in Early Development, 2nd Edition
J. M. W. Slack
Manufacturer: Cambridge Univ Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KXZMPU

Book Description

Group analysis of differential equations has applications to various problems in nonlinear mechanics and physics. For the first time, this book gives the systematic group analysis of main postulates of classical and relativistic mechanics. The consistent presentation of Lie group theory is illustrated by plentiful examples. Symmetries and conservation laws of differential equations are studied. Specific equations and problems of mechanics and physics are considered, and exact solutions are given for the following equations: dynamics of rigid body, heat transfer, wave, hydrodynamics, Thomas-Fermi and more. The author pays particular attention to the application of group analysis to developing asymptotic methods of applied mathematics in problems with small parameter. The methods are used to solve basic equations (Van Der Pol's equation, Duffing equation, etc.) encountered in the theory of nonlinear oscillations. This book is intended for a wide range of scientists, engineers and students in the fields of applied mathematics, mechanics and physics.

Book Description

Prolific even by eighteenth-century standards, Eliza Haywood was the author of more than eighty titles, including short fiction, novels, periodicals, plays, poetry, and a political pamphlet for which she was briefly jailed. From her early successes (most notably Love in Excess) to later novels such as Betsy Thoughtless (her best known work) she remained widely read, yet sneered at as a `stupid, infamous, scribbling woman' by the likes of Swift and Pope.

Betsy Thoughtless is the story of the slow metamorphosis of the heroine from thoughtless coquette to thoughtful wife. Ironically, the most decisive moment in this development may be when Betsy decides to leave her emotionally abusive and financially punishing husband; it is only after experiencing independence that she returns to her marriage and to what becomes her husbands deathbed. Betsy Thoughtless may be the first real novel of female development in English. In this edition the text is accompanied by appendices, including writings from the period that shed light on Haywood's life and work, and on her relationship with contemporaries such as Henry Fielding.

Customer Reviews:

Great Georgian Era Read!.......2005-06-30

Miss Betsy Thoughtless is a young, pretty woman of independant fortune who, though blessed with intelligence, has a great deal of personal vanity, and takes a delight in attracting as many suitors as possible. This book is refreshing for it's time-Miss Betsy is not alone in wondering why so many women want to be married when you are much more in control of yourself when single-and believable in it's characters and plot. You cant help liking Miss Betsy, and wishing her well. Good read!

Eliza Haywood's troubled classic.......2003-06-06

This book is troubling for me, but also very very compelling. Betsy Thoughtless comes from a tradition of naming characters for their personality, hence names like Sir Trusty, Sir Loveit, Mr. Goodman, Mr. Trueworth, etc. This kind of thing normally bothers me, but it really didn't this time. (As a sidenote, i think that's only a bothersome practice when used by authors that are not good at their trade, like William Hill Brown, and perfectly acceptable in the works of intelligent ones, like here or in Samuel Johnson.) What troubled me more was the repetition of character in Betsy -- it was very hard to sympathize with a woman who, though good at heart and the picture of moral perfection (as long as you keep her away from men), persisted in her thoughlessness for 500 pages and several lessons before even beginning to rethink her behavior. It might have been better if Haywood had cut out one or two of those attempts on Betsy's innocence and gone sooner for the maturation of the heroine, which is the main point of the novel.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think this is a very good book, and a necessity for students of the 18th century, or of literature at all. Looking back, how many books from the 18th and 19th centuries can you say followed a woman into a marriage? Betsy's union with Mr. Munden is depressing and enlightening. Once we see Betsy in the position of Wife, it's much easier to see why she would resist the institution with such vigor, though not why she had to play her suitors against one another. "[S]he could not quite assure herself, that a breach of [marriage] was to be justified by any provocations; nor whether the worst usage on the part of the husband could authorize resentment on that of a wife." Heavy words. And this is the kind of thinking that is rewarded at the end of the book. Women were truly their husbands' possessions, and nothing the man could do would justify even resentment from the wife. Makes a woman glad to be alive now...but anyway.

The story is entertaining and educational, and Betsy endearing, even if she is frustrating at times. I only wish now that I could find a book from this era that followed a woman into a HAPPY marriage in some detail. I wish that Betsy Thoughtless had done that, or finished up the story line of the wicked Miss Flora and Lady Mellasin. When you pursue a story for 634 pages, cheering for the happiness of the heroine, 4 pages of happiness at the end of the novel isn't quite a satisfactory payoff, although it is reassuring to have Betsy finally thoughtful, happy, and of true worth. This novel is definitely worth the effort.

Required Class Reading SPOILER.......2001-07-24

If you are buying this book, more likely than not it is required reading for your women's literature class. To help guide you along (since this can be a hard read for some people)Here is a quick synopsis: * Betsy Thoughtless is coming of age. This means she is trying to be independent, but is also in the mist of the courting ritual. * She does not want to pick a suiter because she will no longer be able to play the field. * The man she should marry (Trustworthy) leaves her because he is told she has a bastard child (She really doesn't, she is just helping out another child). * She ends up marrying Mundane. He is a horrible husband. He dies (Trustworthy's wife also dies). * Betsy and Trustworthy end up getting married (as they should have). This book deals with the courtship ritual and how important it was to civilization and women at that time. Note toward the end that Besty had to marry mundane in order to grow up and be worthy of Trustworthy's had in marriage.

A Lovely Novel.......2000-05-28

This book was simply wonderful. It would appeal to anyone who enjoys the novels of Jane Austen as this book is also very clever and delightful. A rather obscure novel but definitely worth reading. A classic that I'm glad I discovered.

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THE HISTORY OF MISS BETSY THOUGHTLESS
ELIZA HAYWOOD
Manufacturer: HARRISON & CO
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless. 4 Volumes, complete.

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History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless. 4 Volumes, complete.
Eliza Haywood
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Amazon.com

In 1985 a team of hand-picked adventurers, including writer Joe Kane, embarked on a journey that would take them to the remote headwaters of the Amazon Basin. But that was just the beginning of the trip. Their goal: to navigate the world's longest river from source to mouth, a feat never before recorded.

After reaching (via a goat trail) a glacial trickle above 17,000 feet--debatably the farthest source of the Amazon--the team descends to a point where kayaks can be deployed. From there the trip entails kayaking through one of the nastiest white-water canyons on the planet, a stretch of water that has previously claimed the lives or quickly halted the plans of all who attempted to conquer it; navigating an unmapped gorge known affectionately as the Abyss; sneaking through the "Red Zone," an area closed to foreigners and occupied by the notorious Shining Path rebels; and, finally, paddling to the Atlantic by sea kayak through 3,000 miles of hot jungle.

Hired initially to chronicle the project from dry land, Kane quickly assumes a more integral role as a much-needed paddler, and as such he is able to provide vivid, first-hand descriptions of the treacherous water encountered. But in many ways the water is the least imposing obstacle to success. Along the way the team is beset by financial difficulties, a crisis of leadership, attacks from armed rebels, and the defection of team members. Kane's account of this six-month ordeal is much more than a travelogue of athletic endeavor--it's a fascinating portrait of the planning, politics, and personal struggles involved in mounting a modern-day expedition through a vast expanse of largely uncharted territory.

Book Description

Until the summer of 1985 no one had ever traveled the 4200 miles of the Amazon River. It looked just too formidable. But in late August of that year nine young men and women made the attempt. They had an incredible journey.

They came from all over the world...for sport, for science, for the thrill. In the event there was something for everyone. But the biggest reward was to have done it, to have conquered the endless Amazon from its source to its Atlantic spillway.

"A first-hand account of adventure in the grand manner." (Publisher's Source)

Customer Reviews:

Good good good.......2007-04-21

One of the top adventure books I have read. Great descriptions of whitewater hell as well as political manueverings in the group. Best kayaking book yet.

A Classic in adventure writing.......2007-02-18

Even though this adventure happened over 20 years ago, it's still worth a read.

Like other reviewers have already stated, this was a very ill-matched expedition. The wrong people were leaders. There was poor and no planning and I suspect, mismanagement of the money each participant had paid. (Kane paid $7000). The potpouri of participants just goes to show that you can't conduct a river expedition for exploration, adventure, excitement, recording, documenting and science. It's just too much to focus on at once when the river provides for all the dangers one could imagine. The Lewis and Clark expedition realized the same thing 180 years earlier: it's impossible to both chart a new river and conduct science projects AND record the journey AND ward off "savages" all at the same time. The Roosevelt expedition wasn't any luckier.

Kane does an excellent job describing the journey, from the hike up to the Amazon source to the day-to-day river adventures. Scenes of black outs after near-drowning experiences are heart-pounding. Visuals of the river as just as descriptive. Arguments between the Alpha members allow for personal opinion of each participant. This story is not just about the six months of paddling and rafting, but also about the human-to-human conflicts of very different people and how they interact in and after crisis after crisis after crisis.

The writing is rock solid. Each chapter is a prelude to the next. This is my second read of the Amazon (the previous one was "The River of Doubt" about Theodore Roosevelt's trip down the Amazon in 1913) and I am convinced that the Amazon and its tributaries are not worth the agony and defeat that whitewater thrill seekers want. I have no desire to visit the Amazon, no desire to experience the water in any way.

Adventure literature classic.......2007-01-25

Adventure literature classic. National Geographic ranked it #57 in its top 100 Adventure Books of all-time.

A team of nine, mostly strangers, attempts to be the first to traverse the Amazon river--from its source in Peru down to the Atlantic--the longest river in the world. Joe Kane is invited as a journalist to document the journey, but who has no boating or adventure experience. Crisis among the team leadership leads to a breakdown and in the end things don't turn out as expected. Reads like a novel. New found love, personal conflicts, peasant revolutions, and the dangers of the river propel the story forward to the sea, "it's all downhill from here".

A Classic In Travel/Adventure Lit.......2006-09-17

If it isn't already, Joe Kane's RUNNING THE AMAZON will definitely become a real classic in travel and adventure lit. Among the many travel narratives out there, this is one of the best you will find.

Kane was invited along on a half-baked expedition to run the length of the Amazon river, from its' Andean source to it's broad end at the Atlantic Ocean. After hiking across the continental divide from the Pacific side of Peru (trekking alongside the Rio Colca gorge, the deepest outside of the Himalayas), the descent begins.

Along the way, the splintering expedition dodges falling rocks in cleft gorges, narcotrafficers, Maoist rebels, storms and other assorted hazards along the way. Kane's descriptions of the journey, and every stop along the way, are remarkably vivid, doing what every great travel book should do, but so few actually do.

An unforgettable account of an admirable trip; highly recommended.

-David Alston

no title.......2005-11-12

What a wonderful, thrilling, adventure-packed, suspense-filled book! It has everything, even a love story. Well written, as the author shares all his feelings, hurts, thoughts. And vividly outlines his fellow members of the expedition. Much is learned, also, of Peru and Brazil.

Average customer rating:

Running the Amazon
Joe Kane
Manufacturer: Alfred A. Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Product Description

A firsthand account of the first expedition to travel the entire 4,2000-mile Amazon River from its source high in the Andes to its union with the Atlantic Ocean. Illustrated with black and white photographs.

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Amazon: Land of the Flooded Forest
National Geographic Vvwa G51479
Manufacturer: National Geographic Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0792219201

Memorial of M. F. Maury, U. S. N., praying The Establishment of a line of mail steamships from Norfolk or Charleston to Para, at the mouth of the Amazon, to connect with a line running thence to Rio de Janeiro.

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Memorial of M. F. Maury, U. S. N., praying The Establishment of a line of mail steamships from Norfolk or Charleston to Para, at the mouth of the Amazon, to connect with a line running thence to Rio de Janeiro.
M. F. Maury
Manufacturer: Washington:
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IU9486

The Online Business Setup, Cheap Marketing, Amazon Sales for Running Boards Businesses

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The Online Business Setup, Cheap Marketing, Amazon Sales for Running Boards Businesses
J Bowman J Orr
Manufacturer: LTBR, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000U5A4A6

The Online Business Setup, Cheap Marketing, Amazon Sales for Running Suits Businesses

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The Online Business Setup, Cheap Marketing, Amazon Sales for Running Suits Businesses
J Bowman J Orr
Manufacturer: LTBR, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000U3N8A6

The Online Business Setup, Killer Headlines, Amazon Sales for Running Boards and Steps Businesses

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The Online Business Setup, Killer Headlines, Amazon Sales for Running Boards and Steps Businesses
J Bowman J Orr
Manufacturer: LTBR, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000W7FOBG

The Online Business Setup, Killer Headlines, Amazon Sales for Running Boards Businesses

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The Online Business Setup, Killer Headlines, Amazon Sales for Running Boards Businesses
J Bowman J Orr
Manufacturer: LTBR, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000W7EL8S

The Online Business Setup, Killer Headlines, Amazon Sales for Running Shoes Businesses

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The Online Business Setup, Killer Headlines, Amazon Sales for Running Shoes Businesses
J Bowman J Orr
Manufacturer: LTBR, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000W70Y98

The Online Business Setup, Killer Headlines, Amazon Sales for Running Shorts Businesses

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The Online Business Setup, Killer Headlines, Amazon Sales for Running Shorts Businesses
J Bowman J Orr
Manufacturer: LTBR, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000W7UTLG

Customer Reviews:

Select story for select audience...?.......2002-11-28

Rogers offers a look at the first capital of the Confederacy -albeit the capital for a mere handful of months. Rogers then expands focus on Montgomery for the remaining war years ('61-'65). Although Rogers presents the city of Montgomery as a "microcosm" of other Southern cities, I find Rogers offers little to defend his thesis. Except for its "15 minutes" as the capital, Montgomery, for the most part, largely escapes the ravages of other towns/cities/villages of the Deep South. I really found not much of a story to tell within these pages. Indeed there is only 156 pages of readable text!

Confederate Home Front: Montgomery During the Civil War.: An article from: Journal of Southern History

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Confederate Home Front: Montgomery During the Civil War.: An article from: Journal of Southern History
Stephen V. Ash
Manufacturer: Southern Historical Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008HXJ8A
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Southern Historical Association on May 1, 2001. The length of the article is 539 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: Confederate Home Front: Montgomery During the Civil War.
Author: Stephen V. Ash
Publication: Journal of Southern History (Refereed)
Date: May 1, 2001
Publisher: Southern Historical Association
Volume: 67 Issue: 2 Page: 463

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Great at pointing out Foucault's porblematic political turn

radical Islamism versus compassionate conservatives

Fetishism and cultural imperialism, Foucault's mission

An Important Contribution to Critical Theory

A deeply mistaken account of Foucault's interpretation of Iran

Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism
Janet Afary , and Kevin B. Anderson
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0226007863

Book Description

In 1978, as the protests against the Shah of Iran reached their zenith, philosopher Michel Foucault was working as a special correspondent for Corriere della Sera and le Nouvel Observateur. During his little-known stint as a journalist, Foucault traveled to Iran, met with leaders like Ayatollah Khomeini, and wrote a series of articles on the revolution. Foucault and the Iranian Revolution is the first book-length analysis of these essays on Iran, the majority of which have never before appeared in English. Accompanying the analysis are annotated translations of the Iran writings in their entirety and the at times blistering responses from such contemporaneous critics as Middle East scholar Maxime Rodinson as well as comments on the revolution by feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir.

In this important and controversial account, Janet Afary and Kevin B. Anderson illuminate Foucault's support of the Islamist movement. They also show how Foucault's experiences in Iran contributed to a turning point in his thought, influencing his ideas on the Enlightenment, homosexuality, and his search for political spirituality. Foucault and the Iranian Revolution informs current discussion on the divisions that have reemerged among Western intellectuals over the response to radical Islamism after September 11. Foucault's provocative writings are thus essential for understanding the history and the future of the West's relationship with Iran and, more generally, to political Islam. In their examination of these journalistic pieces, Afary and Anderson offer a surprising glimpse into the mind of a celebrated thinker.

Customer Reviews:

Great at pointing out Foucault's porblematic political turn.......2007-01-10

It is an absolute introduction to understanding the events that shaped the Iranian Revolution (as a revolution from the Right) and the relationship that Foucault's arguments have to international political sphere.

radical Islamism versus compassionate conservatives.......2005-07-21

This is a timely publication and an excellent contribution to Foucault studies. If you are interested in anything related to Foucault this is a must read. Also, if Islamic Fundamentalism and it's constant clash with Western Imperialism is your cup of tea then pick this book now.

The Authors, Janet Afary and Kevin Anderson, provide a detail overview of Foucault's writings and interviews on Iran. The authors also recount the historical Iranian revolution. And to connect this two, they offer some analysis and arguments in the context of Foucault's larger work.

Foucault's concern largely dealt with power, knowledge and discourse. I haven't read all of Foucault yet and nor have I read much on Iranian revolution. However, I didn't have any problem following the arguments in the book. What I found fascinating about Foucault is his emphasis on human irrationality. I think _Madness and Civilization_ talks about this in details. That is why the authors found it interesting to talk about Foucault's fascinations with martyrdom. They provide some detail background about Shiite (a sect in Islam) rituals and its connection with the revolution. Some of this practices are regarded as controversial in mainstream Islam.

The authors point out that the Iranian leftist and feminist sects were a major part of the movement. However, as we have seen with past revolutions it didn't turn out as we have expected. Radical Islamism got rid of the secular element pretty easily. The book goes into detail how Foucault "got it wrong" and some other interesting issues related with it.

Political analyst are saying that Ahmadinejad's recent 'landslide' victory can be summed up as a revival of the spirit of the Iranian revolution. I am curious how Foucault would have responded to this. Maybe positively? In a way, Foucault was 'anit-modernist'. He talks about 'political spirituality' to be a alternative to modern democratic institution. It is possible, that Ahmadinejad banked on some anti-American / anit-Western sentiment. What does that mean for radical Islamism which have to deal with compassionate conservatives?

Fetishism and cultural imperialism, Foucault's mission.......2005-07-12

This book is excellent! It is about time someone wrote the real account of how western intellectuals who knew too little about the culture and history of Iran, implicated themselves in a process that had nothing to do with them and helped set into motion a chain of events that has brought terrorism to the world via hardcore Khomeini radicalism that hides itself behind the guise of Islam.

An Important Contribution to Critical Theory.......2005-07-01

"Foucault and the Iranian Revolution" is by far the most important contribution to critical theory, and to Foucault studies, in years. Coming at a time of a deepening crisis in world politics as well as political philosophy, when the secular liberal ideal is dying and religious fundamentalisms of various stripes--Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Hindu--feed like bacteria on its still moving, breathing corpse, Afary and Anderson's book offers a refreshingly sober and expansive view of the contradictions and aporias of contemporary critical theory. Concentrating on a neglected moment in Foucault's career as a journalist and political commentator, the authors amass a wealth of fascinating details, old and new, to show how Foucault's credulity toward (and even sympathies with) the most reactionary and illiberal elements of the Iranian Revolution, far from being an anomaly or sudden lapse of judgment, was instead the logical outgrowth of his own idiosyncratic theories about modernity, social movements, history, and knowledge. As the authors write: "Foucault's Orientalist impressions of the Muslim world, his selective reading and representation of Greco-Roman texts, and his hostility to modernity and its technologies of the body, led him to prefer the more traditional Islamic/Mediterranean culture to the modern culture of the West."

In short, Foucault was drawn to the radical Islamism of the Ayatollah Khomeini--rather than to the feminist and socialist forces who had helped overthrow the despised Shah--precisely because of his aversion to all modern political institutions and norms, whether liberal or radical. Islamism, which had the appearance of pure, romantic fusion or unity in the will of the people (in essence, an Iranian version of Rousseau's general will), seemed to link the Shi'ite past with a present revolutionary Now. Ironically, just as an unreflexive, orthodox Marxism had blinded an earlier generation of "fellow travelers" to Stalinism, Foucault's own anti-Marxism and anti-feminism--his refusal to identify either with the socialist tradition or with women's liberation--made him blind to the authoritarian strain within Islamism. Although Foucault's defenders, and there are many today, will deny that the great French theorist had any flaws as a social critic, what comes through in Afary and Anderson's narrative is the portrait of an intellectual whose own political isolation and personal arrogance made him susceptible to the worst kind of idealism.

The poststructuralist revolution in theoretical thought, which Foucault more than any other thinker helped lead, has done serious damage to our ability both to comprehend the meaning of historical events and to render sound moral and political judgments concerning their meaning. This, to me, is the implicit lesson of Afary and Anderson's important and indispensable book. This, and the authors' own exemplary conduct as theorists and historians: by scrupulously avoiding polemic, complicating our view of Islam, and maintaining a moral center in their narrative, the authors remind us that, by reaffirming its socialist feminist roots, critical or radical theory can yet serve as an antidote both to Western imperialism on one side and Islamism (or apologia for Islamism) on the other. "Foucault and the Iranian Revolution" is therefore must reading for anyone interested in the state of theory, or the state of the world.

A deeply mistaken account of Foucault's interpretation of Iran.......2005-06-23

This book has three elements. A full third is a compilation of Foucault's writings and interviews on Iran. It is a valuable addition to the Foucault literature. Second, there is a historical recounting of Islamism as it pertains to the Iranian revolution. I do not have the expertise to comment on this. The third element, which frames the book, is an extended argument that in Foucault's reading of the Iranian revolution his own larger philosophical perspective is revealed. This element, which I do have expertise in, is comically bad.

The authors claim that Foucault values traditional forms of life over modern ones, and thus embraces (like the radical Islamists) a return to the past. In order to make their case, the authors resort to three strategies. First, they neglect Foucault's own statements about his writings. For instance, the authors insist that he saw ancient Greek sexual life as superior to ours, which Foucault explicitly denies. Second, they engage in egregious misinterpretation. For example, they read Foucault's book on the prisons as a plea for earlier forms of punishment. The first few pages of the prison book, detailing the excruciating torture of an attempted regicide, should be enough to convince anyone of the paucity of that interpretation. Finally, they misread Foucault's own sentences, in one case (p. 16) citing a long quote and then interpreting it as meaning something opposed to what it actually says.

Foucault insisted throughout his life that his work sought to deny the view that history naturally progresses from the worse to the better. The authors seem to think that this means that his view of history was that it moved from the better to the worse. It is harder to imagine a more fundamental mistake in the interpretation of Foucault's work.

All of this is unfortunate, particularly since Foucault, normally an astute observer of events, sorely misread the Iranian revolution. This requires explanation. The authors have provided the resources on which to base such an explanation. However, given their inability to understand even the basics of Foucault's work, the explanation itself will have to await another book.

Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism

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Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism
Kevin B. Anderson Janet Afary
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OONJW8

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About the English Yew and one man's efforts to protect it........1998-11-05

A beautifully written book about Taxus Baccata covering history, myth and legend. Individual Yews throughout the United Kingdom are described. This is also a spiritual book, about one man's belief that the yew is the ancient tree of life and the importance of its being preserved and honored. A book written with love and grace.

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