We Are All Slaves: African Miners, Culture, and Resistance at the Enugu Government Colliery, Nigeria

Book Description

This book documents an important, but understudied, sector of a West African working class. The coal miners of the Enugu Government colliery became nationalist icons for many Nigerians following a colonial government massacre of striking miners in 1949. Carolyn Brown argues that the experiences of these miners deserve to be studied as something more than appendages to the political history of the birth of the Nigerian nation. Through the lens of gender, race, and class, she documents the tumultuous history of the Enugu miners and reveals how they developed characteristics of self-awareness and class-consciousness similar to those of their Western counterparts in British or North American mines. Students and scholars of African labor and social history will find immense rewards in this book, not only because of Brown's insightful analytical themes, but also for her meticulous miner's-eye descriptions of the labor process in the Enugu mines. Those scholars more familiar with the labor history of Western coal miners will appreciate the similarities between the militant histories of the Nigerian miners and their Euro/American counterparts.

"We Were All Slaves: African Miners, Culture, and Resistance at the Enugu Government Colliery, Nigeria (Social History of Africa.)

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"We Were All Slaves: African Miners, Culture, and Resistance at the Enugu Government Colliery, Nigeria (Social History of Africa.)
Carolyn A. Brown
Manufacturer: Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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We Are All Slaves: African Miners, Culture, and Resistance at the Enugu Government Colliery, Nigeria (Social History of Africa)

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We Are All Slaves: African Miners, Culture, and Resistance at the Enugu Government Colliery, Nigeria (Social History of Africa)
Carolyn A. Brown
Manufacturer: Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OUFRX6

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The best book on workplace gender and racial inequality........1996-06-13

Gender and racial inequalities are produced partly through the allocation of people to jobs based on their ethnicity and gender. Some of this sorting reflects differences in human capital achievement, but much represents discrimination in access to powerful or high skill jobs. It is also the case, that jobs can become gender, and less frequently race, typed. This status composition process can effect how the job comes to be evaluated organizaitonally. This book describes these sorting and evaluation mechanisms, tests them empirically with high quality survey data and makes both theoretical and policy conclusions that will benefit anyone interested in gender or racial inequality, discrimination or organizational policy

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Third Mad Dossier of Spy Vs. Spy
Antonio Prohias
Manufacturer: Warner Books
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0446358010

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The Fifth Mad Report on Spy vs. Spy

Manufacturer: Warner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0446788007

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The Fourth MAD Declassified Papers on Spy Vs Spy By Prohias
Prohias
Manufacturer: Warner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0446944238

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Mad Spy Vs. Spy (The Updated Files, No 8)
Mad Magazine
Manufacturer: Warner Books
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0446362018

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The Sixth Mad Spy Vs. Spy Case Book
Mad
Manufacturer: Warner Books Inc
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ASIN: 0446352403

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Spy Vs Spy the All New Mad Secret File on
Prohias
Manufacturer: Warner Books #94-421
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ASIN: 0446944211

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Mad's Spy Vs Spy/Follow-Up File
Antonio Prohias
Manufacturer: Warner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0446357995

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Totally MAD 1969-1974: The Latest of the Early Years (PC) [CD-ROM]

Manufacturer: Broderbund
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM
ASIN: 0763044008

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A standalone version of Disc 3 of the 7-disc complete MAD Magazine set, contaning every issue of MAD Magazine published between 1969 and 1974. Fully searchable by feature, year, artist, writer, subject matter, and more. Zoom and rotate supported.

Mad Magazine Issue #470: My Name Is Earl (October 2006)

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Mad Magazine Issue #470: My Name Is Earl (October 2006)

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Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NNHRE6

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The 5th Mad Report on Spy Vs. Spy
Antonio Prohias
Manufacturer: Warner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000MHT304

Amazon.com

A nauseatingly honest and therefore controversial expose of the base beings that inhabit the higher levels of the music industry. Filled with horror stories that will confirm your worst suspicions about the toxicity of what my friends and I call "Planet CD Wood."

Book Description

Hit Men is the shocking, highly controversial expose of the venality, greed, and corruption of many of the assorted kingpins and hustlers who rule over the music industry. "A sobering, blunt, and unusually well-observed depiction of the sometimes sordid inner workings of the music business."--Billboard. 4 pages of photographs.

Customer Reviews:

Want to discourage a loved one from going into the music industry?.......2007-09-28

OK, here's the deal... Are you thinking of getting into the music business? Trying to get your band signed? Becoming a songwriter? This book will discourage you beyond description, so read at you own risk. However it will allow you to go into the business of music with your eyes wide open. A good history lesson of the deal makers that launched rock and roll, R & B, pop, disco, etc. All happening before the digital age. Do you have a kid that wants to be the next American Idol? Want to discourage them? Get them this book!

I read it a while ago and have used the knowledge to my benefit. Though I haven't made a fortune writing music, I have managed to keep my songs mine and make vacation money.

The Dirty Truth About an Equally Dirty Business.......2007-06-08

Mr. Dannen has written a book that could have been written by any one of two dozen people. However, the others would have incriminated themselves, or wound up in a Nevada corn field with a bullet in their heads!!

Naming names and identifying specific dates, Mr. Dannen tells the majority of the truth about how things really work behind the scenes to make a song a "HIT". From the early days of "legal payoffs" to the "payola" scandals of the late 50s and early 60s, to the line item "marketing" expenses that major labels right off every day to cover the payments made to the corporate radio stations.

This book helps identify why great music never makes it to "Top 40" or CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio). Why great artists are left in the dark while "Casper Milktoast" acts seem to get played 12 times during drive time!!!

If you want to read a fact-filled book about how the music business and hit radio have created such an insestuous relationship, then buy this book. It is full of thrills, fear, anger, humor, big names and bigger deals. You'll love it.

MICROCOSM OF AMERICA?.......2006-08-07

This book shook the music world when it was first released, which was when I first read it. I just recently picked it up and read it again, and it was still an equally mind-blowing experience.
What was with those guys? Why did they feel the need to rip off every artist to the maximum possible extent? Couldn't they still have been just as powerful, just as legendary, and very nearly as wealthy, if they'd paid the artists the few pennies per record or airplay that would have been their rightful compensation for creating the music that rocked the world and brought billions of international dollars into American coffers?
Whatever happened to Dennis Waitley and his "win-win" scenarios? You don't hear much about him any more. Perhaps his concepts were too anathematic to the American mindset. Whatever happened to the concepts of "noblesse oblige," and "from those who have received much, much is expected"? Whatever happened to "a rising tide lifts all boats"? Whatever happened to the Magna Carta, the Renaissance, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and all the other movements that raised the world to the dizzying heights it once achieved?
I guess they've been replaced by that all-American concept, "whoever dies with the most toys wins."
As we watch the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and rising fuel prices cause the American dream to recede into the sunset while our beloved representative republic slips back toward medieval fuedalism; as we watch American corporations, once looted from without by corporate raiders, now being looted from within by greedy and/or incompetent executives with golden parachutes while their stockholders, employees and retirees have their lives decimated, we can at least hope that what we do here will stand forever as an example to the rest of the world of how NOT to live.
Osama bin Laden, in his famous "letter to America," called us the worst civilization the world has ever seen, wallowing in decadence and depravity and calling it the height of individual freedom. Could he have been right?
This book gives the reader a valuable opportunity to take a close-up look at one of the foundation pillars of our economy and our culture, and witness the process by which America is rotting from within.

The Real Story.......2005-05-30

Having worked in the music buisness for 25+ years, I must agree with most that is written in this great book. As crazy as it was, it was a great buisness to be in if you love music.I highly recommend getting this book & holding on for one crazy ride!

Great insider's look at the dark underside of the music biz!.......2004-11-18

This is a very eye-opening book, about how money and drugs changes hands to determine which new artists get played on the radio and who doesn't. There's really no other book out there that covers this topic. Written by an industry insider.

Hit Men. Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business.

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Hit Men. Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business.
Fredric Dannen
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0091746019

Book Description

Studying Audiences; The Shock of the Real provides a critical overview of two decades of research into the television audience. With the development of ethnographic research methods, hailed by Stuart Hall as "a new and exciting phase" in audience research, researchers turned their critical attention to groups of "ordinary people" watching television, combining interviews and participant observations with textual analysis of television programs.

In a comprehensive analysis of the origins and achievements of the "cultural studies audience experiment", Virginia Nightingale evaluates five projects which helped to shape the field of television audience research, including Charlotte Brunsdon and David Morely's work on Nationwide, Ien Ang's Watching Dallas and David Buckingham's study of Eastenders and its audience. Nightingale traces how central tenets within audience studies were challenged by discourses of post-colonialism, fan activism and new theories of writing, arguing that audience research is necessarily a complex activity.

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Studying audiences : the shock of the real

Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000H5X4YC

Book Description

Engaging, innovative, and insightful, New Perspectives on Computer Concepts, Eighth Edition will enlighten anyone from the computer novice to the computer savvy with its hands-on approach and cutting-edge learning technology.

Book Description

It is generally assumed that the language of patriotism and national identity belongs to the political right, but the emergence of socialism in the 1880s shows clearly that the left also drew on such ideas in its formative years to legitimate a particular form of socialism, one presented as a restoration of an English past lost to industrial capitalism. The First World War dealt a severe blow to this radical patriotism: though the anti-war left continued to use radical patriotic language in the early years, the war degraded patriotism generally, while the Russian Revolution gave internationalism a new focus, and also threatened the dominant concept of British socialism. Moderate Labour sought to prove their fitness to govern, and concentrated on the `national interest' rather than oppositional Englishness, while the left of the movement looked to Soviet Russia rather than the English past for models for a future socialist society. PAUL WARD is lecturer in Modern British History at Royal Holloway, University of London, and Visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster.

Book Description

In 1604, 20-year-old Anne Gunter was bewitched: she foamed at the mouth, contorted wildly in her bedchamber, went into trances. Her garters and bodices were perpetually unlacing themselves. Her signature symptom was to vomit pins and "she voided some pins downwards as well by her water or otherwise.". Popular history at its best, The Bewitching of Anne Gunter opens a fascinating window onto the past. It's a tale of controlling fathers, willful daughters, nosy neighbors, power relations between peasants and gentry, and village life in early-modern Europe. Above all it's an original and revealing story of one young woman's experience with the greatly misunderstood phenomenon of witchcraft. James Sharpe is Professor of History at York University and the author of Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in Early Modern History and other works of social history.

Customer Reviews:

Anne's sad story.......2004-01-27

The book of James Sharpe "The Bewitching of Anne Gunther" contains the story of,I quote :"The best-documented English witchcraft case ever".
The book tells us the story of a girl named Anne Gunther who was "bewitched" by three women,"witches", and whose names I will not mention, because if you decide to read the book you have to be aware of the fact that you will have to cope with LOTS of names.
Although the subject metter discussed in the book is familiar to everyone, it is surprising that the girl actually did not act and simulated fits by her own will. The most familiar case of, so to say, witchcraft and "bewitching" is the one of Salem witches in America, and it is well known that those girls from Salem did not do it against their will.
Anne was forced by her father to act as if she was bewitched, and by doing that she had to suffer a great deal of pain, physical as well as psychological. The sad thing is that she was not a little girl, ( which would explain her obedience to her father), she was a twenty year old woman. So, this book also gives us a clue what was the position of women in that society. Brian Gunther, her father, drogged her, and forced her to do all kinds of "sick" things, to make the bewitchment more authentical. Later on, she was trialed at the Star Chamber court ( the most notorious court in English history) and I will leave it up to you to find what happened to Anne.
The story is rather interesting, and it really shows us what are some people caoable of doing just for the revenge. However, the book contains a lot of facts that are rather boring and that could be left out.
But anyway, the book should be read. At least, do it for the sake of your knowledge!

history vs. entertainment.......2004-01-12

Anne Gunter, a 20 year old woman, lived in the Oxfordshire village of North Moreton. In the summer of 1604 she fell ill. Yet witchcraft was not being discussed, but it was when the illness recurred on the 23rd of October and continued over the following weeks that people began to make more note of the symptoms. Doctors could not find natural reasons for her illness. The inevitable was thought and assumed - that she was bewitched. Anne vomited pins and other unnatural things, she had fits and trances and one time during a trance she named three women as witches that bewitched her: Agnes Pepwell, her daughter Mary Pepwell and Elizabeth Gregory. Agnes Pepwell managed to run away, but the other two women were tried for witchcraft, but both were found not guilty. Anne's father Brian Gunter took the case in front of the court of King James I. He was known as a witch-hunter, but during the trial Anne confessed that her father forced her to act as bewitched and also forced her to accuse the three women as witches. He made her drink strange things and she had to hide pins in her mouth in order to vomit them up whenever people were there to visit her. Brian Gunter and the Gregory family had a feud, which was the result of a football game some years ago. Anne's father killed two members of the Gunter family and got away with it. He orchestrated Anne's fits to have the family branded as witches. The King's churchmen were not fooled or amused and brought Brian and Anne Gunter before the Court of the Star Chamber in 1606 for perjury and false accusation.

"The Bewitching of Anne Gunter - A horrible and true story of deception, witchcraft, murder, and the King of England" is highly recommendable. But it depends on what you want to do with the book. If you expect a novel on witchcraft that is exciting, entertaining and full of suspense until the end - than this book might be the wrong one for you. James Sharpe, a professor of history at York University, took a very interesting historical events and narrates it in three pages. The other 227 pages are background information. The historian goes back to the Oxford connection of Brian Gunter, he explains very detailed what happened at that football match were the feud between the Gunter's and the Gregory's started. Other chapters explain terms like possession or exorcism. Everything that is essential for this case is investigated. The facts of the story are taken apart in it's component parts and the many names of people are a little confusing. There is also a lot of repetition, some things are explained more than two times. However, if you are interested in a historical book, if you are interested in witchcraft this book might be the right thing for you. If you are looking for an exciting novel on witchcraft you better should keep on searching.....

212 pages of pure historical information.......2004-01-11

The Bewitching of Anne Gunter by James Sharpe tells the true story of 20-year-old Anne from North Moreton near Oxford, who in the summer of 1604 fell sick with symptoms that the age considered indicative of demonic possession or witchcraft: She had fits during which she writhed and contorted, she fell into trances or comas and vomited foreign bodies, particularly pins. As she suffered her fits she called out against her supposed tormenters before an ever expanding audience of fascinated spectators and named three women from her village as having bewitched her: Agnes Pepwell, her illegitimate daughter Mary and Elizabeth Gregory. In March 1605, when one of the accused women had escaped and the two others were acquitted in a trial, the case was still not over for Anne's father Brian Gunter. He decided to gain sympathy at the highest level, by arranging a meeting between his daughter and King James I, who was well known as a witch hunter. The plan misfired badly, though. The king, as well as the archbishop of Canterbury, Richard Bancroft, was rather sceptical and by October Anne had confessed to the king that she had simulated bewitchment under parental pressure. Her father had made her swallow a mixture of "sack", or sherry, and "sallet", or salad oil, in order to make her fits more believable. Brian Gunter's motive was some bad blood between him and the family of the chief of the accused witches, Elizabeth Gregory. The feud had begun some years before when Gunter had inflicted fatal injuries on two of the Gregorys at a football match. Proceedings were initiated against Brian Gunter and his daughter Anne for falsely accusing the three women.

Although the story itself is a fascinating one, it unfortunately gets spoiled by the author's unnecessary repeating of names, dates and side-events, which make it hard to stick to the story without losing interest. Sharpe is without a doubt an excellent historian, which he proofs in giving such a thoroughly detailed reconstruction of this English witchcraft case, but still, I think, this is not what most people would expect from this book. Especially the promising subtitle A HORRIBLE AND TRUE STORY OF DECEPTION, WITCHCRAFT, MURDER, AND THE KING OF ENGLAND may lead the reader to the wrong assumption that this might be a sensational, gripping novel, which it obviously is not. It is rather a historical account of a true witchcraft case, embroidered with detailed background information.
What comes clearly out, are the reasons why people might have participated in the so-called witch craze.
Not exactly thrilling, but still informative.

A story drowned in facts, figures and dates.......2003-12-31

In the summer of 1604, a 20-year-old woman called Anne Gunter, daughter of Brian and Anne Gunter in North Moreton, fell ill. Her illness was first ascribed to "the disease called the mother", which is hysteria. But the symptoms returned in October. Doctors were called in and all agreed that the fits from which Anne suffered could not be due to illness but must have some supernatural cause. In her fits she contorted and writhed, fell into trances and vomited foreign bodies, especially pins. These symptoms were at that time considered to be signs of demonic possession or witchcraft. And indeed, Anne named three women, Elizabeth Gregory, Agnes and Mary Pepwell, as her supposed tormentors and said they had bewitched her. At the Abingdon witch-trial of 1605, though, the judges did not find the evidences convincing and decided against her father's accusation: two of the three alleged witches (one had fled by that time) were not found guilty and acquitted. However, Brian Gunter did not want to leave it at that and took his daughter's case to a higher instance, namely that of King James I of England. The king, who was known to be a witch hunter, though, was sceptical and passed Anne to the care of Archbishop Bancroft and then to his chaplain. It was at then, when Anne was away from the influence of her father for the first time, that she confessed that she had simulated bewitchment. Consequently, a story of deception became uncovered which began with a game of football some years ago. This game turned violent, Anne's father intervened and beat two young men of the neighbouring Gregory family, who both died from their injuries (apparently). The result of this incidence was a feud between the two families. When Anne became ill with "the mother" hysteria, Brian Gunter had obviously found a convenient way to discredit the Gregorys and accused Elizabeth Gregory of having bewitched his daughter. He forced his daughter Anne to play the role of the bewitched and made her swallow "sack and sallet oil" and a "green mixture" to make her fits more convincing. This physical and mental pressure nearly drove her into suicide. But Brian Gunter's plan failed and in 1606 a Star Chamber interrogation was initiated against him and his daughter for falsely accusing the three women.

In "The Bewitching of Anne Gunter" James Sharpe closely investigates a case of witch-hunt of the early 17th century with the thorough methods of a historian. He looks at witchcraft as a social, political and economic phenomenon by bringing to the surface all the factors which seemed to have pushed people to accuse fellow citizens of witchcraft or demonic possession. He does so by giving detailed accounts of parish and other registers of that time, records of trials and further authentic material. However, as a reader (and more or less layperson in the field of historical research) I sometime had problems keeping track of the story itself. Although the book is written in a light and easily accessible style, the endless listings of names, dates and figures very often hinder comprehension and distract from the more significant issues. These facts, which they doubtless are, may trigger off a feeling of boredom and at some point or the other, I really had to force myself not to skip entire pages in order to keep up my attention. The case of Anne Gunter surely is an interesting one, because it provides us with an insight into the credulous (and hypocritical) world of the Jacobean age and depicts the culturally rooted forces behind the witch-crazes of that time. So on the whole I would say it is a passable read. However, reduced to its essentials by, for example, avoiding unnecessary repetitions of details, descriptions and explanations, it would be an even better one (at least for people who do not want to engage themselves too much with, for instance, genealogy)!

Informative, but not Bewitching.......2003-11-18

If you're looking for something sensational and dramatic like THE EXORCIST, you're looking in the wrong place in reading THE BEWITCHING OF ANNE GUNTER: A HORRIBLE AND TRUE STORY OF DECEPTION, WITCHCRAFT, MURDER, AND THE KING OF ENGLAND. Despite its lurid subtitle this is not a sensationalistic novel, nor is it a biographical narrative. It is, however, very informative. It's really a cultural history about witchcraft centered on the alleged bewitching/possession of a nineteen-year-old girl in early Jacobean (17th century) England. It tells use about what people believed about witchcraft at that time and place and proves that there wasn't a monolithic belief in killing witches. Different segments of society held different ideas about witchcraft.
The important thing to remember is the girl, Anne Gunter, withdrew her allegations of witchcraft. Now what caused her to assert them in the first place? Her father. What were the social, economic, and religious ideas of the day that caused people to believe her? There are many surprising revelations in book. None more surprising to me than the different picture I got of James I of England (James VI of Scotland), who is usually portrayed as a rabid Bible-thumping witchhunter.
So not a thrilling biography, but well worth reading if you are interested in the general milieu of the witchcraft hunts. This slim book of 238 pages has 9 chapters, Notes and References, and an Index.

Book Description

Forbidden Archeology's Impact offers readers an inside look at how mainstream science reacts with ridicule, threats and intimidation to any challenge to its deeply held beliefs.

Customer Reviews:

Were your forefathers a monkey? Darwin says they were! ha,ha.......2006-12-01

Here's a good Brain-Teaser ,.,.,. that everyone can empathize with!!!

How did human beings get here??? Where did we come from???

There are "2" good answers that everyone is aware of:

1- Evolution, Darwinism; we evolved from a damn monkey!
[I could never buy this explanation! I believe it's Nazism, "the blacks" being the missing link.]

2- Creationism; a God made the people! [I could never buy this hokus-pokus, faith is their only support.]

DID YOU KNOW THERE IS A THIRD ANSWER??? IT IS GAINING NOTORIETY AND STUDY FROM ALL GROUPS!!!
Creationist are NOT put-off by it!
Native Americans are NOT put-off by it!
Theoreticians are NOT put-off by it!

WHAT IS IT???? - It is put forth by Michael A. Cremo.

3- Devolution; humans are distinct from all other animals on earth!
[I like this one! If you think about it you may like it too!]

What is Devolution? The question must be posed in "2" parts (not 1).
1- What is a human being?
"A human being is a combination of three distinct substances: matter, mind and consciousness (or spirit)."

2- Where did human beings come from?
"We did not evolve up from matter (from a damn monkey); instead we devolved, or came down, from the realm of pure consciousness, spirit."

I'm starting to really like that "Devolution"!!! And the NUMBER ONE REASON why I like it is the author!!! He writes so articulately, his words flowing effortlessly into my mind!!!

Most authors writing today, of any genre, ARE PATHETIC ILLITERATES whom I cannot bare to read :-( they're also filthy, boring, immature, redundant, trite and trivial :-(

This gentleman has taken on a position where no one could even try to articulate, let alone tread water ,.,.,. Michael Cremo floats above the waves! This man is not a sightless follower! But uses "various ways of knowing in the pursuit of truth" (Human Devolution pg. xii)

Michael A. Cremo is one in a zillion!!! He answers every criticism directly! He supports every argument utilizing the official written record! He lectures throughout the world at all the prestigious Universities and Institutes of higher learning.

I have now purchased three of his books. They are all contemporary, written within the last few years.

The (3) books I've purchased by Michael A. Cremo:
1- "Forbidden Archeology" - (argues "modern humans" have been on earth for many millions of years, not thousands)
2- "Forbidden Archeology; Impact" - ("rebuts" criticism of Forbidden Archeology while answering all critics)
3- "Human Devolution" - ("Devolution" explained)

I was almost at the end of my rope ,.,. I thought I was going to have to read authors of PAST GENERATIONS over again ,.,.,. Thank You Michael A. Cremo ,.,. :-)

Sincerely,
Matthew
Phoenix, AZ

Forbidden Archeology impact.......2006-07-03

outstanding, just what I wanted and the price was better than anywhere I checked.

Controversy: The Process That Brings Change.......2002-03-24

Remember Gary Larsen's "Far Side" cartoon of the scientists dropping everything and running outside when the Good Humor truck comes by? We tend to think of scientists as beyond reproach - but they're not. They're just as emotional and jumpy as the rest of us, especially when their pet doctrines get called into question.

In Science the drill is to glom onto the accepted belief system and hang on for dear life. God forbid some punky upstart like Fritjof Capra should come along and write a smart-alecky book about how Vedic texts described the same tenets as Quantum Physics a coupla thousand years ago. Or Rupert Sheldrake would have the nerve to point out that the DNA emperor has not clothes. Howls of derision. Calls for book burning in the journal "Science". Yellink und screamink.

Now I don't think it takes 900+ pages to make a point. Probably 150 would have been adequate to get everybody's bowels in an uproar. The 2-cassette audio abridgement seems to do a pretty good job. As far as the actual validity of the overall argument - who knows? The evidence proposed is probably just as valid as the official party line.

It is important to remember that all scientific revolutions go through pretty much the same drill: Scorn and derision towards those presenting novel or contrary opinions, followed by fear, panic and banishment of those individuals when it begins to appear that empirical data is supporting the new theories, then total abandonment of previously cherished notions, accompanied by jumping on the bandwagon with abandon while announcing that they'd been supporting the new idea all along.

So it's really the process that's important here. Hey, sit back and enjoy the show!

The Problem With Science........1999-08-10

The problem with the scientific method is that it is driven far too much by theory, and not enough by fact. By which I mean that science moves forward by the development, and subsequent testing, of hypotheses, when at times formation of hypotheses should be strenuously avoided-- because they grow into filters which taint otherwise vital and compelling data.

Science is not comfortable with unknowns. (You thought nature abhorred a vaccuum? Nature's got nothing on science.) So rather than leave a question unanswered (e.g., "How old is mankind?"), science tends to fill in the vaccuum by providing an answer, based on the theory that can obtain the greatest consensus.

The problem arises when these theories and hypotheses become mental constructs-- it is a short hop in the collective consciousness from "the theory supported by the most scientists" to "scientific fact". New data that falls outside these constructs (that is, data which "flies in the face of accepted scientific wisdom!") are assumed to be anomolous, and are tossed aside; data that supports, fits the constructs is sought out and embraced.

Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes often described his detection method as scrupulously collecting facts, while AVOIDING the formation of theories. Keep collecting facts-- without the blind spots imposed by hypotheses-- until you have ruled out all possibilities but one. That remaining possibility, no matter how improbable, is the one true possibility.

I think Cremo has been a bit dramatic in characterizing science as conspiratorial, and it is understandable how the anthropologist (below) could take umbrage. It is not so much "cloak-and-dagger" conspiracy at play, but rather a very tangible limit on-- and flaw in-- the scientific method. That flaw is the need to develop consensus theories to explain the unexplained (rather than leaving a question unknown), and the subsequent phenomenon that these theories become constructs for filtering all new data.

Given that the world is flat, what do you do with evidence that the world is round? Well, you ignore it. Not because you are a conspirator. But because you accept as a given that the world is flat, and that colors your perception of any relevant-- or contrary-- data.

Must be good........1999-07-09

Disclaimer: I have not yet read this book; I am ordering it now. But I have a rule that works for me: Whenever I see a book that gets spotty and polarized reviews, and the ones panning it resort to emotional arguments, can't spell ("pure dribble"?) and have heroes like Stephen Jay Gould, I figure it has to be a sure winner.

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