Book Description
For some people, depression has been a part of their experience for so long that they've begun to believe it's what they are. They become experts at "doing" depression--hiding it, working around it, even achieving great things (but at the price of great struggle, and little satisfaction). In this book, psychotherapist Richard O'Conner shows us how to "undo" depression, by replacing depressive patterns of thinking, relating, and behaving with a new and more effective set of skills. With a truly holistic approach that synthesizes the best of the many schools of thought about this painful disease, O'Conner offers new hope--and new life--for depressives.
Customer Reviews:
Helped me understand I wasn't alone.......2007-09-09
I recently pulled this book off my shelf to give it to someone close suffering their own depression. I read it - and many more books - years ago when tackling my own illness. Paging through and seeing all the underlines and dog-eared pages, I recalled how this one book along with group therapy is what helped me pull though. I could identify so much with what I read and was re-assured that I wasn't alone in feeling those thoughts. This book is not full of self-help exercises as the genre tends to be - frankly, I wouldn't have had the energy at that time to do them and would have felt discouraged by my failure to do so. Reading it was like having a therapist available at any time of day to reassure me that it was going to be okay.
Very informative book, but one major flaw.......2007-04-10
I have lived with a very deep depression for 15 years, slowly making progress back to my happier self. My mother purchased this book during one of my hospitalizations, and I read it thoroughly, highlighting throughout. The spotlight reviewer describes its contents very well. The only thing I want to add is how dismayed I felt when the author wrote off suicide as "stupid and selfish." This says to me that the author has never been through crippling depression himself. And I certainly hope he never utters such a thing to his patients! Telling someone they're being selfish for having attempted suicide or thinking about suicide does nothing for them, but only boosts your own ego. Not to mention it's incredibly selfish on your own part. (I challenge anyone to show me someone who isn't selfish by nature.) Besides, when a person gets so bad that they're willing to kill themselves to kill the pain, no, they're not thinking about you. If I were to bore a drill into your skull, would you be concerned about someone else across the room? I highly doubt it. Would you be selfish for wanting to escape your pain? If the same logic applies, then yes. Would you be stupid? Apparently so. Instead of writing off suicides as selfish, why not step out of your own selfish shoes and try to help them?
Great Resource for Depression.......2006-10-07
I have referred all of my depresssed cleints to this book. It is a broad-based approach to contending with depression, and is eminantly usable. O'Conner takes a commen sense approach to a debilitating process, and in doing so, exhibits uncommon intelligence in offering a wide variety of approaches to dealing with depression, which is notoriously difficult to treat and requires a multi-headed approach for best results. No one school is best, and clients benefit from a multitude of suggestions founds in this book.
It was okay.......2006-05-13
Perhaps if this is the first book you pick up on the subject, you will find it helpful. I had been through many prior to reading this one and didn't learn anything new, nor did I feel it was necessary to keep on hand for future reference. I ended up donating it to my local library in the hopes someone else will benefit.
As an earlier reviewer stated, you cannot underestimate the effectiveness of one-on-one therapy. This in conjunction with books a trusted therapist recommends would probably be most helpful. Much luck in your search for relief and happiness! :o)
This Book saved my life!.......2006-04-03
This is the most informative, easy to understand book about Depression I ever read.
Suffering from this illness is hard enough. This book makes learning the facts about the disease and how to help yourself recover so easy. It's my bible! -J
Amazon.com
When Helen Schucman, a professor of medical psychology at Columbia University, began hearing an inner voice of rapid dictation (which she eventually identified as the voice of Jesus), she decided to start taking shorthand notes. Then, with the support and encouragement of a colleague, Schucman continued to assemble the teachings that came to her. The result is A Course in Miracles, a book that has spawned hundreds of study groups and an international following. Although some may find the teachings simplistic ("To heal is to make happy"), many are struck by the predominately compassionate and eloquent passages of this Christian-based interpretation of the Bible ("Whenever you deny a blessing to a brother you will feel deprived, because denial is as total as love"). Indeed, many of the teachings carry weight and certainly merit the acclaim and attention that this book has generated. --Gail Hudson
Customer Reviews:
Those who gave this a low rating don't "get it".......2007-09-03
I've read a few reviews on this book. I used to get upset at hardcore intellecutal types who use a fancy vocabulary just to prove to others how "intelligent" they are. Intelligence is a curse to those who claim to know everything and a gift to those who know they know very little. This book is not the Bible it's not the Koran it's a spiritual book with valuable lessons. Yes it is tedious and complicating. If it was simple it wouldn't be worth the read. The problem is people are either very religious and call it blasphemous or are hardcore science types who need everything proven to them in a sterile laboratory. Life is complex and so are people. This is not the answer to all your problems BUT if you "get it" you'll learn from it. Leave those who hate this book to continue living in fear of change. I don't have all the answers, no one does. Your truth is not my truth. If love and compassion scare you don't read this book. If you get uncomfortable looking in the mirror because you feel lost, don't read this book. God is not a man on a chair with a beard in my opinion. God is everything, life, energy, thought. You control your own life. It saddens me to see that when things go right arroagant people pound their chest with pride but when things go wrong God is "punishing" them. This book is not for the weak of spirit. If you have an open mind, and you have a heart you'll enjoy this book. If your brain is so big that your ego and pride blind you, don't read this book. There are 2 types of intelligent people; those who keep an open mind and UNDERSTAND that they will NEVER have all the answers but try to find peace in life and then there are those who base their identity on their iq scores. You are not you're thoughts, you are not your car, you are not you're phd degree on that wall, you just...are.
on mysticism and schizophrenia.......2007-08-21
The book cannot be discussed per se or as a work of art, rather as awork on the manifestation of escapism and self delusion.
Having endured a tedious battle of copyright beween competing groups of quasi religious conviction it is now exploited under the notion that it is distributed for no profit at all, this being the first delusion of many more to follow.
It has been written by Helen Schucman, teaching medical psychology at the Columbian Presbeteryan Center in the sixties of the last century with the claim that it was dictated by a voice she heared inside her head. Later she identified this voice as Jesus Christ. This Jesus gave her dictations on a daily basis which she put down on note pads. Schucman red these notes to her collegue Dr. William Thetford who edited and typed the text.
At first Schucman was reluctant to publish her work, for reasons the reader must imagine himself.
In the early seventies Schucman and Thetford passed the text, among others, on to Benedikt Groeschel, an ex-priest who at that time converted a certain Kenneth Wapnik from Judaism to Catholizism. Wapnik at that time wrote a work on mysticism and schizophrenia, concluding that mystics could never be schizophrenics. Groeschel gave Wapnik the text and Wapnik became a key figure of the cult. His income consists of revenues from books, tapes, workshops and donations, all based on Schucmans work.
Critical thinking about the claimed origin of this work is not encouraged by followers of the believe.
The same goes for questioning of its content.
Within the group of dedicated followers it is blasphemy to ask whether this could be a case of creative schizophrenia.
It feels like the basic and common truths contained in the volumes need a special endorsement in order to be considered valid. "If you cannot believe that it is the actual voice of Jesus you are refusing to wake up" this is the answer I recieved at one of the cult's workshops, surrounded by followers trembling from the kind of self induced ecstasy you will see at spiritual gatherings wordwide, regardless of the religious confession.
It is certainly no coincidence that most editions have a look and appearence that can easily be confused with US editions of Christian Bibles. The sectarian movement has the same stark opposition to critical views as orthodox Catholocism had in the past. It is in fact this point where ACIM and Catholicism are at its closest.
If you dare to question the loosely organized structure of thought, the answers of the group are as follows: You are only questioning the content of the book because you are "living in a dream" or "living in an illusion" and once again "refuse to wake up".
Aim of the system is to remove you from that dream, to awaken you into a reality which is supposed to exist only inside you - solipsism is the word that comes to my mind.
The philosophy of the work, basically purging scattered thoughts of early Christianity with an eclectic mix of hindu and other early religious views poular in the 60ies (think of the Beatles and their Indian Gurus!), is based on the idea of omitting personal suffering by omitting the ego that causes the suffering and carries it on indefinitely as long as you do not apply a process of "waking up from an illusion". It is of course similar to the Asian concept of Maya, the veil that covers the truth. This is one of many cultural cross references that are never made, the book makes it sound as if it carries original ideas, original ideas endorsed by a second coming of Jesus Christ to be exact.
The volume can easily be summoned up in one sentence: "Don't take yourself so serious."
This idea is as old as mankind, served in all mayor religions alike and not a bad idea.
The manual however is very serious, the gurus in the workshops even more so as soon as you stop petting their ego start to ask real questions.
I talked to the people. Most clients of the cult suffer from overindulgence or from the neclect of emotionally inacessible parents. It offers them to find solace by dwelling in their inner realms and by eliminating any resource of outward or political responsibility.
The philosophy of the book claims that you are the master of your fate just by waking up from the illusions in your life. While this is certainly true in cases of spiritual neglect retalted to things like "The American Way of Life" it offers hardly solutions to problems such as: "What can be done against the political and moral crimes induced by power?"
The answer of the book is "prey and wait for miracles" It is probably oder than Christianity.
This is, after all, one of these self help books for the gullible who are, more than anything else, in need for hugs, affection. Hence the workshops that offers all and a possibility to meet dates that are in need for love.
You can save yourself the rather tedious read and instead DO something good to yourself and the world around you. Hug anyone who's dear to you, send flowers to the people you care about, confess your love to those you didn't dare to, have an orgy of the kind that suits you, or just be yourself and smile when you want to frown.
1) The combattants of the copyright trial were the Foundation of A Course in Miracles (FACIM) and the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP, before Foundation for Parasensory Investigation) against the New Christian Church of Full Endeavour Ltd (NCCFE).
FIP sold the rights in 1995 to Penguin books for 2,5 Million Dollars for 5 years of exploitation. In a verdict in 2003 the copyrights for FACIM were dismissed as the defendor NCCFE was able to proof that the book had been published earlier and that proper copyright had not been estabished by FACIM and FIC.
this review is not property of amazon
Substantial book.......2007-08-16
I've heard about the Course in Miracles for years. I ordered this book and have found it to be incredible. It contains all three parts in one book. If you have any interest at all, I recommend that you buy it. Even if you only read it occasionally or if you study daily - it is truly an inspiration.
A Course In Miracles.......2007-08-13
If you are open minded, really, and want to awaken to your true reality, this Course is truly helpful.
From a 5 year student and counting.......2007-07-30
The Course, as it describes, is a requirement for all those who chose to come here, then yearn to return to that ever nagging place we came from. But because our ego's are so huge, covering our spirit like the stone that was rolled away from the tomb, exposing the Spirit of Christ.
The course is a way of uncovering all that we used to cover up our true Self. Every year, the course seems to change in front of your eyes.
Anyone who has ever read it and not continued with it, is purely not ready for the Course. It is indescribable. It is life changing and brings on such great peace or at least the means of peace and contentment.
The Course in Miracles (ACIM)comes to those who ask "There must be a better way?" It certainly did for myself and everyone I ask.
Uniquely written by internal dictation thru a scribe. The words are OBVIOUSLY not from earth.
I am an avid reader and never read such incredible dialog. Rich, descriptive, intuitive and point blank, gets down to the real nature of our existance and our quest.
Amazon.com
Shay works from an intriguing premise: that the study of the great Homeric epic of war, The Iliad, can illuminate our understanding of Vietnam, and vice versa. Along the way, he compares the battlefield experiences of men like Agamemnon and Patroclus with those of frontline grunts, analyzes the berserker rage that overcame Achilles and so many American soldiers alike, and considers the ways in which societies ancient and modern have accounted for and dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder---a malady only recently recognized in the medical literature, but well attested in Homer's pages. The novelist Tim O'Brien, who has written so affectingly about his experiences in combat, calls Shay's book "one of the most original and most important scholarly works to have emerged from the Vietnam war." He's right.
Book Description
In this strikingly original and groundbreaking book, Dr. Shay examines the psychological devastation of war by comparing the soldiers of Homer's Iliad with Vietnam veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Although the Iliad was written twenty-seven centuries ago it has much to teach about combat trauma, as do the more recent, compelling voices and experiences of Vietnam vets.
Customer Reviews:
I am not too sure..........2007-08-20
about some of the quotes of American soldiers Shay repeated in this book. A few of the incidents related have some basis in fact I am sure and some are stretched by the individuals for effect. However, the comparason between Achilles and the modern warrior is spot on.
I just wish I had seen this thrity-five or so years ago instead of struggling for so long looking for answers. I still don't have "answers" but I do have a better understanding of some of what I have had to deal with after serving in Marine infantry from October, 1967 to April 1970 in Viet Nam.
Thersites in Amazon.......2007-06-15
Before buying this book and above all before taking it seriously, note the three pages devoted to it in Stolen Valor : How the Vietnam Generation was Robbed of its Heroes and its History, by B. G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley. According to these authors, Shay failed to check any of the veterans' stories he relates, swallowed much absurdity whole, and is consequently a poor guide to the psychological toll of the Vietnam war.
A place to start.......2007-04-06
As a student in high school with a interest in Psychology, I found this book helpful. This is because I will be joining the Army and will encounter this is my field as a psychologist. It was very interesting to see the symptoms during the Trojan war as well in the Vietnam conflict. It shows teh reader what this men faced and what was asked of them and what they got in return. More importantly it shows the true face of what a soldier could go through and what his may do jsut to survive in a new environment. It was helpful to show the signs that this is happening as if a combat officer read it, he would be able to sight it before it got beyond repair. Excellent book and an excellent author.
Review of "Achiiles in Vietnam".......2007-03-29
One of the books I had been planning to read for several months is Dr. Jonathan Shay's groundbreaking work: "Achilles in Vietnam - Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character." I am glad that I finally found the time to acquaint myself with its message. The book is remarkable for several reasons. On its surface, it is one of the most comprehensive examinations of the phenomenon of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among Vietnam veterans. Beneath the surface level, it is a brilliant exposition of the experience of Vietnam veterans in comparison with - and in contrast to - the warriors whose battlefield experiences in Troy are described in Homer's Iliad. To look at the tragedy of what our Vietnam veterans have experienced in returning home from that war through the lens of Homer's epic adds a poignancy and depth that is utterly without peer in my knowledge of PTSD literature.
My reading of this book is both timely and relevant, in light of the ongoing investigation of current conditions and practices of treating veterans returning from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is also timely in that the televised coverage of the conflict in Mesopotamia has ripped open scabs and exposed unhealed emotional and psychological wounds in a large number of Baby Booker generation Vietnam veterans. They are returnign to VA hospitals and clinics in droves.
"Such unhealed PTSD can devastate life and incapacitate its victims from participation in the domestic, economic and political life of the nation. The painful paradox is that fighting for one's country can render one unfit to be its citizen." (Page xx)
Dr. Shay does a masterful job of using his own deep clinical experience of treating veterans at the VA Outpatient Clinic in Boston to lay out a clear and disturbing picture of how the way in which the Vietnam War was waged led to a staggeringly high percentage of returning veterans who are plagued with PTSD. I have enormous respect for the work he has done, for work as an author in sharing his understanding with the wider community. One caveat I must mention is that Dr. Shay clearly has a strong animus against traditional monotheistic religion in general - and the Judeo-Christian tradition in particular. He lays at the feet of organized religion much of the blame for the dire straits that our Vietnam veterans still find themselves. I do not necessarily agree with the conclusions that his philosophical position has led him to make, but with that exception, he lays out lucid and cogent explanations, diagnoses and prescriptions for addressing the troubling issue of persistent PTSD among Vietnam veterans.
An overarching principle that permeates the book is Shay's belief that healing from PTSD can only begin to happen when veterans are empowered to tell the narrative of what they saw and experienced in Vietnam, and that narrative must be communalized among other veterans and then more widely among family, friends and the broader community. For most Vietnam veterans, the conditions have not always existed to foster and to enable such difficult and painful communication. A veteran shares his frustrations in trying to tell others about his Vietnam experiences:
"I had just come back [from Vietnam] and my first wife's parents gave a dinner for me and my parents and her brothers and their wives. And after dinner we were all sitting in the living room and her father said: `So, tell us what it was like.' And I started to tell them, and I told them. And do you know within five minutes the room was empty. They were all gone, except my wife. After that I didn't tell anybody I had been in Vietnam." (Page xxii)
Dr. Shay ends his introduction with a clarion call to his readers to take an active role in the healing that is long overdue and the prevention of future hurt:
"To all readers I say: Learn the psychological damage that war does. There is no contradiction between hating war and honoring the soldier. Learn how war damages the mind and spirit, and work to change those things in military institutions and culture that needlessly create or worsen these injuries. We don't have to go on repeating the same mistakes. Just as the flak jacket has prevented many physical injuries, we can prevent many psychological injuries." (Page xxiii)
A motif that runs throughout this book is the strong belief that everything about the way in which the Vietnam War was fought - by the enemy and by American leaders and policy-makers - violated fundamental assumption of what is right and wrong in the world. This violation of basic assumptions is seen, by Shay and others, as the root cause for many of the psychological problems that attend those who returned from Vietnam as different men than the innocents who had first landed in Southeast Asia.
"The moral dependence of the modern soldier on the military organization for everything he needs to survive is as great as that of a small child on his or her parents. One Vietnam combat veteran said: `The U.S. Army [in Vietnam] was like a mother who sold out her kids to be raped by [their] father to protect her own interests.'" (Page 5)
"When a leader destroys the legitimacy of the army's moral order by betraying `what's right,' he inflicts manifold injuries on his men. The Iliad is a story of these immediate and devastating consequences. Vietnam has forced us to see that these consequences go beyond the war's `loss upon bitter loss . . . leaving so many dead men' to taint the lives of those who survive it." (Page 6)
"Veterans can usually recover from horror, fear and grief once they return to civilian life, as long as `what's right' has not also been violated." (Page 20)
In the chapter entitled "Grief at the Death of a Special Comrade," Dr. Shay lays out his premise about the need for communalization of grief:
"Any blow in life will have longer-lasting and more serious consequences if there is no opportunity to communalize it. This means some mix of formal social ceremony and informal telling of the story with feeling to socially connected others who do not let the survivor go through it alone. The virtual suppression of social griefwork in Vietnam contrasts vividly with the powerful expressions of communal mourning recorded in Homeric epic. I believe that numerous military, cultural, institutional, and historical factors conspired to thwart the griefwork of Vietnam combat veterans, and I believe that this matters. The emerge of rage out of intense grief may be a human universal; long-term obstruction of grief and failure to communalize grief can imprison a person in endless swinging between rage and emotional deadness as a permanent way of being in the world." (Pages 39-40)
The author shares several vivid descriptions of those combat veterans who have devolved to a berserk state. He also points out, in contradistinction to the "berserkers," the value of those who experience the horrors of war and yet somehow resist the pressure to become subhuman in their response:
"Gentle people who somehow survive the brutality of war are highly prized in a combat unit. They have the aura of priests, even though many of them were highly efficient killers." (Page 44)
This arresting description of "gentle warriors" makes me think of many friends I know - Renaissance Men who are also patriotic soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines - who have returned from their deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. To be sure, they have returned changed - in terms of their frame of reference and the vast library of memories and experiences they amassed in war. But they have remained essentially unchanged in terms of basic character and temperament. As Shay has indicated in this book, they tend to be individuals who have strong networks of support that they have used as platforms for telling the narrative of their combat experiences. Many began that narrative process even before returning home - through e-mails, Blogs and published articles and books.
In the chapter, "What Homer Left Out," Dr. Shay offers a very helpful and concise summary of the four kinds of traumatic war experiences that lead to PTSD:
"These four clusters are exposure to combat, exposure to abusive violence, deprivation, and loss of meaning and control. The four clusters are all aspects of war trauma, and PTSD symptoms are the lasting results for the veteran after the war." (Page 123)
This is a book that will add value and insight to any individual who is committed to helping veterans - from the Vietnam era and the most recent wars in the Gulf - to find healing and wholeness after experiencing the devastations of war. Those of us, as civilians, who feel we are unqualified to participate in the communal healing that is sorely needed, will find comfort and challenges in the truths that Dr. Shay presents in this seminal work. If we, as a society, fail to respond - pro-actively and with compassion - to the chronic challenge of PTSD and those who suffer from it - it will remain our "Achilles' heel."
Al
A real eye-opener.......2007-03-08
Even after an extensive education in classical literature, I had a great number of preconceived opinions about the behavior of Achilles in The Iliad. Dr. Shay's book not only pulverized my narrow-minded judgements, but opened a whole new world of understanding for me as to the kind of living hell the veterans of the Viet Nam war (and surely, those wars of the last ten years) suffered, and are still suffering. Finally, it helped me to understand things about my own father (also a Viet Nam veteran) that he himself simply had no way of explaining, even to himself, let alone his family. Rarely have I come across a scholarly work so powerfully written and relevant to the issues of today. Dr. Shay has authored a remarkable book! Thank you, Dr. Shay.
Book Description
Within these pages you will find innumerable practical techniques to transform your life, served up with a large dose of humor and the stick of the Zen Roshi. Who hates Undoing? Stuffed-shirt academicians, do-nothing sweetness-and-light practitioners of cosmic foo-foo, and would-be slave-owners everywhere. On the other hand, if you are interested in actually accomplishing something, you will love it.
Customer Reviews:
New to the Method.......2007-05-07
I found the writing style irritating, to say the least, although not nearly as disruptive as _Illuminatus!_. It wasn't until the day after I started reading it that I realized why he is constantly breaking set...he keeps his book from being an easy read, like so many self-help, new age b.s. books today. Because this book, and these methods, can actually help you. This doesn't have suggestions, this doesn't soothe your hurts, this IS how to do it. This IS what you have to do. As Wilson says in the introduction, Hyatt is abusive, insulting, rude, but the fact is we are too used to treading lightly around one another's feelings...we hear too much about self-esteem, so rather than be honest, we become a society of victims. And Hyatt blows right past all that, and looks right into your innermost core, and tells you, Get over it, and do the f****** exercises, already!
Only doing Method I and already looking forward to his other books.
Dogma Busting.......2007-02-20
Do you ever feel dominated by habits, personal history or social expectations? Even if you don't this book may be for you. In this book Hyatt maintains that much of ordinary people's behavior is narrow, repetitive and even robotic. Without even knowing it we are programmed by agendas that aren't our own.
The way to escape this programming is first to relax so that your program runs out of steam, and second to consciously choose to change our behavior. It can be as simple as choosing to drink something other than the favorite soda, which you always drink, or as complex as, at the next party, becoming extraverted if you normally are introverted.
This book is designed to jump you out of your normal boundaries, so be prepared to be shocked or even horrified. It is written in many styles including pushy assertion, humor, personal testimony, guest essays by other authors, fiction and even comic strip.
Undoing Yourself helped me to realize how dominated I am by my religious upbringing, even though I thought I left that behind years ago. I use exercises from this book every day and find that they make my life more interesting.
This is an interesting book.......2007-02-07
From the reviews I've read it seems you either like Hyatt or you don't. I find that he is an odd mish-mash of Robert A. Wilson and Timothy Leary. This book is a full on assault on your nervous system. Either you get it or you don't. Read the book, do the exercises, and undo yourself.
Pretty Good...I guess.......2006-12-11
I like the overall makeup of this book, as it's very unconventional and it gives the reader a kind of jolt out of the what to normally expect. As for the exercises, I have heard of similar ones before, so I did not try these specifically. All in all I think this may be helpful for some, but not everyone will find what they want here.
bizarre and effluvious, but entertaining.......2006-06-14
after reading this book, I am 90% certain that Christopher Hyatt was on speed when he wrote it. there's a teeth-chattering insistency that runs underneath the good doctor's quasi-Zen diatribe, which no doubt is recognizable to anyone who has tried that drug. the book reminds me a little of the collages my friends and I would make, torn cardboard boxes smeered with cut out photographs and psychedelic poetry scrawled in red highlighter. we were desperate to convince someone -- ourselves, the rest of the world, "God" -- that we had hit upon something, that we had something to say. this feeling came through as muffled aggression, a degrading "I know more than you" control freak vibe, directed towards whatever invisible reader we thought we were speaking to.
that's the feeling I get from Hyatt's book -- that for some reason he is desperate for you to believe in him, for you to buy into a fantasy that he and his friends dreamed up one coked-out evening and have been trying to hold onto ever since.
the style of the book follows that of Principia Discordia, but it's edgier, angrier and less profound. at the same time, it's not as meandering as that other book; it has something to say and it says it. a lot of what Dr. Hyatt has to say is quite interesting. his ideas are not simply rehashes of RAW, Bucky Fuller and Crowley. though there are clear similarities, Hyatt's approach is unique. an ethos reminiscent of Hunter S. Thompson runs through the work; the morbidity of the book, it's insistence that it be allowed to do it's own thing regardless, seems to parallel Hyatt's message. "be your own god. NOW."
at least for part one; I thought part two was mostly bland, repetitious drivel. if the first part was the exuberant high, part two is the come down, the grey morning where we recite the paeans of the night before as a meaningless prayer against the onset of reality.
as far as the "exercises" go, they are actually fairly poorly described, and no explanation is given as to how or why they might work. there are reichian elements in some of them, and some of them are similar to exercises done in different types of yoga. they are interesting and worth doing, but it's hard to see what they have to do with the rest of the book. contrary to what the late great Dr. Regardie says in his introduction, Hyatt doesn't seem to be presenting a coherent "system" here, just a few scattered pieces that could be added to your own.
this book is worth a good chuckle. at the very least, Dr. Hyatt's antics should entertain, as he alternately berates, insults, pleads and beguiles you towards his demented point of view. the transparent attempts to promote New Falcon are particularily amusing. for some people it will be a trip down memory lane. some people will get a good laugh. maybe others will be stunned by its "depth." a lot of people just chuck it across the room.
the exercises, like the rest of the work, are entertaining while not particularily mind-blowing.
Amazon.com
The title makes it clear: this is a book with an emphatic point of view. Clément, a French feminist philosopher, has written an intensely subjective meditation on the unhappy fate of women in opera. The result is often infuriating, sometimes enlightening.
Clément is an enthusiast whose passion for opera struggles with revulsion at much of its content. Critics are dry, remote--and male. She prefers a poetic, Freudian approach that leaves out something crucial to her argument: cultural context. The grim choices historically available to women haven't been peculiar to opera: murder, suicide, disease, and madness have also been their lot in drama and the novel. Perhaps it's Western civilization that has been the undoing of women.
Clément finds the experience of the opera house almost too powerful. Here she examines texts with an awareness not "dimmed by beauty and the sublime," an exercise that has a cumulative effect. She highlights the social framework of plots otherwise exalted by music: in La Bohème, a bitter tale of freezing poverty; in Tosca, a heroine who acts against a police state; in The Magic Flute, a battle of the sexes told by the winning side (i.e., male). But La Fanciulla del West, with a victorious central character, has never been as popular: "Opera lovers do not like this antiheroine. She is made for tomorrow."
By the lengthy final chapter, on the Ring cycle, the author has relaxed her argument. She casts an eye on both male and female, on the themes of love, incest, and the triumph of human over god. Her ecstatic response to the cycle's music--not to mention the gender-indiscriminate "undoing"--lays her conflict with opera to rest. She is, as she says elsewhere, "silenced by emotion."
Clément's writing, in Betsy Wing's deft translation, is amusing and unacademic. Her readings entertain without always persuading--or even involving--the reader. In that way, the book evokes Wayne Koestenbaum's The Queen's Throat, another case of a sensibility run rampant. Like that book, The Undoing of Women can inspire fruitful thoughts despite its own perverseness. --David Olivenbaum
Customer Reviews:
Hey!.........2005-10-10
I have trouble liking this because I (never been a fanof Dworkin and MacKinnon writin together or I just don't get 'em..)Opera? I've never never been a fan of Opera So much, but yEs it's reflective of the times it's written in perhaps. Maria Callas, a vision sO lovely, singing "Laksme'" is not so easy to imagine in terms of sexism.. Dido dying in "Dido and Aeneas" in "Thy Hand Belinda"..Is this not gay almost? (Or "Homoerotic" for you scholarly types..) That is by Henry Purcell. Surely,though, the themes are from the times, and so I say..Hey! what can we do but see that historical context? Well, I'm going to go away and go and meet Othello at my tape player now. I got to meet Kiri Te Kanawa and I hope I get to meet her again one day again in ("When I am lain in earth"..) person..
Veritably a rethinking of women's demise in opera, 7 stars.......1999-06-18
What has Opera done to Women? is the focus of Clement's thougths, short essays on the oppressive emotive cauldron Divas inhabit. The world of Opera scholarship is only (within the last ten years) has seen the vigours of social and political perspectives discussed. Writers like Susan McClary, Linda Hutcheon,Tom Sutchliffe,and Anthony Arblaster have deeply thought works scouring the social dimensions of Opera left unattended since its inception. Clement brings a wealth of intellectual sensibilities as well, a Lacanian, feminist who traverses inside the singers mind while she is singing it seems. And saying, "this is not a nice place to sing." And what does Opera grant it's women always fated for death and domesitication,or prison . Clement's readings traverse the traditional operatic repertoire giving you the opera's narrative as she comments and reflects. The section "Tetralogy of the Ring" incites the chauvinistic world of Wagner,how all gods have power, but the Man-Gods can strip the Woman-Gods of their power when they choose to rebel, as Wotan does to Brunnhilde in Wagner's "Die Walkure" in the "Ring". Songs of Lunatics is what women in opera potray as in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" Girls who leap into space, Tosca and Melisande. Or in Bizet's "Carmen" who has no fixed place, her lightness is always in darkness away from lechery and exploitation. You will feel Clement's compassion for Opera's oppressed cadre,and her wrath in speaking of opera's deeply prejudiced phallocentricism. Indeed this has been the most profound book on opera. It makes you rethink all you have ever known, or didn't know on this most cloistered self-preserved realm of music drama. I had wished Clement had ventured into this century for there are profound examples of positive even rebellious roles of women, as in Alexander Goehr's "Behold The Sun" set in Anabaptist Germany of the 1500's, or Luigi Nono's "Like a Burgeoning Light of Love" with a text by Louise Michel ,where three women visit the war fields of this century and comment.
Book Description
For the first time, porn legend Aiden Shaw takes fans behind-the-scenes to the gay adult film world that made him a star. My Undoing ventures from locales such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and London, to the sets of premiere studios like Falcon, Catalina, and Studio 200.
Yet, this is not the typical adult film memoir, where stars drop names and titillate readers with explicit moments. Although My Undoing shares in unsparing detail all the hot stories about the sex and drugs that fueled Aiden's life, it more profoundly follows him through a course of rocky and unfulfilling relationships. As Aiden eloquently and often humorously points out, the romantic life of an adult film superstar is sometimes lonely and lacking in love. But not love only in the form of a relationship, rather also love from within himself. The book is equally moving for his revelations about his Irish Catholic family, his Positive HIV status in the sex industry, and his recovery from a near fatal car accident that left him temporarily paralyzed.
Customer Reviews:
Lavern.......2007-10-06
Because this book is a personal memoir, I will review it in a "personal" way.
I am "Lavern" in this memoir. Lavern is my middle name. I was a friend of Aiden Shaw's (real name Aiden Brady) for 7 years and experienced most of the events in this book. Aiden is an existential amoral nihilistic hedonist. "do unto others as you would have others do unto you" carries no meaning to him. Self-centered narcissism is the rule of the day. I have never met someone with such incredible amounts of true charisma. It is other-worldly, probably developed in a previous life. His "accident" was not an accident at all but intentional, due to his frustrating struggle with his impossible idealistic fantasy of "love" and his inability to acheive the idealism. His refusal to "learn" anything from his experiences and manifest change is a self-serving exercise for his hedonism. This book is a replay of his first book "Brutal" (fantastic!) and not written nearly as well. There are glimmers of his unique insight from "Brutal". Aiden IS incredibly observant of others and equally judgemental. His roomate in 1994 once told me that Aiden even observed how he turned a doorknob. His phenomenal construction of "Aiden Shaw", having just previously been a "tranny" ( as Aiden confided) is a masterful acheivement. Maybe he has realized a more real idea of what constitutes a love relationship, specifically with David Michael, aka David Logan ( his longtime "baby" as he always called him).
I observed and tolerated Aiden's tragic abusive treatment of others for a long time because I was learning so much I could apply to my own life in a positive way. When his abusive behaviour turned on me, I set out to teach him a lessen, instead of crawling away and licking my wounds like hundreds of others, letting him get away with it yet one more time. Plus, I was sure it would give him plenty of juicy matterial for his next book, (prediction fullfilled).
In the end, Aiden writes non-fiction far better than the boring "novels" he aspired to pen.
Lavern, San Francisco. (ps) I don't look like ANYTHING he described.
A Sad Life.......2007-05-26
I still can't figure out why anyone would lay down in the middle of the road, at night, and let a car run over their head. Next time, try laying in the grass along the side of the road.
A Porn Star's Story.......2007-05-21
One of the most popular gar porn stars of all time shares how sex and drugs ruined his life. You'll gain insight into the meaning of life.
Aiden Shaw Tells All.......2007-01-27
AIDEN SHAW TELLS ALL
LITERARY PRIDE--a gay reading circle
Shaw, Aiden, My Undoing: Love in the Thick of Sex, Drugs, Pornography and Prostitution. Carroll& Graf. 2006.
Ah--the life of a porn star. Those are the men who get paid to do on the screen what so many of us wish we could do and get paid for it. Aiden Shaw, yes, Aiden Shaw, one of the most popular gay porn stars ever tells it all in his book. My Undoing. This is a truthful book, brutally honest to the point that it is sometimes painful, but while it hurts to read, it sheds light on the inside of a world most of us will never have an opportunity to know.
Aiden Shaw has starred in over fifty adult films--showing it all. At the same time as being a male clothing model (I remember seeing him in a JC Crew catalog), he was baring himself on video and he became at icon. His book tells what is behind the icon and the price he paid to achieve this legendary status. Shaw became so popular that his name was used for Carrie's boyfriend on "Sex and the City" and his modeling pictures adorned the finest fashion magazines. In his autobiography he tells for the first time how the real man behind the name rose to such heights and then hit the depths. His personal stories dealing with sex and drugs are not for the faint hearted. His life, fueled by substance abuse in a quest to find love, is not a pretty story but it a realistic telling of that kind of existence. The aura of the porn star bedding the most beautiful men is just that-- an aura. When the shoot is over, so is the romance. Shaw tells how hard is it for one who publicly displays everything to find love and settle down to a regular life style. Herein is the core of the book--the quest for love and acceptance. Here is a "smart...honest glimpse" into a life, a saga that is not easy to put down.
Who would have thought that a porn star could write with such eloquence and insight? Shaw destroys the notion that a porn star is only that--a sex object with nothing between his ears. (The rest of the equipment he needs no testament.) The humor in the book mixes easily with the pain and Shaw emerges as a complex individual with more than an average share of intelligence--his quick wit suffuses his writing and his melancholy style gives it life. Having once been in awe of his physical attributes, I must admit that I am now in awe of his mental attributes as well.
The theme of the book appears to be, as I said before, the quest for love--not just for a significant other, but for love of oneself as well. In his quest for love, Shaw brings into the story the details of his having been raised Roman Catholic, of his HIV-positive status and his return to life from a near fatal accident that left him partially paralyzed for a period. Writing of several relationships that left him unfulfilled as well as several that were not meant to be, Shaw shows us a side of him we would never have imagined--his vulnerability. Here is a man who personified sex with his swagger and who could not find a way to use his charm for a lasting relationship.
Of course, we want a happy ending and whether there is one or not is for you to discover when you read the book. I am not telling. But what I will tell you is that this is a terrific read and should not be missed nor misjudged.
It means nothing!.......2007-01-18
There is no deeper meaning, he warns you from the start so read this book for any other reason! Taste him, feel him, touch him, be him, read about a life you do not have! Maybe do not even want! I like him and I love reading his work. I truly enjoy sensing his music, Whatever! Listen to them late at night in your own personal space!
Average customer rating:
|
Undoing Culture: Globalization, Postmodernism and Identity (Published in association with Theory, Culture & Society)
Mike Featherstone
Manufacturer: Sage Publications Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Postmodernism | Movements & Periods | History & Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Cultural | Anthropology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Culture | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0803976062
Release Date: 1996-08-22 |
Book Description
"This is a worthwhile discussion of postmodernity and modernity that overlaps theoretically with Chris Rojek's Decentring Leisure. Excellent Bibliography and Index." --Choice What is the relationship between culture and postmodernism? How has globalization influenced our understanding of culture? This shrewd book, written by one of the most accomplished and authoritative writers in the field, is a major contribution to rethinking culture. Mike Featherstone examines how culture is produced, reproduced, challenged, and transformed under current social conditions. Undoing Culture provides a guide to the dramatic changes that everyday life is currently witnessing and also suggests ways of analyzing these changes in theoretically meaningful ways. It explores the meaning of ordered life, the heroic life, revolutionary myth, symbolic power, and forms of consumer culture. What emerges is a highly original and significant attempt to ground culture in the context of globalization and postmodernism. Written with the customary clarity and judicious style that readers have come to expect from this author, Undoing Culture will be essential reading for students in the sociology of culture and cultural studies.
Amazon.com
Douglas MacArthur, in William Manchester's memorable phrase, was an American Caesar, a general accustomed to having his own way on or off the battlefield. He surrounded himself with fawning aides, commanded imperiously and sometimes impetuously, and did not kindly accept criticism.
Stanley Weintraub, who served as an Army lieutenant during the Korean War, makes the persuasive case that MacArthur's character and methods as commander of the Allied forces in Korea led him to commit disastrous errors of judgment--among them his failure to anticipate the Chinese entry into the war when MacArthur's troops approached the Yalu River, and his odd plan to seed South Korea's defensive perimeter with nuclear explosions and thus make the border impassable for generations.
Weintraub praises MacArthur's brilliance as a tactician and student of military history, pointing out that MacArthur's audacious landing at Inchon was straight out of Xenophon. He also notes that MacArthur correctly predicted that the Allied conduct of the Korean conflict would lead to stalemate. Still, Weintraub quietly insists that President Harry Truman was right in removing MacArthur from command on the grounds of insubordination, an act with enormous political repercussions at the time. An outstanding contribution to the literature of the Korean War--a conflict that is again in the news--Weintraub's book spares no detail in examining the end of Douglas MacArthur's checkered career. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
The Korean War -- America's forgotten war -- was one of our country's most brutal, claiming the lives of American soldiers at more than three times the rate of losses in Vietnam. At the helm was the towering military hero Douglas MacArthur, whose pride and insubordination took the conflict to the edge of nuclear war. In MacArthur's War, acclaimed historian Stanley Weintraub offers a blow-by-blow account of the months of MacArthur's command. Relying upon extensive new research and giving voice to ordinary soldiers, Weintraub has crafted a harrowing tale of modern warfare at its bloodiest and a telling portrait of the man who was the driving force behind it all.
Customer Reviews:
Inchon myth.......2007-06-30
Of the many MacArthur myths, none seems more pervasive than the myth that Inchon was a stellar military achievement. In point of fact, Inchon was folly in and folly out. Folly in? Virtually all MacArthur's contemporaries above the grade of corporal saw an amphibious assault on Inchon as a dangerous operation the execution of which foreclosed a very real opportunity decisively (by landing further south on less dangerous beaches) to trap the North Koreans between Almond's 10th Corp and Walton Walker's Eighth Army, end the conflict in compliance with the UN mandate, pack up and go home. Not only was Inchon an invasion that required far more luck than MacArthur deserved, merely to get the landing force up Flying Fish channel, over a high sea wall and landed in the face of potentially devastating flanking fire from Wolmi-do Island, but also it violated a stern article of amphibious warfare wisdom that argued against sending a landing force immediately to fight in a built-up area. Thanks to the US Marines, MacArthur got away with it, but one can only observe that even if one or two men in history have survived jumping out of airplanes without parachutes, such is not a wise act. MacArthur's maniacal ego had as end in view his parading pompously into the Korean government house to "restore" Korea to Syngman Rhee. The folly out was that 10th Corp has no mission after the unnecessary recapture of Seoul and once it crossed the peninsula, what next? History records the answer. And yes, I am not a MacArthur fan. His incompetence destroyed the 31st Infantry Regiment (with which I served in Korea as a rifleman) twice in a decade (Bataan and the Reservoir in Korea). Beyond 1918 MacArthur stayed too long at the ball and many good men paid for it.
MacArthur, And War.......2006-05-30
"MacArthur's War" provides the reader with an up close view of the initial portions of the Korean War with particular emphasis on the role of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. It is not, however, a one-dimensional view. Much of it focuses on the role of the on the ground American soldiers and their commanders, all of whom served and suffered under MacArthur.
I found the many facets of this book to be interesting. Although I had read a little of the Korean War, Stanley Weintraub presents events in a different light than I have seen in other works. He depicts MacArthur's indecisiveness at the start of the war in contrast to his later decisiveness in the absence of in in opposition to authorization. Weintraub is generally favorable to MacArthur, contrasting his decisive action with, what he portrays, as uncertainty and indecision among his superiors in Washington. Weintraub suggests that some of MacArthur's insubordinate actions were not necessarily manifestations of uninformed or undisciplined arrogance, but may have been a reasoned strategy to maneuver his superiors into the position that he would have to be relieved.
Looking in the other direction, Weintraub introduces his readers to the resentment which MacArthur's actions generated in his subordiantes. His practice of accepting credit for their successes while washing his hands of their failures was the culmination of a life long practice which infuriated his subordinates throughout his military career.
This book is not all MacArthur, it is also about war. The readier is introduced to the experiences of the ordinary soldier and their officers at all levels. This book makes the flow of battle see more comprehensible than other books which I have read and places terms, such as "Frozen Chosen" into context. I feel that I understand the Korean War and Douglas MacArthur better than I did before reading this book. "MacArthur's War" is an unrivaled asset for anyone with an interest in either.
Should be on your Korean War Reading List.......2004-05-25
There is no question that Douglas MacArthur had a long and distinguished career. And that he showed great Barvery in World War I. That he planned some great island hopping strategy during World War II. And did much to help Japan reform and rebuild. But Korea is not an area where his career shines.
When conflict broke out in Korea in 1950, MacArthur assumed command of American, South Korean and U.N. forces and drove back the North Korean army to the Yalu river, which is the border between Korea and China. And at center stage was his very risky yet stunning achievement, his amphibious attack behind enemy lines at Inchon. But his total lack of failure to anticipate Chinese entry into the war and his delusion that Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Chinese forces in Formosa could be brought into the war to fight the Communists as a viable force had him lose all credability.
Only by General Matthew Ridgway taking command of the Allied ground forces were the Allies able to reverse the trend. General Ridgway took the demoralized Allied troops and transformed them back into a strong fighting force. Which under his command was able to recapture some of the lands lost to the Communist. During this time MacArthur actual came up with a plan to sow a defensive field of radioactive waste on the southern bank of the Yalu. This plan helped Truman to make the to make the decission to dismiss MacArthur at the begining of April 1951.
This work is well written and well worth reading.
Continued MacArthur incompetence.......2004-02-21
This book just reinforced my opinion of MacArthur, after reading about how he botched the defense of the Phillipines in WWII. He had an 8 hour warning from the Pearl Harbor attack, and yet let his planes be caught on the ground and destroyed. He had a 2 year supply of guns, ammo, food, and fuel in Manila for a defense at Bataan, and failed to move it there, so his men starved. He had months to train the Filipinos, and they ran at the first sight of Japs.
In Japan, for 5 years, he never once visited his troops. They were out of shape, and the men's equipment did not work.
When North Korea attacked, his men got killed because of their poor physical condition. They also got killed as the equipment did not work. Trucks, tanks, weapons, radios, batteries. Pusan harbor became a junkyard as they shipped over all this equipment that did not work, and that was all they had.
He refused to believe that the Chinese would attack in such numbers.
Gen Almond even continued the attack after the 8th army had been routed by the Koreans, and were in headlong retreat.
Mac was trying to run for President and his remarks and letters to Congressman became public.
The difference here vs what happened in the Phillipines was that in the Phillipines he got the Medal of Honor for his incopetence. This time, he got fired, as he should have at the Phillipines.
Inchon was a stroke of brilliance, in that it worked, in spite of all the natural obstacles. It worked because it was a Marine operation. MacArthur was not responsible for Marine training or equipment, so the men were trained, and the Marine equipment worked. Therefore, the Inchon invasion worked.
Ignominious exit of an outstanding soldier.......2003-11-05
Nobody will contest Douglas MacArthur's manifold achievements. Serving as a general in three wars, he arguably is famous for his bravery in battles during World War I, his spectacular Leyte landing to reclaim the Philippines in 1944 as well as for his eminently able direction of the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1950, instituting such reforms as ownership of land for peasants, freedom of the press, and female suffrage. MacArthur is a giant of U.S. military history, even though his role in the Korean War during 1950-1951, when he was once again called to field duty, seriously dented his standing. This book by Stanley Weintraub covers MacArthur's involvement in Korea from June 1950 to April 1951. It is highly worth reading.
When conflict broke out in Korea in 1950, MacArthur assumed command of American, South Korean and U.N. forces to swiftly drive back the North Korean army over the 38th parallel, all the way up to the Yalu, the border river between Korea and China. At the centre of this stunning achievement was MacArthur's amphibious attack behind enemy lines at Inchon - an extremely risky undertaking that is generally acknowledged as a masterpiece of tactical warfare. However, military success ended with U.S. soldiers urinating into the frozen Yalu in November 1950. As tens of thousands of Chinese "volunteers" entered the stage - giving testimony to MacArthur's failure to anticipate Chinese entry into the war - U.N. forces hastily retreated southward, fleeing in disarray. It took a man like General Matthew Ridgway to gradually transform the demoralized Allied troops into a strong fighting body (thus keeping the Americans from leaving Korea altogether) and ultimately winning back some of the territory lost after China's intervention. Yet even after Ridgway had taken over as field commander, MacArthur continued to taunt the Truman administration, going so far as to suggest in a letter to a congressman - which became public - that Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Chinese forces in Formosa (today's Taiwan) could be brought into the war to fight the Communists. More and more out of touch with reality, MacArthur's peculiar reasoning culminated in his plan to "sowing a defensive field of radioactive waste on the southern bank of the Yalu", eventually resulting in President Truman dismissing him at the beginning of April 1951.
Stanley Weintraub's book is the product of a gifted mind at work. His judgment of MacArthur clearly is critical, blaming the general both for escalating the war and for seriously jeopardizing the war effort by his on-going insubordination towards the Truman administration. This is an outspoken but always fair account - in short: highly worth reading!
Book Description
Heralded by congregations and peers alike as one of today's most compelling Christian voices, Fleming Rutledge here offers a profound, touching vision of the cross and resurrection. Divided into seven sections that progress from Palm Sunday to Good Friday to Easter and on through Eastertide, these sermons display Rutledge's startling ability to bridge the message of the ancient biblical texts with the distinct needs of modern people.
Intellectually engaging, pastorally wise, and beautifully written, "The Undoing of Death" is accented throughout with thirty-three artistic masterpieces depicting the events of Holy Week, making it a feast for the eye as well as the soul.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding!.......2006-04-28
Reverend Fleming Rutledge offers thorough and profound Spirit-filled preaching on the cross and the resurrection directly in the Word of God, the Bible. Elements of her work are on par with such leaders as Lewis and Bonhoeffer. Rutledge is at her best when she is least polite, yet eloquent, when articulating the astonishing, even shocking, truths of Christian orthodoxy. This work is, in fact, a call for a return to orthodoxy: Live in the cross; live in the ressurrection. I spent this Holy and Easter week with these sermons, and the Spirit blessed me mightily. In addition, I love the beautiful sacred art and commentary. Reverend Rutledge offers the very best that the Episcopal and Anglican tradition hold. This is surprising and encouraging, considering that the Episcopal church (America) has begun to abandon Biblical truth and orthodox Christianity. I offer Reverend Ruthledge every encouragement: Come, Lord Jesus, breathe your Holy Spirit into our dry bones through your powerful daughter, Fleming!
Book Description
Undoing Gender constitutes Judith Butler's recent reflections on gender and sexuality, focusing on new kinship, psychoanalysis and the incest taboo, transgender, intersex, diagnostic categories, social violence, and the tasks of social transformation. In terms that draw from feminist and queer theory, Butler considers the norms that govern--and fail to govern--gender and sexuality as they relate to the constraints on recognizable personhood. The book constitutes a reconsideration of her earlier view on gender performativity from Gender Trouble. In this work, the critique of gender norms is clearly situated within the framework of human persistence and survival. And to "do" one's gender in certain ways sometimes implies "undoing" dominant notions of personhood. She writes about the "New Gender Politics" that has emerged in recent years, a combination of movements concerned with transgender, transsexuality, intersex, and their complex relations to feminist and queer theory.
Customer Reviews:
Living Livable Life.......2007-05-17
Butler, Judith. "Undoing Gender, Routledge, 2004.
Living Livable Life
Amos Lassen and Literary Pride
Judith Butler's "Undoing Gender" is a much easier book to read than "Gender Trouble" and it gives us a great deal of food for thought. The book is a rather provocative look of the normative structure of gender and how those who do not fit into the "traditional" gender binary of male/female are able to have lives of livability. The book is accessible and it continues where "Gender Trouble" stopped. In showing how gender affects people but without ideas to do to change our opinions about gender--these are left to the reader.
Butler shows her intelligence and sometimes this does not make for an easy read. However, her language is clear. This is a book that demands careful thought and consideration. Scholars who study gender should be aware of what gender is all about more than the average person and that, in my mind, is what this book seeks to do. We have the right of gender expression as protected by our rights as humans and the same can be said of sexual orientation.
"Undoing Gender" is a great place to start for anyone interested in post-structuralism. But a word of warning--you must be ready to take time and effort to read Butler.
Judith Butler discusses gender through a philosophic lens.......2006-09-21
First things first, Judith Butler is scary smart. Her linguist/philosopher credentials can make her a tough read sometimes, but the language she uses here is clear and pure. Undoing Gender provided the first insights into the gendered connections that we all share and how the world understands us through these labels. She connects Foucault to Simone de Beauvoir, Hegel, Freud and beyond. I very much appreciated the depths that Undoing Gender plumbed to connect my experience to everyone else's, and to our common history and struggle. I tend to hightlight and annotate books that I use as reference and this copy is dripping yellow, pink, blue and green.
Generally excellent, but with a serious flaw..........2006-04-19
"Undoing Gender" is a dense and scholarly tome which demands careful consideration and perhaps repeated readings to fully appreciate. I would give it five stars but for Chapter Three where I found Professor Butler's focus on the David Reimer case a somewhat superficial rehash of what has already been written, lacking in the critical analysis Butler uses to excellent effect elsewhere throughout her work.
On the famous case of David Reimer, whose penis was burned completely off during a botched circumcision when he was eight months old, Professor Butler writes:
"David was born with XY chromosomes and at the age of eight months, his penis was accidentally burned and severed in the course of a surgical operation to rectify phimosis, a condition in which the foreskin thwarts urination. This is a relatively risk-free procedure but the doctor who performed it on David was using a new machine, apparently one that he hadn't used before, one that his colleagues declared was unnecessary for the job."
Judith Butler reports elements of David's tragic story, complete with the errors and embellishments so often repeated.
Phimosis is a condition of tightness of the foreskin preventing retraction over the glans, but it does not prevent or thwart urination. Phimosis is a natural condition of the developing infant penis, in many cases retraction of the foreskin is not possible until well into childhood or later. Jean-Marie Huot, the so-called doctor who destroyed David's penis, diagnosed both David and his twin brother Brian with phimosis, though after the accident with David, Brian was left genitally intact and his condition of phimosis cleared up naturally as it does with almost all intact males, showing the error of Hout's "diagnosis" and "treatment."
Butler's statement that circumcision "is a relatively risk-free procedure", spoken in the context of David's case is (to say the least) a serious and undoubtedly harmful understatement. The damages from circumcision are all too often unrecognized and underreported, no doubt in a conscious or subconscious effort to avoid challenging the status quo. Even with severe circumcision damage as happened to David many of the mainstream publications reporting his story refrained from mentioning circumcision as the cause of the damage; several only stated, "the baby lost his penis in an accident" shifting blame from the mutilator to the baby! David's story challenges society to take off its cultural blinkers and look at circumcision for what it is, even if some wish to believe such casualities are acceptable.
David's case is world famous and has been used by many to advance theories of gender. John Money used David's case to advance his theory that gender is imposed after birth. Once David found out about his past and proclaimed his maleness, others have followed with a different tact, using him to suggest that gender is innate. Here in Canada where David's life took place there is another not-so-famous case of another child born male, whose penis was also destroyed in a botched circumcision and raised female. She, now an adult, has been reported in the medical literature as being well adjusted to her female gender role, yet is rarely referred to in the mainstream discourse on gender. Perhaps if her story becomes public she will reveal other subtleties we have yet to understand.
Gender scholars should recognize that we cannot seriously and comprehensively discuss sexuality and gender if the dynamics around genital reducing surgery (circumcision) performed "routinely" on infants is not included in the scope of this discussion. A society which condones genital mutilation of infants and children and sweeps the casualties under the rug is asking for some serious scrutiny. Professor Butler refers in her footnotes to the chapter on David Reimer, to a videotape on the ethics of sex reassignment of children, yet doesn't mention the impact to society or the ethics of performing "routine" genital reducing surgery on infant males.
In a latter chapter Professor Butler delightfully acknowledges her sexuality as lesbian and her heritage as Jewish. With these credentials she could turn her brilliant analysis of gender more squarely on the issue of circumcision and perhaps reveal some as yet unknown aspects of the dynamics around this issue. Other scholars have paved the way, notably historian and physician Leonard Glick with his groundbreaking book, "Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America" and Jewish feminist Miriam Pollock in her heartfelt essay, "Redefining the Sacred" in the book "Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy." Also recommended is Ron Goldman's book, "Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective" and "Male & Female Circumcision: Among Jews, Christians and Muslims, Religious, Medical Social and Legal Debate", by Sami Awad Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh. These excellent books are available through Amazon.
"Undoing Gender" will not be the last book to focus on David Reimer's famous and tragic life. I sincerely hope the next person to write about David will put his case in context and look long, hard and honestly at what happened to him and place blame where it squarely belongs in an effort to keep this from ever happening again. All children have an inherent human right to have their genital integrity protected; their freedom of gender expression and sexual orientation as well.
It's good, but not her best.......2006-04-08
While "Undoing Gender" is one of Judith Butler's most accessible texts (in that one does not need to have a philosophical companion and an OED on hand to read it), I did find many of the essays to not be as well developed as others she has written. Many of the essays seem to be half-completed, lacking some substance. While I do think that "Undoing Gender" is a good start for someone interested in post-structuralism, I would recommend that one really take the time and effort to read some of her more well thought out books like "Bodies That Matter" or "Gender Trouble" -- which might require additional reading of Derrida, Foucault, Freud and Lacan to really get the fullness of the texts.
Doing... undoing..........2006-04-04
`Undoing Gender' is certainly a much easier read than 'Gender Trouble' and 'Bodies That Matter'. However, it still presents thoughtful reflections relevant to Butler's earlier work. It's so gloomy to read multiple texts by the same author (especially in the academic field) and find they all explore the same viewpoint- that's why it is really refreshing to read Butler's work in succession to witness the 'redoing' of ideas. Butler's up to date frameworks are especially relevant in the forever changing realm of gender.
However, in reading Butler's work I find it necessary to consult a whole heap of other titles, including work by Freud, Foucault, Lacan. Keep this in mind... it's not a light read! Consider it more a starting point.
Books:
- Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook
- White Tigers: My Secret War in North Korea (Ausa Institute of Land Warfare Book.)
- With Our Own Eyes: Eyewitnesses to the Final Days of Amelia Earhart
- Witness of the Stars, The
- World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
- 50 Best Girlfriends Getaways North America
- 500 Teapots: Contemporary Explorations of a Timeless Design
- A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire)
- A-List #8, The: Heart of Glass: An A-List Novel (A-List)
- After the Affair: Healing the Pain and Rebuilding Trust When a Partner Has Been Unfaithful
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes
- Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle
- Atomic Force Microscopy in Cell Biology
- Einstein and Religion: Physics and Theology
- Elephant House: Or, The Home of Edward Gorey
- History: Fiction or Science
- Doin the Northwest With Your Pooch
- Brotherhood In Rhythm: The Jazz Tap Dancing of the Nicholas Brothers
- Boston: A Topographical History, Third Enlarged Edition
- Biology of Mycoplasmas
Breaking the Patterns of Depression
Self-Coaching: The Powerful Program to Beat Anxiety and Depression, 2nd Edition, Completely Revised and Updated
Undoing Perpetual Stress: The Missing Connection Between Depression, Anxiety and 21st Century Illness
Depression Fallout: The Impact of Depression on Couples and What You Can Do to Preserve the Bond
The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression
