History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy

Average customer rating:

"Civic-ness" and Democracy
A Classic Text of Modern Political Science
trite conclusions, flawed methodology... but engaging prose
It's NOT the economy, stupid . . . it's civics!
Intriguing Thesis - with reservations

Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy
Robert D. Putnam , Robert Leonardi , and Raffaella Y. Nanetti
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History & Theory | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

U.S. | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Federal Government | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0691037388

Book Description

Why do some democratic governments succeed and others fail? In a book that has received attention from policymakers and civic activists in America and around the world, Robert Putnam and his collaborators offer empirical evidence for the importance of "civic community" in developing successful institutions. Their focus is on a unique experiment begun in 1970 when Italy created new governments for each of its regions. After spending two decades analyzing the efficacy of these governments in such fields as agriculture, housing, and health services, they reveal patterns of associationism, trust, and cooperation that facilitate good governance and economic prosperity.

Customer Reviews:

"Civic-ness" and Democracy.......2006-08-31

In the early 1970s, political power was decentralized in Italy. The power once held by the central government in Rome was reallocated to the newly created regional governments. Constitutionally, the regions possessed similar political institutions. However, the regions varied socially, economically and in political context. Putnam, seeing a ready laboratory for social science, chose to study the role of environmental factors on institutional performance in the new regional governments. Institutions serve as Putnam's independent variable, while a number of environmental factors act as the dependent variables. As such three main research questions emerged; 1) how does institutional change affect identity, power, and strategy of the regional political actors, 2) how is institutional performance a function of history, and lastly 3) which features of social context most powerfully affect institutional performance (8).

In examining the institutional impacts on identity, power, and strategy of regional politicos, Putnam builds upon the "new institutionalism" proposed by March and Olsen. According to the new institutional paradigm: intuitions reshape the identities of political actors, redistribute political power, and instill new norms for political behavior. Putnam argues that the identity of regional political actors has evolved to create a system in which actors experience an "ideological depolarization." Party identity has become less extreme and regional politicians have taken a more centrist stance than their counterparts in the central government. This has lead regional politicos to develop a more accepting attitude of rival parties and a system of consensus in which inter-party conflict has been replaced by cooperation. The author argues that such changes in political identity occurred due to the institutional structure of the regional governments. As regional institutions became more developed, regional actors saw loyalty to regional constituents as more important than party loyalty. As such, pragmatism replaced ideology in regional politics (39).

In addition, the institutional changes reshaped the distribution of political resources. Putnam says that once institutions are in place, they create their own momentum. With political actors gaining more autonomy from the central authority, regional leaders began to form coalitions and demand greater recognition and power from the government in Rome. As such, the distribution of political power was changed so that an increasing amount of control fell to the regional government.

Also, the changes in institutional structures at the regional level caused changes to the political norms previously held by the regional constituents. First, because of the decentralization of power, the constituents and regional politicos are closer in proximity, which made regional politics, "hands-on, face-to-face." Politicians became more administratively motivated than politically motivated. In addition to the close proximity, regional actors adopted more democratic sentiments and less elitist views of governing. They became more concerned with regional issues than vying for political power at the national level. Such a relationship has lead to an increased legitimacy for regional governments. Still, the efficiency of the Italian regional governments is relative. Putnam writes, "Popular legitimacy of new institutions, even successful ones, grows only gradually" (60).

In addition to examining the impact of institutions on political actors, Putnam seeks to examine the relative performance of the new regional institutions. In order to test institutional performance, Putnam looks at two areas, responsiveness to constituents and the efficiency in conducting the business of the public. The author divides the indicators of institutional effectiveness into three broad spheres: policy process, policy pronouncement, and policy implementation. Policy process examines the institution's decision making process. Policy pronouncement examines the government's ability to recognize social needs and offer solutions, and policy implementation serves as a measure of the ability of the regional government to implement policy in the major sectors of activity. In Putnam's study it was unsurprisingly discovered that effectiveness and responsiveness as measures of institutional performance are closely related. In measuring performance, Putnam discovered that although institutionally the same, some regions performed better than others. Putnam attempts to explain the differences between institutional performance through an examination of regional socioeconomic modernity (economic growth following the industrial revolution) and civic community ("civic involvement and social solidarity") 83. Although Putnam readily admits that those regions which had a "head start" economically, most notably those regions in the north, are likely to have more efficient institutional performance than their southern neighbors, socioeconomic factors may not explain the whole story of performance difference. Rather, Putnam concentrates on the development of civic community as a catalyst for successful institutional performance.

A healthy civic community, according to Putnam, is a driving force behind a successful democratic government. In his description, Putnam sees four main themes that accompany civic community: civic engagement, political equality, solidarity/trust/tolerance, and associations. Civic engagement includes active political participation by members of the community. Members of the civic group must be interested in public affairs and be willing to work towards better the community as a whole. Political equality also is imperative for a healthy civic society. According to Putnam, a civic society with political equality is characterized by a horizontal power structure, one in which all parties are equal, as opposed to a hierarchical structure in which patronage and dependency are prominent. In the realm of individual and group interactions in the civic society, actors must have a sense of solidarity, trust, and tolerance. The author readily admits that the civic community will be far from conflict-free, but so long as participating parties maintain the premises of solidarity, trust, and tolerance, negotiation and comprise will occur, hopefully promoting a utilitarian sense of good.

Putnam calls the aggregation of civic engagement, political equality, solidarity/trust, and associations, and region's "civic-ness." Regions with a high level of "civic-ness" are less apt to have constituents who use a preference voting ballot, are more likely to turnout for referendum voting, read newspapers, and have a large variety of civic associations. In addition, Putnam discovers that constituents in regions with a higher level of civic-ness experience a greater trust and contentment with their governments. The author finds that those living in a region with a strong civic group have a greater trust in their elected officials, feel a good deal of participation in the political process, and that political leaders are genuinely concerned with the well-being of the populous. As such, Putnam argues that regions with greater "civic-ness" have a better quality of democracy than their less civic counterparts.

In developing a sense of "civic-ness" the problem of collective action may emerge. Putnam proposes a number of solutions to the collective action problem. First, Putnam builds upon the "soft" solutions proposed by Robert Bates. Such solutions include community development and creating a sense of trust between citizens. Putnam proposes increasing community development through the promotion of human capital development. The author argues that investments in social capital help alleviate collective action problems. Like monetary capital, once an investment in human capital occurs, social capital will grow exponentially. He writes, "Other sources of social capital, too, such as social norms and networks increase with use and diminish with disuse" (170). As such, in order for a sense of "civic-ness," and subsequently, effective and equitable institutions to emerge, first an investment of social capital must occur.

A Classic Text of Modern Political Science.......2005-11-21

Robert Putnam's work has become a Political Science classic. His work is part of new area of research -- civic participation. During the past decade, this area has exploded from obscurity twenty years ago to being one of the most popular fields today. Putnam's works have had a profound impact on many other areas in the Political Science world, from local governance to international political theory. Regardless of whether you agree with his theories, if you are at all interested in Political Science, it is a must read. Moreover, either "Marking Democracy Work" or "Bowling Alone" are becoming standard texts used in most 100 & 200 level undergraduate courses.

trite conclusions, flawed methodology... but engaging prose.......2002-04-04

It's unfortunate that given the opportunity and resources to study the birth and development of regional government in Italy over the course of twenty years, the best conclusions Putnam was able to draw from his observations are hackneyed paraphrases from Tocqueville. Most of his most careful fieldwork yields results that are stultifyingly obvious; and it's hard not to think that his questions and indicators were not deliberately chosen to demonstrate foregone conclusions. Probably most irritating to me is Putnam's irresponsible use of history as a tool for proving continuities that are largely imaginary.

That said, Making Democracy Work is not a boring read, and its flaws at least encourage the reader to contemplate the million ways the book and the study it describes might have been better.

Beginning in 1977, Putnam and his colleagues studied the performance and reception of the 15 regional governments that had been first established in 1970. Given pre-existing disparities among the regions -- economic, cultural, political, demographic, nevermind linguistic and geographic -- it's little surprise that the researchers found that not all the regional governments developed the same way. While he found that the 'institutional socialization' of the new parliamentary bodies had a consistently positive effect on the regional politicians' growing professionalism and willingness to explore constructive compromises with ideological opponents, the governments were not uniformly effective or responsive, nor were their constituents uniformly happy with their efforts.

Ruling out economics as a determining factor in these disparities (through a series of statistical negotiations that show an appalling lack of understanding about basic economics), and drawing heavily from Tocqueville's ideas about the mystical cultural underpinnings for successful democracy, Putnam constructed a 'civic community index' -- a list of indicators including newspaper readership, membership in associations, and what might be called 'enlightened' (abstract, issue-oriented) versus 'parochial' (personal) voting patterns. Again, it's small surprise that he finds a close correlation between the regions' scores on this index and their constituents' relative satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their regional governments.

Trying to explain why this might be so, Putnam then launches into a heavily simplified -- at times almost fanciful -- exposition of 1,000 years of Italian history in which somehow economic development patterns, demographics, religious institutions, and systems of political organization experience enormous changes while cultural traditions of 'civic-ness' remain more or less consistent, wonderfully cohering to the boundaries described by the modern regions and their scores on Putnam's civic community index. He concludes that habits die hard -- whether these be 'good' habits of mutual trust and social reciprocity or 'bad' habits of atomistic self-interest and traditionalist dependency -- and that the effects of institutional change on social and cultural norms is gradual, perhaps so gradual as to be almost imperceptible within a single lifetime.

Stopping just a hair's breadth short of claiming that culture determines economic and political success in the modern world, Putnam does the next worst thing, which is to give credit for present-day disparities in wealth and power to 'historical trends' in cultural development that don't bear close examination by anyone even slightly familiar with Italian history. For example, given Putnam's assessment of the disparity between North/Central Italy (very civic) and the 'amoral' South (terribly un-civic), the first with its innovative and republican cultural of mutual trust and democracy, the second with its stubbornly backward vertical social hierarchies, one could be forgiven for imagining that the South must certainly have been the base of support for Italian fascism in the 30s and 40s -- while in fact it was the gloriously civic-minded North that provided Mussolini with his most consistent support.

On the surface, there's nothing wrong with Putnam's basic political belief -- that democracy is strongest when it's built on a foundation of social reciprocity and trust, civic engagement, etc. My criticism shouldn't be taken as a condemnation of efforts to build or strengthen civil society, or to promote participatory democracy -- far from it! The trouble with Putnam's argument is its methodology, and the pernicious cultural determinism that lurks behind his rhetoric about path-dependent history.

It's NOT the economy, stupid . . . it's civics!.......2001-02-23

The central concept of Putnam's study is "institutions," but he frames these institutions as both an independent and a dependent variable. Positing that institutions shape politics, but institutions themselves are shaped by history, Putnam is able to explain both the causes and the effects of political institutions among Italian regions. The "effects" portion of his study is the lesser of the two in importance; basically, the fact that all Italian regions got identical institutions in 1970, and yet the performance of these institutions varied widely across Italy, sheds much doubt on the questionable theory that formal institutional design itself is a primary determinant of government performance (although most Italians North and South agree that the new regional governments have been a change for the better).

But if institutional design has limited explanatory power, then what other variable can better account for institutional performance? This is the more important half of Putnam's work, for it is where he shows that "social context and history profoundly condition the effectiveness of institutions" (182), by unveiling his more controversial and powerful independent variable: civic culture. What is civic culture? It goes by many names and concepts for Putnam (civic traditions, political culture, civic involvement, social capital, republican virtues) but in its most basic form it is "norms of reciprocity and networks of civic engagement" (167).

In contrast with the existence of this civic culture in Northern Italy, identified as having a millenium-long pedigree due to the North's highly decentralized political history, Putnam uses the concept of "amoral familism" to characterize the civic culture (or lack thereof) in Southern Italy. Amoral familism implies that reciprocity and engagement are limited to family relations and to vertical networks of hierarchical power alone (in contrast to more participatory and egalitarian horizontal networks in the North), and that all other social relations, as a consequence, are characterized by material self-interest. Tracing the evolution of amoral familism to Southern Italy's monarchical past, Putnam finds that Southern regions have been doomed to institutional failure by their civic legacy, just as the North was guaranteed a relatively easy success by theirs. Putnam summarizes these two divergent starting points as "vicious and virtuous circles that have led to contrasting, path-dependent social equilibria" (180).

To prove this main causal argument, that civic culture determines institutional performance, one would obviously need adequate measures for both civic culture and institutional performance. As evidence of institutional performance, or "good government," Putnam chooses twelve indicators: cabinet stability, budget promptness, statistical and information services, reform legislation, legislative innovation, day care centers, family clinics, industrial policy instruments, agricultural spending capacity, local health unit expenditures, housing and urban development and bureaucratic responsiveness. Putnam then further evaluates the validity of these indicators by surveying both elite and public opinions regarding the institutional performance of their regional governments, to see if the public's perception matches his own.

For evidence of his primary independent variable, civic culture, Putnam proposes four indicators to put his finger on this elusive entity. These indicators are: voluntary associations, newspaper readership, referenda turnout, and (lack of) personalized preference voting. Putnam also correlates these "objective" measures with more opinion-based survey indicators of civic culture.

Most of Putnam's evidence coheres quite well with his causal argument. His quantitative indicators of both institutional performance and civic culture are relatively broad and accurate, with the minor exceptions that would be inherent in any attempt to quantify a complex, multi-dimensional concept like "civic culture". The strong statistical correlations identified by the measurement of his indicators, backed up with corresponding qualitative evidence (some, but not all of it historical), can probably be taken as reliable evidence of a meaningful causal relationship (in Italy) between civic culture and institutional performance. Perhaps the most striking implication of these results is that the ubiquitous relationship between economic development and democracy is actually shown to "disappear" in a statistical sense. In other words, Putnam has controlled for economic development and found that civic culture predicts both democracy and economic development, perhaps even better than economic development itself. This finding, if confirmed in other studies and settings, would obviously topple quite a few of the canonical theories in comparative politics.

Intriguing Thesis - with reservations.......1998-11-08

Putnam's thesis on the importance of social capital in engendering the successful functioning of democracy is an intriguing idea that merits serious reflection in our context today. His study of the community-organizations in Italy, and their effects on the effective workings of democracy on a regional and national level, highlight the importance of civic organizations and their ability to inculcate in their members a sense of civic duty - which consequently leads to a vibrant democracy. This book is perhaps especially fitting in the American context today in light of declining interest in politics, diminishing belief in the efficacy of governing institutions in solving problems, and the general ethos of apathy and frustration felt around the nation in the realm of democracy (something that the most recent election's low voter turnout indicated). Although the study is interesting, the idea is perhaps a little less useful in the pragmatic sense; one could run into the question of a chicken-and-egg scenario where there is a debate between which came first: vibrant democracy or civic organizations. Regardless, the book is one of the best in its subject area and a recommended read for any student interested in such issues.

Democracy and Tradition (New Forum Books)

Average customer rating:

Dense but very rewarding pragmatist argument for the American democratic tradition
The Tradition of Democracy

Democracy and Tradition (New Forum Books)
Jeffrey Stout
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Democracy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Religion & Spirituality | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0691123829

Book Description

Do religious arguments have a public role in the post-9/11 world? Can we hold democracy together despite fractures over moral issues? Are there moral limits on the struggle against terror? Asking how the citizens of modern democracy can reason with one another, this book carves out a controversial position between those who view religious voices as an anathema to democracy and those who believe democratic society is a moral wasteland because such voices are not heard.

Drawing inspiration from Whitman, Dewey, and Ellison, Jeffrey Stout sketches the proper role of religious discourse in a democracy. He discusses the fate of virtue, the legacy of racism, the moral issues implicated in the war on terrorism, and the objectivity of ethical norms. Against those who see no place for religious reasoning in the democratic arena, Stout champions a space for religious voices. But against increasingly vocal antiliberal thinkers, he argues that modern democracy can provide a moral vision and has made possible such moral achievements as civil rights precisely because it allows a multitude of claims to be heard.

Stout's distinctive pragmatism reconfigures the disputed area where religious thought, political theory, and philosophy meet. Charting a path beyond the current impasse between secular liberalism and the new traditionalism, Democracy and Tradition asks whether we have the moral strength to continue as a democratic people as it invigorates us to retrieve our democratic virtues from very real threats to their practice.

Customer Reviews:

Dense but very rewarding pragmatist argument for the American democratic tradition.......2006-11-09

Stout's closely-argued book argues in favor of a public sphere that includes the voices of religious people but resists efforts from Christian new traditionalists on one side and secularists on the other to reduce the conversation to a single foundation. His criticisms of MacIntyre and Hauerwas in the middle chapters are especially crucial, as those writers hold tremendous sway over certain mainline Protestants and Catholics. Stout successfully argues that it is best for Christianity to be involved in the democratic process.

I did find the final chapters (8-12) very dense and tough going. Stout warns about this in the introduction, but I still feel like he could have unpacked some of the denser sections a little bit. I am not a professional philosopher, but I'm not entirely unsophisticated, either. I still felt completely lost at a few points. In these chapters, it's also difficult at times to see the connection to the larger argument. In the conclusion, the author wraps up the threads of the three parts into a beautiful, powerful argument in the tradition of American pragmatism for an enriched democracy that draws the allegiance, participation, and criticism of a broad, diverse citizenry. Very highly recommended.

The Tradition of Democracy.......2004-10-06

Stout eloquently argues that Democracy itself, which is considered the antithesis of tradition by many, constitutes a tradition. He argues that within the history of the democratic tradition, as articulated by people like Emerson, Whitman, Dewey, and Ellison, is a set of virtues and vices that correspond to a democratic conception of character. Among the virtues it extols are piety, hope, and charity. He then forges a way between Rawls and Rorty on one side and MacIntyre and Hauerwas on the other. He vigoursly attacks Hauerwas and the other "new traditionalists" whom he says isolate themselves from the broader conversation in favor of sectarian pursuits. Finally, he articulates a way forward with ethics in a time of pluralism. Religious voices can express contasting justifiably held beliefs in common forum. Each should express their beliefs, support them with reasons, and then engage in immanent criticism of those in oposition. Steeped in pragmatism, Stout argues that ethics can be truthful without defining truth. Further, this can be done without metaphysics. What we are left with is a system that allows for truth claims, pluralism, and public debate.

As a longtime reader of Hauerwas it is somewhat painful to give this book 5 stars, but it is well deserved. Although I still have reservations about the democratic project, Stout's book was insightful. Though I found his criticism of the new traditionalists a bit strong, it definately caused me to rethink some of my positions. In the end, if one is committed to democracy but finds ethical discourse challenging, this is the way to go.

Mestizo Democracy: The Politics of Crossing Borders (Borderlands Culture and Traditions)

Average customer rating:

Mestizo Democracy: The Politics of Crossing Borders (Borderlands Culture and Traditions)
John Francis Burke
Manufacturer: Texas A&M University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Democracy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1585443468

Book Description

It can come as no surprise that the ethnic makeup of the American population is rapidly changing. In this volume, John Francis Burke offers a mestizo theory of democracy and traces its implications for public policy.

Mestizo, meaning "mixture," is a term from the Mexican socio-political experience that represents a blend of indigenous, African, and Spanish genes and cultures in Latin America in which the influences of these cultures remain identifiable but interact with each other in dynamic ways.

Burke analyzes democratic theory and multiculturalism to develop a model for effectively dealing with cultural diversity. He applies this model to official language(s), voting, employment, housing, and free trade, concluding that in the United States we are becoming mestizo whether we like it or not.

Average customer rating:
American Religions and the Family: How Faith Traditions Cope with Modernization and Democracy

Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Comparative Religion | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Family & Health Law | Law | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0231138008

Book Description

Religions respond to capitalism, democracy, industrialization, feminism, individualism, and the phenomenon of globalization in a variety of ways. Some religions conform to these challenges, if not capitulate to them; some critique or resist them, and some work to transform the modern societies they inhabit.

In this unique collection of critical essays, scholars of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Native American thought explore the tension between modernization and the family, sexuality, and marriage traditions of major religions in America. Contributors examine how various belief systems have confronted changing attitudes regarding the meaning and purpose of sex, the definition of marriage, the responsibility of fathers, and the status of children. They also discuss how family law in America is beginning to acknowledge certain religious traditions and how comparative religious ethics can explain and evaluate diverse family customs.

Studies concerning the impact of religious thought and behavior on American society have never been more timely or important. Recent global events cannot be fully understood without comprehending how belief systems function and the many ways they can be employed to the benefit and detriment of societies. Responding to this critical need, American Religions and the Family presents a comprehensive portrait of religious cultures in America and offers secular society a pathway for appreciating religious tradition.

The Virtue of Civility: Selected Essays on Liberalism, Tradition, and Civil Society

Average customer rating:

The Virtue of Civility: Selected Essays on Liberalism, Tradition, and Civil Society
Edward Shils , and Steven Grosby
Manufacturer: Liberty Fund
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History & Theory | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 086597148X

The Soul of Latin America: The Cultural and Political Tradition

Average customer rating:

Mostly on Target

The Soul of Latin America: The Cultural and Political Tradition
Howard J. Wiarda
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History & Theory | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0300098367

Book Description

In this provocative book Howard Wiarda explores the main themes of Latin American political culture and its models of democracy and why they differ so greatly from those of the United States. Focusing on the political theory of Iberia and Latin America, the book also examines its implications for democratic development and for U.S. foreign policy.

Customer Reviews:

Mostly on Target.......2002-11-26

First of all, let me say that I found this book to be educational. I learned a good deal about the political process in Latin America that I was not aware of before. I would even say that for the average general reader, including those that have (like me) at some time taken a survey course on Latin American history, it will be illuminating. If it were possible to give the book three and a half stars, I would.

Having said that, I can't avoid the feeling that the book is worth the read in spite of itself. For one thing, the title is, in my opinion, unfortunate; one might be led to expect a review of Latin American literature, or maybe music. At worst, it could be some eccentric essay on the Hispanic "alma." It is none of these things. It is a survey of political thought in the Iberian world (i.e., Luso-Brazilian as well as Hispanic) done from the historical point of view.

Perhaps I should say from the "diachronic" point of view, since Professor Wiarda is almost apologetic about writing what he feels is cultural history, and he apparently prefers to be seen as a social scientist. The first third of the book is the roughest going; it reviews the presumed influence of the Greeks, Romans and Arabs on Iberian political thought. Truth be told, while there is a solid cultural bedrock inherited from the Romans in modern Spain, not least of all in the language, it is hard to prove the case that the Greeks and Romans provided much of a direct legacy in the sphere of political thought, except perhaps as an unconscious echo of ancient evenings; it was rather the reinvestigation of Greek and Roman thought in the Renaissance that made what the ancients had to say of relevance in Hispanic thought. And while the Arabs left a considerable legacy behind them in the social sphere, I personally doubt that they had little influence on the formation of political life in any direct way.

Things pick up starting with the period after 1500. In this we are advised about the reformulation of Aquinas' thought by thinkers like Francisco Suarez, and then considerable detail is spent on Rousseauan liberalism, Comtean positivism, corporatism, and the anarchists. Most of these movements are of marginal interest in our own history or the history of the rest of the English-speaking world, but they had a tremendous impact on France and Southern Europe - and on Latin America; it is impossible to understand Latin American politics in this century without some comprehension of what these movements sought to achieve. The book also discusses Arielismo and Hispanismo in detail. Most students of Latin America have heard of these movements, and unfortunately don't pay much attention to them. This is a mistake, since if there are any movements that directly affect Latin America's relationship with the USA it is these two.

The end of the book, however, ends up advising us that all of what came before may have no relevance to the future, what with the decay of the traditional institutions in Latin America and the submergence of the entire continent in the mass marketing culture of the twenty-first century. Maybe this is true, but it leaves me no further on, and I found this objectionable.

I also found Professor Wiarda's style a bit difficult to take; he is almost obsessive about enumerating the points that he is making and summarizing everything to the point where it becomes almost juvenile. In this respect the book reminded me of some term papers that I wrote when I was in school. And whoever edited the book should be fired; it bristles with tautologies of the type you find in a poorly edited copy of something done on a word processor. Yale University Press, for shame!

Professor Wiarda obliquely advises us by the end of the book that not all of the academic community would agree with his approach. Well, let me say that in general he has argued his position reasonably well. One of the problems with North American approaches to Latin America, and particularly to Latin American politics, is that we gringos tend to assume that from the political point of view Latin America is a massively dysfunctional place, and the sooner that their politicians give up their comic opera style and become more like us, the better. This book shows that there is such a thing as a definite direction in Latin American politics, and that Latin American leaders have as often as not been attempting to serve the public good, based on the tradition that they have had to work within and the challenges that they have had to face, just as within any other political system. Of course, Latin America has had demagogues and dictators, and maybe the system provides more opportunity for that sort of leader to arise, but that does not permit us to condemn their system as inherently not in the public interest.

Book Description

This well-integrated group of thirteen papers addresses the intriguing and perplexing issue of whether modern government can handle the problem of technology.

Bridging the Sacred and the Secular (Moral Traditions and Moral Arguments)

Average customer rating:

Bridging the Sacred and the Secular (Moral Traditions and Moral Arguments)

Manufacturer: Georgetown University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Modern | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0878405712

Book Description

This collection brings together for the first time the theological essays of a 20th-century philosopher renowned for his defense of civil religious freedom. In this volume of essays, previously scattered among various periodicals over the course of thirty eyars, J. Leon Hooper, SJ, presents a selection of Murray's theological writings that outlines and highlights the integrity of Murray's moves toward a public theological discourse.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books