Flattering Review from Choice

This is a nice review of my book on the American family from Choice, a publication that helps librarians select books for their libraries.



Historian del Mar (Portland State Univ.; Beaten Down: A History of Interpersonal Violence in the West, CH, Oct'03, 41-1131) is an innovative thinker and writer, and his book deserves to be read carefully by those who wonder how the US came to be the way it is today. Del Mar seems to know, charting vast changes experienced by various ethnic groups over time as family ties, kinship, and community have eroded and a contemporary "culture of self-actualization" has evolved. In the past, the preoccupation with freedom bore with it a sense of obligation to one's mate and family, but now freedom for many has taken a new direction, and through a variety of disruptive cultural alterations in values, there has been a "rise in familial and social fragmentation." People of color have suffered more and have been marginalized, particularly as del Mar heartbreakingly describes contemporary Native life on reservations and the plight of young black men. But the loss of values and interpersonal involvement cuts across all ethnic lines. An insightful book for those with interests in social, cultural, or family history. See also Laura L. Ellingson and Patricia J. Sotirin's Aunting: Cultural Practices That Sustain Family and Community Life (CH, Feb'11, 48-3350). Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.

Peter Beard in Africa

I read another troubling book today, a biography of Peter Beard.  Beard is one of those people you've probably heard of, but maybe aren't sure why.  He's probably most famous for his marriage to Cheryl Tiegs and was born to money, but he's accomplished much in his own right as a photographer, conservationist, and artist.  Beard fell in love with "Africa" (as opposed to Kenya--Americans fall in love with the whole continent, seldom a particular place or country) at age sixteen, while reading Out of Africa and ended up being friends with its famous author, Karen Blixen.  He has lived much of his life at Blixen's old home in Kenya.  Beard has been much more concerned about Kenya's wildlife than its people, as he associates wild Africa with perfect freedom.  "What he likes most about Africa," noted an old friend, "is to do your own thing there, a way of life you create with no plan. . . . He can't--won't--accept the normal responsibilities of society."  Africa has long attracted Americans fleeing social responsibility and constraints.  This is a very common theme in film, literature, and memoirs.

Living with Enough

I've been reading about aid again and have been particularly impressed by William Powers's fine Blue Clay People: Seasons on Africa's Fragile Edge, which describes his stay in Liberia from 1999-2001.  Like another Catholic Relief Services administrator,  Michael Maren (author of the aptly entitled The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity), Powers offers up a picture of large aid organizations that is not very flattering: highly paid administrators enjoying posh accomodations and multiple servants while overseeing poorly conceived projects.  Yet Powers is nevertheless transformed by West Africa.  He struggles and to a certain extent succeeds in making his agency's projects more useful, and he also learns to relax and learn from the remarkable Liberians he is surrounded by.  He becomes determined to live with "enough."  This entails fewer material goods and more dense and meaningful social relations.

Michael Williams of the Aya Centre

This week Dr. Michael Williams of the Aya Centre visited a group of high school students who are writing letters to Purity Preparatory School, in Ghana. 

Michael has become a good friend n the more than two years since I have met him.  His Center hosts college students from North America who come to Ghana to learn about its history and culture and to volunteer for local organizations.  He's also an accomplished academic who taught at many universities in the U.S. before moving to Ghana.  He's written extensively on Pan-Africanism.

Michael told us a great deal about education in Ghana, that it is very difficult for families without money to get their children into the schools that are the key to economic advancement.  He also stressed that Ghanaian students tend to be very hard working and that much of their future is decided by daunting exams that they take at the end of 9th and 12th grade.  If you are a college student interested in traveling to and learning about Ghana, the Aya Centre is a wonderful resource.  http://ayacentre.com/