| September-October 2005
American History | Cultural
Preservation | Films | Literature
| Music |
American History
G1 - The Ghost City
Friedman, George
New York Review of Books, October 6, 2005, #15, online edition
The author traces the history of New Orleans, emphasizing its role as the pivot of the American economy: “All of the rivers flowed into one -- the Mississippi -- and the Mississippi flowed to the ports in and around one city: New Orleans. It was in New Orleans that the barges from upstream were unloaded and their cargos stored, sold, and reloaded on oceangoing vessels.” Discussing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he maintains: “New Orleans is not optional for the United States' commercial infrastructure. Vulnerable to inundation, it is a terrible place for a city to be located, but exactly the place where a city must exist.” George Friedman is associated with Stratfor, a private geopolitical and public policy intelligence firm. He was the Founder and Director of the Center for Geopolitical Studies at Louisiana State University. Fulltext
G2 - October 16, 1859: John Brown Raids Harpers Ferry
Phillips, Charles
American History, October 2005, vol.40, #4; pp16-22
”John Brown, a radical abolitionist, had served as the self-appointed captain of the violent antislavery forces and planned to take Harpers Ferry, a small Southern town, which he believed would destroy the Slave Power of the South. Phillips recalls the day when Brown’s band of guerrilla fighters invaded Harpers Ferry.” Charles Phillips is the author and co-author of numerous works of history and biography. He has edited several multivolume historical reference works, including the Encyclopedia of the American West and the Encyclopedia of War. Fulltext
Cultural Preservation
G3 - Historic Preservation: Background and Funding
Boren, Susan
Congressional Research Report for Congress, August 26, 2005 , online edition, 6p
This report summarizes the federal role in historic preservation. It provides descriptions of and funding information for some of the major preservation programs, including the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the National Register of Historic Places. Some Members of Congress have given historic preservation programs close scrutiny, recommending that these programs be supported increasingly by the private sector. On August 2, 2005, H.R. 2361, the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act was enacted as P.L. 109-54. Susan Boren is a specialist in social legislation at the Domestic Social Policy Division of the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress. Fulltext
films
G4 - The Birth of a Nation
Niderost, Eric
American History, October 2005,vol 40, #4, pp.60-71
”Ninety years after its first screening and 100 years after the publication of the novel that inspired it, D.W. Griffith’s motion picture The Birth of a Nation continues to be lauded for its cinematographic excellence and vilified for its racist content. The film came from Griffith’s personal vision, and as such it reflected the strengths and weaknesses of the man himself. Here, Niderost details the life and works of director D.W. Griffith. Eric Niderost teaches U.S. history at Chabot College in Hayward, Calif., and is a regular contributor to a number of popular history magazines. Fulltext
LIterature
G5 - Post-National Voices
New Perspectives Quarterly, Summer 2005, v22, #3, online edition
“ Albert Einstein famously said that everything had changed in the nuclear age except the way we think. Until lately, one could also say that globalization has changed everything but our narrative literature, which remained national. Writers exemplifying a new genre of post-national literature are featured in this special issue of NPQ. Post-national literature, a new genre for a new era without boundaries, is forging a culture in a “wired world with roots in the air instead of the soil.”
Literature Can Close the Fear Gap
Rushdie, Salman
”After 9/11 the culture became very dark. I can understand why, especially now that I live in New York. This is where the catastrophe happened. We can see why it happened. Why America became afraid. Why it became so defensive. Why it began to put the shutters up and build the walls. It’s human nature: fear… But this fear is also tragic, particularly for a country which built itself on a philosophy of openness.” Salman Rushdie is the author of Satanic Verses and Fury, among other novels.
Fiction: Open Space in a Closed Society
Nafisi, Azar
” What most of the mass media offers the public about Iran or Afghanistan or even about America is not knowledge; it’s just soundbites. But, to look at it another way, what kind of a culture relies for knowledge just on media? The media is supposed to serve one aspect of our needs. The other aspect must be satisfied elsewhere, which is through imaginative knowledge.” Azar Nafisi is the Iranian author of the best-seller Reading Lolita in Tehran.
War and Writing
Al-Shaykh, Hanan
“ If you are a novelist you cannot live in any country and be oblivious to its surroundings. My work is changing now because I am away from Lebanon. Of course, at the same time, I don't recall myself to be anything other than an Arab writer. I'm a Londoner, but half of me remains Lebanese. Complicated! The English intellectual circles label me as an Arab writer, a Lebanese writer, an Arab woman writer. I've always had a label. In the beginning it used to irritate me. But they are right! ” Novelist, short-story writer and playwright Hanan al-Shaykh is one of the most widely read Lebanese authors, with millions of readers in the Arab and the Western worlds.
Linguistic Cleansing
Shafak, Lelif
” Sometimes I feel like a nomad lacking solid space. According to an old Islamic narrative there is a tree in heaven that has its roots up in the air. Sometimes I liken my past to that tree. I do have roots, but my roots are not in one place, neither in the ground nor in the air. I’m connected to different cultures, and that’s, I think, part of the reason why I believe it’s possible to be multicultural, multilingual and multifaith. On the other hand, I’m not sure this is a good time to be multicultural because, to tell you the truth, on many sides you’re kind of being rejected—it’s difficult.” Elif Shafak is one of the most prominent Turkish novelists of her generation. Through her cosmopolitan novels, such as The Saint of Incipient Insanities, she questions Islamic traditionalism, but also Kemalist secularism. She is currently teaching women’s studies at the University of Michigan.She was born in France, raised in Turkey, educated in Spain; she has lived in Jordan, Germany and now in Boston, Michigan and Arizona.
Novels Are as Important as Nukes
Jin, Ha
” In the US, when people refer to multiculturalism, they refer to the increased Eastern influences. After all, Western or European culture has always been a multiculture. The reason (the West) produced great literature was because there has always been a kind of exchange within the European community over the centuries. Whenever a major (European) classic appeared, within a very short time it was translated and spread all over Europe. So now, within the States, I think when people refer to multiculturalism, they refer to the increased Eastern influences. That can’t be avoided. More people are living here and exchange has become broader. For a writer—a writer is a person who needs different kinds of nourishment—there can be many sources. Even the high modernists use texts from other languages: Japanese, Chinese and other sources....In literature, I believe this exchange will produce good work, and writers will benefit from it.” Ha Jin, the Chinese writer who left China in 1985 and now teaches English at Boston University, won the National Book Award for his novel, Waiting. His most recent novel is The Crazed. Fulltext
G6 - Whitman’s Lifelong Endeavor: Leaves of Grass at 150Schramm, Geoffrey Saunders
Humanities, July-August 2005, vol.26, #4; pp24-29
”One hundred and fifty years ago, a little-known poet chose a small print house in Brooklyn to print his first book of poetry. The poet was Walt Whitman and the book was Leaves of Grass. By the time of Whitman’s death, the small book had gone through eight editions and grown fivefold in size. On the sesquicentennial of the book’s publication, Leaves of Grass has undergone another significant change, moving from the printed page to digital form on the Walt Whitman Archive.” Fulltext
Music
G7 - B.B. King
Graff, Gary
Billboard, October 1, 2005, v117, #40, pp35-39
In an interview on the eve of his 80 th birthday, B.B. King,
the King of Blues,still defines a genre. "Since he started
recording in 1949, King has set a standard of musical excellence
that has influenced scores of followers and has seldom been equaled.
A player, singer, writer and bandleader, he is a Mississippi Delta
pioneer who forged his own unique sound from the influence of
his forebears. King has created a soulful, melodic approach to
the blues that nevertheless stings when it has to and is played
with a genuine sense of grit and urgency, even when the arrangements
are polished to a shiny sonic veneer. Much of the credit for that
goes to King's playing style and his distinctive tone: a sweet,
ringing sound influenced by Hawaiian and country music. But he
plays with a technique learned from such blues and jazz masters
as T-Bone Walker, Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, Lonnie
Johnson and King's cousin, Bukka White, whose 10-month tutelage
of King in the mid-'40s laid the foundation for his subsequent
approach and musical vision.” Gary Graff is a staff writer
at Billboard. Fulltext
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