Just One Little Hitch

Book Review

Hippies were everywhere. Small groups of them were coming up the A303 from the west, others from the east. I saw hippies cresting a rise to the north. In the distance, hippies were climbing over the stones of the monument. They were setting up tents and tepees and makeshift shelters. Scattered about the field one could find hogans, hovels, wickiups, and homemade sunshades. Pennants, flags, and brightly colored strips of cloth flapped and snapped from tree-branch poles next to the rude lodgings. The growing colony on the grassland looked like a cross between a medieval fair and an Arapaho village.

Islamic Architecture

Islamic Architecture: A World History

Book Review

Islamic Architecture: A World History, Eric Broug Publisher Thames & Hudson | Reviewed by Charles Cecil   It will be a long time before another publication equals the beauty and quality of this one.  Eric Broug is previously known for his publications teaching the art of Islamic geometric design.  With an MA in the history…

Bike Riding in Kabul: The Global Adventures of a Foreign Aid Practitioner

Book Review

When American lawyer Jamie Bowman took on an overseas contract to build a strife-torn African territory’s new legal framework, she hadn’t expected an explosive assignment. But in the battered town of Juba, in South Sudan, she found herself taking shelter from an ammunition dump blast, sharing the underside of a sink — the most solid hiding place in her sweltering tent — with several lively lizards. It was 2006, and Bowman’s was on contract to the U.S. Agency for International Development in a region battered by decades of ethnic strife and instability. This was only one of many global adventures in the life of a professional legal expert going forth to do good in countries where most travelers hesitate to tread.

Terrible Beauty: Elephant – Human – Ivory 

Book Review

Why has the elephant population of Africa decreased by 40% in the past ten years and 90% in the past century, according to the World Wildlife Fund? For the endangered African elephant, the answer is poaching – killing elephants for their ivory tusks. Automatic weapons make it easier than ever before. But in this time of synthetic materials used in everything from piano keys to jewelry, plus bans on ivory, why is selling illegal ivory still such a big business? The book, Terrible Beauty:  Elephant – Human – Ivory explores these questions.  It describes the passion for ivory from ancient times to the present. And it looks at the elephant as an ecologically important and endangered species.

Asian America

Book Review

Asian Americans have been part of American history dating as far back as the 17th century with more large-scale migrations starting in the 19th century. Today, there are more than 24 million Asian Americans in the United States, encompassing some 19 ethnicities, about 15 different languages and religious beliefs that range from Christian Evangelicals to Hindus. For a group of people with this much diversity, what does it mean to be “American American?” Authors Pawan Dhingra and Robyn Magalit Rodriguez tackle this complex question of identity in their book Asian America, published by Polity Press. With chapters that discuss race, sexuality, class, and work lives, the book takes a panoramic view of the Asian American experience and some of the tensions that come along with it. Read More