Beyond The Book  

At BookBrowse, we don't just review books, we go 'beyond the book' to explore interesting aspects relating to the story.

Here is a recent "Beyond the Book" feature for Jared Diamond's The World Until Yesterday:

Contemporary Movements Based
in the Past

Jared Diamond's question, "What can we learn from traditional societies?" is one Westerners have been asking in a Utopian spirit for generations, looking for ways to revivify our cultural practices and trying revisionist experiments to reverse the damage civilization does to our health and psyches. It's a tricky exercise, since there are plenty of traditional practices - like the Kaulong people's practice of widow strangulation, that humanity is well rid of. A glimpse of what life was like in traditional societies (in the words of Thomas Hobbes, "nasty, brutish, and short"), especially for women, is enough to make one exceedingly thankful for modernity despite its imperfections. Still, we have an apt fascination with the natural and traditional, and as Diamond avers, conservation of our human past may be the thing that informs our progress. Here are a few contemporary cultural movements that look to "traditional societies" for inspiration:

Attachment Parenting: This trend in parenting, with reputed pediatrician William Sears as its advocate, had its start in observations of traditional childrearing practices. Breastfeeding on demand, wearing baby in a sling, and co-sleeping are parenting techniques meant to promote a natural "attachment" between mother and child. The theory is that babies raised in this manner grow up to be more secure and confident (like a rural tribal child), not stressed and alienated (like a disaffected urban youth). The controversy

surrounding the scientific basis of attachment parenting is a good example of how difficult it can be to prove what is "natural", in evolutionary terms, for humans. Emulating tribal patterns of what Sears calls "babywearing" and extended breastfeeding might make sense as a natural antidote for what might be seen as the excesses of more recent innovations in parenting (the invention of bottle feeding and cage-like cribs). Sometimes what we see in the past has a lot to say about the imbalances in our culture in the present.

Midwifery: The current midwifery movement in America draws much inspiration from observing traditional childbirth practices. Midwifery seeks to move birth practices away from the medical birth in the stirrups model to more traditional modes, with better outcomes for mother and baby. The midwives of the 1960s and 70s, led by the path-breaking Ina May Gaskin (Spiritual Midwifery, 1977), set off a renaissance of a profession that had virtually died out in America by looking to Native Americans and other traditional peoples for techniques and advice. Emphasis on standing during labor, or squatting, or birthing in water are all commonly used traditional practices which are now commonplace once again in the West.

The Paleo Diet (or Paleolithic, or Stone Age)

The ravages of the Western salty, fatty, and sugary diet has left us clamoring to know what we should eat instead. The idea that humans have evolved to make use of an optimal diet is alluring, and the "Paleo diet", based on the 1970s work of a gastroenterologist, aims to recreate the menu of an early hunter-gatherer. Fish, meat, and veggies are allowed; sugar and flour and oils are not. The evolutionary basis for the menu is controversial, and there are lots of ways to enter into the spirit of the diet. Some Paleo Diet practitioners eat their meat raw, while others can put together a credible "pizza."

A healthy dose of skepticism and common sense is essential for engaging Jared Diamond's question, "What can we learn from traditional societies?" For further reading, check out Marlene Zuk's upcoming book, Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live. Evolutionary biology may offer some provocative suggestions, but their practical application is often open to interpretation. Basing culture on science is not a purely scientific enterprise.

Reviewed by Jennifer G Wilder

Above is part of BookBrowse's review of The World Until Yesterday. Read the review in full here

Blog: Books for National Slavery & Human Trafficking Prevention Month 

In 2011, President Obama proclaimed January 2012 National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month:  

Quick Facts:

• There are an estimated 20-30 million people enslaved today (believed to be more than at any point in human history). People forced to work without pay, under threat of violence and unable to walk away.
• Human trafficking is a $32 billion industry; $15.5 billion is made in industrialized countries.
• Between 14,500-17,500 people are trafficked in the USA each year, according to a US State Dept. report.

Source: http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/category/the-facts  

A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery by E. Benjamin Skinner (2008)
As Samantha Power and Philip Gourevitch did for genocide, Skinner has done for modern-day slavery. With years of reporting in such places as Haiti, Sudan, India, Eastern Europe, The Netherlands, and, yes, even suburban America, he has produced a vivid testament and moving reportage on one of the great evils of our time.

 

Slave: My True Story by Mende Nazer (2005)
A shocking true story of contemporary slavery: a young girl, snatched from her tribal village in Africa, survives enslavement in Sudan and London before making a courageous escape to freedom.


Sold by Patricia McCormick (2006)
Written in spare and evocative vignettes, this powerful novel renders the world of Lakshmi, a 13-year-old Nepalese girl sold into prostitution in India - a world that is as unimaginable as it is real, and a girl who not only survives but triumphs. Although written for teenage readers, Sold is one of those books that can and should cross-over into the adult market.


All Woman and Springtime: A Novel by Brandon W. Jones (May 2012)
This spellbinding debut, reminiscent of Memoirs of a Geisha, depicts life behind North Korea's iron curtain. But for Gi and Il-sun, forced into the underworld of human trafficking, their captivity outside North Korea is far crueler than the tight control of their "Dear Leader."


Little Princes : One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Connor Grennan (2011)
A true story of families and children, and what one person is capable of when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. At turns tragic, joyful, and hilarious, Little Princes is a testament to the power of faith and the ability of love to carry us beyond our wildest expectations.


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From the Book Jacket
A sweeping historical novel about a beautiful con artist whose turn-of-the-century escapades take her around the world as she's doggedly pursued by a Pinkerton Agency detective.

 

Reviews    

"Sheer, frenetic fun." - Booklist

"Based on a true story, Biaggio's narrative provides an engaging glimpse into a character who categorically eludes our attempts to define her." - Kirkus

"Parlor Games is a captivating tale narrated by the irresistible and deliciously unreliable con-woman, May Dugas. Her escapades, which span the Gilded Age right through the turn-of-the-century, immediately transport the reader to a bygone era. It's a wildly entertaining and constantly surprising ride." - Daisy Goodwin, author of the New York Times bestseller American Heiress

 

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