Barber (Political Science/Rutgers Univ.; Liberating Feminism, 1974, etc.) tries to steer a middle course between radical democratic reformers of higher education and equally radical defenders of traditional pedagogy by linking the well-publicized crisis in higher education to a deeper crisis in American democracy. Describing his book as ``two-fifths analysis, two-fifths criticism, and one-tenth polemic,'' Barber saves his sharpest writing for reformers urging multiculturalism and a postmodern suspicion of institutions, on the one hand, and neoconservative defenders of traditional canons and their aristocratic values on the other. Leftist inheritors of Sixties radicalism extol democratic educational values at the cost of stigmatizing excellence; embattled elitists like Allan Bloom (for whom Barber reserves his most impassioned critique) follow Plato and Ortega y Gasset in prizing excellence above democracy and casting grave suspicion on equality of opportunity for the masses. But the choice between democracy and achievement, Barber argues, is a false dilemma to anyone who acknowledges that American democracy has always been historically multicultural and dedicated in principle to ideals of equality through elevation, not leveling down. Barber's specific proposals are highly variable. His belief that we should teach history as the primary pedagogical discipline is provocative; his defense of ``loose canons,'' an awareness that literary canons are always evolving, is already a platitude; his suggestion that colleges adopt Rutgers's experimental program to link liberal education more closely to community service promises more in theory than Rutgers's modest actual program seems to warrant. Though his writing is often so oracularly balanced and hedged with qualifications (``If the story of our past is too rigid, we are impaled on it; but if it is too pliant, it fails to define us'') that it seems impossible to use to tell the truth, Barber provides plenty of well-turned ammunition against extremists of every stripe—if less conviction that American democracy can afford them a common ground of action.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-345-37040-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1992
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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