by Tracy Uloma Cooper ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 28, 2016
A worthy blend of psychology, ethnography, and feminist theory that investigates the factors shaping women’s perceptions of...
A book offers a qualitative study of women’s feelings about life choices and empowerment.
In this work, Cooper (Sophie Star Child, 2015) draws on a combination of Jungian theory, popular nonfiction, and assorted interviews to explore the elements of women’s empowerment. The author begins on a personal note, tracing her own “journey toward empowerment” and those of other women in her life. The book then broadens its focus to examine larger questions of what constitutes empowerment, why it matters, and how it affects quality of life. After establishing the study’s theoretical basis, the volume moves into extended excerpts from interviews with more than a dozen participants, women of varying ages and experiences responding to questions about fulfillment, happiness, work, and family. They share stories of challenges, emotions, aspirations, and tactics for managing their personal and professional lives, providing the raw material from which Cooper draws broader conclusions on empowerment and delivers advice to readers on maximizing their own contentment. She emphasizes that “a woman’s highest obligation is to love herself without condition, in the manner one would love a child or one’s best friend.” The writing style in these pages is varied, veering between conversational prose and forests of jargon (“By integrating empowerment, Jung’s animus and anima theory and psychological happiness and how this relates to actual lived contemporary female experience displayed in the interviews conducted, we can identify models of effective interventions, treatments and modalities”). The approaches to the topic range from clinical to spiritual (“Destiny is inviting women at this time in history to shake off old outworn personas and beliefs and step into the Sun, taking our rightful place again as Goddesses of the Earth”). While sweeping statements like “in essence, the 21st century woman is in a crisis of the soul” are somewhat excessive, the book provides a valuable perspective on the realities of contemporary women’s lives and a framework for understanding them in a theoretical context, as well as strategies for maximizing one’s own authority and satisfaction. An extensive bibliography and in-text citations place the book within the context of Cooper’s substantial research.
A worthy blend of psychology, ethnography, and feminist theory that investigates the factors shaping women’s perceptions of their lives.Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63051-405-1
Page Count: 100
Publisher: Chiron Publications
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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