Monthly Archives: August 2006

From the Mixed-Up Bookshelves: Republic of Signs

Continuing my voyage in the Wayback Machine to the early 1990s, I was re-reading Anne Norton’s 1993 work Republic of Signs: Liberal Theory and American Popular Culture. I liked the book when I first read it and I still do. … Continue reading

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Yay Lamont

While I still think it’s a tactical mistake for Democrats to promise troop withdrawals from Iraq, I’m all for Ned Lamont’s victory. Joseph Lieberman is one of my least favorite politicians ever, and Iraq’s the least of my irritations with … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 5 Comments

We, Myself and Them

One thing I’ve been thinking about in the last two days when I’ve taken a break from writing to catalog books is the academic moment of the early 1990s in the humanities. That’s when I was working on my dissertation, … Continue reading

Posted in Academia, Politics, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | 4 Comments

More on Moral Panic

Thinking again about moral panic this morning while reading through a memoir of a Rhodesian woman, Sally in Rhodesia. In current work, I’m trying to argue that the British Empire in Africa was a messier, more complicated, more mutualistic phenomenon … Continue reading

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Good Quote, Bad Quote

Just so we’re clear: this is a bad quote, before I get some attack chihuahua from Inaccuracy in Academia talking about how I hate America based on reading this. Re-reading Data Trash briefly after pulling it down for cataloging, and … Continue reading

Posted in Good Quote, Bad Quote | 4 Comments

Some Things I’ve Discovered Using Readerware and LibraryThing

I’m having tons of fun cataloging my books. If anyone’s been watching the LibraryThing bloglet in my sidebar, it’s been oscillating wildly between my Africanist collection in the office and my science fiction shelves at home at various points during … Continue reading

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From the Mixed-Up Bookshelves: Reader’s Digest Illustrated History of South Africa

The Reader’s Digest Illustrated History of South Africa (subtitled The Real Story), in the revised third edition, is the best historical textbook I have ever seen. I’d assign this book in a second in relevant classes. Only problem is that … Continue reading

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Great Americans!!!!!! Like Plato!

As you all know, I’m against snarkiness and mockery and so on. So please excuse the following lapse. But after being directed by Scott Eric Kaufman to this short commentary on footnoting distributions in Critical Inquiry, I really couldn’t help … Continue reading

Posted in Academia | 2 Comments

From the Mixed-Up Bookshelves: “Homelands, Harlem and Hollywood”

Rob Nixon’s published work seems to me like a good direction for the more public, accessible side of scholarly discourse to be heading over the long haul, particularly his 2001 book Dreambirds. That could be what we’re looking for out … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, Books, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | 1 Comment

From the Mixed-Up Bookshelves: “African History For Beginners”

We have a bunch of the “For Beginners” books published by Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative (WRP) at home somewhere, almost all of them from when they came in fairly plain if stylish brown covers. Someone should write a book … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, Books, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | 4 Comments