2 comments about Participant Observer: A Memoir of a Transatlantic Life.

1. Ever since Kinship and Marriage first appeared in 1967 -- the classic volume that first set forth the ground rules for understanding how kinship systems operate and which today remains the most widely published anthropological textbook -- Robin Fox's work continues to astound, delight, and challenge. In 1971 he and Lionel Tiger published The Imperial Animal, inaugurating a revolution in thinking with their argument that human beings are, in fact, part of the animal kingdom, that our evolutionary background needs to be taken into account, and that human behavior and culture are ultimately rooted in human nature. Perhaps the term sociobiology is familiar enough today, but when Fox and Tiger's findings were initially unleashed, the impact was nothing less than an intellectual earthquake.
   
   A brilliant essayist and social theorist, much of Fox's subsequent career has been devoted to restoring to anthropology the heritage of Darwin. To that end he has marshaled evidence that cuts across disciplinary lines, and is as much at ease discussing ancient Hindu law or the fundamentals of primate behavior as the philosophers of the European enlightenment. Fox warns in his writings that unless more anthropologists consider biology and human nature in their attempts to understand the human condition, much of their work will be relegated to obscurity. All too often, he laments, scholarship has been driven by agenda rather than by evidence.
   
   Over the course of his long career, Fox has made major contributions in other areas as well. As a linguist and ethnographer, he has written classic accounts of the Tory Islanders and Pueblo Indians, documenting ways of life that have since been lost. He founded the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University. And he is an accomplished musician and lyric poet worthy of the great literary tradition of his birthright, England.
   
   Now for the first time, Robin Fox has given us his life story. Written in the third person with epic verve, Participant Observer: Memoir of a Transatlantic Life, takes us back to his childhood in rural Pre-World War II southern England (still undergoing the throws of the industrial revolution) through the terrors of the Nazi bombardment to his subsequent adolescence at the London School of Economics. The compelling and entertaining narrative sweeps us along from Fox's earliest memories to the maturation of his ideas, from his first punishment from a grammar school teacher (Fox's crime was to give an honest but unorthodox answer to her question), to the difficulties he faced later when challenging long cherished paradigms by academics.
   
   In short, Participant Observer: Memoir of a Transatlantic Life, is a breathtaking intellectual odyssey that not only spans the Atlantic but many kinds of worlds. We move from the debate halls of Oxford and Harvard -- with their jealousies, back biting and intellectual battles to the near-neolithic village life of Pueblo Indians of Cochiti, or the Tory Islanders off the coast of England, attempting to preserve their traditional ways of life. Through the telling we are treated to a fascinating array of characters who helped define the 20th century -- their human foibles as well as achievements. Fox is a master at describing the human comedy, and there is a delightful hilarity to much of his narrative -- well balanced against his nostalgia for the lost worlds and people he knew.
   
   At times Participant Observer will have readers laughing out loud, at other times they will likely be moved by its poetic reflection and insight, and at all times pulled along by the excitement of the surge and clash of the great ideas that have helped forge our age (and unmask our species). Fox's own personal narrative moves skillfully in the midst of that giant river helping to steer its course. Here is the perfect marriage of literature and science, disproving the conventional view that it can`t be done. Fox's new book is a must for anyone who wants to understand more about this dynamic scholar: about the intellectual climate that shaped our time and which Fox himself significantly helped shape.
   
   David M. Oestreicher, Ph.D., Independent Scholar



2. Ever since Kinship and Marriage first appeared in 1967 -- the classic volume that first set forth the ground rules for understanding how kinship systems operate and which today remains the most widely published anthropological textbook -- Robin Fox's work continues to astound, delight, and challenge. In 1971 he and Lionel Tiger published The Imperial Animal, inaugurating a revolution in thinking with their argument that human beings are, in fact, part of the animal kingdom, that our evolutionary background needs to be taken into account, and that human behavior and culture are ultimately rooted in human nature. Perhaps the term sociobiology is familiar enough today, but when Fox and Tiger's findings were initially unleashed, the impact was nothing less than an intellectual earthquake.
   
   A brilliant essayist and social theorist, much of Fox's subsequent career has been devoted to restoring to anthropology the heritage of Darwin. To that end he has marshaled evidence that cuts across disciplinary lines, and is as much at ease discussing ancient Hindu law or the fundamentals of primate behavior as the philosophers of the European enlightenment. Fox warns in his writings that unless more anthropologists consider biology and human nature in their attempts to understand the human condition, much of their work will be relegated to obscurity. All too often, he laments, scholarship has been driven by agenda rather than by evidence.
   
   Over the course of his long career, Fox has made major contributions in other areas as well. As a linguist and ethnographer, he has written classic accounts of the Tory Islanders and Pueblo Indians, documenting ways of life that have since been lost. He founded the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University. And he is an accomplished musician and lyric poet worthy of the great literary tradition of his birthright, England.
   
   Now for the first time, Robin Fox has given us his life story. Written in the third person with epic verve, Participant Observer: Memoir of a Transatlantic Life, takes us back to his childhood in rural Pre-World War II southern England (still undergoing the throws of the industrial revolution) through the terrors of the Nazi bombardment to his subsequent adolescence at the London School of Economics. The compelling and entertaining narrative sweeps us along from Fox's earliest memories to the maturation of his ideas, from his first punishment from a grammar school teacher (Fox's crime was to give an honest but unorthodox answer to her question), to the difficulties he faced later when challenging long cherished paradigms by academics.
   
   In short, Participant Observer: Memoir of a Transatlantic Life, is a breathtaking intellectual odyssey that not only spans the Atlantic but many kinds of worlds. We move from the debate halls of Oxford and Harvard -- with their jealousies, back biting and intellectual battles to the near-neolithic village life of Pueblo Indians of Cochiti, or the Tory Islanders off the coast of England, attempting to preserve their traditional ways of life. Through the telling we are treated to a fascinating array of characters who helped define the 20th century -- their human foibles as well as achievements. Fox is a master at describing the human comedy, and there is a delightful hilarity to much of his narrative -- well balanced against his nostalgia for the lost worlds and people he knew.
   
   At times Participant Observer will have readers laughing out loud, at other times they will likely be moved by its poetic reflection and insight, and at all times pulled along by the excitement of the surge and clash of the great ideas that have helped forge our age (and unmask our species). Fox's own personal narrative moves skillfully in the midst of that giant river helping to steer its course. Here is the perfect marriage of literature and science, disproving the conventional view that it can`t be done. Fox's new book is a must for anyone who wants to understand more about this dynamic scholar: about the intellectual climate that shaped our time and which Fox himself significantly helped shape.
   
   David M. Oestreicher , Ph.D., independent scholar.

No comments about Memoirs of a Defrocked Psychoanalyst = Originally Published Under the Title a Psychiatrist's Head.

No comments about Identity's Architect: A Biography of Erik Erikson.

No comments about Clifford Geertz by His Colleagues.

No comments about Freud And The Twentieth Century.

1 comments about Just Checking: Scenes from the Life of an Obsessive-Compulsive (Oc.

1. My son has OCD, and I was just plain tired of reading "factual" books about this very common condition. This was SO funny, a breath of fresh air- I really needed a good laugh, and I could really relate to Emily Colas and empathize. Great writing, very funny.

2 comments about Jung's Apprentice.

1. We are all attracted to books for different reasons. My attraction to this book was driven by a central interest in the life and work of CG Jung, extending to his comtemporaries. That Peter Baynes was English and an extravert within this Jungian circle also fascinated me, as it reflects my own psychological attitude.
   
   When I received this book I confess that I immediately went to the chapters specific to Baynes's interaction with Jung, and to that end I was rewarded. It contained lively content, interesting dialogue (via published letters) and many photographs.
   
   What came next was a delightful seduction. Peter Baynes was a fascinating, loveable and dynamic character. I *needed* to read all about him. I started at the .... well..... start. I read it from front cover to back cover, in one sitting. The author - Diana Baynes Jansen - also became a silent character in the story. Her life-long quest was to "get to know the father who has profoundly affected her life and who died when she was only six years old" [back inside cover].
   
   Peter Baynes had an extraordinary life. He was supremely gifted, both physically and intellectually, yet it was (in my view) his heart and empathetic feeling life that makes him extraordinary. The chronicles of his love life are displayed warts and all. His story is replete with relationships - many joyful, many messy and difficult. It is primarily through his prolific letters - that the author skillfully weaves into the text - that Peter becomes alive for us. I agonized with him over difficult decisions, I scolded him occasionally for certain behaviour, but most of all I loved his willingness to analyse himself, to turn the gaze of criticism within. Peter Baynes' inner integrity and honesty drive this book, along with the journey of the author who fulfilled a quest to bring it to us.



2. This book succeeds in being both a "good read" and an absolute fund of accessible information about Jung's apprentice - Helton Godwin Baynes -, Jung himself, his theories and the history of Jungian analysis. I learnt an enormous amount and enjoyed myself while reading it (whilst on holiday and I didn't miss my usual Patricia Cornwell a bit!). Diana Jansen has written this biography of her father in a way which is at the same time painfully truthful and immensely moving. Helton Baynes was a dashing, popular and heroic figure and this account of his life pulls no punches. I found myself on a rollercoaster of emotions: admiring of his triumphs, angry with his failings, and aware of his place in history and the dilemmas which he faced before his untimely death.

   I unreservedly recommend this book, whether or not you are particularly interested in psychoanalysis. It's really beautifully written - the personality of subject and the author positively shine out of the pages.

3 comments about John Maynard Keynes: Fighting for Britain, 1937-1946.

1. The last part of Robert Skidelsky's magnificent biography of J.M. Keynes is a tale about the fall of the British Empire with Keynes as one of its most clairvoyant and active go-betweens trying to avoid the disaster. Great-Britain had won the war but it was bankrupt crushed by its debt contracted to buy US weapons.
   This book shows clearly through its analysis of the Bretton-Woods negotiations and the discussions about the conversion of the British debt, that the ultimate goal of the US Administration was to get Britain on its knees and to take its place as world leader.
   The US prefered an alliance with the Soviet Union against Britain. Their most important negotiator H.D. White was a convinced Soviet spy.
   Keynes defended exhaustingly Britain's role in world matters by begging time for a reconversion of the British industry from a war to a civilian economy and for safeguarding its Commomwealth with its preferential tariff and pound sterling payment system.
   The humiliating conditions for its debt conversion imposed by the US would cripple the British economy for years.
   The suicidal internecine European wars created a new world hegemon: the US.
   
   Before the war, Keynes defended his 'Treatise' policies, but saw them applied in Germany by a very clever economist, Hjalmar Schacht, who also saved the German economy internationally by creating a bilateral trade system.
   Prof. Skidelsky shows us also pregnantly the deterioration of Keynes's physical condition, aggravated by his exhausting travels, difficult (empty handed) negotiations and even hard opposition at home when he was in the US.
   
   One could perhaps slightly criticize the exhaustive excerpts of letters or the extremely detailed evolution of the negotiations in Bretton-Woods or about British debt relief. But, all in all, this is a fascinating read.



2. It's unexpectedly well decscibed how's Keynes in his childhood. He's in fact a well-spoken, witty gentleman with its charms inside which is mysterious. How could he become such a great economist, how he invent the theories, how he generated such a beautiful mind. It talked about Keynes' life in Eton College( a fundamental place for him to grow up and how his schoolmates affect him), and more is in King's College,Cambridge( which definitely a crucial turning point in Keynes' life) which included keynes' letter which he sent expressed his point of views, his love to Duncan. His writings were precise but in-depth. Moreover, it also includes a lot of cultural background informations which is like Cambridge traditions.It's a must-read book if you like Keynes.



3. In this, the third and concluding volume of his biography of Keynes, Skidelsky offers a brilliant analysis of one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. Skidelsky offers a remarkable discussion of the man (as opposed to the icon) whose influence seems to have fluctuated according to conventional (received?) wisdom with regard to fundamental economic principles. Economists have either agreed or disagreed about the value of Keynes's ideas (often with more heat than light) since the publication of his major work, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936). As a non-economist, I have only casually observed how his principles have gone in and out of favor as the national economy itself improves, flattens out, weakens, improves, etc. I enjoyed this book because it connected a human being with the principles to which so many others have referred in books and articles. Also because, as international trade accelerates in terms of both scope and depth (largely because of the Internet and the WWW), the role of government in each country will inevitably change...especially governments in those countries which were formerly members of the U.S.S.R. as well as in other countries in Asia, notably China. Thanks to Skidelsky's book, I am now much better prepared to recognize and understand such changes. I wish I had read the second volume in the trilogy (subtitled "The Economist as Savior") before reading this one. Those who read this review are urged to do so. However, judged wholly on its own merits, this final volume (subtitled "Fighting for Freedom") is a first-rate achievement.

No comments about C.G. Jung: His Friendships With Mary Mellon and J. Bl Priestley.

No comments about Guest Appearances & Other Travels: In Time & Space.