Read This: March 19, 2010 03/19/2010
China Paranoia: Yesterday, Today, and Forever?
William Kirby, the historian who heads Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, was wondering how China-watchers described the country a hundred years ago, so he took a spin through Widener library. What did he find? “Countless books in the first part of the twentieth century with titles such as ‘China Awake,’ ‘The Awakening of China,’ ‘The Dragon Awakes,’ ‘China Awakened,’ ‘Rising China,’ [and] ‘Sun Yat-sen and the Awakening of China.’ ” (One of the books that Kirby found even managed to merge all the buzz words into a single forbidding title: “New Forces in Old China: An Unwelcome but Inevitable Awakening.”)
Review: Fellman's “In the Name of God and Country’’
Neither an academic clarification of terms, nor an appeal to mass hysteria, Michael Fellman’s “In the Name of God and Country’’ enters obliquely into this discourse. Rather than directly examining such contemporary attacks as 9/11, the book explores five episodes from the 19th century: John Brown’s raid, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Haymarket, and the Philippines War. Fellman’s provocative thesis is that terrorism, as practiced by Americans and their government, has been essential to the nation’s political formation, providing a “counternarrative of American national development . . . a history of domination rather than the progressive unfolding of democracy and freedom.’’
"Moderate" appointed head of Al Azhar
Tayeb was Egypt's grand mufti for a short period between 2002 and 2003. He is considered to be one of the more enlightened Egyptian Sunni clerics, as he speaks fluent English and French and has a PhD in Islamic philosophy from France's Sorbonne University. He is known for his moderate and progressive opinions and was previously criticized by some Azhar sheiks and professors for preferring modern suits to the traditional cloaks worn by nearly all Azhar leaders. His views are seen as coinciding with the Mubarak government's efforts at strengthening mainstream Islam against radical voices.
William Kirby, the historian who heads Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, was wondering how China-watchers described the country a hundred years ago, so he took a spin through Widener library. What did he find? “Countless books in the first part of the twentieth century with titles such as ‘China Awake,’ ‘The Awakening of China,’ ‘The Dragon Awakes,’ ‘China Awakened,’ ‘Rising China,’ [and] ‘Sun Yat-sen and the Awakening of China.’ ” (One of the books that Kirby found even managed to merge all the buzz words into a single forbidding title: “New Forces in Old China: An Unwelcome but Inevitable Awakening.”)
Review: Fellman's “In the Name of God and Country’’
Neither an academic clarification of terms, nor an appeal to mass hysteria, Michael Fellman’s “In the Name of God and Country’’ enters obliquely into this discourse. Rather than directly examining such contemporary attacks as 9/11, the book explores five episodes from the 19th century: John Brown’s raid, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Haymarket, and the Philippines War. Fellman’s provocative thesis is that terrorism, as practiced by Americans and their government, has been essential to the nation’s political formation, providing a “counternarrative of American national development . . . a history of domination rather than the progressive unfolding of democracy and freedom.’’
"Moderate" appointed head of Al Azhar
Tayeb was Egypt's grand mufti for a short period between 2002 and 2003. He is considered to be one of the more enlightened Egyptian Sunni clerics, as he speaks fluent English and French and has a PhD in Islamic philosophy from France's Sorbonne University. He is known for his moderate and progressive opinions and was previously criticized by some Azhar sheiks and professors for preferring modern suits to the traditional cloaks worn by nearly all Azhar leaders. His views are seen as coinciding with the Mubarak government's efforts at strengthening mainstream Islam against radical voices.
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