August 2005    

James Ivory in Conversation: How Merchant Ivory makes its Movies Publisher: University of California Press $24.95 Cloth (339 p.) ISBN: 0520234154 B&T         YBP At the end of World War II I spent some years in refugee camps. Europe was in ruins. Gaunt people walked the streets with empty eyes. There was just enough food to survive, and food and shelter was uppermost on everyone's mind. And then there were movies, British and American, speaking to us about stable times where men and women sang and danced and looked forward happily to the next day. There was time to think about love, beauty, friendship and, maybe, the meaning of life. What wonderful movies those were, helping us to forget our surroundings, and giving hope. Much later I was living in the U.S. Life was changing and movies were changing too. Young America demanded cultural change: music lost its tuneful harmonies. Youths with wild hair were toppling the very existence of that time to stop and recollect and look at sunshine flooding a quiet garden. It seemed as if the young were demanding chaos. I had had enough chaos in my life. This was the time I discovered the movies of Merchant Ivory. They were creating those gardens, where intelligent people probed individual experiences and had time to think about music and art. Human difficulties existed but in a culture of peace. This book brings back to me the old satisfactions. It lets me sit and listen to two deeply civilized men who have lived long lives in the arts. Mr. Ivory tells about his youth and developing interest in the creative world. Prompted by a friendly informed questioner, he talks about his profession and the individual films he has made and cherished over the years. It is lovely to hear about the co-operation of trained gifted people, the polishing of works of art that went out in the world to bring thoughtful entertainment to diverse audiences. One only needs to look at the dustjacket to feel the mood of the book. Messrs Merchant and Ivory enjoy a summertime picnic under the trees, and have invited a couple of writers, such as Henry James, to join them. Their ghostly presence is felt all through the book, giving pleasure to readers, as if they too are asked to the table. -- Zenta Taylor On Bullshit Author: Harry G. Frankfurt Publisher: Princeton University Press $9.95 Cloth (67 P.) ISBN: 0691122946 B&T         YBP Noted Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Princeton University Harry G. Frankfurt takes on a pervasive problem in society in this brief but compelling book. His intention is not to cover the topic comprehensively but to start a sober dialogue on this subject which has been all but ignored in academia. Frankfurt initially sets out to define the term "bullshit" and finds it situated somewhere between outright lying and humbug. Lying is taken to be a purposeful misrepresentation of the facts whereas humbug, though similar, falls somehow short of lying. Humbug is a misrepresentation of the speaker's own thoughts with an underlying current of pretentiousness. Bullshit has components of both but carries with it a much more abrupt and profane descriptive term while simultaneously a less severe connotation. Common uses in such phrases as "a bullshit session" or "shooting the bull" do not engender the same kind of hostility as someone who is caught at lying. Despite the relatively benign reaction, ultimately bullshit may be much more harmful. Bullshit is produced by a person who is careless of the truth. In the context of the aforementioned "bullshit session," no one is thought to be worried about being precise. In common communication, however, someone who states something less than the truth for no reason is unsettling. In such a case, it is almost preferable to be lied to than to be on the receiving end of humbug. One particularly good example is the apocryphal story of a friend of Ludwig Wittgenstein who called the philosopher after having surgery. Wittgenstein inquired after her health and she replied that she felt as a dog would after it had been run over. Wittgenstein, always one to be precise, was appalled, since she had no idea how a recently run over dog felt. On Bullshit is an excellent addition to any library. The book is perfectly suited for a summer reading list. Since the subject matter is ubiquitous, it provides a short mental work-out that engages the reader.--Kevin French Pagan Christ: Recovering the Lost Light Author: Tom Harpur Publisher: Walker & Company $23.00 Cloth (246 P.) ISBN: 0802714498 B&T         YBP The Pagan Christ: Recovering the Lost Light will either be considered repackaged cutting-edge religious theory, since the ideas presented in it are not new, or it will be relegated to fringe theosophy. Tom Harpur outlines the theories and research of Alvin Boyd Kuhn, Gerald Massey and Godfrey Higgins. These scholars studied comparative religion and mythology and proposed mostly ignored theories regarding the origins of Christian doctrine. Harpur emphasizes that he personally studied traditional Christian theology and was an Anglican priest before he began to explore the idea that Christian religious texts were never meant to be read literally. The gist of the theories presented here is that Jesus Christ, the main character of the Gospels of the New Testament, was not an actual person who did the things attributed to him. The miracles, parables and teachings found in the Gospels were all widely known thousands of years before they were recorded by the Common Era Christians. Evidence of this exists in parallel stories found in ancient Egyptian inscriptions. At the time the Gospels were recorded and passed along to potential converts, they were never intended to be read historically, but purely metaphorically. By the fourth century of the Common Era, the symbolic message of the scriptures had been transformed into a literal story meant to be believed by and interpreted for the uneducated masses. Any writings or beliefs that contradicted or challenged this literal doctrine were aggressively destroyed or repressed (though a few smidgens of text have survived to provide documentation of these alternate Christian ideas). Harpur provides several examples of comparable myths and symbolism found in both Christian and ancient Egyptian texts, along with quotes from the research of the authors mentioned previously. He discusses the writings of St. Paul, St. Augustine and Origen as examples of non-literal interpretations of Christianity. He also mentions the disturbing lack of archaeological and independent historical evidence for most of the events in the Bible. After all, if someone was publicly raising people from the dead and casting out demons, wouldn't the Romans and Jewish historians have had something to say about it? Harpur's conclusions about this striking theory are not that Christianity is irrelevant or unworthy of attention. Rather, the New Testament provides a guide to the nature of human spirituality that is available to everyone, regardless of their culture or religious education. The theories presented here will find a more receptive audience as the struggle to develop a truly ecumenical religious tradition continues. Rather than an exclusive, condemning doctrine based on the life of a person who didn't exist, Christianity could instead represent a mutual drive to discover the divine nature in each of us.--Colleen Duggan Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat Author: Bob Woodward Publisher: Simon & Schuster $23.00 Cloth (249 P.) ISBN: 0743287150 B&T         YBP The month of August in 1974 was unusually hot and humid. I had concluded my junior year of High School in June and was in the final month of a summer job as a counselor at a YMCA camp. The campers were for the most part quiet in bunks as I retrieved a portable radio from my duffle bag. President Nixon had called for television and radio time that evening and press accounts forecast that the President of the United States would resign his office. I turned on the radio and waited for the broadcast. I lamented the fact that in our remote camp location a radio was the best that I would have for this moment in history. Sure enough, in a stress-tensed voice Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency. More than thirty years later, the tragedy of Watergate still holds interest for me and I believe still cleaves our politics. I recall during the constitutional crisis that emerged long before the internet, we would gather early to check the headlines from the major papers and listen to news reports or watch the Congressional committees. Each day brought fresh revelations, arrests and statements. The entire purpose of the vast array of the federal government seemed split into two functions-and two functions alone-to either support President Nixon or prosecute President Nixon. A constant source of news in that troubled era was the Washington Post. As is now well known, in the cockpit for the Post were reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. What has emerged since that time right down to the present was the mysterious "deep background" source that allowed the investigative reporters to unearth the illegal activities of Nixon's White House. The source was dubbed "Deep Throat." For thirty years and more, Washington insiders or self-described political pundits have attempted to figure out who Deep Throat was. The guesswork ended weeks ago when Mark Felt's family-and then Felt himself-acknowledged his role as the source for Woodward and Bernstein. Bob Woodward's new book, The Secret Man: the Story of Watergate's Deep Throat, recounts the relationship between Felt and Woodward. It is crisp in detail and exciting to read. More importantly, it is a timely book. It fills in gaps with regard to the history of the Watergate affair, but also gives solid rationale to the use of background sources and the protection of such sources by journalists. It details how a chance meeting in the West Wing by Woodward, then a young naval officer, and Felt grew into a necessary relationship for both men as they struggled--for very different reasons--to offer the public a view of a White House gone wrong. The book, rushed to production days after Felt's admission, does not merely detail the intrigue of Watergate. It also carries forward the relationship of Felt and Woodward after the fall of the Nixon White House. It shows how Woodward prospered and how Felt retreated towards obscurity after his retirement from the FBI only to reemerge as a defendant in a civil rights prosecution for his role in taming the notorious Weathermen during the 1970s. It traces Felt's retirement with his adult children in California and the eventual family decision to announce his role as Woodward's source. The book fills in gaps in the bizarre and tragic events known to history as Watergate. Yet, it also demonstrates the role and sensitivity of journalists to gathering sources of information and protecting those sources-always a timely topic in a free society guided by both the premise and promise of the First Amendment. It appears August of 2005 will be unusually hot and humid. No longer a camp counselor, I viewed on cable last evening various reports about journalists from the New York Times and Time Magazine contending with jail or criticism for protecting sources in an investigation against Presidential advisor Karl Rove. The tension James Madison designed into our constitutional system, including a free press, are just as alive this summer as they were in 1974-and we remain the better for it.--Jim Ryan Published by YBP Library Services 999 Maple St., Contoocook, NH 03229 USA v: 800.258.3774   f: 603.746.5628 w: www.ybp.com   e: academia@ybp.com All rights reserved.