SOCIOLOGY READINGS
Playing For Keeps - Michael Jordan and the
World He Made
Halberstam, David
B Jordan
In Mr. Jordan, Mr. [David] Halberstam has his classic subject:
one whose tiniest, most incidental gestures become larger than
life and whose every move lends itself to big brawny
superlatives.To the extent Mr. Jordan addresses that last issue,
he seems to suggest his vanquished foes didn't work as hard as he
did, somehow didn't reach down and find all they had, the way he
did. But Mr. Jordan comes into many of these games with superior
tools, which makes his taunting sound at times like the act of a
bully, which is disturbing because that particular ugliness is
epidemic in sports today.Cincinnati Enquirer; Cincinnati, Ohio;
Feb 2, 1999
When Pride Still Mattered
Maraniss, David
B Lombardi
In the history of American sports, no coach has been mythologized
as much as the Green Bay Packers' Vince Lombardi. From Lombardi's
formative years as a player and coach at Fordham University
through assistantships with West Point and the Giants and,
finally, to his tenure as head coach of the Packers, Maraniss
presents a portrait of a complicated human being who was a great
teacher but a mediocre listener, an effective psychologist
despite being rife with flaws.
Disappearance of Childhood
Postman, Neil
305.2 P84d
(Postman's) focus on how a pervasive and controversial medium,
television, affects a cherished 'social event,' childhood, surely
speaks to the concerns of professional and general audiences.
Moreover, his argument has been readily accepted by such eminent
media researchers as George Gerbner and prominent media
commentators, among them Bill Moyers. For at least these reasons,
it is necessary to look seriously at his argument. Harvard
Educational Review (May'83)
Amazing Grace
Kozol, Jonathan
362.709747 Koz
Kozol (Savage Inequalities) began visiting New York's South Bronx
in 1993, focusing on Mott Haven, a poor neighborhood that is two
thirds Hispanic, one third black. This disquieting report
graphically portrays a world where babies are born to drug-using
mothers with AIDS, where children are frequently murdered, jobs
are scarce and a large proportion of the men are either in prison
or on crack cocaine or heroin. Kozol interviewed ministers,
teachers, drug pushers, children who have not yet given up hope.
Cincinnati Enquirer; Cincinnati, Ohio; Feb 2, 1999
Night Is Dark and I Am Far From Home
Kozol, Jonathan
PR 370.973 K849n
Kozol scrutinizes and dissects the causes of our nation’s
seeming anesthesia. He asks how does our educational system
render us incapable of comprehension and prevention of the
atrocities committed in society. Addresses the indoctrination of
children.
Free Schools
Kozol, Jonathan
PR 370.19 K849F
Discribes how to create and sustain an independent school for
alternative urban education. Kozol told not only about how to
raise funds for a free school, but also how to become partially
self-supporting. Kozol also explores the various options
alternative schools have in deciding how to establish a governing
structure.
Amusing Ourselves To Death
Postman, Neil
302.2 P84a
From the author of Teaching as a Subversive Activity comes
a sustained, withering and thought-provoking attack on television
and what it is doing to us. Postman's theme is the decline of the
printed word and the ascendancy of the ``tube'' with its tendency
to present everythingmurder, mayhem, politics, weather as
entertainment. The ultimate effect, as Postman sees it, is the
shrivelling of public discourse as TV degrades our conception of
what constitutes news, political debate, art, even religious
thought. Publishers Weekly, Copyright 1985 Cahners Business
Information, Inc.
End of Education
Postman, Neil
370.973 P84e
Because American society operates on the unspoken assumption that
schooling is for preparing students for well-paying jobs, our
educational system is falling apart, declares Postman
(Technopoly), a New York University communications professor. In
a wise and provocative essay, he argues that public schools
subtly reinforce worship of technology, economic utility and
consumerism. He outlines several alternative ``narratives'' that
would give public schools a compelling reason to exist
.Publishers Weekly ,1995
Rachel and Her Children
Kozol, Jonathan
362.5 K84r
Here are the less visible homeless women and children living in
shelters and hotels under degrading conditions. Kozol, known for
his books on education, introduces us to some of those at the
bottom of America's underclass, the residents of a hotel for the
homeless in New York, which can only be described as a house of
horrors. Kozol faults everyone involved: governments, social
agencies, landlords, the courts, and indifferent Americans in
general for permitting the perpetuation of the shocking
conditions endured by homeless families.
Walk Across America
Jenkins, Peter
917.304926 J418w
Twenty-five years ago, a disillusioned young man set out on a
walk across America. This is the book he wrote about that journey
-- a classic account of the reawakening of his faith in himself
and his country. "I started out searching for myself and my
country," Peter Jenkins writes, "and found both."
In this timeless classic, Jenkins describes how disillusionment
with society in the 1970s drove him out onto the road on a walk
across America. His experiences remain as sharp and telling today
as they were twenty-five years ago -- from the timeless secrets
of life, learned from a mountain-dwelling hermit, to the stir he
caused by staying with a black family in North Carolina, to his
hours of intense labor in Southern mills. Many, many miles later,
he learned lessons about his country and himself that resonate to
this day.
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
Casale, Anthony
306.09 C26w
Casale aims to show all the influences which bore down on baby
boomers to make them who they are today, including the art and
personality of Peter Max, the cosmic writing and lifestyle of
Oregon writer Ken Kesey, and a host of presidents and Woodstock.
He follows the careers of notorious heroes and ordinary people
caught up in the initial bang of the Woodstock festival, and the
lingering echo which can still be faintly heard today.
Mass media and American Politics
Graber, Doris A
320.973 G75m
Graber's dissertation clearly illustrates how the mass media
effects individual beliefs, attitudes, and activities. Consider
how much of the working day is spent discussing top news stories,
political issues, and social situations. The average American
spends seven hours of exposure per day to some form of mass media
news or entertainment [television, newspapers, magazines, radio,
etc.] Graber believes that the mass media effects individual
beliefs, attitudes, and activities. She has proven her point
effectively. Lorrie Graham.
Resistance: Ten years of Pop Culture that
Shook the World
White, Armond
306.47 W58r
Most collections of pop culture reviews are too ephemeral to have
much value in libraries, but White's agenda gives this one
uncommon substance. For 10 years, White has voiced his political
and social convictions as arts editor of Brooklyn's black weekly,
the City Sun. His stated intention is to "defend and
agitate." Here, he surveys a decade's worth of mostly films,
but also hip-hop records and plays, from Purple Rain through
Forrest Gump. He raises issues and ideas others are unlikely to
have considered.
Television in American Society
Cheney, Glenn Alan
302.2 O42t
In examining America's enthrallment with television, such aspects
of the "ultimate mass medium" are explored as
television and children, television and truth, television as
business, and the future of television in the United States
Pathology of Power
Cousins, Norman
303.3 C83p
The book is at its best when documenting instances of fraud,
collusion, and mismanagement on the part of defense contractors
and their bureaucratic counterparts. The lesson is that financial
interests can become the driving force of military and foreign
policy. Choice v. 24 (June '87)
Breaking Barriers
Archer, Jules
305.42 Ar2b
In a clear and lively style consistent with the lives being
described, Archer gives brief biographies of Susan B. Anthony,
Margaret Sanger, and Betty Friedan, with a full background view
of the political organizations they worked with and against.
While there have been other accounts of these remarkable women,
putting the three together in a progressive perspective makes
clear the accomplishments of the women's rights movement in
American history, as well as the distance remaining to achieve
full equality of the sexes. --Ruth K. MacDonald, Purdue
University Calumet, Hammond, IN, School Library Journal
Savage Inequalities: Children in America's
Schools
Kozol, Jonathan
371.967 K84s
Kozol, visited schools in over 30 neighborhoods, including East
St. Louis, Harlem, the Bronx, Chicago, Jersey City, and San
Antonio. In this account, he concludes that real integration has
seriously declined and education for minorities and the poor has
moved backwards by at least several decades. Kozol describes the
garrison-like campuses located in high-crime areas, which often
lack the most basic needs. This is raw stuff.
Best and the Brightest
Halberstam, David
973.922 H128B
Traces American entanglement in Vietnam and criticizes the
leaders of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations for this
involvement. He also offers biographical studies of the
presidents themselves, and of McGeorge Bundy, then-secretary-
of-defense Robert S. McNamara, then-secretary-of-state Dean Rusk,
economist Walt W. Rostow, General Maxwell Taylor, and General
William C. Westmoreland.
New Heartland
Herbers, John
307.7 H41n
``Heartland'' somehow seems a misnomer for the kinds of
framented, self-focused constituencies accompanying the
``stretched-out,'' low-density settlement patterns identified by
New York Times correspondent Herbers in this interpretation of
recent U.S. census findings. Herbers sees that more and more
Americans (individually and corporately) who are able to have
abandoned the central cities and their satellite suburbs to
relocate in widely scattered exurban areas; this major
demographic shift has important implications for future American
political alignments and the resulting decisions affecting
allocations of our national resources.
Bowling Alone
Putnam, Robert D.
306 Put
Once we bowled in leagues, usually after work -- but no longer.
This seemingly small phenomenon symbolizes a significant social
change that Robert Putnam has identified in this brilliant
volume, Bowling Alone, which The Economist hailed as "a
prodigious achievement. Drawing on vast new data that reveal
Americans' changing behavior, Putnam shows how we have become
increasingly disconnected from one another and how social
structures -- whether they be PTA, church, or political parties
-- have disintegrated
Global Paradox
Naisbitt, John
330.9 Nai
Naisbitt's economic and technological paradigm as expounded in
this impressive study, will no doubt spark debates on editorial
pages and TV talk shows. Naisbitt ( Megatrends ) argues that the
shift from the paramount influence of governments, politicians
and conglomerates to entrepreneurial economies propels us toward
a global economy. ``The more the economies of the world
integrate, the less important the economies of countries,'' and,
he continues, ``the more important are the economic contributions
of individuals and individual companies. Publishers Weekly , 1993
Emotional Intelligence
Goleman, Daniel
152.4 Gol
The subject raises fascinating, politically incorrect questions,
e.g.: Are differences in emotional intelligence mainly genetic or
environmental? The book is in some measure an argument for
teaching emotional intelligence in the schools--obviously a hard
sell in a world where parents are already dismayed at their kids'
non-mastery of mere academic subjects. Mr. Goleman notes that
'emotional-literacy programs improve children's academic
performance.' You might think he would provide some critical
evaluation of this claim, but no. You are pointed only to an
appendix where several such claims are repeated by the
grant-gatherers themselves. National Review (Nov. 27 1995)
Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus
Gray, John
Gray's thesis? That men (Martians) and women (Venusians) have to
accept that they're impossibly distinct beasties before they can
establish a workable intimacy. Voice Literary Supplement v. 117
(July/Aug. '93)Suppl
Seat Of the Soul
Zukav, Gary
133 Zuk
This remarkable treatment of thought, evolution, and
reincarnation examines the purpose of the immortal human soul
during life and its continuation after physical death. Zukav's
extraordinary skill in explaining scientific abstraction and the
new physics, displayed in his best-selling The Dancing Wu Li
Masters ( LJ 5/1/79), is again evident as he critically questions
the link between the existing Western model of the soul and the
subsequent lack of meaningful human evolution. Beginning by
examining the debilitating effect of this model, Zukav then
describes the importance of nonphysical reality, alluding to
properties not yet accepted or understood by scientists. Overall,
a readable, thought-provoking tome on how our perceptions must
change dramatically if we are to survive; will be in demand in
New Age collections.Kevin M. Roddy, Oakland P.L., Cal.
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In
America
Ehrenreich, Barbara
305.569 Ehr
This is social critic Ehrenreich's twelfth book, an on-the-job
study of how a single mother (or anyone else) leaving welfare
could survive without government assistance in the form of food
stamps, Medicaid, and housing and child-care subsidies. To find
the answers, Ehrenreich left her home in Key West and traveled
from Florida to Maine and then to Minnesota, working in
low-paying Jobs. Ehrenreich, who holds a Ph.D. in biology,
resolved not to fall back on any skills derived from her
education or usual work and to take the cheapest accommodations
in motels and trailer parks as long as there was "an
acceptable level of safety and privacy." The "working
poor," Ehrenreich concludes, "are in fact the major
philanthropists of our society. They neglect their own children
so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in
substandard housing so that other homes will be shiny and
perfect. high. Library Journal, Apr 1, 2001
Playing For Keeps: Michael Jordan and the
World He Made
Halberstam
B Jordan
Halberstam offers both the nostalgia and the evaluation that a
career like Jordan's demands. He provides a crash course in
Jordan-ology Halberstam What's particularly effective about
Halberstam's storytelling is that he follows Jordan's athletic
trajectory, not in chronological order but through juxtaposed
images of a hot-blooded college player with an as-yet unpolished
game and an even-tempered 30-year-old at the height of his
career. National Review v. 51 no3 (Feb. 22 '99)
Tipping Point
Gladwell, Malcolm
302 Gla
The Tipping Point seeks to show that viruses and epidemics,
usually regarded as medical phenomena, have counterparts in
social behavior. . . . (Gladwell's) cases are deftly described,
even if some are not exactly earthshaking. Thus he makes much of
a brand of shoes that suddenly caught on among teenagers. But
should fashions that spread quickly be referred to as epidemics?
The New York Review of Books v. 47 no10 (June 15 2000) .
Beachwood High School Information Resource Center
12/01