ATTENTION! THIS IS THE NEW WORLD ORDER: “The rich men of the rich societies are to rule the world, competing among themselves for a greater share of wealth and power and mercilessly suppressing those who stand in their way, assisted by the rich men of the hungry nations who do their bidding. The others serve, and suffer.”
In other words, a world dotted with gleaming islands of First World capitalism, floating over and shadowing Third World graveyards of the living. “The Left’s leading critic of government policy, power and language takes on the international scene since 1945, devoting particular attention to events following the collapse of the Soviet Union,” Clinton’s “empty promises to the poor,” and various Middle Eastern/Central American/Eastern European hotspots. The author, professor of modern languages and linguistics at MIT, “focuses his no-hold-barred attention once more on the powerless, the power-hungry and the powermongers in our increasingly global community.” And what of the New World Order that the militias speak of? With the black helicopters and the taking of guns? It’s the same one, really—only theirs is a mythological panic reaction. It represents their gut feeling toward world events, which is fear. GR

Publisher: Columbia University
Hardback: 311 pages

“Explains how gold fever came to grip the Amazon and considers the changes brought to the region by the gold rush. Contains a vivid account of the violent clash between 40,000 miners and the Yanamami Indians in the state of Roraima, as well as thoroughly researched arguments which explore the perspectives of the farmers, ranchers, natives and others involved in this historic moment.”

Publisher: Columbia University
Paperback: 201 pages
Illustrated

“Outstanding Mexican painter and caricaturist Miguel Covarrubias found equal fame in writing one of the finest books on strange and distant lands. Only an artist could have penetrated so deeply into the spirit of the dance, theater, music, handicrafts and sports of Bali; and only a man of learning in anthropology could have understood and recorded so accurately the island’s religion, sexual customs, family life and economic and political organization. Covarrubias proceeds to describe the geography and nature of the island and then to relate the history of the race. Includes a thorough account of the community, the family and the individual in all spheres of thought, emotion and behavior, in addition to chapters on the Balinese arts, festivals and rituals.”

Publisher: Columbia University
Paperback: 430 pages
Illustrated

“Recalls the rise and fall of an underworld culture that bred some of America’s most infamous racketeers, bootleggers, gamblers and professional killers, spawned by a culture of vice and criminality on New York’s Lower East Side and similar environments in Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, Detroit, Newark and Philadelphia. The author adds an important dimension to this story as he discusses the Italian gangs that teamed up with their Jewish counterparts to form multicultural syndicates. The careers of such high-profile figures as Meyer Lansky, Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ Siegel, and ‘Dutch’ Schultz demonstrate how these gangsters passed from early manhood to old age, marketed illicit goods and services after the repeal of Prohibition, improved their system of mutual cooperation and self-governance, and grew to resemble modern business entrepeneurs.”

Publisher: Columbia University
Paperback: 351 pages

Written by an anthropologist, this is an account of field work and explorations into nonmainstream religions in Brazil and their exorcisms, psychic surgery, spirit mediums, poltergeists, spiritual healings, succubi and incubi. The author considers the relationship between spiritism and other popular religions in Brazil and how Spiritists re-create science and nature. MET

Publisher: Columbia University
Hardback: 214 pages

“The phenomenon of melancholia is examined in the context of art: Holbein's controversial 1522 painting The Body of the Dead Christ in the tomb; the literature of Marguerite Duras, Dostoyevsky and Nerval; philosophy; the history of religion and culture; as well as psychoanalysis.”

Publisher: Columbia University
Paperback: 300 pages
Illustrated

Everything you always wanted to know about homosex in Guadalajara. Anthropological techniques are used to study Mexican male-to-male courtship, complete with descriptions of the various acts favored by Mexican gays based on direct observation. The resulting data almost read like a novel, albeit with plenty of social-science terms and references among the field notes. Also gay, the author was able to participate in much of the sex he outlines with explicit detail. Grants and other funding for his life’s work allowed him to continue his research (and the participatory sex) in Guadalajara for 29 years—and it’s still ongoing.
Carrier also profiles four extraordinary men with the love and care of a doting mom. He eloquently manhandles 18-year-olds, both figuratively and literally. He describes hot bathhouse and movie-theater scenes, and shares the most intimate details of tender adolescent love stories. The hottest observations, and clearly Dr. Carrier’s favorites, are when he meets young, queeny respondents, who then throw him their leftovers. We learn of Eric, who thought that anal sex was safest because “after having sex all the semen comes out when you take a shit.” Poor José leaves his rich German lover in New York for hunky 18-year-old Juan back in Guadalajara. And, the warm and wonderful Arturo dies from AIDS. Break out a box of tissues and a fire extinguisher for this one. GE

Publisher: Columbia University
Paperback: 231 pages

The Continental twins of evil—fascism and racism—are back for another bite. “Charts the growth of fascism through the decades following the Second World War to its present-day resurgence in the aftermath of the Cold War. It paints a somber picture of Europeans threatened by racist politics and terrorism, and struggling to come to terms with the problems of living in a multiracial society.” Some issues covered are the rewriting of history, the rise of the new right, secret service corruption, and extreme-right terrorism in Italy. GR

Publisher: Columbia University
Paperback: 265 pages

Vidal-Naquet dedicates his book to his mother, who died in Auschwitz in June 1944. Haunted by this memory and the recent flurry of revisionist publications initiated by his countryman Robert Faurisson, Vidal-Naquet seeks to defuse the growing tide of revisionism without recourse to debate. Indeed, it is a hallmark of his style that Vidal-Naquet refuses to debate revisionists, fearful lest it endow a form of legitimacy to revisionist arguments. Nevertheless, he does respond, and it is his response which makes the reader wish that Vidal-Naquet would debate his controversial adversaries. JB

Publisher: Columbia University
Paperback: 205 pages

For decades it was thought that the Jews of Europe went like “lambs to the slaughter” during the Holocaust. However, after the spectacular achievements of the Israeli armed forces during the 1967 war, a number of books began appearing which contradicted the idea that the Jewish people made no effort to defend themselves from Nazi persecution. We know today that over 1.5 million Jews served in the various allied forces during World War II. Among them were a number of distinguished generals and officers. Apart from this not inconsiderable number of combatants, who served with distinction, stood the vast numbers of partisans scattered throughout Nazi-occupied Europe. The exact number of partisans shall never be known, but an estimate of 1 million would not be an exaggeration. Fighting Back details the Jewish resistance movement in Poland, and adds many new and exciting details to this intriguing chapter of contemporary history. The author details his personal experiences as a member of one large Jewish partisan group. JB

Publisher: Columbia University
Paperback: 253 pages
Illustrated