From 1880-1883, the author undertook an academic expedition to Australia, with the purpose of recording zoological phenomena. While there, he developed an interest in the indigenous people and, unlike contemporary studies, did not restrict himself to appearance and outward behavior, but rather looked at the social, economic and anthropological. – Summary by Lynne Thompson [chương_files]
Prichard’s Researches into the Physical History of Man has been called the most important pre-Darwinian anthropological work in English of the nineteenth century. He is considered by many to be the “Father of Anthropology”. The central conclusion of the work is the unity of the human species, which has been acted upon by causes that have since divided it into permanent varieties or races. In his Preface, he writes: “In the course of this essay I have maintained the opinion that all mankind constitute but one race or proceed from a single family”. In this summary passage Prichard indicates Africa (indirectly) as the place of human origin: “On the whole, there are many reasons which lead us to the conclusion that the primitive stock of men were probably Negroes, and I know of no argument to be set on the other side.” Could this be the first historic recognition that “Black Lives Matter”? Note: Latin, Greek and German passages recorded by Kazbek. (Summary by John Greenman & Wikipedia) [chương_files]
Youth And The Bright Medusa comprises eight short stories published in 1920. Four of them (The Sculptor’s Funeral; A Death In The Desert; A Wagner Matinee; Paul’s Case) are re-worked from an earlier collection, The Troll Garden, published in 1905. This LibriVox recording contains in addition the three stories (Flavia And Her Artists; The Garden Lodge; The Marriage Of Phaedra) from that earlier work omitted in the later book. In other words, all the stories in both books are recorded here. (Summary by David Wales) [chương_files]
“We are arrived at a chief turning-point in the history of the English highway. New instruments of locomotion, a greater volume of traffic, a greater weight in loads, and vastly increased rapidity in road travel have between them brought us to an issue: either some very considerable and immediate change in the character of the Road, or a serious and increasing handicap in our rivalry with other nations through the strain and expense of an out-worn system. “The moment therefore calls for some examination of the Road, its theory and history. That need has prompted me to write this essay; but I must say at the outset that I approach my task with no expert qualification. My only equipment for the general sketch I intend is historical reading and the experience acquired in the writing of certain monographs upon the topography of the Road in the past. I can do no more than suggest lines of thought which, if they lead to practice, need a detailed science I do not possess. … “We have had (as I shall develop in more detail) five great moments … in the history of the English road system: the moment when the British trackway was superseded by the Roman military road; the moment when the latter declined in the Dark Ages; the moment when the mediaeval system of local roads grew up on the basis of the old Roman trunk roads and around them; the moment when this in its turn declined in the […]
This is a book about men—as such. It differentiates between the human nature and the sex nature. It will not go so far as to allege man’s masculine traits to be all that excuse, or explain his existence: but it will point out what are masculine traits as distinct from human ones, and what has been the effect on our human life of the unbridled dominance of one sex. (Taken from the first chapter) [chương_files]
In November, 1897, I submitted to the American Academy of Political and Social Science a plan for the study of Negro problems. This work is an essay along the lines there laid down, and is thus part of larger design of observation and research into the history and social conditions of the transplanted Africans. W.E.B. Du Bois At the end of this work are appendices, mainly additional statistics and not included here–the most noteworthy of them being Appendix B, a list of legislation regarding the Philadelphia Negro during this period. [chương_files]
This is Ms. Raymond’s thesis submitted for the awarding of her master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin (Madison.) Raymond clearly knows her subject well and describes the aims and practices of the various social settlements established in disadvantaged districts in the City of Chicago and with detail enough to offer a brief but comprehensive view of the social settlement ideal then in place at the turn of the 19th Century in Chicago and other major American cities. – Summary by KevinS [chương_files]
This is one of the author’s “travel books”, recounting his walking journeys in and around the Lago di Garda in Northern Italy. Every turn prompts musings on the nature and character of the people he encounters and their relationship to the land which they inhabit. His insights, while sometimes condescending, show elements of Lawrence’s analysis of the human condition, and his despair over the relentless erosion of a bucolic environment with the advance of modernism. – Summary by Peter Tucker [chương_files]
Lively (and often unsparing) descriptions of the people, places, and customs that the author encounters as he attempts to retrace the steps of the early Spanish conquistadores in the Americas: Columbus, Cortez, Pizarro, Balboa, Coronado. (Summary by Steven Seitel) [chương_files]
In this fine sailing and exploring yarn, Edward Frederick Knight (1852-1925), sometime English barrister, journalist, sportsman, and amateur seaman, conspires over a fish dinner in Harwich to buy and refit the tiny yacht Falcon, recruit a crew of four (and a cabin boy), and sail across the Atlantic Ocean to South America. This they do, despite naysayers who advised painting the yacht’s name conspicuously on her keel to aid identification when found floating upside down in some foreign sea. The book provides detailed descriptions of sailing in difficult waters and powerful storms, the spectacular scenery of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, sport hunting in unspoiled jungles, frequent revolutions (and a terrible war of annihilation) and, perhaps most important, the customs of the many different peoples who inhabit the South American continent. As was common practice in his day, Knight assumes the superiority of the “white” races and is not hesitant to express his sometimes less-than-favorable impressions of the “lesser” races he encounters. But he offers high praise for the beauty of the land and the kindness of the people he meets. (Steven Seitel) [chương_files]
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