A complex body of religious practices that spread throughout the Hindu; Buddhist; and Jain traditions; a form of spirituality that seemingly combines sexuality; sensual pleasure; and the full range of physical experience with the religious life—Tantra has held a central yet conflicted role within the Western imagination ever since the first "discovery" of Indian religions by European scholars. Always radical; always extremely Other; Tantra has proven a key factor in the imagining of India. This book offers a critical account of how the phenomenon has come to be.Tracing the complex genealogy of Tantra as a category within the history of religions; Hugh B. Urban reveals how it has been formed through the interplay of popular and scholarly imaginations. Tantra emerges as a product of mirroring and misrepresentation at work between East and West--a dialectical category born out of the ongoing play between Western and Indian minds. Combining historical detail; textual analysis; popular cultural phenomena; and critical theory; this book shows Tantra as a shifting amalgam of fantasies; fears; and wish-fulfillment; at once native and Other; that strikes at the very heart of our constructions of the exotic Orient and the contemporary West.
#487617 in Books 1999-02-02 1999-02-02Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.80 x .69 x 5.90l; .89 #File Name: 0520219562274 pages
Review
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful. "Anatomy of Human Evil Flickering Flames of Hope"By Russell A. Rohde MD"Survivors: An Oral History of the Armenian Genocide"; Donald Lorna Miller; UC Press; CA; 1999; ISBN-13 978-0-520-212956-4; pbk 192 pgs.; plus 3 Appendices 15 pgs.; Notes 24 pgs.; Biblio 5 pgs.; Index 4 pgs.; Map 15 pgs. of B/W photos; 9" x 6"Authored by Donald Miller; USC Prof. of Relig. wife Lorna Miller whose parents survived the Armenian Genocide (AG) providing Armenian translation from personally conducted audio-taped interrogations with 103 (62f/41m) Armenians born in Turkey. Interviewees largely garnered from Southern California. Using "Interview Guide" as format allowed representative sampling synthesis of queries for proper balance of content a check for internal consistency.Book is in 3 Parts: - I: Historical Background; II: Survivor Accounts; and III: Analysis. - but also Appendices on Methodology; Interview Guide; Survivors Interviewed. A large portion of the material is similar in detail; very often many precise quotations; etc. of same material given in most contemporary books on AG; thusly; names; dates; places events are validated often same reference sources utilized extensively.However; unlike most treatises on AG; this oral history provides a much keener; even intimate depiction of life in Anatolia before after the massacres genocide that details ghoulish atrocious barbaric acts of torture; killings; rape; of family dissolutions; of adopting survival techniqes occasionally working to thwart being murdered or quash a suicide. There are sundry; detailed references to acts of kindness shown by a few Turks; rarely a Kurd; but much tribute is paid to that help hope extended by charitable organizations (for the "starving Armenians") of several countries; of missionaries of orphanages; etc. wonderfully helpful to the child survivors. A large section devoted to emigrations; resettlements; of survivor's responses their moral reflections on the genocide is also unique to this book.The photographic reproductions are flunky due to inferior paper quality. If one is bent on reading 3 or 4 books on AG; this should be one of those books because it reflects with such great clarity the horrific evils of war genocide on infants; children; mothers the family structure. It examines the anatomy of human evils even when the flame of hope flickered with great uncertainty.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A Very Sad Story!By Chris StoltzfusThis book kept me riveted. I could not imagine the terrible things the Armenians faced and continue to face due to those who deny this tragedy.65 of 76 people found the following review helpful. I highly reccomend this BookBy RdgJr near NYCI just finished reading this book...it is riveting; well written; accessible; of manageable length (192) pages; and in general a supurb introduction to the subject for readers such as myself who didn't even know where or what Armenia was until I picked up this book. I really hope that the general public becomes more aware of the Armenian genicide and starts demanding that Turkey; and their Kurdish henchmen; own up to this awful crime and stop denying that the genicide of the Armenian nation ever happened. It is shocking that in my entire life I have never heard one word spoken in my church or in any school I have attendedabout the Armenian genicide. All I have ever heard about is the Jewish Holocaust (sp?); as if that were the first genicide of this century. A case can be made that if the world had become sufficiently enraged by the Armenian genicide; the Jewish Holocaust would never have happened. (Page 5 of the book states; "There is a universal tendency to avoid seeing; as well as remembering; the human capacity for evil. Adolf Hitler understood this well when; on August 22. 1939 he said to his military commanders regarding his plans for Poland: "Who; after all; speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"".) The book points out; in passing; that some Armenians believe that the reason the United States does not acknowledge that the Turks committed genicide against the Armenians; is because Turkey is a strong ally of the United States in the Middle East. I don't think it is possible to read this book without being profoundly affected by it. I don't personally have time to read a huge; thick book on the subject; so this 192 page; well written; emotionally powerful is probably all I'll ever have the time to read on the subject. I wish all Americans would read this book. Do read this book. Please.
