What does one get when they cross a Philosophy Professor with a group of inmates sentenced to life? The answer is, not surprisingly, an incredible, tour-de-force read. I came upon this title, "The Soul Knows No Bars: Inmates Reflect on Life, Death, and Hope" quite by accident, and what a treasure of a read it is.

Philosophy professor Drew Leder - with quite a life story of hid own - has compiled a rich and varied dialogue between himself and a handful of inmates from the Maryland Penetentiary. How he came to teach a philosophy class inside the prison walls is a story in itself, but it is the discussion and debate that broke forth in the midst of those classes that make this book a jewel.

As Sister Helen Prejean put it, "Put a philosophy professor into a locked room with incarcerated thieves, drug dealers, and murderers, throw in Socrates, Nietzsche, Cornel West and Heidegger - and what do you get? Conversations that knock your socks off. A book you simply can't put down." I'm in agreement with the good Sister.

The book explores the dynamics of power, violence, race, and sexuality, as well as the flights of spirit possible even from a prison cell. The inmates (and Leder) took the texts of some of the greatest philosophical minds known, used those texts as springboards, and reflected on their life experiences.

The average law-abiding citizen will be surprised to hear what these men have drawn out and declared. This book is a rich exploration of our present-day's criminal mind. What got them to where they are, how they came to be of the mind they were when in criminal activity, and where they've come since incarcertaion is a fascinating journey through the soul. The book serves as a clarion call for society at large to re-examine our very fabric of social interaction, governing, and penalizing of our fringe members.

The discussions are enlightening, powerful, and (at times) disturbing.

What struck me most as I read through the words of this book is the incredible waste of intellect and potential - that which has been lost to poverty and drugs is nothing short of heartbreaking.

Though author Leder didn't set out to do this, he has shone the spotlight on the need for prison reform - to salvage and restore broken lives is nothing short of a necessity. Some of the greatest minds of our time could well be locked up behind bars.

This is a tremendous read and I recommend it to anyone who loves to explore life from a philosophical bent (Leder uses phenonmenology most often) and who wants to better understand the criminal mind. And it is for those who continue to hold out hope that reformation is possible even for the most hardened criminal.

Excellent read, from start to finish.

What does one get when they cross a Philosophy Professor with a group
of inmates sentenced to life? The answer is, not surprisingly, an
incredible tour-de-force read. I came upon this title, "The Soul
Knows No Bars: Inmates Reflect on Life, Death, and Hope" quite by
accident, and what a treasure of a read it is.

Philosophy professor
Drew Leder - himself with quite a life story - has compiled a rich and
varied dialogue between himself and a handful of inmates from the
Maryland Penetentiary. How he came to teach a philosophy class inside
the prison walls is a story in itself, but it is the discussion and
debate that broke forth in the midst of those classes that make this
book a jewel.

As Sister Helen Prejean put it, "Put a
philosophy professor into a locked room with incarcerated thieves,
drug dealers, and murderers, throw in Socrates, Nietzsche, Cornel West
and Heidegger - and what do you get? Conversations that knock your
socks off. A book you simply can't put down." I'm in agreement
with the good Sister.

The book explores the dynamics of power,
violence, race, and sexuality, as well as the flights of spirit
possible even from a prison cell. The inmates (and Leder) took the
texts of some of the greatest philosophical minds known, used those
texts as springboards, and reflected on their life experiences.

The
average law-abiding citizen will be surprised to hear what these men
have drawn out and declared. This book is a rich exploration of our
present-day's criminal mind. What got them to where they are, how they
came to be of the mind they were when in criminal activity, and where
they've come since incarcertaion is a fascinating journey through the
soul. The book serves as a clarion call for society at large to
re-examine our very fabric of social interaction, governing, and
penalizing of our fringe members.

The discussions are enlightening,
powerful, and (at times) disturbing.

What struck me most as I read
through the words of this book is the incredible waste of intellect
and potential - that which has been lost to poverty and drugs is
nothing short of heartbreaking.

Though author Leder didn't set out
to do this, he has shone the spotlight on the need for prison reform -
to salvage and restore broken lives is nothing short of a
necessity. Some of the greatest minds of our time could well be locked
up behind bars.

This is a tremendous read and I recommend it to
anyone who loves to explore life from a philosophical bent (Leder uses
phenonmenology most often) and who wants to better understand the
criminal mind. And it is for those who continue to hold out hope that
reformation is possible even for the most hardened
criminal.

Excellent read, from start to finish.

It is a wonderous and well put together book to educate a person on the history of the transatlantic slave trade. Being a Canadian, I was unaware of the length of time that the trade took place. I read the book and passed it on, it is not a book to have gathering dust but to be read by many

Burnside provides an excellent overview of slavery, in a highly readable and well illustrated book. Although a scholar, Burnside has written this book for a popular audience. A great read and interesting take on a very difficult subject.

I am an elementary art teacher, and I read this book to my first graders when we were talking about African art. They absolutely loved the story! By the end of the book, they were reciting the repeating phrases with me. Then they wanted me to read the whole story all over again. I seldom get such an ethusiastic response from my students when I read to them. The artwork in the book is very reminiscent of African art and goes along very well with an art project we make when talking about Africa. This book is a wonderful addition to a unit on Africa.

The artwork is rich, detailed, amusing, and simultaneously illustrates different lines of the story--that is, in the background, are shown the line about the characters running up hill and down, while in the foreground the next phase and character of the story is depicted. Also each of the talking items floats in the background space, so you have lots of things to point out and talk about with the little ones--or just go for the story, it's fun. The colors and the dress of the people match what we see in W. Africa. My child enjoyed an animated reading from the age of 18 months. The story is a traditional one as well, which lends to the overall richness. I have a number of children's books depicting W. Africa, and this and Trina Schart Hyman's Fortune Teller are my favorites for their beauty, detail, and their faithfulness to the scene here. To the Sweet Shores of Africa, is another beauty as well---this one is poems with beautiful pictures.

This is the first book I have ever read which speaks to the origin of both St. Vincents Island and what today we call Honduras. The majesty of precolonial East African people lives on through the African slaves who were washed ashore on St. Vincents and lived to grow and thrive. So successful were they, that the mighty English military had to physically capture and deport them to Honduras, where they again grew and thrived.

The descendents of those very people now populate much of today's Honduras and St. Vincents Island. They fashioned their own language, which has survived and is now known as garifanu. This book is must reading for those who are serious about the real Central American History.

The author has presented a simple, easy to read format which will be easy for children to read, understand, and most important, ENJOY! The humor is wonderful. The main character, Spider, will be easily recognizable to those children already familiar with the Anansi stories. Additionally, I am a teacher and have introduced oral storytelling into my second grade classroom. These stories are simple, rich and easy to learn for those who may be interested in becoming a storyteller themselves! It's a thoroughly enjoyable and wonderful book.

What was the earliest "instance of cross-cultural interaction between Europeans and West Africans?" The production of ivories for European patrons in the 15th century. And yes, it was BEFORE the massive and EVIL slave trade.

Known as the Afro-Portuguese Ivories, these pieces went to Portugal, and were created for wealthy patrons who often sent models of items that they wanted to be reproduced in ivory to African artists. Examples included: coats of arms, salt cellars, hunting scenes, religious subjects, oliphants, weapons, forks & spoons, and pyxes.

This catalogue gives an in depth, scholarly examination of the major groups who produced these MAGNIFICENT pieces, the intermingling of styles and how they came about, the European perceptions of Black Africans in the Renaissance, and the similarities between the TWO groups (an eye opener!!). 203 MASTERPIECES grace the 255 pages, in both color and black & white photographs.

I cannot imagine anyone who is interested in African Art & History NOT wanting to find this GORGEOUS book, or better still, BEGGING Prestel Publishers ( who ALWAYS put out EXCELLENT African Art books) to reprint it. In fact, ANYONE who is interested in a FULLER picture of the Renaissance would find this book to be a great treasure!

The most striking feature of AFRICAN CANVAS is the close up detail and large pictures of exterior and interior West African mud house design. Some pottery design is also featured. Colors are mostly earth toned because natural pigments are used. A close-up and personal look at this beautiful art form, and a good resource for folks interested in ethnology and in African design.

get this book! it holds the most comprehensive collection of photographs for African sculptures and mask's the photos are very impressive many are in a fool page format annotation are well organized and portray origins and history of the "art" pieces.

Letter to Paula Girshick Ben-Amos, author of "Art, Innovation, and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Benin." Your book, "Art Innovation, and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Benin", is superb. I'm not a reviewer so the much I can see is that you lead us, the reader, easy and firmly across the ancient history of a Kingdom with her obas, uzamas, ezomos, iyases, chiefs -- and give us a handy list of the obas from Ehengbuda to Akengbuda, and teach us how they were, through the art they left behind. You make ease to understand the Civil War and different behave of various obas and chiefs. As well their relation with the spiritual world. When you refer to Father Monteleone, and the cloths "made in five or, at the most, six months" on pg. 41, using Ryder, you touch in a subject that has connection with Brazil. In the book "A enxada e a lança", (The Hoe and the Spear), the Brazilian writer Alberto da Costa e Silva depicts a panel of Africa, before the Portuguese's arrival (he starts his book on Africa's prehistory), and refers (pg. 526)to Pano da Costa (Cloth from the Coast - Ijebu), largely exported from Benin to Brazil on the first half of Eighteenth Century. It seems, later on, when the slave traffic has ended, and commerce between Bahia (Brazil) and West Coast was very strong, industrialized Pano da Costa, produced in Brazil has turned itself into a largely disputed merchandise all over the Coast, including in Benin . And moreover, in your book you teach us how to see and comprehend the bronzes, plaques, heads, in metal, ivory, clay and wood. Is all absolutely perfect. If one want to have a spotless ideas, in 177 pages, about the Kingdom of Benin, in your book one will find it. So, I indeed have enjoyed your book.

José Luiz Pereira da Costa Brazil e-mail: dacostaq@cpovo.net

The Bible in Africa covers a rich tapestry of topics, related to the Bible and how it is read and interpreted in Africa. There are over 30 essays written by scholars from all parts of Africa. The essays deal with such diverse topics as Bible Translation in Africa, The reading of the Bible in African Indigenous Churches and particular issues relating to various African peoples and their reception of the Bible. Of particular interest are a number of review essays which cover Biblical Studies in Afica in the Twentieth Century and a comprehensive Bibliography of Publications on the Bible produced in or about Africa.