July 13, 2012
Sincerity: How a moral ideal born five hundred years ago inspired religious wars, modern art, hipster chic, and the curious notion that we all have something to say (no matter how dull) by R. Jay McGill Jr. (W.W. Norton & Co., 2012)
(kindle ed.), (amazon.co.uk)
Book description from the publisher:
A cultural and intellectual history of sincerity, from its emergence during the Protestant Reformation to its present incarnations and adversaries.
People have long been duped by “straight-talking” politicians, confessional talk-show hosts, and fake-earnest advertisers. As sincerity has become suspect, the upright and honest have taken refuge in irony. Yet our struggle for authenticity in back-to-the-woods movements, folksy songwriting, and a craving for plainspoken presidential candidates betrays our longing for the holy grail of sincerity.
Bringing deep historical perspective and a brilliant contemporary spin to Lionel Trilling’s 1972 Sincerity and Authenticity, R. Jay Magill Jr. argues that we can’t shake sincerity’s deep theological past, emotional resonance, and the sense of conscience it has carved in the Western soul. From Protestant theology to paintings by crazy people, from French satire to the anti-hipster movement, Magill navigates history, religion, art, and politics to create a portrait of an ideal that, despite its abuse, remains a strange magnetic north in our secular moral compass.
See also: Review in the Wall Street Journal
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- culture,new books
July 11, 2012
Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande, a classic ethnographic work by E.E. Evans-Pritchard is currently only $2.99 on Kindle. (Prices subject to change and may vary by region.)
(Print edition at Amazon.com, amazon.co.uk)
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- culture
July 9, 2012
Amazon.com has a selection of nonfiction Kindle “Beach Bag Reads for Summer,” “a diverse collection of 50 Kindle books … as low as $1.99 until July 10.” [Update – These are still up on Amazon as of 7/11, though it looks like some, but not all, of the prices may have gone back up.] Selections include:
Slots: Praying to the God of Chance by David V. Forrest for $3.79.
Book description from the publisher:
This astonishing book reveals that there’s a lot more to playing slot machines—one of America’s fastest growing forms of entertainment—than good fun, deep relaxation and the dream of a multi-million-dollar jackpot. Slots tells how the machines work, how the random numbers that govern them are generated, and how the casinos make their profit . . . slowly but surely . . . as they keep only a dime of every dollar invested. It also offers strategies of slot play, and suggests alternate activities to distract us when casinos become harmfully habitual.
But ultimately, as Dr. Forrest writes, to spend one’s time feeding money to the machines is to participate in, well . . . a form of prayer. And the gaming industry seems very much aware of it, as players annually plunge more than $365-billion into slots (of which casinos keep about $30-billion); and as casinos—70 to 85 percent of whose profits are earned by slot machines—have spread to more than a dozen states and even into a number of racetracks (where they’re called “racinos”).
What this book describes with both humor and a sense of awe is the way slots emporia have steadily been transformed from underground grottos to soaring cathedral-like structures where congregants sit and commune—all to the end of worshipping the god of chance.
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