AltaMira Press Research Articles

At the Dawn of the Sexual Revolution: Reflections on a Dialogue (review)

Reviewed by: At the Dawn of the Sexual Revolution: Reflections on a Dialogue Carolyn Herbst Lewis At the Dawn of the Sexual Revolution: Reflections on a Dialogue. By Ira L. Reiss and Albert Ellis. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 2002. Pp. xii + 212. $29.95 (paper). There is something deliciously satisfying about reading other people's mail, and when the subject is sex, the trespass is even more thrilling. In At the Dawn of the Sexual Revolution: Reflections on a Dialogue, renowned sex researchers Ira L. Reiss and Albert Ellis offer readers an "unadulterated" glimpse into a decade's worth of their professional and personal correspondence. Each man was—and continues to be—highly productive in his own discipline. Reiss, a sociologist and now a professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, made his reputation studying sexual standards and premarital sexual behavior in the United States. Reiss's most recent work has included studies on the effects of HIV/AIDS on American sexual behavior and a cross-cultural comparison of sexual standards around the world. In addition to numerous publications on sexuality, psychologist Albert Ellis is perhaps most widely known for his development of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). The Institute for Rational Living, founded in 1959 to teach the principles of REBT, was later renamed in his honor. Reiss and Ellis were both founding members of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex (now the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality) and played key roles in the development of American sexology. Although they never produced a collaborative study, the two exchanged over sixty letters between 1956 and 1967. Topics range from the professional to the personal: collegial critiques of each other's work and passionate debates over the merits of sex without love to heartfelt congratulations over the birth of Reiss's first child and a friendly report on the success of Ellis's date with Reiss's sister. Unfortunately, many of the letters by Reiss to Ellis were not preserved, which makes for slightly lopsided reading; and short notes confirming dinner plans tend to interrupt the flow of the dialogue. Nevertheless, the letters contained in this volume demonstrate not only the growth of an important personal and professional relationship but also how Reiss and Ellis repeatedly challenged one another's beliefs regarding human sexuality and thereby shaped each other's work. The letters included in the volume are divided chronologically into four sections that trace the development of the authors' thinking on various topics. This is particularly clear in the first section, entitled "Abstinence Is Dethroned, but What about Casual Sex?" in which the correspondence between the two men begins when Reiss asks Ellis "why he seemed to make less of a distinction than I did between what I called 'body-centered sexuality' and 'person-centered sexuality'" (1). Whereas Reiss continued to maintain that sex with love, or "person-centered sexuality," was preferable to and healthier than sex without love, or "body-centered sexuality," Ellis wished to refrain from all such value judgments. The debate that follows shows Ellis and Reiss working through their differences, finding a common ground, [End Page 122] and challenging each other to examine their own moral assumptions. For example, in one of his early letters, Ellis informs Reiss that while he agrees with him in theory, in practice he found Reiss's views "somewhat unrealistic" (21). But by the end of the exchange, Reiss and Ellis concurred that they were "in better agreement than when we started" (44) and chalked up their differences to their respective disciplines—Reiss, as a sociologist, was inclined to focus on social trends, while Ellis, a psychologist, preferred to consider the impact on the individual. In the following three chapters, the authors engage in similar debates regarding ethics and religiosity or science and morality, discuss the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex and the founding of Ellis's Institute for Rational Living, and compare notes on the trials and tribulations of getting published. The book's tidy structure—two short prefaces, four chapters, two closing self-assessments, and two minibiographies—belies the informal feel of the collection. The tone of the editorial material remains consistently...

Material Culture and Sacred Landscape: The Anthropology of the Siberian Khanty

Material Culture and Sacred Landscape: The Anthropology of the Siberian Khanty PETER JORDAN ALTAMIRA PRESS, WALNUT CREEK, CA, 2003 308 PP. $80 HARDCOVER, $29.95 PAPERBACK It seems safe to assume that I am not the only archaeologist who experiences something akin to a pang of longing when I have occasion to pick up an older ethnography. Many of the ethnographers of the early and middle twentieth century devoted almost as much attention to the material culture and environment of the people they studied as the people themselves. For all their shortcomings, these early ethnographies presented a richness of detail that is too often missing in contemporary works of cultural andiropology: settlement maps, illustrations of house patterns, accounts of subsistence techniques, and descriptions of everyday material objects. I was thus perhaps predisposed to have a favorable opinion of Jordan's book and its close attention to Khanty material culture. But this is not a work of vulgar materialism, nor is it a return to the simple descriptive style of many past ethnographies. His primary concern is describing how the Khanty material culture, including landscapes, is 'enculturated' (i.e., given symbolic meaning) through physical transformation or incorporation into the symbolism of social practices. Jordan draws from a number of theoretical strands in an effort to find a middle ground between cultural materialist (socioecological) and interpretive (semiotic) approaches to hunter-gatherer studies. By his own admission, however, the middle ground he proposes leans heavily toward interpretive theories of material culture, which he sees as a corrective to the materialist approaches that have traditionally dominated this field (p. 22). While the terms he uses may be unfamiliar to some readers, his theoretical discussion is clear (free of much of the jargon inherent in the primary works) and even-handed (pointing out some of the limitations and criticisms of these approaches). Jordan contextualizes his edmographic material in broad temporal and spatial scales, placing the Khanty in a macro-regional, longue duree historical context. This history is phrased in the language and perspective of world systems dieory, while extending discussion and credence to its many critiques. While readers anxious to get into the details of the ethnography may wonder why this wasn't incorporated into his earlier theoretical discussion, as an archaeologist I appreciated the inclusion of an extended historical context. World systems theory is appropriate for understanding this history, given that the Khanty paid fur in tribute to the Tatar Khans during the medieval period, were later incorporated into fur tax systems of the Russian and Soviet empires, and today occupy a landscape valued for its mineral resources. Having dispensed with the historical context, Jordan turns to the heart of the ethnography. In addition to material from a 10-month field study of communities on one tributary of the River Ob', he makes good use of other scholarly works and edinohistoric data. …

The Oral History Manual by Barbara W. Sommer, Mary Kay Quinlan

The Oral HistoryManual By Barbara W. Sommer andMary Kay Quinlan AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, Calif., 2002. Illustrations, bibliography, index. 144 pages. $70.00 cloth, $24.95 paper. Reviewed by Donna Sinclair Oregon Historical Society and Portland State University The Oral History Manual attempts tobridge thegap between theoreticaltreat ments of oral history and practical guidebooks. In thepreface, Barbara Sommer andMary Kay Quinlan point out thatno specificformula exists fororal history.Oral history projects are kalei doscopic and thusdependent on project design ers, interviewers, and narrators to shape them. Oral interviews have specialvalue in making his torycome alive through the words of realpeople, with a process that is interactivebut conducted within a defined structure. Sommer and Quinlan define oral history as recorded interviews thatuse "a structured and well-researched interview outline, with awitness toor a participant ina historical event. Itsaim is to collect and preserve theperson's first-hand in formation andmake itavailable to researchers. Careful attentiontoequipment selection,legaland ethical issues,and processing techniques charac terizetheoral historyprocess" (p. 1).Theymodel their manual on thisdefinition,providing a how toguide for mastering the techniques oforal his toryandmethods forcollecting and processing the audio results. Themain strength of the OralHistory Manual is that it combines tools for effectiveplanning and interviewing withmultiple resources forfur therstudyand includes the significant Oral His tory Association evaluation guidelines. The au thorsfocuson avoiding the most common prob lemwith oral history projects ? confusing the interview with theoral historyprocess.A project's success isbased on planning, processing, and the work ofduplicating tapes, transcribing,and pre paringmaterials forcataloging thatfollows.The best chapters are those on project organization, legaland ethical issues,and practicalmatters re garding interviewpreparation and techniques, transcription,and theprocess ofworking with a repositoryfrom startto finish ? key elements in awell-conducted oral history interview. Too of ten, oral histories are collected without focus, or ganization, or,most important,follow through, which can resultin interviews notbeing preserved. The authors also point out the many ethical di mensions ofan oralhistoryinterview, which come down to two significantfactors:historical integ rityand responsibility to thenarrator. Quinlan and Sommer provide good, practi cal advice regarding the interviewsetting,inter view techniques, and processing and care oforal histories.They dealwith copyrightissues,Internet distribution, interviewequipment, project bud gets, and researchpreparation. Notes at theend of each chapter provide excellent resources for each of the topics.They also provide appendices with forms forkeeping a project organized and obtaining importantinformationaswell as a glos saryof terms,a tremendously useful annotated bibliography, and an index. One of thebook's weaknesses is the chapter on the complexity of choosing equipment. In addition to a brief history of recording equip ment, they wisely advise readers towork with a repositoryduring theplanning process. In light of theirbroad audience, however, the advice to use expensive,broadcast-quality equipment inall cases, both audio and video, isunrealistic. The recording technology section is really too com plex andwill soon be dated, yet itdoes not offer concrete recommendations based on financial circumstance. How can you conduct an oral his toryproject and achieve good sound without spending a lotofmoney? The authors leave out one piece of simple advice ? use a good micro Reviews 167 phone above all else.Realistic advice, inaddition to the complex discussion of analog vs. digital and audio vs. video, would have improved the book, as would a section on organizing volun teers and a sample budget and overview of the timean oral historyproject entails. This small book in some ways attempts to do toomuch. The authors raise important issues such as the limitations ofmemory, thevalue of oral history to disenfranchised groups, and its use incommunitybuilding, but theydo not have the space to addressmany of these themeswell. The cover, an image of threewhite women of different generations, presents a far too conven tional imageofwhat oral historycan do andmay not appeal to thebroad audience theauthors seek. The strengthof theOral HistoryManual lies in practical advice, organizational overviews, and compilation of the importantresourcesonwhich oral historians rely. The book was conceived "for generalpublic use,"but itboth hits andmisses its target (p. 82). For individualswho want todo a family history,thebook istoo complex. For small community or historical organizations, it would be a veryuseful resource, and thebibliography and appendices cannot be beat. Book Notes Compiled and written by Ken DuBois The Great...

Postmodern Existential Sociology. Edited by Joseph A. Kotarba and John M. Johnson. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 2002. Pp. x+262. $70.00 (cloth); $24.95 (paper).

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewPostmodern Existential Sociology. Edited by Joseph A. Kotarba and John M. Johnson. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 2002. Pp. x+262. $70.00 (cloth); $24.95 (paper).John MurphyJohn MurphyUniversity of Miami Search for more articles by this author University of MiamiPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Sociology Volume 109, Number 1July 2003 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/380888 Views: 23Total views on this site Permission to reprint a book review printed in this section may be obtained only from the author.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

EMBER, Carol R. and Melvin EMBER. CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH METHODS

"EMBER, Carol R. and Melvin EMBER. CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH METHODS." Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 34(2), pp. 303–304

On Doing Local History by Carol Kammen

On Doing Local History, second edition By Carol K?mmen AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, Calif., 2003. Notes, index. 192 pages. $70.00 cloth, $24.95 paper. Reviewed by Kevin Britz TheHigh DesertMuseum, Bend, Oregon The documentation of local history has always been a challenge to those seek ingtopractice it.Local historians are commonly besieged with problems related to incomplete records,unorganized and incompletedata, and a perpetual lackof funding and resources.Where does one begin to startthinkingabout practicing localhistory?Carol K?mmen, a longtimepracti tioner of the craftof local history and a profes sional historian, offers an answer. K?mmens new edition of On Doing Local History is a practical guide foranyone contem plating the startof a local history project. It is also a helpful volume for those alreadyworking inthefield.K?mmen beginsbyproviding thegen eral historic context of local history,describing the ways nineteenth-century Americans began chronicling theircommunities toprovidemoral lessons, boost business, and document historic significance, working toward a goal of contribut ingtoa greaternational story. Unfortunately, the author argues, these localhistorians oftenoffered narrow, skewedperspectives because of theirde siretobuild community solidaritybypresenting storiesof economic and social progress.This ten dency, she notes, is still apparent. Explaining how localhistorians canbreak out of the rutof boosterism and expand theircraft forms themain thrustofK?mmen s book. The author challenges local historians to adopt Carl Becker's concept of "everyman his own histo rian" andMarc Bloch's belief that we need toun derstand thepresent inorder tounderstand the past. Both historians, she points out,were firm believers in thepower of localhistoryand itspo tential to reach and informeveryday citizens by illustratingtheirrole in thegreaterhistoric pic ture. With thisin mind, K?mmen provides a laun dry listofways thataspiring local historians can expand theirpractice. Raising questions about sensitive issues,social and class conflict,race and gender relations, and recent events can allow lo cal practitionersa greater fieldof inquiryand add depth to their works. K?mmen also underscores theneed for local historians to assume profes sional responsibilities and assist futureresearch ersby carefullyusing footnotes. She also believes community chroniclers should consider adopt ingalternativemethods ofpublication and pre sentation of theirfindings ? such as newspaper columns, articles, and theatrical presentations ? to fostergreateraccessibility fortheirefforts. On Doing Local History is an indispensable resource fororganizations and individuals dedi cated to recording and publishing local stories. By followingK?mmens advice, local chroniclers can enhance the credibilityof theirworks and provide resources for future generations of re searchers.Readers should note that thebook is directed atwritten recordsand theiruse. Perhaps ina futureedition,K?mmen will tackle the more challenging taskofusingmaterial culture?such as artifacts, architecture, and photographs ? to roundout thepresentationof communityhistory. Correction The caption forthephotograph thatappeared above the tableof contents in the Winter 2002 issue incorrectlyindicated thatthe imagewas takennear Thurston,Oregon. The photograph shows the Malheur Valley of easternOregon andmay have been takenby a photographer named Thurston. Reviews 277 ...

Religions in Asian America: Building Faith Communities

Journal Article Religions in Asian America: Building Faith Communities, Pyong Gap and Jung Ha Kim (eds.). Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press, 2002, 275 pp.; $63.00 (cloth), $24.95 (paper) Get access Mary Phillips Mary Phillips Harvard University Asia Center Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Sociology of Religion, Volume 64, Issue 2, Summer 2003, Pages 278–279, https://doi.org/10.2307/3712378 Published: 01 July 2003

Recent Studies in Rock Art

Handbook of Rock Art Research, edited by David S. Whitley. Pp. 863, figs. 239. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, Calif. 2001. $99.95. ISBN 0-74250256-2 (cloth). About rock art, Whitley stresses, last twenty years have witnessed a revolution in analytical techniques and interpretive models, a dramatic influx of new researchers, and a wealth of new data (22) . Not only do these circumstances necessitate, as Whitley argues, a volume like his Handbook of Rock Art Research (hereafter, Handbook) , but they also explain why the two other edited books under review here, Perceiving Rock Art by K. Helskog and B. Olsen (hereafter, Perceiving), and The Archaeology of Rock Art by C. Chippindale and P.S.C. Tacon (hereafter, Archaeology) have seen the light. Other authored and edited books are now being published not only by rock art centers (mainly the Australian Rock Art Research Association and the Italian Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici) , and university presses all over the world, but also, and this was until recently almost unheard of, by commercial publishers such as Routledge and Harry N. Abrams. Rock art is a field of study that is increasingly focusing the attention of professionals. This is even apparent in countries where its study did not undergo important breaks in its academic tradition mostly those of continental Europe and Latin America. Yet, the trend toward professionalism is particularly marked in countries where for decades, universities neglected its study, allowing nonprofessionals to take the lead. Several circumstances have brought about these changes, all of them related to the engagement of rock art in arenas of conflict and negotiation that archaeologists cannot ignore. To begin with, in many parts of the world indigenous communities do not perceive rock art as archaeology but as part of their own cultural heritage and, accordingly, in recent years there has been an increasing number of claims for the control of its management. Although this trend is more marked in the American and Australian

Religions in Asian America: Building Faith Communities. Edited by Pyong Gap Min and Jung Ha Kim. Walnut Creek, Calif.: Altamira Press, 2002. 275 pp. $24.95

Religions in Asian America: Building Faith Communities. Edited by Pyong Gap Min and Jung Ha Kim. Walnut Creek, Calif.: Altamira Press, 2002. 275 pp. $24.95

Linda E. Smeins. <italic>Building an American Identity: Pattern Book Homes and Communities, 1870–1900</italic>. Walnut Creek, Calif.: Altamira Press. 1999. Pp. 335. Cloth $52.00, paper $24.95

Journal Article Linda E. Smeins. Building an American Identity: Pattern Book Homes and Communities, 1870–1900. Walnut Creek, Calif.: Altamira Press. 1999. Pp. 335. Cloth $52.00, paper $24.95 Get access Smeins Linda E.. Building an American Identity: Pattern Book Homes and Communities, 1870–1900. Walnut Creek, Calif.: Altamira Press. 1999. Pp. 335. Cloth $52.00, paper $24.95. Alexander von Hoffman Alexander von Hoffman Harvard University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Historical Review, Volume 107, Issue 5, December 2002, Page 1564, https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/107.5.1564 Published: 01 December 2002

World Ecological Degradation: Accumulation, Urbanization, and Deforestation, 3000 B.C.-A.D. 2000.:World Ecological Degradation: Accumulation, Urbanization, and Deforestation, 3000 B.C.-A.D. 2000.

World Ecological Degradation: Accumulation, Urbanization, and Deforestation, 3000 B.C.–A.D. 2000. Sing C. Chew. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press, 2001. 217 pp.

Religion and the New Immigrants: Continuities and Adaptations in Immigrant Congregations. By Helen Rose Ebaugh and Janet Saltzman Chafetz. Altamira Press, 2000. 492 pp. Cloth, $69.00

Religion and the New Immigrants: Continuities and Adaptations in Immigrant Congregations. By Helen Rose Ebaugh and Janet Saltzman Chafetz. Altamira Press, 2000. 492 pp. Cloth, $69.00

In Pursuit of Gender: Worldwide Archaeological Approaches , and: Gender and the Archaeology of Death (review)

Sarah Milledge Nelson & Myriam Rosen-Ayalon (eds.) In Pursuit of Gender: Worldwide Archaeological Approaches. Altamira Press, 2002.

REVIEW

Shamanism and the Ancient Mind: a cognitive approach to archaeology. By James L. Pearson. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press. 2002. Pp. ix + 195, 16 Figures. Price: US $63 (cloth); US $24.95 (paperback)

Federal Planning and Historic Places: The Section 106 Process. Thomas F. King. 2001. AltaMira Press, Lanham, MD. 200 pp. $62 hardcover, $23.95 paperback.

"Federal Planning and Historic Places: The Section 106 Process. Thomas F. King. 2001. AltaMira Press, Lanham, MD. 200 pp. $62 hardcover, $23.95 paperback.." Environmental Practice, 4(2), p. 114

Anthropology and Environmental EngagementNew Directions in Anthropology and Environment: Intersections. Edited by Carole L. Crumley with, A. Elizabeth van Deventer and Joseph J. Fletcher. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 2001. 308 pp.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBooksAnthropology and Environmental Engagement New Directions in Anthropology and Environment: Intersections. Edited by Carole L. Crumley with, A. Elizabeth van Deventer and Joseph J. Fletcher. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 2001. 308 pp.KayMiltonKayMiltonSchool of Anthropological Studies, Queens University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, U.K. ([email protected]). 29 viii 01 Search for more articles by this author School of Anthropological Studies, Queens University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, U.K. ([email protected]). 29 viii 01PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 43, Number 3June 2002 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/340320 Views: 60Total views on this site PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Nearby History: Exploring the Past Around You

Nearby History: Exploring the Past Around You, 2nd edition. Edited by David E. Kyvig and Myron A. Marty. In The Nearby History Series, Kyvig and Marty, eds. (Walnut Creek, Cal.: AltaMira Press, in cooperation with the American Association for State and Local History Book Series, 2000). xvi, 285 pp. Photographs, appendices, bibliographic references, index. Cloth, $65.00, paper, $24.95) How do you examine the relationship between local events and trends and national events and trends? How do you turn local history into public history? In other words, how do you make sense of your neighborhood's, town's, or city's past, and how do you convey what you have learned to a broad audience? The Nearby History Series has been helping researchers grapple with these questions and others for nearly twenty years. The first edition of Nearby History, published in 1982, served as an introduction to local history, geared toward individuals interested in researching the people, places, and events close at hand (x). It included an overview of the importance of studying local history, suggested the types of sources to consult, and recommended methods of analysis that could help connect the local to regional, national, or even international trends. A series-the Nearby History series-developed with five installments published by the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) between 1986 and 1990 and still in print: Ronald Butchart, Local Schools; Barbara Howe, et. al., Houses and Homes; Gerald Danzer, Public Places; James P. Wind, Places of Worship; and K. Austin Kerr, et. al., Local Businesses. Each book followed the format established in Nearby History. Each started with the importance of studying the topic, continued with suggestions for defining the project, explained where to find sources specific to the topic, described the types of sources to consult (primary and secondary materials as well as oral, photographic, and artifactual evidence), and concluded with a discussion of how to interpret the evidence and how to use it to produce articles, exhibits, and even audio-visual presentations. Well-chosen examples helped readers see how others used evidence, and bibliographic essays of suggested readings led readers to other sources. This consistency in the Nearby History series made it easy for untrained historians to quickly learn how to accomplish what they wanted to do without being overwhelmed by the process. The series as a whole has been valuable in demonstrating how local historians can place narrow topics into the broader historical context, that is, into the concentric or overlapping circles that Kyvig and Marty discuss in the introductory volume. The books point amateur local historians, or historians unfamiliar with the wealth of local history resources, in directions that allow them to pursue the larger how and why questions, and thereby write analytical and interpretive local histories rather than simple accounts of past events. Nearby History, the second edition, retains the goals established in the first edition and the series-to make local history research thorough and meaningful. And it follows the format of the series-if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Readers of the first edition might be disappointed if they seek major revisions. The authors decided on a minimalist approach, confident in the feedback from readers that praised Nearby History for being useful and stimulating. So, what does the second edition offer that the first did not? Kyvig and Marty recognized the need to incorporate the findings from nearly two decades of work by local historians into their bibliographic sources. This includes important new material related to oral history, motion pictures, and material culture as evidence, and new electronic resources published as CDs and on the Internet. The authors modified the chapters to incorporate the new information as appropriate, and they included publications of note produced between 1982 and 2000 in the Notes and Future Reading sections at the end of each chapter. …

Federal Planning and Historic Places: The Section 106 Process. Thomas F. King. 2000. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, CA. $62 (cloth), ISBN 0-7425-0258-9; 195 pp. $23.95 (paper), ISBN 0-7425-0259-7.

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Expanding the Archaeological Imagination - Death by Theory: A Tale of Mystery and Archaeological Theory. Adrian Praetzellis. 2001. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, CA. 160 pp. $57.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-7425-0358-5; 174 pp. $17.95 (paper), ISBN 0-7425- 0359-3. - Spirit Bird Journey. Sarah Milledge Nelson. 1999. RKLOG Press, Littleton, CO. 256 pp. $15.95 (paper), ISBN 0-9675798-0-5. - National Treasure. Peter Bleed. 2000.

Expanding the Archaeological Imagination - Death by Theory: A Tale of Mystery and Archaeological Theory. Adrian Praetzellis. 2001. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, CA. 160 pp. 17.95 (paper), ISBN 0-7425- 0359-3. - Spirit Bird Journey. Sarah Milledge Nelson. 1999. RKLOG Press, Littleton, CO. 256 pp. $15.95 (paper), ISBN 0-9675798-0-5. - National Treasure. Peter Bleed. 2000. RKLOG Press, Littleton, CO. i + 311 pp. $19.95 (paper), ISBN 0-9675798-1-3. - Volume 67 Issue 1

Handbook of rock art research

Handbook of Rock Art Research. DAVID S. WHITLEY (ed.). AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, CA, 2001. 863 pp., 250 figures, tables, biblio., index, glossary. $99.95 (cloth), ISBN 0-7425-0256-2. This remarkable book represents the first comprehensive overview of world rock art ever published. It is ambitious in its goals, encyclopedic in its coverage (more than 800 pages long), and mostly successful in presenting what we know right now about how to study prehistoric rock art, how to give it meaning in both specific and general contexts, and how it looks to us in its varied forms around the world. There is very little in this book about southeastern North America (and what there is isn't very good), but that should not detract from its value as a resource to the readers of this journal. Handbook of Rock Art Research will be rewarding to specialists in rock art study, resource managers, and who are interested in the theories and methods at large in the discipline today. For those not current with the topic, rock art studies today are a microcosm of archaeology as a whole, and this book provides a fine, detailed overview of the field. David Whitley opens the volume with a long introduction that ranges widely over the history of rock art studies in North America, its place in the modern world of American archaeology, and current issues and problems in the study of rock art sites. I found his presentation insightful for the most part, illuminating central problems with chronology, constituency, and interpretation, though it was obviously written by an American from an American point of view and doesn't reflect much of an international perspective. 1 don't ' agree with Whitley's presumption, running through much of his discussion, that there continues to be an opposition between scientific archaeologists and some other, presumably nonscientific, at the root of modern intellectual debate; this is a straw man that obscures, in my view, fundamental issues in basic rock art archaeology. In the end, though, I agree that rock art research cannot be divorced from archaeology more generally in theoretical or methodological realms. I have long held rock art to be an archaeological problem first and foremost, to be addressed with proper archaeological methods and techniques. After the introduction, the Handbook is divided into three coherent sections. The first, perhaps the most useful to a general audience, deals with Analytic and Management Methods. Larry Loendorf offers a cookbook on recording and documentation techniques that both encompasses the meager available literature on rock art recordation and provides useful insights from Loendorf's own considerable experience in the field. Johannes Loubser gives his view of management and conservation. James Keyser considers relative dating techniques, including the stylistic and stratigraphie methods that have always been the core of rock art chronology; like Loendorf's paper, this is a fine reference for general techniques employed by rock art students. The next two chapters deal with absolute dating of rock art. Marvin Rowe gives a complete and authoritative overview of direct ^sup 14^C age determination of organics in pigments by AMS, a discussion that will be of use to all concerned with understanding the requirements, strengths, and weaknesses of the method, not just rock art scholars. Ronald Dorn presents an honest appraisal of the various techniques heretofore proposed to provide absolute ages for engraved petroglyphs. As Dorn, who developed some of the methods, freely admits, most of these techniques are problematic at best; he concludes his review with pessimism for the current state of the art and optimism for the potential of future technologies. Marvin Rowe returns with another encyclopedic chapter, this time to review physical and chemical techniques for analyzing production and taphonomic histories of rock art. …