The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? by Jared Diamond

This book compares traditional societies (which have dominated the vast majority of human history) to state societies like the United States in order to think about the ways in which we can learn from traditional societies in the Western world. While Diamond acknowledges that we may not want to return to many aspects of traditional societies (particularly their approaches to war and strangers), we might adopt (or re-adopt) some of their practices selectively, such as bilingualism, forms of conflict resolution, and forms of child-rearing, and pay attention to other practices in order to modify our lives for the better (for example, we could cut back on the salt and sugar in our diets to reduce illnesses like hypertension and diabetes). I found the book very entertaining (although the main argument was repeated so many times in similar form that it got a little repetitive).

The Complete Stories by Zora Neale Hurston

This collection of stories spans a wide range of time (from Hurston's early 30s to just before her death) and includes all her published short fiction and a number of unpublished stories as well (including one, "A Woman in Gaul" which was almost burned after Hurston's death). It also covers a wide range of subjects and genres: some stories draw heavily on the Southern, African-American folklore that Hurston collected professionally, some are set in Harlem, some are fantastical--bordering on magical realism, and some are non-fictional, anthropological pieces. One of the themes that carries throughout the stories is the question of understanding (and language's role in that understanding)--can we really understand each other? how can we use language (or laughter) to both reveal and hide parts of ourselves to protect ourselves from the world? The figure of John (the trickster who came from Africa and outwits Massa despite being enslaved) is key to many of the stories. This collection contains some real gems and demonstrates the range and skill of Hurston's career.

The Shelters of Stone by Jean M. Auel

This book suffers from the same problem as many of the earlier books in the series: Auel is more interested in figuring out how people realized that men are biologically related to their children than in telling a good story. In this installment Ayla and Jondalar arrive at his home after he has been away for five years. The conflicts in the story are of two types: first, some people dislike Ayla because they are petty, jealous, and ashamed of themselves. Second, Ayla want to have it all (be a spiritual leader and a wife and mother) and even though there are no rules against it--and several women who do it successfully--and everyone says that she can do it, she's not sure she can. These conflicts point to a central problem with Ayla: she never has any meaningful conflicts that put her own identity or values into question. In every conflict, the narrative positions her as clearly in the correct, and having such a perfect protagonist is of no real interest.

Vinyl Leaves: Walt Disney World and America by Stephen Fjellman

This book analyzes the cultural work that Walt Disney World does. Why does it appeal to so many people? How does it work with nostalgia? I found the book very entertaining, because I both love Disney and recognize that it works by obscuring relevant things (like history for example). Fjellman describes it as post-modern in the way that different parts of history and geography flow from one part to the other (but modernist in its portrayal of the future--which generally has more to do with the past in Disney). The book is dated (published in 1992)--so lots of the things in it have long since closed, but it was a fascinating read, and made me eager to visit Disney again despite myself.

The New History in an Old Museum: Creating the Past at Colonial Williamsburg by Richard Handler and Eric Gable

This book contends that even as Colonial Williamsburg has adopted social history as its mode of presentation of the past--which entails embracing the dirt of the past and acknowledging that history changes not so much because of the discovery of new facts as because of the appearance of new people interpreting it--it does not fully follow out on the principles that this social history approach would suggest (for example, in job mobility, in relative pay scale, and in creative and unique interpretations of the past). I found the book easy to follow in its argument and enlightening in its scope. I really enjoyed seeing the behind-the-scenes picture of Williamsburg, even if I'm not quite so radically critical of the enterprise.

The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other by Tzvetan Todorov

This book uses the Spanish conquest of the New World, and particularly Cortés in Mexico, to investigate the ways that humans understand the other. I found the book particularly interesting in its history. I thought that the example of the conquest worked well for Todorov's points about the other (and found the chapter about signs and types of communication particularly helpful)--but I don't think this book would be a good way to understand the conquest on its own. I also really liked the last chapter about two different Europeans writing about native cultures.

Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History by Sidney W. Mintz

This book presents a history of sugar. While in some ways I found it to be somewhat Anglo-centric, it was a really fascinating account of the rise of sugar as a form of food. It's Mintz's contention that sugar and the patterns of consumption that surround it are not accidental or arbitrary, but instead the result of larger economic patterns. I found the production and eating and being chapters particularly helpful--Mintz talks about the way that sugar's chemical properties (especially in preserving food) and its historical circumstances have changed the way we eat--and thus the way that we relate to each other. This book is really remarkable.

A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Hapned in Virginia Since the First Planting of that Colony, which is now resident in the South part thereof, till the last returne from thence by John Smith

In this account of what happened in Virginia's early history, Pocahontas's famous rescue of its author, John Smith, is nowhere to be found. The text, however, reveals more than it means to about the author's captivity. Its tone is justificatory, and Smith appears to be lying or exaggerating in several places. This piece is enjoyable both in its place in the (self-constructed) Smith legends and in the process of filling in the gaps and lacunae in the text.

A True Discourse of the Present Estate of Virginia and the successe of the affaires there till the 18 of June, 1614 by Ralph Hamor

In this account Hamor gives a history of the early settlements in and around Jamestown. Of particular note is Hamor's account of the Pocahontas story. The famous scene from John Smith's Generall Historie where Pocahontas intervenes in Smith's execution is nowhere to be found, but we do get several accounts of her marriage to John Rolfe--love story, political match, and conversion narrative. There's also a history of what went on in the colony and some material which seems to encourage further investment and colonization.

Memoir of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda Respecting Florida Written in Spain, About the Year 1575 by Hernando Escalante de Fontaneda

In this memoir we receive an account of the captivity of Hernando Escalante de Fontaneda, who was a creole shipwrecked in Florida on his way to Spain for his education. In parts, this memoir is strangely cool: the death of his brother is passed over very quickly, for example. Also, while the memoir describes the geography and peoples of the land, if we choose to read it against the grain, one could imagine a convincing scenario in which Fontaneda is actually writing to discourage Spanish colonization, to protect the people with whom he's been living for more than half his life. Stylistically, this text is not the most exciting I've ever read, but it offers a unique perspective on early American settlement.

The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles by Captain John Smith

In this document John Smith gathers and edits a collection of accounts of English experiences in North America. I'm interested in this book's generic mixture: it's part economic treatise (how expensive would it be to fit out an expedition/colony and fish in North America), part history (of Roanoke, Jamestown, Plymouth, and Bermuda, no less), and part natural history/ethnography. I think this mixture is related to the fact that the colonial experience is pretty new to the British at this point, and they're still making sense of how to understand it. There's also a great vocabulary list giving an account of native words. Many are related to warfare and to the presence of the English. I'm also interested in how much of this treatise Smith hasn't authored himself (there's a lot of first-hand accounts from other people to fill out areas where Smith wasn't) and in the presence of the Pocahontas legend (notably absent from Smith's earlier work about Virginia). All in all, a fascinating read.

The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca

This account of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca's journey from the coast of Florida through Texas to what is now the US Southwest blends a variety of genres. In part, it's an official relation to the king, part of Cabeza de Vaca's attempt to get the king to give him permission to keep exploring in the New World. As such, there's a fair amount of natural history (about the geography and the plants and animals that fill the land) and ethnography (about the people Cabeza de Vaca encounters). At times, Cabeza de Vaca's called upon to practice medicine, which usually consists of him conforming to indigenous expectations about ceremonial gestures and ritual actions (there's some cutting and cauterizing going on) while praying to the Catholic god to cure the people. Once he actually performs surgery to remove an old arrow. Cabeza de Vaca also uses his religious faith as a means of understanding his experience and as a possible motivation for getting the Spaniards to spend more time and energy settling the region. At the end of his captivity, when Cabeza de Vaca encounters Spaniards again, he seems estranged from them as well as from the native peoples with whom he's been living.

Popol Vuh translated by Dennis Tedlock

This book offers a translation of the Quiché alphabetic text of the Popol Vuh. I thought the introduction did a very intriguing job of explaining that the original book was actually more like a tool to be used by trained specialists, and what was written out in an alphabetic form was what one of those specialists might have said. The stories themselves were intriguing. I was particularly wondering how much indigenous contact with Catholics influenced the way the tales were told (especially with an immaculate conception story and a resurrection story) and how much these things are common to human imagination. There's also a large emphasis on twinning. I was intrigued by the way that humans took four tries to be created properly.

A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia by Thomas Harriot

This book, which reprints the 1589 edition, is a fascinating account of early colonial history in the Americas. It contains descriptions of the products that might be exported, the food that could sustain colonists, and ethnographic reports of the indigenous peoples. In addition to the first part of the book, which must be read partially as propaganda convincing people to come to the area, there are illustrations of the native people, done by John White (whose granddaughter Virginia Dare disappeared with the Roanoke colonists), and also some drawings of Picts (to show the savage roots from which British civilization had risen). All in all a lovely book. A bit difficult because it exactly reproduces typeface and spellings used in the original.

A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by Bartolomé de Las Casas

This book contains Las Casas's plea to the Spanish throne that they investigate and curtail the cruelties practiced by Spanish citizens on the native peoples of the Americas. Organized geographically first, and then chronologically, the book uses several rhetorical strategies to emphasize the mistakes, cruelties, and horrors the Spaniards have committed in the New World. The book at times details individual actions but denies its ability to recount all the horrors--it will either fall silent or say this example is but one of many. There's a point where Las Casas shows some of the natives' willingness to embrace the Christian religion when it isn't accompanied by violence and cruelty. Las Casas seems to attack these bad actions not only because they show the Spaniards to be more interested in gold than God (and thus leave Spain liable to divine retribution), but also because they are inhumane actions. At times, the book seemed a bit repetitive, but this repetition only drove home the horror of the conquest of the New World.