Month: April 2013

Author: Kelly Pemberton Series Editor: Frederick M. Denny: Studies in Comparative Religion Publisher: University of South Carolina Press Book Review by: Laxmi Chaandi Sufism, according to Wikipedia, is defined by its adherents the Sufis as “the inner mystical dimension of Islam. Sufis consider themselves as the original true proponents of this pure original form of Islam. They are strong adherents to the principles of tolerance, peace and pacifism.” Surprisingly, Sufism is also defined by some as a “science”. Classical Sufi scholars have defined Sufism as “a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away...

Author: Sonia Cancian Publisher: University of Manitoba Press (through Michigan State University Press) Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram This collection of letters between seven Italian couples / family members and their loved ones who left their homeland and migrated to Canada forms the basis of this book, which started out as a dissertation for a PhD in Humanities for the author Sonia Cancian. She was enrolled at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture at Concordia University in Montreal. Included in this work are family photos taken in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, underscoring the fact that...

Author: Sylvia A. Pamboukia Publisher: Ohio University Press Book Review by: Deekay Daulat Medicine in Britain in the nineteenth century had a large and complex marketplace in which there were breakthrough products and practices: devices such as the stethoscope, pharmaceuticals such as ether, and services such as antisepsis (relief from sepsis or a toxic bacterial infection). At the same time, there were also compounds such as those made of arsenic and practices such as “water cures” that were widespread and popular, but of questionable value. These were marketed by trained and untrained, licensed and unlicensed people. It became difficult...

Authors: Christopher Armstrong and H.V. Nelles Publisher: University of Calgary Press – 160 pages Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram How do you select art to feature in a collection like Painted Valley created over a period of more than a century and a half, from 1845 to 2000? That would be an almost impossible task for anyone, but Christopher Armstrong and H.V. Wells, who describe themselves as environmental historians rather than art critics, have done exactly that. Let us find out what criteria, filters and screens they used even if purely subjective in nature, to choose the 80 items...

Editor: Lucian Niemeyer Publisher: University of Missouri Press – 178 pages Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram Photography had its origins in the 1790s and evolved into different means of imaging, then developing those images into prints. What Walter Schneider used was the collodion or wet-plate process, which began in the early 1950s and had followed the earlier daguerreotype method. Walter Schneider started taking photographs as a teenager in 1898 when his father gifted him a camera and tripod. The year before, his Uncle George had interested him in the craft and showed him how to use the camera to...