1 comments about Genealogies of Citizenship: Markets, Statelessness, and the Right to Have Rights (Cambridge Cultural Social Studies).

1. Reprinted by author from the Economic Sociology Section Newsletter of the American Sociological Association.
   
   In the course of the debates over the last few months about bailouts and tax cuts one familiar face has raised its head: the anti-statist conservative out to warn us that social provision is a helping hand onto the path to dependency and total lack of responsibility for the self. It's an argument so hackneyed that one is tempted to ignore it, but Margaret Somers' new book Genealogies of Citizenship frames such arguments as emblematic of a larger set of discourses about citizenship and statelessness, the perils and promise of the free market, and the possibilities of civil society. Somers' project is intended as a contribution to public sociology as well as a foundation for a new sociology of rights. An avowedly political book that rejects the binary of normative, ethically prescriptive scholarship and apolitical "empirical" social science, it is a clarion call for us to see how letting market logic colonize the state and civil society leads to "citizenship betrayed" and imperils the foundations of democracy. To take the place of hegemonic market logic she provides an ideal of democratic socially-inclusive citizenship rights that draws its power from a civil society strong enough to maintain a favorable balance of power between state, market, and citizens.
   A scholar of history, sociology, and law, Somers' looks back to Locke and Hobbes while remaining firmly focused on the present, especially the lessons to be learned from what she calls Hurricane Katrina's "unnatural disaster. Somers' main analytic mode is her "historical sociology of concept formation," which views concepts as socially-produced artifacts in need of historicization and reflexive examination. Substantively, three theorists are central to her project. Somers draws from Hannah Arendt's formulation of "the rights to have rights" to explain the perils of contractual citizenship, uses TH Marshall's idea of social citizenship, and employs Karl Polanyi's concepts of embeddedness and instituted process as the foundation for her entire attack on market-driven governance.
   Somers' central thesis is that society must be fearful of market fundamentalism, an "ideational regime" that sees free market logic as the best way to organize all other realms of social life as well as a political movement spreading the gospel of marketization. This marketization of the public sphere is problematic because then wealth is allowed to be converted into clout in civil society, resulting in the abrogation of social citizenship rights. Marketization is of particular concern for Somers' sociology of rights, because it leads to the contractualization of citizenship whereby rights become conditional upon quid pro quo exchange. Specifically, moral worth and equality are defined by participation in the work force. In a society where full employment is not guaranteed, this produces a superfluous and expendable population who become the internal stateless, denied recognition as moral equals and thus disavowed by the state designed to protect them. This redefinition of citizenship reveals the gravity of Arendt's "right to have rights," which asserts that viewing all members of a society as moral and social equals is a precondition of a democratic citizenship regime. Coupling this with Marshall's idea of social citizenship, leads Somers to promote a "citizenship livelihood" or a basic income right that replaces the social exclusion of poverty with the material foundation necessary for inclusion in civil society.
   Underpinning market fundamentalism according to Somers is social naturalism, which uses binary logic to define the natural as good and artifice as bad. This results in epistemological and ontological privilege for those allied with the nature side of the binary. Looking at what she calls "Anglo-American citizenship theory," Somers argues that through Locke's social contract the market is allied with the natural and the state with artifice, which leads to a strong anti-statist current and support for the market as the site of freedom. To take social naturalism's place Somers introduces the idea of historical institutionalism, which illustrates how phenomena only function when embedded in sets of rules and institutions that define that sphere at a particular time. This requires us to embrace artifice, especially the state, as necessary to secure the equal recognition necessary for the equal exercise of rights.
   Hurricane Katrina is Somers' central (and sobering) case study of how the contractualization of citizenship produces an intranational version of Arendt's "scum of the earth" by erecting internal boundaries contoured by race and class. She turns on its head any argument that Katrina was a "failure" of the state by recasting it as evidence of market fundamentalism's treacherous success in evacuating any sense of obligation in the state's relationship to its citizens. Somers describes the spectacle of the poor, people of color, and otherwise marginalized individuals stranded at the Superdome as a look behind a "thick curtain of denial" at the unemployed and underemployed were deemed expendable after by being blamed for their own poverty. While more privileged residents were able to flee the city, those whose citizenship contracts had been revoked were left to fend for themselves in the nasty and brutish conditions of New Orleans underwater. Efforts to deem this a "natural" disaster are rebutted by Somers, who takes these claims as an opening to thoroughly deconstruct the nature/artifice binary, which she sees as the base of the problems of statelessness and market fundamentalism.
   Somers' hangs her hopes for the slowing of market fundamentalism's colonizing efforts on civil society. She develops the idea of an architectonics of citizenship, where the state, market, and civil society are conceived as parties to a struggle in the public sphere over the site and direction of power. The character of any citizenship regime is determined by the history of those struggles. To create a strong democratic citizenship regime requires a reinvigoration and repoliticization of the public sphere so it can resume its function of buffering the state and civil society from the evangelizing efforts of the market. Through making this argument, Somers criticizes both Jurgen Habermas and Talcott Parsons for evacuating the public sphere of any real oppositional power by collapsing it with the market on the side of the private. She avers that only a public sphere of real debate and a civil society with enough strength to fight off interlopers can move us from a condition of "citizenship imperiled" to democratically-inclusive citizenship regimes. One of her basic prescriptions is that market logic must not be allowed to leave its restricted sphere, and only efforts by both the state and citizens can keep it at bay.
   While I generally was impressed by Somers' arguments and analysis, I found her concept of civil society a little underdeveloped in terms of content, specifically how tensions in that sector between ideologically different groups might be resolved. She does admit that there is a dark side to civil society where exclusionary and egalitarian groups must struggle for the position of dominant ethos, but it's never made clear exactly from where the proponents of market fundamentalism are launching their attacks. Are they headquartered in the market with forays into the state? What is market fundamentalists' relationship to civil society other than colonization? Her language of encroachment suggests the market is the home of market fundamentalism, which begs the question of the details of the interrelation of market, civil society, and the state. Somers is conscious that her architectonics of citizenship is a mere heuristic and each overlaps, but that same heuristic keeps her from confronting whether market fundamentalist proponents have any right to a place in the civil sphere, especially when they form a popular movement themselves. Arguing that the state must be involved in protecting the egalitarian and democratic ethos of civil society, she doesn't discuss just how popular yet possibly harmful groups will be allowed space in public debates while at the same time restrained to prevent a regression of civil society to a less robust character. Moreover, she doesn't outline how this will happen if those who are interested in a robust civil society are in the minority. This might merely be the legacy of a larger problem in social movement literature that doesn't tend to conceive of socially conservative mobilizations as social movements in the same way as progressive and Left groups, but it is a problem that must be resolved if her theories are to aid our practices. She provides a theoretical exposition of why society must protect civil society and the public sphere, but the details of that battle are left for others to determine.
   Some people might be taken aback by the political and ethically-prescriptive character of Somers' work, and those who hold to the politically disinterested model of social science may view it as an illegitimate line of inquiry that is not excused by admitting up front her political sympathies. For others, though, it will be warmly welcomed as the sort of politically engaged yet theoretically rigorous and complex scholarship for which they have been waiting. Somers' book serves as an exemplar of how to do work that cannot be pegged as either normative or empirical but that draws from both to create a nuanced understanding of theoretical and philosophical issues that set the terms of our current debates. Nonetheless, I wonder if this is really a work of a public sociology. The book is dense and draws on an array of concepts and ideas geared toward a professional audience, and its focus on historicization rather than practice makes it mostly a theoretical tome that may be unnerving to the "public." While everyone, especially policy makers, could benefit from this book, I'm unsure if it will actually find its way into their hands.
   Ultimately, though, it's a stellar analysis and one can only hope that in book it will circulate more widely than journal articles tend to. She provides a complex theoretical apparatus that can deal with political economy and citizenship, ontology and epistemology, and the present as well as the past. In our current state of crisis, Somers reminds us there is more to worry about than the state and the government - that any economic fix needs to stimulate a robust civil society built on substantive citizenship rights. Without one, the end of market "failures" and its dangerous fundamentalism is impossible.

5 comments about A Complete Guide to Heraldry.

1. I can not possibly imagine a more complete guide to Heraldry. This engaging book really brings you into the world of crests, family honor, and ancestry. It gives a comprehensive guide to all the symbols used, and their various meanings. If you are even remotely interested in Heraldry, pick this up today.



2. Good book - just wish it explained more simply and clearly - in a concise way - the symbols.



3. A.C.Fox-Davies:HERALDRY
   I already had a great respect for Mr.Fox-Davies, having two of his great books:THE ART of HERALDRY and HERALDRY-the magnificent pictorial archive for artists and designers. And I expected to learn quite a lot from the HERALDRY book.Guess,I was right.
   .The texts are very,very good,BUT,there are just too many unnecessary and detailed descriptions of British and Scotch Armory.Was it because Mr.Fox-Davies wanted to show off( with his long description of many personal Arms,which I doubt had any great interest for the general reader-mentioning only a few Im sure he could have got his point) or maybe,he was just carried away by his wish too make a good(fat)book?Nevertheless,Mr.Fox-Davies is among the VERY FEW experts who dared mention the painstakingly long and slow development of Armory,from Moses and the Scriptures onwards,explaining that it were first the personal signs and symbols which existed long before the Heraldry proper.And are still going strong,not as Arms,but LOGOTYPES of more or less famous brands.
   There is no" Deus-ex-Machina "Heraldry for Mr.Fox-Davies .It was a slow and painful process influenced by both the traditions and technology,development of society , classes and unfortunately.warfare..And I guess,Mr.Fox-Davies leans too much on the Crusades Myth,closed HELMETS etc..
   By the way,closed helmets existed long,long before the iron clad warriors ! Many of the drawings and other examples are very good,so that the small percentage of superfluous ones,do not play a significant role.All in all,for anyone willing to learn more,and think while reading the book,the number of lines and pages should not be tiring.It is satisfying to know that even in the days when the book first appeared,there was somebody who was NOT a stereotype,somebody who really loved the job and loved the knowledge he so willingly transferred to his readers.



4. A great resource to not only learn about the history and mechanics of heraldry, but also for inspiration for creating one's own coats of arms. I mainly picked this up to create heraldry for my strategy table top war game, but the historian in me enjoys it as well for scholarly purposes.



5. This was purchased as a birthday gift, and it was a big hit! My daughter liked it very much. She has done a lot of work looking into our family's history, and so this was very helpful to her.

No comments about The Making of Urban Europe, 1000-1994.

No comments about Lines Of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe.

1 comments about The Power of Kings: Monarchy and Religion in Europe, 1589 -1715.

1. Somewhere in this book Monod has a good point. The problem is that his writing is cryptic, and the point is hard to find. Even if you manage to do it, you will probably find that it was not worth the effort.

3 comments about Carolina Scots, An Historical and Genealogical Study of Over 100 Years of Emigration.

1. When I first ordered this book, it was for purely personal reasons. I was tracing hard to find ancestors; however, once the book arrived, I found myself engrossed in compelling reading. In fact, CAROLINA SCOTS is addictive, and I could not put it down until I had finished it.

   For the Highland genealogist, this is a must-read. For anyone interested in Scottish history or early-American history, this is a must-read. And, finally, for anyone who enjoys a story well-told and well-written, this is a must read.

   I'm waiting on Part II.




2. Helped me trace my wife's heritage back to Scotland. Since we live in the heart of Scots Carolina it all hits home. All Scottish genealogists will use this book. Very well written.



3. Doug Kelly has provided a much needed addition to the geneological arena with this 500 page work. If your family is from Carolina and of Scottish derivation, it is probably in here. The general history section is worth twice the price alone. A must have for even the part-time family history buff.

1 comments about The Paston Women: Selected Letters (Library of Medieval Women).

1. I learned so much reading the Paston letters. Women "manning" the castle and men shopping for spices and armour. Turned my previoius notions of women in this time period on end.

No comments about The Will to Survive: A History of Hungary.

5 comments about Eugenie: The Empress and Her Empire.

1. Desmond Stewart's biography does an excellent job of rehabilitating Eugenie's reputation. In earlier accounts, she has been portrayed as a vicious airhead, a bigoted zealot, or a clueless encumbrance on the Second Empire. Stewart's elegantly written, well-organized book shows Eugenie's strengths--her intuitive grasp of French politics, her social liberalism, and her dignified life in exile after the deaths of her husband and her only child. Stewart's research is impressive, and he provides a helpful Bonaparte genealogy as an appendix. I came away from this book with heightened respect for Eugenie and a much clearer sense of the historical importance of France's Second Empire and its legacies: the Suez Canal, the music of Waldteufel and Offenbach, the literary splendor of Flaubert and the Goncourts, as well as France's disastrous defeat by Prussia in 1870 and Eugenie and Napoleon III's ill-fated Mexican adventure. This book is an excellent introduction to Eugenie the woman and to the world of international diplomacy in the Victorian era.



2. I've always been interested in the lives of royal women, especially when I discover that they were more than just royal spouses or fashion plates. While such women as Elizabeth I of England, Mary of Scotland, and Catherine the Great of Russia have gotten plenty written about them, all too often, women with lesser notoriety tend to be forgotten or passed over by historians.
   
   One such woman was Eugenie, the Empress of Napoleon III of France. Author Desmond Seward, a long-time biographer of royalty, takes what at first appears to be a woman of little notice and turns her into someone to be reckoned with. At first I was rather skeptical, remembering that most of what I had read of Eugenie was that she was Spanish, a fashion setter who was known to have never worn the same evening gown twice and who was a patron of Worth, and that most of history regarded her as a conniving, bad woman who frittered life away. To say that I was in for a surprise was an understatement.
   
   Born Maria Eugenia Ignacia Augusta de Montijo , Eugenie grew up in an Europe that was going through revolutionary changes. Her father had fought with Napoleon's armies, and Eugenie soon developed a fascination with all things having to do with the Bonapartes . Clever, beautiful, and with the ability of being able to say the right thing in the right situation, Eugenie should have been wed quickly, but even after a tour of Europe with her wealthy mother didn't manage a good catch, and at twenty-three she was facing the prospect of spinsterhood. But it seems that Eugenie already had someone in mind -- the nephew of the formidable Napoleon, who had just managed to create himself Emperor of the French, by a coup-de-stat.
   
   Napoleon III, as he was known, was also charming, but also short, rather ugly, and inscrutable. An able politician, that side of his personality has been mostly overlooked for historians, focusing instead on his insatiable need for women, and his lack of military leadership. He was also an innate showman, knowing how to catch people's imagination, and able to push through schemes and ideas that most would never take seriously.
   
   Together, Napoleon and Eugenie formed a partnership that managed to survive for more than seventeen years, recreating Paris from an aging medieval slum to the magnificent City of Lights that we know today. Eugenie gave European fashion a chic flair with her patronage of the coutiere Worth, the artist Winterhalter, and her own innate sense of design.
   
   But there were also serious flaws to the couple as well -- Eugenie had a vicious temper, and one that got worse as it got older; Napoleon's infidelities drove her to jealous rages, especially after the difficult birth of her only child. For his own part, Napoleon backed the feeble attempt to turn Mexico into a monarchy, found himself embroiled in a war with Prussia and dwindled into history as a laughing stock. As for Eugenie, besides losing her throne, she would face a long, lonely exile from Paris that stretched to nearly fifty years, and was emotionally devastated by the loss of her only child at a young age.
   
   It's an intriguing look at a woman who was both villified and worshipped during her lifetime and afterwards, much as Marie Antoinette had been in an earlier generation. Indeed, Eugenie was fascinated by her predecessor, and would avidly collect any sort of memorabilia and objects that were associated with that unfortunate queen. In fact, Eugenie's life would eeriely echo that of Marie Antoinette in many ways, and she always lived in fear of the Parisian mob seeking to overthrow her.
   
   Despite the book being a bit light in treatment -- gossip is constantly recounted, and Seward often repeats himself -- this was an engaging, enlightening read. I had known very little about the Second Empire, and discovered that most of my preconceptions of this period were wrong. Seward draws on the memoirs, newspaper accounts and Eugenie's own letters and recollections for his source material. At just under three hundred pages, it's a quick read, and a good start to exploring this period of French history. A selection of engravings and photographs are included in a black-and-white insert, and there are copious notes and bibliography.



3. From the professional reviews, I had expected a well-written, scholarly book. This is neither. The writing is sometimes poor, and never eloquent or outstanding.
   
   The real problem, however, is the material. The portraits of Eugenie & Napoleon III are favorably one-sided. I don't feel as thought I could tell you the character of either after reading this book. Eugenie is impetuous is stated again & again but very few examples are given. Napoloen III is "pathologically secreative" but again no examples are given to support this statement. A very light-weight book.



4. I had very little knowledge on Eugenie other then she was Empress of France and lost her only child. I've never been interested much in Napoleon III's reign or his consort but decided to give this book a try. I was pleasently surprised by what I read. Like the Eugenie was Spanish or that she was probably a better politican then her husband. Eugenie went from being bascially a no body to Empress of France and only to end up in exile after her husband was defeated. It must have been heartbreaking to lose her only child. A wonderful bio.



5. capturing napoleon iii heart and becoming empress of france would lead you to think her life would be happy ever after.but eugenie had a difficult birth of her only child made made it dangerous for another child ending her sex life with husband who carry on affairs that cause her great angry and pain.she became a fashion plate ,but also put reforms to help the poor and disavantage of france.after fall of empire she lived in england for 50 years losting her husband and son.

1 comments about The Nobilities of Europe.

1. This book provides an interesting look at the European aristocracy, from a time when such people actually mattered. I think some of the categorizations are unusual, particularly the listing of many mediatized families of the former Holy Roman Empire under the category of the Hungarian nobility. I am not sure whether this was an error by the author, whether it was because the bulk of the families' land holdings were in fact in this administrative area of the Dual Monarchy, or whether they were technically members of the Hungarian Upper House and so were listed as part of that group. Aside from such details, this book is a worthy addition to the library of anyone who has an interest in the history of the nobility of Europe.