Fwd: Which Way to Mecca?

[Owen Densmore]

Joe and I have been chatting about two articles, below, in the NY
Review of Books by Clifford Geertz, see included picture.

Clearly a madman, Geertz digested > 50 books on the topic of the middle
east and teased out the core ideas of them .. analyzing them as an
ethnographer, which he is.  Now that I have been cleansed of my silly
formalisms and can go with the flow, so to speak, I find the writing
quite indefensibly interesting.  YMMV.

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Begin forwarded message:

> From: Owen Densmore <[hidden email]>
> Date: Fri Aug 8, 2003  3:19:53  PM America/Denver
> To: Joseph Spinden <[hidden email]>
> Subject: Which Way to Mecca?
>
> Hey, both are on-line!  Yea!
>
> http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16380
> http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16419
>
> Owen Densmore           451 Camino Don Miguel     Santa Fe, NM 87505
> Work: 505-983-6305      Cell: 505-570-0168        Home: 505-988-3787
> [hidden email] http://complexityworkshop.com http://backspaces.net
>
>

Owen Densmore           451 Camino Don Miguel     Santa Fe, NM 87505
Work: 505-983-6305      Cell: 505-570-0168        Home: 505-988-3787
[hidden email] http://complexityworkshop.com http://backspaces.net

[Roger Critchlow-2]

I especially liked this part in the second review, discussing Berman's
characterization of Islamism as totalitarianism:
----
Perhaps. It would be comforting to think so. Better, surely, a devil you
know. But the thought arises, as it does with Pipes and Schwartz, that
what is going on here is less an attempt to "understand Islam" than an
effort to describe it in such a way that an approach to dealing with it,
moral, necessary, clear, and proven, emerges of itself?one which, now
that we are the only Supergrand and the Force is really with us, should
prove quicker, less costly, and altogether more effective than it was
the first time around.
----
I also very much liked Geertz's volume of essays, Available Light.

-- rec --

Owen Densmore wrote:

> Joe and I have been chatting about two articles, below, in the NY Review
> of Books by Clifford Geertz, see included picture.
>
> Clearly a madman, Geertz digested > 50 books on the topic of the middle
> east and teased out the core ideas of them .. analyzing them as an
> ethnographer, which he is.  Now that I have been cleansed of my silly
> formalisms and can go with the flow, so to speak, I find the writing
> quite indefensibly interesting.  YMMV.
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Owen Densmore <[hidden email]>
>> Date: Fri Aug 8, 2003  3:19:53  PM America/Denver
>> To: Joseph Spinden <[hidden email]>
>> Subject: Which Way to Mecca?
>>
>> Hey, both are on-line!  Yea!
>>
>> http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16380
>> http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16419
>>
>> Owen Densmore           451 Camino Don Miguel     Santa Fe, NM 87505
>> Work: 505-983-6305      Cell: 505-570-0168        Home: 505-988-3787
>> [hidden email] http://complexityworkshop.com http://backspaces.net
>>
>>
>
> Owen Densmore           451 Camino Don Miguel     Santa Fe, NM 87505
> Work: 505-983-6305      Cell: 505-570-0168        Home: 505-988-3787
> [hidden email] http://complexityworkshop.com http://backspaces.net
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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