Bøker utgitt av University of California Press

"A comprehensive, thoughtful treatment of the time period before the crystallization of the ancient Greek city states."--William A. Parkinson, Curator and Professor, The Field Museum and University of Illinois at Chicago "An important and must-read account. The strength of this book lies in its close analysis of the important different regional characteristics and evolutionary trajectories of Greece as it transforms into the Archaic and, later, the Classical world."--David B. Small, author Ancient Greece: Social Structure and Evolution "This book reconfigures our understanding of early Greece on a regional level, beyond Mycenaean 'palaces' and across temporal boundaries rarely spanned in current scholarship. Knodell's sophisticated arguments enable a fresh reading of the emergence of early Greek polities, revealing the micro-regions that put to the test over-arching 'Mediterranean' models. His detailed study makes a convincing return to a comparative framework, integrating a 'small world' network and its trajectory with the larger picture of ancient complex societies. The last chapter, 'Why Early Greece Matters, ' offers a frank and refreshing look at what we can learn from ancient failures as well as successes, lessons that point us towards becoming better informed global citizens."--Sarah Morris, Steinmetz Professor of Classical Archaeology and Material Culture, University of California, Los Angeles

"An impressive and even revolutionary look at cultic groups. Lalich challenges fundamental assumptions on all sides of the debate about cults. She spent years as a member of the Democratic Workers Party and provides her readers with a revealing insider's view. To this, the author adds a much-needed comparative focus with her treatment of the Heaven's Gate suicides. The result is a theoretical breakthrough in the study of high commitment groups. Lalich's theory of 'bounded choice' is likely to reshape scholarly thinking for years to come about the dynamics of cult involvement and how and why people may act against their own self-interest in pursuit of higher causes."--E. Burke Rochford, Jr., author of Hare Krishna in America"Janja Lalich combines unusual empathy for true believers with broad and balanced scholarship and incisive interpretations of overall cultic behavior. Her work illuminates much that goes on not only in charismatic cults but in larger, destructive movements and extremist governments in our troubled world."--Robert Jay Lifton, author of Superpower Syndrome: America's Apocalyptic Confrontation with the World"At a time when politicized religion is rocking the world in often violent ways, this arresting study of totalizing ideological movements offers a new perspective. It revives the terms 'cult' and 'brainwashing, ' often discarded by social scientists, and gives them new meaning as descriptions of cultures of 'bounded choice.' This intriguing notion is applied to two quite different movements: the suicidal Heaven's Gate group and a radical American organization of young Marxists. This book is timely and certain to be widely discussed. But it cannot be easily dismissed-for its author is not only a sensitive social scientist but also a former member of one of the groups. Hence this book speaks with a voice of both thoughtful reason and gripping experience."--Mark Juergensmeyer, author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence