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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
crowley.stevenm has commented on (2) products
Writing On Drugs
by
Sadie Plant
crowley.stevenm
, January 07, 2011
A thoroughly uninspired and uninteresting treatment of a tremendously interesting topic. Prepare to be underwhelmed.
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The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics
by
Davenport-Hines, Richard
crowley.stevenm
, January 07, 2011
On the whole, this book is an informative and well-written survey on the history of drugs through the particular lens of western society. While such a broad take on drug history doesn't lend itself to easy organization, Davenport-Hines deserves credit for constructing an eminently readable and successful narrative centered around the social dimensions of the subject matter. For a casually interested reader, I would highly recommend it. For the more serious reader, the book does have some notable shortcomings, the most prominent of which is the absence of a bibliography. This could almost be overlooked, but for the fact that the endnotes are unfortunately sparse; there are a tremendous number of factual claims for which no citations are given. Even that might be overlooked if the writing established the author as factually reliable, but there are just enough errors in terminology, errors in transcription of quoted passages, and information of suspect credibility to make me wary. The subject of drugs is so prone to misinformation that I'm loathe to accept any information without due consideration of its source. I don't by any mean intend to imply that this is a poor book. I'm glad to have it on my bookshelf in spite of its shortcomings. Particularly in his treatment of the evolving apparatus of prohibition over the last few centuries, Davenport-Hines is both keenly incisive and timely in his analysis. In short, it's a worthwhile book whose shortcomings you may not even notice unless you're a particularly persnickety reader.
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