Synopses & Reviews
The attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 and the US government response, especially after the bombing of Afghanistan, transformed US and global politics.
Will the US-led war on terrorism rid the world of this scourge, or fuel the hatred and suffering on which it feeds?
Will the middle East and central Asia be stabilized once Afghanistan is reduced to rubble and starvation, or become a zone of enduring war?
Within the United States, will it bring about new forms of patriotism and solidarity, or provide a platform for intensified racism, new assaults on civil liberties, and on the living standards of ordinary Americans?
This book locates ongoing events in the aftermath of September 11 in historical context, analyzes their motive forces and possible outcomes, and examines the alternatives that face the anti-globalization movement and opponents of racism and war. The New Crusade sets out the main historical and political issues at stake clearly, accessibly, and comprehensively. It examines US policy in the middle East from the break-up of the Soviet Union, ongoing sanctions against Iraq, and the quest for a US oil pipeline from the former Soviet republics through Afghanistan; the ideology of the National Security State and its implications for global conflict; the nature of humanitarian interventions in the Third World; and the questions of international law raised by terrorism. It concludes with a fresh appraisal of the options facing us today.
Reflecting both deep knowledge of the region and the commitment and hands-on experience of a seasoned activist, Mahajan provides a powerful interpretation of events that will be decisive in the making of our time.
Review
"Interviews with top competitors and social dancers reveal the power that intimacy between partners can bring."-,Publishers Weekly
Review
"Mahajan writes clearly and in plain language and the book takes on directly the main issues surrounding the war."
-Educational Book Review
,
Review
"This wonderful combination of text and image results in a nuanced portrait of the performance of heterosexual intimacy in the "emotional labor of dance." For all audiences interested in the historical and social contexts surrounding ballroom dancing."-S. Ferzacca,CHOICE
Synopsis
Rumba music starts and a floor full of dancers alternate clinging to one another and turning away. Rumba is an erotic dance, and the mood is hot and heavy; the women bend and hyperextend their legs as they twist and turn around their partners. Amateur and professional ballroom dancers alike compete in a highly gendered display of intimacy, romance and sexual passion.
In Dance With Me, Julia Ericksen, a competitive ballroom dancer herself, takes the reader onto the competition floor and into the lights and the glamour of a world of tanned bodies and glittering attire, exploring the allure of this hyper-competitive, difficult, and often expensive activity. In a vivid ethnography accompanied by beautiful photographs of all levels of dancers, from the worlds top competitors to social dancers, Ericksen examines the ways emotional labor is used to create intimacy between professional partners and between professionals and their students, illustrating how dancers purchase intimacy. She shows that, while at first glance, ballroom presents a highly gendered face with men leading and women following, dancing also transgresses gender.
Synopsis
Click here to listen to Julia Ericksen's interview about Dance with Me on Philadelphia NPR's -Radio Times-
Rumba music starts and a floor full of dancers alternate clinging to one another and turning away. Rumba is an erotic dance, and the mood is hot and heavy; the women bend and hyperextend their legs as they twist and turn around their partners. Amateur and professional ballroom dancers alike compete in a highly gendered display of intimacy, romance and sexual passion.
In Dance With Me, Julia Ericksen, a competitive ballroom dancer herself, takes the reader onto the competition floor and into the lights and the glamour of a world of tanned bodies and glittering attire, exploring the allure of this hyper-competitive, difficult, and often expensive activity. In a vivid ethnography accompanied by beautiful photographs of all levels of dancers, from the world's top competitors to social dancers, Ericksen examines the ways emotional labor is used to create intimacy between professional partners and between professionals and their students, illustrating how dancers purchase intimacy. She shows that, while at first glance, ballroom presents a highly gendered face with men leading and women following, dancing also transgresses gender.
About the Author
Julia A. Ericksen is Professor of Sociology at Temple University and author of Kiss and Tell: Surveying Sex in the Twentieth Century and Taking Charge of Breast Cancer.