Books I Recommend

Andrew Schulman
Last updated July 28, 1998

Western Images of the Third World

Errant Journeys: Adventure Travel in a Modern Age by David Zurick (U. of Texas Press, 1995). "Adventure travel" and "ecotourism" contribute to Disneyfication of the world.
Answering Chief Seattle by Albert Furtwangler (U. of Washington Press, 1997). The 20th century uses and distortions of Chief Seattle's famous 1887 speech.
Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West by Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (U. of Chicago Press, 1998). In-depth examinations of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, T. Lobsang Rampa's The Third Eye, "Om mani padme hum" (including its use on the web), and more.
Curators of the Buddha: The Study of Buddhism under Colonialism edited by Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (U. of Chicago Press, 1995). Includes essays on Zen (especially D.T. Suzuki) and Japanese nationalism during WWII, on Carl Jung's use of Indian images, and more.
Zen at War by Brian Victoria (Weatherhill, 1997). The relationship of Zen Buddhists to the Japanese state, especially during WWII.

The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism by Thomas Frank (U. of Chicago Press, 1997). By the editor of The Baffler ("The magazine that blunts the cutting edge").
No Respect: Intellectuals and Popular Culture by Andrew Ross (Routledge, 1989).
Bread and Circuses: Theories of Mass Culture as Social Decay by Patrick Brantlinger (Cornell U. Press, 1983).
If You've Seen One, You've Seen the Mall: Europeans and American Mass Culture by Rob Kroes (U. of Illinois Press, 1996).
Left Intellectuals and Popular Culture in Twentieth-Century America by Paul R. Gorman (U. of North Carolina Press, 1996).
Spectacular Nature: Corporate Culture and the Sea World Experience by Susan G. Davis (U. of California Press, 1997). An in-depth look at the commodification of Shamu the whale.

The New Age Movement: The Celebration of the Self and the Sacralization of Modernity by Paul Heelas (Blackwell, 1996).
The Channeling Zone: American Spirituality in an Anxious Age by Michael F. Brown (Harvard U. Press, 1997).
Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today by Margot Adler (Penguin, 1997). Includes good discussions of the science-fiction roots of some of these movements.
Persuasions of the Witch's Craft: Ritual Magic in Contemporary England by T.M. Luhrmann (Harvard U. Press, 1989). Asks – and tries to seriously answer – question "How can people believe this stuff?"

The Consequences of Modernity by Anthony Giddens (Stanford U. Press, 1990). Includes good discussions of how modernity requires vague trust in "experts," and how this vague trust in turn generates mystery and irrationality.
Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age by Anthony Giddens (Stanford U. Press, 1991).
The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism by Colin Campbell (Blackwell, 1989). Insatiable wants, daydreaming, and their relationship to the Gothic novel.