Textbook Review
Jan. 6th, 2010 08:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foolish_m0rtalReligion and Wine: A Cultural History of Wine Drinking in the United States
By Robert C. Fuller
Okay, what I think about this thing so far:
1) Nice book cover, designer man! Trendy, yet comfortably elegant. It kind of looks like the dummy covers they put on books that will eventually have another cover on top. But I've always liked those. Nice. Very nice.
2) A statement in the introduction really annoyed me. It basically said "This is the first book of its kind in the United States, so all you social scientists and religious experts should read this." Over-confident much? Just because it's the first of its kind doesn't mean it's GOOD. (Just look at Duchamp's Fountain.Not that I'm disrespecting Dada- Hannah Hoch is totally awesome) I don't believe you, Mr. Introduction writer. And I spotted at least two spelling errors even before hitting chapter three, dude.
I much preferred our other reading, where Robert Bolling basically said, "Sorry if I say wrong things. Hope you'll bear with me being a total freakjob and talking in Latin all the time." He was hi-LARIOUS for a guy from the 1700s. Read the companion post.
3) I like that the people of Amana had a night watch duty that all the men in the town had to fulfill. But everyone knew the job was boring as hell, so the other townspeople came up with extra food, and there was wine and some other dudes to keep you company. And even though the town was pretty religious, they allowed card playing in this instance. So basically it was like this great night watchmen party! AWE-some. It goes to show that even behind the strictest religious facade, Americans know how to party. I'll give them that.
4) WHY is it that the Judeo-Christian religions all assume that the 'heathen' religions all had mass orgies? Don't you guys just wish!
I mean, REALLY? Have they ever even MET Asians and Muslims? We can barely watch kissing on television. (I look away or make some excuses to go into the kitchen and make coffee) Obviously we are talking about some different heathens here.
Muslims, another gifted group of people who know how to party. (If you've ever been invited over for Eid, you totally know) I think Muslims bring a classiness to exuberant partying that perhaps other countries need to work on. Take notes, my forehead-beer-can-crushing American friends.
5) Jeez, how did wine ever get STARTED in any civilization?
It takes special kind of grapes, not the table grapes that we eat on a regular basis either! It takes seven years alone for a newly planted grape vine to bear fruit. And that's not even counting in all the risk of bugs and mold and everything. And then it takes forever to ferment, and then they store it. I don't know HOW people thousands of years ago had the patience.
I would just be like, "Me is hungry. Me want food NAO!" *grab grapes off the vine and stuff them into mouth* "OM NOM." (perhaps we should re-evaluate our definition of heathen here?)
The grapes wouldn't even have the chance to be squashed into juice, let alone wine. Unless they were crushed in my tummy. ^_^
6) I feel sorry for all these Eurpoean types they keep shipping over to America so they can help the colonials grow wine. Like, SPECIFICALLY just to grow wine for them. It's like, every time there's a vinyard established, all the colonials cry, "Oh no, fetch the German or the Frenchman or the Italian!"
If I were a European, I would just be like, "Hey, screw you guys. I'm not slaving away to grow any freakin' grapes over in Choleraville."
7) I want to create a new grape hybrid and name it Khan Noonien Singh. Because it's the Grapes of Wrath and the Wrath of Khan, so obviously it's the Grapes of Khan. And when people drank it, it would be so good and they would yell, "KHAAAAAN!" and wave the bottle. And the birds outside would sing, and a spot of sunlight would come down upon you from the sky.
But then you'd realise it's a tractor becon, and it would take you away. And that would be bad times, and your friends would all go on without you and probably marry your girlfriend and run up your debts, or something.
Um...
I've been reading too much Hark a Vagrant and Dr. McNinja. I'm gonna go eat something...
By Robert C. Fuller
Okay, what I think about this thing so far:
1) Nice book cover, designer man! Trendy, yet comfortably elegant. It kind of looks like the dummy covers they put on books that will eventually have another cover on top. But I've always liked those. Nice. Very nice.
2) A statement in the introduction really annoyed me. It basically said "This is the first book of its kind in the United States, so all you social scientists and religious experts should read this." Over-confident much? Just because it's the first of its kind doesn't mean it's GOOD. (Just look at Duchamp's Fountain.Not that I'm disrespecting Dada- Hannah Hoch is totally awesome) I don't believe you, Mr. Introduction writer. And I spotted at least two spelling errors even before hitting chapter three, dude.
I much preferred our other reading, where Robert Bolling basically said, "Sorry if I say wrong things. Hope you'll bear with me being a total freakjob and talking in Latin all the time." He was hi-LARIOUS for a guy from the 1700s. Read the companion post.
3) I like that the people of Amana had a night watch duty that all the men in the town had to fulfill. But everyone knew the job was boring as hell, so the other townspeople came up with extra food, and there was wine and some other dudes to keep you company. And even though the town was pretty religious, they allowed card playing in this instance. So basically it was like this great night watchmen party! AWE-some. It goes to show that even behind the strictest religious facade, Americans know how to party. I'll give them that.
4) WHY is it that the Judeo-Christian religions all assume that the 'heathen' religions all had mass orgies? Don't you guys just wish!
I mean, REALLY? Have they ever even MET Asians and Muslims? We can barely watch kissing on television. (I look away or make some excuses to go into the kitchen and make coffee) Obviously we are talking about some different heathens here.
Muslims, another gifted group of people who know how to party. (If you've ever been invited over for Eid, you totally know) I think Muslims bring a classiness to exuberant partying that perhaps other countries need to work on. Take notes, my forehead-beer-can-crushing American friends.
5) Jeez, how did wine ever get STARTED in any civilization?
It takes special kind of grapes, not the table grapes that we eat on a regular basis either! It takes seven years alone for a newly planted grape vine to bear fruit. And that's not even counting in all the risk of bugs and mold and everything. And then it takes forever to ferment, and then they store it. I don't know HOW people thousands of years ago had the patience.
I would just be like, "Me is hungry. Me want food NAO!" *grab grapes off the vine and stuff them into mouth* "OM NOM." (perhaps we should re-evaluate our definition of heathen here?)
The grapes wouldn't even have the chance to be squashed into juice, let alone wine. Unless they were crushed in my tummy. ^_^
6) I feel sorry for all these Eurpoean types they keep shipping over to America so they can help the colonials grow wine. Like, SPECIFICALLY just to grow wine for them. It's like, every time there's a vinyard established, all the colonials cry, "Oh no, fetch the German or the Frenchman or the Italian!"
If I were a European, I would just be like, "Hey, screw you guys. I'm not slaving away to grow any freakin' grapes over in Choleraville."
7) I want to create a new grape hybrid and name it Khan Noonien Singh. Because it's the Grapes of Wrath and the Wrath of Khan, so obviously it's the Grapes of Khan. And when people drank it, it would be so good and they would yell, "KHAAAAAN!" and wave the bottle. And the birds outside would sing, and a spot of sunlight would come down upon you from the sky.
But then you'd realise it's a tractor becon, and it would take you away. And that would be bad times, and your friends would all go on without you and probably marry your girlfriend and run up your debts, or something.
Um...
I've been reading too much Hark a Vagrant and Dr. McNinja. I'm gonna go eat something...
