Western world celebrates the unre-
strained versions of capitalism that
Berger, a Marxist (on which he elabo-
rates in the essays), finds both horrifying
and dislocating. But, he points out,
Marxism predicted that capitalism will
have its day, and much of the deracina-
tion, human suffering and slavery inher-
ent to modern-day consumer culture
needs some sort of framework, some
sort of hope. Berger’s hope lies in paying
attention to the everyday and the ordi-
nary, what individuals go through trying to
find food for themselves and their chil-
dren, how violence disrupts lives from the
West Bank to London to Istanbul.
When I presented on Ways of Seeing
in a freshman art history seminar, one
classmate freaked out at the suggestion
that lust for things might lead to exploita-
tion. So it is with Hold Everything Dear:
Some critics have reacted with disdain for
Berger’s honoring of Palestinian lives, as
if talking about the horrors of occupied
life somehow means the speaker cares
nothing for Israelis or the history of anti-
Semitism. Nor do his attempts to justify
suicide bombing help on that front. But in
general, the last thing Berger wants to do
is dehumanize anyone; his slow, allusive
essays build a picture of someone who
loves others with depth and a commit-
ment to a better world. It’s easy to dis-
agree with Berger, but his ideas in this
book deserve attention. — Suzi Steffen
Reading For Pleasure
THE HUMBLE LITTLE CONDOM: A
HISTORY by Aine Collier. PROMETHEUS BOOKS, 2007.
PAPERBACK, $18.95.
What weighs less than a quarter,
comes in a rainbow of fruit flavors and
could save your life? A condom, of
course! Historian, educator and literary
damsel Aine Collier has stretched the
rubbery boundaries
of
high
school
health-class knowl-
edge that limit most
people’s prophylac-
tic familiarity in her
historical overview,
The Humble Little
Condom. Readable
as either a flip-
through, sidebars-and-pictures experi-
ence or as a linear journey from ancient
Egypt to the present state of sheathly
affairs, Collier’s book entertains as it
enlightens, capturing a tone that honors
the serious relevance of these little
devices while at the same time acknowl-
edging the fun and spicy nature of the
acts for which they are designed.
A few little-known facts: Malcolm X
supported himself during the Depression
by selling condoms at local Boston dance
halls; prior to the use of latex, condoms
were secured by a little pink ribbons
woven around the open edge; a British
company is currently piloting an erection-
enhancing Viagra condom, designed to
reduce whining from “decreased sensa-
tion” camps. But far from being a collec-
tion of condom trivia, this book tells rich
and detailed stories about the people
who made and sold condoms, the people
who used condoms and the people who
thought no one should use condoms.
From the days of papyrus and animal
bladder sheaths to the AIDS crisis, the
humble little condom has been with us a
very long time and witnessed a cross sec-
tion of history that many people, even
today, are too shy to talk about.
What this book ultimately reveals is
that a history of contraception and dis-
ease prevention is, in fact, a highly inti-
mate human history, encompassing
issues of gender, sexuality, morality, class,
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religion, law, medicine, social movements;
the list goes on and on. Collier’s wit
imbues The Humble Little Condom with
enough wink-nudge humor to keep it
highly readable, but it is her intellectual
rigor that gives the book its magnificent
scope and depth, making it a special and
decidedly recommended bit of winter
reading. — Adrienne van der Valk
Let Them Lead the Way
A LONG WAY GONE: MEMOIRS
OF A BOY SOLDIER by Ishmael
Beah. FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX, 2007. HARDCOVER, $22. A NEW YORK
TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2007.
No matter how much you’ve read or
watched about child soldiers, Ishmael Beah’s
memoir will chill your blood. To quote the
book’s blurb, “This is how wars are fought
now: by children, traumatized, hopped-up on
drugs, and wielding AK-47s.” Jesus.
Not that Jesus, or anyone else who
might care or offer aid, seems much in evi-
dence as Beah’s life in Sierra Leone col-
lapses during a war that sweeps every-
thing away — family, friends, villages, every-
thing. Neighboring Liberia and Guinea also
get sucked into the conflict, which began in
1991, when Beah was 11, and theoretical-
ly ended in 2002 with a truce. For a time,
Beah and other boys he met as he ran
from his destroyed village escaped being
recruited either by the rebels (RUF) or the
government forces. Both sides used child
soldiers heavily, relying on drugs, random
violence and calculated psychological con-
trol to keep the youth violent at the desired
times. The government gets Beah first. He
describes how he started taking “white
capsules” that gave him energy and sniff-
ing “brown brown” (cocaine mixed with
gunpowder) while learning to shoot, to
crawl through the forest, to kill on com-
mand. And there were other training meth-
ods: “We watched movies at night. War
movies: Rambo: First Blood, Rambo II,
Commando, and so on … We all wanted to
be like Rambo; we couldn’t wait to imple-
ment his techniques.” Because time
eclipsed for him while he was in this
drugged state, it’s hard to follow exactly
what occurred to him, but his narrative isn’t
just about his experiences at war.
He and other government army boys
were taken into Freetown by UNICEF,
which was trying to rehabilitate child sol-
diers. That proved massively challenging,
but Beah’s own healing began when a
nurse brought him some cassettes and a
Walkman. Soon, he was speaking at inter-
national conferences on child soldiers, but
fighting broke out in the capital, and he
barely escaped the country when he was
18. This memoir of his life provides horri-
fying examples of what happens when
arms traffic meets the diamond trade and
when adults let go of the humanity that
should keep children safe. — Suzi Steffen
IMAGINE
the Eugene Artisans Gallery
20 LOCAL
ARTISTS
M ANA D ESIGNS
5th Street Public Market | 2nd Level Courtyard | 344-1844
DECEMBER 13, 2007
27