African American lives [videorecording] / a film by Kunhardt Productions ; executive producers, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., William R. Grant, Peter W. Kunhardt ; written by Henry Louis Gates. Jr. ; series producers, Graham Judd, Leslie D. Farrell ; a production of Kunhardt Productions, Inc. and Thirteen/ WNET New York.
Material type:
FilmPublisher number: 705179 | PBS Home VideoPublication details: [Alexandria, Va.] : PBS Home Video ; Hollywood, Calif. : Distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment, [2006]Edition: Widescreen formatDescription: 1 DVD (approximately 240 min.) : sound, color and black and white ; 4 3/4 inContent type: - two-dimensional moving image
- video
- videodisc
- 1415716943
- African American lives (Television program)
- Music, Michael Bacon.
| Item type | Current library | Collection | Shelving location | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DVD | Phillipsburg Free Public Library | DVDs | New Movies | DVD 929.20973 AFR | Available | 36748002526046 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Benjamin Schreier is suspicious of a simple equation of cynicism with quietism, nihilism, selfishness, or false consciousness, and he rejects the notion that modern cynicism represents something categorically different from the classical outlook of Diogenes. He proposes, instead, that cynicism names the difficult position of not being able to recognize the relevance of democratic social norms in the future and yet being nonetheless invested in the power of these norms to determine cultural identity and to regulate social practices. In his readings of Henry Adams's Education, Willa Cather's The Professor's House, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and Nathanael West's Miss Lonelyhearts, the author affirms that cynicism is an important and underappreciated current in mainstream modern American literature. He finds that, far from the simple selfishness or apathy for which it is so often dismissed, the cynicism in these texts is suffused by a desire for the certainty promised by norms such as national teleology, ethnic identity, and civic participation. But without faith in the relevance of these regulating terms, cynics lack ready accounts of America and of their place in it. Schreier's focus is not only on the cynical characters in the texts but also on the textual and epistemological strategies used to render normative narratives recognizably legitimate in the first place. In his refusal to historicize cynicism away with generalized claims about American society, Schreier argues instead that cynicism stages an unanswerable challenge to the specific expectations through which normative accounts of history become visible.
The Power of Negative Thinking makes a vital and wide-ranging contribution to our understanding of American literature, intellectual and cultural history, philosophy, ethics, and politics. Schreier's close reading and his vigorous theoretical examination of analytical first principles combine to make a book that is valuable not only to the study of methodology but also to the scrutiny of the very assumptions the humanities bring to the exploration of the way we think.
Originally broadcast as a four-part television series in 2006.
Listening to our past / producer and director, Jesse Sweet; editors, Eric Davis, Michael Weingrad -- Promise of freedom / producer and director, Leslie Asako Gladsjo ; editors, Joanna Kiernan, Geeta Gandbhr -- Searching for our names / producer and director, Leslie D. Farrell; editors, Merril Stern, Kathryn Moore -- Beyond the middle passage / producer and director, Graham Judd; editors, Kate Hirson, Stefan Knerrich.
Music, Michael Bacon.
Host: Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; features Oprah Winfrey, Chris Tucker, Quincy Jones, Sara-Lawrence-Lightfoot, Mae Jemison, T.D. Jakes, Ben Carson, Whoopi Goldberg.
A compelling combination of storytelling and science, this series uses genealogy, oral histories, family stories and DNA to trace roots of several accomplished African Americans down through American history and back to Africa.
Not rated.
DVD, region 1; NTSC; stereo, Enhanced for 16 X 9 televisions.
Closed-captioned.