|
|
Title: The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All
Purchase
Item
Manufacturer: University of California Press
List Price: $24.95
Our Price: $8.00
|
|
| Customer Reviews: |
| The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All by University of California Press Quirky But Clever | I picked up Peter Linebaugh's Magna Carta Manifesto expecting an historical tour of the Magna Carta's influence on Western political-legal development over the intervening centuries. There was enough of that, but one mostly gets instead a non-fiction acid trip through forest culture and the meadows of Runneymeade, New York City on a good day.
Linbaugh's argument is true brilliance, if less-than-perfectly coherent: that despite the universal rhetorical reverence in which the Magna Carta is held, Western governments have never truly embraced the spirit of that great document, and continue to defy its most important articles through the eradication of customary economic rights (as embodied in the English "common") and prolonged (if interrupted) history of usurpations against the liberties of those out-of-favor. His proof is obvious, so Linebaugh respects the reader by withholding much of it, devoting himself primarily to context instead. It's a tour of the arts and humanities, with hard truths carved into monuments, captured on canvas, exposed and encrypted through poetry, poetry, and poetry. The tone is socialistic, the flavor is utopian, as though truth really does set one free. Here is a book about justice; let it enhance your mind. | | The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All by University of California Press A truly brilliant statement of a key issue of our times | This is a wonderful book that makes immense sense read alongside Karl Polanyi's "the Great Transformation", the masterpiece of political economy written in the 1940's.
I find Linebaugh's approach to these issues, viewing the use of law "social contracts" and constitutions through a lense rooted squarely in history and political-economy both instructive and fascinating. I myself had never given much time to pondering the "Magna Carta" idea or considering its implications for a liberating political-economy but this book explores these issues exceptionally well.
A former instructor of mine at Bosphorus University, Dr. Huricihan slamolu,actually more-or-less pioneered the field of "political economy of law" but this work is very much in the same vein and is an outstanding contribution to the analysis and solution of one of the key issues we face today; the struggle to preserve and extend the "commons" against the all-consuming transformation being wrought on society by unrestrained (or rather, "barely restrained")private power.
I thoroughly recommend this book for anyone interested in social justice and the struggle for a more humane world. | | The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All by University of California Press the US citizen needs to know this history | The issue of "LIberties and Commons" is very much up in the world right now. This is a dry, but well done
history of the Magna Carta. The passage from Olde England to private property England, and across the ocean to the pre-revolutionary USA. And now, world-wide, we are back to the issue of Commons and Private Property.
Very relevant. Who are the contemporary Robin Hoods? The Kings? The Sherriffs? And who wants to join up with the Merry Band? | | The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All by University of California Press A Little Marxism, Anyone? | Linebaugh (yes, its not "Limbaugh") does some good, and some other stuff as well. His basic, and welcome contribution is to emphasize the seldom noticed "Charter of the Forests," the little brother of the Magna Carta, which deserves more attention.
Linebaug's disservice is seeing everything through "commoning" lenses, i.e., communist theory. If you, like me, don't read much Marxist revisionism, you will have a weary time plowing through all the references to "imminent" communists (largely unknown to me), who seem to have more ways of cooking the same communal stuff than Italian chefs have for preparing pasta.
And the distraction is regretable because it obscures an important point: since the time of William the Conquerer the way we have contolled and organized the economic use of land has been one of the central formative factors in the development of Western Civilization - if Western Civilization matters to progressive intellectuals any more.
Linebaugh sees nothing but goodness in "commoning" but I wondered how he would react if I "commoned" his car or his house or his library. | | The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All by University of California Press Product Description | | This remarkable book shines a fierce light on the current state of liberty and shows how longstanding restraints against tyranny--and the rights of habeas corpus, trial by jury, and due process of law, and the prohibition of torture--are being abridged. In providing a sweeping history of Magna Carta, the source of these protections since 1215, this powerful book demonstrates how these ancient rights are repeatedly laid aside when the greed of privatization, the lust for power, and the ambition of empire seize a state. Peter Linebaugh draws on primary sources to construct a wholly original history of the Great Charter and its scarcely-known companion, the Charter of the Forest, which was created at the same time to protect the subsistence rights of the poor. |
Apple Strategy Announcement
CARS: “After weeks of outcry from customers and the press about the company’s apparent lack of action concerning a growing Internet phenomenon, Apple has finally announced its strategy for lolcats.”
Fri, 22 Jun 2007 05:38:40 GMT
|
The Apple Press interview about the iPhone
The Apple Press: “As WWDC comes to a close we went ahead and asked Brent Simmons, creator of NetNewsWire, about his opinions in regards to the iPhone and his reaction to Steve Jobs’ controversial 3rd party application announcement.”
Of course, I want badly to develop for the iPhone, but I understand that things happen in steps, and Apple doesn’t necessarily know this will all end up. So I’m cool with it.
Sat, 16 Jun 2007 00:44:38 GMT
|
Microsoft Celebrates Sale of 100th Zune
CARS: “According to a press release issued by the company today, its 100th Zune was sold to 13-year-old Dieter Ebersbacher in Shreveport, Illinois, and is a sign of its success in the marketplace.”
Thu, 12 Apr 2007 04:36:32 GMT
|
Completion Dictionary 4.0
Objective Development: “Completion Dictionary is a free Xcode plugin that enhances Xcode’s built in code completion mechanism. You simply type a few letters, either the abbreviation of a macro or the initials of a symbol name, and press the completion shortcut.”
Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:40:20 GMT
|
A Tour of Microsoft's Mac Lab
David Weiss: “Often when we have press events or special visits from our MVPs I’ll give them a tour of the Mac Lab and explain what we do. They’ve always found it very interesting and so I thought I’d share a virtual tour of our Mac Lab.”
Thu, 20 Apr 2006 20:48:30 GMT
|
MarsEdit 1.1: universal, and shipping!
 MarsEdit 1.1 is out of beta, shipping today!
It’s a universal binary—it runs on Intel Macs as well as PowerPC Macs. It has a bunch of other new features, including support for Technorati tags, enclosures, titles for Blogger weblogs, date editing, and easy text filters support. Here’s what’s new in MarsEdit 1.1.
You can download it from the MarsEdit home page. It costs $24.95, and is available bundled with NetNewsWire for $39.95. And it’s a free upgrade for current MarsEdit users.
Also see the press release for more information and quotes.
Tue, 10 Jan 2006 19:09:50 GMT
|
PunchOut 1.0 for Tiger
Bare Bones Software: “Bare Bones Software today announced the forthcoming release of PunchOut, a new integrated backup system which safely records critical user data onto a durable backup medium... The new Advanced Prioritized Retrieval Integration Layer engine uses Spotlight in conjunction with a naive Bayesian reverse classifier to analyze stored data in real time.”
Sat, 02 Apr 2005 01:41:53 GMT
|
NetNewsWire Press Release
“Ranchero Software proudly announces the release of NetNewsWire 1.0.” Etc.
Wed, 12 Feb 2003 23:40:59 GMT
|
GTK for OS X
OSXFAQ: “GTK+OSX has released a native Macintosh Aqua port of the Linux-based GTK+ open source graphical user interface library.” This should make porting Linux apps to OS X easier.
Tue, 31 Dec 2002 20:54:02 GMT
|
The Do’s and Don’ts of Shareware, Part 3
O’Reilly: “Today we conclude the series with a discussion about press releases, payment processing, user support, a launch checklist, localization, and working from the road.”
Sat, 26 Oct 2002 00:10:57 GMT
|
The Do’s and Don’ts of Shareware, Part 1
O’Reilly: “I’ll be facilitating open and frank discussions about sales percentages, servers, coding styles, tools, Web sites, mirrors, sales engines, installers, registrations, support, press releases, marketing, database back-ends, localization. I’ll even come up with a checklist for your first release. Just about everything you’ll need to consider before shipping your product will be discussed right here.”
Mon, 30 Sep 2002 22:18:21 GMT
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
