Reading Response - Book Report/Review Example

Reading Response This paper attempts to provide critical response for two literary works ly ‘Contested Hegemony: The Great War and the Afro-Asian Assault on the Civilizing Mission Ideology’ and ‘Post modernism and Periphery’. Contested Hegemony“In the decades before the Great War, white European males reached the pinnacle of their power and global influence.” (p.36). Being based on English history, the article provided a sound reflection of their impression the British rule laid on the cultural aspects of African and Asian nations.

This particular line depicts the way the First World War impacted the European nations. However, reading the article I didn’t seem to be interested in the topic and my interest was further distorted by the difficult explanatory tactic applied by the author. It seems the article is formulated taking into consideration the historical documentation style. But since the period before and after the First World War did brought up drastic changes on the globe, the article provided me a quite wide picture on the era.

So overall I initially resisted to read the article but with the progression in reading I started comprehending it and the style was no more naïve to me to understand. One more example of the artistic explanation of historical events can be seen in the following line in which the author exemplifies the strength of European males.“Industrialized Western nations would provide monetary and machine capital and entrepreneurial and managerial skills, while formally colonized and informally dominated overseas territories would supply the primary products, cheap labor, and abundant land that could be developed byWestern machines, techniques, and enterprise.” (p.36-37)Post Modernism and Periphery The article is based on the logics behind the universal endorsement of the phenomenon of enlightenment and moderation.

The author has provided sound arguments regarding the basis of this modernism phenomenon and has linked it with the global economical changes like industrial revolution and others. For example as evidenced in the given line (p.351),“The principles of modernity generate specific representations of society by means of bureaucratic and technological networks which incorporate institutional practices into an overall scheme.”The author explains the fundamental basis of the modernism phenomenon and explains its fabrication within the society.

The author has been sound in her claims and provided various justifications for her argument. Another example of her logical explanation is as follows.“• Postniodmrnism introduces a highly ambigurnis set of co-ordinates into the wornoout context of modemnity which has programmed backwardness - the province - inorder to re-integrate it more readily into itt framework of global nsu tion.” (p.355).It can thus be concluded that both documents are well written and the authors have done a great attempt in explaining the subject with various logical examples.

Works CitedAdas, Michael. “Contested Hegemony: The Great War and the Afro-Asian Assault on the Civilizing Mission Ideology.” Journal of World History, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Mar., 2004), pp. 31-63. Print.Riahard, Nelly. Postmodernism and Periphery” in Theory in Contemporary Art Since 1985, edited by Zoya Kocur and Simon Leung. pp.351-359. © 2005 Blackwell Publishing. Print.