Wilton S. Dillon's Books

Gifts and Nations

The Obligation to Give, Receive and Repay

By: Wilton S. Dillon

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Gifts and Nations

The Obligation to Give, Receive and Repay

By: Wilton S. Dillon

What can men in industrial nations learn from their "primitive" contemporaries, and the habits of earlier civilizations? This book by acclaimed cultural anthropologist Wilton S. Dillon suggests that modern political, religious, and scientific communities--and alliances--would be enhanced greatly if we understood how gift exchange and reciprocity helped to balance earlier institutions and societies.Using the example of the gift behavior of France and the United States during the Marshall Plan period, Gifts and Nations examines the troubles that arise between donors and recipients when a generous donor remains innocent of the recipient's desire to give back things or ideas to which both attach value. Such innocence may produce what the author calls "the Gaullist effect"--a quest for self-esteem, autonomy, and initiative by a person, or a nation, who feels burdened and controlled by undischarged obligations.Gifts and Nations is very much an historical footnote to the rise of PaxAmericana--the American empire having been launched in 1898, enlarged in the aftermath of World War II and the Cold War, and now the subject of global debate. This volume emphasizes that building coalitions and keeping alliances strong require multi-lateralism based on reciprocity.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

156

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351517546

ISBN 13

9781351517546

Smithsonian Stories

Chronicle of a Golden Age, 1964-1984

By: Wilton S. Dillon

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Smithsonian Stories

Chronicle of a Golden Age, 1964-1984

By: Wilton S. Dillon

Why is the Smithsonian more than the "Nation's Attic?" Or more than a museum complex? As Wilton S. Dillon shows, the Smithsonian came to be the institution we know today under the twenty-year leadership of "Sun King" S. Dillon Ripley.Ripley aspired to reinvent the Smithsonian as a great university?with museums. Although little understood by the public at large, it began as a basic research center. The Smithsonian remains a key contributor to the world of higher learning and functions diplomatically as the ministry of culture for the United States. Dillon provides backstage insights into Ripley's quest for the wholeness of knowledge. He describes how he inspired its role as a "theater of ideas as well as artifacts." Under his tutelage, the National Mall became a playground for world intelligentsia, an "intellectual free trade zone" in the shadow of the nation's political capital.Dillon reminds us that interdisciplinary, international Smithsonian symposia foreshadowed twenty-first-century issues and trends. His descriptions of the educational rewards of balancing tradition with the avant-garde are inspiring. As Dillon reminds us, Ripley's twenty-year reign may well have helped spark the waning embers of the Enlightenment.

Average ratings

N/A