Gypsies: The Hidden Americans

Rating:
Summary: A great ethnographic study of a misunderstood ethnic group.
Review: A previous comment expressed dissapointment in this book, due to it's scholarly (and thus dry) content. To those looking for excitement and romance about this "fascinating subject," there are countless books out there, weaving tales of unsubstantiated and perpetuated misinformation for the sake of romance. Indeed, someone who wants to find accurate, thorough material on the Rom (especially in the US) with atleast a modicum of objectivity, is probably frustrated by the plentitude of such romantic Gypsy books. Sutherland's book, which has been called "techno-babble," is in fact what serious researchers would call an "ethnography"-- an amazing modern invention (however dry), that if it existed years ago, so much romantic crap about the Rom wouldn't have been accepted in print and thus Gypsies everywhere would probably be less oppressed by other's damaging notions. There are too few real ethnographies on the Rom in the English language, and anyone interested in learning about the Rom population in the US will probably begin their research with this book. It's also important to note that (as the necessity of any ethnography that desires to be somewhat thorough) only a specific group is dealt with in the book, and generalizations about all Rom in the US would be difficult.

Rating:
Summary: A Thorough resource
Review: A previous comment expressed dissapointment in this book, due to it's scholarly (and thus dry) content. To those looking for excitement and romance about this "fascinating subject," there are countless books out there, weaving tales of unsubstantiated and perpetuated misinformation for the sake of romance. Indeed, someone who wants to find accurate, thorough material on the Rom (especially in the US) with atleast a modicum of objectivity, is probably frustrated by the plentitude of such romantic Gypsy books. Sutherland's book, which has been called "techno-babble," is in fact what serious researchers would call an "ethnography"-- an amazing modern invention (however dry), that if it existed years ago, so much romantic crap about the Rom wouldn't have been accepted in print and thus Gypsies everywhere would probably be less oppressed by other's damaging notions. There are too few real ethnographies on the Rom in the English language, and anyone interested in learning about the Rom population in the US will probably begin their research with this book. It's also important to note that (as the necessity of any ethnography that desires to be somewhat thorough) only a specific group is dealt with in the book, and generalizations about all Rom in the US would be difficult.

Rating:
Summary: A great ethnographic study of a misunderstood ethnic group.
Review: Due to its nature as an ethnographic study the book will apear as a dry relation of facts. However, the book carries get weight and is used in University Anthropology classes.

Rating:
Summary: Unreadable scholarly techno-babble
Review: This book takes a fascinating subject---the lives of Gypsies in the USA---and reduces it to anthropological formulae and scholarly babble. It might be impressive to other anthropologists, but it's largely unreadable to mere mortals. It's a shame, because obviously the author has done some interesting research on a people that are hidden within our midst.