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A review by heckmanity
Keeping Together in Time P by William H. McNeill
4.0
McNeill does himself a great disservice by burying the vast majority of the evidence & support for his claims in the footnotes, although that certainly aligns with the academic style of writing. Additionally, his evidence is nearly 100% historical and circumstantial; while this is certainly valuable, I think his arguments suffer because he does not engage with scientific literature at any appreciable level. This is particularly true in his chapter on human evolution and the roles that coordinated movement played in that process.
All of that said, this was an interesting overview of the ways that dance and drill have been used throughout history. Since I came to this book from the perspective of a marching musician, the final chapter on the physical aspects of warfare & political power was an enlightening and disturbing reminder of where the activities and arts that I love had their origins---I was maybe the most surprised to learn that gymnastics (which plays a small but perhaps increasing role in the marching arts) also had origins in the militaries of Western powers before becoming an athletic & artistic pursuit in its own right.
This book certainly succeeds at meeting the goals set forth in its introduction, and my issues with the book stem mostly from McNeill working from a historian's perspective and crossing the disciplinary lines which the subject would seem to require (and this is a failing that McNeill does acknowledge as well). Overall it's a solid, if a bit stuffy, jumping-off point into the subject, but it is not the all-encompassing treatise that I was perhaps hoping for from its title and blurbs.
All of that said, this was an interesting overview of the ways that dance and drill have been used throughout history. Since I came to this book from the perspective of a marching musician, the final chapter on the physical aspects of warfare & political power was an enlightening and disturbing reminder of where the activities and arts that I love had their origins---I was maybe the most surprised to learn that gymnastics (which plays a small but perhaps increasing role in the marching arts) also had origins in the militaries of Western powers before becoming an athletic & artistic pursuit in its own right.
This book certainly succeeds at meeting the goals set forth in its introduction, and my issues with the book stem mostly from McNeill working from a historian's perspective and crossing the disciplinary lines which the subject would seem to require (and this is a failing that McNeill does acknowledge as well). Overall it's a solid, if a bit stuffy, jumping-off point into the subject, but it is not the all-encompassing treatise that I was perhaps hoping for from its title and blurbs.