Robert Holtzman – författare

Last of the Hooligans is a about growing up in 1968 when my friends and I were twelve years old. It was a time of change, turbulence and violence. The Vietnam War raged on. Anti-war demonstrations and mounting racial tensions were daily occurrences. The U.S was in a race with the former Soviet Union to be the first country to land a man on the moon. But none of those things mattered to my friends and me. We were twelve, and all we were interested in was adventure, sports, and girls pretty much in that order. The book is about friendship, courage, immaturity, and yes, stupidity. What we lacked in experience we more than made up in exuberance. It is a collection of stories about my friends, my brother and me, and our adventures mostly misadventures. It is about the first budding awareness of girls, and stupid, often dangerous, pranks. We were a fellowship of sorts, though we did not know it at the time or even cared. Ours was a fierce loyalty. We trusted and relied on one another which sometimes led us into trouble, and the reason why we were sometimes called "e;Hooligans."e; Our reliance on one another saved us as true friendship often does. It also saved us from beatings at the hands of our rivals. I grew up in a large Irish Catholic family that was strongly influenced by my Irish grandfather. All the stories you hear about the fighting Irish are largely true. Those who knew my brother and me found out, usually the hard way, that if you fought one of us you fought both of us. Of course, we always tried the peaceful diplomatic route first, but in 1968 physical confrontation was just a part of growing up in our neighborhood. I was truly lucky to have had such close friendships with the guys I grew up with in 1968. We were just kids stumbling through life, but we had a blast doing it!

The problems of surgical intervention in and about the diencephalic region have stimu­ lated the interest of neurosurgeons throughout the world. It was therefore not totally surprising when Professor A. N. Konovalov proposed this topic for discussion at the Fifth Annual Stonwin Medical Conference. Bringing the leading figures in this area to New York for a roundtable conference was an exciting challenge. Professor Russel H. Patterson, Jr., generously consented to be our guest of honor. The conference was held at the Winston Estate on July 13-14, 1987, and met our every expectation for a vigorous exchange of individual experiences and more importantly for a dialogue directed toward present and future expectations in the surgery of this region. In addition, the discussions at that small dinner at the Harvard Club of New York led to the creation of an exchange program for neurosurgical residents, fellows, and faculty members of the N. N. Burdenko Neurosurgical Institute, Academy of Medical Science, and the Department of Neurosurgery of the New York Neurological Institute, which was planned for the spring and summer of 1988. The Stonwin Conference and the exchange agreement and program fostered by the Harry Winston Medical Foundation, Inc., represent the fulfillment of goals con­ ceived by Harry Winston and promulgated by his sons Ronald and Bruce. Henry B. Roberts, Jr.

The problems of surgical intervention in and about the diencephalic region have stimu­ lated the interest of neurosurgeons throughout the world. It was therefore not totally surprising when Professor A. N. Konovalov proposed this topic for discussion at the Fifth Annual Stonwin Medical Conference. Bringing the leading figures in this area to New York for a roundtable conference was an exciting challenge. Professor Russel H. Patterson, Jr., generously consented to be our guest of honor. The conference was held at the Winston Estate on July 13-14, 1987, and met our every expectation for a vigorous exchange of individual experiences and more importantly for a dialogue directed toward present and future expectations in the surgery of this region. In addition, the discussions at that small dinner at the Harvard Club of New York led to the creation of an exchange program for neurosurgical residents, fellows, and faculty members of the N. N. Burdenko Neurosurgical Institute, Academy of Medical Science, and the Department of Neurosurgery of the New York Neurological Institute, which was planned for the spring and summer of 1988. The Stonwin Conference and the exchange agreement and program fostered by the Harry Winston Medical Foundation, Inc., represent the fulfillment of goals con­ ceived by Harry Winston and promulgated by his sons Ronald and Bruce. Henry B. Roberts, Jr.

This book explores the interplay between a people, their physical environment, the means of mobility that connect the two, and how these elements combine in the creation of cognitive and cultural landscapes. Specifically, it examines how Indigenous Warrau people in the village of Imbotero, Guyana, use traditional dugout canoes in the surrounding swamp forest and on connecting waterways; how canoes mediate between the Warrau and their landscape; and how the relationship is bi-directional: that is, how people use boats to conceptualise and exploit the landscape while, simultaneously, the landscape influences culture, cognition, and boat use.The book traces the history of the Warrau canoe from the earliest evidence of prehistoric use to the present. It describes how dugout canoes are built and handled, how they form the basis of Imbotero’s economy and culture, and how they enable access to, and exploitation of, the environment. It explores the roles of age, gender, and social status in canoe use, examines the fading spiritual component of canoe construction, and discusses challenges to the Warrau’s canoe heritage, with suggestions of how that heritage might be safeguarded. The role of the physical environment upon culture is analysed within Christer Westerdahl’s maritime cultural landscape (MCL) framework, which is applied here for the first time to a contemporary swamp society. The swamp is shown to be fully compatible with the MCL concept, in that watercraft and their daily use play central roles in the people’s engagement with the environment, their worldview, and their identity.