Library Bookwatch: Grasping for the Wind

Grasping For The Wind

John Whitehead, host

Vision Video

PO Box 540, Worcester, PA 19490-0540

MP7390 $39.99 1-800-523-0226

An innovative, provocative, viewer engaging seven-part series, Grasping For The Wind explores the search for meaning over the last 200 years as represented through the works of Western philosophers, writers, artists, film makers, politicians, and musicians. Ably hosted by John Whitehead, this superbly filmed series includes a free PDF study guide. The seven episodes comprising this two-volume VHS video boxed set includes "Breaking the Past" (showing what happens when a culture abandons its religious traditions); "Where Are We Going?" (examining the 20th century's search for answers to the fundamental questions of existence); "Children of the Machine" (exploring the relationship of culture and technology); "The Lost Generation" (with its moral base shaken, an American generation began seeking alternatives to Western Capitalism); "The Fat Dream" (unable to make sense of the destruction from war, people sought escape through spectator sports, music, gambling, drugs, alcohol and sex); "The Winds of Revolution" (the youth movements of the 1950s and 1960s); "The Narcissistic Culture" (the desperate search for absolutes and the emergence of sex advice, religious television, weight loss, and other modern phenomena). Also available in a DVD format (4842D, $39.99) Grasping For The Wind is informed and informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking, and a prize addition to both school and community library collections.