A version of the book review below has been submitted to the SF-LiFE newsletter and may appear in a future issue. I thought I would post it in case some folks here find it of interest. / Tom Billings =================================================================== BOOK REVIEW Children of the Sun, A Pictorial Anthology from Germany to California, 1883-1949 Edited by Gordon Kennedy A book review by Tom Billings Copyright 2000 by Thomas E. Billings; all rights reserved. Obtain permission from reviewer before crossposting to any other e-mail list, bulletin board, website, or other media. 192 pp., paperback ISBN 0-9668898-0-0 Nivaria Press, P.O. Box 135, Ojai, California 93024 USA Available online at http://www.nelsonsbooks.com An excellent pictorial anthology "Children of the Sun" states that it is a "A pictorial anthology" in the subtitle, and it delivers on that statement. The book is loaded with photos, paintings, and old ads from the period 1883-1949, dealing with the German lebensreform (life-reform) and naturmenschen (natural men) movements in Germany. These movements were transplanted (with varying degrees of success) to California in the first half of the 1900s, where they became part of the basis of the modern raw foods movement, as well as the hippie movement of the late 1960s/early 1970s. Using numerous photos and scant text, the book tells the stories of the principal members of the German naturalism movement, and their later disciples in the U.S. Similarities between lebensreform/naturmenschen and raw foods Principal aspects of lebensreform in German naturalism. To illuminate the link between German naturalism and raw fooders (also hippies), consider the description by Kennedy of lebensreform (life-reform) as including (p. 52): "Particularly: 1. vegetarianism 2. nudism 3. natural medicine 4. abstinence from alcohol 5. clothing reform" Naturmenschen in German naturalism: early hippies? Kennedy describes the naturmenschen (natural men) as (pp. 53-54): "[T]he true naturmenschen are those who practice a radical lifestyle of their own...They were the type who wore sandals or bare feet, tunic, long hair and beard and fed upon fruits, vegetables and nuts...." The above issues are central to parts of the modern raw-foods movement, as well as the hippie movement of the 1960s and 1970s. For example, the classic modern rawist book, "Survival into the 21st Century" by Viktoras Kulvinskas, discusses many of the above topics. Note that German naturalism included nature cure, water cure, air baths, nudism, raw vegetarian diet, and other aspects of modern rawism. The text of "Children of the Sun" consists of short segments on the principal individuals involved in German naturalism, and their eventual disciples in the U.S. There are chapters on Louis Kuhne (of water cure fame), Adolph Just, Dr. Benedict Lust (father of naturopathy in the U.S.), the (in)famous fruitarian Arnold Ehret, John and Vera Richter (who operated a raw-food restaurant in Los Angeles from 1917-1942), and many others. A good pictorial anthology but a poor history book The book claims to be a pictorial anthology, and it does not claim to be a history (reference) book. However, I suspect that most long-time rawists would agree that having history book(s) on the movement would be helpful. One may observe that some in the new generation of raw vegan diet gurus have little sense of the movement's history. This is unfortunate, as relevant historical knowledge can be very helpful in understanding the movement. Thus I want to publicly thank the editor/author of "Children of the Sun," Gordon Kennedy, for writing this book and making the information available to present and future generations. Accordingly, the comments below are presented as suggestions for possible improvements to strengthen the book as a history monograph, if the editor/author ever produces a second edition. * Need to increase level and quality of writing. The book is written to the current standard of raw food diet books. That is a polite way of saying that it is written to a very low standard of quality. It lacks footnotes and is sloppy with quotes, i.e., quotes are cited but the source of the quote is not always made clear. Simply adding footnotes to the text (documenting sources) and clarifying the source of each quote, would greatly improve the quality of the book. Future generations may be faced with limited or uncertain information regarding the raw "pioneers," and footnotes that document the sources of information may be very valuable. * Accurate longevity data on raw diet gurus would be very informative. For some of the people discussed, details are given regarding longevity and cause of death. As longevity is a major issue in raw diets, it would be interesting to have this information for all the raw diet gurus in the book. Also, as most people don't follow the raw diet for long periods, it would be interesting to know if the diet advocates discussed in the book, actually followed the diet into old age. This information could help readers in assessing the efficacy of raw diets. * Add more historical information. The amount of historical information provided in the book is very limited, and one feels "hungry" for more information after reading the book. From that perspective, the book is not "satisfying." I encourage the author to add more historical details in later versions. Again, these suggestions are made in the spirit of improving the book. As historical information on the raw foods movement is hard to obtain, the book (despite its shortcomings) is worth reading for its (limited) historical data. The above constitutes the core of this book review. The next section briefly discusses an interesting issue the book raised. A Modern Innovation: Blending German Naturalism with Selected Aspects of Indian Naturalism? The modern raw foods movement is more than German naturalism. It has many aspects that might be called "New Age." In particular, many raw writers blend aspects of yoga into their teachings. Yoga is a part of Indian naturalism, and not part of German naturalism. Although there are a few commonalities between German and Indian naturalism, there are many major differences as well. For example, nudity is rare in Indian naturalism, but it is common in German. Vegetarianism is common to both, though Indian emphasizes lacto-veg, and German emphasizes raw foods. It would be interesting to historically track the blending of Indian naturalism and yoga with aspects of German naturalism. Obviously the names Raymond Bernard, Morris Krok, and Viktoras Kulvinskas come to mind here. The obvious question, of course, is whether others were involved, earlier, in the blending of these two disparate styles of naturalism? About the review author: Tom Billings is site editor of Beyond Vegetarianism, an Internet web site that provides scientific research on, and documents real-world experiences with: raw, vegan, vegetarian, and alternative diets. URL: http://www.beyondveg.com