Book review: Understanding global cultures: Metaphorical journeys through 17 countries. Martin J. Gannon and Associates, Sage Publications, 1994

✍ Scribed by David H. Kent

• Book ID: 101288061
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 173 KB
• Volume: 17
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0894-3796
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1379(199601)17:1<93::aid-job768>3.0.co;2-a

✦ Synopsis

I liked this book. I want to make this clear at the outset, for any who may choose not to read further. Understanding Global Cultures is not, however, the sort of book I read from front-to-back. I started by reading the chapters on the British (the metaphor of the solid, well constructed house), the Irish (the metaphor of the conversation), the United States (the metaphor of professional 'American' or 'grid-iron' football) and the Chinese (the metaphor of the family alter), four cultures with which I have had some experience. My impression was that these represented vignettes of the three cultures rather than comprehensive summaries, an impression in keeping with the rich imagery of the metaphors.

A metaphor, as a means of describing something, is just a bit less focused, a bit more indirect, and yet, perhaps, an informationally richer means of conveying an idea than a more empirically-based definition. As such, the use of metaphors to provide summary