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