Infinitas Gracias: Contemporary Mexican Votive Painting

Book Description

Infinitas Gracias is the first collection of the work of Alfredo Vilchis Roque, one of Mexico's most famous contemporary painters, and his sons. In the tradition of Catholic votives, each painting tells a miraculous tale and gives thanks to the intervening saint. Ablaze with intense color hearkening back to the natural pigment dyes of ancient Mexico, these works portray the kaleidoscope of issues that constitute modern urban existence. With over 200 paintings, from circus adventures to household accidents to adultery, drugs, and prostitution, Infinitas Gracias weaves together a bizarre tapestry of stories, some disturbing, some comical -- all unerringly wrought and profoundly touching.

Customer Reviews:

a great collection.......2005-11-16

Retablos are oil paintings on metal that give thanks for divine intervention in a tough time, like escaping before your best friend finds you in bed with his wife. There is very little text besides a translation of the explanation of each event painted on each picture. There are probably about 100 pictures of retablos in this book, mostly by Afredo Vilchis Roque or his sons.There are a few from the artists own collection going back to the 1920's. There are twenty different sections based on subject like prostitution, drowning, circus accidents and September 11. The artwork is very colorful and humble, if someone fell from the roof she is pictured upside down, the way a child would probably paint it. The prayers are written in a more phonetic Spanish, for example, gracias is spelled grasias, vende becomes bende, etc. A great introduction to the subject and you can't beat the price.

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Crafts in Therapy and Rehabilitation, 2E
Margaret Drake
Manufacturer: Slack Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1556423969

Book Description

Crafts in Therapy and Rehabilitation, Second Edition illustrates how therapists can efficiently and effectively apply the use of crafts for patient rehabilitation. This text examines the history and development of crafts, the process of selecting an activity, and assessing therapeutic application. Specific chapters cover traditional crafts such as woodworking, mosaics, and ceramics. Nontraditional crafts and media activities are also discussed, including cooking, computer art, drawing, and painting. Crafts are presented so that projects may be tailored to support an individual patient's needs. Cost containment and efficacy are also discussed throughout this text. In this second edition Margaret Drake, PhD, OTR/L, ATR-BC, FAOTA has included two new chapters, one on uniform terminology related to crafts, and one on found materials appropriate for home health care. Other changes include rewritten chapters on theories relative to specific crafts, crafts using a computer, and the inclusion of theoretical models in case studies. Crafts in Therapy and Rehabilitation, Second Edition uses up-to-date theories and language, includes new craft assessments and diagrams, as well as addresses changes in new practice settings.
Crafts in Therapy and Rehabilitation, Second Edition is the perfect resource for using activities in treatment.

Features:
Chapters include historical accounts of craftwork, discussion questions, and case studies. Uses language consistent with Uniform Terminology of the American Occupational Therapy Association. Presents situations in home health care, acute inpatient care, and long-term outpatient treatment. Includes an extensive appendix listing craft vendors as well as an annotated bibliography.

Book Description

The complete collection of outrageous gags (many seen in Heavy Metal years back) about the daily travails and absurdities we face in life with an occasional bite of lunacy, from the superlative author of ÒStreak of ChalkÓ and ÒTangentsÓ, who is also the designer for the ÒMen In BlackÓ animated series.

Customer Reviews:

By the designer of the "Men in Black" animated series.......2003-09-18

Daily Delirium by M. Prado is the graphic novel comprising a complete collection of loopy gags, many of which have been seen in issues of "Heavy Metal" magazine. Created by the designer of the "Men in Black" animated series among his other claims to fame, Prado's original brand of surreal, funny, fascinating, and humorous Daily Delirium is not to be missed by his legions of fans and admirers.

Book Description

Considered the Father of Physical Culture in America and throughout Occidental civilization, Macfadden advocated living according to nature's laws, the two-meals-a-day plan, the abolition of prudery, and sanity in all individual and group matters. A prolific author, he wrote many books on his perfection of an exercise, fasting and diet method of curing any disease, developed through his own fight against disease.

Customer Reviews:

Not Much Here.......2003-06-04

This was one of three biographies which Bernarr Macfadden, millionaire publisher and health guru, commissioned to be written about himself. If you're looking for a good biography, you won't find it here. What you will find in this book is plenty of fluff and flattery. The message is repetitious - Macfadden was an early 20th century version of Abraham Lincoln - a self-made man who raised himself from humble beginnings to greatness. The purpose of this biography and the others was to convince the public that Macfadden would be a great choice for president - the office which he aspired to hold, but never had a chance of winning. The book is interesting from the stand point of being a propaganda piece.

Bernarr MacFadden: A Study of Success (American Newspapermen 1790-1933 Series)

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Bernarr MacFadden: A Study of Success (American Newspapermen 1790-1933 Series)
Clement Wood
Manufacturer: Beekman Books Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0846400014

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What it takes,: A study in success
Clement Wood
Manufacturer: Liberty Publishing Corp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Success | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000870YJC

Book Description

Morgan offers an authentic and deliciously humorous account of the prostitutes and other "disreputable" women who were the earliest female pioneers of the Far North.

Customer Reviews:

Best Of The West!.......2006-06-15

The Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush, a time at the turn of the century, when the gold camps were booming and the dust flowed like wine. Leaving behind law and many of the constraints of the Post-Victorian era, men and women went north to find adventure and wealth. Most found death among the cold frozen mountains and rivers but a few survived to find money, power and, sometimes, even love.
The women found it easier to mine the miners then to mine the mines. Women couldn't work claims in most cases and most of the normal jobs didn't pay well.
If a woman wanted the wealth and adventure she was searching for she ended up becoming a Good Time Girl. Men outnumbered women ten to one and were always willing to pay for the company. Dance hall girls and prostitutes were among the pioneers who opened the new regions, became rich entrepreneurs and powerful women who, in some cases, changed the towns for the better.
But their history cannot be written in a vacuum. As many of them left behind no written records we have to use police logs, old photos and stories left behind by the more respectable women and men of the cities. The book deals with the conditions and events that made the Far North so much different from the lower forty-eight states where many of the women came from. Why did the cities, in many cases, allow a red light district? Why did they give them police protection? How did the women influence the towns and change the very future of the frontier? Why did so many women turn to be Good Time Girls?
With tons of humor, happy endings and sad ones, the chapters within this book give a detailed look at the history of the independent women who faced hardships, lost fortunes and the dangers of a wild land to find a future.

Not Real Interesting.......2005-10-27

I was disappointed in this book, it seemed more like a history of the men of the Yukon and Gold Rush . There were some stories about some of these women in there, but they were not very interesting to me, just sort of dry and lacking the quality that you could see and picture the people-which is a quality I look for in books of a historical nature. If you like just a history of cut and dry facts about the Gold Rush and the men etc., this might be ok, but overall, the book failed to be interesting to me.

Interesting side to the "gold miners".......2004-09-29

Well, the men mined the gold, and the women mined the miners. All had unhealthy jobs but it would appear that more womem made money than the men from this book. It is also interesting that many of the women ended their trade by marrying the miners. So while to some they were "soiled doves" to the miners they were princesses.

Still interesting that the town tollerated this business until very recently. An enjoyable read.

Fun history of the world's (c)oldest profession in AK.......2001-10-10

I bought this book at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks bookstore. My dad, Class of '51 at UAF (we were there for his 50th reunion), had told me some stories about "The Line" and he had had his first job with the gold mining operations, so I was curious. There's not a lot of gory detail here. It's about people and places, but it's quite a colorful history. Though never officially legal, prostitution was tolerated and it flourished in Alaska for more than 50 years. And some very famous characters pop up, like Wyatt Earp and the "Birdman of Alcatraz". Definitely worth the time.

Good Time Girls? should be called Good Time Guys.......2001-06-04

I cruised Alaska this summer and took a facinating tour of the Skagway Red Light district. After the tour, I wanted to learn more, thusly I hit a bookstore and found this book. I was thrilled to find it, as I recognized several of the names (Klondike Kate, PeaHull Annie, etc) and was looking forward to finding out more. The book promised not to leave out any "lusty and licentious parts". That couldn't be more wrong.

I found out more information about the men of the Kondike and their wenching habits, than the actual women themselves. In this case, my wonderfully guided tour gave me more information about how the women actually conducted their business (lots of interesting info about their personal hygene that are no where to be found in this book. what kind of book on prostitution doesn't talk about birth control methods and their ways of preventing VD? VD is barely brought up).

If I wanted to read about the men of the Klondike, I could pick up any random book in the Klondike History section of any bookstore. The women are often the ones forgotten about, and deserve better treatement in the annuls of history, most especially in a book supposedly about those women. If you want some good information on this type of history, go up to Alaska and take any one of the amazing Red Light District tours. Don't waste your money on this book.

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Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush
Lael Morgan
Manufacturer: Epicenter
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K9UYT8

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Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush
Lael Morgan
Manufacturer: Whitecap Books, Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MBUHO6

Book Description

August 2, 1991, Twentynine Palms, California: a troubled Marine who has recently returned from the Gulf War savagely murders two young girls. One girl was about to turn sixteen, the other twenty-one.

Exquisitely and inexorably, Deanne Stillman uses this tragedy as a prism through which she explores not only the murders and the families involved but a rootless culture of fatherless families, shattered dreams, and relentless violence. In haunting, vivid prose, she creates a farreaching story of America itself, carrying us into the empty white heart of the Mojave, as we meet and come to know the modern nomads who turn to the West for salvation only to be devoured by its false promise.

Customer Reviews:

A good book, but a little too much poetic license taken.......2004-05-30

This book is an engrossing story and in many ways, a great portrait of an underportrayed and largely ignored segment of our American population - the people who work in our gas stations and bars, live in the run-down apartment complexes and cheap motels that dot the landscape, and all too often fall victim to violent crimes that are reported by local newspapers in lurid headlines, only to fade in the public's memory mere days afterward.

That being said, the book has some major flaws. My biggest problems with the book are:
- The author's prose gets a little too purply in places, and it almost seems like her imagination starts running away with her story. There's no way she could have known some of the things she talks about as fact, or even have heard those things from the friends of the deceased. In a fiction book based on actual events, that's fine; but this is presented as a nonfiction account, and it is not.
- The author makes some glaring errors, some of which have been pointed out in other reviews. One that comes to mind is when she talks about a local arcade as being a favorite hangout for Mandi and her friends, then later says the arcade didn't open until after Mandi was killed. An editor should have caught this, if not the author herself. In a work of nonfiction, when details like this are incorrect, you wonder what other details in the book are erroneous.
-Throughout the entire book, Stillman blames the Marine Corps for the deaths of Mandi Scott and Rosie Ortega, but in Mandi's case never places any of the blame where I believe it squarely lies - with Mandi's mother, who allowed her 15-year-old daughter to basically run wild. Mandi's mother Debi knew Rosie Ortega associated with Marines she considered dangerous, yet she thought nothing of letting her daughter spend the night at Rosie's apartment and run around with her friends seemingly unchecked. Stillman takes a pitying view towards Debi and her feelings of self-blame, but in my eyes Debi doesn't blame herself enough. There are predatory men everywhere, not just in Twentynine Palms, but that's why children have parents - to set limits and protect children from harm as best they can. In my view, Debi's children didn't have much chance of escaping a violent, marginal life, being raised by a woman who associated with felons, trafficked drugs, and was barely capable of taking care of herself, much less three children. Regardless of how horrible Debi's husbands beat her, she is the one who's responsible for the poor choices she made in life, although Stillman seems to want to blame the Marine Corps and the desert itself for the bad choices made by women in Mandi's family - there's very little support for personal responsibility of any kind in the book, unless Stillman is talking about the murderer's lack of remorse. It's telling that one of Mandi's friends, who wished to go find Mandi the night before the murders, was prevented from doing so by her mother and escaped harm. I don't mean to blame the victims, because Valentine Underwood, as the murderer, is the one to blame for these horrendous crimes, but if both Mandi and Rosie had been a little more careful about who they associated with, they might still be alive today.

As for the unflattering portraits of Victorville and Twentynine Palms, all I can say is that it's not surprising to me town residents would get upset about how their towns are portrayed, because Stillman definitely doesn't pull any punches when it comes to portraying how desolate and depressing the towns can be. Anyone who has ever lived in a small town knows how entrenched and blind to reality the so called "city fathers" and town boosters can be when it comes to their town. I am sure the towns portrayed in the book have their good qualities, and there are times when Stillman gets very condescending about the desert and its residents, as only someone from the outside can do. But I've been in too many towns like Victorville and Twentynine Palms to totally discount her descriptions.

All in all, the book is worth a read, although the way the narrative jumps around is annoying - I think people read stories about crime partially for the suspense element, and in this case you find out Underwood's sentence before the murders even happen. The book definitely could have been edited more competently, with a little less leeway given to Stillman's at times self-indulgent narrative. But the story is compelling and will stay with you long after you put the book down.

Good, but not Great.......2004-01-13

Although I don't live in Twentynine Palms, I do live in San Bernadino County and was a little amused by the statistics that Ms. Stillman cites about "us" because we aren't really like that. I am familiar with the desert and many of the desert towns and their histories, though, and I agree that they do have a sort of mystique that transcends the urban, the suburban, and the midwest.

Some of the reviews and reviewers here have taken offense to the way that their town is characterized and that's understandable. I realize that most people in 29 Palms can't possibly be that dysfunctional or problematic or the place wouldn't even run. However, I think that Ms. Stillman did a masterful job of portraying a certain portion of a desert town, a certain circle of people in a particular way that helps one be able to see them as real individuals with real problems that they have dragged through generations to end up in a place like 29 Palms and endure more uncertainty and more tragedy. And that, to me, is what makes the book worthwhile--it's intimacy.

I, like another reviewer, would have like to have heard more of what Ms Stillman has to say to substantiate her claim that the Marines have continued their "war on American" woman, but despite that flaw, this book is on my true crime classics shelf.

A good read but not a good account.......2003-11-27

I first read this book out of interest in this particular murder case. In that aspect I found it disappointing. As I am personally acquainted with some of the investigators and one of the witnesses, I didn't find it to be completely accurate regarding the case; having known so many Marines and Gulf War veterans, I found it's characterizations to be sweeping generalizations; having lived in 29 Palms, I found it to be glarely inaccurate in its portrayal of the area and, yes, offensive.
However, in re-reading this just as a crime story, it makes for a good read. Like those movies you enjoy that are "based on" or "inspired by" a true story, it is much better if you don't really know the true story. Allowing then that this is a fictionalized account, it is well written and at times a real page-turner.

This Is A True Crime Classic.......2003-09-06

I stumbled across this long string of customer reviews, so I started reading them because I read this book when it first came out.

It's difficult to be objective about your own home town or somewhere you lived and know well. But some of the negative comments here are so biased and out of whack, they are unfair to the author of what I, a mere reader with no links to the town of 29 Palms, consider a truly first rate true crime book.

It's one thing to critique a book based on the writing, style and story telling skills of the author, but a different matter entirely when that critique is based on a personal bias which has nothing to do with the actual book, and everything to do with taking exception to the subject matter and someone's perspective.

To me, this ranks right up there with Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" and Emlyn Williams' "Beyond Belief." The very nature of this kind of true crime book is the recreation or reimagining of scenes and dialogue based on facts, newspaper reports, personal interviews with the protagonists, etc.

It's an incredibly effective method as it gives you, the reader, the impression that you're watching events unfold as they occurred.

Stillman is a very skilled practitioner of this hard-to-master art. She is a very evocative writer. As a previous reviewer noted, she has made the desert a living, breathing character in this book, as important to what transpired as the people involved. The town of 29 Palms is another "character" which she evokes masterfully.

As far as the Marines are concerned, I don't see the book as an indictment of Marines. What it does do is highlight institutional problems in the administration of the Marine Corps. which surely come as a surprise to no-one who knows anything about the services or reads the newspaper.

We read all the time about cover ups and the failure of different branches of the services to recognize and deal with internal problems. Just because a writer points them out doesn't mean that she or he is anti- anything. That's what reporters do, and thank goodness for it.

To prospective readers, I would say: Don't be swayed by "reviews" by locals and/or interested parties with an ax to grind. This book is a cracking read, and is as much a fascinating sociological document as it is a work of true crime.

The Landscape as Witness.......2003-08-24

As a fan of both the high desert and true crime, this book was a can't miss. Just as an aside about the genre of "true crime": Really, true crime is a bit of a misnomer. Parts of any true crime story are fictionalized due to the inevitable problems of sourcing a recent crime. Additionally, I don't see how you can write a true crime story without shifting focus between the perpretator, the victim and the setting. All three help reveal whatever "truth" that can be learned from the description of a murder or whatnot.

That being said, Stillman, a writer from Los Angeles, does an at times workman-like and at times inspired job of revealing the murderer and victim. Where she really shines is her treatment of the desert of California as a character. Her descrptions of the world of the high desert are evocative and resonate with other, similar descriptions contained inside and outside the genre of true crime.

As a criminal defense lawyer, I thought Stillman gave short shrift to the legal machinations surrounding the trial, but I can't blame her for it, since the tone of the book is apparent from the blurb on the back.

I'd recommend this to fans of true crime and post modern philosophy, but I urge the old and easily horrified away. If this book freaks you out, you probably won't get much from the book aside from the facts of the case.

Book Description

From 1984 to 1991, Israel conducted a series of dramatic rescues, bringing thousands of Ethiopian Jews to the state of Israel. Codenamed Operation Sheba, this effort involved various covert means, including large-scale airlifts and exchanges for arms, to save these Jews from intolerable conditions in Ethiopia and the Sudan. But as dramatic and uplifting as this effort was, there are still troubling questions about why it took so many years for Israel to act on behalf its African compatriots. This is the complete story behind the Israeli rescue of the Jews of Ethiopia--how tragedy was turned into triumph. These rescue operations represented the culmination of complex political maneuvering in Israel and illustrated what Israeli resolve can accomplish when Jewish lives are endangered. It was an inspiring effort--as William Safire wrote at the time, "thousands of black people are being brought to a country not as slaves, but as citizens." On the other hand, there is much to deplore how long it took for the leaders of Israel to recognize and take action to save this ancient African branch of the Jewish Diaspora, known as the Falasha. The reasons are the result of the complex intersection of Israeli geostrategy, pressure from the American Jewish community, and Ethiopian domestic politics, as well as racism and debates about the "Jewishness" of the Falasha community.

From Tragedy to Triumph: The Politics Behind the Rescue of Ethiopian Jewry

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From Tragedy to Triumph: The Politics Behind the Rescue of Ethiopian Jewry
Mitchell G. Bard
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORQIGO

Book Description

Pharmacology, Biology, and Clinical Applications of Androgens Current Status and Future Prospects

Edited by Shalender Bhasin, Henry L. Gabelnick, Jeffrey M. Spieler, Ronald S. Swerdloff, Christina Wang, and Chuck Kelly

As agents that affect the male primary and accessory sex organs, androgens—particularly the hormones testosterone and androsterone—play a critical role in the development, functionality, and overall health of the male reproductive system. However, since androgens also have far-ranging effects on metabolism, neurological activity, and behavior, scientists exploring the contraceptive or therapeutic potential of androgens need reliable, up-to-date information on the complex biological activities of these agents.

Pharmacology, Biology, and Clinical Applications of Androgens: Current Status and Future Prospects presents contributions from leading investigators around the world, offering a focused, state-of-the-art summary of the central issues and controversies in androgen research. The book is arranged into sections covering androgen physiology, androgens and the prostate, and the neurobehavioral and metabolic effects of androgens—as well as their role in disease therapy and male contraception, and the various delivery systems for each application. Every chapter in the text provides an expert opinion on a cutting-edge topic in the field while highlighting the key points of dissent and disagreement within the scientific community. This approach is intended to foster a deeper understanding of the status of androgen research and lay the groundwork for future investigations in each area.

This book explores such current topics as:

Androgen regulation of Sertoli cell function
Testosterone and spermatogenesis
Androgen effects on benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer
Androgen effects on cognitive processes, sexual function, and aggressive behavior
Contraceptive efficacy of hormonal suppression of spermatogenesis
The latest transdermal and implantation delivery systems for androgens

Offering multifaceted coverage of the field, Pharmacology, Biology, and Clinical Applications of Androgens is an indispensable aid to all basic scientists and clinical investigators interested in the biological actions of either natural or synthetic androgens.

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