The City Assembled: The Elements of Urban Form through History

Book Description

The City Assembled is a history of the elements of cities: streets, public places, urban divisions (religious, political, and social), and the frontiers of city and countryside.

Kostof follows the evolution of city components to modern times. He discusses "urban process": the effect on cities of natural disasters like the Great Fire of London and the Lisbon earthquake, war, and comprehensive redevelopment, compared with traditional patterns of growth and change. The current recovery from modernist extremes has made us look again at what we treasure in traditional urban life, and how we can recharge the old forms with contemporary common sense. Over 300 drawings, prints, paintings, and photographs help to tell the story, illustrating both patterns and uses, from the colonnaded streets of ancient Palmyra to gentrified London squares.

A fitting testament to the wide-ranging intellect of Professor Kostof, The City Assembled is at once an exercise in architectural and social history, a case study for the present, and a pointer for the future. 346 illustrations, 40 in color.

Customer Reviews:

Wow!.......2000-11-07

When I ordered this book I'd already knew that it's good, but it surprised me! It is different of the other books about urbanism history. Kostof have always a special point of view in his works. Here he shows the history of the city from a different angle, someway from the inside to outside. It don't analise the city from its form (from the outside), but from the elements that fills it. The street, the public space and other city elements tells about the city more than you think, because it is a mirror of the city and citizen culture. This book give to you a new point of view of the city. A must have to any architect and entusiast.

Book Description

Arms Against Fury examines the dramatic struggle of the Afghan people through the lens of Magnum photographers, dating back to co-founder George Rodger's documentation of the country's role in World War II. Ever since, Magnum's intrepid photographers have crisscrossed the country's striking landscape from the Central Asian steppes to the parched southern desert by way of the Hindu Kush mountains surrounding Kabul and the adjacent Panjshir Valley. As early as the 1950s, Eve Arnold and Marc Riboud filed unprecendented stories from a legendary Shangri-la, showing a small kingdom struggling for statehood against the forces of underdevelopment and unfortunate geographic position during the Cold War. The ultimate overthrow of the monarchy and brutal liquidation of Afghanistan's consitutional government in 1978 heralded the arrival of Soviet-style communism. Peasants in Nuristan rebelled immediately and initiated a jihad that was covered first by Raymond Depardon and then by Stever McCurry, and later by renowned photojournalist Abbas, who also focused on the progress of the jihad, which eventually faced a massive Red Army invasion and savage aerial bombardments. The victory against the Soviets also signaled the beginning of a civil war that began in 1992. Documented by Luc Delahaye, Christopher Steele-Perkins, Abbas, and Stever McCurry, Afghan militias destroyed large swathes of Kabul. The Taliban militia subdued warring factions in 1996 and proclaimed an Islamic emirate. Steele-Perkins was one of the few journalists to report from Afghanistan during this period of theocratic tyranny. In the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States, the hated Taliban were shaken from power by a loose alliance of mujahidin backed by American forces. Yet nothing seemed to remedy the miserable spectacle of a ruined country littered with ten million land mines and thousands of innocent victims of the hi-tech war on terror. The future of Afghanistan, as depicted by Abbas, Eve Arnold, Luc Delahaye, Thomas Dworzak, Alex Majoli, Steve McCurry, and Francesco Zizola, remains uncertain at best. Containing additional photographic work by Ian Berry, Elliott Erwitt, Stuart Franklin, Philip Jones Griffiths, Susan Meiselas, and Wayne Miller, commentary by the photographers, and several illustrated essays, Arms Against Fury will become an indispensable reference for documentary studies, social history, and critical photography.

Arms Against Fury : Magnum Photographers in Afghanistan

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Arms Against Fury : Magnum Photographers in Afghanistan
Robert (editor) Dannin
Manufacturer: powerHouse Cultural Entertainment, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MYQZRG

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Arms Against Fury Magnum Photographers in Afghanistan
Dannin Robert (ed.)
Manufacturer: PowerHouse Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UJ14ZG

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Arms Against Fury: Magnum Photographers in Afghanistan

Manufacturer: PowerHouse Cultural Entertainment, Incor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0641565615

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The Collected Works, Volume 3: 'Sick, Sick, Sick'

Jules Feiffer makes you think as well as laugh.

Feiffer: The Collected Works, Volume 3: 'Sick, Sick, Sick'
Jules Feiffer
Manufacturer: Fantagraphics Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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Passionella and Other Stories (Feiffer : the Collected Works)

Feiffer : The Collected Works -- vol. 1

Feiffer: The Collected Works, Volume 2: 'Munro'

Feiffer: The Collected Works (Feiffer the Collected Works (Paperback))

A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears

ASIN: 1560970308

Customer Reviews:

The Collected Works, Volume 3: 'Sick, Sick, Sick'.......2007-04-07

I originally ordered this book( Sick Sick Sick ) because my old Feiffer book, Passionella, was falling apart. It was a Fontana publication, and had the following titles:
Passionella, Munro, George's Moon and Boom. It was printed in 1965 and I inherited it from my older sisters.
Well this book does not have all those titles, but it is still a worthwhile replacement!

The book starts of with excerpts from the Village Voice years, and kicks into high gear with Boom, Rollie and the Deluge.

It delivers satirical commentary on society; all done in a humorous way that will make you smile.
For example:
The Beatnik era.
Government propaganda of the sixties and the nuclear testing programs
The media
The dating scene
And much more!

Jules Feiffer makes you think as well as laugh........1999-04-10

Jules Feiffer is a comedy genius, one of a kind. I will never figure out why he was never syndicated. Why did his comics only appear in the Village Voice? Maybe he is syndicated, but not in any papers that I've ever seen. There's no reason why his cartoons wouldn't be appropriate in a mainstream newspaper (which the Village Voice certainly is not). If Doonsbury could make it into widespread (to say the least) syndication, then why can't Jules Feiffer. Maybe he chose not to, for some reason or other. All I know is that millions of Americans have been deprived for years of the comedic genius of Feiffer. Sure, he's intellectual, but certainly not out of reach of an average I.Q. Oh, well. Anyway, I will tell you that he is deep, in a way that is reminiscent of the Peanuts cartoons of the fifties to the sixties: funny, but fragile and touching as well. He can put a political edge to his material, or he can just make a statement about the human condition. Actually, the latter is what he does best. To enjoy Jules Feiffer, one need not be a genius, but just a thinker. But the main thing is he has an uncanny ability to hit the nail right on the head, and not shove the point he's making down your throat. It's satirical and pointed comedy that goes down as easy as Budweiser, the king of beers.

Book Description

When my parents packed my brother, sister and me into the family van and drove us to Missouri for Spring Break, we brought our entirely imagined city-hardness with us. The hard truth that we were about to learn was that, in fact, we weren't tough kids at all. Our life in the city had not prepared us for anything. Nothing could prepare us for this.

A Rip in Heaven is Jeanine Cummins's story of a night in April 1991, when her two cousins, Julie and Robin Kerry, and her brother, Tom, were assaulted on the Chain of Rocks Bridge that spans the Mississippi River just outside of St. Louis. When, after a harrowing ordeal, Tom managed to escape the attackers and flag down help, he thought the nightmare would soon be over. He couldn't have been more wrong. Tom, his sister Jeanine, and their entire family were just at the beginning of a horrific odyssey through the aftermath of a violent crime, a world of shocking betrayal, endless heartbreak, and utter disillusionment. It was a trial by fire from which no one would emerge unscathed.

This is one family's intimate, immediate, and unforgettable story of what victims can suffer long after they should be safe.

Customer Reviews:

Murder from the family's perspective.......2007-08-16

As one reviewer has noted, this is not a typical addition to the true crime genre. It shares much in common with Strange Piece of Paradise in that both are attempts by a victim/family member to depict the aftermath of a crime. Where Terri Jentz had to confront years of not knowing who her attacker was, Jeanine Cummins and family had to face having a beloved family member being accused of killing two other beloved family members.

It's hard to review a book such as this without a certain amount of sympathy entering into one's judgment. It is for me, at least. This is not the best written non-fiction book you'll ever read, nor is the prose in it the most fluid. It is also, because of Cummins' decision to tell this in the third-person, the most emotionally wrought. But it is better written than most first person accounts I've read. Cummins takes considerable pains to bring Julie and Robin Kerry to life, to make the reader feel the loss Cummins and her family felt. The horror of their deaths (and the nature of their deaths) is compounded when Cummins' brother is accused of their murders.

This is the story of the death of innocence, both literal and figurative. By the time the murders are caught, turn on each other and three are sentenced to death there little sense of justice for the family. Two girls have been gang-raped and murdered, one of the bodies has never been found. The survivor of the attacks has been first branded the likely suspect by the press then must relive the events over and over, in the trials and the subsequent parole hearings. As if this isn't enough agony, they must endure having the convicted murderers still claim their innocence and blame one of the victims. The question of Why? remains unanswered by the perpetrators and possibly unanswerable.

Excellent.......2007-07-10

I had this book on my book shelf for a while and hesitated to read it because I knew that it would be painful and depressing. This is the first book that I have read regarding true crime where you really feel to the core the effects and aftermath on the living. This book is excellent, well written, and one of the few books you read that will stay with you and effect how you process stories that you read and watch in the future. After reading this, you truly comprehend the pain and lasting effects that violence has on everyone left behind.

A moving and important book.......2007-05-28

I have little to add to the other reviewers here. But as one who has written about victims myself, I believe this is the best account I've ever read of the devastation criminals leave in their wake.

Read this not merely to learn about a heinous crime or evil men. Read it to meet two wonderful young women, or maybe three -- Julie and Robin, the victims, and Jeanine Cummins, the author.

A families point of view.......2007-01-27

I went to high school with Robin and Julie. I can't drive over the Mississippi River without thinking about them. The newspaper articles, and TV interviews in St Louis were mainly focused on Tom's (the cousin) guilt, and these "mystery 4 men". I was glad to hear a book had been written from "their" point of view. When I say "their" I mean Robin and Julie. Robin and Julie are gone, and no longer have a voice for themselves, so Jeanine did the best she could to capture this horrible moment in time, and the aftermath it caused.

I feel that as much hatred that she COULD have to the four men that murdered her cousins, and let her brother be blamed for the crimes, Jeanine was fair, and kind to the men. She did not make excuses for their actions, but she did explain how a fun night out, a decision to rob, could turn so dangerous and deadly in minutes.

Heartwarming.......2007-01-25

Although this is a true crime book and heartbreaking, it is also a heartwarming story. The love and concern Ms. Cummins had for her brother and cousins radiated from the pages as she told the story of the death of her cousins and near death of her brother. I was so moved by the story that I sent Ms. Cummins an email to let her know how she touched me and that I wished her a great future as an author. I was so surprised a few months later to receive an answer back, thanking me for my email. What a class act and her family should be so proud. May her cousins rest in peace and her brother have a wonderful life.

A Rip in Heaven: A Memoir of Murder and Its Aftermath

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A Rip in Heaven: A Memoir of Murder and Its Aftermath
Jeanine Cummins
Manufacturer: New Amer Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NXYZA0

Rip In Heaven - Memoir Of Murder And Its Aftermath

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Rip In Heaven - Memoir Of Murder And Its Aftermath
Jeanine Cummins
Manufacturer: New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000RIZPH8

Book Description

Polygyny, or one man having several wives, is the preferred marriage pattern in most parts of the nonwestern world, although most men cannot afford more than one wife. Polyandry, in which one woman has more than one husband, is quite rare in its classic form. Various types of plural marriage such as these are surfacing in western countries as viable alternatives and positive options to economic and spiritual crisis. Kilbride explores these new varieties of "family" as he finds them in the United States among Mormons, African Americans, and New Age spiritual communes. His comparisons with European and African practices shed light on the renewed possibility of security and caregiving for our dependent generation who are at risk and who are suffering from fractured family relationships around the globe.

Customer Reviews:

Thought Provoking.......2001-01-19

Dr. Kilbride's well-researched analysis of the practice of plural marriage is an important step toward rethinking our outlook on how people are "supposed to" relate. His extensive background in polygamy as it is practiced in African cultures is both an asset and a liability, unfortunately. By focussing too greatly on the African experience, he lessens the value of his work to Western readers. His personal ambivalence shows through at times, too, especially in the mildness of his "advocacy" near the end. Still, he looks at this "taboo" approach to relating from the sociological, biological, and ethical/religious views, and helps knock down some of the preconceived notions about the "preeminence" of monogamy.

Despite Dr. Kilbride's "circumspection" in his recommendations, this book is well worth reading for both the academic and general public with an interest in alternatives to conventional monogamy in response to the dramatically changed social, political, and economic circumstances of the 21st century.

Book Description

Dan Ling, a patriotic young engineer eager to help build a new China, falls afoul of the authorities and spends 17 years as a political prisoner. Rehabilitated after Deng Xiaoping came to power, Dan returns to work with unflagging determination to help provide a good life for himself and his people after enduring prison, work camps and work farms, and the primitive lif e of the social outcast breaking new ground on the frozen northern frontier. Youli Sun is Director of American University's Beijing Program. He holds a PhD from the University of Chicago and did post-doctoral studies at Washington University; he is a specialist in American diplomatic history, modern Chinese history, and US-East Asian relations.

Book Description

PATTERN CLASSIFICATION

a unified view of statistical and neural approaches

The product of years of research and practical experience in pattern classification, this book offers a theory-based engineering perspective on neural networks and statistical pattern classification. Pattern Classification sheds new light on the relationship between seemingly unrelated approaches to pattern recognition, including statistical methods, polynomial regression, multilayer perceptron, and radial basis functions. Important topics such as feature selection, reject criteria, classifier performance measurement, and classifier combinations are fully covered, as well as material on techniques that, until now, would have required an extensive literature search to locate. A full program of illustrations, graphs, and examples helps make the operations and general properties of different classification approaches intuitively understandable.

Offering a lucid presentation of complex applications and their algorithms, Pattern Classification is an invaluable resource for researchers, engineers, and graduate students in this rapidly developing field.

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