Bread, Wine, and Money: The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral

Book Description

At Chartres Cathedral, for the first time in medieval art, the lowest register of stained-glass windows depicts working artisans and merchants instead of noble and clerical donors. Jane Welch Williams challenges the prevailing view that pious town tradesmen donated these windows. In Bread, Wine, and Money, she uncovers a deep antagonism between the trades and the cathedral clergy in Chartres; the windows, she argues, portray not town tradesmen but trusted individuals that the fearful clergy had taken into the cloister as their own serfs.

Williams weaves a tight net of historical circumstances, iconographic traditions, exegetical implications, political motivations, and liturgical functions to explain the imagery in the windows of the trades. Her account of changing social relationships in thirteenth-century Chartres focuses on the bakers, tavern keepers, and money changers whose bread, wine, and money were used as means of exchange, tithing, and offering throughout medieval society. Drawing on a wide variety of original documents and scholarly work, this book makes important new contributions to our knowledge of one of the great monuments of Western culture.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful Insight.......1998-10-23

I had Jane Welch Williams as an art history professor at the University of Arizona. She knew her subject so well, and loved to share her knowledge with others. History wasn't just something that happened long ago, it was something real. She passed away this Spring, she will be missed.

Book Description

Keith McKellar's riveting line drawings of the disappearing neon of Vancouver, BC, accompanied by jazz riff tales of the street are from a new collection by the artist Laughing Hand. Neon Eulogy: Vancouver Café and Street contains McKellar's expressionist portraits of famous cafes, theatres--the characters and the street. For the last sixteen years street artist Laughing Hand has been quietly capturing Vancouver's dives and haunts, through the metaphor of neon and its days of glory, documenting the demise of its crumbling antiques. The Ovaltine Café, the Aristocratic, the Ho Ho, the Orpheum, the Stanley, the Only, the Smiling Buddha, the Yale - these landmarks and their heritage neon are a window into our culture. The stories are anecdotal hearsays--tossed scraps of found memory, tacked together in, off the wall, historical gossips. A poignant and wildly entertaining social comment from the journals of a bohemian sleuth, Neon Eulogy: Vancouver Café and Street is a startling glimpse of Canadian cultural heritage.

Book Description

While ecological and biophysical sciences have dominated the theory and practice of conservation, practitioners and researchers worldwide know that conservation initiatives have profound social impacts and consequences for local communities and cultures. This concise and accessible book will give students and practitioners a solid introduction to important methods from ethnography and interviews to surveys and community mapping, always attending to the imperatives of local control and community partnerships.

Average customer rating:

Providing Perspective

Contrarian View of the Global Economy

Apocalpyse Now

Refreshing views, but a bit overwelming by details

The Boom and The Bubble: The US in the World Economy
Robert Brenner
Manufacturer: Verso
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Theory | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Economics of Global Turbulence

Contours of Descent: U.S. Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Global Austerity

A Brief History of Neoliberalism

The Limits to Capital, New Edition

Empire of Capital

ASIN: 1859844839

Book Description

Only a handful of years ago, the world economy seemed poised on the edge of catastrophe, as financial firestorms ripped through East Asia, Russia and Latin America. A sustained period of significant growth in the US, however, seemed to save the day against all the odds. So impressive was the surface appearance of this rescue mission that all manner of commentators proclaimed—once again—that a 'new economy' or 'new paradigm' of unlimited and harmonious growth had been forged. Today, as recession looms, the babble about Internet start-ups is exposed as vapid. Yet the pundits are no nearer an understanding of how or why the boom turned into a bubble, or why the bubble has burst.

In this crisp and far-sighted book, Robert Brenner demonstrates that the "New Economy" was always a fragile phenomenon that never broke free from fundamental problems continuing to afflict the global economy. Carefully dismantling the myths and hype that surround the US expansion, he shows that transcending economic stagnation in the near future is anything but a foregone conclusion.

Customer Reviews:

Providing Perspective.......2004-05-08

Picking up a book about economics is often like checking in with an accountant: it's no fun, but it may save trouble later on. Fortunately, Brenner's is a rewarding call to make. The text is accessible to the non-professional as well as the professional, although a familiarity with market fundamentals such as exchange rates, balance of payments, and other tools of the trade, is assumed. From the text, I gathered two key points that I believe can be capsulized. First, the so-called New Economy, touted by many stock market cheerleaders, was built on little more than old-fashioned market speculation plus timely intervention by central banker Greenspan. Moreover, the process was doomed once the disconnect between share prices and profit rates became too great, as it eventually did. Against this background, extravagant projections of New Economy iconoclasts like Newt Gingrich (Brenner himself names no names) should be measured, along with a stern warning for the future. Second, are two deeper, more ominous developments: namely, international overcapacity and falling profit rates, twin trends that have plagued industrial economies since the early 1970's. Against this backdrop, which Brenner also charts, longer-term prospects should be measured, even as international bankers tinker with short-term, burden-shifting measures like exchange rates. And though Brenner acknowledges the anodyne impact of military spending, he draws no conclusions about its future amidst a sagging GDP.Yes, the book is heavy with graphs, nonertheless the author can't be expected to substantiate his case without strong evidence. Moreover, Brenner's refreshing approach places the New Economy in a broader-than-usual context that furnishes the reader with an informed historical perspective. In most every respect, this is a check-in call worth making.

Contrarian View of the Global Economy.......2004-05-02

This book is a detailed history of the global economy during the last three decades of the 20th century, with a particular emphasis on the U.S. "boom" in the 1990s. The basic idea is that global manufacturing overcapacity has put downward pressure on profits and made it hard for the key manufacturing centers -- Europe, the U.S., Japan, and East Asia -- to prosper simultaneously. Instead, prosperity tends to shift from one center to the other in the wake of shifting exchange rates.

The U.S. had a good run after 1985, when manufacturing profitability was restored because of currency depreciation, tax cuts, stagnant wage growth, and the slaughter of high-cost producers by high interest rates and cheap imports after 1980. A dollar revaluation in 1995 squeezed American manufacturers all over again -- but consumption and investment kept booming for a few years because of a "wealth effect" caused by inflated stock prices. However, since profits were actually declining while the stock market was going into orbit, the good times couldn't last forever. The huge investment in telecom and IT turned out to be overinvestment, contributing to the problem of overcapacity and leading to the recession of 2002.

In all, Brenner's book is a fascinating, neo-Marxist view of the economy, which poses a deep challenge to the prevailing "triumphalist" view of markets. The focus on profits as the key driver of economic performance is refreshing and realistic. I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5 only because the writing is unbelievably dry -- the book, basically, is a 300-page analysis of official statistics -- and because Brenner doesn't give provide much political context for his economic analysis.

Apocalpyse Now.......2002-11-19

Contrary to one reviewer, I found this book truly engrossing. Brenner powerfully summarizes how the rate of profit of world manufacturing fell (with its many implications). To rectify this problem, Greenspan made borrowing easier. As an aside, he notes how CEO's then used their corporations to borrow and buy the very stocks on which their options were based, thereby enriching themselves in a speculative frenzy. However, this is hardly the story: Brenner's analysis explains the crushing attacks on social spending as well as our current war drive--suggesting how this too will fail, leaving only the historic capitalist method for eliminating overcapacity, the elimination of enterprises by economic crisis.

Refreshing views, but a bit overwelming by details.......2002-07-31

The book gives good insight in US economic and financial development during the 1990-ies. Brenner argues well for his criticism of the uniqueness of the so called New Economy, of which he must be regarded as a great disbeliever. It is also refreshing to read a well documented criticism of US monetary policy under Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, whom Brenner sees as a player with heavy responsibility of the unprecedented inflation of US equity prices in the last half of the 1990-ies. Unfortunately Brenner's prose is rather dry and his text is accompanied by a high density of numbers. This documents his arguments well but demands great patience from the lay reader.
The book went to the press in mid 2001 which naturally leaves out the market turbulence July 2002. Nevertheless his analysis gives the patient reader a solid background for understanding the recent developments in US financial markets. And what may be in store...

Customer Reviews:

Conception/birth not accidental + Life sustainable.......2007-02-05

Every human conception involves the cooperation of God, the author of life. If God allows conception, he will also sustain the life thereby produced. God is not, after all, cruel. People who place the earth/the planet above the human beings for whom it was created (on their scale of values/priorities) have things entirely backwards. You cannot rightly cherish the planet at the expense of the people for whom it was aptly created and abundantly endowed. Thank God for Jacqueline Kasun's debunking of the myth of overpopulation. I am sick of hearing from all too many people who have unwittingly swallowed the lie of overpopulation.

Boldly Questioning the Assumptions.......2005-07-29

This book is controversial. It is controversial because it offers a point of view - backed up by copious amounts of factual data from scholarly sources - that is contrary to 99.9% of the available "information" on the world's population "problem". If one is to be truly rational in one's actions, opinions, beliefs and allegiences in this manner, it is imperative to question the assumptions on which one's view of reality are based.

The interpretation of population statistics is complex. This being the only book I have come across that makes a serious attemt to question and test what others simply assume, I cannot be 100% convinced that the state of the world is exactly as this author has ultimately interpreted it - but if only 5% of the conclusions drawn in this book are "unbiased", there is sufficient evidence to suggest that there has been a sustained, conscious effort by "powers that be" to produce evidence of an overly-populated world that is substantialy more rhetoric than fact. Could it be that the political and intellectual leaders of our consumer-driven Western world simply find it more expedient to blame "over-population" for the world's economic, environmental, and sociological crises, than to seriously question the values that underpin their own policies?

The time has come for us to be mnore holistic in our approach to the world's - that is, the human family's - collective problems. This book is a start.

Controversial but honest........2003-01-27

I make it a point to read books attacked by most for being ideologically biased, while others hold the same book up as an example of clear thinking.

Read the book for yourself.
Any open minded person will find her arguments to be:
sound, rational, clear, and correct!

NO.......2002-05-02

I haven't even read the book, i have read exerts and refuse buy such irrational ideal. Read Ishmeal!! EARTH is not OUR WORLD, we are defying the laws of nature and think it is OKAY! We need to control our population, or on a more drastic end stop feeding the homeless, stop curing the ill, allow nature to take its course thereby reducing our population. I would prefer the former to the latter, education and action concerning this worlds grave state need to be addressed and soon. IN THIS GENERERATION, we need to stop putting it off!

A horrible distortion of reality.......2001-04-12

Kasun has written what I can only characterize as a completely biased, unabashed distortion of scientific reality, evidently from the perspective of someone who regards living six to a bed as normal, and to whom the welfare of our Mother Earth and all species are utterly inconsequential.

The War Against Population, the Economics and Ideology of World Population Control

Average customer rating:

The War Against Population, the Economics and Ideology of World Population Control
Jacqueline Kasun
Manufacturer: San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1988
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NVED5Y

Book Description

Smart Advice on what foods to eat, what foods to avoid, and what exercises really work

Smart Strategies for weighing the pros and cons of the latest diet fads

Smart Tips on establishing and staying with a safe nutrition plan that fits your individual goals and needs

Smart Information on the ins and outs of good nutrition—which foods fuel your body and which slow you down
Smart Strategies for customizing your own nutrition and exercise program—one that's all about health, delicious foods, and moderation, not sacrifice and denial
Smart Tips on keeping an effective food diary, identifying a healthy weight range and calorie level, and establishing a realistic exercise schedule
Quick reading and easy referencing with an appendix of fat and calories, a comprehensive index, and loads of sidebars and tables

Customer Reviews:

It helped me lose 75 lbs!!.......2003-06-03

...and get a better understanding to not follow fad diets, but instead adopt a new lifestyle. Practical knowledge everyone needs to get FIT and stay that way. RECOMMEND.

Wonderful Guide!.......2000-05-03

I agree with the other 5-star reviews I've seen. This is this well written, sensible guide without the hype and false promises of the typical "diet book" (and the price is a real bargain as well). I'd recommend it to anyone.

Best diet book I've ever read.......1999-08-05

This is by far the best book on dieting I've ever read. Not just a diet but a whole new healthy way of eating. So far I've been able to lose 60 pounds by following the sensible eating guidelines in the book. These guidelines are flexible enough so you don't feel deprived. Anyone who is serious about loosing weight and feeling good at the same time should give this a try.

Get ready to tighten your belt.......1999-01-22

I'd give this book six stars if I could. Why doesn't Amazon have six stars? They should have a six-star rating for when you feel absolutely magnanimous. Anyone with an ounce of fat around their midrift would create a six-star rating. Anyway. I'd give it six stars, and each star would represent the ten pounds I've lost as a result of this book. That's right -- I've lost forty pounds! And never felt better in my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you K. Colton. Anyone who squirts whipped cream on bacon can see that Miss Colton (may I call her Katharine?) is solely, heroically responsible for the exquisite recipe of style, information, encouragement, and good sense that informs this useful, intrepid, necessary (dare I say magnificent?) literature of self-actualization. For that is what occurs when one sheds the outer layers matter what your weight. But anyway. Great book

Read it if you're sick of "diet books".......1998-11-14

Thank god this book doesn't have the same jokey, smarmy tone of those Complete Idiot's Guides. It's totally accessible but not "dumbed down" or condescending, and it's packed with good, realistic advice. Most important, the author has a great attitude about weight loss: do it for your physical and mental health, not because you want to look like a Vogue model. Her advice hits the mark.

Customer Reviews:

A History of a Unique Military Unit.......2001-08-18

George Bird Grinnell is in one point different from other historians of the Old West. He personnally knew many of the cele-brities of that age, and what is written in his books are found-ed upon their stories. Major Frank North and his brother,Captain Luther North /Grinnell's close friend/ commanded this unique force of Indian auxiliaries. Unique,because they never lost a fight or even a single life during the long line of their battles and skirmishes. They patrolled the building of the railway and fought in major battles like the one of the Summit Springs.Also an important part of the book is the short history of the Pawnee Nation and it serves as well as a biography of the North brothers.And all this is in the highly readable style of George Bird Grinnell with full of westernisms.

Book Description

A history of one of the first black families to settle in Southern Alberta.

Pourin' Down Rain. (Book Reviews). (book review): An article from: Kola

Average customer rating:

Pourin' Down Rain. (Book Reviews). (book review): An article from: Kola
Anthony Joyette
Manufacturer: Black Writers' Guild
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Kola, published by Black Writers' Guild on September 22, 1999. The length of the article is 856 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Pourin' Down Rain. (Book Reviews). (book review)
Author: Anthony Joyette
Publication: Kola (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 1999
Publisher: Black Writers' Guild
Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Page: 75(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

What Do You Do With a Cardboard Box on a Day When the Rain's Pourin Down

Average customer rating:

What Do You Do With a Cardboard Box on a Day When the Rain's Pourin Down
R. Harris Sandling
Manufacturer: Emerald Hummingbird Prod
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1883194008

Book Description

The Great Auk is one of the world's most famous extinct birds. It was undoubtedly a most curious creature: a flightless bird with tiny wings, it stood upright like a human, and sported an enormous beak. On land, the Great Auk was clumsy and awkward, but it was perfectly adapted for swift and efficient movement in the sea, where it spent the large part of the year. In its heyday, it populated the North Atlantic, from Western Europe across to North America, and was a familiar sight to islanders and coastal dwellers when, each May, it would climb ashore for the short breeding season. Yet by the mid-nineteenth century sightings of the bird were but rare occurrences, and just a few decades later even the most assiduous Victorian explorers could not find it. So what happened to the Great Auk? What - or who - caused it to disappear from the northern oceans? Jeremy A. Gaskell draws on eyewitness accounts spanning some four centuries to relate the tale of the Great Auk's extinction. He tells how the Great Auk was hunted by sailors, coastal dwellers, and merchants for its ample flesh, its eggs, and its soft down. He shows how the fate of the Great Auk was inextricably bound up with the prevailing social, economic, and political conditions of the late 18th century. It was also a result of widespread scientific misapprehensions about the nature and geographical range of this mysterious seabird. The disappearance of the Great Auk had a considerable impact on the public imagination of the late 19th Century. Specimens of the birds or their eggs soon began to fetch astronomical prices among collectors. Charles Kingsley used the last Great Auk as a character in The Water Babies. It became the stuff of legend. More importantly, its plight keenly interested a number of great Victorian ornithologists, men like John Wolley, Alfred Newton, and John James Audubon. Later, these self-same men were to cause some of the very first legislation on seabird protection to come into place. As a result this is also the story of the beginnings of bird conservation. This intriguing book takes the reader on a tour of some of the wildest and coldest places on earth, in its attempt to uncover the history of the last days of the Great Auk. We travel with Audubon to Labrador, sail to the remote Scottish island of St Kilda, experience the hardship of life in the colonies of Newfoundland, and follow the peregrinations of intrepid naturalists as they put to sea in search of the very last of the Great Auks. The text is enhanced by numerous maps, photographs, and line drawings, and includes a fine original colour frontispiece by Jan Wilczur.

Average customer rating:

Who Killed The Great Auk?
Jeremy Gaskell
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OOLMP4

Average customer rating:

Who Killed the Great Auk?

Manufacturer: 0
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ICRZYE

Average customer rating:

Who Killed the Great Auk?
Jeremy Gaskell
Manufacturer: Gaskell, Jeremy. Who Killed the Great Auk? Oxford University Press, 2000. Hardcover. 227pp. Lower corners very lightly bumped, else near fine / Near fine dj.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000SJKYYK

Average customer rating:

WHO KILLED THE GREAT AUK?
Jeremy Gaskell
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J3S64K

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books