Sarah Bernhardt: The Art of High Drama (Published in Association with the Jewish Museum, New York)

Book Description

Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923) was an extraordinary performer, so much so that her name became synonymous with acting. Yet her importance extended beyond the world of theater—she was an icon of French nationalism, a target of both admiration and scorn, an artist and sculptor, and a trendsetting avatar of style. This fascinating book examines the many sides and talents of Bernhardt, from her beginnings at the Comédie Française through her international stardom. Wonderfully illustrated, the book features an unprecedented collection of images relating to Bernhardt’s life, including paintings, posters, photographs, costumes, jewelry, stage designs, self-portraits, and sculptures.

Bernhardt orchestrated a brilliant sixty-year career as an actress and entrepreneur, becoming a revered patriotic figure in her native France and a beloved star in America, where she undertook nine successful tours. Along the way she sat for the most fashionable artists of her time, became the most photographed woman in the world, and attached her name to everything from hair curlers to liqueurs. This book brings the incredible Sarah Bernhardt to life for contemporary readers and highlights her historical significance and integral place in modern culture.

Featured illustrations include:

• Art Nouveau posters by Alphonse Mucha depicting Bernhardt in her most famous roles

• Designer costumes, tunics, tiaras, and jewelry

• A human skull, a gift from Victor Hugo

• Portraits of the actress by Jean Cocteau, Félix Nadar, Andy Warhol, and others

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Sarah Bernhardt: the Art of High Drama
Carol Ockman
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N6CSY2

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Global Village Idiot: Dubya, Dumb Jokes, and One Last Word Before You Vote
John O'Farrell
Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Political | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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This Is Your Life

ASIN: 1417723084

Book Description

Winner of the Best Columnist of the Year at the British Liars' Awards, and Britain's finest satirist, O'Farrell takes dead aim in Global Village Idiot at cell phones, awards ceremonies, genetic sheep splicers, America's right-wing cabal of dunces, dunderheads, dimwits, and the Big "D" himself. With handkerchiefs masking their faces, two rioters roughly the height of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld kicked in the gates of the largest oilfield and grabbed the keys of the gasoline trucks. 'Yee-haw! It's all ours! Millions of barrels of the stuff,' they laughed. 'Yup!' added the leader, 'and this mask guarantees my anonymousinity!' So after all these years there really is such a person as the Thief of Baghdad. Except strangely his accent sounded vaguely Texan." A writer for the groundbreaking television show Spitting Image and contributor to the screenplay for the hit movie Chicken Run, O'Farrell's sharpest barbs and stingers have often been written to come out of the mouths of grotesque puppets and Claymation chickens, this time around he keeps the best lines for himself: 'With the election of the 43rd president of the United States, the global village is complete," O'Farrell writes. "It has its own global village idiot."

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Emphasizes the English hymn as a literary entity within denominational and historical contexts. The author sets forth a number of definitions for hymnody and congregational song, and then examines the development of the various forms in England and the United States. With a listing of works for further reading, an index to all hymns discussed, and chronology. ...valuable both for the historical information it provides and for its appreciative evaluation of the religious treasures enshrined in English-language hymns. --ADRIS NEWSLETTER

Book Description

An international, multidisciplinary group of scholars examines the thesis of George Ritzer's popular book The McDonaldization of Society. The essays analyze the premise of "McDonaldization," provide richer theoretical discussions of the relationship between Ritzer's analysis and semiotics, critical theory, feminism, and postmodernism, and extend the thesis to other areas of consumer culture. Aimed at both undergraduate and graduate students, the work is designed to stand alone and need not be accompanied by Ritzer's original text. The essays fill in necessary theoretical issues as well as extend theoretical concepts. A major teaching tool in communication, sociology, and philosophy as well as more applied areas such as hospitality management.

Book Description

Women's inclinations to identify with television characters varies with their assessment of the realism of these characters and their social world.

Book Description

This special book is for every woman who has ever been pregnant, or is now experiencing her first pregnancy, as well as all those hoping to better understand pregnancy's powerful feelings and events-the joy, the pain, the wonder, the bonding, the miracle of new life!

Book Description

D-Day and Beyond is the true story of WWII veteran Stanley E. Edwards, Jr. A C47 pilot with the 82nd Airborne Division, Stanley was just twenty-two on D-Day when his job was to drop paratroopers in Normandy, France. Instead, his plane was shot down and he was forced to jump.

Separated from his crew, he joined other paratroopers trying to fight their way back to the American lines. In the process they were captured by Nazis but managed to escape. Stanley Edwards was captured and escaped twice more before he was finally caught and sent to Stalag Luft III, a prison camp in Germany. There he learned to survive as a POW, made lifelong friends, and learned some of the most important lessons in life.

His story is a fascinating account of one man's struggles to survive and do his duty as an American military man amid the chaos of World War II.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book.......2005-03-26

I loved this book. Part of the reason i did was because Stanley Edwards Jr. actually came into our 8th grade class to talk to us. He was the father of our World History teacher. His story on paper is great but hearing him in person was even more amazing. The book i dont think says this, but he died last year right before or right after the book was finished. At least his story will live on.

Couldn't put it down.......2005-02-10

From an entertainment-value prospective, this book is about as good as it gets. Edwards' story is so gripping, so exciting, I was hooked immediately and was sorry when I came to the end. Phend organizes Edwards' story into a readable, novel-like book while seeming to preserve much of the language he used describing it to her. Meanwhile, I also managed to learn a few things about the war, D-Day, and the plight of Americans in occupied France.

D-Day & Beyond--A survivor's story.......2005-02-07

This book tells a great story of "how it really was" for a young pilot shot down on D-Day. You get an intimate sense of the adventure, exhilaration, and teror that accompanied WWII soldiers every step of the way. The story of Stan Edward's repeated captures and excapes from Germans as he tries to get to the American lines is both exciting and realistic. This is a great read for all ages!

D-Day and Beyond.......2005-02-06

This book is very well written and easy to read! It brings perspective to those of us who have never been to war, and who have certainly not been a POW. A great story about survival. Julie Phend did a wonderful job capturing the mood and details of Stanley's experiences.

A very "readable" book about WWII POW experiences.......2005-01-17

Offering insights into WWII and the POW experience, this book will be enjoyed by readers in seventh grade and above. An especially good choice for reluctant readers, this slim volume has humor, easy reading prose and maps that explain the escapes and recaptures endured by Stanley Edwards.

Most important of all, the book is a testimonial to the American GIs who may have been captured in German POW camps but managed to keep their spirits hopeful and resourceful.

This book is also a useful springboard between generations when discussing war experiences. Just 22-years-old when captured, Edwards' tells a story that is full of humor as well as pain; this focus allows young and old to share their own experiences and thoughts.

Amazon.com

In 1947, the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand signed a secret treaty in which they agreed to cooperate in matters of signals intelligence. In effect, the governments agreed to pool their geographic and technological assets in order to listen in on the electronic communications of China, the Soviet Union, and other Cold War bad guys--all in the interest of truth, justice, and the American Way, naturally. The thing is, the system apparently catches everything. Government security services, led by the U.S. National Security Agency, screen a large part (and perhaps all) of the voice and data traffic that flows over the global communications network. Fifty years later, the European Union is investigating possible violations of its citizens' privacy rights by the NSA, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a public advocacy group, has filed suit against the NSA, alleging that the organization has illegally spied on U.S. citizens.

Being a super-secret spy agency and all, it's tough to get a handle on what's really going on at the NSA. However, James Bamford has done great work in documenting the agency's origins and Cold War exploits in The Puzzle Palace. Beginning with the earliest days of cryptography (code-making and code-breaking are large parts of the NSA's mission), Bamford explains how the agency's predecessors helped win World War II by breaking the German Enigma machine and defeating the Japanese Purple cipher. He also documents signals intelligence technology, ranging from the usual collection of spy satellites to a great big antenna in the West Virginia woods that listened to radio signals as they bounced back from the surface of the moon.

Bamford backs his serious historical and technical material (this is a carefully researched work of nonfiction) with warnings about how easily the NSA's technology could work against the democracies of the world. Bamford quotes U.S. Senator Frank Church: "If this government ever became a tyranny ... the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back, because the most careful effort to combine together in resistance to the government ... is within the reach of the government to know." This is scary stuff. --David Wall

Customer Reviews:

James Bamford's Puzzle Palace.......2006-06-23

This was an interesting beginning book about the history and background of the National Security Agency, especially in light of the very damaging leak about the secret surveillance program ordered by President George W. Bush. The only problem is that this book is a bit dated, so it's hard to know how similar the early '80s Puzzle Palace compares with that of the early 21st Century NSA. What's clear is the NSA has been a special creature of the government, created by executive order and really not beholden to Congress like other agencies. I recommend people read this and Bamford's other book about the NSA.

Timeless non-fiction.......2006-06-08

This book was written back in 1982, but the information you get from it is still fresh and very relevant. Especially, after the revelation that President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to spy on Americans and others in the United States making contact with persons in other nations. More recently, "USA Today" reported that the NSA is operating "the largest database ever assembled in the world", containing call detail records of all calls (inbound and outbound) placed through AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth.

James Bamford has done a remarkable job in revealing the secrets of this agency. Something that is hard to imagine. However, he did keep a balance by not giving all the information, especially those that will concerns national security. No doubt, the more you know about NSA more you respect it. They have got some of the best cryptologists, technologists, and mathematicians working for them. It is amazing to see how Bamford collected and documented the information about the secret agency, not to forget that there was a time when its existence was not even acknowledged.

Having said that, I have to agree that this is one of the most interesting books you will find in the non-fiction category.

Dateline, America, Dec. 19, 2005.......2005-12-19

The recent revelation that President Bush authorized NSA spying on its own citizens (and the sad fact that the New York Times sat on this for a year, despite being a victim itself in the past) makes this book both incredibly timely and obviously, unfortunately, timeless.

The history of the National Security Agency and its predecessor organizations, along with the NSA's willingness to skirt, if not break, the law, should all be lessons for us today. For people younger than myself, not old enough to remember the Church Commission, unfortunately, these are lessons they never learned.

This book is a must-read for anybody concerned with the history of American civil liberties.

UPDATE, July 5, 2006: A lawsuit against the NSA has brought out the fact that the genesis, or at least the first feelers, toward this domestic snooping, were actually being pursued in 2000, under the Clinton Administration.

At least in some ways, it appears George Wallace was right with his "not a dime's worth of difference" comment about Republicans and Democrats.

A paradox.......2005-03-05

This book had interesting parts and some very dull parts. There was too much ink wasted on small details that were boring and contributed little to the overall story.

Pulling Back the Curtain.......2005-01-26

Put this book in time context. When Bamford wrote about the NSA in 1982, only a few Americans had ever heard of the super secret spy agency. I venture that most were unaware of its existence, mission or history, including the fact that its dark budget superceded all other U.S. spy agencies combined (yes even the CIA). It's release caused a little consternation because NSA was getting exposed for the first time. I was concerned that it might be too revelatory but nonetheless I read with fascination.

Bamford does an excellent job of chronicling the origins of NSA and pulling back the curtain to display the leaders, culture, methodologies, operations, budget, successes, failures, employees and other components of this signals intelligence vacuum pump. It was at the time possibly the only avenue for the average citizen to discover how, what, when and where the NSA conducted its business. You would have been surprised to learn how sophisticated the palace was as far back as 1952. (Capturing the cockpit conversation of the Russian pilots who shot down the KLM flight during the Reagan presidency was one example of NSA's unique abilities.) It is like seeing the B-2 bomber unveiled and then realizing it is the culmination of 20 years development. Wonder what they are capable of now?

I'm glad we lead the world in such intelligence gathering and today's events make the work of NSA more valuable than ever. The best and brightest of our mathmeticians, code breakers, techno-geeks and others work there. Thank goodness they work for us. With the advent of the internet, more detailed information on NSA may be readily available. But if you want to read one book on NSA, this should be your introduction and base station.

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