Dore's Illustrations for Don Quixote

Book Description

Doré's sympathy to Cervantes' satire was so complete that, of numerous interpretations by many artists, his has become standard. Here are 190 wood-engraved plates, 120 full-page: charging the windmill, traversing Spanish plains, valleys, mountains, ghostly visions of dragons, knights, flaming lake. Marvelous detail, minutiae, accurate costumes, architecture, enchantment, pathos, humor. Captions.

Customer Reviews:

An extraordinary visual companion to DON QUIXOTE.......2004-06-20

Gustave Doré was a frustrated painter. Forced by circumstance to produce illustration illustrations for a number of literary works, he primarily longed for fame and success as a painter. But while shooting for fame as a painter, he inadvertently achieved immortality as arguably the greatest illustrator in history.

Most illustrators of the classics fall far short of the efforts of the works they are asked to illustrate, but Doré almost always managed to eerily echo visually the genius of the original authors. After reading the first half of DON QUIXOTE, I discovered this Dover collection of Doré's illustrations of the work, and I found them to be completely stunning. Doré had a genius for precisely visualizing events in the novel and transferring them precisely into his illustrations. No scene is too much of a challenge to him. The famous moment when Don Quixote attacks the windmills, mistaking them as giants, is depicted brilliantly by Doré. Every famous scene and many less famous scenes are all depicted, and I can honestly say that not once does Doré disappoint me in his imaging of how the scene occurred. One can, if one wants, make minor quibbles with Doré, such as his drawing Quixote wearing the wash basin helmet even in section later in the novel where he is said to have worn a sallet helmet. But this truly would be mere quibbling, for throughout Doré perfectly captures the spirit of DON QUIXOTE.

I'm convinced that this collection of illustrations is not nearly as well known as it deserves to be. Graphic novels are an extremely popular genre today, and it is impossible to imagine anyone interested in the visual aspects of those stories not being fascinated by Doré's far more complex and classically organized illustrations. Likewise, no one interested in graphic art or the history of art could not find these less than riveting. Most of all, anyone who loves DON QUIXOTE will adore these drawings, and to work through the various illustrations is to relive all the glorious events of the novel once again. Indeed, one could almost argue that while other translators have managed with more or less success to translate Cervantes's masterpiece into English or German or French, Doré managed to translate the novel into a purely visual language.

Average customer rating:
Dore's Illustrations for Don Quixote : A Selection of 190 Illustrations by Gustave Dore
Gustave Dore
Manufacturer: Dover Publications, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NVMGE4

Average customer rating:
GUSTAVE DORE: ILLUSTRATIONS TO DON QUIXOTE
JEANNIE RUZICKA
Manufacturer: ACADEMY EDITIONS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000RZDHYO

Average customer rating:
Don Quijote de La Mancha: La del Alba Seria / Of the Serious Dawn
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Spanish | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Spanish | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Literaria | General | Literatura y ficción | Libros en español | Formats | Books
Española | Literatura Mundial | Literatura y ficción | Libros en español | Formats | Books
ASIN: 8497364678

Average customer rating:
Don Quixote de la Mancha
Miguel (with the illustrations of Gustave Dore) de Cervantes Saavedra
Manufacturer: Franklin Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N5XBWG

Average customer rating:
Sittings, 1979-1983
Earl of Snowdon
Manufacturer: Harper & Row
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NSPRHK

Average customer rating:
Sittings, 1979-1983
Antony Armstrong-Jones Snowdon
Manufacturer: Harper & Row
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Portraits | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0060152184

Average customer rating:
Sittings, 1979-1983
Antony Armstrong-Jones Snowdon
Manufacturer: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORYXCU

Average customer rating:

Try something else.

A great gift that goes with that special mug!

Higher Grounds: The Little Book of Coffee Culture (Little Red Books)

Manufacturer: Arsenal Pulp Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1551520184

Book Description

Coffee is the soma of the nineties, and Higher Grounds is your guidebook to the zeitgeist, whether it's truck-stop "Swedish gasoline" or a "half-double decaffeinated half-caf with a twist of lemon." Includes quotations, recipes, definitions, and a lexicon of essential coffeeisms.

Customer Reviews:

Try something else........2005-02-28

I looked through the excerps in the hope that this book might be one I would like to add to the collection, and it seems to me to be a waste of money...even though it only costs $5. Invest that amount into "Uncommon Grounds" by Mark Pendergrast; if you are serious about coffee, I fear "Higher Grounds" will be misleading, or at best, quite vague.
Example: a quote in the book says that one coffee tree produces one pound of coffee. True, but it should say that one tree produces one pound of roasted coffee...operative word being "roasted". A layman might not guess at the importance of that fact. One roasted bean is only about 15% of the original weight of the fruit that the coffee seed/bean is contained in.
Another example that will rub any person with any biological training and one which I noticed immediately: "Coffea arabica" should be typed as such. This author capitalizes the "a" in arabica, and the first letter of the species name is never capitalized. I know I'm being picky here, but this is the first impression I received from the book...and I knew my opinion of it would be downhill from there.
The book seems elementary and not worth the money. Please try something else. I cannot recommend Pendergrast's "Uncommon grounds: The history of coffee and how it transformed our world" enough! You could also try "The Devil's Cup" for coffee's influence on global societies...just do not buy "Higher Grounds"! Libraries exist for a reason.

A great gift that goes with that special mug!.......1999-04-15

After receiving this book as a gift, I found it full of history, humor, and ideas that one would never think of when it comes to coffee. Barefoot has researched this topic to the extent where if one was to look for any facts on coffee culture, this book would have it all. The 'little' book format fits perfectly in a coffee mug, which says that this book can be the perfect add-on to a great gift. I hope Barefoot is working on a second book, as I am thirsting for more

Amazon.com

The British pianist and journalist Brian Priestly has written the first biography of Charles Mingus, and it's an excellent piece of work. His emphasis tends to be on the music, which he discusses in a lucid and lively manner. But Priestly recounts the life, too, exalting Mingus's devotion to his art and treating even his most self-destructive fiascoes with even-handed sympathy.

Customer Reviews:

Hip To Be Cool.......2006-11-08

In slightly under 230 pages, author Brian Priestley attempts to cover the life of Charles Mingus in a biography, discography and musicography. Without the proper focus, the book fails on all counts.

I blame the publisher for a work that attempts to deliver so much, but does not have the number of words to make it work. I also strongly feel the editor failed miserably for not making critical calls as the book began to take shape.

The major point of interest is a listing of major recordings that Mingus accomplished in his vast career. But when the highlight is a part of the appendix, it speaks loudly about the text!

Mingus: A Critical Biography is hardly a definitive work on the oftentimes controversial life of the musical genius. I cannot even recommend it as a primer since those looking for an in-depth exploration on any of the three categories mentioned above will be sorely disappointed.

Giant of Jazz.......2001-08-24

This is a slightly disappointing, but still very good biography of one of the greatest jazz composers and probably its top bassist. Mingus, using a mixture of jazz, blues, church music, European impressionism and march music, and folk, wrote some of the most outstanding music of the 20th century. A man of wide-ranging, complicated emotions, lionesque appetites, and varied intellectual and creative pursuits, this titan of modern music is a fascinating biographical subject.

However, Brian Priestley does not capture the full measure of the man and his music. I'm not sure what the subtitle "A Critical Biography" is meant to convey, but there is not enough musical criticism. Particularly in the second half of the book, Priestley resorts to an "and then he wrote" approach, painstakingly detailing every new composition or derivative, and every new musician in the ever-changing Mingus ensemble. There is musical analysis, but often it is more technical than critical. Referring to a song on "East Coasting" Priestley writes, "it incorporates passages of G minor twelve-bar blues only slightly different from the opening of `Eulogy' (Im/bVImaj\bII7\V7 instead of Im|bVImaj7\IIm7b5\v7)." The first part of this sentence is the more revealing: "It is a tribute to Mingus' maturing methodology that ideas are shown to be capable of repetition and rearrangement."

This does not go far enough, though. Why did Mingus "cross-breed" so many of his works, as Priestley notes but never really examines. The reasons (aesthetic, psychological--practical in the case of "Slop") for the similarities among some works (e.g., "Better Get Hit Into Yo Soul", "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting", "Slop," and other compositions is never really explored. Were Mingus' edits across versions and his reworking of similar themes an attempt to forge a new "traditional" folk music within a mere two decades? (Perhaps this hypothesis is off, but I would have preferred that Priestley write a more encompassing analysis of both the whole of Mingus' work and its constituent parts.)

Conversely, we may praise the author for not indulging in psycho-biography, for including extensive well-documented quotes from Mingus as well as other musicians, and for describing enough on-stage Mingus behavior to get a sense of his personality. One might want to read the excellent though brief "Mingus/Mingus: Two Memoirs" for a better look at the offstage Mingus and his relationships with non-musicians.

The strength of the book is the extensive documentation of the entire Mingus discography, the ever shifting lineups, and both the recorded and non-recorded performances. This must have been a labor of love, as Priestley gives the definitive record of Mingus' output and how the performances map onto the different albums. The appendices include musical notations of ten (!) bass excerpts, a second-by-second structural analysis of "The Black Saint...,"and notes to all citations in the book. This is invaluable for the Mingus fan.

Priestley's writing can be awkward, "She it was who wrote....," and strained "Any minimally serious astrological guide will describe the typical Taurean as having outsized physical appetites; what is perhaps even more relevant to Mingus is the ability to treat extramarital affairs (like the ice-cream [sic] of which he was so fond) as a dessert complementing, but in no way threatening, any long-established relationship."

Despite the reservations noted above, I can recommend this book as a comprehensive resource for Mingus fans. It also includes enough personal information and sympathy (through interview excerpts with Mingus and others) that one begins to appreciate his complexities. There are a few clues to his Joycean autobiography, "Beneath the Underdog," and one gets a good sense of the racial tensions and injustices battled by Mingus. Finally, judging from the reviews of the other major Mingus biography, "Myself When I Am Real," this is the best book currently available. It will be enhanced, however, if read with the aforementioned autobiography (as perplexing as it is) and "Mingus/Mingus," as well as the brief but excellent critiques in "The Penguin Guide to Jazz." Includes 25 black and white photos, notes, appendices, and an extensive index.

Hisself when he was hardly real.......2001-04-01

What do you want from this Charles Mingus biography?

1. A depiction of Mingus the man, including a psychological and/or anecdotal interpretation of his character?

There's not a lot of that here. Although I will say that this falls into the category of what I call "John Bonham Biographies", named for the Led Zeppelin drummer who came off as a manic-depressive Jekyl and Hyde in the book "Hammer of the Gods". Another good example of this is humourist Michael O'Donoghue in Dennis Perrin's bio "Mr. Mike". Mingus, in Priestley's hands, is an extreme man. He is either a soulful genius, or a tyrannical, violent, out-of-control maniac. It always strikes me as a road too easily traveled by the biographer, and is thus distracting.

2. A theoretical explanation of Mingus' music, with the intent of illustrating why he casts such a powerful shadow over the jazz world (as unparalleled bassist *and* composer)?

There's oodles of that here. Unfortunately, it leaves very little room for the layman to join the party. At times the book reads like an advanced textbook on modern jazz theory. I guess I should have taken the title of the book -- "A Critical Biography" -- a little more seriously. Also, there are references made to Mingus quoting other songs within his own, which further baffled me, as it would anyone but the most knowledgeable jazz historian. And when he tries to determine Mingus' place in music history, Priestley isn't afraid to let the hyperbole fly. Like when he implies that rock `n' roll is an indirect descendant from a relationship between Alexis Korner and Mingus in London. Or an attempt to elevate Mingus' jazz as an artform, when compared to the vacuous pop of the mid-1960s, which lacks credibility because the vacuous being compared to is the (relatively) sophisticated music of the Beatles! Or an absurd claim that a disastrous concert Mingus put on at the Town Hall in New York "caused more fallout than the almost simultaneous Cuban Missile Crisis"! These and other arguments are handled sloppily at best, and do a disservice to Mingus himself.

3. An explanation/refutation of Mingus' fantastic semi-autobiography "Beneath the Underdog"?

You're in luck, because at times it feels like Priestley has a copy of Mingus' book beside him as he writes, ticking off fact after fact as it is corrected or explained here. Which might have been helpful had I read "Beneath the Underdog", but I haven't. And now don't need to. He should have just published a version of "The Annotated Beneath the Underdog", and left the biography writing to someone else with an original sense of narrative.

So just be sure you know what your goals are when confronting this work. Jazzheads and Mingus-freaks, you're welcome to join the party. Casual jazz fans and Mingus admirers (of which I am one), step lightly. Fans of biography, do yourself a favour and pass on by. Oh, and I almost forgot. This book has the tackiest, creepiest, and most irresponsible closing line of any book I have ever read. I just hope that Dannie Richmond (drummer and frequent Mingus band member) hasn't seen it.

Definitive Mingus Biography........1998-07-08

The reviewer from LA makes this book sound like a cheesy celebrity bio. Nothing could be further from the truth. Priestly has written a carefully detailed history of Mingus's musical life. There's an effort to make sense out of Mingus's wild autobiography Beneath the Underdog, and his personal life is discussed, as it should be, but Mingus's accomlishments and his place in jazz history are the main focus of this book. This is a first rate jazz biography.

Mingus for Mingus Fans.......1998-06-29

Priestley does a good job at giving us an overview of Mingus the musician, that is, who he played with, where he played and when. However, like Beneath the Underdog, the book concentrates too much on the personal and not enough on the music. I was looking for a more critical review of Mingus's compositions and his role as one of the most influential and under appreciated musician of our time, but it seems that Mingus's persona will always overshadow his contributions. On a good note, Priestley's discography is extremely thorough which has made it a constant reference in my house. Finally, the writing is a bit dry which may make it a tough read for the casual jazz fan.

Book Description

Angora Matta is a bilingual (Spanish/English) and interdisciplinary work that adopts performative writing to reflect on the transnational politics of culture. Part I is an introduction co-authored by a tango-opera librettist and a central character in her libretto, offering two contending versions of how this book came into being. Part II is the libretto for the tango-opera Angora Matta, a critical view of Argentina's contemporary history conceived as a surreal and tragic thriller. Part III contains feminist scholarly essays written by three other characters who appear in the libretto: Elvira Diaz is a dance ethnographer disenchanted with her profession; Manuela Malva is a biting foreign-film critic invested in de-mystifying exotic renderings of the Argentine tango world; Angora Matta, the assassin for hire, closes the book with philosophico-poetic preoccupations about her profession. An innovative blend of scholarship and art, Angora Matta is both critique of and antidote to the representational practices of ethnography that have fetishized "other" cultures by isolating them from contemporary history and the global flow of international politics.

Customer Reviews:

Strives to present an often oversimplified culture.......2003-10-07

Angora Matta: Fatal Acts Of North-South Translation by anthropologist and political theorist Marta Elena Savigliano (Professor, UCLA Department of World Arts & Culture) is a "tango-opera" exploring views of the history of Argentina even as it follows the turmoil involving a deadly female assassin, as sensed and charted by a gifted medium. The opera performance enriches as it strives to present an often oversimplified culture, and the metaphors weaving the breadth of the work circle about the human inner striving to express and impress. Angora Matta is a unique, unforgettable, and highly recommended contribution to Latin American Cultural Studies collections and reading lists.

Average customer rating:

A great reference book for war-gamer

The Decisive Battles of the Western World and Their Influence Upon History, Volume 1: From the Earliest Times to the Battle of Lepanto
J. F. Fuller
Manufacturer: SPA Books, Ltd. (UK)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0907590454

Customer Reviews:

A great reference book for war-gamer.......1999-10-30

If you want to have a brief understanding of the military history of the western world, this book is the one you needed. Enjoy it! The whole series has three volume. From Earliest Times to W.W.II. Get them all on your bookshelf!

Amazon.com

Adolescent girls today face the issues girls have always faced: "Who am I?" and "Who do I want to be?" Unfortunately their answers, now more than ever before, revolve around the body rather than the mind, heart, or soul. "The body is at the heart of the crisis that [Carol] Gilligan, [Mary] Pipher, and others describe.... The fact that American girls now make the body their central project is not an accident or a curiosity," writes Brumberg, "it is a symptom of historical changes that are only now beginning to be understood." The historical photos, thorough research, and political even-handedness make this a book of worth and sincerity. The Body Project is also comforting for women, adolescents, parents, lesbians, and male lovers of women--helping us sort out the roots of female insecurities, obsessions, and angst.

Book Description

"Timely and sympathetic . . . a work of impassioned advocacy." -- People

A hundred years ago, women were lacing themselves into corsets and teaching their daughters to do the same. The ideal of the day, however, was inner beauty: a focus on good deeds and a pure heart. Today American women have more social choices and personal freedom than ever before. But fifty-three percent of our girls are dissatisfied with their bodies by the age of thirteen, and many begin a pattern of weight obsession and dieting as early as eight or nine. Why?

In The Body Project, historian Joan Jacobs Brumberg answers this question, drawing on diary excerpts and media images from 1830 to the present. Tracing girls' attitudes toward topics ranging from breast size and menstruation to hair, clothing, and cosmetics, she exposes the shift from the Victorian concern with inner beauty to our modern focus on outward appearance--in particular, the desire to be model-thin and sexy. Compassionate, insightful, and gracefully written, The Body Project explores the gains and losses adolescent girls have inherited since they shed the corset and the ideal of virginity for a new world of sexual freedom and consumerism--a world in which the body is their primary project.

"Joan Brumberg's book offers us an insightful and entertaining history behind the destructive mantra of the '90s--'I hate my body!'" --Katie Couric

Customer Reviews:

Understanding a Cultural Obsession.......2007-04-23

Topic: - The book is the author's historical perspective, suggesting there are ever increasing visual evaluations and body standards being placed on American Girls.

Commentary: - The book does an excellent job of bringing attention to the messages girls are constantly bombarded with from all forms of media, advertising and cultural rules, messages that try to persuade them their body should have certain attributes and not have other attributes. It outlines how with each new generation, new social visual ideals are added. From shaving legs, to waxing, to eyebrow control, to hairstyles, to overall weight, to muscle tone, to bad breath, to body odor, to feminine hygeine, to piercings, to tattoos, to teeth straightening, to belly button length, to breast shape, to teeth whitening, and on and on.

Writing Style: - I thought the premise and supporting facts of this book were excellent, but if I have to fault one aspect of the book, it is that the writing sometimes lost my attention - this occurred even though I greatly care about the issues discussed in the book.

What would have made this book better?: - There is an inherent conflict in these issues: How do you make "not being a pawn to these social pressures" interesting and sexually attractive? One of the main draws that advertisers and social forces use is: IF you perfectly control your body and develop these many attributes, THEN you'll be more well liked, treated better, more in control, or more sexually attractive. For the book to have been even better, it needed to spend more time promoting non-conformist beauty ideals and conceptual frameworks.

In other words, it needed to do more to show how NOT persuing a "body perfect" can lead to better social relationships, understanding, attractiveness, etc. It's not enough to tell a person, "Don't do that." It's better to show them how alternative paths can produce more fulfilling and better outcomes. This is because women are constantly bombarded with the opposing messages of: "Make your body perfect" and you will receive _____ (fill in the blank).

Why did I write this review?: - I read this book about a year ago, and I didn't feel compelled to write a review. But one of the attributes of a great idea or a great book of ideas is the longer the ideas are considered in your brain (the more evidence and scenarios you evaluate using those ideas), the more those ideas resonate with 'truth' or significance.

Like most people, I use the internet often. I'm just sickened by the frequency of visual beauty ads. From wrinkle creams, to Stry-Vectyn, to Bo-Tox, to acne-fighters, and every other blemish or age-fighting cream, lotion, or potion. The same messages are coming from T.V.

Dove has launched a "Real Beauty" campaign, where they show women with "non-ideal" body types and weight ranges. And while I can admire some of the premise, which is: "Beauty is broader than the narrow definitions of supemodel advertising," I am also saddened as Dove, a cosmetic company, has also introduced the suggestion: Older women and non-ideal women need to spend more money on our beauty products. Olay's campaign of "Fight crows feet . . . on your elbows and your legs" is creating additional Body Projects for women to be concerned about.

Given the constant messages and pressures American women receive, I expect most women have dealt with an eating disorder or OCD mindset about their physical appearance. After reading this book, I admire every woman who has managed to overcome our culture's body obsession and who has found a way to moderate their eating habits and perceptions of their body.

I recommend at least scanning this book to find any topics of interest. Hopefully, young women who have read this book will be more able to recognize the unnecessary demands and often unreachable standards being asked of them. Hopefully they will learn to define their beauty, and the beauty of the women around them, using more non-body-defined benchmarks.

Fabulous.......2007-04-04

This book was the best non-fiction I have ever read. It details the changing attitudes towards girls' bodies from the Victorian era to now. It's a sad, hard truth, but opens readers' eyes to the stark reality of girls' bodies going from prime real estate -joint owners being parents and the future husband- to nothing but over-sexed, under nourished, under appreciated, and under protected citizens of society.

This book is a wonderful chronicle of the changes in physical appearance, as well as mental status, in the ever-changing world of girls in society.

Fair Attempt to Explain a Growing Problem.......2006-06-10

I bought this book because I see how girls/young women stuggle to achieve a very unrealistic ideal of beauty and how middle aged women stuggle to hang on to what they had as young women. As I approach 50, I know I am expected to stay trim, fit and muscular in spite of the fact that my body struggles mightly against it, especially since pregnancy and child birth.

As for the book, it is heavily researched and some of that research does involve journals from the 19th century and beyond. The first chapter is about how girls' bodies are maturing at a much faster rate than those of their fore sisters and the implications of this. Interesting.

The second chapter covers menstruation and menarche in detail. It is really too long. The basic premise of the chapter is how menarche has become consumerized. Mothers provide their daughters with all the mass manufactured equipment and not much else. The author wants menarche to be explained to girls as the time they enter womanhood, but I have a problem with this for two reasons. #1 Most girls are entering menarche at a time when they are not even remotely ready to be women. #2 When I enter menopause, am I exiting womanhood?

The third chapter covers the quest for perfect skin. It is page after page covering the subject of acne and how it has been dealt with over the past century. This, also, the author feels has been very much consumerized, as mothers take their daughters to the doctors and buy any and every cream and potion to relieve their daughters' agony.

The fourth chapter deals with the history of girls trying to achieve the perfect body and the fifth with the disappearance of virginity and how women have gained sexual freedom, but this has also filtered down to girls in middle school and high school and most of these girls and young women are ill equipped mentally and emotionally to deal with the ramifications of their sexuality.

The overall ideals in the book are excellent. The fact that girls have lost their closeness with mothers, aunts, teachers and other female role models. The fact that most of their learning comes from the media and girls their own ages. The fact that outward beauty is what females are judged by rather than beauty that comes from inside. The fact that girls are no longer protected through the family unit. They are sexually active earlier and earlier and often with older men and not boys of their own age. They have been sold the goods of freedom and independence when they are really not ready for them, etc.

Unfortunately, the book did not so much back up these ideas, but more harped on consumerism...the buying of feminine products, make up, clothes, etc. I am pretty sure this is but I small part of the problem.

Why "beautiful on the inside" doesn't seem to matter anymore.......2006-01-19

What happened to American girls, to women, over the past hundred years, that caused a quantum shift in how they present themselves to the world?

Intelligence, spirituality, charity and volunteerism, and skills for all things domestic were once revered. The most popular girl in her class wasn't the prettiest girl. The girl considered best for marriage had the qualities desired for a wife and mother and not what she looked like on her husband's arm.

We are all victims of this shift.

I admit I first noticed this book on a shelf in a train-station bookstore because of the flat, tanned belly on the cover. We've become a society obsessed with pieces and parts and appearances of the pieces and parts rather than the beauty of the whole person. Our self-esteem is measured by the numbers on the scale or the size of our jeans or the clarity of our skin.

Over the past six years, I've reread this book a few times, and always find a new point that rings true.

In her revealing (yet not surprising) sociological history Blumberg uses the best and most frank sources to illustrate her case: the private diaries of young women, from the Victorian era to present day (the late 90's). Blumberg theorizes that it's the media and consumerism that are the biggest contributors to the shift and uses excerpts from the diaries to make her point.

Blumberg focuses on middle-class Caucasian girls circa 1998, and perhaps the book needs an update to focus on a broader demographic as well as address the influence of the internet which has since become an increasingly important factor in the socialization and self-awareness of young women.

I think this is a decent book for a teenage girl, but I'm not sure it will have much of a positive influence. Girls are constantly being fed about how they should look and what products they should buy to achieve beauty.

It's a better book for a woman in her 20's or 30's who might want a better understanding of why we've become the way we are.

Unworthy of "American" in its title.......2005-10-02

The Body Project provides very selective leeway into the societal effects of African-American adolescent girls and their personal body projects. The main focus of this book is on the evolution of the white middle-class adolescent girl throughout American history. African-American and Jewish girls are mentioned briefly in a few chapters, while other ethnic groups are simply never discussed. Are these other various ethnic groups not worthy of their equal place in Brumberg's book?
Brumberg focuses on the evolution of the white middle-class female adolescent starting in the early 1800s and ending in the late 1990s. An evolution of the African American adolescent also took place during these times, but differently than that of their white female counterparts.
In order to understand black American adolescents today, foundation for cultural practices must first be established. Brumberg never mentions the coexistence of enslaved blacks, in America during the 18th or 19th centuries.
Though all women have the same biological anatomy, our genes vary, our cultures vary, so we should dispel the idea that when certain groups of women who menstruate earlier than others are abnormal or inferior. Brumberg reveals that this type of thought was well circulated throughout the medical community remained true during the Victorian period. The notion that black health was considered an expendable asset in the American medical community well through the early 1970s.

One major issue that Brumberg avoids is the abuse of children and adolescents. There is probably a close connection between the body projects that adolescents undertake and their harsh self-image.

Brumberg fails to expand on the greater idea that people exist who can never truly choose their identity before it first chooses them. Many girls are intrinsically bound to a stereotype, despite self-image. Possibly everyone has small things that they would like to alter about their physical appearances; however Americans also fail to see these "body projects" as a form a western female mutilation, of which millions of women have fallen victim. Plastic surgery is an ever-growing project that young girls obsess about. This standard idea of beauty that girls manipulate themselves on must disappear, before our individuality as women disappears.

The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls

Average customer rating:

The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls
Joan Jacobs Brumberg
Manufacturer: Random House Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OLUL04

Average customer rating:

The Body Project. An Intimate History of American Girls.

Manufacturer: Vintage Books. A Division of Random House, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000CS6LUS

Product Description

ISBN # 0965084634

Average customer rating:

Lovebird Atlas Books A2

You need passion to get through the science......

Interesting and informative.

The Colored Atlas of Lovebirds : Agapornis : More Than a Hob

Reviewer: Owner, Breeder, Lover of Lovebirds

The Colored Atlas of Lovebirds: Agapornis : More Than a Hobby, a Passion!
Alessandro D'Angieri
Manufacturer: TFH Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Birds | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

All About Breeding Lovebirds

Lovebird Handbook, The (Barron's Pet Handbooks)

The Professional's Book of Lovebirds (Professionals Book)

Lovebirds (Complete Pet Owner's Manual)

Lovebirds: Everything About Housing, Care, Nutrition, Breeding, and Diseases : With a Special Chapter, Understanding Lovebirds (A Complete Pet Owner's Manual)

ASIN: 0793804736

Customer Reviews:

Lovebird Atlas Books A2.......2006-05-14

I realy love this book, it was just what I was looking for. The only thing negative was the shipping! It was sent flat letter with no bubble wrap, all the corners were bent and indentations in the hard color. The book is great, but the condition I recieved it in was not good. The cover was 20 to 30 % damaged.

You need passion to get through the science.............2005-06-15

Dr. Alessandro D'Angieri, a Brazilian physician with an interest in ornithology, is a researcher at the State University of Campinas's Zoology Department (UNICAMP) who has dedicated his life to the study and preservation of Brazilian and foreign birds. His deep interest in genetic diversity is reflected in this text devoted to the 262 species and 63 genera of the family Psittacidae and subfamily Psittacinae known as Agapornis.

Agapornis form nine distinct forms in the wilds of continental Africa and the coastal region of the island of Madagascar. Dr. D'Angieri includes a map showing the original homeland of these little birds, many of them threatened by the encroachment of humans, who range across an area just South of the Equator. The book also includes hundreds of beautiful photos indicating the identity of these confusing little creatures.

Apparently, the coloring of companion birds here in the States is the result of lots of cross-breeding around the world. I certainly cannot keep it all straight even after perusing Dr D'Angieri's book, let alone know whether a particular type is caused by hybridization, mutation or metabolic disorder. Color in the diet does not appear to affect the color of the birds, although a healthy diet will certainly improve their feather coloration. .

I raise Agapornis otherwise known as Lovebirds and include several Personata and Roseacollis types in my collection. Two of my Personata companions include a pair of Cobalt blue-black masked twins. According to the author, this coloration is not common. Using Dr. D'Angieri's book I have been able to identify the coloration of several other birds, but this is an incredibly complex book so the photographs are very important and if a picture of a particular type does not exist, I cannot identify it at all.

I enjoyed this obviously professional book immensely, even if it includes more material than I can hold in my head, and will use it as a reference. I don't know if I will ever use it to guide the mating of birds to obtain a specific coloration for which it seems designed.

Interesting and informative........2002-12-11

This book is becoming slightly dated as new mutations have arisen, and some pics show birds in other than their best plumage. These minor faults aside, the genetic explanations and practical knowledge available to the breederin this book are most useful. And many (if not all) of the pictures are terrific. Other volumes or info on the web are needed for detailed lovebird care, but this book is most useful re: mutations and their selection.

The Colored Atlas of Lovebirds : Agapornis : More Than a Hob.......2002-01-14

The Colored Atlas of Lovebirds : Agapornis : More Than a Hobby, a Passion!

This shopping

Reviewer: Owner, Breeder, Lover of Lovebirds.......2001-07-09

This book is a must for anyone who is interested in the SCIENCE of professional breeding, especially for unusual color (read: more expensive birds)... it is truly NOT for the casual bird fancier. If you're buying it to better understand, care for and enjoy your pet, you will be disappointed. (Note: This reviewer believes that the breeding of birds should be left to professionals. Breeding birds 'casually' or 'at-home' is not a good practice. Baby birds are more than a lot of work, and there are many things that can go wrong, causing anguish to both owners and birds.)

Average customer rating:

Fanny McFancy A Passion for Fashion

Fanny McFancy: A Passion for Fashion
Patricia Thackray
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Customer Reviews:

Fanny McFancy A Passion for Fashion.......2000-03-01

This is an excellent book for everyone. My 5 year old loves it! It has wonderful rhymes and a good message at the end.

Average customer rating:

A Passion for Birds
Mark Barrow
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0691049548

Book Description

In the decades following the Civil War--as industrialization, urbanization, and economic expansion increasingly reshaped the landscape--many Americans began seeking adventure and aesthetic gratification through avian pursuits. By the turn of the century, hundreds of thousands of middle-and upper-class devotees were rushing to join Audubon societies, purchase field guides, and keep records of the species they encountered in the wild. Mark Barrow vividly reconstructs this story not only through the experiences of birdwatchers, collectors, conservationists, and taxidermists, but also through those of a relatively new breed of bird enthusiast: the technically oriented ornithologist. In exploring how ornithologists struggled to forge a discipline and profession amidst an explosion of popular interest in natural history, A Passion for Birds provides the first book-length history of American ornithology from the death of John James Audubon to the Second World War.

Barrow shows how efforts to form a scientific community distinct from popular birders met with only partial success. The founding of the American Ornithologists' Union in 1883 and the subsequent expansion of formal educational and employment opportunities in ornithology marked important milestones in this campaign. Yet by the middle of the twentieth century, when ornithology had finally achieved the status of a modern profession, its practitioners remained dependent on the services of birdwatchers and other amateur enthusiasts. Environmental issues also loom large in Barrow's account as he traces areas of both cooperation and conflict between ornithologists and wildlife conservationists.

Recounting a colorful story based on the interactions among a wide variety of bird-lovers, this book will interest historians of science, environmental historians, ornithologists, birdwatchers, and anyone curious about the historical roots of today's birding boom.

Average customer rating:
PASSION AND THE FLOWER and LOVE, LORDS, AND LADY-BIRDS
BARBARA CARTLAND
Manufacturer: Dutton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J2IJUW

Average customer rating:

Great Book

A series of artistic yet manly grouse hunting tales.

The autobiography of an excellent grouse hunter

Hunting the Sun: A Passion for Grouse
Ted Nelson Lundrigan
Manufacturer: Countrysport Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
General & Anthologies | Hunting & Fishing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Hunting | Hunting & Fishing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0924357703

Customer Reviews:

Great Book.......2002-10-09

Lundrigan tells it like it truly is in Northern Minnesota, sharing his pains, passions, and sorrows, in this memoir of his life journey where partridge hunting is the moderator and one of the few constants. Without trying he makes a case for the necessity of hunting, not to eat but to have one's spirit filled.

Much of the story takes place in the land of my own journeying, and I followed the story on my topographical maps. After reading I felt a tremendous urge to go there, to see the land Lundrigan writes about. I didn't. The journey outlined is not one of the physical, but of the spirit, impossible to recreate, but totally able to be experienced within one's soul on a brisk fall day.

This is absolutely the best book I have read on the spirit of the hunt. I recommend it to absolutley anyone who has experienced the thrill of flushing a covey and not known how to explain it; Lundrigan explains it perfectly.

A series of artistic yet manly grouse hunting tales........1999-11-19

In this book, the author takes the reader on several grouse hunting trips over a period of many years in an area of farmlands and woodlots in the upper midwestern U.S. The reader is treated to stories of the lives of Scandanavian farmers, living and dead, as well as insights drawn from the author's personal experiences. The sport, the outdoor environment, the game, and the hunters blend in ways that are at times humorous, at times poignant, and often seen with an artistic eye. This is an excellent book for anyone who has spent more than a few days hunting grouse in the hardwoods of eastern North America.

The autobiography of an excellent grouse hunter.......1998-11-26

Straight from the heart. Ted Lundrigan's "Hunting the Sun" is a passionate autobiography of his grouse hunting days. Chapter by chapter, Ted talks you through one of his many hunting trips. The man is clearly an authority on grouse but also on life. In several sections, Ted reflects over key events in his life (Vietnam, the death of his daughter) giving the reader a true insight into his life and personality.

In particular, I liked some of the later chapters when Ted talks about hunting with friends or hunting over the ground of a pair of local farmers.

Average customer rating:
Love Quartet...4 Novels in Two Books (Love in the Clouds, Imperial Splendour, The Passion and the Flower and Love, Lords and Lady-Birds
Barbara Cartland
Manufacturer: Dutton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KK80KM

Average customer rating:
THE PASSION AND THE FLOWER / LOVE, LORDS AND LADY-BIRDS

Manufacturer: Dutton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HQNI1U

Average customer rating:
THE PASSION AND THE FLOWER LOVE,LORDS, AND LADY - BIRDS
Barbara Cartland
Manufacturer: New York, N. Y.: E. P. Dutton and Co. 1978
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N9515M

Average customer rating:
The Passion and The Flower, and Love, Lords and Lady-Birds
Barbara Cartland
Manufacturer: E.P. Dutton & Co. Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Cartland, Barbara | ( C ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000HNE77W

Product Description

Special Two-in-One Volume. With these two enthralling best sellers, set in 19th-century Europe, Barbara Cartland reinforces her position as the reigning queen of romantic fiction.

The Passion and The Flower/ Love, Lords and Lady-Birds

Average customer rating:

The Passion and The Flower/ Love, Lords and Lady-Birds

Manufacturer: E.P. Dutton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000FETCS2

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books