Book Description
"Mother Nature is the Best Designer" has served as the unofficial motto for Tiffany & Co. since Charles Lewis Tiffany founded his company in 1837. And Mother Nature has never been in better form than in this charming two-volume, slipcased set, which presents Tiffany's stunningly bejeweled plant and animal kingdom. In Tiffany Flora & Fauna, the famed designers of this internationally renowned purveyor of luxury goods pay homage to the way nature has inspired the design of unique and intricate jewelry and precious objects.
Each book illustrates in striking detail how Tiffany's stylistic treatment of the plant and animal world has changed over the past 150 years. John Loring traces the influences of cultural and aesthetic movements on jewelry design and history from Edward C. Moore's Japanesque silver, Paulding Farnham's High Victorian masterpieces, and John T. Curran and Louis Comfort Tiffany's Art Nouveau creations, to Jean Schlumberger's mid-20th-century haute-couture jewelry and the contemporary triumphs of Elsa Peretti and Paloma Picasso. Orchid clips, apple pendants, parrot brooches, and more sparkle throughout in beautiful new photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Good book..............2006-04-12
This book is a nice collection but does not compare to some of the others in my studio. It is worth buying however if natural jewellery is your thing as it is one more referrence on the shelf.
A must have books.......2006-02-25
I'm very please with this purchase, the content and the edition are wonderfull, I highly recomend ti.
Average customer rating:
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In Media Res: Photography and Other Media Art from Berlin
Angelika Stepken ,
Heinz Emigholz , and
Golo Follmer
Manufacturer: Verlag Der Kunst
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ASIN: 9057050803 |
Amazon.com
There's quite a bit of intelligent analysis and thought-provoking insight packed into the pages of Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, which is a little surprising considering how darn stupid most of Klosterman's subject matter actually is. Klosterman, one of the few members of the so-called "Generation X" to proudly embrace that label and the stereotypical image of disaffected slackers that often accompanies it, takes the reader on a witty and highly entertaining tour through portions of pop culture not usually subjected to analysis and presents his thoughts on Saved by the Bell, Billy Joel, amateur porn, MTV's The Real World, and much more. It would be easy in dealing with such subject matter to simply pile on some undergraduate level deconstruction, make a few jokes, and have yourself a clever little book. But Klosterman goes deeper than that, often employing his own life spent as a member of the lowbrow target demographic to measure the cultural impact of his subjects. While the book never quite lives up to the use of the word "manifesto" in the title (it's really more of a survey mixed with elements of memoir), there is much here to entertain and illuminate, particularly passages on the psychoses and motivations of breakfast cereal mascots, the difference between Celtic fans and Laker fans, and The Empire Strikes Back. Sections on a Guns n' Roses tribute band, The Sims, and soccer feel more like magazine pieces included to fill space than part of a cohesive whole. But when you're talking about a book based on a section of cultural history so reliant on a lack of attention span, even the incongruities feel somehow appropriate. --John Moe
Book Description
Countless writers and artists have spoken for a generation, but no one has done it quite like Chuck Klosterman. With an exhaustive knowledge of popular culture and an almost effortless ability to spin brilliant prose out of unlikely subject matter, Klosterman attacks the entire spectrum of postmodern America: reality TV, Internet porn, Pamela Anderson, literary Jesus freaks, and the real difference between apples and oranges (of which there is none). And don't even get him started on his love life and the whole Harry-Met-Sally situation.
Whether deconstructing Saved by the Bell episodes or the artistic legacy of Billy Joel, the symbolic importance of The Empire Strikes Back or the Celtics/Lakers rivalry, Chuck will make you think, he'll make you laugh, and he'll drive you insane -- usually all at once. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is ostensibly about art, entertainment, infotainment, sports, politics, and kittens, but -- really -- it's about us. All of us. As Klosterman realizes late at night, in the moment before he falls asleep, "In and of itself, nothing really matters. What matters is that nothing is ever 'in and of itself.'" Read to believe.
Download Description
"From the kid who brought you Fargo Rock City -- the first book in history to garner the praise of Stephen King, David Byrne, Donna Gaines, Sebastian Bach, Jonathan Lethem, and Rivers Cuomo -- comes Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs -- the first book in history to examine breakfast cereal, reality television, tribute bands, Internet porn, serial killers, and the Dixie Chicks. Countless writers and artists have spoken for a generation, but no one has done it quite like Chuck Klosterman -- with an exhaustive knowledge of popular culture and a seemingly effortless ability to spin brilliant prose out of unlikely subject matter. Whether deconstructing Saved by the Bell episodes or the artistic legacy of Billy Joel, the symbolic importance of The Empire Strikes Back or the Celtics/Lakers rivalry of the 1980s, Chuck will make you think, he'll make you laugh, and he'll drive you insane -- usually all at once. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is ostensibly about movies, sports, television, music, books, video games, and kittens...but, really, it's about us. All of us. As Klosterman realizes late at night, in the moment before he falls asleep, ""In and of itself, nothing really matters. What matters is that nothing is ever 'in and of itself.'"" "
Customer Reviews:
Worth skimming.......2007-10-01
I recommend borrowing this book from your hip literary friend, who already owns it. It has some very funny chapters, and some of the interludes between chapters are truly great. However, it's really unsatisfying in large doses; after finishing a lot of the chapters, I just felt that I had wasted my time. Klosterman has a nice dry wit, and he's good at BSing about quirky topics. But that's really not enough for me to buy a book. Skim it at the bookstore or get it from the library; this is not a book that you'll ever want to reread.
An oxymoron for Gen Xers.......2007-09-16
I decided to read this book after considering the many positive reviews along with the accolades of several independent book sellers. I shouldn't have. I'm not going to say this book is bad, but its certainly not anywhere near being good either.
This book is a self-described manifesto, which it is not. It is the inane ramblings of someone who does not suffer from lycantrophy. It is dysfunctional, poorly written, and is essentially about nothing at all. I liken it to a Seinfeld episode, in print form, but without the distraction that comes from actual humor or entertainment value. In hind site, I'm starting to wish Klosterman did suffer from lycantrophy.
If you don't believe me, I will let a Chuck Klosterman quote from the book serve as a one line synopsis:
"Do you not see what I am no longer not saying to you? If so-congratulations!"
Like a great conversation.......2007-06-08
Reading this book is like having a long conversation about life with the most sarcastic/ funny person you know. Klosterman is easy to relate to, even when you haven't got the slightest idea what he is talking about.
Manifesto?.......2007-06-03
This book is only mildly funny and outdated. It seems like a bad rendition of the books he references, like "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." The section on mixtapes is uninspired- "Love is a Mixtape," by Rob Sheffield is much more successful. This book produced no mindblowing or even relatively interesting ideas- a waste of time if you ask me.
How much junk culture can you take?.......2007-04-27
Chuck K is undoubtedly is a very clever dude and some of the insights here will make you laught at loud. Ultimately however I would advise cherry picking through these essays, as Chuck is so enamored of his beloved
'low culture' that it will get both stultifying and extremely banal. Make sure to skip the analyses of bad tv shows (esp The Real World and Saved by the Bell). Chuck tries so hard to show why disposable pap has an influence on society that he torpeoes hiw own argument - his assertion that Gen Y behavior pettern can be correlated to a character on Real World says much more about Klosterman than anything else. Similarly, his essay on the Lakers and Celtics rivalry sets perhaps a new low in 'serious' sports journalism, as the argument that the Lakers reperesent Democratic party values while the Celtics carry the torch for Republicans (CK seems to be a fairly staunch right-winger after his addiction to pop culture is peeled away) is beyond absurd, and his assertion at the end that "if you dont' care about the Lakers-Celtics you don't care about anything" (this is said unironically) is downright embarassing.
Chuck will also be very strident in his declarations of what is 'cool' and 'uncool'. The repeated appearance of these exact words in almost evry essay (sometimes sevral times) becomes very annoying and pointless. Klosterman (by his own admission) of course is 'uncool', but his endless obsession with coolness (and defining it)renders it meaningless.
So enjoy, but be careful.
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Celebrity Lies: Strs, Fibs, Fabrications, Myths and Little White Lies
Boze Hadleigh
Manufacturer: Barricade Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Celebrity Diss and Tell: Stars Talk About Each Other
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Celebrity Feuds!: The Cattiest Rows, Spats, and Tiffs Ever Recorded
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Holy Matrimony! Better Halves and Bitter Halves: Actors,Athletes,Comedians,Directors, Divas,Philosophers,Poets,Politicians
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In or Out: Gay and Straight Celebrities Talk About Themselves and Each Other
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Hollywood babble on: stars gossip about other stars
ASIN: 1569802459 |
Book Description
This book will cause rumbles in the world of entertainment. From the headliners of classic television (Lucille Ball, Ed Sullivan, and Bob Hope) to film icons (Cary Grant, Joan Crawford, and John Wayne) to celebrities of today (Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise, and Will Smith)-no star is immune to Hadleigh's biting humor and irascible wit.
Entertaining sidebars on such topics as infamous last words and chauvinistic comments about its subjects, it makes saturnine reading. Arranged thematically under such groupings as personal claims, costars and cohorts, and Hollywood myths, Celebrity Lies contains some of the most creative, misguided, and downright dishonest statements made by legendary figures of the past and present.
Book Description
M->CREATED
Book Description
More than 70 math games, puzzles, and projects from all over the world are included in this delightful book for kids.
Customer Reviews:
More than seventy 'kid friendly' math games.......2007-05-10
Featuring more than seventy 'kid friendly' math games, puzzles, and projects from all over the world, "Math Games & Activities From Around The World" by Claudia Zaslavsky is 160 pages of fun, math skill developing exercises that will have enormous appeal for children ages 9 and older. Children will engage in the use of geometry to design game boards, probability to analyze games of chance, logical thinking to devise gaming strategies, and more. From Tic-tac-toe (first played in ancient Egypt), to Nine Men's Morris (once played in England with living pieces), and Mankala - the oldest and most popular game in the world. From building a model pyramid to working maze-like African network puzzles, "Math Games & Activities From Around The World" is a unique and welcome supplemental addition to school math and logic skill development curriculums. Also very highly recommended for classroom and homeschool curriculums is Claudia Zaslavsky's companion book, "More Math Games & Activities From Around The World" featuring seventy more games, puzzlers and projects ranging from Mongolian 'Jirig', to Sudan's 'Little Goat Game', to the game of 'Achi' from Ghana.
A little math treasure to keep..........2003-02-24
This is a very detailed book for ages 9 and up. It consists of games that correlate with some of today's districts standards. We have Native American patterning, Symmetry from Japan, Geometry from Kenya, Probability games from Mexico and Hawaii, and board games anywhere from China, Korea, and New Zealand.
This is a recomended book for those teacher or parents that want to make math a little more exicitng for children. Mathematics is not only about learning it from a textbook, but also from hands on experiences through games and visual aids. This books touched upon the idea that it's okay to make math fun for you and a child.
One or two games in this collection dates back about 3,300 years ago in Egyptian times. Symmetry is learned from making masks and faces from the U.S. and Native Americans. Islamic "POLYGONS" are also found in this book. You can learn to make "Hopi Flat Baskets" that dates back about 1,500 years ago when baskets were found in the ruins of Anasazi homes. These baskets show children about symmetry and design. Repeated patterns from Alaska show children that we don't only have patterns in designs but, we also have patterns in every day items all around us.
This is an excellent book that lets children view math from the fun and creative perspective. Teachers can have fun while teaching district standards and make sure that our youth isn't bored with the "textbook" syndrome as Harry Wong puts it. We need to show children that mathematics deals with every day life and that it doesn't only appear on the pages of a text every five days. Mathematics is the necessary means for survival in our complex and equative society. This books let's us step outside of the "textbook syndrome" and let children explore the "real-world" experiences.
Book Description
Math, history, art, and world cultures come together in this delightful book for kids, even for those who find traditional math lessons boring. More than 70 games, puzzles, and projects encourage kids to hone their math skills as they calculate, measure, and solve problems. The games span the globe, and many have been played for thousands of years, such as three-in-a-row games like Achi from Ghana or the forbidden game of Jirig from Mongolia. Also included are imaginative board games like Lambs and Tigers from India and the Little Goat Game from Sudan, or bead and string puzzles from China, and Möbius strip puzzles from Germany. Through compelling math play, children will gain confidence and have fun as they learn about the different ways people around the world measure, count, and use patterns and symmetry in their everyday lives.
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Didn't you used to be someone?
Simon Hughes
Manufacturer: Allen & Unwin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1865085804 |
Book Description
Night is one of the masterpieces of Holocaust literature. First published in 1960, it is the autobiographical account of an adolescent boy and his father in Auschwitz. Wiesel writes of their battle for survival, and of his battle with God for a way to understand the wanton cruelty he witnesses each day.
In the short novel Dawn (1961), a young man who has survived the Second World War and settled in Palestine is apprenticed to a Jewish terrorist gang. Command to execute a British officer who has been taken hostage, the former victim becomes an executioner.
In The Accident, (1962), Wiesel again turns to fiction to question the limits of the spirit and the self: Can Holocaust survivors forge a new life without the memories of the old? As the author writes in his introduction, "In Night it is the 'I' who speaks; in the other two [narratives], it is the 'I' who listens and questions."
Wiesel's trilogy offers meditations on mankind's attraction to violence and on temptation of self-destruction.
A Hill & Wang Teacher's Guide is available for this title.
Customer Reviews:
Night is moving.......2006-07-02
This was one bound volume of Wiesel's first three books, which concern the Holocaust, survival, and humanity. Night is Wiesel's personal memoir, which relates his personal story before and during World War II, as he and his father are separated from his mother and sister and interned in a series of concentration camps. Dawn is the story of a member of the movement to free Palestine from British occupation and Day concerns how one could move from a past that consumes one's every thought (or even if one should).
Quote: "Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."
I read Night in high school, and always think of it as being a particularly long book, which it is not. Wiesel manages to pack more than I would think possible into a little over a hundred pages, which relates the story of himself and his family during the Holocaust. It is a beautifully written work that relates a terrible story. I found the story of Wiesel's loss of faith and the relationship he had with his father particularly memorable. If you somehow missed this in high school, pick it up, if you didn't, find it again. It's worth it. Dawn and Day are not as catching as the first work, but are still interesting in their own way.
Life after Death........2006-06-10
Elie Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, for his tireless work in addressing the Holocaust, wrestling with its almost incomprehensible moral questions, and most importantly working to ensure that it never happens again. NIGHT, his memoir of his own experiences in Auschwitz and Buchenwald, was perhaps the earliest first-hand account to be widely published. Totally authentic, written in blood and tears, it quite defies criticism. To assign four, five, or even ten stars to it would be an obscenity.
And yet Wiesel followed NIGHT by two very short fictional works, novellas rather than novels, called DAWN and DAY. Clearly he wanted to explore issues that could not be addressed in a factual memoir. And these two later books are fascinating in showing Wiesel's first steps as a novelist, rapidly gaining confidence and skill. In this respect alone, I feel that criticism is indeed germane.
We all know the advice to writers: show, don't tell. You can see Wiesel encountering the issue even in NIGHT, which is a mixture of simply reported facts and personal reflection. When he is simply telling his own story, the facts stand by themselves, and even at this date reveal aspects of the Holocaust that I did not understand: for example, why the Jewish communities did not move more proactively to resist their fate, and details of the social interactions among the camp inmates themselves. Occasionally the personal reflections get in the way of relating events, and yet how else is the author to tackle his loss of faith and feelings of guilt which seem to have been a heavier burden than any physical indignities? Wiesel's answer was to turn to fiction.
In his preface to DAWN, Wiesel makes it clear that the protagonist, Elisha, is not the author himself, although he admits that it easily might have been, had he been sent to Palestine rather than France after his liberation from Buchenwald. The fictional Elisha is recruited by freedom fighters trying to oust the British and form the state of Israel. After taking part in several guerilla actions, he is ordered to execute a hostage, a British army captain, in reprisal for the hanging of a Jew. The whole of this slim volume takes place in the night before the execution, and poses the question of whether a man who has escaped the hands of killers can ever be justified in becoming a killer himself. The theme is clearly important, and once more topical, but I cannot say that it works as a novel. The fictional background is sketchy and seems constructed with the sole purpose of presenting this dilemma. A large section of the book is devoted to Elisha's dialogue with ghosts from this past, which further diminishes reality. After a few pages, Wiesel stops showing Elisha through his deeds and social interactions, and concentrates instead on the moral dilemma in his soul; in novelistic terms, the result is to reduce rather than enhance the character's humanity. The book thus comes over less as a novel than as a parable.
DAY (originally published in English as THE ACCIDENT), Wiesel's second attempt at writing a fictional sequel to NIGHT is altogether more successful. This is partly because its theme is less absolute and more subtle: the difficulty of returning to a full loving life for somebody who has lived so long in the realm of death. His quasi-autobiographical protagonist (Eliezer, but the name is mentioned only once) is a rounded character with much depth. The book follows him as he recovers in a New York hospital from a near-fatal encounter with a taxicab. Although we still hear his inner thoughts, his situation is shown primarily in terms of his very real relationships with others, particularly his lover Kathleen. He has clearly led a varied and somewhat successful life in the dozen years since his liberation, but, though no longer a loner in practical matters, he still retains a huge void in his heart. Wiesel introduces quite a lot of psychological suspense, and has the wisdom not to make the ending too facile; if there is healing to come, it will still be a long process.
I have not (yet) read any of Elie Wiesel's later novels. Judging by the speed with which he ascends the learning-curve as a fiction writer here, I would expect them to be increasingly filled out in human terms -- perhaps even to the point where he might have been a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature?
Night and Dawn.......2006-03-05
I was given the first two stories of the trilogy to read in my Nazi Germany and the Holocaust class this year and found them to be excellently written and very meaningful. With the help of an excellent teacher who posed all the right questions I was allowed to see the full meaning of these two stories.
I wasn't able to read the Accident, as my teacher chose for us to read the Sunflower by Simon Weinsenthal instead, although I do hope to someday.
Night and Dawn are two great stories which should be read by all.
The Night Trilogy-Elie Wiesel.......2006-02-17
This was one of the most moving book(s) I have ever read. Everyone should read this at some point in their lives
Well written.......2006-02-17
I thought this was a well written memoir and as hard as it was to read it is something that should be read by every living person. We need to step up and not allow this to happen in any country and it is so sad to see it happening everywhere. When will we learn our lessons?
Book Description
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
Night is one of the masterpieces of Holocaust literature. First published in 1960, it is the autobiographical account of an adolescent boy and his father in Auschwitz. Wiesel writes of their battle for survival, and of his battle with God for a way to understand the wanton cruelty he witnesses each day.
In the short novel Dawn (1961), a young man who has survived the Second World War and settled in Palestine is apprenticed to a Jewish terrorist gang. Command to execute a British officer who has been taken hostage, the former victim becomes an executioner.
In The Accident, (1962), Wiesel again turns to fiction to question the limits of the spirit and the self: Can Holocaust survivors forge a new life without the memories of the old? As the author writes in his introduction, "In Night it is the 'I' who speaks; in the other two [narratives], it is the 'I' who listens and questions."
Wiesel's trilogy offers meditations on mankind's attraction to violence and on temptation of self-destruction.
A Hill & Wang Teacher's Guide is available for this title.
Book Description
On July 2, 1863, the second day of fighting at Gettysburg, Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, in a controversial interpretation of his orders, advanced his men beyond the established Union line, exposing his flanks to a potentially devastating Confederate attack. Shortly after being reprimanded by his commander, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, for endangering the entire Union Army, Sickles was hit by a cannonball. He returned to Washington, D.C., with his leg amputated and his pride badly wounded. A politician and lawyer prior to the war, Sickles was already notorious for being the first person in U.S. history acquitted of murder by pleading temporary insanity. During his recuperation in the nation’s capital, Sickles defended his actions at Gettysburg to anyone who would listen, including President Lincoln, and criticized Meade before the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War. He continued defending himself for years after the war, while Meade remained mostly silent.
Historian Richard A. Sauers destroys many commonly held myths about the controversy by examining the evidence in detail. In this fascinating analysis, he highlights the way combat is always complicated by personality conflicts and human frailties among military leaders. He also demonstrates that distortions, like Sickles’s version of Gettysburg, are frequently accepted as fact by historians and repeated for generations to come. Sauers shows that Sickles’s unjust manipulations harmed Meade’s reputation for years after the war.
Customer Reviews:
The Meade-Sickles Controversy at Gettysburg.......2004-08-25
At the conclusion of the first day (July 1, 1863) of the Battle of Gettysburg, the Union Army had established a strong position on the heights of Cemetery Hill northeast of Gettysburg. The Union commander, General George Meade, arrived at Gettysburg late in the evening and walked the length of Cemetery Ridge, which together with the heights became the Union position. He placed the second corps of the Union Army adjacent to Cemetery Hill heading southward on Cemetery Ridge and ordered the Third Corps, commanded by General Dan Sickles, to place itself on the Second Corps' left and extend the line to the hill now famous as Little Round Top.
General Sickles was the only non-professional Corps commander in the Army. Rather than acting in accordance with the intent of General Meade Sickles moved his Third Corps about 3/4 mile in front of the line General Meade intended for him. Sickles's line had its focus at the Peach Orchard and left Little Round Top uncovered. Sickles's line was well in front of and isolated from the main Union force. At 4:00 the Confederate First Corps under Longstreet attacked Sickles with great fury. Meade sent reinforcements. The Third Corps line was destroyed. The Union position on Cemetery Ridge waivered but survived intact.
The controversy that the above events provoked between Generals Meade and Sickles, their supporters, and generations of historians is the subject of Richard Sauers's study "Gettysburg: The Meade-Sickles Controversy" (2003). Sauers is a military historian and his written extensively on the Civil War. This book appears to be the first that focuses exclusively on the Meade-Sickles controversy and its aftermath.
Sauers shows an excellent grasp of the Battle of Gettysburg and presents a summary of the events of the first and second days of the Battle in his opening chapters, focusing on Sickles's move to the Peach Orchard line.
The third chapter of the book describes Congressional hearings and contemporaneus newspaper disputes in which Sickles and politically-motivated members of Congress and Union leaders tried to blame General Meade for his conduct at Gettysburg and to cast Sickles and his Peach Orchard salient as the saviour of the Battle.
The book continues in chapter 4 with further efforts by Sickles to defend his actions subsequent to the death of General Meade in 1872. Chapter 5 of the book was for me the most fascinating. Sauers presents a history of the history of Gettysburg. He describes how each major historian of the Battle treated the Meade-Sickles controversy on day 2 of Gettysburg and the reasoning on which each historian relied. The remainder of the book consists of Sauers's own examination and resolution of the issues at stake in the controversy.
Sickles offered four justifications for moving forward with his line on July 2: 1.General Meade had not given him orders (or at least not clear orders). 2. The position on Cemetery Ridge was on low ground. It was controlled by the Peach Orchard and, in any event, Meade's line was too long to be defended. 3. Sickles's advance prevented Meade from following-through on his plan to retreat from Gettysburg before the battle even began. 4. Sickles had located movements to the Federal left by the Confederates under Longstreet and moved his Corps to counter the threat.
In each of the four final chapters of the book, Sauers carefully examines and rejects each of these assertions. He finds that Meade had given clear orders, that the Cemetery Ridge position Meade assigned to Sickles was defensible, that there was no plan to retreat, and that Sickles had not early in the day located a movement by Longstreet's troops. He declines to speculate on what might or would have happened if the Third Corps had remained on Cemetery Ridge.
Sauers offers a careful and thoughtful account of the controversy which goes far in restoring, to the extent disagreements remain, General Meade's reputation for his conduct of the Battle of Gettysburg. But one of the fascinations of history and of the study of important events is that questions remain. There are still knowledgeable scholars somewhat sympathetic to Sickles. For example William Glen Robertson's essay "The Peach Orchard Revisited: Daniel E. Sickles and the Third Corps on July 2, 1863", accepts much of the critique and analysis that Sauers offers. But Robertson argues that Sickles may have succeeded in spite of himself by advancing the Union line, serving as a "break-water" for the Confederate attack on the Cemetery Ridge position, and , possibly, saving Little Round Top from capture. This conclusion to be sure involves a degree of speculation but it cannot be dismissed entirely in considering the effect of Sickles's move. Robertson's essay is reprinted in "The Second Day at Gettysburg:Essays on Confederate and Union Leadership" edited by Gary W. Gallagher.
Sauers's book will interest those readers who have a basic familiarity with the Battle of Gettysburg and want to explore in depth a major issue involving the Battle. On a broader level, Sauers's book is an excellent study of the practice of history and of the difficulty in arriving at a historical understanding of a weighty and controversial event.
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- The most important Civil War Controversy
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Caspian Sea of Ink: The Meade-Sickles Controversy
Richard A. Sauers
Manufacturer: Stan Clark Military Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0935523200 |
Customer Reviews:
The most important Civil War Controversy.......1997-04-24
This is an excellent historical review of the events that surround the most important day in American History. July 2, 1863 in Gettysburg, PA.
Mr. Sauer's concise history is a good beginning although many of the questions will never be answered. The Sickles-Meade Controversy is still vigorusly debated 130 years after the event. Most events are long out of the public memory by then but, I feel this one will last as long as there is an United States of America.
Book Description
In his acclaimed collection
An Autumn of War, the scholar and military historian Victor Davis Hanson expressed powerful and provocative views of September 11 and the ensuing war in Afghanistan. Now, in these challenging new essays, he examines the world’s ongoing war on terrorism, from America to Iraq, from Europe to Israel, and beyond.
In direct language, Hanson portrays an America making progress against Islamic fundamentalism but hampered by the self-hatred of elite academics at home and the cynical self-interest of allies abroad. He sees a new and urgent struggle of evil against good, one that can fail only if “we convince ourselves that our enemies fight because of something we, rather than they, did.”
Whether it’s a clear-cut defense of Israel as a secular democracy, a denunciation of how the U.N. undermines the U.S., a plea to drastically alter our alliance with Saudi Arabia, or a perception that postwar Iraq is reaching a dangerous tipping point, Hanson’s arguments have the shock of candor and the fire of conviction.
Customer Reviews:
Barbarian With A Big Vocabulary.......2007-02-25
I define a barbarian as one who believes war is the answer and war is the solution. Individuals like V.H.D. are nothing more than intelectual, university insulated, souless cheer-leaders for war. This book is simply a Ra! Ra! for war. Victor loves war, this war, past war, any war America has ever or will ever be in (except humanitarian uses of the military, those he staunchly opposes). If you like the Iraq war, support the Iraq war, then you will love V.H.D., in short, you are a barbarian.
Modern History of the War on Terror.......2006-09-27
This is a strange, but ultimately good, book in two ways: First it is not so much a single book but a collection of essays arranged into topics and then arranged chronologically within each topic, and second it is a work of modern history and thus lacks the 20/20 vision of hindsight. This second quality however is what makes it so interesting, especially the further we get away from the time when each essay was written.
Hanson is a classics scholar and an outstandingly good military historian who views the world through a Thucydidean paradigm, namely, human nature is the same throughout all time and anything we're experiencing has basically been seen before in the history of warfare. This gives him a perspective unique from most of the scholars and pundits we see or hear on TV, as he makes frequent and salient comparison with modern events to similar events in ancient Greece.
The main argument of this book is that America and the West are not at fault for Arab and Islamic terrorism -their own internal forces cause terrorism-, that we must fight terrorism with resolve, and that we may only be victorious if we belive in our cause, and may only be defeated if we doubt ourselves. Unfortunately he showcases just how much Westerners, particularly the Left, do doubt oursevles and our civilization, and how this makes us vulnerable to the tactics of the terrorists.
Hanson tackles a lot of issues with a harsh clarity of thought and unapologetic conclusions, including: Anti-Americanism, Who are friends really are and who are enemies really are and why we don't treat them as such, The amount of duplicity and irrelevant -if not dangerous- ritual and senseless tradition in how we conduct our foreign policy and how we should do it differently, the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and similar such topics. He has some very interesting prescriptions for reshaping the American military and re-directing our foreign policy. Yet even should we follow his suggestions it seems implicit that so long as there is so much self-loathing and reluctance for the West to act in any manner the Left sees as slightly objectionable we are still doomed to never truly defeating terrorism, since defeat and victory are more intangible mental states than tangible physical realities.
Being a work of modern history however the book is replete with predictions that have failed to come true (as well as many that have), showing the difficulty of making sense of a situation in real-time, the effects a paradigm have on what you believe the situation is and what will happen, and the limits of a thorough knowledge of history. In the end you have to act however, in spite of the knowledge that you don't know what the consequences of your actions will be. Hanson is a historian unafraid to make decisions about what should be done, and by publishing his essays in a book format like this he shows he is also unafraid of exposing when events ultimately prove him wrong. An admirable trait in a world so enamored with self-image, delaying any decision or action with the blanket excuse of trying to add nuance, and rationalizing away any dirty laundry.
Problematic and argumentative.......2006-03-07
I think I'm gettting to the saturation point with Victor Davis Hanson. He's intelligent, and he makes his points well with regards to the war and those who oppose it, but he's somewhat more argumentative than seems reasonable, at times, and his predictions aren't always on the mark. In this series of essays, written in the lead-up to and the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq a few years ago. The essays this time are more straightforward than in An Autumn of War, where some of them were somewhat more humorous or at least oblique than here: these are rather confrontational editorials insisting that President Bush is doing right in attacking Iraq and removing Saddam Hussein from power.
Like most essay collections, this one has weaknesses. In Hanson's case, the largest problem is that he tends to repeat his arguments here, because many of the editorials are making the same points over and over again. After a while the repetition gets to be a bit tiring. While sometimes the points themselves make some sense, it's a bit jarring to read something at this point repeatedly stating confidently that Weapons of Mass Destruction will certainly be found in Iraq. I would imagine that opponents of President Bush (and Hanson) will focus on this and insist that it makes his arguments that much weaker.
I enjoyed this book at some level, but at times it took a while to get through the various editorials. Recommended for those interested in the subject.
Lucid Commentary!.......2005-07-04
Hanson's Between War and Peace is a collection of essays written between 2002 and 2003 about 9/11, the Afghanistan campaign, and the Iraq campaign. Most of these essays were written for the National Review Online and are now reprinted here in book form. These are excellent essays, carefully crafted, wonderfully written, logical, opinionated, often profound. The terrorist assault of 9/11 changed our world, and Hanson well understands this. He correctly rips apart the shallow, biased reasoning of the old world order, of the elitist media, of the boutique commentators and of the shrill leftist professors. Hanson looks fresh at basic, critical strategies and tactics. He calls for radical repositioning for America, but supports his arguments with carefully construed facts. His is a conservative view, but with no apologies. This is a must read.
Insightful analysis powerfully presented .......2005-02-23
Hanson is one of the best columnists America has. I know books of columns don't sell, and most people believe that they are yesterday's newspaper, but I love jumping through such collections. If the writer is good as Hanson is there are always observations that enrich understanding. Hanson is a great American patriot someone who believes in America's political, military and moral leadership of mankind. His criticisms of the Europeans in this book come out of the sense that they are not for the most part being loyal allies in the common democratic cause. These columns were published before the first democratic election in Iraq and before we see how the United States is going to deal with state supporters of terror Syria and Iran. Hanson seems to think that Syria is the next likely target of US sponsored regime change. He also unlike many other American conservatives does understand the damage being done to the United States by its support of a corrupt and anti- American Saudi Arabia. Hanson has a tremendous knowledge of military affairs and his historical understanding enrich these columns.
If one wants a clearer picture of the world situation, and one which supports an active role for the United States in the world, then this is the collection.
Average customer rating:
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The World of the Ruffed Grouse, (Living world books)
Leonard Lee Rue
Manufacturer: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Birds
| Field Guides
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Birdwatching
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Ornithology
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0397008171 |
Customer Reviews:
On the ruffed grouse.......2004-10-25
Part of the J. B. Lippincott Co. "Living World" series (published in the 1970s), The World of the Ruffed Grouse is a concise and readable overview of the life history of one of the most elusive of game birds. The text is not overly dense and laced with scientific jargon, and there are numerous photos (unfortunately all are b&w) to illustrate various features and characteristics of the bird. All in all, a suitable book for amatuer birders such as myself.
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