Living with Art's Core Concepts in Art, Version 2.5

Average customer rating:
Living with Art's Core Concepts in Art, Version 2.5
Mark Getlein
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Arts & Photography | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Living with Art w/ Timeline

Gilbert's Living with Art

Gilbert's Living with Art w. CD-ROM and Timeline

Living with Art

ASIN: 0072985038

Book Description

Packaged free with each copy of the text, this unique study tool -— designed by a professional instructional designer and artist -— offers students interactive tutorials in art elements and principles, video showing key media techniques, chapter review aids and quizzes, as well as an effective flashcard generator/study tool entitled SAWYER (Study Art with Your Electronic Resources). Take a tour of Core Concepts at: http://www.mhhe.com/wmg/titles/Art/Art_Appreciation/coreconcepts/!

Living With Art's Core Concepts in Art, Version 2.5.

Average customer rating:

Living With Art's Core Concepts in Art, Version 2.5.
Mark. Getlein
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OGWX5U

Book Description

Rosette is without her partner-in-crime-fighting, and to get him back she'll have to risk her own sacred soul by diving into Chrono's otherworldly spirit. She'll leave her tommy-gun behind and plunge deep into Chrono's memories, but the story that unfolds in the dark pockets of his mind will test Rosette's faith in demons!

Customer Reviews:

DIVING INTO CHRONO'S MEMORIES.......2006-05-18

Chrono's consciousness has fully submerged into his past memories, putting him in a coma-like state. Rosette is trying a desperate gambit of sending herself into those memories at the risk of losing her own mind via Ghost in the Shell-like technology that surely was not available in 1920s America. While sharing the mind meld with Chrono, she learns a lot about his past as she bears silent witness to events that happened over 50 years ago. At that time Chrono and Aion were good friends wandering the American West, or at least close allies along with other Sinners who had revolted against the status quo that their own brethren had long accepted. They are looking for the head of Pandemonium but to find it and bring their plans of unrestricted freedom to fruition, they have to kidnap Mary Magdalene, a young girl being protected by the Order. Chrono is the one sent to take her but little does he know that this girl will change the way he views not only the human world, but also that of his fellow demons! But in the real world time is running out on him and Rosette, because both of their souls will become lost if she can't revive him in time.

I enjoyed this 6th volume of Chrono Crusade because it added another layer of depth to Chrono. Up till now, Rosette had been the one getting the most backstory and conflict. Even Satella seemed to have more motivation and reasoning behind her actions than Chrono. The memories also rose more questions about Rosette, particularly why she looks just like Mary. You begin to feel as though in this volume Chrono and Rosette are beginning to fight not only against the forces of Aion, but against Fate itself. Most of the characters in this series seemed to have been picked by Destiny to fulfill a certain role, and the trick and entertainment of it is to see if they can fight against this fate and attain some level of happiness at the end of the day.
This volume continues the high quality I've become accustomed to. Good read!

Numbah 6!.......2005-08-16

First off Chrono Crusade is an awesome series. In this volume you find out what happened 50 years ago and why Chrono was in the grave. Rosette dives right into Chrono's soul and they barely make it out. I can't give out anymore spoilers except Father Remington tries to kill Chrono. All in all this volume explains a great deal of what Chrono (and maybe Rosette) had to go through.

Book Description

Richard Wagner's Parsifal remains an inexhaustible yet highly controversial work. This "stage consecration festival play," as the composer described it, represents the culmination of his efforts to bring medieval myth and modern music together in a dynamic relationship. Wagner's engagement with religion--Buddhist as well as Christian--reaches a climax here, as he seeks through artistic means "to rescue the essence of religion by perceiving its mythical symbols . . . according to their figurative value, enabling us to see their profound, hidden truth through idealized representation." The contributors to this collection break fresh ground in exploring the text, the music, and the reception history of Parsifal. Wagner's borrowings-and departures-from the medieval sources of the Grail legend, Wolfram's Parzival and Chrétien's Perceval, are considered in detail, and the tensional relation of the work to Christianity is probed. New perspectives emerge that bear on the long genesis of the text and music, its affinities to Wagner's earlier works, particularly Tristan und Isolde, and the precise way in which the music was composed. Essays address the work's bold, modernistic musical language and its unprecedented soundscape involving hidden choruses and other unseen sources of sound. The turbulent, astonishing, and sometimes disturbing history of Parsifal performances from 1882 until 2004 is traced in vivid detail for the first time, demonstrating the abiding fascination exerted by this uniquely challenging work of art. Contributors: Mary A. Cicora, James M. McGlathery, Ulrike Kienzle, Warren Darcy, Roger Allen. William Kinderman and Katherine Syer teach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and often lead study seminars during the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany.

Average customer rating:
Piano Theory Workbook - Book 5: Hal Leonard Student Piano Library
Karen Harrington , Barbara Kreader , Fred Kern , Phillip Keveren , and Mona Rejino
Manufacturer: Hal Leonard Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Similar Items:

Piano Theory Workbook - Book 4: Hal Leonard Student Piano Library

Piano Lessons Book 5 - Book/CD Pack: Hal Leonard Student Piano Library

PIANO THEORY WORKBOOK 3 HLSPL REVISED EDITION (Hal Leonard Student Piano Library)

Piano Lessons Book 5: Hal Leonard Student Piano Library

Piano Lessons Book 4 - Book/CD Pack: Hal Leonard Student Piano Library

ASIN: 063401482X

Book Description

Piano Theory Workbook 5 includes practical, intermediate-level exercises in identifying chords and their inversions, counting 16ths, subdividing beats into various dotted-sixteenth rhythms, identifying chords of the key, writing Major and minor scales, and exercises in transposition and improvisation. Each exercise is correlated to the musical concepts learned in Piano Lessons Book 5.

Book Description

The Marshall Attack is one of the oldest and most important openings in the history of chess. Black sacrifices a pawn against the Ruy Lopez in exchange for a long-lasting attack. Generations of the world's top players have fought on the Marshall battleground, but the final verdict on its soundness has not yet been reached. However, of one thing you can be sure: Black certainly has a lot of fun in trying to checkmate the white king! It is perhaps because of this reason that as White, many Grandmasters, including the world number one Gary Kasparov, have decided to avoid the issue altogether, preferring the more tranquil waters of Anti-Marshall systems. A renowned openings theoretician studies the ideas and strategies of both approaches in depth here.

*An ideal weapon at all levels
*Written by a leading openings expert
*Full and up-to-date coverage of all the fashionable lines

Customer Reviews:

Like reading a piece of Swiss cheese.......2007-04-27

The Marshall Attack is a pretty common opening, especially at GM level. It has become highly theoretical and heavily analzyed. Naturally, we would expect that a treatise on the Marshall would take one of two approaches. The first (the novice-oriented way) would include showing basic plans for both sides, a few pages of text and diagrams of typical positions, and then some games explained "move-by-move". The second would have the author gives reams of rote analysis which becomes incomprehensible to anyone below the titled level. Where does Lalic's work stand? Far below the first option.

Let's run over the variations he talks about. The first, the "Old main line" which occurs after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 (initiating the Marshall) 9.ed Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d4 Bd6 13.Re1 Qh4 14.g3 Qh3 15.Be3... That is a lot of theory, but most of the moves are forced or "regular" Ruy moves. However, as the chapter begins, Lalic shows these moves, gives the resultant position, and then jumps right into a game. Why did I play 15.Be3? I dunno. What is my plan as white? Good question. What kinds of moves am I going to use as black to attack the white king? Even better question. Perhaps an oversight from the author. However, there is more missing. In many games, for example Kamsky-Anand, there are 10 moves given in a row which have no separate explanation. We're talking deep moves, not forced, "only moves", which definitely require us to be led by the author. It's disheartening to get led through by that and then have the author say "and now Anand has prepared a forcing continuation to give perpetual check", when we have no clue why the previous moves were played.

Moving on to some other variations. The Steiner line, which I took a particular liking to, is supposed to be "much" better for white (it has fallen into disuse recently). The author shows a myriad of games played where white doesn't play 11.d4! (the best move), which black wins handily. Alright, the author could probably have shown us half the games and just listed the other game notations under variations. But maybe that's a preference thing. The problem is that he only shows ONE game where white plays the preferential line. Black plays somewhat unnatural, unforced moves and the game ends up a draw after all. One game in the very best line? Yeah right.

The anti-Marshall is pretty popular, and the author spends a lot of time on it. I still don't know why white plays 8.h3, 9.d3, or 10.a3 yet, as these ideas are never elucidated in the text. I'm not sure what white should do after 8.h3 d5, which gets played a lot at the amateur level. If you're going to show the ANTI-MARSHALL, you should probably explain why it is an anti-Marshall, not just that you play a line of moves. There is also no good suggestion for black to play against this either, as most of the games in the anti-Marshall are big wins for white, or white playing weaker lines. When it gets to the critical lines, black always loses. That's not a great help.

The whole work feels really rushed. I don't want to give it three stars even though I still really like the Marshall. The book simply is not good at explaining the ideas behind the opening and leaves too much puzzlement in ANY reader (as an expert, I find it hard to believe that any lower-rated player could survive this book). The games are fun to play through, but as a study tool? No thanks.

An excellent and relatively up-to-date book on the Marshall.......2005-04-12

It sure is fun to play the Marshall attack with Black! You get plenty of shots against the White King. There are clear chances to win against a strong opponent with Black, since all it takes is one mistake by White.

But I play this for White, not for Black. One reason is that White does not have to let you play the Marshall. Even after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6, White can simply play the Exchange Variation. And if White does play 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 0-0 you'll still be as likely as not to wind up in some sort of anti-Marshall.

This fine book tells us all where the Marshall stands as of early 2003.

First, there is the "old main line" with 8 c3 d5 9 exd5 Nxd5 10 Nxe5 Nxe5 11 Rxe5 c6 12 d4 Bd6 13 Re1 Qh4 14 g3 Qh3 15 Be3 Bg4 16 Qd3. Black is trying to get in 16...f5 and then ...f4. That does not work on move 16! So the line goes 16...Rae8 17 Nd2 Re6 18 a4 bxa4 (Lalic does not say so explicitly, but 18...f5 19 axb5 looks like it wins for White) 19 Rxa4 f5 20 Qf1 Qh5. Black has good chances to survive here.

Next is the line I play, 15 Re4 g5 16 Qf3, which gives both sides chances, although a draw is a typical result.

Chapter three gives a similar idea for White: 12 d3 Bd6 13 Re1 Qh4 14 g3 Qh3 15 Re4. Now the White rook is defended, so Black can't try 15...g5 any more. So we get lines like 15...Qf5 16 Nd2 Qg6 17 Re1 f5, after which Black has good chances to live.

The next chapter discusses 12 g3 and other options on White's 12th and 13th moves. Black is okay with proper play. After that, we examine an important issue: alternatives to 11...c6. 11...Nb4, 11...Nb6, and 11...Nf6 (the original Marshall) do not work. But 11... Bb7 offers some chances for Black, although I think White is doing rather well after 12 Qf3 Bd6 13 Bxd5.

Chapter 6 deals with the unsound Steiner Variation, namely 9...e4. White is much better after 10 dxc6 exf3 11 d4 fxg2 12 Bg5. This is a tricky line, and if White wants to allow the Marshall, she has to be prepared for it.

Now we get into a variety of anti-Marshalls. The first is 8 h3, where an interesting possiblity for Black is 8...Bb7 9 d3 d6 10 a3 Na7. Lalic gives one of his games where he played this for Black. Next is 8 a4, where Lalic recommends 8...Bb7 9 d3 Re8. After that, we see 8 d4 Nxd4 9 Nxd4 exd4 10 e5 Ne8 with the idea ...Bb7. And we see that Black can survive 8 d3 d6 9 c3 Na5 10 Bc2 c5, with the idea of transferring the Kinght from f6 to the Queenside.

The final variation is a little surprise from White: 8 c3 d5 9 d4. Black can get enough counterplay with 9...exd4 10 e5 Ne4.

I recommend this book for those interested in playing either side of this exciting defence.

Book Description

What might have started as an innocent hobby after cleaning out your closets one spring is now turning into a full-fledged day (or night) job. eBay can be a great place to sell your stuff and can be a profitable business, if you know what you're doing. Making a Living From Your eBay Business is a how-to guide that will show you how you can make money from your eBay sales. You'll learn how to set up and run different types of eBay business, including official retailer, second hand seller and trading assistant, while maximizing sales and profits. Find out everything that goes into creating a business plan, setting up a recordkeeping system, filing official business forms and more important business tasks. With Making a Living From Your eBay Business, you will become an experienced business-person in every aspect, from auction management to packing and shipping to customer relations. Turn your hobby into a profitable business today!

Download Description

Customer Reviews:

book review.......2007-01-10

This book gives you a basic foundation to use in launching an ebay business. This is not a "pie in the sky" kind of book. It is "down to earth" and introduces you to all areas of ebay selling. I like the way it is an easy read, yet a very informative and detailed guide.

eBay Through Rose-Colored Glasses.......2006-12-19

A good introduction to eBay for hopelessly optimistic newbies but this relentlessly upbeat whitewash is only half--or more like a tenth--of the real story. And it's highly unlikely that anyone who's serious about making a living through online sales will need to bother wading through the rudimentary eBay For Dummies-style boiler plate info (writing listings, setting up a PayPal account, determing prime scheduling hours, etc.) that makes up much of the book.

For harsh realities about the true risks of doing business with this online auction behemoth (subjects either given short shrift or totally ignored by this Pollyanna-esque primer include eBay's insanely convoluted and arbitrarily enforced rules, impossibility of actually speaking to a knowedgable staff member when troubles arise, pointless form letters supposedly answering questions, company's high-handed my-way-or-the-highway attitude, etc., etc.), look elsewhere.

Such info won't be hard to locate--just find anyone who's been attempting to conduct business on this despotic site for, say, six months. . . and prepare to get an earful. But admittedly that would have been a different book altogether. And, needless to say, a much, much longer one.

I'm not .......2006-02-22

I sure am trying. Great tips, and hope to be atleast making a part time living doing eBay. It's alot of work, but it's also alot of fun. My photography skills have gotten better. Here is my "me" page, hope you like it. Proof is in the pudding:

[...]

Comprehensive!.......2005-11-19

Although I've been an eBay seller for over 7 years - and am featured in this book - I found much of value in this book's pages. Not only can you learn about selling on eBay, Miller provides some basic "starting a business" info which is useful, especially to the eBay newbie.

Making a Living from Your eBay Business.......2005-07-27

Same information is on eBay and it's FREE !

Earn your living online: 10 ways to increase your cash flow by becoming an eBay PowerSeller.(E-BUSINESS) : An article from: Black Enterprise

Average customer rating:

Earn your living online: 10 ways to increase your cash flow by becoming an eBay PowerSeller.(E-BUSINESS) : An article from: Black Enterprise
Marcia Layton Turner
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

eBay | Business & Culture | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Black Enterprise, published by Thomson Gale on September 1, 2005. The length of the article is 570 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Earn your living online: 10 ways to increase your cash flow by becoming an eBay PowerSeller.(E-BUSINESS)
Author: Marcia Layton Turner
Publication: Black Enterprise (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 36 Issue: 2 Page: 62(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Amazon.com

After 20 years of living in the "Great American Outback," as Newsweek magazine once designated the Dakotas, poet Kathleen Norris (The Cloister Walk) came to understand the fascinating ways that people become metaphors for the land they inhabit. When trying to understand the polarizing contradictions that exist in the Dakotas between "hospitality and insularity, change and inertia, stability and instability.... between hope and despair, between open hearts and closed minds," Norris draws a map. "We are at the point of transition between east and west in the United States," she explains, "geographically and psychically isolated from either coast, and unlike either the Midwest or the desert west."

Like Terry Tempest Williams (Refuge), Norris understands how the boundary between inner and outer scenery begins to blur when one is fully present in the landscape of their lives. As a result, she offers the geography lesson we all longed for in school. This is a poetic, noble, and often funny (see her discussion on the foreign concept of tofu) tribute to Dakota, including its Native Americans, Benedictine monks, ministers and churchgoers, wind-weathered farmers, and all its plain folks who live such complicated and simple lives. --Gail Hudson

Book Description

"A book of stories, a book of prayer, a book to be read meditatively and well," DAKOTA offers a timeless tribute to a place in the American landscape that is at once desolate and sublime, harsh and forgiving, steeped in history and myth. From the award-winning author of AMAZING GRACE, DAKOTA is Kathleen Norris at her most thoughtful, her most discerning, her best. She gives us, once again, a rare "gift of hope and balance, a place to begin" (Chicago Tribune) and assurance that wherever we go, we chart our own spiritual geography.

Customer Reviews:

A Truly Spiritual Geography.......2007-06-09

The key to this book is right there in the title. The Dakota of Kathleen Norris' experience, depiction, and understanding is a decidedly spiritual state of being. Just as "deep calls unto deep," so the austere, high plains landscape both evokes and instructs Norris' interior world. Having traveled with Norris through her "Cloister Walk," and having learned her lexicon in "Amazing Grace," I was prepared to look around Dakota with her penetrating vision, to listen to the wind with her attentive hearing, to think deeply about what we were seeing together, and to let my heart grow still as she taught me. Now, though I've never yet been to the high plains, I have truly been to Kathleen Norris' unique and personal Dakota -- and is that not the best accolade for a travelogue, that the reader honestly feels that he's made the trip? I gave this book to a deep-souled friend who needed the time of quiet contemplation it provides, and I recommend it to you as well.

A beautiful book........2007-01-09

I read this book every couple of years and find it a fresh, new read everytime. I recently ordered an extra copy for some friends. To my parents, this was one of those books you love and give copies of to all you friends, siblings, and children. I think I will be doing the same thing.

Not for everyone, but I loved it........2006-11-07

Having moved from a large city to a small town in West Texas, I could totally identify with this book. I learned a lot about the dynamics of a small town, both good and bad. Spiritually, I came to the realization that I found my own desert. The insights that accompany that realization along with the prose of the book are definitely worth the time.

That having been said, this book is not for everyone. It is highly spiritual and insightful, but in an understated way.

must read for all dakotans and transplants to the midwest.......2006-09-26

Norris offers an insight-full monastically minded view into Dakota life, not just North and South Dakota, but the fascinating cultural differences between east and west of the Missouri river that divides So. Dakota. In what I consider a very telling paragraph (p129) she begins a dialogue on sacred space saying that those who ask what is sacred really are asking "What place is mine." Dakota seems to emanate from Norris' own coming to grips with place and aims to help others do the same. That love-hate relationship that many feel toward home is evident within. For those who know rural life in the midwest "Dakota" is penetrating and beautiful on one hand and so frustrating it made me want to move on the other. At times she portays a rural ghetto of resisting outside influence (p.62), exclusionary unity (p, 59) lower professional standards which she also claims to be part of the small town charm (p.55). It is both bitter and sweet but not from judgment, rather from her claiming this land as her own...this is where she belongs...this is where she planted and rooted.

Kathleen Norris has helped me to return to my roots, not in South Dakota, but Iowa. It has given me a new found appreciation of the land and culture which I was and still am planted in. For those in the midwest much of her insights will transfer to other contexts. And for those not from the midwest or small towns it will be an interesting read into how the other half live and will likely offer some fine opportunities to reflect on your location.

To Read and Reread.......2006-04-05

I loved Dakota. I've read it and reread it. It has so much to enjoy. First, Norris writes like a poet. Her words are beautiful. They pull you along. Second, her description of the Great Plains and the monasteries transports you. I've been wanting to visit Dakota ever since I read the book. Finally, there is the conversion that takes place in Norris herself as she is changed by the place. Dakota is slow reading, but it is not boring. This isn't a Tom Clancy book. However, a book on farmers, monks and poets should be slow. Norris reflects on herself and her environment. If you slow yourself down to keep pace with the book, you will find an appreciation for yourself and your own environment. If you get impatient, go read Clancy or Grisham, but come back to Dakota.

Dakota a Spiritual Geography 1ST Edition Signed

Average customer rating:

Dakota a Spiritual Geography 1ST Edition Signed
Kathleen Norris
Manufacturer: TICKNOR & FIELDS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Dakota, a Spiritual Geography, Harsk Desolate Yet Sublime Landscape That Embodies the Contraditions of American Life as Lived in Small Towns

Average customer rating:

Dakota, a Spiritual Geography, Harsk Desolate Yet Sublime Landscape That Embodies the Contraditions of American Life as Lived in Small Towns
Kathleen Norris
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Average customer rating:

Dakota: A Spiritual Geography
Kathleen Norris
Manufacturer: Ticknor & Fields
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WZYD5G

Product Description

Nearly 20 years ago, poet Kathleen Norris and her husband moved from New York to the isolated town of Lemmon in northwestern South Dakota, home of her grandparents. Living there radically changed her sense of time and place, forcing her to come to terms with her heritage, her religious beliefs and the land. Norris learned to value the prairie landscape and to cope with the harsh climate. She found small-town life a mass of contradictions: generous hospitality mixed with suspicion of strangers, inertia and a sense of inferiority. One boon to her new life was a community of Benedictine monks; with them she recaptured her (Protestant) Christian faith and discovered inner peace. This is a fine portrait of the High Plains and its people as well as a very personal memoir of a spiritual awakening.

Average customer rating:

Dakota a Spiritual Geography
Kathleen Norris
Manufacturer: Ticknor & Fields
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000W78PT4

Amazon.com

Argentina still struggles as a nation with the shame and horror of the so-called "dirty-war" of the decade following Juan Peron's death. During that horrific time, torture and kidnapping were the instruments of choice for the enforcement of political will. Feitlowitz unflinchingly examines life under sadistic military rule with detailed descriptions of the experiences of prisoners in concentration camps. The Argentinean vocabulary now includes words like desaparacido (disappeared person) and chupado (sucked up or kidnapped), vivid reminders of how commonplace kidnapping and murder became. Victims, often guilty only of nothing more than practicing psychology or journalism or being Jewish, have not been forgotten.

Though Feitlowitz touches on the linguistic effects of government terrorism in Argentina, her book's greatest strength lies in the voice it gives the victims. The author spent years talking to survivors of the terror as well as some of the people responsible for instigating it. What A Lexicon of Terror does particularly well is capture the ongoing consequences of the dirty war--victims encountering their tormentors on the streets, Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo still marching to remind their government that the fates of thousands of disappeared are still not known, a government held hostage by the fear of army uprisings should any attempt to bring culprits to justice be made. Argentina is the subject of this particular Lexicon, but surely the citizens of other nations such as Chile, Guatemala, and El Salvador might see their own experiences mirrored here.

Book Description

"We were all out in la charca, and there they were, coming over the ridge, a battalion ready for war, against a schoolhut full of children." Tanks roaring over farmlands, pregnant mothers tortured, their babies stolen and sold on the black market, homes raided in the dead of night, ordinary citizens kidnapped and never seen again--such were the horrors of Argentina's Dirty War. Now, in A Lexicon of Terror, Marguerite Feitlowitz fully exposes the nightmare of sadism, paranoia, and deception the military dictatorship unleashed on the Argentine people, a nightmare that would claim over 30,000 civilians from 1976 to 1983 and whose leaders were recently issued warrants by a Spanish court for the crime of genocide. Feitlowitz explores the perversion of language under state terrorism, both as it's used to conceal and confuse ("The Parliament must be disbanded to rejuvenate democracy") and to domesticate torture and murder. Thus, citizens kidnapped and held in secret concentration camps were "disappeared"; torture was referred to as "intensive therapy"; prisoners thrown alive from airplanes over the ocean were called "fish food." Based on six years of research and moving interviews with peasants, intellectuals, activists, and bystanders, A Lexicon of Terror examines the full impact of this catastrophic period from its inception to the present, in which former torturers, having been pardoned and released from prison, live side by side with those they tortured. Passionately written and impossible to put down, Feitlowitz shows us both the horror of the war and the heroism of those who resisted and survived--their courage, their endurance, their eloquent refusal to be dehumanized in the face of torments even Dante could not have imagined.

Customer Reviews:

An Incredible Narrative.......2007-09-29

This is a compelling and relentless book that jumps off from the starting point that subtle Orwellian language manipulation is an essential component of political repression, by showing how the adjustment and subversion of words, the theft of meaning, enabled the Argentine Generals to torture, loot, and murder tens of thousands of quite innocent civilians (and unwanted military or anyone else in the way). In a literate society the body parts can remain hidden, and the words will do the work of subduing dissent.

By exploring the personal stories and interviews with survivors, families of the 'disappeared,' willfully ignorant or complicit 'bystanders,' vain or conscience-stricken perpetrators, and so on, the book moves far beyond a linguistic or philosophical analysis. It is personal, angry, and tragic.

What froze me to the bone is recognizing little linguistic echoes and hints from our own government as it moves the war on terror increasingly to a domestic front. One thing the author underplays, I think, is the extent to which a large proportion of the Argentine society actually was fine with the degree of brutality and repression, as long as they didn't have to actually see and 'know about' the mutilated carcasses of their neighbors' kids. They were convinced by words and the climate of paranoia that there was (indeed) an invisible war against terrorists going on all around them. 'Torture... is the secret weapon in the war without rules.'

Not a stunningly brilliant work like Scarry's 'The Body in Pain,' but 'Lexicon of Terror' has the great advantage that it's very readable and accessible.

Lexicon is what you get.......2005-08-09

If you're looking for an historical overview of the subject -- go elsewhere.
Unless you're fascinated by the etiology of the language which evolved on the subject matter, this is a very disappointing read on the subject of the terrorism in Argentina.

Comprehensive and Well Written.......2003-04-22

The title of this book, The Lexicon of Terror, really only covers one chapter and an occassional reference here and there to how the junta manipulated language to influence the minds of the people. The book mostly covered the context of the Dirty War, the main bad guys, and many stories of victims.

After interviewing the victims, Feitlowitz has no mercy for the military perpatrators of the war. Even when she interviews Balza, the army cheif of staff in 1996 who seemed like one of the more repantant of the military guys, she isn't afraid to ask him tough questions.

She covers the book in both dichronic and synchronic time. She goes through chronology from the coup that put Videla in charge to the recovery of the country that was still going on when she finished her book in 1997. But in addition to that, she covers the stories of the individuals involved in the atrocities. One of the details that struck me the most was when she talked about former desaparecidos running into their former captors on the street. One captor even asked a victim how her family was doing.

Feitlowitz also tells about Scilingo, a former navy officer tortured by his memories of throwing living but drugged "subversives" from a plane on the infamous night flights. His life was ruined by his participation. She even makes an effort to explain that complicity in the army was guaranteed because if a member of the army did not follow orders or expressed concern with what was happening, they would soon disappear themselves. The excuse rings a little hollow, though, because of the brutalness of the torture.

History is frightening. I enjoyed how she talked about the way words were used as propaganda because it is an aspect of all governments. While I don't think our current administration is on par with Videla by any means, they certainly twist words to influence the way we thing about things, that play on our patriotism (the Patriot Act for instance) and our fear of terrorism. I don't think there is a government that doesn't try to influence the vocabulary of its people for their own purposes. Being able to recognize what they are doing allows us to maintain our freedom.

Painful but Great.......2001-08-07

This is a shocking and painful book to read. There are other books which document the torture and atrocities of the Argentinian Dirty War in more detail, but none that reveals the horror of it all by providing examples and analysis of the words, phrases and verbal concepts of the perpetrators and their victims. The title, "Lexicon of Terror," could not have been chosen better for seemingly neutural words like "process" and "change" and dozend of others are shown to have been corrupted intellectually so that the physical corruption which followed was almost inevitable.

The book combines three disciplines that are rarely treated in the same volume, much less understood by the same person. But history, lexicography, and journalism are intertwined to such a degree that the blend is complete.

The author, in her low key style, deals with occurances and happenings that for most of us would cry out for justice. But by limiting her treatment to understanding the problem, she is even more effective on motivating the reader to search for soloution.

Most of us are familiar with the phrase that knowledge is power, but this relatively short book is a great example of the power (in this case for evil) of language. The reader will never look at partisan political dialogue in the same way again.

One annoying feature is terribly small type, so those who need reading glasses, do not forget them. The rest of the work is brilliant and terrible in the literal meaning of the word, which is what makes it so wonderful, thoudh disconcerting and depressing as well.

Reading this volume is a must for anyone who loves and respects language, freedom, and human rights for you will learn how intertwined they can be.

A thorough depiction of the atmosphere of repression.......2001-06-29

What really struck me about this book was how well Maruerite Feitlowitz captured the subtleties of the effects terror and repression had on the Argentine population. For example, she discusses how a popular women's magazine, Para Ti, incorporated pro-Proceso rhetoric and even military-inspired fashion into its message during the war. The book is based extensively on first-person testimonials, many of which come from interviews conducted by Feitlowitz herself. Two chapters I found especially revealing dealt with the failure of Jewish leadership to defend its people during the crisis, and with the crippling effect of repression on one rural agrarian league. Two minor complaints: There was little discussion of the systematic repression of union leaders, which intended to (and succeeded in) severely weakening labor's role in Argentina. Also, at least in the paperback version, the print was tiny! If your eyes are getting weak, reading glasses are a must!

A Lexicon Of Terror: Argentina & The Legacies Of Torture

Average customer rating:

A Lexicon Of Terror: Argentina & The Legacies Of Torture
MARGUERITE FEITLOWITZ
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OK9RV4

Average customer rating:
Birds of the Indian Hills

Manufacturer: Hyperion Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Birds | Field Guides | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
General | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0897715942

Average customer rating:
INDIAN HILL BIRDS
S. ALI
Manufacturer: OXFORD UNIVERSITY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000SEBWFA

Average customer rating:

Well Done Field Guide

Indian Hill Birds
Salim Ali
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0196350050

Customer Reviews:

Well Done Field Guide.......2000-09-20

Another edition of this famous book. The original was wonderful and this edition continues in the same vein. The keys are well done and easy to follow as are the illustrations. This book makes birding in the Indian hills a pleasure. If one can't make the trip this book is enjoyable just for reading and dreaming of such a birding adventure.

Average customer rating:

INDIAN HILL BIRDS.
Salim. Ali
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O8NVWM

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books