Niki's World: Niki De Saint Phalle (Adventures in Art)

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Good intro to Niki de St. Phalle for 6-year-old girl

Niki for Kids

Niki's World: Niki De Saint Phalle (Adventures in Art)
Ulrich Krempel , Rosie Jackson , and Niki De Saint Phalle
Manufacturer: Prestel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Tarot Garden: Niki de Saint Phalle----The Tarot Garden

ASIN: 3791330683

Book Description

Populated with jolly "Nanas", wobbly fountains and secret-filled gardens—the world of Niki de Saint-Phalle was made for children of all ages.

Sculptor Niki de Saint-Phalle's love for children is evident in all of her work. Her tactile, viewer-friendly creations invite them in, not just to look but to touch and explore as well. This colorful introduction to her art features her fascinating Tarot Garden in Tuscany, where enormous, mythic sculptures offer visitors a chance to enter and become part of a work of art, and includes pictures of Queen Califia's Magical Circle, the artist's last sculpture garden which opened in October 2003 in San Diego, California. Niki's World also focuses on the playful Stravinsky Fountain at the Pompidou Center, a kindergarten in Jerusalem, a children's house in Belgium and excerpts from AIDS: You Can't Catch It Holding Hands, her renowned book. In addition to exposing children to the larger-than-life possibilities of Niki's works of art, this volume provides examples of the artist's paintings, collages, assemblages, sculptures, and models.

Customer Reviews:

Good intro to Niki de St. Phalle for 6-year-old girl.......2007-07-17

I bought this book to keep at my house for when my 6-year-old niece visits. She liked it so much that her mom bought another copy of it to keep at their house.

Niki for Kids.......2005-08-03

With beautiful photos of the range of Niki's work, this children's book enables both kids and adults to get an overview of Niki's work, especially her sculptures. This is the only book I have found that has pictures of her Escondido work-- it is a magical place and one can get a feel for it through this book.

Niki De Saint Phalle: Insider-Outsider--World Inspired Art

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Niki De Saint Phalle: Insider-Outsider--World Inspired Art
Niki De Saint-Phalle
Manufacturer: Mingei International Museum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Sculpture | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0914155105

Book Description

This book analyzes the ways that workers are "educated," via a variety of institutions, to fit into the contemporary labor-unfriendly economic system. As he examines the history and purposes of vocational education, Kincheloe illustrates the manner in which this education shapes the politics of the era. How Do We Tell the Workers? is important reading for policy makers, labor leaders, and educators.

How Do We Tell the Workers?: The Socioeconomic Foundations of Work and Vocational Education

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How Do We Tell the Workers?: The Socioeconomic Foundations of Work and Vocational Education
Joe L. Kincheloe
Manufacturer: Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IYU774

Customer Reviews:

Marvelous Compilation.......2000-01-19

This is a charming, wonderful collection of comix and interviews. I was loosely familiar with some of artists, but each section was a revelation. Especially appealing to me was the *range* of work -- from finely commercial to somewhat primitive. You sense a diverse world full of surprise and life -- who could ask for anything more?

Rockin' guide to the sadly u-ground world of lesbian comix........1999-07-17

Detailed interviews of many lesbian comics authors with excerpts of their work. Sometimes hilarous, sometimes sad, sometimes resonating strongly in strange places, Dyke Strippers is wonderful, and worth it almost only for the wild cover done by Diane DiMassa, authoress of Hothead Paisan, Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist.

Book Description

For more than half a century Jerry Lewis has cultivated multiple and contradictory self-images: the idiot kid, the Las Vegas showman, the auteur-director, the telethon philanthropist, the elder statesman of American show business. His work has provoked extremes of critical adulation and hostility on both sides of the Atlantic.

Frank Krutnik discusses Lewis's partnership with Dean Martin in the late 1940s and early 1950s, exploring how their performances elaborated on a wartime theme of male bonding. Examining such early '60s solo works as The Bellboy, The Nutty Professor, and The Patsy, Krutnik probes the ways in which Lewis both dismantled the conventions of film comedy and manipulated his public identity. Charting the decline of Lewis's film career and his simultaneous rise to fame as the emotional powerhouse of the Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon, Krutnik also traces Lewis's attempt to create a serious, adult image to replace that of the aging "kid."

Customer Reviews:

Fantab u lus.......2000-05-07

Any book wirtten on this man is worth having in ones collection. There is great detail and powerful information that shows what a true genius the great Jerry Lewis is.

Buy Buy Bye!

Book Description

Selections from Bologna, Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, MSS Q19 ("Rusconi Codex")

Average customer rating:

Great for the car and at home

Lot's of fun!

Feeling Competitive?

Battle of the Sexes: How Much Do You Really Know About the Opposite Sex? (Spinner Books)

Manufacturer: University Games
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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Spinner Books Game of Knowledge

Blast from the Past (Spinner Books)

ASIN: 1575289059

Customer Reviews:

Great for the car and at home.......2003-12-04

I went on a road trip with my boyfriend and another couple and this little book was the best way to pass the miles! Not only did we laugh but we learned which sex was the smarter in our car. I plan on buying the other Spinners Books and giving them as gifts (also for me!).

Lot's of fun!.......2003-11-14

My cousin Michael and I played this book at a recent family get-together and soon everyone was paying attention and helping us keep score. We actually tied but have planned a Thanksgiving rematch with the whole family. This book is easy to play because there's no big board or pieces to set up; you just pass the book around. Great fun!!

Feeling Competitive?.......2003-11-13

This book rocks. Hours of amusement. Full of fun, useful and useless trivia. I kicked my boyfriend's booty!

Chicks Battle the Dudes: A Face-off to See Who Is the Smarter Sex! (Spinner Books)

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Chicks Battle the Dudes: A Face-off to See Who Is the Smarter Sex! (Spinner Books)
Bob Moog
Manufacturer: University Games
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1575288966

Book Description

Women may be from Venus and men from Mars, but they come together in this fun and provocative board game. Chicks Battle the Dudes shows that no matter how gender-neutral they try to be, male and female brains click in on different subjects. The board is set up as a tug-of-war contest, with a rope pulled with each right answer. The first team to pull its opponents to the center of the board wins. But watch out — the challenge cards give both sexes a chance to come out on top!

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"Bravo" from an ordinary investor

The Efficient Markets Theory Made Simple, With Some Laughs

A Work of Historical Dimension

wall street v/s america

Entertaining, informative old-fashioned muckraking

Wall Street Versus America: The Rampant Greed and Dishonesty That Imperil Your Investments
Gary Weiss
Manufacturer: Portfolio Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Inside the House of Money: Top Hedge Fund Traders on Profiting in the Global Markets

ASIN: B000N3T4PG

Book Description

Gary Weiss, one of the business world's most dogged investigative reporters, has written the definitive book about the dark side of Wall Street—not just a few bad apples, but the whole rotten barrel.

This is the outrageous, riveting, darkly funny story of what really happens in every corner of the financial system: from Internet tip sites and boiler rooms, to fee-happy mutual funds and hedge funds, to the bluest of blue-chip securities firms. With vivid anecdotes and character studies, Wall Street Versus America will show you how investors are consistently victimized—while sleepy regulators, biased arbitrators, and the media all look the other way.

You'll learn, for instance, how respectable institutions such as Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley push the ethical envelope, and how Washington, under both Democrats and Republicans, simply has not kept up with innovations in Wall Street greed.

Customer Reviews:

"Bravo" from an ordinary investor.......2007-01-08

I'm just an ordinary investor who has been feeling like a piece of bait for the securities industry- until now.

I applaud you for Wall Street Versus America. Reading it made me realize that my concerns and suspicions are valid and that I'm not alone. Not only that, it provided the beacon I need to have the confidence to be aggressive with my questions, bold with my actions and to never again blindly follow the "advice" of a broker and never again exist only to have my portfolio's mission priority be to fill a broker's pockets ahead of mine. I am lucky to have learned this before Wall Street had a chance to ruin me.

I was fortunate to retire with a pension lump sum. When I started looking into how to invest it, I found the brokerage industry to be like the Big Bad Wolf licking its chops, just waiting to brainwash me and take my money. So, I left my broker and found another, then I left the new one too. After that, I sold everything and put my money safely into Treasuries and Money Market funds so I could take all the time I needed to get my act together. Then, I found your book, bought it and read it carefully. Life changed. Thank you.

Oh yeah, I said your book enabled me to be "bold with my actions". By that, I mean that I have already written to my congressman and to the chairman of the SEC to demand that Arbitration be made optional. I'm expecting little in return, or maybe some polite "baloney" but I'm not backing off. This absolutely feels like swimming up a waterfall, but it's a start.

Great book.

The Efficient Markets Theory Made Simple, With Some Laughs.......2006-11-21

Gary Weiss is a fervent believer in the efficient capital markets hypothesis (which I'll call ECMH hereafter, because I'm a lazy typist.)

ECMH, a theory developed by Eugene Fama in the mid 1960s, on first principles derived from the great Austrian economists, has been the object of proselytizing by Burton Malkiel starting in the 1970s and continuing to the present. The idea is that given a competently-managed capital market (i.e. a stock exchange), and given a certain respectable level of liquidity (e.g. above a minimum volume of sales), all significant information will be reflected in stock prices very quickly.

To get an idea of what this means, suppose you've made a careful study of the beer market. You've been a saint of erudition. You know every available fact about, say, Anheuser Busch's production methods, Miller's labor troubles, the rise of microbreweries, the marketing plans of Grupo Modelo (the nice folks who bring us Corona) and so forth. On the basis of your erudition, you've formed the firm opinion that SAB Miller is going to have a couple of very profitable years. So you buy their stock, right?

Don't bother. According to the ECMH, everything you know is already 'known' to the inorganic entity known as the market, and has already been factored into the price. Good news for Miller has already pushed the price up, before you have a chance to buy it, so you'd be buying on already-discounted information.

Another way to look at this is to say that stock prices are a 'random walk.' All your efforts at predicting and acting on a pattern will be outsmarted by the market itself, so the actual moves will appear, from any of our own limited points of view, random. We'd do as well throwing darts at a stock chart while wearing a blindfold as we would picking stocks through the kind of study of corporate fundamentals instanced above.

Still another, more poetic, way of looking at this is to say that any given buyer or seller is but a neuron. The market itself is the brain of which they are each parts. A belief in one's ability to outsmart the market is equivalent to the belief of a neuron that it can outthink the brain.

So: what is to be done? Invest passively. That is the advice that Malkiel and others give. Invest in funds that are tied to broad indices, so that you are in effect investing in the market itself, in the whole brain, rather than trying to outthink it.

Various theorists give various exceptions to this general rule. but the ECMH by definition means at least that most would-be buyers and sellers are better off in index-based or passive funds than they would be trying to pick stocks themselves, and/or paying someone else (an active manager) to do the picking for them. Active managers charge higher fees than passive managers. In the view of ECMH advocates, they are almost always charging you those fees for the purpose of losing you money. Even if they break even, by comparison with their passive counterparts, you lose the fees differential itself. If you were sucker enough to pay it.

That's the theory. Weiss, as I've said, is a passionate believer in it. That is the implication of the provocative title of his book. It might more accurately, but more pedantically, be titled, "Active Fund Managers Against Ordinary-Folk Investors."

Let me just say now that I found it well written, and I think there's a lot of truth in Weiss' viewpoint. He applies ECMH rather too mechanically for my taste, but that's an issue for another day.

A Work of Historical Dimension.......2006-09-07

One of the most controversial aspects of "Wall Street Versus America" by Gary Weiss is the author's assessment that SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt was not the champion of the small investor as the press made him out to be; that, in fact, he aided and abetted the abuses against the small investor by refusing to curtail the corrupt practices on Wall Street. Weiss' assessment of Levitt is tersely summed up in the opening pages: "Levitt presided over the worst abuses to descend upon Wall Street since the 1920s. He failed miserably at dealing with the problems that he did not ignore entirely, but he did a couple of things better than just about any recent SEC chairman in history - give speeches, and court the press."

And this is the crux of what makes "Wall Street Versus America" a work of historical dimension. Each of the Wall Street abuses detailed in the book, most of which continue to this day, were by themselves a fraud on the public investor. But together, they rendered Wall Street not a fair and efficient capital allocation system but an institutionalized wealth transfer system. No book has, heretofore, shown this so clearly. Wealth was sucked from the masses of little investors and transferred to the corporate and Wall Street insiders while the cop on the beat, the SEC, looked the other way.

I recently retired after 21 years on Wall Street, during which time I made numerous written appeals to the SEC, the Fed, and in GAO testimony to halt the same areas of corruption covered in "Wall Street Versus America:" the rigged arbitration system; the 1920s style creation of conflict-riddled mega banks/brokerages; the rampant kickback schemes with lofty sounding names. One word aptly describes the outcome of each of my appeals: coverup. Thus, I am not surprised that Weiss has borne the brunt of threats and backlash for this comprehensive and courageous work.

For those skeptics who can't believe that "Wall Street Versus America" is a keenly insightful and accurate portrayal of the corruption-riddled practices of the largest and most lauded financial system in the world, here's background to digest before you move on to the main feature: "Wall Street Versus America."

In a 1994 article by Business Week (4/4/1994: Beware the IPO Market) regulators had
the goods to clean up the systemic looting of American investors by bulge bracket Wall Street firms and their cronies. The article quotes Lynn A. Stout, professor of securities regulation at Georgetown University Law Center: "The IPO [Initial Public Offering] market is rigged. It's rigged against the average investor." The article goes on to define exactly how a "penalty bid" works. "This is a penalty imposed on brokers who flip or sell their customers IPO shares right after the offering. The practice, devised by a group of top Wall Street firms during Securities Industry Association meetings in the 1980s, is used by underwriters to help prop up the stock price of an IPO in the sensitive weeks following its issue. Brokers whose customers flip, risk having their commissions taken away, giving them an incentive to discourage customers from selling out." The article points out, however, that the Wall Street firm's institutional clients were allowed to cash out while the individual investors are left "holding the bag" and serving as a prop under the price of the shares.

Two and a half years later, the Wall Street Journal took up the issue of the penalty bid. (12/2/1996: Tough IPO Market Triggers Penalty Bids Against Brokers by Deborah Lohse) "Even though penalty bids are taken out of brokers' commission, many investors gripe that they are the ones being penalized, since their brokers exert subtle, or not so subtle, pressure on them not to sell their IPO shares while the penalty bid is in place."

One and half years later comes Michael Siconolfi and Patrick McGeehan in the Wall Street Journal, who decide to take the gloves off on this penalty bid issue. (6/26/1998: Big Institutions Can Cash Out Quickly; the Little Guy Can't Without Penalties) "It's one of Wall Street's best kept secrets: While securities firms allow big institutional investors to dump hot new stocks at their whim, often within hours or minutes of the stock's first trade, they try to persuade investors to hold on to IPOs, for better or worse." This article clearly points out that while the little investor continues to be fleeced, the SEC has its lens fogged.

It's now March of 2001. It's seven years since Business Week first tipped off the regulators and the Wall Street Journal reporters did everything short of filing the brief and buying the handcuffs. And there are no more hot IPOs. There are only drowning IPOs. Ron Chernow in the New York Times summed it up: "Let us be clear about the magnitude of the Nasdaq collapse. The tumble has been so steep and so bloody - close to $4 trillion in market value erased in one year - that it amounts to nearly four times the carnage recorded in the October 1987 crash." Chernow likens the NASDAQ to a "lunatic control tower that directed most incoming planes to a bustling, congested airport known as the New Economy while another, depressed airport, the Old Economy, stagnated with empty runways. The market functioned as a vast, erratic mechanism for misallocating capital across America."

This misallocation of capital, capital that should have been feeding American innovation to secure our economic future but went instead to build millions of miles of unneeded fibre optic cables or now bankrupt dot.coms while shifting wealth to such unprecedented levels of concentration in America as to threaten our democracy, can be placed squarely at the feet of Arthur Levitt's SEC.

That most of these practices continue unabated today means Gary Weiss needs to start work on a sequel immediately and that regardless of who is sitting in the oval office, there's likely to be a Wall Street crony at the helm of the SEC.

Pam Martens

wall street v/s america.......2006-08-07

Confirms my suspicions - the market is driven by emotions of the many played on by the insiders

Entertaining, informative old-fashioned muckraking.......2006-07-29

A readable one-volume compendium of the many ways Wall Street can deplete your investment portfolio, written for a mass audience without sacrificing details.

I found it to be well-researched and, though it has a strong point of view, balanced and fair in its presentation.

The book is critical of regulation and takes a surprisingly antagonistic view of former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt, which it criticizes throughout for everything from mutual funds to Entron. The book also castigates Levitt's successor William Donaldson.

I liked quite a bit this book's writing style, which was humorous and presented difficult subjects in an entertaining manner. The book contains one of the best explanations I have read so far of the mutual fund scandals, and goes beyond that to explain the various other ways mutual funds can rip you off.

Despite the light approach, this is not at all like Michael Lewis's books. Lewis takes a laid back attitude generally agreeing with the Street's way of doing business, while this tome is outraged. In its style and presentation it harkens back to the Washington Merry-go-Round books of Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson.

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MY AMERICA : What My Country Means to Me, by 150 Americans from All Walks of Life (Signed First Edition)

Manufacturer: Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000BV37QW

Product Description

Limited to 1160 signed copies. Candid and revealing accounts from such world renowned figures as Henry Kissinger, Alan Alda, George Bush, Maya Angelou, Walter Cronkite, Alan Dershowitz, Yogi Berra, Michael DeBakey, Coretta Scott King, Art Linkletter, Jack Paar, Ross Perot, Patricia S. Schroeder, Barbara Walters, Roger Williams, Sally Quinn, Coleman McCarthy, Oral Roberts, Mark Russell, Tony Hillerman and Jazz legend Dave Brubeck-- all sharing their experiences as an American.

My America: What My Country Means to Me, by 150 Americans from All Walks of Life

Average customer rating:

two stars is being nice.
My America by Hugh Downs

My America: What My Country Means to Me, by 150 Americans from All Walks of Life
Hugh Downs
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | History | Bargain Books | Stores | Books

United States | History | Bargain Books | Stores | Books

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ASIN: B000H2NDY6

Book Description

"Some of these essays are powerful and poetic. Some seem to reflect a stunned condition on the part of the contributor. But all of them share a newborn or reawakened feeling about the country we live in -- an underlying concern for it, whether that concern is rooted in anger and fear, or in a sensed and urgent need for action, or internal correction, or wagon-circling. Some are personal narratives that explain and justify the patriotism of the writer. Some examine and praise the values that make the country great."

-- Hugh Downs, from the Introduction

What is the essence of America? In this fascinating new collection inspired by one of our most trusted and beloved commentators, 150 diverse Americans -- from top politicians and entertainers to firefighters and teachers -- express in their own words what America means to them.

My America includes candid insights from television journalists such as Mike Wallace and Barbara Walters; politicians including former president George Bush and John Glenn; writers such as Walter Anderson and Anita Diamant; and entertainers, among them Dave Brubeck and Patricia Neal; as well as lesser-known citizens from all over the country. These frank and thought-provoking observations from Americans of every age, race, religion, and social position compellingly illustrate the American mosaic and offer a glimpse into the subconscious mind of this unique and wonderful nation. This touching volume, celebrating the similarities and the differences of a people, reflects our core values and is sure to inspire pride in America.

Edited and with an introduction and an epilogue by Hugh Downs -- who coanchored ABC's 20/20, hosted NBC's Today show, and has been an important American voice for more than half a century -- My America explores the values, ideals, and dreams that all Americans share. At a time when people are reassessing their patriotism and rediscovering their national allegiance, emotions regarding the United States are stronger and more poignant than they have been in years, and this sentiment has been captured in these pages.

My America is a timely collection for anyone who wants to reflect on America's past, or celebrate its future.

Download Description

"Some of these essays are powerful and poetic. Some seem to reflect a stunned condition on the part of the contributor. But all of them share a newborn or reawakened feeling about the country we live in...Some are personal narratives that explain and justify the patriotism of the writer. Some examine and praise the values that make the country great."" -- Hugh Downs, from the Introduction What is the essence of America? In this fascinating new collection inspired by one of our most trusted and beloved commentators, 150 diverse Americans express in their own words what America means to them. My America includes candid insights from such well-known personalities as Barbara Walters, former president George Bush, Dave Brubeck, Willard Scott, Helen Thomas, Donald Trump, Phyllis Diller, Mike Wallace, John Glenn, and Patricia Neal, as well as remarks by lesser-known citizens from all over the country. These frank and thought-provoking observations from Americans of every age, race, religion, and social position compellingly illustrate the American mosaic and offer a glimpse into the subconscious mind of this unique and wonderful nation. My America is a timely collection for anyone who wants to reflect on America's past or celebrate its future. "

Customer Reviews:

two stars is being nice........2005-01-14

It wasn't as impactful as I thought it would be. Some of the people that gave comments gave some great comments and others, well, other gave comments. The selection of people was a good cross section but it didn't have meaning to it. I was looking for more in depth commentary. Maybe what I was looking for should have been said between each of the comments in the book. It might have looked like hugh just collected a bunch of email and old letters and thrown them together.

My America by Hugh Downs.......2002-11-01

My America by Hugh Downs

My America by Hugh Downs is a collection of 150 brief, one page or so on the average, comments on 'what America means to me.' Selected by invitation, these individuals express their patriotic feelings with stories or straightforward editorial comments. I have found nothing surprising. If you ask a handful of elite individuals who have already succeeded in their chosen profession in any country, you will find similar outburst of patriotic feelings.

Missing in this book are the views and feelings of ordinary citizens. In my opinion America is a great country for ordinary people-like a man from India who came to this country because he knew this is where even poor people are fat, have television sets in the living room, microwave ovens in the kitchen and cars in the driveway, if not in the garage.

Those who have made in any society will feel good about themselves and the society, but what about those who have not yet made? If Mr. Downs included the voices of another 150 ordinary citizens in his book, the book would have been much better reading.

Of the 150 comments, the one story that touched me most deeply was the one by Pete Hamil, a journalist, an author and a descendant of an Irish immigrant. When he was a boy, he witnessed in the dark of the night his father weeping from physical pain. The stump of his ruined leg was covered with blisters caused by the heat wave. And yet, in the morning, his father went to work in the factory where there were concrete floors but no air-conditioning. He went to work because he was an American allowed to work without being asked about his religion, his family history, or his political beliefs.

He writes, "Some Americans might be stirred into love of country by the sight of B-52 vapor trails. I prefer the image of a young Mexican-American woman in cap and gown, surrounded by weeping parents and aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters, walking into an early summer afternoon, clutching a diploma. In that moment, she honors her family. She honors mine too, and all those where a parent once wept in the dark. Above all, she honors America."

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My America: What My Country Means to Me, by 150 Americans from All Walks of Life

Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
U.S. | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1416575154

Book Description

"Some of these essays are powerful and poetic. Some seem to reflect a stunned condition on the part of the contributor. But all of them share a newborn or reawakened feeling about the country we live in -- an underlying concern for it, whether that concern is rooted in anger and fear, or in a sensed and urgent need for action, or internal correction, or wagon-circling. Some are personal narratives that explain and justify the patriotism of the writer. Some examine and praise the values that make the country great."

-- Hugh Downs, from the Introduction

My America is a timely collection for anyone who wants to reflect on America's past, or celebrate its future.

Book Description

As the U.S. Army's Seventh Cavalry marched toward Baghdad in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Seventh's fabled history was called to mind. From Vietnam back through two world wars, news broadcasters were quick to remind us that the Seventh Cavalry was none other than Gen. George Armstrong Custer's old command at the famous Battle of Little Bighorn. One hundred and twenty-seven years ago Custer led the men of five companies to their deaths at the hands of the Sioux. News of the slaughter that took place soon reached the rest of the nation as it kicked off its centennial celebration on July 4, 1876, in Philadelphia.

Even in 1876 there was close scrutiny of the battle plans, and questions arose regarding the rout at Little Bighorn. Since that day, despite all its victories in subsequent wars, the Seventh is forever identified as the regiment that was wiped out by Indians on June 25, 1876.

Although opinions vary on the details of the battle, virtually every book in the Custer literature agrees on one point: not a single soldier was alive after the dust settled in Montana that fateful day. However, recent facts uncovered by author Vincent J. Genovese bring the universally accepted conclusion of no survivors into serious doubt. Genovese has presented compelling evidence that one soldier, Pvt. William (Billy) Heath, the farrier for Company L, did manage to escape the carnage at Custer's Last Stand.

With all the drama and intrigue of a Hollywood movie, the story of Heath's survival is the substance of Genovese's controversial book, BILLY HEATH: THE MAN WHO SURVIVED CUSTER'S LAST STAND. Less than a year before the battle, twenty-seven-year-old Billy Heath strolled into the army's recruiting office in Cincinnati and joined up. The immigrant coal miner from Pennsylvania was on the run from death threats back in his hometown of Girardville, leaving behind his family. In a few short months he found himself in the midst of one of the most famous battles in U.S. military history.

Army records confirm Heath was in battle and list him as being killed in action. His name is carved into the battlefield monument where the U.S. Army says his remains lay. Not so, says Genovese. Somehow William Heath escaped death and was later found by a wagon of settlers migrating west. Nursed back to health, he eventually returned home to Pennsylvania. Genovese introduces proof showing that Heath lived for fourteen years after the battle.

Lavishly illustrated, this thought-provoking volume contains a foreword by noted Custer and Little Bighorn scholar Brian Pohanka, and an afterword by professor of political science and American history William Gudelunas.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting but unsubstantiated story.......2005-09-12

Custer's Last stand is one of the most famous events in American History. Supposedly all 210+ men in the five companies that accompanied him to attack the village on the Little Bighorn river died along with him, but legends have persisted ever since that there were survivors. The current book is an attempt to prove that one man did survive: William Heath, a farrier (horse handler) in Company L of the 7th Cavalry.

The difficulty is that the author has little proof for his story beyond the bare bones of tax records and army enlistment papers. Records don't always tell the whole story, and in some cases the facts they present are completely inaccurate. Here those records seem to show that Heath entered the USA in 1872 from England, enlisted in the army in 1875, fought at the Little Bighorn and was killed, and then reappearred the next year in Pennsylvania at his home and lived for another dozen or so years, fathering half a dozen children in the meanwhile.

The difficulty with the above is that there are major discrepancies which the author either ignores or unconvincingly explains away. For one thing, Heath was a coal miner for much of the period 1872-5, then became a policeman working for the coal company. In 1872 he was illiterate, and made his mark on his citizenship papers. In 1875 he signs his name (with a beautiful flowing script) on his enlistment papers. When did he find time to learn to read and write? Another circumstance which the author ignores is that Heath's reason for leaving his home and enlisting in the army was that the Molly Maguires (violent proto-Union coalminers) threatened him. A few pages later, the author tells you that the Mollies cut off the ears of those they wanted to threaten, but not kill. Later still, he tells you that Heath had part of one ear cut off during his service with the 7th Cavalry. However, he never makes the obvious conclusion that perhaps he lost the ear in a confrontation with the Mollies as opposed to a fight with the Sioux.

I think, from the available evidence presented by the author, that it's equally likely that Heath fled home after one of the Mollies cut his ear off, and that somehow someone else from the area took his name for some reason and used it when they entered the army. This would account for him learning to read, and explain how he could reappear after being killed at the Little Bighorn. He simply wasn't there. One thing the author doesn't explain at all: after the battle, Heath supposedly was found and nursed back to health by a family of settlers, and made his way home. The Mollies, in the meanwhile, had been broken up and sent to jail or the gallows. How did Heath, out on the frontier, receive word that it was safe to go home? My suspicion is he was holed up in Philadelphia or New York City, and read about it in the paper.

Another difficulty of the book is that since there's so little evidence, the author feels the need to pad things with extraneous information, to flesh out his story. As a result we get a painfully amateurish history lesson, replete with politically correct silliness and psychohistory. Everything from a half-baked psychoanalysis of Custer to Andrew Carnegie's nickname for John D. Rockefeller is included. Not exactly what I was expecting or looking for.

All in all, this is an interesting theory, but it's far from fully supported by the meager documentation the author has. He only has one photograph of the man (only reproduced on the front cover of the book) and hardly anything else about him is available. This leaves the premise way more thin than it should be for the author to make such a claim with the certainty that he exhibits.

Billy Heath: The Man Who Survived Custer's Last Stand.......2004-02-01

This is a gem of a book that not only relives, but provides new information about the fascinating and horrifying battle of Little Big Horn -- Custer's Last Stand. Contrary to common belief among scholars that no white man survived the battle, this book provides solid evidence that one white man actually did survive -- Billy Heath, the Seventh Calvary's farrier (person responsible for the well being of the company's horses). The author, Vincent J. Genovese, supports this startling claim by providing us with photocopies of birth, army, tax, and funeral records. Genovese also enlivens the text with photographs of the key participants (both White and Native American), and important locations. The background information makes interesting and exciting reading -- the harsh life of making a living in the coal mines of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania; the Molly Maguire episode; the biography of George Custer; the balanced presentation of the plight of the Indians; the shocking battle of Little Big Horn itself; and the daring, but necessarily hypothetical, means of escape by Billy Heath. I think this book provides lively and fast-paced reading for the general public and provides ample groundwork for scholars.

Mystery is an Integral Part of the Battle of the Little Bigh.......2003-09-24

I don't know if Billy Heath survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn, but as a student of the battle and of Custer, I enjoy considering the "what ifs" of history. For a long time History (with a capital H) was only about the great, a contradiction to the principles of our democratic society. Now we have in addition the recuperation of the lives of others, such as the enlisted man Billy Heath. I find his life as a nineteenth-century working man fascinating, above and beyond whatever role he may have played on June 25, 1876. As for the negative portrait of Custer, this is more in keeping with the view of a 7th cavalry enlisted man than a privileged officer (or reader!). See for comparison Private Theodore Ewert's sour view of the Black Hills expedition. Many historians have put stock in the oral tradition of Native American accounts of the battle--why not in the oral tradition of a soldier's family? The detail that William Heath was unmarried can be just as inaccurate as his name being erroneously placed on the battlefield monument. Information about enlisted men is notoriously slippery. As for Frank Finkel and other fraudulent "sole survivors," they have already been written about by others. This is Billy Heath's story, as reconstructed by a determined and intrepid researcher. Was Heath in reality a deserter? History never gives us all the information we want, and that's its challenge.

Argument not supported.......2003-09-15

Ever since Custer's debacle at Little Big Horn numerous stories about survivors have popped up. This is another one of those stories. While on the surface this book may seem compelling, the author's argument is not. The author's lack of notation and sources creates numerous problems for serious historians. A glimpse through the slightly less than two page bibliography reveals that the author, who identifies himself as "an amateur historian," has not done exhaustive primary research. The sources that he lists are generally secondary and there is a sprinkling of published primary sources.

The authors lack of documentation also does not bode well for this book in academic circles. Suggesting that Heath was the sole survivor and not providing one footnote is a poor methodological practice.

In all this book offers nothing more than another "survivor story." This book is of no great historical significance because nothing is substantiated.

Comments on Billy Health - Suvivor of Little Big Horn.......2003-09-02

Although not an historian of the Battle of Little Bighorn, the author does offer compelling evidence that there was a survivor. In addition, the book provides interesting information on the Pa. coal region, Custer, Little Bighorn, etc. The information appears to have been thoroughly researched and well written. It's very evident that the writer believes that Billy Heath is, in fact, the sole suvivor of the Battle of Little Bighorn.

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