Customer Reviews:
Could be so much better..........2007-01-23
I was disappointed with the book. Although the book is well done, good quality and big pictures, the photos were just "nice".
I expected more.
There were a few beautiful images, but none "jaw dropping", and in general, I think they had no poetry, no soul.
To me it seemed like an average person photographing from a helicopter (= scared animals), not a true artist capturing the magic of Africa.
I was even bored half way through. I recommend checking it out at your local bookstore before ordering it through Amazon, to make sure you're getting what you expect.
Nick Brandt's book, despite very different in style, causes much more emotion.
Somewhat Disappointing.......2006-11-14
Having spent time in Africa, I was expecting really spectacular photos, given the promos I had seen and read. My anticipation wasn't rewarded, however. Unique vantagepoints, but compositions could be better, and there is no text to help compensate.
A Great book of Africa & Photography.......2006-02-26
This is a coffee table book that you will be drawn to many times-not just the first time. The photography is of course beautiful, and the selection is diverse. I love it.
Mike
Gorgeous Images; Great Gift Item.......2005-12-26
I saw Bobby Haas at the National Geographic this fall as he presented these images and launched their exhibition of his work. The images are truly astounding. The landscape and wildlife of Africa have often been captured through gorgeous photography, but I've never seen anything like this. Haas's aerial photography really shows us this remarkable part of the world from a whole new angle. He was a great lecturer, too, very enthusiastic and filled with exciting tales of his adventures. The book is beautiful and it made a great Christmas gift for my parents, who have traveled extensively in Africa and loved seeing places they had visited in such a new way.
The images are unique!.......2005-10-30
This book was just a feature on The Sunday Morning Show. The views of Africa that this man has captured from a helicoper are very moving. I not only want to own this book I wish I could go to Washington DC and see the exhibit of the original photographs. An exhibition of Robert Haas's photographs can be viewed in National Geographic's M Street Building, October 25, 2005, to January 25, 2006. But if that is not possible buy the book.
Average customer rating:
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Masters of the Ninth Art: Bandes dessinees and Franco-Belgian Identity (Liverpool University Press - Contemporary French & Francophone Cultures)
Matthew Screech
Manufacturer: Liverpool University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Cartooning
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ASIN: 085323938X |
Book Description
In English-speaking countries, Francophone comic strips like Herg[5]es's Les Aventures de Tin Tin and Goscinny and Uderzo's Les Aventures d'Asterix are viewed--and marketed--as children's literature. But in Belgium and France, their respective countries of origin, such strips--known as bandes dessinées--are considered a genuine art form, or, more specifically, "the ninth art." But what accounts for the drastic difference in the way such comics are received?
In Masters of the Ninth Art, Matthew Screech explores that difference in the reception and reputation of bandes dessinées. Along with in-depth looks at Tin Tin and Asterix, Screech considers other major comics artists such as Jacque Tardi, Jean Giraud, and Moebius, assessing in the process their role in Francophone literary and artistic culture.
Illustrated with images from the artists discussed, Masters of the Ninth Art will appeal to students of European popular culture, literature, and graphic art.
Average customer rating:
- Collection of critical essays
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The Francophone Bande Dessinée (Faux Titre 265) (Faux Titre)
Manufacturer: Rodopi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Comic Strips
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ASIN: 9042017767
Release Date: 2005-07-01 |
Product Description
Known as Frances Ninth Art, the bande dessinée has a status far surpassing that of the equivalent English-language comic strip. This publication, one of the first predominantly in English on the subject, provides a thorough introduction to questions of BD history, context and bibliography. Theoretical issues including the reception of the early proto-BD prior to its modern definition, approaches to the construction of a BD (presented here in BD form by leading artist Tanitoc), semiology and the reading of the current form, or the specificity of the French/US (non)overlap complement historical approaches, such as Bécassine read in the light of postcolonialism, Le Corbusier and BD techniques in architecture, post-war BD and nostalgia for the Resistance, or Pilote and the 1960s revolution. And whilst broaching issues such as feminism or masculinity, social class, AIDS, exoticism or futurism, the volume presents chapters on some of the cutting-edge artists in the field today: Baru, Moebius, Juillard, Binet, Bilal
This book supplies an introduction to the BD that will be of use to students and researchers at all levels. In addition, the format of the individual case studies provides in-depth analysis allowing the reader to grasp specific examples in terms both of their place vis-a-vis the evolution of the BD and, more generally, of the wider role they play within French and Francophone cultural studies.
Customer Reviews:
Collection of critical essays.......2006-04-29
Purchased book believing it would provide survey history of topic. Book is actually an anthology of scholarly essays, some more penetrable than others, all academic in tone. My misapprehension of the book's content and subsequent disappointment with my purchase does not impinge upon my judgment of the book when I say that it is uneven, and the graphic materials are extremely poorly reprinted. More information on the book would have been helpful.
Average customer rating:
- funny, but short & expensive
- Be Careful!
- When I must laugh or else I will cry...
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Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim, and Other Flubs from the Nation's Press
Columbia Journal
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Cats, Dogs & Animals
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ASIN: 0385158289
Release Date: 1980-07-22 |
Customer Reviews:
funny, but short & expensive.......2007-01-26
This is indeed a cute book. It would be a good asset for an English teacher to show what happens when modifiers are left dangling and punctuation is missing and so forth. But it seems expensive for what you get. The book is physically small (8" by 4") and a little over 100 pages. I'd estimate it has about 200+ bloopers. We all flipped through it, had a good laugh, and were done with it on the day we got it. There are websites with as many bloopers (English teachers on a budget - look there first). This book does have the advantage that some of the bloopers are accompanied by pictures.
Be Careful!.......2002-03-26
You could hurt yourself laughing! I recommend NOT reading it in a public space as people are sure to think you've gone over the edge. The only thing wrong with it is that it's nearly two decades old. Where are the bloopers from the 80s till now?
When I must laugh or else I will cry..........2000-08-01
This is a wonderful book, especially for reading aloud. The headlines and other excerpts are works of deathless prose or unintended double-entendres which were *actually printed* by newspapers around the country. Watch for your home town newspaper -- perhaps someone you know thought up the headline "Milk Drinkers Turn to Powder." Well worth the investment.
Average customer rating:
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The White Rectangle: Writings on Film
Kazimir Severinovich Malevich
Manufacturer: Potemkinpress
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 3980498972 |
Book Description
What did Kazimir Malevich (1878 - 1935), the proponent of pure abstraction in painting, have to do with film, that mechanical repository of everything that is banal and worthless? It was only in 1924 that Malevich described film as a system that fixed reality beyond the cultural idea. Nonetheless, between 1925 and 1929, he wrote several articles on film as well as a script.
These texts, by the man who created the 'black square', which are assembled in this volume and translated into English for the first time, lead us to the heart of the debate about movement and acceleration as central metaphors for modernity in the international avant-garde. His contradictory reflections on this new medium document the friction between the metaphysical program of Suprematist abstraction and the mediatic attributes of film.
Malevich arranges the melodramas of Mary Pickford, the comedies of Monty Banks, the films of Sergei Eisenstein, Dziga Vertov, Walter Ruttmann, and Yakov Protazanov within his historical model of the rise of Modernism from Cezanne through Cubism and Futurism, to Suprematism. In this process, almost all of his essays deal with the `missed encounter' between film and art, because Malevich perceives film as the perfected form, not of Naturalism but of the principles of the new painting - dynamism and abstraction.
Average customer rating:
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Malevich and Film
Margarita Tupitsyn
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Malevich, Kazimir
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ASIN: 0300094590 |
Book Description
Russian painter Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935), unlike other prominent Soviet artists, has not often been considered in discussions of the contributions of the avant-garde to photography and film. Yet a close examination of theoretical and practical aspects of Malevich's oeuvre not only places him fully in the Soviet post-abstract discourse on these media but also, as Margarita Tupitsyn argues in this engaging book, alters the accepted view of his post-Suprematist period. Exploring Malevich's involvement with film for the first time, Tupitsyn draws on little known writings about cinema by the artist himself, newly accessible works, and many previously unpublished photographs and documents. Malevich's influence on twentieth-century art extends far more widely than has been claimed for him before, the author concludes. The book begins with a reevaluation of Malevich's most famous painting, Black Square, a work whose meaning and function was in constant flux. Through Black Square Malevich began to cross the bridge from the painting medium to mechanically generated production, ultimately influencing the postrevolutionary phase of his Suprematism and leading to his abandonment of abstraction in the late 1920s. Tupitsyn discusses in detail Malevich's writing about the cinema, the cinematic qualities of some of his works, the work of other contemporary artists with bonds to cinematography, and the significant impact of Malevich's thought and work on Russian, European, and American artists of the 1920s and 1930s as well as the postwar period.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Parachute: Contemporary Art Magazine, published by Parachute Contemporary Art on July 1, 2003. The length of the article is 450 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: Malevich and Film. (Ouvrages Theoriques).
Author: Elitza Dulguerova
Publication:
Parachute: Contemporary Art Magazine (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2003
Publisher: Parachute Contemporary Art
Issue: 111
Page: 163(2)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Cineaste, published by Cineaste Publishers, Inc. on June 22, 2004. The length of the article is 2923 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: Malevich and Film.(Book Review)
Author: Stuart Liebman
Publication:
Cineaste (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2004
Publisher: Cineaste Publishers, Inc.
Volume: 29
Issue: 3
Page: 60(4)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
- Classic book that every guitatist should own!
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Chet Atkins Note-For-Note
Chet Atkins
Manufacturer: Music Sales Corp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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ASIN: 0825695104 |
Customer Reviews:
Classic book that every guitatist should own!.......2007-01-19
Since there's no detailed product description above, I thought customers might enjoy this excerpt from Guitarist's Forum at gfmusic. (Used with permission.) . . . features 9 note-for-note transcriptions from the Grammy-winning CD "Chet Goes to the Movies." Includes detailed performance notes and chord diagrams for each tune, plus a section on Chet's artificial harmonic technique. Arranger and Atkins colleague John Knowles personally transcribed and edited the book to insure its accuracy. Important note: This book features Music Notation only--TAB is NOT included. Beautiful Guitar arrangements of the following: (Somewhere) Over The Rainbow / Charade / The Entertainer (from The Sting) / Solace (from The Sting) / A Man And A Woman / Emily / Everybody's Talkin' / Somewhere My Love / The Looney Tunes Theme. (Standard Music Notation only--TAB is not included.)
Chet fans should also check Chet Atkins - Solo Sessions for Chet's final, and best CD.
Book Description
This classic work from the 1870s contains the proceedings of the Second, Third, and Fourth American Chess Congresses: Cleveland 1871, Chicago 1874, and Philadelphia 1876. Included are the presented papers as well as the grand tournament games.
Book Description
The toy industry is a 30 billion dollar-a-year business. It's also the last frontier for aspiring independent inventors, with an annual new product turnover of 60 percent and plenty of opportunities for the creative mind. Here, one of the most recognized and successful toy and game inventors in the business teams up with the former head of research and development at Hasbro to bring clear, comprehensive information to aspiring toy and game inventors...who just might bring us the next hula hoop!
Customer Reviews:
The Toy and Game Inventor's Handbook.......2007-01-29
I was very dissappointed in this book. It seemed the author's intent was to discourage any competition in his market. Other books like The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cashing in On Your Inventions and The Inventor's Bible: How to Market and License Your Brilliant Ideas were much much better.
a realistic overview of the business.......2003-11-20
Being a game inventor for over 25 years, I felt like I was reading my biography as I read this book. It is totally honest about the chances of selling a game to a game company (I don't do toys). However, it is also valid as it relates the stories of inventors regarding the satisfaction and passion the we derive from the creative process. It is well written and enjoyable to read.
A MUST HAVE!!!.......2003-10-20
The authors take you into the innermost sanctum of the toy industry through colorful, informative interviews that span dozens of subject areas. The toy industry at its rip-roaring, zany, zappy best. All other books I have read about licensing concepts to toy companies pale when compared to this work. This is the book of record.
Joel, Danbury, CT
Increase Your Confidence.......2003-10-02
The Toy and Game Inventor's Handbook gave me instant erudition about the arcane world of marketing and licensing inventions. Thanks to this book I have more poise, confidence and a sense of security when I approach potential licensees.
Before you buy this book, get a few highlighters because you will want to mark all the gems of knowledge the authors unselfishly share with readers.
Roz
Harrisburg, PA
Fantastic Book.......2003-09-20
I wouldn't call myself an inventor by any stretch of imagination but I did come up with a new toy idea that has become a big hit via word of mouth. I wanted to submit it to some toy companies for review and had no idea how to do so. I purchased this book looking for direction on how to submit ideas, look for patent information, industry contacts, etc. This book offers it all. It has been a great resource for getting me started in some sort of direction and the amazing thing is one of the authors gives you his email address and was very responsive to my questions.
Customer Reviews:
the best of Mormon history.......2007-07-23
David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism is not a biography of David O. McKay. Rather it is a modern history of the church that he led as prophet and chief executive from 1951 to 1970. As such, the book is remarkable for its scope, honesty, even-handedness, and accessibility. It comprehensively explains the complete range of organization, societal, and doctrinal issues addressed by the church during the middle years of the twentieth century.
The book is based primarily on an exhaustive documentary archive maintained by Claire Middlemiss, who was President McKay's personal secretary from 1935 until 1970. The book's authors, Robert Wright and Gregory Prince, have augmented that record with other unique historical documents and candid interviews from contemporaneous church leaders. The result is an exceptionally satisfying and intimate description of the church and its leadership that is at once true to the prophet's vision and faithful to the ideals of historical truth.
The book provided me with many insights into events and persons that I recall from childhood. The authors carefully let the personalities of the prophet and his associates speak for themselves, their weaknesses as well as their remarkable strengths and virtues.
My only (very minor) criticism is that the authors make the common mistake of uncritically assuming that the Mormon church somehow promoted Republican dominance of Utah. From my experience as a Utah Democrat, it is clear that starting in the 60's that party simply abandoned the Inter-mountain West.
Unprecedented View of Inspired Leadership.......2007-07-19
It is difficult to add further information about this book, given the in-depth reviews by others. But perhaps there are a couple points not yet made.
McKay was a man with great personal magnetism and probably the most charismatic LDS leader since Joseph Smith. McKay's personal magnetism is evidenced by his relationship with Lyndon Johnson, who was the President of the United States during McKay's tenure. Johnson sought McKay's advice and comfort more than once during difficult times. Other great men viewed McKay as a personal friend: He left people with a desire for more interaction. Faithful LDS believe that the Holy Spirit accompanies their leaders and this book shows that McKay was full to overflowing with that spirit.
Prince and Wright offer clues to the source of McKay's personal magnetism. McKay was an optimist, especially when it came to human nature. He reflected and amplified the best charcteristics of everyone with whom he dealt. Importantly, McKay viewed his calling as a personal ministry rather than a fiduciary obligation.
Most readers will gain an appreciation of McKay's genious for leadership. It is not heretical to LDS doctrine to state that the Prophets and Apolstles are not infallible. Therefore it should not be surprising that these individuals and Quoroms are not always unified, and that there is sometimes great (but very civil) controversy. McKay yoked the top Quorums of the church together, and the result was explosive growth in church membership. These were not easy men to yoke. Think of Ezra Taft Benson and Bruce R. McKonkie, for example. The disagreements are chronicled, as is the gentle and effective leadership of David O. McKay.
One reviewer commented on the "gossipy" tone of this book. The diary of Claire Middlemiss, McKay's long-time executive assistant, is the source for most of the detailed information in these pages. Her diary is an invaluable (and new) resource. If this means the book has a gossipy tone, so be it -- we should have more such "gossipy" information about Great Men and their times!
Maybe the best book on 20th century Mormonism.......2007-06-14
This book is extraordinarily enlightening, especially for Mormons. Many of the stories and issues presented in this book are vaguely familiar to church members, but full and accurate information is not readily available. (Often, this is because the full history of these issues--i.e. correlation, missionary expansion, the priesthood ban, opposition to communism, etc.--bring a lot of the *human* struggles and weaknesses of church leaders to light.) This book gives us the information in a flood. It draws on the extremely valuable and hitherto untapped resource of the 130,000 pages (!) of biographical documents on McKay assembled by his long-time personal secretary, Clare Middlemass. A book like this simply could not be written about any other Mormon prophet, because none has had such a meticulous record maintained about his life.
This book does give us a lot of insight into the human--and often less than harmonious--inner workings of the Mormon hierarchy. Nevertheless, it is a far cry from being a critical portrait. Prince and Wright clearly admire David O. McKay immensely, and it is almost impossible for the reader to disagree. He was simply remarkable, especially when considered from the perspective of his own day. Without question, McKay was instrumental in creating a global religion and changing the image of the church.
I felt that the "prize" chapters in the book were the one on blacks & the priesthood, and the one on the reaction to communism (i.e. the Ezra Taft Benson chapter). In some ways the most disturbing chapters, they also gave the most complete historical pictures. The best compliment I can offer Prince as a historian is that he helps us get past our own facile prejudices when viewing church leaders as they struggle with touchy issues like civil rights and the priesthood ban. Were the church leaders of the mid 20th century racist? In many cases, yes--which is hardly exceptional. But somehow the "racism" of today is not the "racism" of the 1950s (especially in all-white Salt Lake City). I think it is simply absurd to lump the Mormon leaders under the same heading as the Ku Klux Klan. The real problem wasn't racial animosity, but rather the dry matter of scriptural exegesis. Based on certain scriptural passages (really just one passage) and a vague tradition inherited from the 19th century, many church leaders felt the curse of Cain prohibited blacks from holding the priesthood. They did not want to disregard scripture for merely political reasons. Many leaders and members were very uncomfortable with this, however, and almost none more than McKay. (Hugh B. Brown was the most progressive.) Moral expediency gradually took the upper hand and paved the way for President Kimball's 1978 revelation lifting the priesthood ban. McKay's biographers give us an insider's view of this religious drama, and help us to sympathize at least as much as we criticize.
Next to Bushman's and Brodie's Joseph Smith biographies, I think this is the most meaningful and informative book on Mormon history that I have encountered. I highly recommend it.
Majestic subject, Gossipy presentation.......2007-03-28
David O McKay was the Prophet of the LDS church in the 1950's and 1960's. As I read the opening chapters of this book, I was inspired and informed. Then something happened to the book. Instead of covering what David O McKay thought and did, the book began to be second- and third-hand accounts of what others thought about what David O McKay thought and did. Given that the authors had un-paralleled access to the material that McKay's longtime secretary, Clare Middlemiss, collected, there is no excuse for this.
Two authors are listed on the book. However, that is really a simplification of the facts. One author, William Robert Wright, is a nephew of David O McKay's longtime personal secretary, Clare Middlemiss. Ms. Middlemiss was privy to just about everything that went on with McKay and she amassed 215 volumes of scrapbooks covering McKay. She always planned on writing a biography, but age and health prevented her. She did encourage her nephew to use these materials to produce a work on President McKay, however. So I am puzzled why so much of this book is based on other materials. Wright eventually teamed up with an acquaintance, Gregory Prince, and he is the actual writer of the book.
The two authors spent years gathering other material. Perhaps the most frequently used source of events in the book are second- or third hand accounts gained from interviews from participants in the decades old events being discussed. The authors did quote McKay's "diaries" fairly often (kept by Middlemiss), but there are very few footnotes to the other materials. Since the authors rely so much on 20 or 30 year old memories, I find it unpardonable that there is very little in the book about what Middlemiss herself said about events of which she was a witness.
I was puzzled by this purposeful exclusion of the person and materials most likely to know the truth about the discussed events until I got several chapters into the book. Then it became clear that Middlemiss was a conservative John Bircher and the authors are not, so they could not include her thoughts on matters because they would contradict the author's thoughts. I began to notice false and misleading statements included as if they were fact. Things like quoting some disaffected member thinking that a First Presidency letter (First Presidency is the current prophet and 2 counselors) was really the product of only one of the Presidency members - even though there was absolutely no evidence of such a claim and all 3 members signed the letter. The implication being that although the letter explicitly stated one thing, the disaffected party could then pretend imaginary support for some favorite political belief. Then a slur against the John Birch Society calling it racist and referring to a future chapter as justification. When I read that chapter, there was no justification - only the author's unsupported opinion.
Then it got even worse. The author would twist and miscontrue statements and events to suppport a favorite authority and denigrate another less-favored authority. Less favored authorities included the likes of future Prophet Ezra Taft Benson and First Counselor to three Presidents J. Reuben Clark. The authors would throw in unsupported statements like Ernest L. Wilkinson, BYU President and McKay confidante, was responsible for "the curtailment of academic freedom". When an event could be looked at in several ways, the authors almost always chose the meanest and most sordid explanation. For example, they start chapter 5 by saying "Latter-day Saints have a long history of not getting along with others." That is the equivalent of saying "Jews have a long history of not getting along with Nazi's". These kind of statements have no place in a history book.
Since the book began to be so clearly edited in a manner to cast aspersion on certain prominent church leaders whose political beliefs differed from the authors, I then discovered the editor was none other than ex-communicated apostate Lavina Fielding Anderson and it all became clear. Poor Ms. Middlemiss must be rolling over in her grave.
So I cannot recommend this book because of its pervasive bias and exclusion of more complimentary interpretations of events even when the evidence gives more support to the complimentary explanation. The tiring bashing of President Ezra Taft Benson, J. Reuben Clark and others becomes so obviously twisted and biased, that any good that might be in this exhaustively compiled collection is covered up by the insidious and purposeful denigration of any person or idea in opposition to the authors and (presumably) the apostate editor.
And absolutely and unforgiveably the worst thing this book does is leave out almost any mention of the spiritual greatness of David O McKay. There is almost no mention or quote from any of his numerous sermons. There is almost no testimony. There is almost no account of his personal ministrations to so many in the church. What the authors and editor seem to have done is tried to give a profane history of largely spiritual events and doing so is both intellectually dishonest and historically inaccurate. How, oh how in the world did you guys manage to take a grand subject like David O McKay and leave me with a bitter taste in my mouth and burning in my gut with shame over what you wrote? I recognize that the authors are smart and rich and educated and have been mission Presidents and the like. And I realize this book won a major prize from some organization or other. I, on the other hand, am none of these things and have no credentials or relatives or friends in high positions. So feel free to ignore my review, but if you will read this book and remember what I have said, I think you will end up agreeing with me. Give this book with so much potential a miss.
Fascinating, compelling history dealing drawing on novel sources and illuminating essential episodes in LDS history.......2006-09-06
This volume ranks among the most insightful works on the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that I have encountered. Prince and Wright, the authors, are both active members of the LDS Church, but they subscribe to B. H. Roberts' belief that "the only way [to be historically exact and not to destroy faith] is to frankly state events as they occurred...being confident that in the sum of things justice will follow truth." They draw on thousands of pages of novel material: David O. McKay's diaries, extensive scrapbooks kept by his secretary, and hundreds of interviews. (I was surprised to encounter an extensive quote from my own grandfather, who worked with David O. McKay concerning LDS financial issues.)
This is not a biography of David O. McKay, but rather a history of the LDS Church during the time that McKay was involved in the leadership (mostly the 1940s, 50s, and 60s) with a focus on his role. As a result, we learn little about McKay's early life, except as it directly impacted his future leadership of the Church.
The authors begin with powerful spiritual tales from the time that McKay was President of the LDS Church. They go on to elucidate key episodes in LDS history: the preparation for extending priesthood privileges to black members of the Church; how the Church dealt with controversial internal voices (such as Fawn Brodie and Juanita Brooks); the internal and external controversy incited by Bruce McConkie's publication of Mormon Doctrine and Joseph Fielding Smith's publication of Man, His Origin and Destiny; and Ezra Taft Benson's strong public anti-communist stance and association with the John Birch Society.
Prince and Wright seek to honestly portray the dynamics within the Church leadership, and sometimes the picture is not a fairy tale: these are strong personalities with strong views. But an honest view of this leadership will let Church members appreciate their prophets and apostles as exactly what they are: mortals called to do divine work, not perfect people.
This book is endlessly fascinating and eminently easy to read. It won the Mormon History Association's Best Biography award for 2006. For a thoughtful and thorough review of this book, read Julie Smith's post at the Times and Seasons blog from 14 May 2005. Finally, another excellent book that yields similar insights into Church leadership during the same period is Hugh B. Brown's memoir, An Abundant Life (edited by Edwin Firmage).
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Church History, published by Thomson Gale on September 1, 2006. The length of the article is 870 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: David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism.(Book review)
Author: Randi Jones Walker
Publication:
Church History (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 75
Issue: 3
Page: 698(2)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
A Confederate artillery officer, William Thomas Poague fought in General “Stonewall” Jackson’s campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley and at Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, and elsewhere. After Jackson’s death, Poague remained in the Army of Northern Virginia. Gunner with Stonewall sheds light on a neglected aspect of the Civil War, the role of the artillery in combat.
Customer Reviews:
Acerbic and interesting first-person memoir.......2001-03-06
Poague reminds me of Porter Alexander in his occasionally acerbic tone and his willingness to tell it like he thinks it is with regards to generals and their foibles. Maybe it's an artillery thing. Also like Alexander, he's refreshingly bloodthirsty -- no Gordon-esque blandishments about chivalry here. His account of the death of Federal Gen. Kearny contrasts interestingly with other accounts I've read, and his description of the surrender at Appomattox is particularly evocative.
Gunner With Stonewall.......2000-07-10
Gunner With Stonewall is a typical and valuable first hand account of life in wartime. Filled with intersting atecdotes and personal details, it is closer in perspective to Henry Kyd Douglas' "I Rode With Stonewall" than Foote's or Catton's histories on the same period. This lends and air of timelessness and similarity with WWII- and Vietnam-era first -hand accounts. Written many years after the fact, the book contains some minor innaccuracies ultimately clarified by the Editor. All in all, considering the dirth of books about Confederate Army Artillery, it is a good read that diserves a place on the historian's bookshelf.
Book Description
Detectives work the streets--an arena of action, vice, lust, greed, aggression, and violence--to gather shards of information about who did what to whom. They also work the cumbersome machinery of the justice system--semi-military police hierarchies with their endless jockeying for prestige, procedure-driven district attorney offices, and backlogged courts--transforming hard-won street knowledge into public narratives of responsibility for crime. Street Stories, based on years of fieldwork with the New York City Police Department and the District Attorney of New York, examines the moral ambiguities of the detectives' world as they shuttle between the streets and a bureaucratic behemoth.
In piecing together street stories to solve intriguing puzzles of agency and motive, detectives crisscross the checkerboard of urban life. Their interactions in social strata high and low foster cosmopolitan habits of mind and easy conversational skills. And they become incomparable storytellers. This book brims with the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction violence of the underworld and tells about a justice apparatus that splinters knowledge, reduces life-and-death issues to arcane hair-splitting, and makes rationality a bedfellow of absurdity.
Detectives' stories lay bare their occupational consciousness--the cunning and trickery of their investigative craft, their self-images, moral rules-in-use, and judgments about the players in their world--as well as their personal ambitions, sensibilities, resentments, hopes, and fears. When detectives do make cases, they take satisfaction in removing predators from the streets and helping to ensure public safety. But their stories also illuminate dark corners of a troubled social order.
Customer Reviews:
The Forest and The Trees.......2005-09-07
This is an impressive book. By and large I've found books about police are written in a positive but unintellectual style. The authors retell the stories as told by the officers but don't add much in the telling. Jackall essentializes the stories in a style that in itself would make him a good storyteller but goes a step farther. He weaves these stories into a historical background of the police departments and the culture in which the detectives exist. As a result, Jackall smoothly shifts between well told close-ups of particular characters, and fascinating wide angle views of the history and organizational culture the subjects function within.
Average customer rating:
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The Black Robin: Saving the World's Most Endangered Bird
David Butler , and
Don Merton
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Conservation
| Environment
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Conservation
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Endangered Species
| Conservation
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Birdwatching
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Ornithology
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0195582608 |
Book Description
This book tells the story of the rare Chatham Island black robin. It will inspire all those concerned with the conservation of endangered species and demonstrates that recovery is possible even in the most extreme cases. In fact, the black robin was nearly extinct--reduced to one surviving
breeding pair--when the program described here was put into effect. The innovative techniques used by the team responsible for this effort are described in detail and will allow wildlife biologists around the world to adopt similar strategies suited to their own needs. One of the book's co-authors
led the black robin program, and the other was one of the scientists on the team. Written in a lively, nontechnical manner, this book will be of interest to a wide range of conservationists, wildlife biologists, and general readers.
Customer Reviews:
Don Merton is a hero!!.......2004-02-19
This is a wonderful book. It's the story of the Black Robin and how they were saved. There were only 5 left, and only one was a female. She was already older than breeding age. Don and his crew moved them to predator free Chatham Island. Old Blue (the female Black Robin) suddenly changed mates and started laying eggs. Don had the idea that if he took the young chicks to be fostered by another species, she might lay more eggs. It worked and now there are over 100 Black Robins. I know Don personally, but even if I didn't, he would be a hero to me. Don also saved the Kakapo, the world's largest parrot by weight, and one of the most endangered. He's a genius when it comes to birds, and very humble about it. There must be a special place in Heaven for people like Don Merton.
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