The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book

Amazon.com

Robert Crumb, world-famous illustrator and definite pervert, got his start in the underground comics scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book is a collection of his best work from the last 50 years (it's got kids stuff, too, which is pretty fascinating). The volume is a welcome reminder that, screwed up as Crumb may be, he's also a tremendously talented, utterly original artist. He artistically embodies a certain segment of the '60s, and as that fades even further into history, Crumb's material becomes more important. Is The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book funny? Yes, certainly, in a coarse, Rabelaisian way; you'll either find it a hoot, or horribly racist and sexist. And it's not for the kiddies, obviously. But R. Crumb is so well known by now, that you probably know which group you fall into, the lovers or the haters. The lovers will find this book a wonderful treat.

Customer Reviews:

Ultimate Crumb.......2007-09-12

This book is the ultimate Crumb. You won't be disappointed if you love his work.

I wish I bought this a long time ago.......2006-08-23

I had always avoided this book because the title lead me to believe it was just an art book that didn't have any of Crumb's comics in it. Then I finally realized it's a huge book mostly made up of Crumb's comics with some first rate sketchbook drawings and even sketchbook comics, some of which are just as entertaining as his published comics. In addition to this, it's split up into chapters and each chapter features an introduction by Crumb where he pretty much narrates his own life. They did a really good job selecting which comics to put in here. They steered clear of printing a lot of Crumb's earliest (pre-68) stuff and printed a lot of his later work (late 70s-mid 90s),which are not only Crumb's best comics, but some of the best comics ever made, IMO. And thankfully, they hardly printed any of his Fritz the Cat stuff, which might be some of his most well known work, but deifinitely his weakest. I should also mention that a lot of the comics have been colored for this book. I thought that the coloring would look really bad, but I think it actually looks really good and adds to the comics.

Anyway, if you're like me and you like Crumb, but you're not really sure which one of his books to pick up, get this one.

Good to the last Crumb.......2005-07-06

The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book enjoys exclusive honors on my coffee table; except when my Pastor comes to call, or other easily offended folk. Thumbing through this is as close to time travel as I will ever come. It took me back years ago when I enjoyed Zap and other underground comics. My hardbound edition is truly a first class quality volumn. Which is good because friends who never enjoyed Crumb's hilarious cartoons before; can't put it down.
Eric von Rhein
Peoria, Illinois

If you're an idiot, don't buy this book!!!.......2003-11-05

Don't blame R. Crumb for ruining your pitiful childhood. If you must watch Clint Eastwood movies to prove to your friends that you're a "real man" then, I think you need some help.
You're supposed to laugh at Crumb and at Crumb's work and Crumb knows it! Don't "real men" (read idiots) like to laugh at other people? Not all humor is apreciated by everyone, especially if you're and nit-wit and don't get it.
Crumb is a premier artist who's drawings are the best in the genre. His stories are fables to learn from - or laugh at depending on you're perception and experience.
Most people who buy Crumb's books already know what they're getting into. If you're a first time Crumb buyer, go to a comic book store and check out what you're getting into before you buy.
Anyone who buys online either enjoys taking chances or has researched the product before they buy.... or you may just be an idiot!!!
A great book for any Crumb fan!!!

The Amazing Id Of Robert Crumb.......2002-09-13

There's an illustration on the back cover of The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book that perfectly encapsulates the artist's work - it depicts the top of Robert's head exploding, with several of his creations, famous, infamous, and otherwise, leaping out.

That, to me, sums up Crumb's work - this incredibly inventive artist with, to paraphrase Bob Dylan, a head full of ideas that are drivin' him insane.

There are frequent complaints about Crumb's work being too dark, racist, sexist, and/or misogynistic. While I can see where these criticisms come from, I really don't think Crumb is any darker, more racist, sexist, or misogynistic than any of us - he simply is unafraid to - COMPELLED to, almost - lay his cards on the table. Some people find this offensive. Would it be absurd of me to suggest that some of those who are offended by his work have their own issues with sexism, racism, and/or misogyny that they are unwilling to confront?

What I'm trying to get at here, I guess, is that this IS NOT a book for little kids. There's a sticker on the front of my copy of the book that says "FOR ADULT INTELLECTUALS ONLY!", and while I'm not so sure about the "intellectuals" part, this is probably not a book you want your grade-school age child to get ahold of, unless you're okay with said child seeing depictions of graphic (and I do mean GRAPHIC) sex, hard-core drug use, and extreme (albiet cartoonish) violence.

I realize all I've spent all this space talking about Crumb without ever really discussing what I like about his work. I think there's two main things: (1) his unflinching honesty (as I touched upon earlier), and (2) the incredible beauty of his draftsmanship. I think my favotite chapter in the whole book is the one that features his pen-and-ink still-lifes and landscapes. Just beautiful stuff - worth studying for his use of cross-hatching alone.

In conclusion, if you're at all interested in checking out the work of one of the finest artists to ever work in the comics medium, I highly recommend you get this book. It's easily worth the 25 bucks.

Oh, yeah - and it DOES make a wonderful coffee table book. :)

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THE R. CRUMB COFFEE TABLE ART BOOK - DELUXE LIMITED SIGNED EDITION WITH A COLOR SILKSCREEN PRINT
R.). Crumb, Robert. Edited & Designed By Peter Poplaski (CRUMB
Manufacturer: Kitchen Sink Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OFNTM2

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R. CRUMB COFFEE TABLE ART BOOK.
Peter [editor]. . Poplaski
Manufacturer: Little, Brown & Company.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K6Y762

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R Crumb Coffee Table Art Book Limited Edition
Robert Crumb
Manufacturer: KITCHEN SINK *
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000QBS0ZA

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The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book
Robert Crumb
Manufacturer: Back Bay Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N6713K

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The Little Black Dress: Easel-Back Poster
Amy Holman Edelman
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Fashion | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0684005476

Book Description

In this seventh story in the popular illustrated series, Clefairy thinks it smells victory in the art contest at the fairgrounds. But when the Pokemon Smeargle upstages everyone, Clefairy's friends have to figure out how to help the distraught Pokemon get out of its funk. Next, Almond's trip to the Cave of Slumbers results in his being put to sleep — maybe forever!

Book Description

If you have ever wanted to perform magic tricks but thought it was just for kids this book is for you! Paul Daniels, one of England's greatest magicians, shows adults how they can create their own magic and have as much as fun as a kid.

Soon you'll be impressing your friends with such classic magic tricks as the mysteriously moving handkerchief and the disappearing pen.

Filled with photos and diagrams to help the novice magician, this book makes magic accessible to those who have been reluctant to try it previously.

Customer Reviews:

oh its just the wife ........2002-10-03

Who would have belived it ,that this diminutive magician from ,the large toadstool in county mayo , could write such a stirring novel, of love, ambition, passion, magic and the american way . Apparently any one from 18 to tablet induced slumber,can perform magic tricks ,that will delight your hells angel neighbors for seconds . After only three days with this book, I was confident to perform magic at MADISON SQUARE GARDENS . I now own a large yacht ,have a very young wife , take regular holidays to the seychelles and am developing gout . I recommend you read this book . I did and hey .

A great magic book for those ready to take the next step........1997-12-04

This book is great for the adult who's tired of those magic books that all have the same effects or that make you feel like an idiot when doing them. Paul has put magic into a realm for grown-ups with "Anti-Stress Magic", "Office Magic", Dinner Magic, and much more. Also included are six of the best card tricks you'll find anywhere. These will even stump any magicians you know. Pictures and easy details make this book enjoyable and beneficial. If you have an interest in more than just "kid's" magic books, then this is one for you!

Customer Reviews:

James Stewart is one of the great actors of his era........1998-02-08

In my opinion James Stewart is one of the greatest actors of his era. I love to watch all of his films, Westerns, Family films, Mystery, etc. I read Fishgalls book with great anticipation for I wanted to know all there is to know about James Stewart. After finishing the book I disappointed my expectations were not met. The first part of the book "Part One: Jim" is my favorite section. Fishgall goes into detail about James family live. The book has a family tree dating back to 1742. However the family tree ends with James. I would have been nice for it to include his wife and children. I did enjoy reading about his parents and his life in Indiana Pa. As I read more of the book I realize the book was more of a filmography that it is a personal biography. The Author goes into painful detail about each movie Jim was in, explaining who wrote it, directed it, produced it, stared or costarred in it and what the critics said of the movie. The book was sparse on it treatment of James personal life. What he did when he was not in a movie. His friends, and family. His joys and pains his reactions to the death of his friend Henry Fonda, his wife and his son. In the last chapter "It's Over" it is very apparent that the author did not know what to write about when Jim was not in a move. He reduced over a decade of Jim's life into six pages. There was nothing about his funeral, who attended, where it was held or where he and his wife were buried. I think Stewart sums up the book himself when he said "I'm not a journalist and I don't like the idea of hiring a `ghost' or having a live story written by someone other than the person who lived it." I wish James Stewart had written that book.

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Still Available Online

Excellent Anthology On A True Guitar Legend

Jeff Beck Anthology
Jeff Beck
Manufacturer: Music Sales Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 0825612624

Customer Reviews:

Still Available Online.......2007-06-03

Listen closely to find this online. Go to "tablinks" "blogspot" "com". Readily available for nothing. Was there the last time I looked. Enjoy.

Excellent Anthology On A True Guitar Legend.......2000-04-05

This music book takes an exceptionally good sampling from Beck's 30+ year solo career and presents it in very clear tablature (if you've seen any of Pink Floyd's guitar books - ie; Dark Side Of The Moon; Wish You Were here; etc - the TAB is quite comparable). What pleased me most, however, was the inclusion of several gems I've never seen transcribed anywhere else.

The songs included are: AIR Blower - All Shook Up - Ambitious - Beck's Bolero - Blue Wind - Cause We've Ended As Lovers - El Becko - Freeway Jam - Going Down - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - Guitar Shop - I Ain't Superstitious - Led Boots - Let Me Love You - People Get Ready - Plynth - The Pump - Rice Pudding - Rock My Plimsoul - Situation - Spanish Boots - Star Cycle - Superstition - Where Were You.

I could think of a few more I would've loved to have seen (in particular The Final Peace), but the inclusion of The Pump and Star Cycle alone was well worth the price of the book.

Bottom Line: An absolute must for any guitar playing Beck fan.

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501 Tv-free Party Games For Kids (501 TV-Free Kids)
Penny Warner
Manufacturer: Hinkler Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Games | Sports & Activities | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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Birthday Parties for Kids! Creative Party Ideas Your Kids and Their Friends Will Love

ASIN: 1741218683

Book Description

These books are perfect for parents (and grandparents) who occasionally wonder if the kids are watching too much TV. Even if your children don't watch any TV you will love these books. The ideas are brilliant, and many activities allow a parent to set up the game, and then leave the children to proceed unassisted.

501 Tv-free Activities For Kids (501 TV-Free Kids)

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501 Tv-free Activities For Kids (501 TV-Free Kids)
Penny Warner
Manufacturer: Hinkler Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 174157028X

Book Description

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501 TV-Free Activities for Kids
Di Hodges
Manufacturer: Hinkler Books Pty, Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N8TKFU

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501 TV-free Activities for Kids

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1865152579

Customer Reviews:

Restates Simple but Important Lessons.......2005-11-05

If you're looking for a supervision textbook, this ain't it. If you're looking for an integrated theory of leadership, this ain't it.

But if you'd like to have a simple, little book that will prod you and remind you about actions and attitudes that go into good supervision, then Common Sense Supervision is an excellent choice.

This book is a collection of common sense thoughts about supervision, each paired with a quote. This is not a book to read straight through. It's a book to keep handy and dip into from time to time.

Nothing here is novel. Nothing here is difficult. Nothing here is likely to leave you slapping your forehead at some incredible insight you've never heard before.

But that doesn't mean that the material here isn't important and it doesn't mean you don't need to be reminded of it from time to time. That's what this book is excellent for, reminding you about important things.

If you're in charge of a group and you're the sort of person who benefits from quick review of things you already know are important, then buy this book. It will be worth far more than the cover price. Buy it and dip into it frequently.

On the other hand, if you find yourself feeling insulted when you read something you already know, something that's "common sense," then don't waste your money on this book. Go find something that does give you value.

Not very informative........2005-10-14

This book is appropriately titled. If you have ANY common sense you will not learn anything. There are lots of lists with no elaboration; for instance "25 common mistakes of first time supervisors". There are no comments on actions one should take to avoid them, just a list. The bulleted and list based layout causes most of the pages to be half blank. This book has only about 30 full pages of text. It takes about 25-30 minutes to read cover to cover.

Disappointing.......2004-02-14

If you have any common sense of your own, you don't need this book. Having been supervised yourself should have taught you these basics, such as "Don't criticize superiors" and "Be patient and calm" I also didn't care for the bullet/list style of writing.

Don't think to hard, it only takes a little "Common Sense".......2000-02-29

Common Sense Supervision by Roger V. Fulton is a clear-cut guide for those who have obtained a new supervisory position and/or those who have been in a supervisory position for a short period. I think it is more geared toward the first time supervisor and could be a very useful tool by those who are becoming first time supervisors, whether it be through promotion or direct job placement. Roger V. Fulton has written this book in a clear-cut, no-nonsense style that can be understood by anyone. It touches on many, but not all of the situations that a supervisor may face. The book outlines the major responsibilities of a supervisor and many of the problems they may face with these added responsibilities. It begins by assuring you that you have made strides in the right direction by purchasing the book. The ideas, concepts, and solutions presented in this book are so practical and concise that they can be used immediately to help assist any supervisor be a good or better supervisor than they ever thought they could be. The book also states that its text does not tell you how to handle every situation since every situation, employee, and supervisor is different. I think that is good to let the reader know that this book doesn't have all the answers, which I think no book can do when it comes to dealing with people. The books material really gives you a guide to follow in order to be successful as a supervisor, but it is the individual who must use this guide along with their own common sense to handle each new and challenging situation they may face. The book touches on topics such as your role as a supervisor, getting along with your boss, setting the example for your employees, winning the respect of your employees, winning confidence, and preventing and handling problems in the work environment. The book explains these topics in a common, everyday workplace sense and even gives a brief problem solving method and a decision making process that can be followed by the reader. At times the book seems to be a reassurance for the reader of their abilities to be a successful supervisor. It reads too at times like a confidence builder for someone struggling in the position of supervising or someone unsure of their ability to become a supervisor. I think this book does a great job of providing the reader with a lot of essential information that can be used in everyday situations. It also does a good job of letting the reader know that there is a lot more to being a supervisor than what's contained in its text. The book is merely a start of what it takes to be a successful supervisor, as it states, "experience will be your best teacher and you will be its best student." This book is a great asset for any supervisor, whether it is the new start supervisor looking for success or the already successful supervisor who has forgotten the basics that made them successful in the first place.

A must-read book for anyone in a supervisory position........1999-12-28

This is a very enjoyable book about what it takes to make a good supervisor. With it and it's companion book by the same author, Common Sense Leadership, a person who is new to being in a position of authority, will be able to go into that position with the quotes of great world leaders and thinkers, readily available to meet any situation that arises. Hopefully the book will help the reader avoid costly mistakes and help him or her rise up the leadership ladder.

Product Description

A Year of Absence follows the lives of six women whose husbands, all members of the U.S. Armys First Armored Division based in Germany, deploy to Iraq in April 2003. A young lieutenants wife comes dangerously close to alcoholism. Marriages are pushed to the breaking point by the constant strain of fifteen months apart. Each morning the women anxiously scan the headlines, wondering if they still have a husband, if their children still have a father. Some form friendships that become their lifeline. Others somehow find courage despite their isolation. Through tearful goodbyes, long-awaited communication from the front, and joyful yet troubled reunions, A Year of Absence captures what life is like for many families of deployed soldiers: the ever-present fear of death, the pressures of single-parenthood, and the strength and comfort that come with the support of close friends. Book excerpt Jena was strolling home from walking the dog when she noticed an official U.S. Army car carrying two soldiers in Class A uniforms heading toward her street. She felt her pulse quicken and, without meaning to, she started doing the math. If the soldiers stopped at her building, there was a one-in-twenty-four chance that Adam was dead. If they stopped at her stairwell, it was one-in-eight. Dont come down here, she prayed silently. Please let it be somebody else.

Customer Reviews:

Been there.............2007-09-18

This book describes it exactly as it is! I was at that post in Germany during that deployment and my boyfriend (back then, now he is my husband) was the Rear Detachment Officer. ( named in the book:-)) I read the book as soon as it came out and I could not stop crying. Make sure you have a box of tissues on hand. I am really glad this book was written, that way non military/civilians might be able to understand what it means to be an Army Wife.

Wonderful book!.......2007-04-25

This was such a wonderful and insightful book. The writing was superb and the women's stories were heartfelt and very true to life during a deployment.

This is definitely a must read for anyone with a loved one not only in the Army, but any branch of the military.

Excellent book that portrays true emotions.......2006-11-18

I loved all the similarities and differences of the characters. I could identify with each of them in some way. It was a nice accurate description of the emotions and feelings that go along with a long deployment. This book is truly brilliant and a must read for all wives, as well as husbands and others to help understand what the war is like from back home. I love this book.

The story that has not been told - Until Now!.......2006-10-29

When I went off to the Vietnam War back in 1967, not many of us were career soldiers--most of us were draftees, or just doing our enlistments. We all wanted to get the hell out of the service as fast as we could. We were mostly single men. The vast majority of us did not deploy as a unit but went as individual replacements. For those of us who had spouses and children they would find a world with no support systems in place. These families would become isolated in various parts of the country. I honestly never gave any deep thoughts to what it was like back in the states for those families left behind, or for those who were married with children.

Author Jessica Redmond paints a vivid picture of what was never talked about or seen by most of us old veterans (or the public) in her riveting account of those left behind by their spouses deployed to Iraq. Her book "A Year Of Absence - Six women's stories of courage, hope, and love" was an eye and heart opener for me. She gives us an insider view of what life is like for those family members who have to survive and carry on without their spouses for a year.

Her book is a well written chronicle of the intimate lives of six women left behind on a US Army base in Baumholder, Germany. Her women soon discover how little the government can really do to help them and they soon realize that they have to take care of each other. They face all the normal family issues plus the added stresses of having their loved ones thousands of miles away in a combat zone. Jessica captures the feelings and the emotions and the reality of the life they faced. It is a hard honest look at what their lives were like for one year. You cannot help but be captivated by their stories. I think, as the title implies, these women's stories were about love and courage and so much more.

This book should be required reading for all spouses of military personnel. Military life is not easy in an all volunteer Army (or any of the services) and those marriages that do manage to survive until retirement certainly have something special going for them. This book is a look at how these women handled things and how they felt. It spares us little--all of their emotions are opened up to view; the fears, the depression and even the joy of reunions. It is not an easy life and this book exposes that truth for all to see.

The book itself is very well written and structured so that readers can follow along on this year long journey as if you are a member of the family. One of the best written accounts on the social impact of modern war; a must read book! Given the MWSA HIGHEST RATING - FIVE STARS!

2005 Gold Medal Award for Non-Fiction!

Has mass-market appeal.......2006-05-05

Redmond's book is written with mass-market appeal. With an ensemble cast of six women, it reads almost like a novel. If you are looking for a scholarly narrative approach to the subject, however, be advised to search elsewhere.

Book Description

From his looting of farmhouses during the Gettysburg campaign and robbing of fallen Union soldiers as opportunity allowed to his five arrests for infractions of military discipline and numerous unapproved leaves, John O. Casler's actions during the Civil War made him as much a rogue as a Rebel. Though he was no model soldier, his forthright confessions of his service years in the Army of Northern Virginia stand among the most sought after and cited accounts by a Confederate soldier. First published in 1893 and significantly revised and expanded in 1906, Casler's Four Years in the Stonewall Brigade recounts the truths of camp life, marches, and combat. Moreover, Casler's recollections provide an unapologetic view of the effects of the harsh life in Stonewall's ranks on an average foot soldier and his fellows.

A native of Gainesboro, Virginia, with an inherent wanderlust and thirst for adventure, Casler enlisted in June 1861 in what became Company A, 33rd Virginia Infantry, and participated in major campaigns throughout the conflict, including Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Captured in February 1865, he spent the final months of the war as a prisoner at Fort McHenry, Maryland. His postwar narrative recalls the realities of warfare for the private soldier, the moral ambiguities of thievery and survival at the front, and the deliberate cruelties of capture and imprisonment with the vivid detail, straightforward candor, and irreverent flair for storytelling that have earned Four Years in the Stonewall Brigade its place in the first rank of primary literature of the Confederacy.

This edition features a new introduction by Robert K. Krick chronicling Casler's origins and his careers after the war as a writer and organizer of Confederate veterans groups.

Customer Reviews:

Classic primary source.......2001-03-06

Casler's memoir is a mandatory source for anyone studying the war in the East. Many of the familiar Stonewall Brigade and Valley Campaign anecdotes quoted in secondary sources are found here. Casler spent part of the war detailed as a pioneer, and his description of the work he did, including burying bodies, is interesting. He gives quite a few details on the Valley Campaign, Gettysburg and Spotsylvania. From August 1864, unfortunately, he was unable to march and was not with his company, which in any case was virtually wiped out. He was a prisoner in Fort McHenry toward the end of the war and gives an interesting description of being very badly treated until the Confederate government threatened retaliation, upon which conditions improved. I found it interesting how much time Casler spent *not* with his company, sometimes detailed elsewhere, sometimes apparently AWOL, sometimes participating in presumably non-authorized raids on the Federals with a couple of friends. This shows how little real control the CSA (the USA was probably much the same) had over its individual soldiers, a deficiency which surely did not do them, as the outnumbered side, any good.

Personal and Military experiences of a private soldier........1998-12-24

Although Casler wrote from memory late in life, his text has remarkably few errors of fact. His experiences are truly given without pretense or disguise, and are refreshingly human.

I have read literally hundreds of personal accounts and diaries written by Confederate soldiers, and I rate " Four Years In The Stonewall Brigade " in my personal top five.

This is a must read for anyone who wishes to experience the feel of life in the Confederate army, and to understand how service extracted its price for devotion to the southern belief in states rights.

Casler is whimsical always, and downright hilarious at times.

His devotion to the southern cause was unwavering, literally to the last as he was dubbed " The Last Of The Mohicans " by a Captain in his regiment. This because during the 1864 campaign, Casler was at one time, the only officer or private to be on active duty from his company.

His use of " French Leave " on numerous occasions, I found personally surprising, but as written by Casler became perfectly understandable.

A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Gordon Boyer Lawrence

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Four Years in the Stonewall Brigade

Manufacturer: Morningside Bookshop
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0890291004

Product Description

Edited by James I. Robertson Jr. 362 pp., map, illus., index, printed on acid-free paper, paperback.

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FOUR YEARS IN THE STONEWALL BRIGADE.
John O. Casler; edited by James I. Robertson Jr.
Manufacturer: Dayton: 1971 Moringside Press facsimile reprint.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000SQNPZ8

Four years in the Stonewall brigade: containing the daily experiences of four year's service in the ranks from a diary kept at the time;: A truthful record ... advances, retreats and maneuvers of the army

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Four years in the Stonewall brigade: containing the daily experiences of four year's service in the ranks from a diary kept at the time;: A truthful record ... advances, retreats and maneuvers of the army
John Overton Casler
Manufacturer: Continental bk. co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00085N3H4

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Four Years in the Stonewall Brigade
James Robertson Jr.
Manufacturer: Morningside Bookshop
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OY785M

FOUR YEARS IN THE STONEWALL BRIGADE. New Introduction by Robert K. Krick. American Civil War Classics

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FOUR YEARS IN THE STONEWALL BRIGADE. New Introduction by Robert K. Krick. American Civil War Classics
John O. Casler
Manufacturer: Univ. of South Carolina Press,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PSX2FW

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DRAKULIC AT HER MOST DISAPPOINTING

Biased, but good.

A Human Reaction to Inhuman Times

The Balkan tragedy and the mass murderers on trial

Monsters under the bed

They Would Never Hurt a Fly: War Criminals on Trial in The Hague
Slavenka Drakulic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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The Balkan Express: Fragments from the Other Side of War

ASIN: B000IOEVAI

Book Description

In her novel S., Slavenka DrakulicÂ´ explored the horror of genocide and the lives that were ripped apart during the Bosnian conflict of the early 1990s. Now, in They Would Never Hurt a Fly, she confronts one of the consequences of that warÂ—the prisoners being tried at The Hague for their war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

During that terrible and bloody clash, countless humans were tortured, raped, and murderedÂ—unspeakable acts committed in the name of Â“ethnic cleansingÂ” and all authorized by the government. DrakulicÂ´ introduces readers to the accusedÂ—from the infamous to the unknown to the unquestionably guilty, including former Serbian president Slobodan MilosevicÂ´Â—seeking to understand the people behind the horrific crimes. She asserts that the trials are important not just because of the dead, but also because of the living. Â“In the end,Â” she writes about the war criminals, Â“what matters... is one single important question: what would I do in their situation?Â”

Customer Reviews:

DRAKULIC AT HER MOST DISAPPOINTING.......2006-03-25

Drakulic is quite disappointing in this latest work. In the past, she has always had critical but credible insight into the many trials and tribulations her country faced - whether that was Yugoslavia or Croatia. One has enjoyed reading her books, not only for the obvious passion and openness with which they were written, but also because of her tendency to be a thorn in the side of the ruling government or authority.

Drakulic tended to stick to subjects she knew a lot about or had personally experienced, either on her own or through her associations with others, and this made her work credible and enjoyable. She portrayed the hypocracy of communism and some of the people in power during and after its inception. She also portrayed its affects on the common man, in a comical and insightful way.

In her latest work, however, she deviates from some of the same qualities which have made her so eminently readable and enjoyable. For one, she takes sides. Obviously Serbs are her target here, as she skims lightly over crimes and atrocities committed by other nationalities. She also spends a great deal of time attempting to knock down what she terms as "Serbian myths", without showing any credible proof (other than perhaps personal predisposition or hatred) for her statements.

Her "analyses" of "Serbian monsters" include prolonged pitter-patter of the wanderings of her own imagination...for instance, rather than attempting to analyze and offer insight into the Milosevic family, she chooses to spend pages and pages criticing Mrs. Milosevic's poor taste in clothing and grooming, as if this is somehow significant to what happened in the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Too, she enters some kind of mystical state when describing the suicide of Mladic's daughter...attempting to put blame for the daughter's suicide on the father's actions, which, even she admits is no more than mere speculation...as if somehow she has the ability to "punish" him for the crimes he has been accused of.

But, perhaps the worst regression for Drakulic is her mouthing of the West's version of what has taken place in Yugoslavia. Either she has whole-heartedly bought into the version of the wars propagated by the West, or she has simply chosen not to take part in dissecting what actually happened in her country due to the pain it causes her; portions of her chapters read like "lifts" from rags like the New York Times or the Washington Post. And, most humiliatingly, they besmirch not only the Yugoslavian people but Mrs. Drakulic as well, who has, until now painted herself as a fresh voice of her country, explaining to Westerners what has, in fact, happened there and why.

One can perhaps understand Mrs. Drakulic's disappointment with her country and her comrades, but this does not allay the fact that she is, in fact one of them, and by virtue of that responsible for some of the crimes of which they are also accused. Just because she is a writer and lives a good portion of her life abroad does not absolve her of the responsibility to explain what actually happened there or why. Otherwise, what is the point of reading her work; one could merely refer to the Western press which, heaven knows, has spent years demonizing and degrading, not only Serbs, but all nationalities who lived in the former Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, Mrs. Drakulic chooses to do neither in this latest work.

One might speculate that, perhaps, she has no further fodder for her works and this latest one, both in title and content is merely an attempt to capitalize on the situation in the country by mouthing that which the West wants to hear.

Biased, but good........2005-07-05

These stories of people on trial, or yet-to-be-captured, for war crimes and crimes against humanity are a good introduction to the way in which war screws people up. Even good-natured, everybody's pal, types of people become animals when handed a weapon and absolute power to use it.

Blood is like any other drug. It creates a dependency, an addiction, that has to be sated.

Ms. Drakulic obviously has her sympathies with the Croats and the Bosnians who were brutalized by the Serbs. This, however, does not detract from her ability to tell a good story about some of the most inhuman behavior we have witnessed in our lifetimes, and to portray the perpetrators as the demons that may lurk inside any of us, to be unleashed if and when circumstances allow. The same demons ruled in Rwanda for quite a blood-feast. They still command much of Sudan. Liberia and Sierra Leone are only licking their wounds now.

While much will likely be written about those places, and some good work has already been done to document the crimes there, I don't think we'll ever see justice in the Hague or any other court for the people who carried out those massacres. Thank God Ms. Drakulic had a court in which to base her accounts of the Yugoslav slaughter.

Can you keep your demons bottled up? For now? For ever?

A Human Reaction to Inhuman Times.......2005-06-15

THEY WOULD NEVER HURT A FLY: WAR CRIMINALS ON TRIAL IN THE HAGUE by Slavenka Drakulic is a nonfiction work to follow her fictional piece about the war in the Balkans: S: A Novel about the Balkans. In this book, Drakulic writes chapters on various accused war criminals from the war in the former Yugoslavia. To write the book, she traveled to the Hague and observed the trials. She is a native Croatian, and now lives most of the time in Sweden.

Drakulic's writing is clear and strong. At times she imagines the homelife of the various accused invidividuals or what their thoughts or surroundings might have been as they proceeded through the war, doing what would eventually land them in The Hague, but her imaginations aren't unethical or posed in a way that is difficult to separate from the facts at hand. Drakulic is really an "everyman" trying to understand crimes which seem incomprehensible to others. She struggles throughout the book to do so by examining individual cases in depth.

The various chapters deal with different crimes and individuals in the various regions of the war in Yugoslavia. For example, in chapter 3, "A Suicide Scenario," her first chapter about an individual, she writes about a Croatian man who testified for the authorities against other people in his village, and who was eventually killed by a bomb in his backyard after the war was over. She writes about the "You took a television" defense among townspeople in small villages after the war (and the war crimes) ended. Perhaps someone saw someone execute a Muslim or a Serb citizen in the street, but if he were to mention it, the perpetrator of that crime would remind him that he stole things from the home of that murdered man, and he would fall silent, ashamed of his own act, not recognizing the differences in the crimes, not willing even to take responsibility for a stolen TV. As the chapter on the murdered Milan Levar (the man murdered for cooperating with investigating authorities) shows, many Croatians despised the tribunals, wanting to try people themselves. But what they wanted more was to ignore the crimes, according to Drakulic.

Another chapter that was fascinating was "He Would Never Hurt a Fly" about Goran Jelisic, a Bosnian Serb. Jelisic liked to fish, and before the war, he was involved in minor criminal activity, but was a very relaxed, friendly man. She writes that he looked like someone you could trust, and since he is the age of Drakulic's daughter, she imagines him as a friend of her family's, coming over, sitting around, talking. The Tribunal sentenced him to 40 years for executing 13 civilians; however, it is believed that he actually killed more than 100, most of whom were Bosnian Muslims. In his trial testimony, people spoke of how he helped them during the war. In fact, even Muslims from his town testified about how he helped to save them. Yet in the camps, in which Muslims were rounded up and imprisoned, he randomly chose men to shoot in the head, and he made them place their heads over a grate because he hated the mess. He seemed to revel in his power and kept a running tally (out loud) of how many people he had killed.

Other interesting chapters deal with a man who was a Serbian soldier and was brought one day to a field near Srebrencia. Then the busses started coming and unloading men. All day he shot men, Muslims from Srebrenica (where ultimately around 7,500 civilian Muslim men were killed). And in the beginning of the day when he protested, the other men in his group threatened to kill him. In fact, there was one he knew didn't like him and wanted him gone (because he had mixed parentage). Or the chapters deal with more famous men on trial: Ratko Mladic, a general in the Bosnian Serb army, and the suicide of his medical student daughter after she took a trip abroad (did she find out about what her father was doing while in Russia?) and Slobodan Milosevic and his wife, Mira Markovic, their strange bond, and their ruinous (former) control over Yugoslavia and Serbia.

The final chapter, "Why We Need Monsters" and the epilogue are powerful statements on the vignettes Drakuliæ has told in her book about the trials, the individuals on trial, and therefore the very personal side of war. Drakulic wants to know how ordinary people can turn into horrifying demons in a time of war. Why are some people so willing to kill? What would another do in the same place? Given that personality is emergent, it's a frightening yet fascinating question.

"The more I occupied myself with the individual cases of war criminals, the less I believed them to be monsters. What if they are ordinary people, just like you and me, who found themselves in particular circumstances and made the wrong moral decisions? What might this tell us about ourselves?" (pp. 167-168).

It is this understanding of what might lie within the "normal" man or woman that we don't want to know. As she says, we would rather study an exotic insect in the Amazon than understand what we have at home.

The heartbreaking epilogue is about the prisoners in Scheveningen detention unit in The Hague, where the accused are housed as they await trial or their verdicts. The Croatians, the Serbs and the Muslims accused of crimes who are housed here seem to get along. They cook for each other the food from their homelands, even though the disputes over those lands led to the deaths of 200,000 in Bosnia alone. Drakulic realizes that the fact that these men, who were leaders in the conflict and key instruments of its terror, can get along when they choose to means that the war was for absolutely nothing.

The Balkan tragedy and the mass murderers on trial.......2005-05-21

Subtitled "War Criminals on Trial in the Hague", this 2004 book is the third that I've read by Croatian journalist Slavenka Drakulic. Born in 1949 and growing up under communism in the former Yugoslavia, she never expected that Communism would collapse and she'd be thrust into a war where formerly friendly neighbors started murdering each other. More than 200,000 people were killed during the Balkan wars in the early 1990s and there are over 80 people now in The Hague on trial for war crimes. Ms. Drakulic recently spent a full five months observing her trials. And this book is the result of her observations.

The trails are poorly attended. Sometimes she was the only observer there. The people on trial come from various backgrounds and from different countries. Each has been accused of mass murder. And they all were surprised to be arrested, thinking themselves as heroes, not as criminals. Thus is the way of war.

The book is short, a mere 206 pages, broken into 13 different chapters, each chapter dealing with a different person. Of course there is a chapter on Slobodan Milosevic as well as his wife Mira, who was the most feared woman in Serbia, writing a column that could end someone's political career or sending a person to prison. But there are also chapters on lesser known war criminals. What about the soldier who was assigned to the killer squad which did nothing but shoot bound and blindfolded prisoners who were delivered to their place of murder by bus? And what about the soldier who made sport of going into the prisoner's barracks and selecting out a few each night for torture and murder? There are people on trial who gave the command to murder thousands. And lesser known criminals who do not have anyone willing to step forward and accuse them.

One interesting fact is that these people are all in a detainee center together now awaiting trial. They are not fighting each other though. To all intents and purposes they are friendly and cordial to each other, getting along well and seemingly forgetting the horror that they have recently inflicted on each other.

All this is told through the author's eyes, of course. She discusses her own life and uses it as a mirror to better understand the minds of the accused people. She respected and feared her father, not unusual in her country. She was friends with people of different ethnic groups. And, most of all, she never thought that such bloodshed could happen in the country she loved and had her life disrupted by the war. This book is also a personal examination of her own feelings.

This is a good book although sometimes not pleasant to read. But I do acknowledge the author for writing it. And, for me, it definitely did shed some light on the recent tragedy in the Balkans.

Monsters under the bed.......2004-09-15

As Drakulic admits toward the end of this slim book, she cannot get away from 'the war'. Though she is Croatian, 'the war' is the entire breakup of Croatia and Bosnia from 1991-1995.

Instead of another story about the victims of that war, she looks at the perpetrators and studies the war crimes trials at the ICTY in The Hague.

The book is an attempt to paint a selection of the perpetrators not as 'monsters', which is the easy and obvious thing to do, but as human beings. It's an attempt to be honest for a moment, though not a complete attempt. But she takes a selection of known and not so well known accused war criminals and tries to show something about them as people, something that shows that these are human beings that are being accused and convicted of unspeakable behavior.

Among the well known figures are, of course, Slobodan Milosevic, whose chapter is called Beast in a Cage. It's a very good, if not obvious observation about this man. Despite so many articles, and stories, and at least four biographies, there is very little the outside world seems to know about this man's personal life, about him as a person. In the end, he really does look very gray, the ultimate bureaucrat who figured out how to stay in power for a long enough time before it all came crashing down. She depicts him as a man of no warmth whatsoever, which is consistent with many other descriptions of him. She invokes the thought that 'Evil is the absence of empathy', which is certainly relevant in many of these cases.

Other notable characters from this rogues gallery include Ratko Mladic, commander of the Bosnian Serb army, and still at large. Responsible for one of the most heinous atrocities of that lousy war, the Srebrenica massacre, Mladic is depicted as a man who did evil to others, and was punished from above by the suicide death of his daughter. Drakulic believes that not only will he be punished for life by her loss, but also by his likely failure to ever understand the reasons.

There is an executioner from the aforementioned massacre who received a 'light' sentence due to the circumstances--complete fear and being trapped and surrounded by death-intoxicated comrades. Two women get the consideration as well, the ladylike Biljana Plavsic, who plead guilty at The Hague and expressed remorse, and Mirjana Markovic, wife of Milosevic, who is living in her own world, it seems. While not on trial, she escaped to Russia, now wanted by the Serb government.

The writing is smooth and simple and the book is filled with memories of Drakulic's childhood as she relates to some of the characters via common references to a country that no longer exists. The ending two chapters about 'why we need monsters' and some final thoughts becomes a bit much since much of it is indeed obvious, as is she requires praise for speaking what more and more commentators should be speaking about these trials. The people involved were indeed human, they were 'ordinary' in some circumstances, even, but a combination of pressures, and circumstances, and elements inside them made them act in ways that horrify and mystify us. Yes, indeed, looking at these people from ground level, and not from above, will help us learn something about ourselves, which is of paramount importance.

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