Chess for Success: Using an Old Game to Build New Strengths in Children and Teens

Chess for Success: Using an Old Game to Build New Strengths in Children and Teens
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A Good Read

New Life to an Old Game

Coach, Maurice Ashley

Chess for Success: Using an Old Game to Build New Strengths in Children and Teens
Maurice Ashley
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Chess | Board Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Child Development | Babies & Toddlers | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
General | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
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Accessories:

Health o Meter HDC100-01 "Grow with Me" Teddy Bear Scale for Babies and Toddlers Health o Meter HDC100-01 "Grow with Me" Teddy Bear Scale for Babies and Toddlers

ASIN: 0767915682
Release Date: 2005-08-09

Book Description

Maurice Ashley immigrated to New York from Jamaica at the age of twelve, only to be confronted with the harsh realities of urban life. But he found his inspiration for a better life after stumbling upon a chess book and becoming hypnotized by the game. He would eventually break the chess world's color lines by becoming an International Grandmaster in 1999.

Ashley realized that chess strategies could be used as an educational tool to help children avoid the pitfalls often associated with growing up. In this book, he serves up compelling anecdotes about how chess has positively affected young players. He also offers tips on technique, how to make the game fun for children of all ages and levels, and how to overcome the myth that chess isn't cool. Through his guidance, readers will understand how chess strategies can improve a child's mental agility, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Chess for Success is a much-anticipated resource for parents, teachers, counselors, youth workers, and chess lovers.

Customer Reviews:

A Good Read.......2006-09-04

Before I read this book, I knew chess was a great game. What I did not know was what the author establishes to a high degree of probability: Learning, playing and studying chess can bring about a personal transformation as well as almost anything shy of a religious conversion.

My only strong criticism of the book is that there are a few howlers, such as the one on page 229 under Calculate: "Grandmasters can routinely see ten moves into the future of a position, even more in some situations." Yeah, right. Occasionally a grandmaster accurately calculates a ten-move-deep combination. Nobody routinely does anything of the sort.

Never mind the occasional feel-good sentimentality or factual error and just sit back and enjoy this book. I recommend this book to non-players at least as much as to hardcore chess addicts. You needn't know anything about chess to enjoy GM Maurice Ashley's book and his entire approach to the game.

New Life to an Old Game.......2006-01-04

Who better to write a book about chess than the first (and so far only) Black International Chess Grandmaster Maurice Ashley? In CHESS FOR SUCCESS, he discusses the important role chess has played in his life, the history of the game, its impact on cognitive development, and its usefulness in educational settings. In addition, he debunks many of the common myths related to the game, allows some of his former students to share their experiencs in their own words, and provides tips for keeping the game fun and keeping children engaged.

Maurice Ashley's personal story is an interesting one. He was born in Jamaica where he and his siblings were primarily raised by their grandmother in poverty. His mother had left for the United States where she was working in order to help support her family back home and save enough money to send for her children. Maurice struggled with feelings of abandonment, all the while fantasizing about the wonderful life in America that would soon be his. After ten years of living apart, he was finally reunited with his mother when he came to live with her in New York City. Aside from the awkward period of adustment to living with his mother, Maurice also had to deal with the shock and disappointment when he realized that although he was now in the U.S., he would continue to live in poverty. As an intelligent young boy, he had little trouble adjusting to the new school academically. However, he struggled socially, as there was no real group with whom he fit. Maurice truly found himself when he ran across a book in the library about chess, this was but the beginning of a lifelong love.

The author also takes a list of 40 developmental assests (established by the Search Institute) and identifies ways in which the game of chess fits into many of those assests (he does a similar analysis using parts of Bloom's Taxonomy), such as self-esteem, sense of personal power, and achievement motivation. He also provides an overview of empirical research about chess and highlights some interesting chess programs across the country. While the book is heavy on research, it is presented in a highly readable and interesting manner. Further, it is supplemented by real life stories from students whose lives have been changed because of the game. These stories really drive the author's message about the usefulness of the game home. Finally, he provides activities, the rules of the game, additional resources, basically everything you need to get started with the game but the chess board. I am not sure what I expected when I picked this book up, but it far exceeded whatever expectations I had. He not only reignited my personal interest in the game, but has convinced me to introduce the game to my own son when he is older.

Reviewed by Stacey Seay
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Coach, Maurice Ashley.......2005-08-12

Intended primarily for parents or educators whos kids are just beginning chess, and written at a level children themselves can find accessable, CHESS FOR SUCCESS is a unique kind of chess book. The book itself is not even shelved in the "chess" section of the bookstore.

The book is written as a kind of pean to the benefits of chess play for children, and Ashley lists the kinds of success chess has created for inner-city youth across the United States. There are testimonials (somewhat overdone), as well as sections where Ashley backs up these testimonials, citing specific studies. These studies include sections where Ashley regurgitates research on the psychology of "flow", as well as where Ashley presents digested explanations of chess's relationship to the "40 Developmental Assets" and to Bloom's taxonomy theory. With all the chearleading and feel-good stories, at times this book reads like a drawn-out Reader's Digest article, but the book has enough meat, however, to transcend that stereotype, and there are enough concepts repackaged and digested to make the reading worthwhile. Early in the book, Ashely presents the reader with a brief history of chess (presumably written to get the chess neophytes up to speed).

There is a well-written chapter on how to motivate young girls to play chess, and there is a final chapter where Ashley waxes philosophic about psychological aspects of chess play. This last chapter is the best, and reminds me of the interview Ashley gave in Chess Life, in 1999, right after he became a Grandmaster. In this last chapter, Ashley talks about how to handle "chaos" over the chessboard and how to "think like a child" again. The best written passage of the entire book is on the third to last page where Ashley describes how he (and I'm paraphrasing here) "saw a knight again for the first time." Compelling stuff.

If you're willing to plough through the feel-good testimonials and the occasional typo and punctuation error, I recommend this book. This is a quick read; Ashley is an inspiration.

Every War Must End (Columbia Classics)
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Excellent short-book analysis

Why aren't people reading this and discussing it?

It's How Wars End That Become Important Afterward

Every War Must End (Columbia Classics)
Fred Charles Iklé
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0231136676

Book Description

"Mission accomplished," George Bush famously proclaimed in reference to the defeat of Saddam Hussein's military organization. However, as recent events in Iraq have once again demonstrated, it is much easier to start a war than it is to end it.

Every War Must End, which Colin Powell credits in his autobiography with having shaped his thinking on how to end the first Gulf War, analyzes the many critical obstacles to ending a war-an aspect of military strategy that is frequently and tragically overlooked. This book explores the difficult and often painful process through which wars in the modern age have been brought to a close and what this process means for the future. IklÃ© considers a variety of examples from twentieth-century history and examines specific strategies that effectively "won the peace," including the Allied policy in Germany and Japan after World War II.

In the new preface to his classic work, IklÃ© explains how U.S. political decisions and military strategy and tactics in Iraq -- the emphasis on punishing Iraqi leaders, not seeking a formal surrender, and the failure to maintain law and order-have delayed, and indeed jeopardized, a successful end to hostilities.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent short-book analysis.......2007-05-05

This short book is an outstanding analysis of how nations end wars, or accept peace. Ikle shows how governments often prefer obviously self-destructive courses rather then compromise peace terms. The problem is most acute when factional interests dominate strategy rather then a rational unitary interest. In such a circumstance, factions that benefit from continuing the war will accuse those pursuing peace of treason. Sadly, there is no equivalent derogatory word in English for those who pursue war to the detriment of their country.

The book was first written in 1971, and most of the examples are from the two world wars. The work is still extremely relevant, and at 130 pages it's well worth the time.

Highly recommended as a first book to read on ending war.

Why aren't people reading this and discussing it?.......2007-02-04

This book should be read by everybody on any side of the current debate as to what are future Iraq (Iran?, N. Korea?- w/ the current set of maroons you never know) policy should be.
Ikle was Undersecretary of Defense for the Reagan administration. He is one of the original neocons. This book had an enormous influence on how Bush I and Powell decided to end our first Gulf War. He revised this book in 1991 and revised it again and wrote a new intro in 2005.
My point is that this man is no cut and run liberal (and I should admit that, right now, I am leaning toward just that position). However, what makes Ikle stand out from his demented neocon brethren is that he is willing to face up to ALL of the possibilities, the difficulties and the ambiguities that are inherent in any foreign policy, let alone a war. He mentions many of the wars and theatres of those wars in the twentiety century and points out how many times politicians and generals went wrong because they would not 1. clearly set out the goals they were trying to accomplish in a war and 2. constantly reevaluate those goals in light of the developing situation.
Ikle outlines a few of the difficulties that are obstacles to such a course. Rather prophetically, he talks about how difficult it is to get good intelligence to base your policies on. Sources from within the country of your opponent may mislead you for their own purposes. Agencies within your own government are posturing with the intelligence to protect their influence. Does any of this sound familiar?
In one of my favorite chapters of this book, Ikle talks about a tendency that occurs when things start to get difficult in a war. Those who are supporters of the war will start posturing as patriots and referring to the opponents of the war as traitors (or, in the parlance of the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, as "surrender monkeys"). Again does this sound at all familiar?
Here is another one for ya. Ilke argues that it is essential to know why exactly you are fighting. Otherwise, you will never really know when you have won. It is very clear that the whole WMD was just what Rumsfeld or Cheney (I have forgotten which- neither one of them has said anything about the war that is worth remembering in a positive sense) said it was-the one justification they "could all agree on." The role of America as the Great Democratizer has faded into memory. Now we are left with The MisDecider telling us that it is all about leaving Iraq with "a viable government" What does that mean? How is that different from what they had under Sadam?
Here is my main point. Here is what makes me so angry. Powell, Rumsfeld, and Cheney all read this book back before the first Gulf War. Nothing has changed in the world to make the recommendations of this book any less vital. These men and women were supposed to be the most experienced foreign and military people the Republicans had produced (which should blow all claims to the Republicans being the party of security out of the water). They ignored these lessons because they choose to and went ahead and made what may be the most serious strategic error since Hitler invaded the Soviet Union.
I am hopeful that the Dems now have more power but only slightly so. We need to have a serious discussion now. Not posturing. It may be that we should simply leave at this point because the decline of Iraq into chaos is inevitable. But as someone who is an internationalist, I think we need to look long and hard at the results of doing that before we simply do so. We owe it to the people of Iraq and the surrounding area to do whatever we can to minimize their suffering, to restore a working infrastructure and government to their country and to restore peace to their daily lives. Facing up and discussing the issues as suggested by Ilke is our duty as a democratic polity. There are no easy answers here except for the obvious fact that we cannot rely on Bush and his minions to do what needs to be done.
Give this book a read. It is not gracefully written but it is short and direct. You may find it one of the strangest ironies of our time that one of the most telling critiques of the administration comes from someone who is their ally. The main difference between Ikle and people like Bush is that Ikle takes the world more seriously than his ideology.

It's How Wars End That Become Important Afterward.......2005-04-07

The twentiety century taught us a lot about wars and how they end. World War I showed us that making strong demands on the defeated (who didn't admit defeat to their own people) set the stage for the next big war.

World War II was fought until the Unconditional Surrender of the Germans and Japanese. Something that thinkers still debate as having made them fight all that harder.

VietNam was fought with no clear end in sight, and "another VietNam" entered our language.

The first Gulf War was ended when Colin Powell and Bush II debated how to end the war. They stopped before they had to go in and see what the Sunni's, Shiite's and Kurds made of the power vacuum left by the removal of Saddam would have created. Bush II is learning about this now.

This is the second revised edition of this book, originally published in 1971 and then updated in 1991 and now 2005 to reflect happenings in new wars.

Still some of the old wars had interesting insights that I didn't know before, such as how Finland, originally on Germany's side against Russia, made a peace with Russia and kicked the Germans out before they became a Russian province. Great Book.

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Every War Must End
Fred Charles Ikle
Manufacturer: Columbia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GRRFH8

Average customer rating:

Every War Must End
Fred Charles Ikle
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPL7KS

Average customer rating:

Every War Must End
Fred Charles Ikle
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQ4BW8

Average customer rating:

Every War Must End (Columbia Classics)
Fred Charles Ikle
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPQT1A

Amazon.com

In 1985 William Styron fell victim to a crippling and almost suicidal depression, the same illness that took the lives of Randall Jarrell, Primo Levi and Virginia Woolf. That Styron survived his descent into madness is something of a miracle. That he manages to convey its tortuous progression and his eventual recovery with such candor and precision makes Darkness Visible a rare feat of literature, a book that will arouse a shock of recognition even in those readers who have been spared the suffering it describes.

Book Description

A work of great personal courage and a literary tour de force, this bestseller is Styron's true account of his descent into a crippling and almost suicidal depression. Styron is perhaps the first writer to convey the full terror of depression's psychic landscape, as well as the illuminating path to recovery.

Customer Reviews:

Darkness Visible, only by the light of day.......2007-09-27

Having suffered with, what is now called Rapid Cycling BiPolar I since my earliest memories, the depths of darkness and pain that Mr. Styron so eloquently conveys was something I had not found in another until the reading of this book. I have felt it in his novels and in those of many other writers. I have sensed it in film makers not knowing their particular experience. Birds of a feather I suppose. However reading his own very personal internal experience transported me to a place of strange kindred perception. Not having known the man himself, his expression of that void - that place that transcends flesh, ego, personality, separateness - provided a comfort thus far elusive. Being there, one is alone, and one is reminded of how alone we all are, thereby rendering death a place void of fear. The only existing emotion is pain, excruciating yes, avoidable never. He creates a haven for those of us unfortunate, or fortunate, enough to experience this place. From it springs an understanding one cannot vocalize, yet Styron manages to convey it through the rich, textural and intimate development of his characters. It is an understanding that transcends traditional learning and plummets to depths of what it is to be human, to be alive as two people, one within and one without. His ability to remove and don the mask and his inability to do so gave him the most valuable insight one can have into the nature of being, and not being. A brilliant writer; his pain, a gift of understanding, and his gift to us, to write that pain with such an eloquence that it can transport the reader into the souls of the people to whom he penned flesh and blood.

This is a crucial read for not only for we who know this place, but also for those who love us and exist with us side by side. Their pain, though it cannot comprehend our own, is as exquisite and "real" as our own. It is not only we who need to be understood, but also those who love us. Thank you Rose, for standing next to him, with him. Your gifts to him are also gifts to us all. You are as courageous as he.

With much Gratitude and Respect,
Kristina

eerie..........2007-09-18

lot's of big words throughout this book. i haven't read any other of styron's books, so i wasn't aware of his style. it was very readable, however, and i still took away from it a good sense of clarity. that clarity being that depression is as unexplainable and undescribable as i've always felt it is. having been someone who suffered from the illness for a good part of my life, so severely at one point that i made a serious attemtp to end it, this book was pretty eerie. a lot of his
thoughts mimicked my own. some of his were even more intense (or perhaps it was just a result of his high-quality vocabulary), but still it's
always comforting to know there are others who have gone thru a similiar experience, if you can call it that. this isn't really a book you pass along to another for bedtime reading, but if i knew someone who was coming out of the darkness, or who has already succeeded in doing so, i would recommend it.
-sp-

Very nice........2007-09-17

I thought I would'nt get anything out of this book because he's so much older than me but I really enjoyed it a lot. I got a different perspective on depression from someone older.

Am I losing my mind?.......2007-07-14

The book describes the symptoms of depression from the viewpoint of one who has experienced it. It does not attempt to explain the 'why' but rather gives the 'what'. If you want to know what someone suffering from depression feels and thinks then this is the book for you.

Described his pain perfectly.......2007-05-06

I did not read this book. I gave it to my son who suffers from depression. He said it described him perfectly, authenticated his feelings, and gave him a clearer understanding of his own condition - plus offered him hope for getting out of the darkness.

The Visible College: A Collective Biography of British Scientists and Socialists of the 1930s

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The Visible College: A Collective Biography of British Scientists and Socialists of the 1930s
Gary Werskey
Manufacturer: Free Assn Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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The visible scientists
Rae Goodell
Manufacturer: Little, Brown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Scientists | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0316320005

Book Description

Anne Boleyn is the most notorious of England 's queens, but more famous for her death as an adulterer than for her life. Henry 's second wife and mother of Elizabeth I, Anne was the first English queen to be publicly executed. Yet what do we know of the achievements and the legacy of her short reign?In The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn Eric Ives provides the most detailed and convincing portrait we have of the queen. He reveals a person of intellect with a passion for the new culture of the Renaissance, a woman who made her way in a man 's world by force of education and personality. She played a powerful and independent role in the faction-ridden court of Henry VIII and the unceasing struggle for royal favour that was Tudor politics. The consequences can still be detected today. Indeed, Ives shows that it was precisely because Anne was a powerful figure in her own right that it needed a coup to bring her down. She had to be stopped - even by a lie.

Customer Reviews:

Extremely biased account.......2006-10-17

It is impossible for me to ignore the impressive amount of scholarship, reasearch, time, thought, and effort that went into this book. Mr. Ives has no doubt done a service to Anne Boleyn Scholars. HOwever, the book is nearly impossible to read. Mr Ive's introduces many ancedotes into his narratives, which he then proceeds to argue are apocryphal, and then sometimes states they could be true after all. This makes it hard to understand his point, especially when he repeateadly uses words like might, perhaps, and maybe. But the worse thing about this book is that ignores, or dismisses other respectable scholarship on his subject matter as, "nonsene." He sometimes presents things as history, which are as a point of fact a matter of scholarly debate, and the footnotes demonstrate that his arguments are not always as sound as he would make them appear.
Most specifically he dismisses the work of Harvard scholar Reetha M. Warnicke, who wrote a fascinating biography of the same subject called, "The Life and Death of ANne Boleyn." He needs to tell us when historical ideas are in dispute. His language can also be pretentious at times. (E.g. the repeated use of the word of rusticated.)

Not Just Court Gossip Rehashed.......2006-08-27

Eric Ives' book is probably the best book I've read that addresses Anne Boleyn's history. I must agree with another reviewer that towards the end of the book, when the author discusses Anne's involvement in religion, arts, etc, that it can seem choppy. The author makes up for this in his excellent assesment of events surrounding Anne's life. This is one of the few books I've read that doesn't simply state court chronicles as fact, since they were often written with preconceived ideas and prejudices. It definitely gives a more balanced view of Anne beyond the normal opinion of her as a power hungry temptress, and events themselves are put into more appropriate historical context, not simply how today's author interprets something. This book can be read by someone beginning to read Tudor history, however I would recommend one reads other books to see the many different points of view that authors, and history, can take, and then form an opinion regarding Anne Boleyn.

Not What I Expected.......2006-06-24

This study of Anne Boleyn was not quite what I expected it to be. I did not find it a straightforward biography of this fascinating woman. Rather, the author chose to concentrate on Anne's tastes in, and patronage of, religious reform, art, politics etc. Intense detail was given to these subjects, but there was actually no consistency to the writing, and thus the book seemed "choppy". At times, I felt that I was reading an inventory of her estate after her death, rather then a true biographical book.

I might add that it gave me an insight and viewpoint of Anne Boleyn that no previous books have done, and I have come away with a new and more enlightened view of just how intricate and intelligent this woman was.

However, my disappointment lies in the fact that far too much was given over to details of her world, rather then to Anne herself. I certainly would not recommend this book to anyone not familiar with the storyline of Anne's life, as I feel the beginning student would find him/herself very confused. Although it seems the author takes a much too simplistic approach to her downfall (especially regarding Cromwell's role), only in discussing the people and forces that led to her destruction, as well as the description of her execution, did this book shine as a biography. If only the author had chosen to approach the writing of Anne's life as he did in the last one-quarter of the book, this would have qualified as the best biography ever written of Henry VIII's second wife. As it stands, it unfortunately falls short of the mark.

My recommendation is to look at other works on Anne Boleyn, learn the major details of her life (and death), and then read this volume. Otherwise one will learn much about Anne's likes and dislikes, but really too little regarding the timeline of the major and minor events in Anne's life.

Worthy Reassessment of a Controversial Woman.......2006-03-08

One reviewer here called this the best biography of Anne Boleyn ever. I'm not prepared to go that far, mainly because I haven't read them all yet. If you're a Tudorphile like me and you've been reading about Anne Boleyn since you were 10 years old, this book will be pure ambrosia. Ives has managed to combined genuine scholarship with an engaging narrative. While I can't say that Anne comes alive, she is rescued from myth and tales of depravity. In my opinion, he sets the record straight on several fronts from Anne's role in Wolsey's downfall to her own fall from grace.

Ives has his share of controversial theories, but he presents each with a persuasive amount of direct fact and circumstantial evidence. The disagreement between Ives and fellow Anne Boleyn biographer Retha Warnicke doesn't look like it's going to be resolved soon. That's good news for Tudorphiles.

All said, this may not be the best introduction to Anne Boleyn - Weir's and Fraser's bios of all six wives of Henry VIII may be better suited to the novice - but those with a deep interest in this fascinating woman will want to make this a permanent part of their library.

The best Anne Boleyn biography!.......2005-12-02

I have been reading about Anne Boleyn since 5th grade and I couldn't put this biography down. Her life and times come alive. Dr. Ives has a gift for detail and drawing one in that has only gotten better with each book. I couldn't wait for this book to be released and I wasn't disappointed. He was very balanced, letting the readers draw their own conclusions. His writing style is lively and highly readable, not always the case with historians. If you have any interest in these people or this era, this is the book to read.

Ives, Eric 2004: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn.(Book review): An article from: Atlantis, revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos

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Ives, Eric 2004: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn.(Book review): An article from: Atlantis, revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos
Paula de Pando Mena
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Atlantis, revista de la AsociaciÃ³n EspaÃ±ola de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos, published by Thomson Gale on June 1, 2007. The length of the article is 2576 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: Ives, Eric 2004: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn.(Book review)
Author: Paula de Pando Mena
Publication: Atlantis, revista de la AsociaciÃ³n EspaÃ±ola de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Page: 187(5)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 2d ed.(Book review): An article from: Renaissance Quarterly

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The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 2d ed.(Book review): An article from: Renaissance Quarterly
Dale Hoak
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Renaissance Quarterly, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2006. The length of the article is 830 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: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 2d ed.(Book review)
Author: Dale Hoak
Publication: Renaissance Quarterly (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 59 Issue: 1 Page: 255(2)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

With over 100 full color photographs and 11 black and white historical images, Civil War Battlefields and Landmarks takes you on a unique chronological tour of all of the major Civil War battle sites. Beginning with the shots fired at Fort Sumter, to the hollow fields of Silo, Antitax, and Gettysburg and finally ending at the solemn events of Appomattox Court House, this lavishly photographed keepsake album presents the modern beauty of the sites in stark contrast to the horrors that occurred there. The closing pages document the nation's tragedy on April 14th, 1865 at Ford's Theater.

Book Description

For this substantially revised edition of his 1991 book, Raymond Cohen has added two new chapters, updated previous examples, and added numerous recent ones, especially concerning U.S. trade agreements. Newly added cases include the negotiations over NAFTA, China's most-favored-nation status, the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and the Okinawa bases. All in all, about 40 percent of the text is new. Cohen explores how cultural factors have affected U.S. dealings with Japan, China, Egypt, India, and Mexico. He demonstrates that there are two quite different models of negotiation: "low context," a predominantly verbal and explicit style typical of individualistic societies such as the United States, and "high context," a style associated with nonverbal and implicit communication more typical of traditionally interdependent societies. He concludes the book with ten specific recommendations for the intercultural negotiator.

Book Description

Americans continue to coexist with nature only warily, in spite of our vaunted environmental stewardship. Nowhere is this complex relationship more visible than in the Mississippi River delta in South Louisiana, the country's largest unpreserved wetland. Here, more than three million acres of marshes and swamps nurture more seafood and produce more oil and gas than any other region of the country except Alaska. Yet this expanse of raw natural beauty, almost unknown outside the region, is in danger of collapse. New Orleans is in particular danger as sea levels rise and the city sinks, leaving tens of thousands of inhabitants to face the consequences if a horrific storm should strike.

Holding Back the Sea intimately and eloquently exposes the vulnerability of this stark land that spreads along the Gulf Coast, as it literally vanishes -- at rate of twenty-five square miles per year, an area the size of Manhattan -- so starved for lack of nutrients, so eroded away by ever more severe storms, and so dredged for canals that it is on the verge of being swallowed by the rising Gulf of Mexico. Holding Back the Sea bears witness to an environmental crisis of staggering proportions that not only threatens this coast but has plunged the people who depend on it into a moral quagmire.

Christopher Hallowell uses this crisis as a window through which to clearly and comprehensively examine a cultural characteristic, or flaw, that Americans have historically exhibited: the reluctance to recognize the finiteness of nature -- as much a part of this country's history as is its people's independence -- while at the same time proclaiming their devotion to it. In Louisiana, this emotional split of using while abusing threatens the entire region's economic foundations and has profound implications for the rest of the country. Louisiana is not alone; its predicament stands beside an array of environmental case studies: clear-cutting in Virginia and Tennessee, exhausting water resources in the Southwest, polluting Chesapeake Bay, filling in wetlands around San Francisco Bay and Long Island Sound, and fouling the Great Lakes.

Through the varied use of narrative voice and rich description, Hallowell, a journalist, writer, and educator, brings into focus South Louisiana's dilemma through the people involved -- from engineers to politicians to scientists to fishermen -- to show both the marsh's and the people's fragility and vitality. There is no more important topic than the way we use nature and our natural resources and our willingness to defer to nature. Holding Back the Sea is at the heart of that conversation.

Customer Reviews:

A great informative read...we should all be reading this........2006-06-28

Great book. I just finished it after reading Bayou Farewell (another superb read). If I could ever meet Mr. Hallowell, I would shake his hand for a wonderful job and then shake my head in amazement that all of "the groups" can't get together with one voice on the restoration and saving of the Gulf Coast area. I wonder, reading the book now, if congress would have given all of the money as requested a few years ago considering the costs of Katrina???

All You Need to Know about New Orleans' Dilemma.......2005-12-02

I searched for a book that would serve as an historical explanation of New Orleans' plight, as well as an updated view on the current problems in N.O. since hurricane Katrina. I found that the author has an engaging way of "teaching" in that the reader is led back and forth between historical and scientific background and facts, and personal stories of residents of the marshlands.
The facts come from research, as well as the plethora of gov't and NOG agencies involved (DNR, NMFS, CWPPRA. EDA etc.!!) and the narratives come from trappers, fisherman, oyster reef and shrimp gatherers, shippers, etc. Some of the stories come from people who lived back in the 19th century.
The media has made it clear that New Orleans is in trouble, but I now have a clearer understanding of all the people, groups, issues, politics, etc. involved in this disastrous situation.

Or keeping up the land.......2005-10-18

The book "Holding Back the Sea" is an ecological and economic history of the marshlands of Louisiana, from its first exploitation by French explorers in the 1600s to its uses as seafood farm, tourist trap, oil and gas source and port in the 1990s. The book describes the various uses for this area of America, how it all depends on and effects the ecology and geography of the marshlands, and how human influences have changed the area.

The book is divided into twelve chapters, each of them examines the human-marshland interplay from a different point of view. These views include that of alligator hunter, flood control expert, local elected official, lifelong shrimper, and conservationist. Thru reading each chapter, one gets to see the complexity of the human-human, nature-human, and nature-nature relationships, and how over the last century, the first two have worked together to destroy the latter. Specifically, alterations to the natural environment have made the land more susceptible to erosion, hurricanes, and flooding. The result is that dozens of square miles of marshland sink into the Gulf of Mexico each year. Efforts to stop this loss eventually require various parties to sacrifice, and this always dooms any effort.

The book describes in clear detail how the people of Louisiana now realize the importance of holding back the sea, or keeping the land elevated, depending on the point of view. The actions and inactions described in this book reveal a tragi - comedy of truly grand proportions, something truly worthy of the grandness of America. Though written before Hurrican Katrina of the 2005 summer, the facts and stories it contains are very important for all Americans to know. I highly recommend this book.

Holding Back the Sea.......2005-09-09

This book is interesting and informative, easily read and understood by the average person. I have recommended this book to others on our campus. The chapters dealing with how Louisiana was affected by other major hurricanes, the computer simulation of "the big one", and the effects (or lack thereof) of all the discussions and money spent or to be spent were particularly interesting, especially that Hurricane Katrina has hit.
This book should have been read by every government official and citizen of the U.S.

IThe book shows that not enough people cared enough.......2005-09-03

This book is an admirable discussion of the destruction of Louisiana's wetlands, the effects up to the year 2001, and the probable disastrous consequences for the future, including those that have now resulted from Hurricane Katrina.

In the aftermath of Katrina there will be many efforts to assign blame, both by the media and by politicians. This book serves as necessary background for understanding what really happened, and how it came to pass.

My own view, partly formed from this book, but also from various other knowledge of Southern Louisiana and changes over the years in that area, is that no one person or group should be blamed for the results of Katrina. Those were foreseeable and were foreseen, and remedial measures to reduce the impact of a major hurricane striking Louisiana's coastal areas and the city of New Orleans were well understood, as were their costs. So how did the catastrophe predicted in this book occur, despite widespread knowledge? Remedial measures could not have prevented very serious losses from such a hurricane, but the losses could have been greatly reduced; however, the remedial measures to achieve that would have been extremely expensive, and no group, whether of citizens, of advocates, of corporations, of legislators, of bureaucrats, or of federal or state officials, felt that expnditure of all that money, which would also have had some adverse effects, was important enough to take priority over numerous other major expenditures for the welfare of the poulation, the economy, and the environment. After the catastrophe, of course, comes the finger-pointing. But if my view is correct, the extent of this catastrophe is mostly due to the fact that hardly anyone anywhere was willing to fight for the extremely expensive remedial measures that would have limited it. This book is a somber reminder that although in most respects our private and public institutional structures in the USA work extremely well, in some cases such as this one they do not put priority on mitigating enormous risks.

Read this book and weep! (And ask yourself which other equally well-known risks of catastrophe we are taking no steps to mitigate.)

Holding Back the Sea : The Struggle for America's Natural Legacy on the Gulf Coast

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Holding Back the Sea : The Struggle for America's Natural Legacy on the Gulf Coast
Christopher Hallowell
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEOHRY

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