My Darling Buffy: The Early Life of the Queen Mother
Average customer rating: Not rated
    My Darling Buffy: The Early Life of the Queen Mother
    Grania Forbes
    Manufacturer: Trafalgar Square
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

    GeneralGeneral | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
    GeneralGeneral | Royalty | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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    20th Century20th Century | England | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
    MonarchyMonarchy | Systems Of Government | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
    ASIN: 1860660916

    The Real David Beckham: An Intimate Biography
    Average customer rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    • Don't waste your money!
    The Real David Beckham: An Intimate Biography
    Gaynor Morgan
    Manufacturer: John Blake
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

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    ASIN: 1843581205

    Book Description

    Gaynor Morgan, daughter of former Manchester United star Willie Morgan, has been a friend of David Beckham’s for years, earning the confidence of both the legendary soccer player and his wife Victoria. In The Real David Beckham, Morgan uses her privileged position to reveal how a boy from Essex became one of the most recognizable faces in the world, the truth about his marriage, and how he deals with his celebrity—showing a side of David Beckham that only his closest friends have ever glimpsed.

    Customer Reviews:

    1 out of 5 stars Don't waste your money!.......2004-10-03

    This book isn't worth the paper it's printed on. The publishers synopsis is way off base. I bought this book and immediatly gave it away, the author is a c list celeb that thinks that makes her a somebody.

    King Arthur on Film: New Essays on Arthurian Cinema
    Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    • The best book available on the subject
    King Arthur on Film: New Essays on Arthurian Cinema

    Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Library Binding

    GeneralGeneral | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
    History & CriticismHistory & Criticism | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
    MedievalMedieval | World | History | Subjects | Books
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    All TitlesAll Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
    ASIN: 0786401524

    Book Description

    This collection of eleven essays details more than 75 films, from Edwin Porter's 1904 Parsifal to the animated Quest for Camelot in 1998. A variety of critical perspectives are provided. The medieval and modern worlds collide in The Fisher King and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; issues of femininity and depictions of Morgan Le Fay are analyzed in the 1931 Connecticut Yankee and in Excalibur; concerns of masculinity are examined in First Knight and Dragonheart. A comprehensive filmography, selective bibliography and over 40 film stills complete this critical appreciation of the rich and varied cinematic tradition of Arthur.

    Customer Reviews:

    4 out of 5 stars The best book available on the subject.......2000-04-07

    Kevin Harty's 'King Arthur on Film' is the best book available on the subject. This book updates information originally presented in Harty's 'Cinema Arthuriana' in addition to a series of essays original to this volume. The articles included in this collection focus on Connecticut Yankee films; Arthurian cartoons; and Merlin, Morgan le Fay, Tristan, and the Grail in Arthurian film.

    Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers
    Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
    • Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers
    • Okay, but lacking...
    • Brand This!
    • Good concept, but not totally engaging
    • Fresh and Disturbing Take on a Rather Tired Argument
    Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers
    Alissa Quart
    Manufacturer: Basic Books
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    1. Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture
    2. Culture Jam: How to Reverse America's Suicidal Consumer Binge--And Why We Must Culture Jam: How to Reverse America's Suicidal Consumer Binge--And Why We Must
    3. Freaks, Geeks, and Cool Kids: American Teenagers, Schools, and the Culture of Consumption Freaks, Geeks, and Cool Kids: American Teenagers, Schools, and the Culture of Consumption
    4. The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need
    5. Nation of Rebels: Why Counterculture Became Consumer Culture Nation of Rebels: Why Counterculture Became Consumer Culture

    ASIN: 0738208620
    Release Date: 2004-02-17

    Book Description

    An incisive exposŽ of the underhanded advertising initiatives that target teens-and an exploration of their disturbing consequences.

    Generation Y has grown up in an age of the brand, bombarded by name products. In Branded, Alissa Quart illuminates the unsettling new reality of marketing to teenagers, as well as the quieter but no less worrisome forms of teen branding: the teen consultants who work for corporations in exchange for product; the girls obsessed with cosmetic surgery who will do anything to look like women on TV; and those teens simply obsessed with admission into a name-brand college. We also meet the pockets of kids attempting to turn the tables on the cocksure corporations that so cynically strive to manipulate them. Chilling, thought-provoking, even darkly amusing, Branded brings one of the most disturbing and least talked about results of contemporary business and culture to the fore-and ensures that we will never look at today's youth the same way again.

    Customer Reviews:

    2 out of 5 stars Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers.......2006-07-22

    The premise of this book seemed very appealing to me. I have always been very opinionated about "Branding" teenagers, and while in high school I refused to wear well known brand-name clothes.
    However, once I got into actually reading the book, I was very dissapointed. Quart seemed, at least to me, to merely skim the surface of the problem, filling the pages with statistics and endless lists of numbers but not really pulling much meaning out of any of it.
    It also seemed to me that she focused most of her attention on the "rich" kids. I feel that a comparison between priviledged and average teenagers, even severely underpriviledged teens, would have made the book much more interesting. It got especially frustration for me when I reached the chapter titled "Logo U" because (my being fresh out of highschool) I felt that she was exaggerating, or else obviously not expanding her interviews for children NOT from wealthy families. I never took an SAT course, never bought an expensive SAT book but still did perfectly well on my SATs, and got into several excellent colleges.
    I understand that the point she was trying to make was about teens getting the "Logo U"s in their minds and refusing to be denied access to them, but I feel the endless droning about SATs offered nothing to feed that point and just made me try to compare the information to my own experience, with little, if any, success.
    I apologize for my review being so unorganized. I am no professional writer myself.

    3 out of 5 stars Okay, but lacking..........2006-05-25

    "Branded" definitely supplies a great deal of information, but Quart seems to fail in synthesizing this information for the reader. Granted, it is fairly easy to understand the points she is trying to make, but she fails to coherently state these points in a memorable fashion. The book is filled with endless examples and statistics, but it is lacking in overal argumentation. She seems to allow the facts and the stats to speak for themselves, without using them to prove specific points. The book is an endless supply of premises, with very few conclusions.

    However, I did learn much from this book, and the chapter on teenage plastic surgery was quite shocking and disturbing to me.

    Overall, I do recommend this book, if you are able to draw your own conclusions from the facts provided.

    5 out of 5 stars Brand This!.......2005-07-07

    Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers by Alissa Quart is a quick and fascinating read on the current and constructed intersections between young people, the media and popular culture, corporate agencies, and consumer culture.

    What struck me most about Quart's analysis is how RELEVANT it is. Unlike many books published today, the research, reference, and anecdotal material in Branded (published in 2003) is very recent and does not rely too much, or at all really, on the 1990s.

    Two shortcomings of the book were the chapter on Self-Branding (I felt Quart could have done more with body piercing, for example) and the last few pages (her final analysis could have been stronger). Despite these weak spots, Quart clearly did her research.

    Branded is an interesting and even fun read suitable for parents, teenagers, and educators alike. As a teacher myself, I will definitely refer to it in the future.

    3 out of 5 stars Good concept, but not totally engaging.......2005-01-18

    Alissa Quart tackles an admirable and potentially fascinating subject in Branded, yet I was left feeling a bit disappointed after finishing the book. I personally found her writing style a bit stilted, and it seems like there is a lot of information and many observations, yet not so much in-depth analysis. The book itself is not extremely long, so there is definitely room for more expansion. There are countless examples of teen branding in movies, fashion, magazines, advertisements, etc., and the author touches on all of these and more, but somehow the book felt more like a bombardment of information than a nuanced analysis. I had pretty high expectations when I read this book (especially from the many positive editorial reviews available), but it was ultimately not as satisfying an experience as I would have hoped.

    4 out of 5 stars Fresh and Disturbing Take on a Rather Tired Argument.......2004-09-23

    I found it to be an excellent read, and I'm considering using some excerpts from it to spark writing and discussion in a basic writing class that I teach--a class where I'm always concerned that the readings I use are immediate, accessable and read well.

    Although the book's subject is the way that companies market to teenagers, in a sense this is only a subset of the author's larger concern with capitalism and consumer culture. She obviously has a left wing take on this subject, although I disagree with earlier reviewers that her presentation is manipulative or unfair. The issue isn't whether or not companies fill a demand (obviously, they do), but about the lengths to which they go to create that demand. How you feel about this obviously depends on your politics, but Quart's viewpoint seems to me to be reasonable and valid.

    My problem is that this argument is just sort of tired. I'm just bored of hearing the same critique of "consumer culture" over and over again. What sets this book apart, though is its focus on marketing to children, and, in particular, the passages where Quart presents the kids' lives through their own words. It's pretty disturbing to hear how closely they identify their own self-worth with the products that they use. I'm not just talking about the idea that they have to conform to a certain image in order to be beautiful--again, this is old news. But about how the almost BECOME the brand that they use. When a teenager named Carrie, a fan of MTV's "Total Request Live" describes her loyalty to that show and to the marketing she does for The Backstreet Boys by saying, "I like the Boys as much as my friends and family"--well, there's something really disturbing about that.

    How to Host A Hilariously Fun Bachelorette Party! (second edition)
    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    • blushing bachelorette in the 'burbs
    How to Host A Hilariously Fun Bachelorette Party! (second edition)
    Gwen Liveris , and Nancy Johnson
    Manufacturer: Bachelorettis Inc
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

    GeneralGeneral | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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    4. The Everything Bachelorette Party: Throw a Party That the Bride and Her Friends Will Never Forget (Everything Series) The Everything Bachelorette Party: Throw a Party That the Bride and Her Friends Will Never Forget (Everything Series)

    ASIN: 0966647920

    Book Description

    This book contains all the information needed to host your own hilariously fun bachelorette party. Included are food recipes, drink recipes, and of course, plenty of outrageous bachelorette party games to play!(18 games in all). We've also added suggestions on where to hold the party and how to decorate for the party.

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars blushing bachelorette in the 'burbs.......1999-12-16

    My friends used this book to throw me a great party. We went away for the weekend and they kept pulling out more games and recipes. Many of the games and recipes are oriented towards male anatomy, but it is done with taste so most of the time I wasn't embarassed in front of my mother in law. They also didn't call for spending a ton of money, which was nice. Since I am the first to marry, my final present was this book so I can do it up right for my friends.

    Ageless Marketing: Strategies for Reaching the Hearts and Minds of the New Customer Majority
    Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
    • Best of the Lot
    • A Real Gem
    • It's About Time!
    • A New Consciousness
    • A Ground-breaking Work
    Ageless Marketing: Strategies for Reaching the Hearts and Minds of the New Customer Majority
    David B. Wolfe , and Robert Snyder
    Manufacturer: Kaplan Business
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

    GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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    5. Marketing to Seniors Marketing to Seniors

    ASIN: 0793177553
    Release Date: 2003-11-01

    Book Description

    Today's richest market is the New Customer Majority: middle-aged and older adults who make up the biggest percentage of the buying public. Never before have adults 40 years and older been in the majority. Understanding this population and persuasively selling to it require a new kind of marketing research arsenal.

    In Ageless Marketing, authors David Wolfe and Robert Snyder document the results of a groundbreaking research project on the aging boomer generation, detailing the core values, buying behaviors, and emotional factors that distinguish the New Customer Majority. As more companies seek sales from multiple age groups, ""ageless marketing"" becomes critical to financial performance. Companies that master its subtleties have realized amazing profits. New Balance, for example, saw an annual rate of 25 percent or more with its ageless marketing themes, even when the athletic shoe industry had shown no growth since 1997.

    Ageless Marketing introduces a new research approach in profiling this lucrative market. Companies that want to tap into this important segment will get insights into the characteristic values and motivations that trigger the New Customer Majority's spending choices. Wolfe and Snyder describe the challenges in marketing to this group, the stages and differences in their life experiences, and the ways to make meaningful marketing overtures.

    Above all, readers will see how ""empathetic connections"" drive many buying decisions for this market, why traditional ploys simply will not work, and how to create marketing campaigns that yield continuing customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars Best of the Lot.......2006-11-27

    I have recently read quite a few books on marketing to the "new senior" market. This is the best. It is centered on good marketing and business principles and provides factual information and sound research to support the key ideas. I ordinarily don't write in books, but this one had so many good ideas that I wanted to easily find, that, after a chapter or two, I picked up a pencil turned this into an idea workbook.

    5 out of 5 stars A Real Gem.......2005-06-14

    I've read more business and marketing books than I care to remember, but this frog kissing process is necessary to discover those few books that deserve to be studied. Ageless Marketing is one of them. For the price of this book, companies will learn more about their customers than they ever will from research reports or data mining analyses. David Wolfe has made a genuine effort to give his readers the full benefit of the insights he has gained after spending two decades striving to truly understand what makes customers tick. The result is a marketing framework that should endure for decades to come.

    While Wolfe has clearly demonstrated he's a disciplined scholar with this book, his humility is what makes it so credible. He is quick to credit the brain researchers and developmental psychologists who provided grist for his intellectual mill and he readily admits that much of what he tells us has been known for quite some time. The marketing profession should be a little embarrassed by this book. CEOs in search of growth strategies should be seduced by it.

    5 out of 5 stars It's About Time!.......2004-10-03

    Boy, does business ever need this book!

    I've been in marketing and advertising for 20 years --- I've worked with some of the most sophisticated brands --- I know what makes a sound business proposition, and I've seen companies desperate to find a way to build their sales and profitability. And yet I've never heard a business exec say, "You know - we really should be taking a look at the mature market."

    Instead, what I HAVE witnessed is an obstinate blindness about what is clearly THE market opportunity of the next two decades. With baffling consistency, the marketing press is full of companies trumpeting their initiatives to capture the youth market. Brands well-established in the high-quality, high-income, mature market segment fervently re-invent themselves to appeal to more youthful consumers.

    Mercedes, for example - a brand which virtually owned the "I've been working for 20 years and I've earned it" upper end of the auto market - has been diluting their valuable brand equity by introducing little mini-Mercedes cheap enough for young people to afford. Toyota - with executives wringing their hands over the fact that the average age of their buyer base is 46 - gallops off to build the Scion, intended to be sort of a college dorm room on wheels. (Ironically, they've found the Scion average buyers are well into their mid-30s.)

    Every single week Ad Age and Brandweek have some article bemoaning TV's declining ability to reach the "highly coveted demographic of men 18-34." Who covets this audience? Beer and pizza makers, perhaps - other than that, and maybe motorcycles - in what categories are they the primary buyers? And advertising agencies stubbornly continue to limit the upper end of their media segmentation to 54 years old ("Women, 25-54"). What are they thinking --- everyone suddenly drops dead at 55?

    On the contrary, as demonstrated so clearly and convincingly by this book, Ageless Marketing. The numbers are unassailable - Over the next two decades, the ranks of 50+ consumers will swell like a tsunami while the number of under 50 consumers will dribble to a trickle and then actually decline.

    Not only that, but it shouldn't be news to anyone that older people have more money than younger people - a lot more. And in case you're thinking they hoard it under a mattress, know that their per capita spending averages 2.5 times the levels of younger people. In the automotive business, an article published recently in the Wall Street Journal said: On average, over the "lifetime" of a household, the individuals in that household buy 13 cars; seven of them - the majority - are bought after the head of household reaches 50 years of age.

    So let me get this straight, Mercedes: you're going to enrich your brand by leaving your traditional older, wealthy buyer base behind in order to chase after a market segment that is shrinking and has no money?! Toyota - you're actually concerned that your brand is strongest among consumers that buy more cars and have more money?

    The Baby Boomers once didn't trust anyone over thirty. Now there isn't a one of them that isn't over forty. Times have changed! In a way, times have gone back to normal. During what other period in history have teens and 20-somethings been the driving forces in commerce or culture? Revolutions, sure; they're always the driving forces in revolutions. But in commerce, they're not. They're kids for crying out loud - they don't have any money!!

    It's remarkably difficult to break our culture's absolute conviction that young consumers are every marketer's best prospect. They're not. And until we all get that through our heads, we're going to continue to miss some major market opportunities.

    Ageless Marketing not only helps you get it through your head, but it helps you understand that when you do market to older consumers, you need to change your ways. Older consumers screen communications differently, process information differently, respond based on different life priorities and selection preferences.

    David Wolfe and Robert Snyder understand those differences, and help readers get in touch with what they need to do to act on them. Their wealth of experience and insight are apparent, and there are tons of examples and ideas that make it easy to understand how to apply what they're saying.

    Obviously this is a topic I think is important. Thank heavens there's finally a book that collects all the facts and crystallizes the thinking! I give copies to my clients, and recommend it to my co-workers all the time. My own copy is dog-eared and marked up and so full of notes it's almost hard to read any more. I guess I'll just have to buy another copy!

    5 out of 5 stars A New Consciousness.......2004-06-15

    Here's a book that offers a profound new vision of persons in mid-life and the years beyond, one that explore the complexity of the population they've labeled, "second-half customers". AGELESS MARKETING is a book that should be a text in every college business course as well as on the bookshelf of every person working in marketing and advertising in this country. It could enrich the curriculum of sociology and gerontology courses as well, as these authors have unique insights into how people think, feel and act at various stages of their later lives. There's a new consciousness, a new vision of a maturing consumer offered in AGELESS MARKETING.

    5 out of 5 stars A Ground-breaking Work.......2004-06-05

    As people age, their buying preferences, priorities and behaviors change dramtically. Ageless Marketing is the only book that addresses this phenomenon -- and brilliantly. It is a must-read for anyone intereted in builiding a relationship with this large and lucrative market. I predict it will become a marketing classic.

    Dancing in My Nightgown: The Rhythms of Widowhood
    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    • A TRUE COMFORT
    • A book about life
    • Like Chocolate...
    • Not just for widows!
    • Compellingly readable !
    Dancing in My Nightgown: The Rhythms of Widowhood
    Betty Auchard
    Manufacturer: Stephens Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

    GeneralGeneral | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
    WomenWomen | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
    MemoirsMemoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
    GeneralGeneral | Death & Grief | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
    Grief & BereavementGrief & Bereavement | Death & Grief | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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    ASIN: 1932173757

    Book Description

    Married when she was barely 19, Betty Auchard went straight from her parents' home to her husband's bed. She raised four children, returned to college, taught art in the public school system, and became a grandmother, a published artist, a retiree, and then a widow.

    When she loses her husband of almost 49 years to cancer, widowhood forces Betty to find out what she can do on her own. She has a lot to learn, having never been single before. She was not freeway literate, nor had she ever used a computer. And she had never paid the bills by herself. Facing her new responsibilities, this septuagenarian makes all kinds of mistakes. These short, upbeat, inspiring stories tell us how this spunky woman got through widowhood-she decides to dance instead of sitting on the sidelines.

    * "Anyone who's lost a loved one will relate to the many wonderful moments in Betty Auchard's wise and funny book." - Lolly Winston, author Good Grief

    * "I found Dancing in my Nightgown brave and touching." - Rosemarie Stack, widow of Robert Stack (TV star of Unsolved Mysteries)

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars A TRUE COMFORT.......2007-05-07

    This book was a TRUE COMFORT to me now when that is what I need. I feel like Betty and I are the best of friends -- even though we have not met. I recently lost my beloved Ted after 71 years of marriage. My daughter-in-law gave me a copy of Dancing in My Nightgown, and once I started reading it, I could not stop. I have loaned it to my friends. Just what I needed. -- Louella Uber, Carlsbad, CA

    4 out of 5 stars A book about life.......2006-07-22

    No one can understand the sense of losing a loved one except those who have experienced it themselves. Betty Auchard uses this experience coupled with her vivacious personality to help all those who have experienced personal loss. After losing her husband of forty-nine years experience Betty suddenly finds she must continue on her own. Married at nineteen she never had to face some of the everyday experiences of life such as paying bills or pumping gas. Filled with humor and courage Betty shows that there is life after death and that she can still dance.

    5 out of 5 stars Like Chocolate..........2006-01-23

    The stories in Dancing in My Nightgown: The Rhythms of Widowhood are more than memoir and inspirational. They are surprisingly fun to read. The book is like an exquisite piece of chocolate-I'm taking a small bite at a time for its taste to last and its essence to linger.

    5 out of 5 stars Not just for widows!.......2005-08-12

    Betty Auchard, with a sense of down home humor and courageous insight, has written a guidebook to the land of Self Discovery on the journey of loss and grief. These revealing words of wisdom are useful for women in transition at all ages and stages of life. Read and dance with Betty out of the past, out of the pain, into the future.

    5 out of 5 stars Compellingly readable !.......2005-06-22

    Betty Auchard's compellingly readable memoir flows as effortlessly as life itself. A gifted storyteller, her reflections help us to ponder our own lives as well. We become aware how quickly our pasts become our presents with each page we turn.

    A bride at nineteen, Betty shares the experiences and reflections of her bewildering and emotionally painful journey through bereavement after over four decades of a wonderfully happy marriage. Bittersweet, sweetly whimsical and always touchingly candid, her wonderful stories tackle potentially paralyzing emotional issues and make all the sad stops along the way without becoming the least maudlin or self-indulgent.

    Her storytelling triumphs by not only taking us along as she learns to surmount those times, but describing them so well we feel we're silent soul mates living them with her.

    We're offered glimpses of how "keeping the faith" with a resilient blend of humour, compassion and hope can enable and empower us to overcome grief with time's passing. And we learn life still awaits us; not merely to be resumed or coped with, but re-discovered and should we choose, re-invented.

    These stories are a boon to everyone who has dealt or is dealing with profound loss of any sort. They carry hope that despite how bereft or alone, our hearts can and will endure; and that perhaps we have an obligation, for ourselves and the memory of whoever or whatever we've lost, to allow ourselves to learn to live once again.



    Welsh Castles at War (Revealing History)
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Welsh Castles at War (Revealing History)
      John Norris
      Manufacturer: Tempus
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

      GeneralGeneral | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
      GeneralGeneral | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
      WalesWales | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
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      MedievalMedieval | England | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
      GeneralGeneral | Ireland | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
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      MedievalMedieval | World | History | Subjects | Books
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      ASIN: 0752428853

      Book Description

      Welsh Castles at War is a vivid and exciting portrayal of how and why castles were raised in Wales after the Norman Conquest, and how they became the scenes of particularly bloody, large-scale campaigns in the violent wars between Wales and England. Including chapters on their early formation in the 11th century and on the English Civil War, John Norris completes this glorious, extensively illustrated book with a comprehensive gazetteer.
      Welsh Castles at War
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        Welsh Castles at War
        John Norris
        Manufacturer: Tempus Publishing
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback
        ASIN: B000K3Y6AC

        Winning the Long War: Lessons from the Cold War for Defeating Terrorism and Preserving Freedom
        Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
        • Essential reading about America's defense
        • A Superficial and Dangerous Perspective on Terrorism
        • The Legacy Lives on
        Winning the Long War: Lessons from the Cold War for Defeating Terrorism and Preserving Freedom
        James Jay Carafano , and Paul Rosenzweig
        Manufacturer: Heritage Books
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover

        GeneralGeneral | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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        ASIN: 0974366544

        Product Description

        In Winning the Long War, experts on homeland security, civil liberties, and economics examine current U.S. policy and map out a long-term national strategy for the war on terrorism. Like the brilliant policy of containment articulated by the late George F. Kennan during the Cold War, this strategy balances prudent military and security meansures with the need to protect civil liberties and maintain continued economic growth.

        Customer Reviews:

        5 out of 5 stars Essential reading about America's defense.......2007-01-02

        It has become apparent that a revival of fundamental Islam has unleashed Jihad inspired terrorism that will not be defeated in the short term. The al Qaeda types are planning for a 50 to 100 year war to establish their caliphate, so unless we can find a fast path to victory we can expect them to continue their nefarious activities for at least our lifetimes. The bloody trail of conquest, raids, booty and slave taking inspired by Mohammad in the 620s continued for over a thousand years. One can only hope its revival is much shorter lived. It is not wise however to expect a short engagement with an enemy who espouses and believes in the support of Allah and his guarantee of magnificent rewards for any who fall during Jihad.

        In the West we have been slow to identify the enemy and even slower to appreciate the ugly truth that this war is likely to be very long. It is therefore encouraging to see more thinkers attempt to set out a strategy for a very long term struggle.

        Carafano and Rosenzweig take inspiration from George Keenan's February 22, 1946 long telegram in which he laid out the character of our Soviet enemies and suggested the approach that was eventually used with varying success by 7 Presidents to produce a stalemate that President Reagan was able to move over to success during his successors term.

        The authors emphasize the importance of taking the war to the enemy. Especially in a war of clandestine and suicide operations a good defense is no substitute for a consistent offense.

        They continually emphasize the importance of economic growth so that the engagements of the war do not weaken, but in fact strengthen over time. At the present time this has caused some bitter disagreements over troop strength in Iraq, the size of our army, the Bush tax rate reductions and many other maters that Carafano and Rosenzweig consider important to the strength of our country for the long war. They treat tax reform and elimination of low priority programs as essential to the long war effort.

        The 9/11 terrorists were just one operational team from groups networked across 60 countries. They defeated a group of U.S. intelligence organizations that were not permitted to even communicate across Washington. It is apparent that a major rebuild of our intelligence apparatus around the world will be critical to winning a long war. Intelligence may be costly, but warfare is more expensive yet. One of the major efforts of the Eisenhower administration was to gain the maximum possible information on Soviet capabilities so we did not spend our resources foolishly. Our initial efforts at homeland protection may well have represented inefficient flailing - because we knew so little about the motivations of the enemy and their capabilities.

        The authors also spend time considering the potential effect on our laws and warn against sacrificing our constitutional rights to gain some additional security. They include a careful review the Patriot act.

        Free trade is critical to our economic strength. The authors consider it a very important defense issue.

        Winning the war of ideas will be the cornerstone on which a safer world can be established. Traditional Islam has so many points at which it is at war with human rights that were it not accorded deference as a religious institution it would be laughed out of the company of thinking people. Unfortunately it serves as a religious belief system for as many as 1.2 billion people. We are going to have to lose our deferential attitude toward it as a religion and treat it's political aspects with the skeptical attitude that political concepts deserve.

        Contains 16 appendices that need to be on the bookshelf of every auditor of our war effort.

        In addition of the principal authors the following researchers at the Heritage Foundation contributed portions of this wide ranging book: Dr. Ariel Cohen, Sara F. Cooper, Dr. Daniel Mitchell, Brian Riedel, and Baker Spring.

        While I do not agree with every suggestion the authors make, they have raised a great number of issues that must be addressed if the West is to survive. This book deserves a much larger readership. I would not take anyone who pretends to offer advice on the "war on terror" seriously unless they address the questions discussed in this book.

        1 out of 5 stars A Superficial and Dangerous Perspective on Terrorism.......2006-08-15

        Carafano gives us "deep insights" such as complacency only allows the forces of evil (use of that pejorative term immediately almost precludes understanding terrorists' motives - essential to progress) to grow, the U.S. must focus its resources on terrorism, Congress must streamline oversight of Homeland Security (they could start by forcing the appointment of someone in charge with experience and demonstrated competence), long wars require strong economies (ours is being steadily weakened by huge trade and government deficits, and per capita "defense," healthcare, and education spending far exceeding any other nation), etc.

        What is clearly missing (and fatal to the book's value) is a recognition that "terrorists" just might have some valid complaints (American colonists were also considered terrorists), and that the reason they don't fight us out in the open is that such an approach would be suicidal (again, the example of early Americans vs. the British).

        Bottom Line: The War on Terror will continue until the U.S. gives up (due to increasing economic weakness) or addresses terrorists' primary motivations - Israel's taking of Palestinian (and other) land and abuse of Palestinians, America's almost unqualified support for Israel, America's invasion of Iraq, and our continual meddling in the mid-East.

        5 out of 5 stars The Legacy Lives on.......2005-03-19

        Now that the author of the Long Telegram, George Kennan, has died there may be a tendancy to wonder if anyone is taking such a lofty worldview in our troubled times. By reading this well reasoned and enlighted book by two men who obviously were writing from the passion of their positions and the love of justice and what is right, I think we needn't worry.

        In the first chapter they remind us that it is easy to win a war and lose everything else. The lessons taught by the Cold War were simple. The fundamentals remain a sound security, economic growth, a strong civil society, and a willingness to engage in a public battle of ideas. It takes time. Now is the time to get it right.The rest of the book is about getting it right.

        In the name of fighting terrorism it is all too easy begin abusing civil liberities left and right. In Chapter 3, Between Liberty and Order, and Chapter 4, After the Patriot Act, the authors address how liberties and the war on terrorism can both be in balance.

        Trade and the war of ideas are not forgotten in the book. Other contributers, all specialists in their respective fields, weigh in on our government's foriegn poicy. Kennan in an interview with the New York Review of Books in 1999 had his view, "This whole tendancy to see ourselves as the center of political enlightenment and as teachers to a great part of the rest of the world stikes me as unthought-through. I would like to see our government gradually withdraw from its public advocacy of democracy and human rights."

        The authors may not agree with everything that Kennon stands for but they think "outside the box" as he did. The epilogue is A New (Shorter)Long Telegram--Strategy for a New Century. This is a policy for our new war. The War against Terrorism and tyranny from within our own government. I for one am comforted to know that we still have men of vision and passion who will fight for our rights and for justice and the American Way.
        Winning the Long War: Lessons from the Cold War for Defeating Terrorism and Preserving Freedom.(Book Review) : An article from: Joint Force Quarterly
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          Winning the Long War: Lessons from the Cold War for Defeating Terrorism and Preserving Freedom.(Book Review) : An article from: Joint Force Quarterly
          Thomas G. Mahnken
          Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Digital

          GeneralGeneral | Science | Subjects | Books
          TerrorismTerrorism | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
          Science & TechnologyScience & Technology | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
          ASIN: B000EWBFVC
          Release Date: 2006-03-07

          Book Description

          This digital document is an article from Joint Force Quarterly, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2006. The length of the article is 896 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: Winning the Long War: Lessons from the Cold War for Defeating Terrorism and Preserving Freedom.(Book Review)
          Author: Thomas G. Mahnken
          Publication: Joint Force Quarterly (Magazine/Journal)
          Date: January 1, 2006
          Publisher: Thomson Gale
          Issue: 40 Page: 94(2)

          Article Type: Book Review

          Distributed by Thomson Gale

          The Cape Cod national Seashore: A Landmark Alliance (Experiments in Bioregionalism)
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            The Cape Cod national Seashore: A Landmark Alliance (Experiments in Bioregionalism)
            Charles H. W. Foster
            Manufacturer: Tufts
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Paperback

            GeneralGeneral | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
            NortheastNortheast | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
            Living on the LandLiving on the Land | Ecology | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books | Architecture | Hunting & Fishing
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            EcologyEcology | Biological Sciences | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
            GeneralGeneral | Ecology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
            ASIN: 0874513464
            Cape Cod National Seashore:  a landmark alliance
            Average customer rating: Not rated
              Cape Cod National Seashore: a landmark alliance
              Charles H. W. Foster
              Manufacturer: See notes
              ProductGroup: Book
              Binding: Paperback
              ASIN: B000SWVE5A

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