Caye To Success

Customer Reviews:

A positive and optimistic story.......2004-03-08

Caye To Success is Matt Gomoll's solid biography of Antonio Lorenzo Vega Sr. of Caye Caulker, Belize. Presented here is the remarkable success story of a Belizean leader who brought himself out of poverty through hard work at sea, his leadership in bringing success to his village, the dramatic twists that deprived him of his career, and his ultimate self-renewal as the manager of a hotel. A positive and optimistic story of can-do entrepreneurial spirit, Caye To Success is an inspiring biography and a highly recommended read.

Caye Caulker: Economic Success in Belizean Fishing Village (Wvss in Social, Political and Economic Development)

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Caye Caulker: Economic Success in Belizean Fishing Village (Wvss in Social, Political and Economic Development)
Anne Sutherland
Manufacturer: Westview Pr (Short Disc)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Production & Operations | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0813372836

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WONDERFUL !

Mantle the Amazing

His Most Heroic Role Ever

MICKEY MANTLE WAS A GREAT

A remarkable look inside the personal life of The Mick

A Hero All His Life: Merlyn, Mickey Jr., David, and Dan Mantle : A Memoir by the Mantle Family
Merlyn Mantle , Mickey E. Mantle , David Mantle , and Dan Mantle
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Biographies | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Baseball | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son

ASIN: 0060183632

Customer Reviews:

WONDERFUL !.......2004-07-01

This is a truly moving, inspirational and heartrendering book. It reads like a Greek Tragedy, but is so real because the Authors were there. Written by Mickey's wife Merlyn, and his 3 surviving sons, it is by far the most honest work regarding Mickey. This book is so much more important that that trashy, tabloid like "Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son" by Tony Castro, that I would suggest you never bother with that thing. Besides, Castro took most of his book directly from this one.

This story is also one of the finest studies of the dysfunction in an alcoholic family, with all the roles being lived out and understood by the participants. These are real, caring and heroic people, not because of baseball, but because they became winners in life by facing their problems together. A great, great book!

Mantle the Amazing.......2003-05-02

Mickey Mantle's wife, Merlyn, and their sons tell the unique and inspirational story of their very separate, often harrowing private lives with the husband and father that was there for them through their lives before cancer took him away. Merlyn and the boys discuss how the effects of alcohol and the spotlight of fame play a role on him and how they all came to be. Merlyn talks about Mickey Mantle the most because they were the closest, and she discusses what she went through as a wife and as a mother. The boys tell their vivid stories of what they can remember while the father was emotionally and physically absent. The dexterous Mickey, played ball everyday and is still a very well-known name in the histroy of baseball. This story explains his lief and career while alcohol impacted himself physically, hi gamily, and his life mentally. It also touches base on his career achievements and how he became the amazing Mickey Mantle.

His Most Heroic Role Ever.......1999-03-31

I have read several books on Mickey Mantle and this one is one of the best. Mickey's story is one of the best in baseball and he remains one of the most popular players in history. This book is an excellent look at the effects of fame and alcohol on the family and how the family members came to grips with things. The stories presented here are told by his wife Merlyn and his sons. Through his family, Mickey's story lives on and he continues to inspire us.

MICKEY MANTLE WAS A GREAT.......1999-02-13

I'm only 13, and Mickey Mantle is my favorite baseball player to live. I have read about 6 books on the "Commerce Comet" and this book is exceptional. In the first chapter the Mick talks about his alchohol abuse. Then Marilyn talks about her highschool sweetheart. This is a great book.

A remarkable look inside the personal life of The Mick.......1998-11-24

I have read most of the books written by Mickey and when I picked this one up I was not quite ready for it's contents. The first chapter, written by Mickey himself address his views on his alcoholism and subsequent recovery.

The following chapters by Merlyn and one by each of his surviving sons was indeed an eye openner into his private life. A lot of information I had not known before was given first hand by his family members.

It took a great deal of courage on their parts to put this book into print and although their lives were not what we might have imagined, it still showed Mick's heart felt side and the love he held for his family and the respect and love they hold for an American Icon.

Customer Reviews:

The Mantle Family Reveals Its Problems To Help Others.......2000-10-21

If you are looking for a book on the baseball exploits of Mickey Mantle try another book. Mickey, his wife, and sons reveal the difficulties they endured as they each battled alcohol addiction which led to numerous other problems in their lives. It may seem like a depressing book, but the story is told in a way that other families might avoid the pitfalls the Mantle family suffered. They are to be commended for their candidness.

A true touching portrait of one of america's greatest heroes.......1998-01-31

After reading this book on Mickey Mantle, it showed all of us what a true hero he really was. Yes there were the incidents of alcohol and unfaithfulness with his wife, but the ability to see his wrongs and his struggle to correct those earlier problems would make anyone root for this midwest small town icon.

Audio-Hero All His Life, a Memoir By the Mantle Family

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Audio-Hero All His Life, a Memoir By the Mantle Family

Manufacturer: Harper Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: B000I5NGX0

A Hero All His Life: A Memoir by the Mantle Family

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A Hero All His Life: A Memoir by the Mantle Family
Merlyn, Mickey Mantle, David Mantle, Dan Mantle and Mickey Herskowi Mantle
Manufacturer: Harper
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GR9P6W

A Hero All His Life: Merlyn, Mickey Jr., David, and Dan Mantle A Memoir by the Mantle Family

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A Hero All His Life: Merlyn, Mickey Jr., David, and Dan Mantle A Memoir by the Mantle Family
Merlyn; Mantle, Mickey E.; Mantle, David; Mantle, Daniel Mantle
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OE68L2

Book Description

Get Your Film Funded: Film Finance Guide is an exhaustive roadmap to film funding structures and opportunities in the UK. This is an essential reference guide for producers and filmmakers raising finance at any level. Ranging from low-budget short film schemes to multi-million pound international co-productions. Guidelines and eligibility criteria for over two-hundred awards are listed, alongside in-depth articles, advice and over fifty case studies, interviews and tips from financiers.

Book Description

From board games to beauty pageants, a smart, witty, pop-culture history of the perilous path to achieving the feminine ideal.

Deluged by persuasive advertisements and meticulous (though often misguided) advice experts, women from the 1940s to the 1970s were coaxed to "think pink" when they thought of what it meant to be a woman. Attaining feminine perfection meant conforming to a mythical standard, one that would come wrapped in an adorable pink package, if those cunning marketers were to be believed. With wise humor and a savvy eye for curious, absurd, and at times wildly funny period artifacts, Lynn Peril gathers here the memorabilia of the era —from kitschy board games and lunch boxes to outdated advice books and health pamphlets—and reminds us how media messages have long endeavored to shape women's behavior and self-image, with varying degrees of success.

Vividly illustrated with photographs of vintage paraphernalia, this entertaining social history revisits the nostalgic past, but only to offer a refreshing message to women who lived through those years as well as those who are coming of age now. 8 pages of color, 45 black-and-white illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

I laughed, I cried, I rinsed, lathered and repeated.......2005-11-15

I happened to just pick this off the shelf at Borders when just doing a browse, as a collector of "femorabilia" it really stood out. After a quick look, the faithful consumer in me just HAD to have this book. I have a collection of cheesy "nurse in love" 1960's romance novels, old health textbooks, Barbies, you name it- but I never really thoroughly thought about all of it (or why I was so strangely attracted to it) until I read this book.

The writing style is great- it moves at a quick pace and I had trouble putting it down. You do get glossy pictures in the middle, and vintage ads are always fun. But the meat of this book shows just how twisted the image of "femininity" (and in one chapter, masculinity) is in our media and society. It illustrates very clearly that while we have come a long way, "pink think" is still alive and sashaying. Passages reminded me of personal weird "celebrations of your womanhood" that were fed to me, like in sex ed in the 5th grade they made getting your period sound like an amazing, wonderful thing. Me and my friends literally couldn't wait, and even said things like "I hope mine is a week long, and not just three days!"
It's embarrassing now, but I was thoroughly brainwashed and naturally pretty bummed out when menstruation wasn't like a party in my pants. I also remember having those Mall Madness and boyfriend board games as a girl (for the author it was Mystery Date), which I played years before I had much interest in guys or my credit rating.

This book is incredibly smart, interesting, surprisingly non-judegmental, and as fun as it is scary. Ranging from the hilarity of a "Lady" marketed pink train set to the horrors of ads for douche made from LYSOL, this book will keep your attention and keep you thinking long after you finish it. Highly recommended to all age groups.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll scream, you'll LEARN!!.......2005-05-17

This was great. Terribly entertaining and very informative as well. Lynn Peril obviously has a passion for this stuff, and her research is quite extensive. I thought that the information was presented in a very manageable and clever way. I only wish most of the non-fiction I read in college was this good while still teaching me things. Should be required reading for EVERYONE! I loved her chapter at the end about how, sadly, we are none too far away from this type of thinking, with several examples, such as "The Rules." It just made me very sad and angry at times, while laughing out loud or cringing in horror at others. My roommates and I had a grand time taking the 1947 Ladies Home Journal quiz to find out if we should look for a job or a husband. (One of the instant "job" qualifiers was if you were over 26 years old or "above average height")

Fun Read On Womens History...How Far Have Wein Really Come??.......2005-03-04

When I first saw Pink Think at Barnes and Noble I thought that it was misplaced in the women's studies section as it really did not look like a book with a feminist glance.
BOY WAS I WRONG!!! I wound up actually taking a look at it one day and could not leave the store without it!!!
I have always been intrigued by women's history. I am not into cooking or sewing or cleaning by any means to be honest. However I find that the stuff that dates back in time regarding those issues really shed light into the lives that women of the time would have lead. Its really hard to find that kind of information and Lynn Peril did a really good job at not only compiling the stuff that she found, but presenting it in an easy to read fashion.
I must admit as I read the stuff in the book I really could not help but wonder: how far have we really come?? When I think of womens magazines, women's fiction, ivillage and the stuff that we market towards teen girls.
Lynn Peril has a fun Pink Think website that has links to other fun information on these kind of historical facts. A few other books I would highly recommend if you are into these historical view on women are: The Way We Never Were by Stephanie Coontz as well as From Front Porch to Backseat by Beth Bailey.

Great for reference, horrible otherwise.......2005-01-06

This book was witty and a great reference for all things mid-century and female-oriented, but beyond that wasn't much of anything. Homosexuality is never really covered in regards to women and doesn't really analyze or comment on things or even try to understand the why behind it: the book is just sarcastic in a rather juvenile sense. The best part of the whole book is when Peril indicts Betty Friedan for being a part of the pink think problem.

I actually got the impression from the book that if you happen to be a contemporary female who is feminine, you're evil. And that is sad.

FABULOUS!.......2004-06-13

This book is fantastic. For anyone interested in gender studies, women's studies, or just 50's/60's culture, this book is just great. I had read Peril's column in Bitch magazine and decided to get her book. (the column is similar to this book) I couldn't believe all of the amazing and frightening tidbits of female life in the 50s... like Lysol being sold as a douching product?? And even more disturbing was the death toll from using Lysol in such a capacity. More upsetting still was the company's reaction to these women's deaths - the women had failed to properly dilute the product and, therfore, caused their own deaths. Most of the book is not so disturbing. In fact, most of it is really charming. The kind of stuff that makes you look at bullet bras, cardigans, saddle shoes, and other icons of 50s femininity and think "wow, I've got it pretty good." A great read if not for academic purposes then for simple head-shaking humor.

Customer Reviews:

Furniture projects for the rest of us........2000-03-30

These are good representations of furniture used by average Americans during times past. Shea stays away from 'high style' pieces and deliberatly picks plain furniture that is either taken directly from museum pieces or 'new' designs based on this style. Everything from craft projects to a complete bedroom suite.

The author is quick to point out that the best wood for most of these projects is pine, or native North American hardwoods. This is in keeping with the origin of these pieces - country workshops far away from the fashion centers of the day, and even further from the mahogany importers.

Includes: A short history lesson, lots of line drawings, 'how-to' sections on building and finishing with hand and power tools, and a section on how to replicate a complete colonial room.

Book Description

Teens are targeted as consumers more and more. This gives them tremendous influence, but it also sets them up to be taken advantage of. "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Money for Teens" teaches them how to get money, save and invest it, budget it, spend it wisely, and keep track of it. Whether they're saving for their first car, trying to make sense of a checking account statement, or trying to establish a good credit history, this guide has solid information and teen-tested tips.

Customer Reviews:

Definitely 5 stars!.......2001-11-24

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Money for Teens by Susan Shelly is really easy to understand especially for teens. Lots of useful tips on how to earn, save and spend money. Thumbs up to this great book that will continue to help teens out there to get a head start and be financially healthy!

This Book is Definitely NOT for the Idiot!.......2001-03-21

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Money for Teens by Susan Shelly is a book for people who want to take control of their money. It presents information on topics such as why money is so important in our society, how one can go about earning money, and other topics such as budgeting, debt and investing. The author provides concrete information that is beneficial for any teen who wants to become familiar with the basics of financial management. Shelly writes on the level of a teen-ager, short and to the point. She leaves out the extra, useless information that would cause narcolepsy in most of today's teenaged population. Shelly goes into detail about how to "make your money work for you." She talks about the benefits and disadvantages of different types of savings accounts, checking accounts, and money market accounts. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Money for Teens is a great book for anybody who wants to be more financially savvy. The essential information it provides will send any teen on his or her way to a financially successful future.

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One of the best so far to capture what life in Sicily is like!

Gorgeous Writing, This Book Will Help You Understand Sicily

Now I understand my father.

Fantastic!

Fascinating

Blood Washes Blood: A True Story of Love, Murder, and Redemption Under the Sicilian Sun
Frank Viviano
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Murder & Mayhem | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
True Crime | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Italy | Europe | Travel | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Midnight in Sicily

The Stone Boudoir: Travels through the Hidden Villages of Sicily

Unto the Daughters: The Legacy of an Honor Killing in a Sicilian-American Family

On Persephone's Island: A Sicilian Journal

Indecent Secrets: The Infamous Murri Murder Affair

ASIN: 0671041592

Book Description

Against the sweeping backdrop of western Sicily, in a riveting seven-year quest, Frank Viviano pieces together his own harrowing ancestral history of betrayal and redemption. His take is haunted, from its violent opening to its stunning climax, by an ancient Sicilian proverb, Lu sangu lava lu sangu, "Blood washes blood": the torrent of unforgiving vengeance that flows from an unforgivable offense.

Viviano's great-great grandfather was a legendary bandit who traveled the countryside of Sicily by night in the robes of a friar and was known as "the Monk." His brutal murder has remained shrouded in mystery for four generations. Until now.

Populated by an extraordinary cast of nineteenth-century Robin Hood brigands and twentieth-century underworld bosses, here is a true-life Godfather, in which past and present finally merge into a single story with a shattering climax that ultimately changes the way the author views his immigrant family's complex legacy -- and himself.

Amazon.com

In 1995, two years after his grandfather whispered the name of his great-great-grandfather's killer to him, Frank Viviano visited Sicily to learn the events that shaped his namesake's life and strongly influenced his own. Nicknamed "The Monk" for the garments he wore while robbing the rich and bureaucratic, Viviano's ancestor left little for the experienced foreign correspondent to follow. Plus, the slow-jolt journey of Sicilian lifestyles often ended in polite reticence or remarkable disorganization; even rudimentary information, such as his predecessor's gravesite, was lost. In a "morbid tidying up," Mussolini's local officials removed the remains of all pre-Fascists: "In their zeal to launch the new millennium, the fascisti hadn't bothered to keep lists of the disinterred. The old tombstones were dumped into the sea, next to the limestone blocks that the fishermen referred to as 'Atlantis.'"

In between assignments in Bosnia and the West Bank, Viviano learned to take a less direct approach. Guided by stories told to him in his childhood by his grandmother, he demystifies the region's bandit-rebel history, its current life under the sistema, and its creation of the modern Italian mafia. Viviano was already aware of his family's supposed connections to the mafia, causing him to look more carefully at the times that produced these men. In the process, he began to take a closer look at his own personal life:

The dramatic narrative of ancestry is not erased by immigration. It is driven into a clandestine realm where setting and characters are only dimly recalled, or transformed into fairy-tale heroes and villains in the landscape of fable. The Monk, in this sense, had withdrawn into my grandparents' tales and the isolated recesses of my imagination, into hidden canyons where I could not directly confront him.

Suspenseful and well balanced, Blood Washes Blood is an exciting and thoughtful page-turner, a remarkable story of family, mystery, and friendship. Viviano's writing is at its best when he follows the complicated trail of his family's past, and falters only slightly when he attempts to imagine his ancestor's life. --Karin Rosman

Customer Reviews:

One of the best so far to capture what life in Sicily is like!.......2007-07-23

My own maternal Grandparents emigrated from Terrasini, Sicily as children in the early 1900's, and we Grandchildren heard some of the stories related in BLOOD WASHES BLOOD when growing up in St. Louis, Missouri. Terrasini in the 19th Century was only a town of a little over 2,000 people (Today it has about 10,000), and 19 families make up ~ 90% of the population. My Mother's relatives had lived there for over two centuries. Some of our family have been fortunate enough to return there on vacations, and my husband and I have visited twice in the last 3 years (Sicily is very much like Southern California where we live). The Viviano Family (St. Louis branch) are related to the DiMercurio's in St. Louis - my Mother's relatives.

Having taken a course in Sicilian Studies under the auspices of the University of California, I was already familiar with the feudal and absolute structure of Sicily's ruling class up to the late 19th Century. Frank Viviano does a terrific job of bringing that life to light, as well as the confining and demeaning influence of the Mafia and Sicily's current economic woes. Unemployment in Palermo Province still sits around 20% even in these most prosperous times. I did not realize that Sicily was under martial law, at least, twice after the reunification of Italy because of the widespread political unrest, resulting in many emigrants - including my Great-Grandparents and Grandparents - literally escaping from the island under false pretenses to reach an Italians or other port where they could get a ship to the USA without a valid exit visa. I think Frank Viviano does a great job describing the impact of the reunification effort on Sicilians and even mentions the atrocity of Partinico, although he merely alludes to the torture and cannibalism that occured there so near to lovely Terrasini. A people can only withstand oppression for so long, then...

By the end of the book, I felt that Frank Viviano had not only solved a family mystery but came to grips with some aspects of his own life that became clearer. It is no surprise that he is an award-winning journalist. If you are a reader and have not visited Sicily, Danilo Dolci's SICILIAN LIVES brings 20th Century Sicilian culture/norms to life, even if it does stop at the early 1980's. So much has changed in Sicily for the better as we noted when we were there in 2005, but the inherent Sicilian nature is certainly portrayed accurately in this gem.

Gorgeous Writing, This Book Will Help You Understand Sicily.......2007-04-12

I read this book when in first came out five years ago. For work and pleasure, I have probably read over 100 books about Italy in the intervening years and this book is still one of the best. I just re-read the first page and got chills. The writing is eloquent, the story incredible (and all the more so because it is true) and the sense of place Viviano evokes is so compelling. If you want to understand Sicily, the history of rural Italy, the confusing legacy of the Old World for many Italian-Americans, read this book. If you just want to read a great piece of narrative non-fiction, read this book. I'm planning on re-reading it.

Now I understand my father........2005-09-11

My sister gave all of us a copy of this book and she said we needed to read it to understand who were are. She was right. My father was born in Palermo and came to the United States at the age of 14. He was a wonderful family man who loved his wife of 58yrs and his 4 daughters. But, he was a complicated man and at times, very secretive. Now I understand. He told us of his transition into the American life and I thought he was embellishing because he was a great story teller, but now I understand the hardships, the backbreaking work, and the joys of providing for his family. After reading this book, I am even prouder to say when asked, "No, I'm not Italian-American, I am Sicilian-American."

Fantastic!.......2004-08-08

I highly recommend Blood Washes Blood. While it may be a bit dark and heavy for a summer read, it is definitely worth any time or money spent in the endeavor.
Mr. Viviano has a gift with non-fiction unlike any other writer of this genre I have ever read. His story unfolds like a novel, fascinating in its characters and settings and yet all the more immediate because it is true.
Mr. Viviano traces his family's history and his own journey of self-discovery through the winding streets of Sicily, uncovering a few secrets and finding even more along the way.
At times his prose is almost too real, too painful and private, but it creates an intense bond with the reader.
In short, don't pick up this book expecting a quick read. Yes, it is riveting, but at times a little overwhelming as well. The highest praise I can give Blood Washes Blood was that it left me with plenty to think about once it was finished, and a lingering interest in Sicily and its history.
Mr. Vivano has had articles recently in publications such as National Geographic, and I highly recommend readers to search out more of his work. You won't be disappointed.

Fascinating.......2003-07-19

Having come of age in St. Louis, and marrying into a Sicilian American family, all the "old stories" and legends were the makings for any family get together. Blood Washes Blood brought so many of the old stories to life and was even more compelling to read than The Godfather because it was a family with a familiar name.

On his deathbed, Frank Viviano's grandfather whispers an old family secret to him. The secret leads Mr. Vivano, back to Sicily and to a search for answers that seem to elude him. His curiosity as a foreign correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle well prepares him to do the research and fuel his interest in exploring what happened to the great grandfather known as The Monk.

My husband and his brothers recently traveled to Sicily and spent several days in Terrasini and Cinisi looking into old records of their ancestors. Unfortunately their trip took place before we discovered Blood Washes Blood. Mr. Viviano turns the old stories into living history. Thanks for the book, our family all enjoyed reading it.

Book Description

From ink to sailing ships, a biography of the essential tree. "A dazzling book, full of knowledge and rare wisdom, too."—Thomas Pakenham, author of Remarkable Trees of the World

Professional arborist and award-winning nature writer William Bryant Logan deftly relates the delightful history of the reciprocal relationship between humans and oak trees since time immemorial—a profound link that has almost been forgotten. From the ink of Bach's cantatas, to the first boat to reach the New World, to the wagon, the barrel, and the sword, oak trees have been a constant presence throughout our history. In fact, civilization prospered where oaks grew, and for centuries these supremely adaptable, generous trees have supported humankind in nearly every facet of life. "With an unabashed enthusiasm for his subject" (Carol Haggas, Booklist) Logan combines science, philosophy, spirituality, and history with a contagious curiosity about why the natural world works the way it does. At once humorous and reverent, "this splendid acknowledgment of a natural marvel" (Publishing News) reintroduces the oak tree so that we might see its vibrant presence throughout our history and our modern world. 30 illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Well-Burnished Love of Knowledge.......2007-05-27

A sweeping traversal of the oak's progress through history side by side with humankind, Logan's book is a far more satisfying essay in ethnobotany than many books aimed at a general audience. His deep knowledge of botany, forest history, and civilization informs every page. His prose is fluid and nuanced, and he interweaves his themes in wholly satisfying fashion.

Read this book through, and it will always be with you.......2007-02-06

This book is most like the "New Yorker" at it's best. Which was when a writer looks at some prosaic part of life and opens his eye wide; then writes about it clearly, with the full power and the real art of a bright and deep understanding of the utter complex beauty of the seemingly simple. Mr Logan, please do more.

Fascinating.......2006-05-05

This is a book that I would have liked to have written myself! It is a wonderful tale about the place of oaks throughout civilization. I found the linking of so many European family names to oaks and other trees very fascinating. The descriptions of the wooden structures, coppicing, early inks, acorns as food, oaks as foundation for many early technologies, and many other details brought a richness to the history of our ancestors and the beginnings of civilization. I live in an oak-hickory region of the eastern U.S., and this book has given me a greater appreciation of our national treasure.

Oaks Compose the Frame of Civilization........2005-11-19

No tree has been more useful to human beings than the oak. In most of the temperate world, oak is the primary, the 'titular tree of the forest.' What is most impressive about the oaks is that you can go from Massachusetts to Mexico City and find them readily available. When all the other trees were cut down to make room for farm fields, some of the oaks were left to make the boundaries.

The PTA uses the oak leaf and acorn as their symbol of strength and ability to endure. There are many different types of oak, like the California white oak, the Valley Oak, the Live Oak in the South; the Angel Oak in North Carolina is a version of the live oak with hollow trunks making it the easiest wood to split and shape. Memory, reason, and skill wove a world of oak. The people understood, valued, and worshipped the tree that was 'their most intimate compannion' and source of much of thier livelihood.

An illustration shows the different acorns, from the Northern Red Oak, Black Jack Oak, Sawtooth Oak, Scarlet & White Oaks, and the Holm Oak. The first oak was discovered in Thailand; sine then, they have spread to Europe, Asia, North America, and Mexico. He gives an analogy to the Eiffel Tower and an oak as being their internal structures. Eiffel used a skeleton of iron with an empty space to create a form similar to the sixty-five-million-year history of the oaks. The Eiffel Tower is one large skeltal iron cone. The mature oak is composed of hundreds and hundreds of cones from the roots, trunk, to the branches. They are similar in strength and strength, and yet dissimilar as to the reason for their being on this earth.

William Bryant Logan has previously written DIRT: THE ECSTATIC SKIN OF THE EARTH. "A great tree infuses empty space with memory and turns it into a place." On a summer day, it is up to ten degrees cooler in the shade of a great oak. They were removed from the Whittle Compound which the U.S. Govt. now calls their own because of the roots, I was told, and after a big hullaboloo from some of the citizens, replaced with the dogwood. This town does not like trees or birds, and more and more asphalt pavement is replacing the cooling branches of trees which create oxygen. Thanks to my years of volunteer work for the PTA, I have grown to appreciate the tall, strong Oak tree for all it means to such a magnificent organization.

recommended.......2005-08-14

i found this book well written, easy to read and full of interesting aspects. i must admit that the section on using oak to build with that got into the details of cuts and joints was a bit hard to follow but all in all i now understand and appreciate the value and importance of the oak to civilization. so i encourage and recommend this very enjoyable book.

Average customer rating:

Oak the Frame of Civilization
Logan William Bryant
Manufacturer: W.W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UF5SPW

Book Description

"Small's commentaries are graceful, informative, and seasoned by a very deep knowledge of Tongan culture. This book includes one of the sanest and most convincing arguments that I have read for experimentation in the writing of ethnography, which is supported by the text itself as an exemplar of a modest, theoretically unpretentious experiment that works very well indeed."--George E. Marcus, Rice University

"While a few Californians may be aware of the Tongan immigrant population in their midst, most Americans are unaware that the United States is a major terminus for the people of Tonga, an island nation in the South Pacific. Small examines Tongan migration to the United States in a 'transnational' perspective, stressing that many of the new migrant populations seem successfully to manage dual lives, in both the old country and the new. To that end, she describes life in contemporary Tongan communities and in U.S. settings."--Library Journal

This book documents the momentous social phenomena of mass migration from agricultural ex-colonies and ex-protectorates to the industrial world. Cathy A. Small provides the poignant perspective of one extended family and one village in the Kingdom of Tonga, an independent island nation in the South Pacific which has lost one third of its population to migration since the mid-1960s.

Moving between Tonga and California, Small chronicles the experiences of a family from the village of 'Olunga. Some members stayed and some migrated to California, in successive waves in the 1960s-1990s. Through their lives, she presents a striking picture of Tongan culture in the United States. Returning to 'Olunga with family members and their American-born children, Small shows what happened to village life and to kin relationships thirty years after migration began.

Customer Reviews:

WONDERFUL!.......2005-12-07

This book is so personal, yet anthropological. It gives a great insight to Tongan culture. I had to read it for an anthropology class, and found it quite enjoyable! I recommend it. The end is especially touching.

boring.......2003-12-28

What a boring book this is. i have always felt like falling asleep. The whole book just keep talking about the same point that i have already known. But the way the story is told just like it's a surpring fact. i don't understand why this book is worth reading and interesting. i think it's so boring. What is interesting is he spent such a long time wrting a boring book.

Nofo'a.......2000-07-26

Cathy Small has intimate knowledgeable of the culture and people of which she writes. She presents a very problematic but accurate picture of a culture that has emigrated from its source and roots in search of income and opportunity in western cultures. An ethnographical response is natural to this topic because it reads smoothly and allows for humanization of the topic.

Da Bomb.......2000-04-28

It's hella good for 2nd adn 3rd generations to learn about their culture and history.

A book that informs and also is a helluva good read........1998-01-20

I highly recommend Voyages to anyone who cares about people and families. It's amazing how a non-fiction book about Tongans living here in the US or in their own country can be so interesting to read. But it is! That's because the author helps us see these recent immigrants to the US as people-in fact, as people very much like those of us whose families came here a longer time ago. It even helped me to better understand what motivated my own family to come here a century ago. The book is not technical at all. It is written in style and language that is accessible to everyone.

Migrants or immigrants seem to be on everybody's mind these days. Mostly we are led to think of them as a group of "others" who we need to regulate and be suspicious of. This book is important because Small draws us away from this kind of distancing and helps us to understand and be sensitive to the individuals. One can imagine relating to these people-perhaps because Small does and we can relate to her.

Since reading it, I find myself seeing and hearing the flow of foreign languages in airports and restaurants, etc. I find myself thinking that these people whom I now am noticing are just like the ones I met in Small's book. That we share a common humanity is a message that we can't hear too often. And Small gives it to us so gently and in such an absorbing way that I think Voyages is a book that should be read very widely.

Average customer rating:
Voyages: from Tongan villages to American suburbs.(Review) (book review): An article from: Oceania
Helen Morton
Manufacturer: University of Sydney
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Mythology | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B00099NRB6
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Oceania, published by University of Sydney on December 1, 1999. The length of the article is 576 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: Voyages: from Tongan villages to American suburbs.(Review) (book review)
Author: Helen Morton
Publication: Oceania (Refereed)
Date: December 1, 1999
Publisher: University of Sydney
Volume: 70 Issue: 2 Page: 189

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:
Voyages: From Tongan Villages to American Suburbs: An article from: Contemporary Pacific
Susan U Philips
Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000B93L42
Release Date: 2005-09-02

Average customer rating:

Poignant

River of Life, Channel of Death: Fish & Dams on the Lower Snake
Keith C. Petersen
Manufacturer: Oregon State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Fish & Sharks | Animals | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
Rivers | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0870714961

Book Description
Keith Petersen's award-winning history of the Lower Snake River dams chronicles the bitter conflict between the Pacific Northwest's most potent symbols-fish and dams. Taking a balanced approach to this contentious issue, Petersen deftly traces the deep historical roots of the current salmon crisis and considers outcomes that have the potential to impact millions of people.
River of Life, Channel of Death tells the story
o of the long struggle to bring navigation to Lewiston, Idaho, and hydropower to a region;
o of the influence of powerful congressional representatives and booster organizations;
o of a clash of cultures, first between Indians and whites and later between environmentalists and developers;
o and of the role of the federal government in Western settlement.
While the dams transformed Lewiston into the farthermost inland seaport in the western United States, they continue to be a subject of controversy in the national debate over the fate of Northwest salmon. In a preface written for this timely new edition, Petersen comments on issues, including dam breaching, that have arisen since his book was first published.
"Historian Keith Petersen has done a superb job of chronicling the achievement of the building of the lower Snake River dams and the natural resource devastation they wrought." -Former Idaho Governor Cecil D. Andrus
"Petersen writes history the way it should be written-free of academic cant and jargon . . . Evocative, eminently readable, River of Life is an important book about one of the West's most timely topics." -Alvin Josephy, Jr., author of The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the West
"Keith Petersen has written a fascinating book of epic sweep. Prodigiously researched, informative, commendably balanced, and exceptionally readable, it is both outstanding history and an eloquent appeal." - LeRoy Ashby, author of Fighting the Odds: The Life of Senator Frank Church
Customer Reviews:

Poignant.......2000-03-01
This book is an extremely well constructed, balanced perspective about the problems with the Lower Snake River dams. The writing is clear and consise, which is crucial when explaining such a complex issue. The author does not use emotional arguments to outrage the reader. Rather, he presents the facts that surround the issue and uses those to draw a well thought out conclusion. We have much to gain by preserving salmon in the Northwest.
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