Advances in Accounting Education Teaching and Curriculum Innovations, Volume 6 (Advances in Accounting Education Teaching and Curriculum Innovations)

Book Description

Advances in Accounting Education is a refereed, academic research annual whose purpose is to help meet the needs of faculty members interested in ways to improve their classroom instruction. We publish thoughtful, well-developed articles that are readable, relevant and reliable. Articles may be either empirical or non-empirical. They emphasize pedagogy, i.e., explaining how faculty members can improve their teaching methods or how accounting units can improve their curricula/programs.

Book Description

Drawing on his experience as historian of astronomy, practicing astrophysicist, and director of Lick Observatory, Donald Osterbrock uncovers a chapter in the history of astronomy by providing the story of the Yerkes Observatory.

"An excellent description of the ups and downs of a major observatory."—Jack Meadows, Nature

"Historians are much indebted to Osterbrock for this new contribution to the fascinating story of twentieth-century American astronomy."—Adriaan Blaauw, Journal for the History of Astronomy

"An important reference about one of the key American observatories of this century."—Woodruff T. Sullivan III, Physics Today

Customer Reviews:

Well written account.......2000-09-10

Yerkes observatory, of the University of Chicago, played a major role in the development of astrophysics in the early 20th century. Though quickly overshadowed by the larger telescopes of Mt. Wilson and Mt. Palomar in California, Yerkes in Wisconsin managed to stay near the forefront of scientific research throughout the 1930's through the 1950's, largely through the efforts of director Otto Struve. Osterbrock's excellent book is largely the story of Struve's success as a director and research leader. Well written and thoroughly documented, this book is an important addition to the history of astronomy in the US.

Book Description

Presents a timely, multifaceted examination of electromagnetic fields, including the physical characteristics of environmental electromagnetic fields, intrinsic biological fields, health-related risks, therapeutic applications, and transduction mechanisms. Examines the signal-to-noise problem of biological effects due to low-intensity electromagnetic fields. Describes the biochemical and biophysical mechanisms of interaction of electromagnetic fields with cells. Proposes a mechanistic chain of causality which links the physical transduction to cellular processes.

Book Description

As both an informational molecule and a catalyst, RNA may hold clues to the emergence of genetic self-replication and the origins of life. The first, 1993 edition of this important work was acclaimed as unique and authoritative. The new edition has been revised, updated, and extended, and offers a completely current perspective on the modern world of RNA and the light it sheds on a prebiotic era perhaps dominated by this extraordinarily versatile molecule. This book is essential reading for everyone interested in the biology of nucleic acids, and is a valuable resource for teaching as well as investigative science.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent primer.......2006-04-29

The title refers to the hypothesis that before there was DNA there was RNA, inhabiting a world in which not only basic synthesis but also the storing of genetic information was the prerogative of RNA. But the book is much more than this: it is a primer on the world of RNA in its many forms. Each chapter is an authoritative essay on a particular aspect of RNA, from riboswitches to the dynamics of RNA folding. Anyone who wants to access current knowledge about how cells function at a biochemical level should read this book; because of the breadth of subject-matter and the caliber of the contributors, even a specialist is likely to find something new and stimulating.

Too often books of this type are badly written and crammed with unexplained jargon; here the text is a masterpiece of clarity and technical terms are carefully introduced and elucidated. A non-specialist can easily pick up this book and, several hours later, emerge with a good conceptual framework in mind.

The only caveat is that today the field of RNA research is moving so quickly that any hardcopy text will quickly fall out of date. The new work on siRNA, for example, is progressing with such speed that the reader will want to supplement this text with some online research of their own in order to come right up-to-date.

Twenty Five Papers Sumarizing Current Research.......2006-01-22

Although it has been a lot of years since RNA was discovered, and even many years since the breakthrough discoveries by Altman and Cech of RNA Catalytic activity, the new discoveries keep coming, and indeed at a faster and increasing rate. I don't know if it has been the intent of this book to be a sort of master journal of the most significant happening in the area, but it seems to have turned out so.

This is the third edition of 'The RNA World' and it has a series of 25 papers produced by what might be called a 'Who's Who' and a 'What's What' of RNA research. The are broken down by categories with the following names:

The Origins of RNA and RNA at the Origin
Building a Functional RNA
Exiting the Ancient RNA World - Synthetases and Ribosomes
Richness of RNA Roles in a Modern RNA World
RNA Continues to Triumph Over DNA
Emerging Tools.

This is a book that any researcher, any laboratory, any organization doing RNA work simply has to have.

Excellent read........2000-04-27

As a second edition, this book is not just an updated version of the original. In fact, it should probably have been called volume 2, instead of second edition. If you have the original, you will want to put this on the shelf next to it. The book covers a great deal in a field that is rapidly moving forward. A must for people interested in what is going on in "the RNA world."

Book Description

'Covers the full range of properties of HTS....belongs on the desk of every scientist and engineer working with HTS.' --MRS Bulletin 'Because of HTSCs potential for a strong impact on business and society, it is important that new and working engineers become knowledgeable in the technology. This book will become an invaluable resource for understanding the fundamental characteristics of the materials and how they can be used.'--from the Foreword by Donald W. Von Dollen, Electric Power Research Institute

High-Temperature Superconductivity: An Introduction

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high TC -SC mrinal

High-Temperature Superconductivity: An Introduction
Gerald Burns
Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0121460908

Book Description

Here is a concise, tutorial overview of the exciting new field of high-temperature superconductivity. This authoritative textbook focuses on topics, experimental results, and theoretical issues that are likely to have lasting value and are readily understandable to upper-level undergraduates and others new to the field. Written primarily from an experimental point of view, the book reviews conventional superconductors and then presents the structure, normal state and superconducting properties, and applications of the new cuprate superconductors. An insightful analysis of critical currents in thin films and wires is included. The book will provide an excellent supplementary text for students taking their first solid state physics course. In addition, all those with a basic knowledge of solid state physics will find the book to be a useful introduction to the field.

Key Features
* Serves as a concise, tutorial introduction to the field
* Requires very little solid state physics background
* Includes problem sets and references to key papers

Customer Reviews:

high TC -SC mrinal.......2003-11-15

I have not reviewed. plz didn't ge t time....later n I need the book.

Introduction to Superconductivity and High-Tc Materials

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Introduction to Superconductivity and High-Tc Materials
Michel Cyrot , and Davor Pavuna
Manufacturer: World Scientific Pub Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

What sets this book apart from others on the introduction to super-conductivity and high-Tc materials is its simple and pragmatic approach. The authors describe all relevant superconducting phenomena and rely on the macroscopic Ginzburg-Landau theory to derive the most important results. Examples are chosen from selected conventional superconductors like NbTi and compared to those of high-Tc materials. The text should be of interest to students and researchers in all branches of science and engineering, with the possible exception of theoretical physicists, who may require a more mathematical approach.

An introduction to cryogenics and superconductivity for junior high/middle school students

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An introduction to cryogenics and superconductivity for junior high/middle school students
Tom Sharp
Manufacturer: Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

An Introduction to Theories of High Temperature Superconductivity (Malvern Physics Series)

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An Introduction to Theories of High Temperature Superconductivity (Malvern Physics Series)
E. R. Pike , and J. H. Jefferson
Manufacturer: Adam Hilger
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Breath of Autumn
Lillian Beckwith
Manufacturer: House of Stratus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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An Island Apart

The Small Party

The Sea for Breakfast

Bruach Blend

The Bay of Strangers (Dales Mystery)

ASIN: 075510384X

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Outlander Series 1-6 By Diana Gabaldon (Outlander, Volumes 1,2,3,4,5,6 Outlander; Dragonfly in Amber; Voyager; The Drums of Autumn; The Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes)
Diana Gabaldon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UG4A1O

Product Description

Series Outlander 1. Cross Stitch (1991) aka Outlander 2. Dragonfly in Amber (1991) 3. Voyager (1993) 4. The Drums of Autumn (1996) 5. The Fiery Cross (2001) 6. A Breath of Snow and Ashes Large Trade Paperback editions

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Breath of Autumn
Lillian Beckwith
Manufacturer: House of Stratus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K1ZMJI

Amazon.com

Some deaths in war are unmistakably heroic, sacrifices for the greater good. Some are merely sacrifices, and whatever good comes from them happens years later, when the events surrounding them have been all but forgotten. Such was the case with the death of Ben Linder, a young American engineer who, fired by ideals of social justice, volunteered to aid the Sandinista revolution that overthrew the corrupt dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua in 1979.

Ben Linder arrived in Nicaragua four years later, where he worked to build a hydroelectric dam that would bring electrical power to the remote northern highlands. As journalist Joan Kruckewitt observes in The Death of Ben Linder, "Nicaragua was to leftists throughout the world in the 1980s what Spain was to progressive Americans in the 1930s," a place where a popular revolution might for once bring peace and even happiness to the downtrodden. Officials in the administration of President Ronald Reagan viewed the matter quite differently, however; Reagan once remarked, seriously, that Nicaraguan tanks were only three days' drive from the American border--yet another Communist threat that lay too close to be countenanced.

Linder was murdered by counterrevolutionaries--the Contras--in 1987, almost certainly with the foreknowledge and perhaps even tacit approval of American intelligence officials. Kruckewitt draws on recently declassified CIA documents and her own field reporting to discover why Linder--and why Sandinista Nicaragua--should have been perceived as being such a threat. She paints a sympathetic portrait of young Linder, too, who, even though idealistic, seems not to have been naive; he recognized that he was in danger, but he pressed on, anyway, to do his part for the revolution, helping build a dam that now provides electricity to former Sandinistas and Contras alike. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

One member of Congress called him “a national hero.” Another, “a legitimate target.” In 1987, the death of the first American killed by the U.S.-backed Nicaraguan Contras ignited a firestorm of protests and debate. In this landmark biography, investigative journalist Joan Kruckewitt tells Ben Linder's story. The book incorporates formerly classified CIA documents that reveal who killed Ben Linder and why.

Customer Reviews:

Just not well written.......2007-05-20

This book doesn't try very hard to hide its leftist agenda, but even if that's what you're looking for, this book is poorly written and an uninteresting read. I got the feeling that a family member or an ex-girlfriend commissioned it. This book sells itself as a persona-based history of that period in Nicaragua. It's weak on facts and gave me the feeling that Linder was too. Maybe it was poorly researched or maybe he really was just clowning around. Depressing on all fronts. Don't bother.

Documents U.S.-sponsored terrorism.......2006-12-17

This book contains page after page of detailed accounts of attacks by the U.S.-bought-and-paid-for FDN-Contras, which can ONLY be described as terrorism: military assaults on agricultural co-ops (with loss of men, women & children and burning of health centers and private homes); assassinations and kidnapping of health workers and teachers (mostly women), as they walk from village to village in the Segovia Mountains; public-transport buses hitting land mines; and dynamiting of food caches and fuel caches. I would like to hear a Reagan fan dispute the veracity of these accounts!

So the U.S. is currently locked into its own "War On Terrorism", while the new "Sec. Def." of the U.S., Robert Gates, played a major role in sponsorship of terrorism, as he was deeply involved in the Iran-Contra affair.

Ben Linder and his great internacionalist cohorts, especially Don Macleay (a genius) and Mira Brown, are real heroes.

And how many times in the U.S. press do you read that Ortega "has renounced his Marxist-Leninst" past? Well, the Sandinistas always advocated a mixed economy and did indeed hold a fair election in 1984. Which is why such an individual as Reagan ever gained popoularity- because of the lies that are spread about.

So, I highly recommend this book as a great source for knowing what it was like to be on the ground in the Segovia Mtns. during Reagan's War.

READ THIS BOOK: KNOW OUR NEW TIMES. LEARN TO ACT FOR PEACE........2006-06-08

Anyone who wishes to understand the current administration's policies needs to read this book. At the time of Linder's assassination, the first George Bush declared his death okay because he was "on the other side". Pat Robertson blessed and funded his killers. The US State Dept. interviewed and released them. Their US controller in Honduras, Negroponte, remains big in the Bush administration and just got the CIA head, Goss, replaced after a personal conflict.

I was in Nicaragua at the time with WItness for Peace working as a photo lab technician and translator. I received the first photographs of Ben's body and tried to recover something from the very poor focussing. I also served as translator as a US journalist from a major New York newspaper did an in depth article on Linder. I am very grateful for this book. We must never forget those times, nor Ben, a courageous, unarmed wtieness for peace and justice and progress. Never forget. Learn the truth. ACT.

Linder Made Bad Choices........2002-09-30

The book is, predictably, awash in Left Wing garbage. I would not waste my time with it if I were you. Linder simply made the choice to align himself with the wrong people, namely, Red Danny Ortega's Communist punks. Ortega was in bed with the USSR, and why anyone would support Ortega's regime is beyond comprehension. President Reagan came along just in the nick of time. Too bad Linder got in the way, but sometimes we make bad choices that are very costly.

Did the CIA kill Ben Linder?.......2000-09-04

If you are one of the many people who risked their lives when they traveled to Central America during the 1980's this book is for you! If you missed that experience but want to know what would motivate someone to risk their lives for peace and social justice by going to Nicaragua and participating in the revolution then, this book is for you!

During the 1980's U.S. foreign policy in Central America was driven by an obsessive effort to overthrow the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. The Sandinistas had overthrown a dictator and were developing a society that put people before profits. They set up free health care, carried out a massive literacy campaign, and gave land to small farmers.

This threat of "a good example" was countered by the U.S. which created a mercenary army (the Contras) who set out to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. Tactics included killing teachers, destroying health clinics, and forcing the Sandinistas to spend more and more of their resources on the military.

Ben Linder was an engineer from Portland who put his life on the line to support the people of Nicaragua. Ben was also a clown and often put on his red nose and clown make-up to juggle and unicycle in poor neighborhoods, where children had never seen a clown. He worked in a small rural village in Northern Nicaragua, maybe 30 miles from my communities sister city of Telpaneca, near the Honduran border. Like the Fresnan's who built a school in Telpaneca during the Contra War, Ben was working on a hydroelectric project trying in a positive way to support the revolution. THE DEATH OF BEN LINDER, THE STORY OF A NORTH AMERICAN IN SANDINISTA NICARAGUA is an insightful book that reminds us why people are willing to put their lives on the line for a cause they believe in. It shows the tragic results of U.S. foreign policy that seeks to make the world safe for corporations seeking to maximize profits.

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Dean Smith wrote a very good book that shows his character.

Dean Smith could probably run for president

Dean Smith

a great look inside the heart and mind of a living legend !!

The Dean of All Coaches

Coach's Life : My Forty Years in College Basketball
Dean E. Smith , John Kilgo , and Sally Jenkins
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Carolina Way : Leadership Lessons from a Life in Coaching

Going Home Again: Roy Williams, the North Carolina Tar Heels, and a Season to Remember

Dean's Domain: The Inside Story of Dean Smith and His College Basketball Empire

Quotable Dean Smith: Words of Insight, Inspiration, and Intense Preparation by and about Dean Smith, the Dean of College Basketball Coaches

Leading with the Heart: Coach K's Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life

ASIN: 037550270X
Release Date: 1999-11-02

Book Description

When Dean Smith retired from the University of North Carolina in 1997 as the most successful college basketball coach in history, he left behind a long list of staggering statistics, including seventeen Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season titles, thirteen ACC tournament championships, twenty-three consecutive NCAA tournament bids, two national championships, NCAA records for twenty-five-win seasons and consecutive trips to the tournament Sweet 16 (thirteen), an Olympic gold medal, and twenty-four first-round NBA draft picks. A special panel assembled by ABC and ESPN named him one of the seven greatest coaches of the twentieth century in any sport. Another measure of Dean Smith's legacy is his profound impact on the lives of the players he coached. From Michael Jordan to the last man on the bench of his least gifted team, Dean Smith's players all credit him with forging in them the values of discipline, respect, camaraderie, and fortitude that laid the groundwork for their success in basketball and in life. Ninety-eight percent of his players earned college degrees, and a high percentage went on to graduate and professional schools.

In A Coach's Life, for the first time, Dean Smith tells the full story of his fabled career. With warmth, humor, and unflinching candor, he gives readers the best seat in the house—the view from the bench—for all of the memorable games, players, coaches, and teams, including North Carolina's fierce rivalries, their darkest hours, and their greatest triumphs. He explains his basketball philosophy and its sources, the origins of his many innovations to the game, and his thoughts on the issues and challenges facing college basketball today. He talks about his roots in family and faith, the source of much of his strength in taking controversial stands on social issues over the years, such as desegregating the Carolina basketball team in the early 1960s. He relates incisive leadership lessons distilled from five decades of showing young men how to win the right way, on the court and off.

A Coach's Life is a book about basketball filled with wisdom about living. To read it is to understand why Dean Smith made everyone around him better, and to see that even in the most competitive of arenas, doing good and doing well can be one and the same thing.

Download Description

For almost forty years, Dean Smith coached the University of North Carolina men's basketball program with unsurpassed success, on the court and in shaping young men's lives. In his long-awaited memoir, he reflects back on the great games, teams, players, strategies and rivalries that defined his career, and explains the philosophy that guided his way. There's a lot more to life than basketball -- though some might beg to differ -- but there's a lot more to basketball than basketball, and this is a book about basketball filled with wisdom about life. Dean Smith insisted that the fundamentals of good basketball are the fundamentals of character -- passion, discipline, focus, selflessness, and responsibility -- and he strove to unite each of his teams in pursuit of those values.

To read this book is to understand why Dean Smith changed the lives of the players he coached, from Michael Jordan, who calls him his second father, and who never played a single NBA game without wearing a pair of UNC basketball shorts under his uniform, to the last man on the bench of his least talented team. Everyone wishes they had a coach like Dean Smith in their lives, and now they will have that chance.

Customer Reviews:

Dean Smith wrote a very good book that shows his character........2006-05-20

26 Jun 2005

Dean Smith wrote a very good book. Humble, and self-effacing. Very worthwhile read. There is a reason why so many people respects him, including Michael Jordan who calls him "Coach" and Phil Jackson "Phil". Aren't that many people with this kind of integrity around any more.

Dean Smith could probably run for president.......2005-12-09

The book "A Coach's Life" written by Dean Smith, is a life story of one the best coaches to have ever stepped on the hardwood. This book starts off talking about Dean's childhood. He tells stories of himself as an athlete, playing football, baseball and basketball.
As a senior, Dean coached the incoming freshman football players the plays. Dean Smith was then offered a head coaching position at Air Force. After the years at Air Force, Dean Smith was offered an assistant coaching position under Frank McGuire. It wasn't long until Dean Smith became coach in 1960-1961.

From then on Dean went on to become one of the greatest coaches to ever coach in college basketball. Dean Smith won 879 wins, has gone to 11 Final Fours, and has won two national championships. Dean Smith went on to coach some of the best players who have played the game of basketball.
The book is structured very well. It starts off by talking about where he comes from, his schooling, his athletic background, then his coaching career and then his overall thoughts on the game and his life.

My overall evaluation is that this is a decent book. I loved the book, but keeping interest in the book would be difficult if you are not interested in basketball or coaching basketball. I have been involved with basketball for almost my entire life, so that it why I enjoyed the book so much. North Carolina has been my favorite college basketball team for as long as I remember.

Dean Smith.......2005-10-14

Dean Smith is now known as one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time. I choose to read this memoir because I have a love for sports. Also, I have a deep passion for college sports because of the atmosphere at every college game I go to. Dean Smith coached one of my favorite colleges in the nation The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dean Smith was just a regular boy that grew up in Topeka, Kansas. His father, Alfred Smith, was a teacher at Emporia High and also the coach of the basketball, football, and track and field teams. His mother, Vesta Edwards, taught all levels, from elementary to college students. She was also the church organist. Life was hard for Dean he lived in a two-bedroom house with one bathroom. He lived with his parents and his sister Joan. They also cared for his Grandmother Edwards who moved in with them when she was seventy-two.
Dean went to college at The University of Kansas. He spent his first year playing freshman football and basketball and selling football programs at the home football games. Nowadays if you are a freshman in basketball and/or football you weren't able to play until you became a sophomore. He played basketball under the legendary Forrest C. "Phog" Allen. He had the utmost respect for him "It was impossible to play for those men and not learn something. (pg. 24)"
Dean Smith would start coaching University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tar Heels in 1961. Dean has created some of the best known coaching strategies of all time; he started the idea of huddling up at the foul line before every foul shot and the "tired signal" that his players would use to tell him when they needed a rest. He used the tired signal because he thought they best knew how long they could stay in for. Smith coached 36 teams at North Carolina and made it to eleven final four's and won two NCAA National Championships. He coached some of the greatest basketball players of all time such as, Michael Jordan (now known as the greatest basketball player of all-time), James Worthy and Vince Carter.
This is one of my favorite books of all-time that I have read. North Carolina is one of my favorite colleges already and Dean Smith is a very famous person from UNC so it basically was perfect for me. Plus to add on to that I have a deep passion for sports and college basketball is one of my favorites. Dean throughout his career has learned a lot from some very smart people but the thing that I think he has learned the most is that if you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything.

a great look inside the heart and mind of a living legend !!.......2003-01-09

college basketball's greatest coach chronicles his life and details the philosophy and principles which governed his life and his approach to basketball. after reading the book you will understand why many consider him not only the greatest college basketball coach,but an even greater man.

The Dean of All Coaches.......2002-03-31

"A Coach's Life" details the interesting facts of Dean Smith's story - from his childhood memories to his first coaching job to reaching the pinnacle of his career (winning the NCAA titles in 1982 and 1993). Along the way, you meet many people who enriched Dean's life and who, in turn, were enriched by him...there's Michael Jordan, of course, but Dean also reveals details of his relationships with a number of his players, associates and opponents, including John Thompson, James Worthy, and Frank McGuire, to name a few.

To his credit, he avoids speaking negatively about others. It seems that he was operating under the axiom, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything." This would explain the virtual omission of Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski - glaring by its absence. So be warned - those looking for a mud-slinging expose' will be disappointed.

But that's OK - Dean showed that he didn't have to write a "tell-all" in order to write a good book. It's just a story of a simple Kansas boy who found a way to make a difference in people's lives. And what's wrong with that?

Rating: 4 stars.

Book Description

A fascinating insight into the life and times of one of the giants of the law.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating Account of Burr Trial for Treason.......2006-01-01

No longer do defendants have attorneys as zealous, diligent, and able as Burr's were. Judges in criminal trials now routinely admit chains of inferences that the eminent Chief Justice John Marshall would never have allowed (and did not). The excellent description of the events, arguments, and rulings Beveridge supplies supplement the wonderful "Burr Conspiracy" by Walter F. McCaleb.

Jennifer Van Bergen, J.D.
author of "The Twilight of Democracy: The Bush Plan for America" and
"Archetypes for Writers: Using the Power of Your Subconscious" (both available on Amazon)

Book Description

In the summer of 1841, Mary Rogers disappeared without a trace from her New York City boarding house. Three days later, her body, badly bruised and waterlogged, was found floating in the shallow waters of the Hudson River just a few feet from the Jersey shore. Her story, parlayed into a long celebrated unsolved mystery, became grist for penny presses, social reformers, and politicians alike, and an impetus for popular literature, including Edgar Allan Poe's pioneering detective story "The Mystery of Marie Roget." In The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers, historian Amy Gilman Srebnick brilliantly recaptures the story of Mary Rogers, showing how Rogers represented an emerging class of women who took advantage of the greater economic and sexual opportunities available to them in urban America, and how her death became a touchstone for the voicing of mid-nineteenth century concerns over sexual license, the changing roles of women, law and order, and abortion. Rogers's death, first thought due to a murderous gang of rapists and later tacitly understood to be the result of an ill-performed abortion, quickly became a source of popular entertainment, a topic of political debate, and an inspiration to public policy. The incident and the city's response to it provides a fascinating window into the urban culture and consciousness of the mid-1800s. Indeed, in Rogers's name, and as a direct result of her death, two important pieces of legislation were passed in 1845: the New York City Police Reform Act which effectively modernized the city's system of policing, and the New York State law criminalizing abortion. The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers tells a story of a death, but more importantly it also tells the story of a life--that of Mary Rogers--and of the complex urban social world of which she was a part. Like the city in which she lived, Mary Rogers was a source of wonder, mystery, and fear, provoking desire, and inspiring narrative.

Customer Reviews:

Dry Read.......2007-06-15

This book is a rather "dry" exposition. Once some pages into reading it, my original enthusiasm for the story of Mary Rogers was seized by a disappointment. I sense this book was originally an academic paper possibly researched and written as a master or doctoral thesis. This is not necessarily an indictment based on the book's initial origin and intention. It does perhaps account for it's colorless narrative and a redundant construction meant to reinforce in as many ways as possible an artlessly expressed author's hypothesis. The loss to the reader is a story not brought to life. This was a time of tumult in New York City illustrative of significant social transition and the embryonic appearance of the mercenary tabloid press. Back then, just as it would be today, the molested, murdered body of a beautiful young girl dumped near a river could be crafted into sensational news. Now I got the facts surrounding The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers but little more.

A better and more accomplished book on a similar topic centered in New York during the same time period is "The Murder of Helen Jewett" by Patricia Cline Cohen.

Sex and Death in Early Victorian New York.......2000-08-18

Amy Srebnick has written a marvelously entertaining book of early Victorian New York, that along with the Murder of Helen Jewett by Patricia Cohen, takes the reader into a fascinating period of New York history. As an alien in this city, it is wonderful to see how the idea of New York grew out of this period. This short book manages to touch on many, interrelated topics showing how the death of Mary Rogers was used and manipulated by many people for their own political or social purposes, while her life before her death remained a mystery. People interested in the early history of the growth of abortion legislation would also be fascinated in the ways in which this touchs Mary Roger's own death. It is a fascinating book that has already led me to others covering this period.

Sex and the Single Girl, ca. 1840.......1997-09-15

On August 2, 1841, the New York Herald told of the badly mutilated corpse of a 3young and beautiful girl2 found floating in the Hudson River. Though the random death of an anonymous individual would obviously command more attention in the press in 1841 than 1995, the death of Mary Rogers, would not, for its relative ordinariness, seem capable of provoking the intense and wide range of reaction that it did. The Mysterous Death of Mary Rogers demonstrates the way average people make history by arguing that the case sparked legislation, introduced newly acceptable subjects into the media, and inspired the birth of the crime novel. Through careful examination of the public records and contemporary fiction and non-fiction, Amy Gilman Srebnick, a professor at Montclair State University, explores the identity of Mary Rogers, the twenty-year-old descendent of prominent New England settlers living in Manhattan without a husband or father, as a panoramic window into the origins of American urban culture. She also scrutinizes the new publicization of sex, the fear of random violence in the city and the increasing economic and sexual independence of women that intersected in Rogers1 murder and subsequent resurrection through the public discourse. Contemporaries speculating at whose hands Rogers died revealed their own particular paranoia through their various theories: if you thought it was an urban gang, you were probably in fear of the city, a new cultural and physical construct at this time. If you thought it was a single individual who killed Mary, specific fear of certain New Yorkers had invaded your psyche. If you thought Rogers1 death was the result of a botched abortion, you were probably more concerned with the newly unrestrained openness surrounding, and commercialization of, sexuality, and its ramifications for the single woman. You would also probably be right. The cause of Rogers1 death remains a mystery, and though Gilman Srebnick sides with the abortion theory, she is wise not to assert with certainty one scenario over another. Though she reiterates every known detail of the murder, she uses the research not to speculate but instead to focus on what the facts tell her about Rogers1 class, habits, consorts, family history and place in New York society. Following her death, 3Mary was constructed in everybody1s image but her own,2 writes Gilman Srebnick. The numerous newspaper accounts of her death told more about their editors1 predilections than Mary1s true persona. As a member of the new female working class untethered by patriarchy or child-rearing, she represented a threat to established social order; as a young, attractive and available female, she was simultaneously alluring and threatening, and in this way 3serv(ed) as an extended metaphor for the city2 she lived in; as a possibly pregnant but unmarried woman, she was linked through residual Victorianism to a lower class standing; as the victim of a murderer or an incompetant abortionist, she served political purposes for those seeking to reform policing methods or outlaw abortion. The death of Mary Rogers presented an opportunity for new experiments in journalism. The newspapers of the dayÐmany were launched around this time to cater to a newly expanding reading publicÐdescribed in horrific detail the violence done to Mary1s body, and though they assumed a position of detatched scientific description, the effects were to eroticize Mary1s corpse by describing the female body in a way that had never seen its way into the newspapers, and to construct a narrative of the circumstances of her death that conveniently corresponded to the political agenda of the paper in question. In these descriptions, writes Gilman Srebnick, 3a new journalistic voice coalesced: the voice of the urban reporter. Tough, angry, voyeuristic and deeply misogynist, the voice used the already familiar form of the (journalistic) crime narrative to focus on the female subject.2 Depending on whether this voice found Mary guilty of sexual misdeedÐlike having someÐor considered her 3the symbol of virginitydestroyed bythe modern city,2 her murder became a rallying point for those seeking to reform policing or place legal and social restrictions on the burgeoning sex industry and on abortion which, however inaccurately, was linked with it. Publicly funded police patrols were relatively new in 1841, and the Police Reform Act of 1845 passed by the New York State Legislature mandated surveillance in addition to simple response and apprehension. Around the same time, the newly formed American Medical Association1s powerful lobby made abortion a criminal act for both practitioner and patient; very public trials focused public ire on abortionists, in the process revealing much about the era1s sexual prudishness. (Unfortunately, though Gilman Srebnick spends a chapter on the politics of abortion at the time, she never tells of the risks associated with the procedure in the 1840s; if numerous women were dying during abortions, perhaps its restriction was not such a bad idea.) As an attempt at a vigorous book on a faded society, The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers sometimes suffers from dry academic writing and excessive repitition, including nauseating overuse of the word 3labyrinthine.2 As an academic reformulating a paper for public consumption, Gilman Srebnick (or her editor) thankfully restrains herself from getting bogged down in and relating the primary materials that are the historian1s pornography. But as a demonstration of fear of the inner city stemming from its multiplicity of inhabitants; of the economic independence of some women leading to their castigation as sexual predators; of the link between open feminine sexuality and economic marginalization; of the influence of journalism on public opinion and political policy; of 3the principle of freedom of information (being) yoked in public discourse to voyeurism and melodrama;2 of 3the popular preoccupation with single women, fractured families existing outside the domestic model, (and) the availability of abortion;2 and, most notably, of the fact that these issues did not begin with gangster hysteria, Anita Hill, the Gary Hart/Donna Rice affair, feminisim, Watergate, or the O.J. Simpson trial, and may be uniquely and essentially American issues with no temporality, The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers will rock your world.

Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers, The: Sex and Culture in Nineteenth-Century New York

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Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers, The: Sex and Culture in Nineteenth-Century New York
Amy Gilman Srebnick
Manufacturer: Oxford Univ Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KY4S6S

The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers: Sex and Culture in Nineteenth-Century New York

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The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers: Sex and Culture in Nineteenth-Century New York
Amy Gilman Srebnick
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000II1AJY

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