Reviews (8)

This is Great "Her"story
I was given this book when I was a freshman in architecture college. When I saw Ms Sklarek, I immediately wrote the publisher and got her addres and wrote her a letter. To my surprise she wrote back to me and her later inspired me to continue studying architecture. Now...17 years and three degrees later I came across her name again during a conversation and I decided to contact her again and again, she sent me her business card. Since our architectural firm has a committee that procures speakers, I plan to invite her to my firm to give a presentation on Women in Architecture. So, I said all that to say...not only should we find our mentors, but we should also communicate with them whenever we can.

ThePERFECThand-me-down
I was blessed to recieve this book in 1990 as a gift from a dear friend.Throughout the years this book has been a form of encouragement in my daily life through various things.Once my daughter turned ten we sat down together and read throughI DREAM A WORLD, She was captivated.I have now passed this book on to my daughter and she proudly displays it in her room with trophies, clay art, pictures, and souviners.

Beautiful!
This is such a beautiful, respectable book! The portraits & stories of AA are profound & present fantastic role models for today's young AA girls. A hearty "thank you" to those responsible for compiling & publishing this book! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. African American Studies    2. African American women    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Black women    6. Blacks In The U.S.    7. Interviews    8. Photo Essays    9. Photography    10. Portraits    11. Reference    12. Women In The U.S.    13. Photographs: portraits    14. USA    15. Women's studies   

Reviews (1)

The 30th anniversary edition of a classic treatise
The Columbian Exchange: Biological And Cultural Consequences Of 1942 by Alfred W. Crosby Jr. (Professor Emeritus of American Studies, History, and Geography, University of Texas - Austin) is the 30th anniversary edition of a classic treatise that shows how the voyages of Columbus caused a sweeping biological change as organisms large and small spread to both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. From the deadly toll of smallpox among the Indians of Mexico, to the introduction of Old World plants and animals to the New World, and so much more, The Columbian Exchange is a seminal, educational, and uniquely insightful contribution to Native American, Medical History, and World History Studies reference collections and reading lists. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Agriculture    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Diseases    4. Historical - General    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History: World    8. Indians    9. Medical geography    10. Reference    11. World - Colonial Studies    12. Applied ecology    13. Ecological science, the Biosphere    14. History / World   

Features

• Box set

Reviews (1)

Worth the money to this history buff
I suppose most people interested in owning a copy of this book will already know what it is, but for those who are history buffs like me, but who (like me until a few weeks ago) have never heard of "prosopography", I will note a few things, primarily about the format of the book. Basically, this book (which actually comes slipcased as two volumes) is a bibliographical dictionary, covering every known person in the aristocracy, Roman and otherwise, except those whose entire lives were spent in religious pursuits. Also, emperors lives are covered in detail only up to the point when that individual became emperor. Almost all entries contain cross references to other entries, in some case quite a few such references. All the sources used in obtaining the information about a given individual are explicitly mentioned within the body of the entry. Most entries utilize some Greek and Latin, and a few short entries (of apparently very minor individuals) are in those languages only, but the vast bulk of the book is in English, and enough of it so that if you want to study the period in detail, plan on years of reading! The entry on Belisarius is the longest in the book, and comes in at 42 pages. Narses is about half that long, but dozens of other generals rate four to twelve pages. And not only generals are covered--the entries on the Apion family from Egypt total many pages. The Franks are covered in detail (mostly via Gregory of Tours). The Lombards and Visigoths are covered in somewhat less detail (I think primarily because of limitations in the sources). Purposely, only those Persians, Arabs, and Moslems whose activities impinged significantly on the Empire are covered. Britain is omitted completely. Several individuals whose important activities began before 527 (Bessas, Liberius, and Germanus among others) are covered in detail in the previous volume of the Prosopography, and are only given a few lines here. Essentially, what the author of this book has done is collate an enormous amount of information about individuals into a readable and useful format. I have found the book to be wonderful for browsing, and also as a handy reference to check up on names encountered during the course of other reading. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Ancient - General    2. Ancient Rome - History    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Genealogy    5. History    6. History: World    7. Reference    8. Ancient Rome    9. European history (ie other than Britain & Ireland)    10. History / Ancient / General    11. Rome - Biography    12. World history: BCE to c 500 CE   

Reviews (38)

IT MAKESSO ME MAD!
To his credit Mr.Thomson loves motion pictures,it is his opinions that drive me crazy,especially in regards to legendary director John Ford,who was certainly a very complex character.He regards Ford as a reactionary Irish sentimentalist who gloried in war.and drunken violence.I agee,somewhat,in his writingson "Fort Apache",where Wayne lets the legend of Thurday stand(in actuality Thurday was a madman and not a hero) but I could be argued that Ford is showing that the militiary is corrupt(Ford in interviews takes the opposite positon).Thompson says "The Sun Shines Bright" shows Ford is attracted to bigotry,and implying he in favor of it of,but it is bigotry that Ford is attacking in that redoing of Ford's own "Judge Priest".The Searchers(minus the "Look" episode) is a woderful film dealing with the hideous nature of racism,showing that it is killing Ethan's(John Wayne)soul.ANTI_BIGOTRY plays major roles in,"The Last Hurrah(anti-Irish),"Two Rode Together"(anti American Indian,anti-non-white,and,to a lesser extent,anti-Catholic),a very underrated film,"Sargeant Rutledge(white racism)and that flawed epic,"Cheyenne Autumn".Henry Fonda,as Owen Thursday in "Fort Apache",shows the arrogance and hatefulness that many European-Americans have toward "inferior races".I don't know of any other diector that has brought this (quasi-Marxist,ultra left)reviewer to tears so often while seeing one("The Grapes of Wrath","How Green Was My Valley","The Searchers","The Last Hurrah","The Long Voyage Home") of his films,and I've seen all the aforemented films at least 20 times and EVERY TIME my eyes water up.Ford was a VERY strange man,see Joseph McBride's,"In Search of John Ford",and MAUREEN O HARA's recent bio,"Tis Herself",just to see how turmoiled he really was.So Mr. Thomsom and I disagree on John Ford,but also on American leftist noir director Nicholas Ray(also a quasi-Marxist),Mr Thompson likes him very much,I think Mr.Ray,is just so-so.
For Movie Buffs
I recommend this book for all serious movie fans.It's a great reference containing brief biographies and film credits of most of the notable actors, directors, and producers from the silent era to the present.It also includes critical commentary on the people and films mentioned.Unlike most reference works, this book is by no means dry or "safe" in its comments.It reflects a distinct point of view, which the reader may not share in several cases -- but that adds to the interest.Reading it is almost like sharing a relaxed discussion over drinks with an extremely well-informed film critic with a sometimes eccentric slant on things.I enjoy leafing through the book and reading entries almost at random.The results are always informative, entertaining, and sometimes enlightening.

Smug as a bug in a rug
David Thomson is the sort of smug, pretentious critic you always wanted to smack around. Even the author's photograph on the book jacket oozes self-importance and ersatz sophistication - the only things missing from the picture are a smoking jacket and pipe. Basically, he is nothing but an unctuous salesman, but what he's selling isn't film, it's his own intellectual pedigree. In other words, reading this book you learn more about David Thomson than you do about the movies, and the picture isn't very pretty.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Dictionaries    4. Film & Video - Reference    5. Motion picture actors and actr    6. Motion picture actors and actresses    7. Motion pictures    8. Performing Arts    9. Performing Arts/Dance    10. Reference    11. Performing Arts / Film / Reference   

Editorial Review

Way back in 1926 the founding editor of Read more

Reviews (12)

Great stories, Great story tellers
The writing is beautiful. The story telling is beautiful.The stories are amazing.Five Stars.

A terrific collection
This is a collection of prime examples of the long gone "profile" piece in The New Yorker magazine.They just don't write 'em like this anymore!
Delightful and Revealing Profiles
Hemingway, Baryishnikov, and Henry Luce are the subjects of some of my favorite celebrity profiles in this wonderful book. But topping my list is "Man Goes to See a Doctor", the awesome Adam Gopnik's sweet and funny rendering of his shrink. Here's a snippet: "Your problems remind me of" - and here he named one of the heroes of the New York School. "Fortunately, you suffer from neither impotence nor alcoholism. This is in your favor." Highly recommended! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. General    7. Historical - U.S.    8. Reference    9. United States    10. Biography & Autobiography / General    11. Biography: general    12. Dictionaries of biography (Who's Who)   

Reviews (8)

Frontier Kansas
I read somewhere that a statistically large number of prominent Americans were born in 19th century Kansas.That was perhaps a result of the hard, but ultimately rewarding pioneer life that is described in these pages.Kansas and the West a century ago were in the vanguard of social innovation and progressive politics in the U.S.
Determination and Faith
Since I found that my great grandmother's brother and sister went on a Wagon Train to Nebraska from Bedford County PA in the 1870's and 1880's, I have benn interested in reading about Pioneer Families. This book was actual experiences of the women who survived in the early settlements of this country. How can we not be proud of their determination to survive and how much their faith in God played a role in their daily lives?

". . . the legend wears its Sunday best."
As Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s says in his forward to Stratton's Pioneer Women: Voices from the Kansas Frontier our historical record is built upon "important" people.People who leave records of their lives.For years, women, for the most part, left no such records (Unless of course, they were infamous, Americans seem able to recall the names of Lizzie Borden and Typhoid Mary without trouble.) In Pioneer Women, Stratton attempts to rectify this historical oversight by presenting scores of memoirs written by women who inhabited and helped push Kansas along from being a synonym for a luckless hardship filled land (We need to look no farther than Baum's using it for the earth-bound, twister-prone setting for his book, The Wizard of Oz) to a state whose women urged farmers to "raise less corn and more Hell" politically (13).
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Feminism & Feminist Theory    4. Frontier and pioneer life    5. General    6. History    7. Kansas    8. Pioneers    9. Reference    10. Sociology    11. Women    12. Women's Studies - History    13. Biography: general    14. History / General    15. Local history    16. Texas   

Reviews (2)

Superb Reference Book on Saints
I purchased this book as a gift for a friend and wound up buying a copy for myself as well.It's a great reference book with interesting, factual and easy-to-read backgrounds on hundreds of well known and many lesser known Saints.Each Saint gets about a page of intersting biographical information and and overview of their lives.

Decent comprehensive look
I received this book as a gift when I converted to Catholicism several years ago. In recent days, I've read much more of this book than the occasional glance-through I originally had done.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Christian saints    4. Dictionaries    5. Reference    6. Religion    7. Religious    8. Reference works    9. Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church    10. Saints & hagiography   

Features

• Illustrated

Subjects:  1. 356-323 B.C.    2. Alexander,    3. Ancient - Rome    4. Biography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Dictionaries    7. Friends and associates    8. Greece    9. History    10. History: World    11. Iran    12. Macedonian Conquest, 334-325 B.C.    13. Macedonian Expansion, 359-323    14. Macedonian Expansion, 359-323 B.C.    15. Reference    16. the Great,    17. ALEXANDER, THE GREAT, 356-323 B.C.    18. Ancient Greece    19. Biography: historical    20. Dictionaries of biography (Who's Who)    21. European history: BCE to c 500 CE    22. History / Ancient / General    23. IRAN_HISTORY_TO 640    24. Literary studies: classical, early & medieval    25. MACEDONIA_HISTORY   

Editorial Review

Sure, you can throw around words like Read more

Reviews (11)

Informative if dry
There are a lot of entries about a lot of ideas and thinkers. The information is accurate and presented in a dry informative matter. This can be a useful reference work, but is of limited value to anyone who wishes to understand any of the entries in a deep way. It also is relentlessly even- toned in presentation, an advantage in one sense but in another one which defers continued reading.

Concise, yet detailed
This book should be on everyone's shelf. This book is easy to read and is essentialy a dictionary of various philosophies. You won't get much insight from this book, nor will it maintain your interest very long. It is designed as a dictionary, not to be read from cover to cover. Use it as a reference rather than leisure reading.

I Needed This One Years Ago
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading or studying - period. I had returned to college after a twelve year absence to study history (I'd studied business before, yuck) and found many concepts, names, and ideas either new to me or fairly well forgotten. "A World of Ideas" became an absolute life-saver and, furthermore, a book that I began to peruse out of enjoyment and interest. Read more

Subjects:  1. Dictionaries    2. General    3. Philosophy    4. Reference    5. Religion    6. Social sciences    7. Reference / General   

Reviews (25)

Long Overdue!
Superbly researched, detailed, and precise. In 22 chapters the author proves his points. He sometimes got overly preachy, but with all the negative stereotyping of Italian-Americans by many in Hollywood and the media I can sympathize. It is one of the most organized books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. From the Roman Republic to the present, Italian contributions to Civilization are described. It also contains a unique travel supplement and some funny personal stories. Anyone who is a history buff should read it, every possible field is covered.

A Wonderfully Enlightening Book
There is no way to describe the amount of in-depth research on so many interesting subjects in this book. Well written, researched and organized. I got it as a birthday gift and couldn't put it down.It's mind-boggling how anyone could have done so much in-depth research. Amazing stuff that wont disappoint any reader interested in the origins of inventions, artifacts, conventions, foods and traditions, as well as biographies of many famous entertainers and sports personalities. For me, the book's chapters on architecture and American government alone make the book worth the price. Read it and share it. Something for everyone in your family to explore and discover.
Comprehensive and Compelling
This book is a great review of significant Italian and Italian-American accomplishments since the beginning of time!It is full of information that you may already know in the back of your mind, but the book clarifies it and recognizes the individuals instrumental in the contribution.The author inserts a little of his own humorous antidotes along the way.All in all it is a very interesting book.It would be good for students of any age to learn an overall view of the subject matter.Any reader should be both amazed and entertained! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography / Reference    2. History / Italy    3. History: World    4. Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural    5. Travel / Europe / Italy    6. Biography & Autobiography    7. Heritage tourism    8. Reference   

Subjects:  1. Chemistry - Organic    2. Chemistry - Physical & Theoretical    3. Electrochemistry    4. General    5. Organic Chemistry    6. Organic electrochemistry    7. Reference    8. Science    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Electrochemistry & magnetochemistry    11. Science / Chemistry / Technical & Industrial   

Reviews (5)

Great Book! Prompt Shipping
Has something in it for EVERYONE literally and for every occasion, you'll never be at a loss for words with this book!

a thousand good quick reads
I enjoyed this book throughly! It's an excellent resource for speech writing or for creating your own personal fables (to be passed on through conversation and lessons). I also liked how many of the stories were cross referenced when multiple people were involved, and how a few of them were retold in different ways when listed under different people. Good AND terrible
As the other reviewer said, a fabulous book that is absolutely awful as an e-book.I have the hard copy, and use it frequently for speeches and talks.It is brilliant - pick one up, and you will sit down with it.But the e-book is as bad as the other reviewer mentioned - all the portabilitiy in the world can't make up for impossible searches and slowness.If I could get my money back, I would... Maybe it's just Microsoft Reader, but regardless, it makes the book virtually unusable. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Biography    3. Dictionaries    4. General    5. Quotations    6. Reference    7. Dictionaries of quotations    8. English    9. Essays, journals, letters & other prose works    10. Reference / Quotations   

Subjects:  1. Artists, Architects, Photographers    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Reference   

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Political    5. Presidents & Heads of State    6. Reference   

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Case studies    4. Criminal Investigation    5. Forensic sciences    6. Forensic scientists    7. General    8. Investigation    9. Murder    10. Murder - General    11. Reference    12. True Crime    13. Biology, Life Sciences    14. Chemistry    15. True Crime / General   

Reviews (15)

great read, flawed conclusion
In Drug Lord, Terrence Poppa manages to capture all the elements that a book about America's War on Drugs should have: engrossing, multidimensional heroes and villains, clearly-defined connections between the men and women who move oceans of narcotics across the Rio Grande and the larger governmental interests on both sides of the border that profit, one way or the other, from the trade, and guns, guns, guns.Drug Lord was an engrossing read, which I happened to read while touring the Big Bend area of West Texas.The book had such an impact on me that I made a 100-mile detour to visit Ojinaga, the stage where Pablo Acosta made his rise from dirt-poor campesino to mafia kingpin.Although Ojinaga today does its best to disassociate itself, at least to outsiders, from Acosta's legacy (even this pinche gringo knew better than to walk into a cantina and start asking questions), many of the tangible remnants of the bad old days Poppa describes, such as the smuggler's trucks with questionable propane tanks in the bed and houses surrounded by 12 foot-high cinderblock walls, are still readily visible.Although the book succeeds as narrative and will satisfy anyone interested in the drug war, the conclusion that Poppa comes to can be summed up in one sentence: it is all Mexico's fault.True, the Mexican government is rotten to the core, and six years under Vicente Fox doesn't seem to have changed much.But any honest examination of the War on Drugs must acknowledge the fact that Acosta and those who have come before and after him are only supplying a demand created by Americans; if the Mexicans don't sate that demand, then the Colombians will, and if the Colombians don't sate it, then the Cosa Nostra, or the Russians, and so on and so forth.I found Poppa's willingness to foster the blame for an unwinnable war on the shoulders of a country that has lost so much fighting a conflict whose victory will primarily benefit Americans to be a sad and myopic conclusion to an otherwise great book.Readers wanting an equally-engrossing but more balanced read should try Charles Bowden's Down By The River, about the Amado-Fuentes organization.

Great Book
I've read the book and it is everything my friends told me it was.In the book Comandante Oscar Prieto is one of my friend's dad.The author gives good detail of the story of Pablo because i've heard a lot of true stories which are in the book, and of course a lot that aren't.I have family in Ojinaga and you still have the same business going on, but a lot of people from the town don't worry about it.I've seen pictures where Pablo just looks like a normal rancher from town.He always helped the people in need for food or money.He always remembered where he came from.That's why people don't remember him as a drug lord but as a person who helped the community and the poor. You will be surprised by how Pablo did his deals to cross the drugs over the border. When you read the book you will picture in your mind everything that is going on just like I did.Believe me, you will visualize.
Excellent
Great story that exposes the ugly corrupt symbiotic elationship between the mexican drug dealers and the corrupt police and army officials. It also carefullly documents the inevitable, reccurring results...Still, with all the access to Pablo Agosta you still feel you really don't know him-perhaps there really wasn't any 'there' there--it was all about power and getting high,and killing the opposition..There are no heroes in this story, just a grim reality which leads you to the conclusion that the more things supposedly change, the more they remain the same---no solutions offered for that part of the mexican/ american economy living on fumes. . . Oddly enough,legalization (with appropriate controls/education/treament) might offer a long term solution-these stories will inevitably get worse, more violent, and corrupt the very institutions created to suppress the drug lords GOOD Story that should have been told long ago The end was foretold early in the book so there is little suspense at the end--not great writing, but great story ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Acosta, Pablo,    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Case studies    6. Criminals & Outlaws    7. Drug control    8. Drug dealers    9. Drug traffic    10. General    11. Government - State & Provincial    12. Mexico    13. Reference    14. True Crime    15. d. 1987    16. Acosta, Pablo    17. Biography: general    18. Organized crime    19. Mexican-American Border Region    20. Crime    21. Government   

Subjects:  1. 1452-1485    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Great Britain    7. Historical - British    8. History    9. III,    10. King of England,    11. Kings and rulers    12. Reference    13. Richard    14. Richard III, 1483-1485    15. Royalty    16. Sources    17. History / General   

Editorial Review

As editor-publisher to some of the 20th-century's greatest writers (Edmund Wilson, Vladimir Nabokov, Jane Jacobs) as well as the virtual inventor of the trade paperback (meaning the "quality" type, as opposed to the drugstore mass-market), Jason Epstein is one of those rare publishing-world types who is as invested in the editorial creation of a good book as in its marketing and sales. It is that dual perspective that has guided his half-century-long publishing career and that makes this compact yet expansive professional memoir such a lively, illuminating read for anyone curious how current trade publishing--basically popular general-interest fiction and nonfiction--became obsessed with a narrow pool of quickie bestsellers to the neglect of the far greater mass of slow-burners (known in the biz as "midlist") or of the perennial sellers from years past ("backlist"). But, Epstein follows up with great enthusiasm, the time is not long before the book biz will morph into a new cyberversion of the quirky, intimate "cottage industry" that it was in its precorporate era.Read more

Reviews (20)

Two Incomplete Books in One
Jason Epstein has had an extraordinary career in literary publishing, and if he ever writes a full-blown memoir of that career, it would make interesting reading.Epstein has also watched the publishing industry change radically since he entered it in 1950, and thought deeply about it.A book-length discussion of those changes would also make interesting reading.
Gone With The Card Catalog
The preface of BOOK BUSINESS mentions the very origins of written language: cutting or "scoring" a mark onto a board. He notes that "scorekeepers still keep score on boards". He might also have added that the early scoring was the first expression of binary code, the language understood by the tiny chips that run the giant scoreboards at the Super Bowl, as well as every other scoreboard or "computer" on Earth. Neat book, if you're interested in books and bookmen.
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Forecasting    3. General    4. History    5. Language Arts & Disciplines    6. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    7. Publishers and publishing    8. Publishing    9. Reference    10. Publishing industry   

Features

• Unabridged

Reviews (21)

The Diaries of Adam & Eve: Translated by Mark Twain
Great buy....just as described....quick delivery!!!

Not some of Twain's good stuff
I love Mark Twain. I hate Christianity. Even Twain can't make me withstand it.
A Wonderful Wedding Gift !!!
This is the 19th century's version of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus".Delightfully funny, irreverent and very tasteful, "The Diaries of Adam and Eve" is a succinctly written description of the vast differences in world views between men and women.
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Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Other    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Literary    4. Reference    5. Unabridged Audio - Fiction/General   

Subjects:  1. Artists, Architects, Photographers    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Business/Economics    5. Commercial - Fashion Design    6. Fashion designers    7. Reference    8. Dictionaries of biography (Who's Who)    9. Fashion & beauty industries    10. Fashion design