Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co.: A Road Novel with Literary License

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Young Adult Fiction With A Heavy Hand

*Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co*

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A great ENDING, memorable characters

Interesting premise.

Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co.: A Road Novel with Literary License
Maria Amparo Escandon
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1400097355
Release Date: 2005-04-19

Book Description

Serving a sentence in a prison in Mexico, Libertad González finds a clever way to pass the time with the weekly Library Club, reading to her fellow inmates from whatever books she can find in the prison’s meager supply. The story that emerges, though, has nothing to do with the words printed on the pages. She tells of a former literature professor and fugitive of the Mexican government who reinvents himself as a trucker in the United States. There he falls in love with a wild woman with whom he shares his truck and his life—that is until Joaquín González unexpectedly finds himself alone on the road with a baby girl and González & Daughter Trucking Co. is born. Joaquín and his daughter make the cab of an 18-wheeler their home, sharing everything—adventures, books, truck-stop chow, and memories of the girl’s mother—until one day the girl grows into a woman, and a chance encounter with one man causes her to rebel against another.

With her stories, Libertad enthralls a group of female prisoners every bit as eccentric as the tales she tells. In González and Daughter Trucking Co., bestselling author María Amparo Escandón seamlessly blends together these elements into one compelling and unexpected conclusion that will have you cheering for Libertad and filled with joy.

Customer Reviews:

Young Adult Fiction With A Heavy Hand.......2007-09-23

Not a very engaging novel. Written in a tone and voice that might satisfy a Young Adult Reading audience, but hardly a work of mature fiction. Women as victims and men as monsters, relentlessly. Libertad's father, the only male with the possibility of complexity, falls into stereotype at the end, with an unrealistic and silly role reversal. Magical Realism now seems to mean twisting the logic of plot lines in whatever way necessary to make events in the story fit. As in too many cases, it has become a license for unadulterated sentimentalism. Many lapses of logic in the storyline, and most simply to support a reduction of characters to two-dimensional stereotypes, or to awkwardly connect ill-planned events in the story. Libertad, our hero, is intuitively intelligent one moment, and too stupid to figure out what sex is about or why her father would protect her from certain men the next. Her father is obsessively controlling to the point where his reasons seem to evaporate, and he simply gets mad at every opportunity without explanation. I made the mistake of ordering the book for a college course I teach before reading it through. Where the story holds promise, in the young woman's telling her confession to other women in a Mexican prison, her motives and reasons are often unsupported or non-existent. She hides her guilt through the entire novel for no more apparent reason than to shift most of the blame of her crime onto her father in the end. At sixteen, she is obviously superior to him in thinking and feeling, without even the hint of her own culpability in events. The fiction to reality to fiction idea could have been the saving grace here, but it has been done better (even in Young Adult Lit), and becomes too garbled with emotionalisms at times. Overall, the novel falls prey to an overt sentimentality, where characters prove to be no more emotionally complex than our initial impression of them. Women's victimization overdramatized to the point where even the reader is wondering what Escandon's hatred of men is about. A prison full of innocent female inmates, whose husbands and lovers all deserve to be executed. If this is what has happened to contemporary feminist literature, we need to question where the skilled and psychologically demanding feminist works of the 70s and 80s have gone. Finally, the book is full of mistakes about its primary source, the highways of America. The author needed a better map to be imagining her events on; her directions prove inconsistent at times. The most dangerous aspect of the novel, however, is surely its subtle anti-Mexican themes. Mexicans here are inept, incompentent, and incurably corrupt everywhere inside and out of the prison. For a Mexican writer to make such a racist portrayal of her own culture, in an effort surely to point out the crimes of its age-old patriarchal society, is itself a tragedy. That most readers and critics, here at least, have blithely overlooked this so far, seems an even greater tragedy.

*Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co*.......2007-04-02

What a brilliant book! I read it in 5 hours because I just couldn't get enough. We have a young lady who is in prison in Mexico. No one knows why, she won't say. However she starts a Library Club and pretends she is reading books to other inmates, but she is really telling her story.

Her mother passed away when she was a baby and she has lived in a truck with her dad, going all over the US. Her dad escaped from Mexico and thinks everyone is out to get him. He finds out he can't keep her hidden forever. I won't ruin the surprise as to why she is in prison or what the outcome is, but you won't want to put this wonderful book down until you are finished! The author is going to be near my town this month and I plan on taking my copy to have it signed!!!

Bravo!

Read this book!.......2006-11-29

Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co is a wildly colorful book and a must read. This novel keeps you craving more because of the disjointed time line and change in narrations. It is a fast pace novel, with wit and humor that does not overpower the seriousness of the stories at hand.

I had to read this book for a college course, but I will read it again for my own enjoyment. The topics covered are interesting and realistic and you will finish this novel fully satisfied.

A great ENDING, memorable characters .......2006-09-29

This is one of those books that just gets passed around and passed around. Bought this book last year, summer of 2005. So far I've passed it along to 5 other avid readers and we have all loved it. The characters are memorable and the story is wonderfully, and artfully, revealed. But the best part of all was the ending that caught me pleasantly by surprise. I'm looking forward to the author's next book.

Interesting premise........2006-05-29

This book was a tale within a story within prison walls. A very creative approach to fiction!

Book Description

She left the corporate world of airlines, lured by the dark arts of private investigation. Now Alex Shanahan is stirring up a cold case with global implications.

Years after she dumped him for a younger man, the scheming ex-wife of Alex's partner, Harvey Baltimore, returns for an unexpected visit. While Alex tries to figure out why Rachel is back, another mystery begins to unfold halfway around the world. Four years after a bloody, high-profile airline hijacking, personal effects belonging to the victims are found in a terrorist safe house. The discovery of this chilling time capsule triggers a chain reaction that leads straight back to Rachel. By the time Alex has untangled Rachel's lies, she will be on the run from the Russian Mafia, caught in the web of a global vigilante group, and forced to take a reluctant trip into her partner's past -- where she will find the key to solving the mystery, but also learn painful lessons about holding on, letting go, and why some keys should never be used.

Download Description

She left the corporate world of airlines, lured by the dark arts of private investigation. Now Alex Shanahan is stirring up a cold case with global implications. Years after she dumped him for a younger man, the scheming ex-wife of Alex's partner, Harvey Baltimore, returns for an unexpected visit. While Alex tries to figure out why Rachel is back, another mystery begins to unfold halfway around the world. Four years after a bloody, high-profile airline hijacking, personal effects belonging to the victims are found in a terrorist safe house. The discovery of this chilling time capsule triggers a chain reaction that leads straight back to Rachel. By the time Alex has untangled Rachel's lies, she will be on the run from the Russian Mafia, caught in the web of a global vigilante group, and forced to take a reluctant trip into her partner's past -- where she will find the key to solving the mystery, but also learn painful lessons about holding on, letting go, and why some keys should never be used.

Customer Reviews:

The Pandora Key by Lynne Heitman.......2006-10-02

I have not read The Pandora Key, due to the fact that as I turn each page it falls out. This quickly stopped my enjoyment of the book, as I nervously turned the page to see if it was just a printing accident that would stop as I read on. They're still falling out by Chapter 4 (pg. 24) & I put the book aside. The book is a Pocket Book and was inexpensive..which shouldn't mean cheap! I hope they fix their presses before too many more books roll out.

Jeanne Norris
Constable, NY

Another Great Read from Lynne Heitman!.......2006-03-06

This is the fourth book in Lynne Heitman's series about airline executive-turned-detective Alex Shanahan. I have enjoyed all four, but this one brings Alex's character into fuller relief than before. Her friend Harvey is in a bind, and his no-good wife has come back into his life. I found myself enjoying watching Alex deal with the complicated nature of Harvey and his love for Rachel while a taut, runaway story involving the Russian mafia and a terrorist safe house was unfolding. Lynne Heitman has done a masterful job, writing a book I could not stop reading with a story and characters that were each compelling in their own right.

tense thriller .......2006-03-01

Private investigator Alex Shanahan is in partnership with Harvey who is slowly wasting away from multiple sclerosis. One day Alex goes over to Harvey's house and sees his beloved ex wife Rachel there; the woman who cut and run when her husband was diagnosed with MS. Rachel wants Alex to go to her old apartment and pick up some things for her as she fears her abusive husband is there. When Alex goes to the apartment she finds that Rachel cleared out the place many days ago.

When she returns to Harvey's apartment she finds him and Rachel gone. Rachel got her out of the way so she could get Harvey to someone who wants to speak to him, a very dangerous head of the Russian Mafiya. They free him but the Mafia king wants Harvey to tell him where, Roger Fratello, the man he believes killed his brother, hides. Harvey is visited by the FBI who wants to know why his fingerprints along with Frank's are on packets of money that were found in a terrorist hideout in Afghanistan along with the belongings of the dead hostages of an airline hijacked by Muslim fundamentalists. There are so many players in this game with different objectives that it will be a miracle if Alex can keep everyone alive by playing one against each other.

Lynne Heitman has written a tense thriller taken out of the pages of today's headlines. The timelines of the story enable readers to relate to the characters as well as defining the plot. The heroine doesn't care what politicians or other government agendas; she just wants to keep Harvey alive at long as possible. Ms. Heitman weaves a political message that if gone unchecked, will lead to dangerous repercussions.

Harriet Klausner

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A Mathematical Pandora's Box
Brian Bolt
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Math Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Mathematics | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

A Mathematical Pandora's Box has been written in response to the success of Brian Bolt’s earlier mathematical puzzle books. Through his own experience, the author has discovered a worldwide interest in these and similar puzzles. Not only do they stimulate creative thinking but they can also open up new areas of mathematics to the reader. This book contains 142 activities: in addition to puzzles, there are games, tricks, models and explanations of various phenomena. They range from number manipulation, through happy and amicable numbers, coin puzzles, picnicking bears and pentominoes, to building shapes with cubes. Some of the puzzles date from hundreds of years ago while many others are original, giving everyone something to think about. There is a detailed commentary at the end of the book, giving solutions and explanations, together with the occasional follow-up problem.

The Key to a Happy Retirement: A Parents Guide to Teaching Children How, When and Why the Child Should Save for His - Her Retirement

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The Key to a Happy Retirement: A Parents Guide to Teaching Children How, When and Why the Child Should Save for His - Her Retirement
Dale E. Williams
Manufacturer: V I S P
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Retirement Planning | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0963658018

Book Description

A wizard is coming. His plan to change the face of the planet has been foretold as the last of the seven ancient Dragon prophecies. After two hundred years of fighting, battle-weary Christopher Bartholomew discovers his perfect mate is a demon wolf, yet another threat to humankind. His duty is to remove the threat, but the dark-haired beauty speaks to him on a level he thought long dead. Now that he's found her, he'll do whatever is necessary to keep her at his side. But the dark wizard, Uleah, has other plans for Mackenzie. She is the last female in his lineage, and crucial to his plan for a new world. A great and powerful sorcerer of the black arts, he commands the Triad, wizards of extraordinary skill and strength. Through them, Uleah will claim Mackenzie in ways she'd never imagined possible. The spell to bring Mackenzie under Uleah's control is killing her. Christopher must find and defeat Uleah before he loses Mackenzie, and a great dark power is unleashed upon an unsuspecting planet.

Tyler Blackwood grew up riding horses in the Arizona desert and lounging in the family swimming pool. Most often, though, she spent free time writing short romantic fantasies. She lives in Seattle with four cats and a husband.

Book Description

Recent research has shown that the mind can make a tremendous difference in not only the daily experience of living with cancer but also in the potential for overcoming it. In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Martin L. Rossman-hailed as 'one of the greatest healers of our generation' by Rachel Naomi Remen-shows cancer patients how to use imagery in specific ways that can help them in their fight against cancer. Imagery is a natural, efficient way of storing and processing information, and one that has powerful effects on both emotional states and physiology. And while imagery is not a substitute for medical, surgical, or other physical approaches to cancer therapy, scientific studies have proven that it complements and enhances those treatments in many important ways. In this first book of its kind, Rossman provides specific ways to use imaging in fighting cancer.

Customer Reviews:

It worked for me!.......2003-10-16

It is now 10 days since my second surgery for thyroid cancer. I diligently practiced Dr. Rossman's techniques in the weeks leading up to my second surgery and in the days since using the guided imageries on the companion CD (available separately). The difference between my second surgery and my first (a very similar procedure that I white-knuckled my way through) were astounding. These differences included (second vs. first): no post-surgery nausea, greatly reduced pain after surgery, less of a decrease in mobility in my neck region and I am much more relaxed. I attribute these benefits in large part to Dr. Rossman's techniques.

While my second surgery was not a picnic, using Dr. Rossman's techniques made a big difference for me both physically and emotionally. Your mileage will most certainly vary, but for me, it was well worth the effort.

I found Dr. Rossman's writing style and approach to dealing with cancer to be very reassuring, empowering and also complementary to the work that I am doing with my surgeon and endocrinologist. I would recommend Dr. Rossman's book and companion CD to anyone who is interested in becoming more actively involved in their cancer treatment and who wants to explore the power of the mind-body connection.

winning tool in the fight against cancer.......2003-05-06

Last year this reviewer would never have read a book like FIGHTING CANCER FROM WITHIN: HOW TO USE THE POWER OF YOUR MIND FOR HEALING for it is clearly intended to help a specific group. However, my beautiful neighbor Chuck came down with a deadly form of cancer, but as his health deteriorated his will to live and his love for his wife, children, and grandchildren, and his conviction in God left me in awe of a great person. No miracle occurred as Chuck ultimately passed away, but he fought to live until the end and probably gained an extra month to hug his family and friends. With his memory etched in my brain, this reviewer read Dr. Martin L. Rossman's guidebook with a more open mind than the cynic I was would have read it last year, that is if I even tried.

This book does not claim that mental imagery replaces accepted medical practices in the fight against cancer. There is no special philosopher's stone, but instead Dr. Rossman provides readers with an easy to follow guide on how a victim's mind can help in the unending war. He furnishes specific examples to improve the odds of defeating or at least containing the deadly disease. Dr. Rossman asserts that a positive mind can lead to significant emotional and physical impact and shows how to complement standard treatments with specific imaging techniques to bring the entire mind and body into focus against the invaders. Not guaranteeing any walk on water cure, this is a winning tool in the fight against cancer.

Harriet Klausner

A remarkable contribution.......2003-04-30

Dr. Rossman's book, Fighting Cancer from Within, is a remarkable and important contribution to the field of oncology. His practical approach translates the idea of comprehensive healing of mind, body and spirit into a realistic guide for the newly diagnosed cancer patient.

As an Oncologist for almost 30 years, I continue to be amazed at the possibilities for healing, which can be facilitated with the use of guided imagery. Dr. Rossman provides a valuable guide through which cancer patients can empower themselves to cope with their disease process. This book teaches patients how to reduce the stress of their initial anguish and turmoil, facilitate healing from surgery faster and more completely, tolerate side-effects of chemotherapy and radiation better, and begin the journey of healing and recovery.

I plan to make this book available to each new cancer patient receiving treatment in our practice at California Cancer Care. -David S. Gullion, M.D.

Book Description

Former Rolling Stone writer Debby Bull recovers from a broken heart by making jelly. Though her boyfriend dedicates a novel to her and then leaves her in the middle of a party she gives to celebrate its publication, she comes away from it all with more than the bouquet of magazine scent strips that he left behind. In attempting to get rid of his stuff, she discovers the Zen of making jam, and through it the simple pleasure of creating a little world in which things turn out the way they're supposed to. She shares her funny stories of love lost, the twisted road out of her depression and the advice she got from psychics and strangers. Each of the chapters sees her go off in a new direction, looking for help in a different way, from dating again to taking a job, and sampling all the new cultural landscape has to offer to heal, from seeing a shrink to taking a seminar with a relationships guru.

After years in New York and a move to Montana, Bull finds herself suddenly drawn back to her childhood home of Wisconsin, where "USA Today has just announced in a colorful pie chart that the people there are the only ones in the country who are fatter and drinking more beer than they were ten years ago." Bull delights in taking aim at all the celebrities who've crossed her path as a journalist, tossing their worst moments into the stories wherever they help. Wise, funny, and enlightening in spite of itself, Blue Jelly argues that depression, when it sends you off on adventures like these, is very good for the soul. Plus, there are 15 real canning recipes.

Customer Reviews:

I've searched for months..........2005-10-08

I got this book many years ago used from a library on a whim, because I liked the cover. I think I lost it when I moved out of my parents' house and broke up with my boyfriend of two years, *of course* the time when I needed it most. I've been searching for months and scouring my brain for the title of this book, and now that I've found it, *sigh* I can feel my wounded heart healing already. It's a fantastic and wacky book, so random, it's absolutely perfect for the scattered-brain effects of post-breakup trauma.

A lesson to learn!.......2005-10-08

I am glad I read it! I started the book and immediately thought this woman was crazy, a looney, a wack job. After getting a feel for the book I realized that although this woman seemed crazy to me, I related SOME things to her. It's been awhile but years ago I remember going through a break up that was hard to let go. Now, I was in high school and that to me is a teenager thing but I could relate. Different phases, different situations but probably all the same feelings. This book jumps around to different things which keeps you interested on her journeys, all the while learning a little about canning. Something I know NOTHING about. In the end it comes together, it's a amazing how all the jumble of stories, times, thoughts come together to show a lesson learned. Now, I have a feeling each reader will take something completely different from this book, a lesson of some sort!

My favorite line was (I think) from page 85 or 86. She talks about her phase of collecting things. All sorts of things. One being wooden birds on sticks for her garden/yard. her neighbor yells at her "your like Martha Stewart on crack!" I loved it. It was a total giggle out loud!

A Recipe for Mending.......2003-04-09

Simply stated, one of the best books for healing and growth (and humor) I've ever read...well, to be specific, I've ever read 5 times! It's a simple read, yet keeps your eyes glued to its pages; its voice strikes you right to your core and makes you wonder if it wasn't written solely for you! I've loaned it to friends a million times over, and it's never been received with anything less than pure excitement, relief, pleasure, and appreciation. Great writing, great book, great lessons. It's both practical and spiritual, humorous and poignant, insightful and memorable. It's a book you won't soon forget.

"I'm so misrable without ya, it's almost like i got ya back".......2001-06-07

I've been in her shoes, and i know how it feels to search for peace. She does a great, amusing job describing her search. I did not like the ending all that much (too predictable). On another note, i am sure few are going to go to the store and buy a book on canning, yet this book has perfectly good recipes that one can follow. Canning, a lost art, now recovered thanks to DB

Funny, Heartwarming, and Inspiring!.......1999-11-06

I wish I could write as well as Ms. Bull does. In this quick, yet concise memoir, she manages to capture both the emotions of any 30something woman who goes through a painful break-up, and dead-on characterizations of the personalities whom she meets through her travels. Not many books have made my heart skip a beat, put a smile on my face, and made me want to start reading it all over again. This one did--I highly reccomend it! Can't wait for her next book!

Blue Jelly - Love Lost And The Lessons Of Canning

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Blue Jelly - Love Lost And The Lessons Of Canning
Debby Bull
Manufacturer: Hyperion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JZOX0Y

Book Description

The author brings his expertise to bear on the combative use of the shoulder arm. The differences between assault and battle rifles, as well as between automatic rifles and light machine guns are clearly explained. The history and development of the modern fighting rifle is covered in complete detail.

Customer Reviews:

The Definitive Combat Rifle Book.......2002-12-30

As someone who has taken courses with Taylor, this is the definitive work on the subject and I believe represents the best and most concise available source to civilians by where they can learn the actual uses for various military rifles, deployment of same, etc. As we have all been poisoned by movies and TV, where we see the guy with the Uzi pistol take out rifle toting goons at 300 yards, our minds have to be de-toxed from the umpteen years of garbage implanted there and this book it as close as you can come to an enema to remove that. Each infantry arm, SMG, Shotgun, Carbine and Battle Rifle are addressed, from both a select fire and semi fire perspective. The carrying and deployment of same is addressed. Practical applications, like muzzle blast, carrying of magazines, changing of magazines, are all addressed. While some of the material is dated, and several of Taylor's shooting techniques have been modified by him to make them better and quicker, whether or not you could ever go to one of this classes, this book and diligent practice of its techniques will put you a mile on top of everyone else.

The fighting rifle: the complete study of the rifle in combat

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The fighting rifle: the complete study of the rifle in combat
Chuck Taylor
Manufacturer: Desert Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 0879473088

Fighting With Firearms : Combat Handgun, Shotgun, And Rifle Skills For The Real World

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Fighting With Firearms : Combat Handgun, Shotgun, And Rifle Skills For The Real World

Manufacturer: Paladin Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00009KH1L

Lancaster During the American Revolution: A Way of Life, the Pennsylvania Rifle, the Military Market Basket, Loyalists, Pacifists and Prisoners, The Revolutionary Leadership, Fighting the Battles, the Perils of Patriotism

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Lancaster During the American Revolution: A Way of Life, the Pennsylvania Rifle, the Military Market Basket, Loyalists, Pacifists and Prisoners, The Revolutionary Leadership, Fighting the Battles, the Perils of Patriotism
Joseph E, Ed., Jim Kinter, Samuel E. Dyke, John W. W. Loose, Rollin C. Steinmetz, G. Terry Madonna, Frederic Shriver Klein, J. Samuel Walker Walker
Manufacturer: Lancaster County Historical Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0915010143

Is steel stronger than glass? Iron sights are better than optical sights or fighting rifles, or are they?: An article from: Guns Magazine

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Is steel stronger than glass? Iron sights are better than optical sights or fighting rifles, or are they?: An article from: Guns Magazine
Clint Smith
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Sports | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Guns Magazine, published by Thomson Gale on September 1, 2007. The length of the article is 1827 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: Is steel stronger than glass? Iron sights are better than optical sights or fighting rifles, or are they?
Author: Clint Smith
Publication: Guns Magazine (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 53 Issue: 9 Page: 70(3)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Combat action of a motorized rifle battalion in a city

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Combat action of a motorized rifle battalion in a city
Andreĭ Konstantinovich Shovkolovich
Manufacturer: Voenizdat
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007B6P06

Critical combat performances, knowledges, and skills required of the infantry rifle platoon leader: bayonet knife and hand-to-hand combat

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Critical combat performances, knowledges, and skills required of the infantry rifle platoon leader: bayonet knife and hand-to-hand combat
Henry E Kelly
Manufacturer: George Washington University, Human Resources Research Office
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007GTHN8

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Fighting Dan of the Long Rifles,
Sidney Walter Dean
Manufacturer: Macrae-Smith-Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

The Fighting Rifle a Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat

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The Fighting Rifle a Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat
Chuck Taylor
Manufacturer: Paladin Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LF5VI0

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The fighting rifle: A complete study of the rifle in combat
Chuck Taylor
Manufacturer: Paladin Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00070NAH8

Average customer rating:

Very dissapointed beader

Dazzling Beaded Jewelry (DIY): 50 Great Projects (DIY Network)
Jackie Guerra
Manufacturer: Lark Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Beadwork | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Jewelry | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Glamorous Beaded Jewelry: Bracelets, Necklaces, Earrings, and Rings

Contemporary Bead & Wire Jewelry (Lark Jewelry Book)

Bead Fantasies III: Still More Beautiful, Easy-to-Make Jewelry (Bead Fantasies)

Handcrafting Chain and Bead Jewelry: Techniques for Creating Dimensional Necklaces and Bracelets

Beaded Jewelry

ASIN: 1579908543

Book Description

Beaded jewelry is taking the craft world by storm—and so is Jackie Guerra. She makes the art of creating fun and easy. With her help, plus these amazingly simple techniques, anyone can achieve attractive results quickly. So get out that spool of wire, and start mastering such basic skills as stringing and weaving: there’s nothing complicated at all, so even beginners can make the 50 fabulous designer projects.

Each item showcases a particular style or technique, and originally made its debut on DIY Network’s Jewelry Making show. From necklaces and chokers to bracelets and earrings, there’s a treasure trove on these splendidly illustrated pages, which guide the crafter carefully through the process. Tips for customizing and adapting the designs are included.

Jackie Guerra is well known as an actress, stand-up comic, and motivational speaker. Her acting credits include an ongoing role on the drama American Family, a sitcom series on the WB network, and roles in major motion pictures with Woody Allen and Jennifer Lopez. In addition to hosting DIY’s Jewelry Making, Jackie also hosts the Style Network show You’re Invited. She is very active in political issues in the Latino community.

Customer Reviews:

Very dissapointed beader.......2007-03-12

I ordered this book believing that I was really going to learn new ways or get fresh ideas for jewelry, but I was very dissapointed to find out I was not. Some of the projects looked very interesting, but the instructions lack clear explanation and some of the pictures were confusing.It seem to be the photo of the same step of the project. Not recommend, unless you have a good experience with many techniques. I consider myself to be a experience/diverse jewelry maker, and this book certanly won't explain or shown me new Ideas.

From the Publisher

Works by Watteau, Desportes, Fragonard, Boucher and Greuze, and notes on 47 master drawings in catalogue published for an exhibit that coincided with a conference on Voltaire. (Voltaire underrated the artists of his time but they found his writings a continual source of inspiration.) Distributed by Woodstocker Books.

Amazon.com

Not only is Peter Biskind's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls the best book in recent memory on turn-of-the-'70s film, it is beyond question the best book we'll ever get on the subject. Why? Because once the big names who spilled the beans to Biskind find out that other people spilled an equally piquant quantity of beans, nobody will dare speak to another writer with such candor, humor, and venom again.

Biskind did hundreds of interviews with people who make the president look accessible: Scorsese, Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola, Geffen, Beatty, Kael, Towne, Altman. He also spoke with countless spurned spouses and burned partners, alleged victims of assault by knife, pistol, and bodily fluids. Rather more responsible than some of his sources, Biskind always carefully notes the denials as well as the astounding stories he has compiled. He tells you about Scorsese running naked down Mulholland Drive after his girlfriend, crying, "Don't leave me!"; grave robbing on the set of Apocalypse Now; Faye Dunaway apparently flinging urine in Roman Polanski's face while filming Chinatown; Michael O'Donoghue's LSD-fueled swan dive onto a patio; Coppola's mad plan for a 10-hour film of Goethe's Elective Affinities in 3-D; the ocean suicide attempt Hal "Captain Wacky" Ashby gave up when he couldn't find a swimsuit that pleased him; countless dalliances with porn stars; Russian roulette games and psychotherapy sessions in hot tubs. But he also soberly gives both sides ample chance to testify.

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls is also more than a fistful of dazzling anecdotes. Methodically, as thrillingly as a movie attorney, Biskind builds the case that Hollywood was revived by wild ones who then betrayed their own dreams, slit their own throats, and destroyed an art form by producing that mindless, inhuman modern behemoth, the blockbuster.

When Spielberg was making the first true blockbuster, Jaws, he sneaked Lucas in one day when nobody was around, got him to put his head in the shark's mechanical mouth, and closed the shark's mouth on him. The gizmo broke and got stuck, but the two young men somehow extricated Lucas's head and hightailed it like Tom and Huck. As Peter Biskind's scathing, funny, wise book demonstrates, they only thought they had escaped. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

When the low-budget biker movie Easy Rider shocked Hollywood with its success in 1969, a new Hollywood era was born. This was an age when talented young filmmakers such as Scorsese, Coppola, and Spielberg, along with a new breed of actors, including De Niro, Pacino, and Nicholson, became the powerful figures who would make such modern classics as The Godfather, Chinatown, Taxi Driver, and Jaws. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls follows the wild ride that was Hollywood in the '70s -- an unabashed celebration of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll (both onscreen and off) and a climate where innovation and experimentation reigned supreme. Based on hundreds of interviews with the directors themselves, producers, stars, agents, writers, studio executives, spouses, and ex-spouses, this is the full, candid story of Hollywood's last golden age.

MARTIN SCORSESE ON DRUGS: "I did a lot of drugs because I wanted to do a lot, I wanted to push all the way to the very very end, and see if I could die."

DENNIS HOPPER ON EASY RIDER: "The cocaine problem in the United States is really because of me. There was no cocaine before Easy Rider on the street. After Easy Rider, it was everywhere."

GEORGE LUCAS ON STAR WARS: "Popcorn pictures have always ruled. Why do people go see them? Why is the public so stupid? That's not my fault."

Customer Reviews:

Couldn't put it down - I grew up admiring these characters..........2007-02-23

Firstly - I don't think that this book should be mistaken for a spiteful Paul-Johnson-type of takedown of Great Men...Biskind's not a curmudgeon, and I see no evidence of a Grand Thesis in this book smashing down facts to fit the preconceived mold...

I'm made to remember, as I first read & then occasionally re-read this book, that the Seventies was not just the time in which the putative counter-cultural forces stormed & took the tired old film studio citadel (and in the process became, many of them, boring old farts struggling for relevance); nor was it simply the time in which Spielberg & Lucas hatched the modern Big Blockbuster--but it was also the age of the invention of the super-auteur, the well-advertised & vaunting "maverick" filmmaker who compulsively pointed up to the stands every time he came up at bat (Bogdanovich & Coppola, most egregiously)...The super-stardom of these people arrives with the mainstreaming of know-how fetishism, and the over-valuation of the film artiste - the ascension of film-schools, making-of docs, horserace reports on box-office grosses, and so on...Much of what has been taken for slimy "gossip" in this book seems, on reflection, to be intimately connected with the films themselves: and in some wild cases ("Days of Heaven"; "Apocalypse Now"), the prodigal wasn't bankrupted & chastened, but came back home a star...

That said - I'm grateful for Biskind's hard treatment of Altman, and of Paul Schrader--they were begging for it...I don't understand why he treats Robert Towne's "Personal Best" as an ignominous all-'round failure--it REALLY wasn't that bad!

Juicy and exciting read.......2007-01-17

This book reads straight from the gossip columns. It's a fun, juicy read that you won't be able to put down. Peter Biskind gives you a sneek-peek behind Oz's curtain to see the nitty gritty lives of people like Scorsese, Speilberg, Copolla and Lucas. This won't be "classic literature," but you will find it exciting, addicting and a definate page-turner! Read this book just for the fun of it!

Not Recieved, No Refund.......2007-01-04

They say they sent it to my address, but i never recieved it. I called them. they told me they sent it, and did not offer further help.

Great in spite of itself.......2006-09-17

Peter Biskind's EASY RIDERS RAGING BULLS is destined to become a pop-culture classic, of a problematic sort for sure, but a classic still.

Biskind's research is formidable - the current academic revival of interest in the career of the late Hal Ashby was probably instigated by this book - this alone is an indication of how throrough a cultural chronicle of 70s 'New Hollywood' this work really is. It has obviously been taken very seriously in some quarters, and for all of its' academic impact, it also managed to become an improbable bestseller.

It's also one of those things that you love, and slot into a sort of 'guilty pleasure' category; Biskind balances his exhaustive cinema-historical research with equally exhaustive tales of sex-and-drug debauchery, though ultimately the avalanche of tittilating tawdriness does serve something of a purpose, in illustrating how certain individuals responsible for reinventing and reinvigorating Hollywood at the beginning of the 70s were also sowing the seeds of their own demise by the end of the same decade.

Biskind structures the book in emulation of one of the key players illuminated within - the entire book is structured like an Altman film, shifting gradually between a great cast of contradictory, combative characters (Hal Ashby as the moral center of it all), with the many historical narratives weaving together at the end. Along the way, he engages in a little bit of analysis (not enough, but understandable, given all else that is going on here), tracing the shadows of Nixon and Vietnam through films as seemingly disparate as "The Exorcist," "Jaws," "The Godfather," "Star Wars" and "The Conversation."

Overall, an essential piece of American cultural history.

-David Alston

The Godfather of New Hollywood Books.......2006-06-23

One can tell just by watching the films of directors such as Coppola, Scorcese, Friedkin and all the others that made up the New Hollywood of the 1970's, that they were infused with a streak of arrogance. Many films that were full of pretence and repulsive characters, but that nevertheless embodied a new spirit of American auterism, brought about by a new found European sensibility and a shift in power from producers to directors. So its no surprise that Peter Biskind's detailed and intriguing read, reveals these directors to be monstrous human beings. Power hungry, tin pot dictators fuelled by drugs, alcohol and sex. Somehow despite the lines of coke and the absurd sums of money that went flowing around, some of the greatest films in American cinema appeared. Biskind's enthusiasm for this period comes across and it helps that he lived through it and his book is filled with a great deal of insightful social commentary, his reading of STAR WARS for example is quite interesting. However he does tend to overcook the political and allegorical side of his critique. At times the book becomes a bit too gossipy and academics and film students might be put off by the tales of back stabbing and drug abuse. But, this does give the book a spark, which separates it from the more impenetrable and theory based books on the same subject. It is precisely because of Biskind's talky and down to earth prose that makes the book such a joy. There is a great deal of value to this book and after reading it you cannot view the films of this period in quite the same way. Enjoyable from start to finish.

EASY RIDERS RAGING BULLS: HOW THE SEX 'N' DRUGS 'N' ROCK 'N' ROLL GENERATION SAVED HOLLYWOOD.

Average customer rating:

EASY RIDERS RAGING BULLS: HOW THE SEX 'N' DRUGS 'N' ROCK 'N' ROLL GENERATION SAVED HOLLYWOOD.
Peter. Biskind
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0747559953

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