Under The Man-fig

Customer Reviews:

Staring up through the branches, waiting for figs to drop.......2000-11-30

Stop long enough to notice the clump of old men standing under the shade trees on the courthouse lawn. And listen. Or if they go silent when you approach, notice the murmur that resumes when you're out of earshot. In Thornham, Texas, those up-in-years menfolk standing under that big, old fig tree are the town gossips, and they're ready to pass judgment on anyone in their ken, based on hear-say or outright prevarications. Once the word is out, woe be unto the targets of their barbs of scorn. If you are a sucker for Texana and a good yarn, you won't be disappointed in "Under the Man Fig." Fans of Eudora Welty, William Faulkner, Carson McCullers and Bulwer-Lytton may recognize the meter, dialect and shrouded tone. If you're offended by outdated/unkind/never-appropriate words referring to African-Americans, you'll find plenty to fault in this 1890s novel. But readers who are able to set revisionism aside and accept this work for something true to its era (although over-romanticized here and there) will find much to appreciate. Make sure to absorb the afterword by Sylvia Ann Grider, but I suggest reading it before jumping into the text. It has a whetting effect that makes the book even more enjoyable.

"Especial attention paid to deportment": the round dance, social identity, and Mollie Davis's Under the Man-Fig.(1895 novel)(Critical Essay): An article ... ATQ (The American Transcendental Quarterly)

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"Especial attention paid to deportment": the round dance, social identity, and Mollie Davis's Under the Man-Fig.(1895 novel)(Critical Essay): An article ... ATQ (The American Transcendental Quarterly)
Cory Lock
Manufacturer: University of Rhode Island
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from ATQ (The American Transcendental Quarterly), published by University of Rhode Island on September 1, 2002. The length of the article is 8724 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: "Especial attention paid to deportment": the round dance, social identity, and Mollie Davis's Under the Man-Fig.(1895 novel)(Critical Essay)
Author: Cory Lock
Publication: ATQ (The American Transcendental Quarterly) (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2002
Publisher: University of Rhode Island
Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Page: 213(20)

Article Type: Critical Essay

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Under the Man-Fig
M.E.M. Davis
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RY9FB4

Book Description

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Book Description

In this unique collection of fiction and essays, some of the best writers in the science fiction world explore our relationship to the future through the dual lens of science fiction and cultural studies, and provide a rich testament to the power of science fiction to help us re-imagine reality.

Each contributor was asked to reflect on our anxiety about the new millennium and to write about how science fiction could help us envision the far future and future cultural spaces. The resulting array of speculative writings, both critical and fictional, is diverse and illuminating--from a personal essay by Marge Piercy on love, sex and the power of fiction; to a new story by Harlan Ellison in which consumerism is the opiate of the masses; to a fictional book review by Kim Stanley Robinson which imagines what future historians will say about science in the third millennium.

CONTRIBUTORS: Marleen S. Barr, Rosi Braidotti, Harlan Ellison, James Gunn, Walter Mosley, Patrick Parrinder, Marge Peircy, Neil Postman, Eric S. Rabkin, Kim Stanley Robinson, Pamela Sargent, Darko Suvin, George Zebrowski.

Customer Reviews:

With an engaging diversity of viewpoints.......2004-03-07

Compiled and edited by Marleen S. Barr (Visiting Scholar at Columbia University and winner of the 1997 Pilgrim Award for lifetime achievement in science fiction criticism) Envisioning The Future: Science Fiction And The Next Millennium is an anthology of articulate and knowledgeable essays contributed by a wide variety of authors, including Harlan Ellison, Neil Postman, George Zebrowski, Pamela Sargent. From an engaging diversity of viewpoints, the contributors discuss how science fiction as a literary whole can be expected to change and adapt in the future. Incorporating the overwhelming trend of globalization, cultural shifts in the past century and their predicted progression, and more, Envisioning The Future offers keen insights into the transformation of this popular and evolving literary genre.

Envisioning the Future: Science Fiction and the Next Millennium [A book review from: Technological Forecasting & Social Change]

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Envisioning the Future: Science Fiction and the Next Millennium [A book review from: Technological Forecasting & Social Change]
J.P. Martino
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Elsevier | By Publisher | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B000RQYO9U

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from Technological Forecasting & Social Change, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Envisioning the Future: Science Fiction and the Next Millennium.(Book Review) : An article from: Extrapolation

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Envisioning the Future: Science Fiction and the Next Millennium.(Book Review) : An article from: Extrapolation
Sherryl Vint
Manufacturer: Extrapolation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Extrapolation, published by Extrapolation on March 22, 2005. The length of the article is 2922 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: Envisioning the Future: Science Fiction and the Next Millennium.(Book Review)
Author: Sherryl Vint
Publication: Extrapolation (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2005
Publisher: Extrapolation
Volume: 46 Issue: 1 Page: 144(6)

Article Type: Book Review

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Fiction and the future: gripes, gibes, and conjectures: science fiction helps us find our place in the world of tomorrow, suggest the contributors to Envisioning ... Review): An article from: The Futurist

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Fiction and the future: gripes, gibes, and conjectures: science fiction helps us find our place in the world of tomorrow, suggest the contributors to Envisioning ... Review): An article from: The Futurist
Lane Jennings
Manufacturer: World Future Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Futurist, published by World Future Society on March 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1096 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: Fiction and the future: gripes, gibes, and conjectures: science fiction helps us find our place in the world of tomorrow, suggest the contributors to Envisioning the Future.(Envisioning the Future: Science Fiction and the Next Millennium)(Book Review)
Author: Lane Jennings
Publication: The Futurist (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2004
Publisher: World Future Society
Volume: 38 Issue: 2 Page: 62(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description

Other People's Myths celebrates the universal art of storytelling, and the rich diversity of stories that people live by. Drawing on Biblical parables, Greek myths, Hindu epics, and the modern mythologies of Woody Allen and soap operas, Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty encourages us to feel anew the force of myth and tradition in our lives, and in the lives of other cultures. She shows how the stories of mythology—whether of Greek gods, Chinese sages, or Polish rabbis—enable all cultures to define themselves. She raises critical questions about the way we interpret mythical stories, especially the way different cultures make use of central texts and traditions. And she offers a sophisticated way of looking at the roles myths play in all cultures.

Customer Reviews:

Approachable, Interesting, personal........2007-01-06

I am interested in myths because of my personal experience of them; they are rich in personal meaning. Ms Doniger has had similar experiences it seems. I have framed them more with Jungian and post Jungian understandings. Ms Doniger has framed them within her academic field. While she does deal with archetypes without dismissing them, she mainly uses her extensive knowledge and understanding of hindu myths and her trainig in comparitive religion. Thus there are parts that are quite detailed and the arguments a little involved (hence the 4). But on the other hand her approach in using myths to talk about myths is otherwise quite playful and engaging; using riches to uncover riches. The book also reads like a personal testament, parts of which I identified with. At the beginning she describes her own encunter with Hindu myth (which she was studying) at the time of her father's death. She found the myths helped her much more than her own; hence the title of the book. I, a white western protestant christian, have found greek, hindu and other non-christian myths more helpful and more profoundly meaningful than my faith in dealing with my own difficult circumstances. Perhaps this book is Ms Doniger's journey of trying to understanding why someone elses myth could speak so powerfully to an american jew. In the other of her books i have read 'The Implied Speder' her intellectual rigor and training is evident. Thankfully this book is far more fleshy, less rigorous, more suggestive, more approachable. However we try to understand the mechanism, myths (be they classical, popular, ancient, modern, parochial, foreign, offensive or affirming) are alive and well and mis/behaving as ever they did, regardless of our religous labels. Ms Doniger and I are in agreement on that !

Read a good book, instead........2003-10-11

Ms. Doniger O'Flaherty writes as if she has escaped the narrow bounds of her Jewish upbringing to understand a more universal world of mythology, and, by this method, enhanced her understanding of Jewish mythology. Sadly, she seems not to have escaped the bounds at all. She writes in circles, telling us that it is neither possible, nor beneficial to create new mythologies and new rituals, though she does not explain why this is so. She fails to grasp that all myths and rituals had origins at some moment in time, and did not come to us with the first spark of human life, sacred and divine. She starts to deal with issue, but skirts it, as she does most issues. In then end, she is trapped by the narrow limits of Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism. In the narrowness of her view, including Hinduism seems to imply that she has stretched her mind to encompass the universal. Much that should be scholarship seems to generate from her own hopes, fears, and neurotic world view. I liken her to a psycologist, out to heal herself and treating her illness as a universal. While every writer writes from a perspective that is uniquely their own, Ms. Doniger O'Flaherty's perspective is self-absorbed, and she shows an incredible inability to look at the world through the eyes of others. Worse, she is painfully unaware of this defect. Unless you are one who finds bad scholarship amusing, I suggest looking to another source for an introduction to the field of folklore.

Storytelling............2001-02-06

In OTHER PEOPLE'S MYTHS, Wendy O'Flaherty says "God created people because he loves stories." O'Flaherty teaches History of Religion at the University of Chicago. She says not everyone will approach her book with the same level of interest. The orthodox religious may find it sacriligious while hard-core secular humanists may find it too "religious." However, she believes some secular humanists may be ready to rethink the premise that rational thought is the only way to gain a handle on reality, and it is to them she dedicates this book.

MYTHS will prove illuminating to those who study the history of religion (non-theologians), fascinating to anthropologists who study other cultures, and provocative to theologians looking for inspiration. O'Flaherty's book is a synthesis of many strands from many disciplines--she likes the metaphor of weaving to describe her work.

O'Flaherty says myths can provide alternative answers to the fundamental questions of life and death. Juxtaposed, these answers can be deciphered like a secret code. She says myths are not lies they are fragments of the truth. Myths are the clothes archetypes wear--or structures if you're a structuralist, or parables if you're God.

O'Flaherty, a Jew, is a specialist in Christian and Hindu mythology. She compares and contrasts the various stories of these two cultures with the earlier Greek myths--which she says weren't myths at all by the time they were discussed by Plato, but mere shadows of their former selves--zombies. Myths are alive, they resonate.

She says Allan Bloom (author of THE CLOSING OF THE AMERICAN MIND) says we have lost our classics (stories) and to a certain extent she agrees with him. But, she says, the classics to which Bloom refers never belonged to all the people whereas myths do. She tells of the Mahabharata which the most illiterate peasant in India knows. In the U.S., it's equivalent is the Bible. Most Westerners can recite some sections of the Bible.

As far as the classics go, they don't survive unless they are mythologized. To mythologize a story is to tell it over and over. Not all stories can become myths. Myths bear repeating. There are many different kinds of myths, from those involving Western heros to those about characters in children's tales like Cinderella. (I discovered Cinderella is a Chinese tale--hence the small feet as an aspect of female beauty, and those slippers were fur, not glass--the tale was mistranslated!!).

In the information age, the theater plays a large role in the transmission of cultural myths. Movies are big in the U.S. and big in India. O'Flaherty says her favorite mythical tale is "Through the Looking Glass." She mentions other tales--both written and on film that are mythical including "Star Wars", "The Red Shoes", and "The Wizard of Oz." She says in a pluralistic society, many new tales will be mythologized, and new heros will materialize -- The Lion King, Harry Potter, and James Bond??

O'Flaherty wrote her book in the late 1980s before the "English Patient" was released as a book and film. She says Herodotus was the first person to record the existence of a myth as an aspect of a culture. I kept thinking as I read the book and she cited Herodotus over and over, I must watch "The English Patient" again.

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Other Peoples' Myths: The Cave of Echoes
Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MYT41A

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Other Peoples' Myths: the Cave of Echoes
Wendy Doniger O'flaherty
Manufacturer: University of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N7AQ4U

Book Description

This revised edition has a new look and feel, new recipes, and new information on timely culinary topics.

Customer Reviews:

My favorite cookbook.......2003-12-07

I bought this information-packed cookbook when I was first starting out on my own. It was a hard-cover book then & also, the very first cookbook that I could call my own. I've made hundreds of recipes from it - most of which were outstanding - and added dozens of notes to its pages over the years.
The best part is that each time I've tried a new method or ingredient, I've also had the benefit of learning more about it.
This a perfect cookbook for anyone starting out or for those who are interested in more than just a recipe.

A very good overall culinary reference book.......2002-07-26

Jane Horn's "Cooking A to Z" is a fine culinary reference. Almost every entry for a food item includes advice on use, selection, storage, and seasonal availability. While recipes abound, there is a distracting inconsistency on the use of numbers-sometimes they are spelled out (one cup), and sometimes they are listed numerically (1 cup). This is especially annoying with fractions, which are spelled out throughout the book.

Still, this volume has its priorities straight, for the most part, and devotes generous space to the simple foundations of good cooking: the humble egg, knives and knife technique, and so on. Overall, this is intelligently designed and gorgeously photographed.

A Thorough and Enjoyable Reference.......2000-12-13

I saw this cookbook at my mom's house and begged for it. We are both experienced cooks, but I still have found this book very useful. There is something for everyone, with clear and helpful information ranging from mundane to exotic. I like the tips and advice more than many of the recipes, but I think most would appeal to the majority of people (I'm finicky). This high quality book is large and lays open very nicely (but do yourself a favor and buy a plastic cookbook holder/shield), the pages are thick and glossy, and there are lots of gorgeous and tempting pictures. I turn to this very readable reference book frequently. I really use the sections on how to choose particular items, from sugar snap peas to kitchen gadgets. The step-by-step directions for omelettes piqued my husband's interest (he generally hates any kind of food work) and now he is a hit on weekends!

Tantalizing pictures with deliciously entertaining text.......2000-04-04

If you are looking for a perfect cookbook for a cookbook collector, this is one they will value highly. Pictures burst from the page and are refreshingly surrounded with intersting tidbits and realistic recipes.

The layout is superb and each subject is nicely highlighted for easy location while you page through 629 pages of intoxicating inspiration. The cover is practical with a plastic sheath and the book will open and stay that way on your counter.

The type is easy to read with plenty of bold text for emphasis. I cannot give enough positive comments about this book. You will love it.

~TheRebeccaReview.com

Not To Be Missed:.......1996-09-25

I didn't learn to cook as I was growing up. My mother would "teach" me things -- such as that the instructions on the backs of the boxes were all wrong. I'd follow her directions, instead, and then (surprise!) everything would turn out bizarrely ruined. At nineteen I couldn't do anything more complicated than dry toast, and had to teach myself to cook, starting from scratch. So to speak.

There are gajillions of recipe books, but they generally assume a you're working from a vast store of basic knowledge. One of the most useful purchases I've ever made in my life was a book called _Cooking A to Z_, edited by Jane Horn. It calls itself the complete culinary reference tool, and it's not kidding. Even if you had someone sane teaching you how to cook as a kid, you can still learn all kinds of things you never knew you needed to know. That eggs are easier to separate when cold, but you want to beat whites at room temperature. Which kinds of fish you =don't= want to buy when fresh. How to pick out the best cantaloupe. What went wrong with your fallen cake. How to choose the right wine and cheese combo. Oh, yes, and there are recipes, too. Lots of recipes, and color photos.

Customer Reviews:

The Popular Guidebook Now Has Prices Revised for 1999.......1999-11-20

This beautiful 352 page identification and value guide has been updated with 1999 prices. It contains over 2,300 full color, large, sharp photos. Provides collector's tips, the McDonald's Story, the early days and more history. Nearly every type of McDonald collectible is included. Every category is clearly described. A valuable reference work that will be referred to often !

McDonald's.......1999-08-29

Why not have McDonald's have a substitute for a value meal instead of french fries, like your potatoe pancake. Have your express in Hempstead, Nassau County, Long Island, New York, have thick or milk shakes, like you do hot and cold drinks. PLEASE GIVE TO MCDONALD'S

Good book.......1999-06-23

Needs to be update

all types of McD collectibles from 1964 to present.......1999-01-20

this book contains not just Happy Meals from the beginnings of McD, but all other types of McD collectibles like tableware, clothing, Christmas things, sports cars & cards, etc. etc.

Excellent Value Guide-Very thorough, Great color pictures!.......1998-08-24

What luck to run accross this wonderful guide the first time searching for such a book. This is a very large book, with color pictures of all type of McDonald's collectibles-in addition to all the happy meal toys. It also provides a facinating history of how the business got started along with pictures of the founders and the 1st restaurants, also included are pictures and values of memorabilia such as uniforms, paper french fry bags and the large ride on toys and Ronald figures used inside the restaurants. This books gets a A+ from me.

Mcdonald's Drinkware: Identification & Value Guide (Identification & Values (Collector Books))

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Mcdonald's Drinkware: Identification & Value Guide (Identification & Values (Collector Books))
Michael J. Kelly
Manufacturer: Collector Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Americana | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Glass & Glassware | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Reference | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1574324470

Book Description

Michael J. Kelly If you see the Golden Arches, you know exactly what they mean. McDonald's restaurants have been around since 1955, and have served cheeseburgers, french fries, and other 'happy' meals to billions of people around the world. Besides its popularity for their fast food, McDonald's has also become well-known for pouring its beverages into hundreds of different glasses, cups, mugs, and other drinkware. These various containers have become highly collectible, and have been around since the 1970s. Michael J. Kelly, co-author of the popular Collectible Drinking Glasses, has focused this time specifically on McDonald's drinkware and produced the most comprehensive identification and value guide on this subject. Over 1,600 items, both domestic and foreign, are listed and pictured in almost 300 color photographs. It's the only book to list and price glass, ceramic, pottery, plastic, acrylic, and paper drinkware. Glasses and cups commemorating grand openings, anniversaries, conventions, Hamburger University, Ronald McDonald House, sports, and NASCAR are all featured in this book. There is extensive coverage of convention stemware, paper cups, travel mugs, sports bottles, and sports glassware. Plus it features rare McDonald's managers' issues, prototypes, and error glasses never before seen in any publication.

McDonalds Collectibles: Identification & Values (Mcdonalds Collectibles)

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Fantastic book for McDonalds Collectors

McDonalds Collectibles: Identification & Values (Mcdonalds Collectibles)
Gary Henriques , Audre Duvall , and Audre Du Vall
Manufacturer: Collector Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Popular Culture | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Reference | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Toys | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Toymaking | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1574322230

Book Description

This book is the only book on McDonald's to combine Happy Meals and miscellaneous collectibles under one cover. Collectors will be impressed to find over 1,000 color photos featuring giveaways, advertising and restaurant materials, premiums, toys, and authorized manufactured items. Consult this book for dates, sizes, marks, and current collector values for both unpackaged and mint-in-package items. Variations of toys are mentioned when known, and regional giveaways are discussed. Plus there's a chronological history of the company and a helpful index. The miscellaneous section of the book has been expanded to twice the size of the first edition's, and the Happy Meal toys section now covers the year 2000. Christmas ornaments by McMemories, miscellaneous costumes, and McDonald's Collectors Convention exclusives are now included.2001 values. AUTHORBIO: Gary Henriques is very knowledgeable in several categories of collecting, ranging from Daisy Air Rifles to diamonds to McDonald's collectibles, and had his own shop, selling coins, minerals, and stamps. He spends most of his spare time visiting toy shows, thrift shops, flea markets, and garage sales. He co-authored McDonald's Collectibles with Audre DuVall. AUTHORBIO: Audre DuVall, a graphic artist and native of New York state, studied commercial art and illustration at Rochester Institute of Technology, and later graduated from San Jose State University with a degree in graphic design and illustration. She co-authored McDonald's Collectibles with Gary Henriques. REVIEW: This is the second edition of the bestselling price guide. It now covers Happy Meal Toys and collectibles through the year 2000. Color photos are sharp and promotions are clearly listed by year for easy reference.

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic book for McDonalds Collectors.......2003-08-29

This book is a must for McDonalds collectors! The photos and descriptions have been a great asset to me in cataloguing my collection of McDonalds toys. An absolutely fabulous book!

Book Description

“Shows the wide range of project possibilities....Everett’s designs, which include an egg timer, a sauce bottle holder, a memo board, shelves, a trellis, a birdhouse, a jigsaw puzzle, and a toy airplane, are attractive and well designed. The attractive illustrations are supplemented by grid-patterns of project parts. A sure winner for scroll sawyers, this title should be purchased by all public library collections.”—Library Journal.

Book Description

This is the first in-depth study of the extinct Koguryo language, which was once spoken in Manchuria and northern Korea. It covers the ethnolinguistic history of the Koguryo nation, philological treatment of the sources for the language, Koguryo phonology, and a complete glossary of all Archaic Koguryo and Old Koguryo words. Special attention has been given to the theory and practice of lexically-based historical-comparative linguistics. The genetic relationship of Koguryo to Japanese is shown to be secure, unlike the non-relationship of either language to Korean or `Altaic', and much light is shed on the ethnolinguistic origins of Japanese. The special phonological features of the underlying transcriptional language, the archaic northeastern Middle Chinese dialect once spoken in Korea, are also analyzed.

Readership: Anyone interested in Japanese, Korean, Chinese, historical linguistics, early East Asian history, or the comparative linguistics of East Asia and Central Eurasia. Academic libraries, research institutes, and large public libraries.

Customer Reviews:

A brilliant book on East Asian comparative linguistics.......2006-07-04

First of all, let me say that this is a brilliant book. I am a linguistics student with a Russian and English background and am interested in East Asian languages. When I heard about the debate over who "owns" the legacy of the Koguryo Kingdom, I tried to find out about their language. I found this book, which seems to be the only major linguistic study of Koguryo in existence. Beckwith gives a model account of the surviving language material and shows Koguryo is definitely related to Japanese. He also has some very interesting theoretical chapters, especially the one on word frequency and retention rates.

Beckwith bashes the Altaic theory, the Sino-Tibetan theory, and traditional Chinese reconstructions, and shows that some words were borrowed into Japanese from Old Chinese, so some people are bound to be unhappy with him. But in my honest opinion Beckwith is right. How could the Japanese, Koguryo, and Chinese have so much interaction for so long, even before the medieval borrowing period, without sharing a good number of words? All languages I ever heard of have lots of loanwords, so certainly Japanese and Koguryo have them too. Non-linguist readers ought to know that phonological change is complex and later forms include mergers of more than one earlier form, so even a regular correspondence such as Ryuukyuu d and Japanese y does not cover all occurrences. For example, Beckwith points out that the Japanese word yama "mountain" is actually attested as yama, not *dama, in third century Japanese, before the Ryuukyuu dialects or languages even existed. Beckwith explains his reconstructions and his interpretations of the transcription characters very clearly, and as far as I noticed he does not create any ad hoc forms in the book, which in my opinion is a very careful scholarly work.

I feel Beckwith is courageous to challenge so many dogmatic theories that others get hot under the collar about. I found the book exciting.

The book on Koguryo and the origins of Japanese.......2006-02-23

This is an important book. It is the first one on the Koguryo (Goguryeo) language and the relationship of Koguryo to Japanese. It is also the only serious, important book on the NON-relationship of the `Japanese-Koguryoic' languages to Korean or any other language or language family. People who are religiously devoted to amateurish mega-theories like `Altaic' will not like this book. It argues very strongly, clearly, and convincingly against their theories. I can't say it is an easy read. It is an intense, thoroughly scholarly book. But if you are interested in the origins of the Koguryo people (including their fascinating origin myth), the Koguryo language, the Japanese-Koguryoic languages, or historical-comparative linguistics in East Asia in general, this book is a must-read.

Truly not what I expected.......2005-09-04

When I came to know that this book was published last year I was very excited by the idea of a linguistic work that approaches Japanese to the Northeast part of the continent at last with truthful proofs.
At first I thought that would be a definitive proof for the link of Japanese to Altaic languages because I wrongly believed Koguryo was somehow an ancient pre-tungusic language (anyway, tungusic languages are spoken nowadays in that area).
But I got rid of this idea just beginning the reading of it, and later I discovered Beckwith being a hard anti-altaicist linguist.
That's not a problem, of course, it's just that I had recently read a book of Roy Andrew Miller who used Koguryo (saying that it was Old North Korean) to prove relationship between Korean, Japanese and Altaic (especially with the word for "garlic").
But Beckwith has made some considerably big mistakes in his comparative Japanese-Koguryo work (how could possibly "yama", mountain in Japanese, and γapma [ghapma], big mountain in Koguryo, be related? The proto-japanese word for mountain is "dama", as every y- in Japanese comes from d-, as noted in some Ryukyuan dialects), not to tell about his own inventions of readings of Chinese phonetic characters used to transcribe Koguryo, ad hoc reconstructions of Early Old Chinese words, etc.
He absolutely rejects the Altaic divergence theory and says:
"Altaic is a distant relationship theory that a century of energetic effort has failed to demonstrate successfully"
He compares Altaic theory with the Nostratic one.
About the Altaic convergence theory he says that Tibetan, Burmese, and even some dialects of Mandarin Chinese should be included in that family, while some dialects of Turkish should not, not sharing many of the widely accepted rules for a language to be Altaic.
However, he suggests many loanwords of Japanese from Old Chinese (reconstructing very improbable words) and Proto-Tibeto-Burmese, claiming those words to be ultimately of an Indoeuropean origin, showing the striking resemblances of those to PIE roots.
For example: EOC *marga - IE *marko (horse), EOC *mare - IE *mori (sea), EOC *kwer - PTB *kwar - IE *kwel (wheel), PTB *dwa - IE *dwe (two), EOC *wer - IE *wer (water), EOC *wek < PCh *ok - IE *okw (eye), EOC *kweru - IE *gwel (yellow)
He says:
"Since many of the forms discussed in this chapter also seem to be shared with Indo-European, they should be examined by a careful but open-minded scholar trained both in Indo-European comparative-historical linguistics and in East Asian languages who is not crippled by reliance on HSR (Historical Sinological Reconstruction). Unfortunately, in East Asian linguistic circles weighty theories continue to be based on assumptions involving Austronesian, Taic, or other language families, all of which are (and were) distant from the ancient homeland of Chinese civilization in the Yellow river valley."
It is not a bad book, as raw material, and as a corpus of Koguryo lexicon, and many words are clear cognates between Japanese and Koguryo, that's undeniable, but those cognates do also exist in Korean and Tungusic-Altaic languages, although Beckwith does not want to see it.
And finally, yes, this book is extremely overpriced.

Average customer rating:

Taut writing - a story of infidelity

I enjoyed this for the same reasons I like Nabakov.

De Quieros: A Final Post Script

Yellow Sofa (New Directions Classics)
Eca De Queiros , Eca De Queiroz , and John Vetch
Manufacturer: New Directions Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Tale of the Unknown Island

ASIN: 0811213390

Customer Reviews:

Taut writing - a story of infidelity.......2000-06-03

I was completely unaware of Eca De Queiros prior to reading this book. He is an excellent writer - although this is a slim volume it successfully moves it characters through a number of changes and emotions as a marriage unravels in infidelity. The portrayal of the emotions, their "wallop", will remain with you long after you've finished the novel and the plot line is forgotten - in this sense, those who read for the quality of the writing may enjoy this book more than those who read for action and plot.

I enjoyed this for the same reasons I like Nabakov........1999-07-07

This is the first of Eca de Queiros that I have read. His style is economical, his writing seems almost effortless. Likewise, his selection of details packs meaning. This is not a perfect book, but highly enjoyable in the way that fine improvisation satisfies.

De Quieros: A Final Post Script.......1999-02-14

A terse novel published posthumously 25 years after the author's death. While not his best work, it does seem to capture a recurrent theme in many of his works -- the rejection of Victorian-era morality and propriety. De Quieros probes the subjects of marital infidelity, betrayl, honor, forgiveness and reconciliation in 112 pages! This is an enjoyable, quick primer to De Quieros. By all means pick this up and follow it with The Illustrious House of Ramires and/or The Relic...Happy Reading.

The Man in the Yellow Hat: Theology and Psychoanalysis in Child Therapy (American Academy of Religion Academy Series)

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The Man in the Yellow Hat : Theology and Psychoanalysis in C

The Man in the Yellow Hat: Theology and Psychoanalysis in Child Therapy (American Academy of Religion Academy Series)
Dorothy W. Martyn
Manufacturer: An American Academy of Religion Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Adolescent Psychology | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Psychotherapist Dorothy W. Martyn reverses the way in which psychoanalytic psychology and Christian theology have usually been related to one another. With few exceptions, priority has been granted to psychology: infantile needs and wishes spawn religious ideas; from one's life experience one can proceed to an understanding of God. Tracing the therapeutic journeys of three children, Martyn finds crucial illumination in the insights of Freud, Jung, Winnicott, Klein, and others. But she sees the power that evokes emotional growth in the therapeutic relationship as deriving from motifs of Christian theology that deepen our understanding of authentic parental love.

Customer Reviews:

The Man in the Yellow Hat : Theology and Psychoanalysis in C.......2000-06-29

As a child therapist with a theological background I found Martyn's book to be illuminating and very insightful. Her chapter on the psychological implications of Karl Barth's theology is superb and gives a good example of how theology can strenghten and increase sensitivity in clinical work.

The Rose Man of Sing Sing: A True Tale of Life, Murder, and Redemption in the Age of Yellow Journalism

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Well Researched but the Title is Somewhat Deceiving
couldn't pick the book up
Brings an Era to Life
A Newspaper Legend's Crime and Redemption
WASHINGTON POST SAYS:

The Rose Man of Sing Sing: A True Tale of Life, Murder, and Redemption in the Age of Yellow Journalism
James Morris
Manufacturer: Fordham University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0823222675
Release Date: 2003-09-12

Book Description

Today, seventy-three years after his death, journalists still tell tales of Charles E. Chapin. As city editor of Pulitzer's New York Evening World , Chapin was the model of the take-no-prisoners newsroom tyrant: he drove reporters relentlessly—and kept his paper in the center ring of the circus of big-city journalism. From the Harry K. Thaw trial to the sinking of the Titanic , Chapin set the pace for the evening press, the CNN of the pre-electronic world of journalism. In 1918, at the pinnacle of fame, Chapin's world collapsed. Facing financial ruin, sunk in depression, he decided to kill himself and his beloved wife Nellie. On a quiet September morning, he took not his own life, but Nellie's, shooting her as she slept. After his trial—and one hell of a story for the World's competitors—he was sentenced to life in the infamous Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. In this story of an extraordinary life set in the most thrilling epoch of American journalism, James McGrath Morris tracks Chapin's rise from legendary Chicago street reporter to celebrity powerbroker in media-mad New York. His was a human tragedy played out in the sensational stories of tabloids and broadsheets. But it's also an epic of redemption: in prison, Chapin started a newspaper to fight for prisoner rights, wrote a best-selling autobiography, had two long-distance love affairs, and tapped his prodigious talents to transform barren prison plots into world-famous rose gardens before dying peacefully in his cell in 1930. The first portrait of one of the founding figures of modern American journalism, and a vibrant chronicle of the cutthroat culture of scoops and scandals, The Rose Man of Sing Sing is also a hidden history of New York at its most colorful and passionate.James McGrath Morris is a former journalist, author of Jailhouse Journalism: The Fourth Estate Behind Bars , and a historian. He lives in Falls Church, Virginia, and teaches at West Springfield High School.

Customer Reviews:

Well Researched but the Title is Somewhat Deceiving.......2006-01-09

Author James Morris has done his research well on his subject, newspaperman Charles Chapin. Chapin was a stern taskmaster with his employees in running the New York World. Chapin probably picked up on this attitude from an early editor named Fred Hall of the Chicago Tribune. Some called Hall a "slave driver" who was, as Chapin related, "a demon for hard work and a slave to his profession and intolerant toward shirkers." Author Morris follows Chapin's career through the years in detail. An interesting anecdote is related when Chapin was firing a reporter because he was, as Chapin said, "too sentimental for your own good." The reorter shot back at Chapin with, "True for you, Chapin! But when I die, there'll be a hell of a lot of people who will come to the funeral." Chapin winced at the verbal retort and turned white and spent considerable time contemplating the remark. Later in life when Chapin was in debt he felt it necessary to kill his wife to spare her of any future difficulties. Chapin felt he would receive the electric chair for his dastardly dark deed. Having been sentenced to Sing Sing prison he found himself the editor of the prison newspaper. It is finally on page 302 that we get to what the title of the book is all about, namely Chapin and his flower gardens on the prison grounds. I found the book to be interesting, but more time could have been spent on what the title of the book leads us to believe it is about.

couldn't pick the book up.......2004-07-16

The book is very well researched, and it does give you a history of journalism in NY at the last turn of the century. However, I found it really lacking in suspense. It was easy to put the book down! In fact, I read up to p. 150 a year ago, and decided to have another go at it recently. The author failed to detail the actual relationship between Mr. Chapin and his wife. Besides the fact that they went on a lot of vacations together, what was their emotional life like together? What were her hopes and dreams? How did she spend her days? Why didn't they have any children? Was she intelligent, funny, warm, outgoing, etc.? Did they fight often; what were her hobbies? Also, when it comes to the actual killing of Mrs. Chapin, it was actually very boring. I thought this would be the climax of the book. For example, Ann Rule would have attempted to bring some drama into this scene, and would have given more details of the actual room in which it took place, and would have gotten into the emotional aspect of this crime. It was a very dry and dull account of what I thought would be a page-turner of true crime. I mean, for God's sake, the man killed his wife! The writer seems like an historian but does seem to have taken all the life out of this true-life story. A sharper editor would have made him condense the newsroom stuff and moved it along at a faster pace. All in all, he's a good writer, but it lacked drama and suspense. Recommended only for history buffs as a history of yellow journalism in NY.

Brings an Era to Life.......2004-03-03

For those who loved the novel Ragtime or Caleb Carr's potraits of New York at the turn of the 19th century, The Rose Man of Sing Sing is a real treat: a behind-the-scenes peek at murder and mayhem in the Gilded Age. The detail is extraordinary, the writing fluid and engaging, and the psychological portrait of Charles Chapin acute. A book that is very hard to put down.

A Newspaper Legend's Crime and Redemption.......2004-02-25

If you looked at the January 1925 issue of that arbiter of domestic taste, _House and Garden_, you would have seen a photo layout of a rose garden that would have been the envy of any socialite or country club. The garden was tasteful, with fountains, a pool of water lilies, and blue spruce trees in addition to thousands of roses. Besides the obvious beauty of the garden, there was one other thing that made it unique. At one end of the garden was an old execution chamber. The garden was in the middle of the infamous prison, Sing Sing, in New York. It was the creation of a prisoner who, before he murdered his wife, was a legendary newsman who worked directly for Joseph Pulitzer, and often himself handled coverage of society murders. The term of Charles Chapin as city editor of the _New York Evening World_ was full of spectacular tabloid stories, and James McGrath Morris, himself a former journalist, has brought back Chapin's forgotten story and explained how the press worked in the early parts of the twentieth century in the astonishing book, _The Rose Man of Sing Sing: A True Tale of Life, Murder, and Redemption in the Age of Yellow Journalism_ (Fordham University Press). It is a story at times as lurid, melodramatic, and spectacular as any of the stories Chapin himself published.

Chapin started delivering the local paper at age fourteen. He was determined to get himself an education, and although he could not attend school, he read ravenously and well. A kindly editor selected books for the boy, classics that Chapin drew upon all his life. He was thrilled to become a reporter in Chicago, but eventually made his lasting mark in New York, where at the _Evening World_, he presided over a technological revolution. The new telephone allowed Chapin to give orders to reporters in the field, and to shape the stories. Field reporters would call in the details of a story, and the new "rewrite reporters" would write it up for the paper. As a result, Chapin gave the _World_ unrivaled immediacy in reporting New York's news. Especially fascinating is the story of how Chapin got the news about the sinking of the _Titanic_. Chapin was recognized as the best of city editors, but he was not easy to work for. He was merciless on himself, and extended this treatment to his reporters. His abilities made them tolerate working for him. He was devoted to his wife, and seems sincerely to have wanted to put her out of prospective misery when his investments failed; he had planned a murder suicide, but only killed her, and turned himself in. He was convicted of murder in 1919 and given twenty years to life. In Sing Sing, the warden took particular interest in him, which is not surprising given how different Chapin must have been from the usual criminals there. Chapin had never been a gardener, but began to cultivate a small plot; he became obsessed with his plants, solicited donations from those he knew in the business world, and commanded inmate assistants with the same fervor he had used on reporters. Ladies clubs came to take the tour of the grounds, as did celebrities like Booth Tarkington and Houdini.

Chapin thus proved to be a model prisoner, and applied for pardon, but no pardon ever came. He was involved in two mostly postal romances with women on the outside, neither of which ended well, mostly because of his lifelong inability to see or accept ambiguity; it was as if he expected a well-chosen headline to cover all the underlying details. He died a convict in 1930, and was buried, according to his wishes, with the wife he had murdered twelve years before. This story, never told before in full, is full of engrossing detail about the competitive working press of the time. Chapin's life, that of a brilliant and limited man who eventually found horticultural redemption, is almost operatic in its sweep, and makes an unforgettable story.

WASHINGTON POST SAYS:.......2004-01-24

"Morris, a former journalist, a historian and teacher, has done fine work recovering the melodramatic story from a variety of contemporary sources. . . Morris foreshadows Chapin's tragedy skillfully in the first chapter, then drops back and sticks to chronology. He keeps the narrative crisp with telling bits from the journals of the day and Chapin's own writing. . .
James McGrath Morris has done journalism -- and armchair psychiatry -- a fine service by rescuing this melodramatic tale."

The Lords of Human Kind-Black Man, Yellow Man, and White Man in an Age of Empire

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The Lords of Human Kind-Black Man, Yellow Man, and White Man in an Age of Empire
V.G. HIERNAN
Manufacturer: Little,Brown and Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J561I6

Average customer rating:

excellent stories about the US Navy in the Pacific War

The Man in the Yellow Raft

Manufacturer: Pinnacle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Similar Items:

The Captain from Connecticut (Great War Stories)

ASIN: 0523008392

Product Description

General Fiction, Historical, Adventure

Customer Reviews:

excellent stories about the US Navy in the Pacific War.......2005-12-14

This year my literary project was to read all of CS Forester's books on the sea and naval warfare. Of his fiction, and I include his celebrated Hornblower series, this collection of stories ranks near the top in conveying the sense of man at sea and at war. These are terrific stories, and together with the collection in Gold from Crete (of which see my review), the reader is guaranteed entertainment and insight.

What is remarkable is that CS Forester near the end of his life, and after four decades living in the United States, finally got it right in writing about Americans. After some inept or flawed portraits of Americans as naval warriors (The Captain from Connecticut, 1941; The Good Shepherd, 1956), Forester in 1960-61 managed to write a series of stories about the USS Boon, a destroyer in the Pacific War. Forester's pitch is near perfect, with few distracting anachronisms or mistakes (though I still find it hard to believe that lookouts in WWII announced a contact sighting with 'Sail ho.')

In addition to the Boon stories, this collection includes three that were published during the war, and they have that same poignancy that characterized Forester's other stories from that period, as published in Gold from Crete.

These stories are highly recommended for the lover of naval literature.

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The Lords of Human Kind: Black Man, Yellow Man, and White Man in an Age of Empire
V. G. Kiernan
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Emigration & Immigration | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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The Man in the Yellow Raft
Forester C. S
Manufacturer: Little Brown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0316289183

Book Description

THE MAN IN THE YELLOW RAFT is a collection of eight stories about the American destroyer Boon and the men who served on her during WW II. The stories have a point: they remind us that courage and clear-thinking in the midst of great danger go hand in hand and are the keys to survival. Not only is cowardice disgraceful, it is frequently lethal.

"With great insight into the character of men and their behavior in naval warfare, Forester gives us a story of how battle must have looked to those who fought it." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)

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Night Ride and Other Journeys
Charles BEAUMONT
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0553020870

Product Description

Macabre

As a man lives, or, The mystery of the yellow house [microform]

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As a man lives, or, The mystery of the yellow house [microform]
E. Phillips Oppenheim
Manufacturer: Little, Brown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006ELZ0O

THE BLACK PRINCE: White Girl, Fine Girl; Miss Yellow Eyes; The Girl with the Flaxen Hair; The Bright Day; Fever Flower; The Way of a Man; One Summer; Joshua

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THE BLACK PRINCE: White Girl, Fine Girl; Miss Yellow Eyes; The Girl with the Flaxen Hair; The Bright Day; Fever Flower; The Way of a Man; One Summer; Joshua
Shirley Ann Grau
Manufacturer: Signet Books - New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000BMZ1E2

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