Growing Rhododendrons and Azaleas (Cassell Good Gardening Guides)

Book Description

From the Zanzibar archipelago and Mafia Island to Lake Victoria. Full colour maos and wildlife guide. Africa's highest mountain and its largest lake. Where to sleep: treehouses, four-posters and tents. Organize a safari or a diving adventure.

Customer Reviews:

as useful as it gets.......2007-01-17

we traveled tanzania and zanzibar for a month, and got most of our info from this little book. it was (at that time- april 2006) up-to-date. easy to use, not too heavy in the backpack and informative enough to get us to the right guesthouse or restaurant without bothering the locals too much.
some city and town maps included only the most central parts- quite a problem when they do not include central bus or train stations....
all in all- a good book to have when you are in tanzania!

East Africa Handbook: With Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia (Footprint East Africa Handbook)

Average customer rating:

Best East Africa Travel Guide

East Africa Handbook: With Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia (Footprint East Africa Handbook)
Michael Hodd
Manufacturer: Passport Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Ethiopia & Djibouti | Africa | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Africa | Travel | Subjects | Books

Kenya | Africa | Travel | Subjects | Books

Rwanda & Uganda | Africa | Travel | Subjects | Books

Tanzania | Africa | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Asia | Travel | Subjects | Books

Guidebooks | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

Footprint Handbooks | Guidebook Series | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0844249785

Customer Reviews:

Best East Africa Travel Guide.......1999-12-13

I am planning a trip to Africa and have scoured many bookstores and shelves for THE BOOK. Footprints provides a wonderful book for those who really want to know EVERYTHING in preparation for their trip--from tipping guides to safari ratings to hotel guides to crime and embassy information--ad infinitim. This book is wealth of practical information and provides maps, history, culture and language information and even has a built in glossy color wildlife section on the flora and fauna one will encounter whilst in East Africa. Having a comprehensive guide in a small package (~6x4 in) is essential since travellers are limited to backage weight restrictions. (Books taken are thusly limited). This book will provides excellent reading material (as well as a travel resource) for all things East African before, during and after travel. Restaurants and hotels are rated by $ and quality, as are safari companies. Each page is double columned in small print, absolutely LOADED with essential information. The version offered for 1999 has a hardbinding, which is a plus. Unfortuantely, all post-1999 Footprint editions are now softcover. If you can take only one book, this is it. This one will be one of two books in my bag. The other one will be Hemingway's 'Green Hills of Africa.'

Average customer rating:

Footprints: Memoirs of Howard S. Olson
Howard S Olson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Tanzania | Africa | History | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Balie Peyton lived a life of contrasts. As a congressman from Tennessee in the nineteenth century, he shaped national policy. Elected as a follower of President Andrew Jackson, he turned against the Jackson administration in his second term and helped found the opposition Whig Party. He quit Congress after two terms, but remained active in politics. Passionate about U.S. policy and politics, he was also passionate about breeding and racing fine thoroughbreds…although success in turf matters always seemed to elude him.

In the ultimate contrast, Balie Peyton was a loyal Unionist from a Southern state. Although a slaveholder, the issues of slavery and Southern rights weren't enough to change his loyalty, not even when his son joined the Confederate Army and died in battle.

Rich in detail and drawn mainly from original sources, Balie Peyton of Tennessee celebrates the many facets of the life of this American patriot and statesman, and reveals the impact one man had on politics, a nation, and the sporting world.

Customer Reviews:

Wheeling and Dealing in pre-Civil War Politics........2005-04-28

Written by Tennessee State Historian Walter T. Durham, a distant cousin of my friend, Hal Durham who was from McMinnville, Tennessee and now Florida, he has published others since 1995 about Tennessee and his native county, Sumner. He calls the subject of this detailed account Balie Peyton an American patriot.

First Peyton was on Jackson's side, then formed his own Whig party. Then worked behind the scenes to maneuver national politics. Andrew Jackson had laid the cornerstone for the city of Washington, D. C. Jan. 11, 1836. Baile Peyton was born, raised, lived most of his life within a few miles from the Hermitage, antebellum home of "Old Hickory," our distinguished President from the State of Tennessee. Born in 1804 on a farm three miles from Gallatin, up the river a little ways from Jackson's grand home, and was buried on that same land on which he had been born in 1879.

Described as a great orator, highly skilled raconteur in politics and horseflesh; perhaps his greatest talent was public speaking. Once he gave a "strong, taunting speech" -- my kind when I have the chance to give one -- and was passionate in many confrontations as he did have a temper, as do I. Let's see, he must have been born in May. "When he told a tale, his listeners were spellbound."

He was a slave owner as was his neighbor there in Hermitage (yes, there is a town named that now so that folks can find this historical place -- and it is worth the trip to Nashville); but he loved the horses which he bred in that area of bluegrass from which they transplanted the grass and the thoroughbred horses from Kentucky. He used both the slaves and the horses as 'studs', but not together! Quite a feat for someone who was always involved in politics in Washington and other places.

Once he was in Texas when Sam Houston and Ohio Congressman had a dispute which ended in the court system. Sam was charged with assault in 1832 because the Ohio politician had called him one of President Jackson's "bullies." A resolution in court declared Houston 'guilty of contempt of Congress' for his physical attack while William Stanbery was censured for "use of unparliamentary language." Sam had accused the Ohio man had made "wanton attacks" on his domestic relations, probably advertising Sam's festering groin injury; he testified that Stanberry had 'slandered' him in six newspaper columns and "refused ever to answer a polite note."

"Modern" history was rewritten a few years later when A. W. Terrell wrote an article in which he'd added a squalid drinking party which included James K. Polk, another Tennessean who became U. S. President, and statesman, Balie Peyton. Though he was a Southern Unionist (worse than a Union sympathizer!), his son John Bell Peyton, joined the Confederate Army and died in battle.

In 1879, Peyton was buried in the family cemetery on the farm where he'd been born seventy-five years earlier. Graveside services were conducted by Rev. John Arbuthnot of Gallatin Presbyterian Church and the local Methodist preacher, Berkett Ferrell. He had intervened to free Ferrell from incarceration during the Civil War and now "in a broader sense, the minister was returning the favor."

Book Description

Barbara Johnson's approach to life is positive, uplifting, therapeutic and fun. Splashes of Joy offers an invigorating spurt of encouragement and a gentle reminder to splatter joy into the lives of others.

Customer Reviews:

Splashes of Joy in the Cesspools of Life.......2005-08-31

A friend who lost her 26 year old son in a car accident introduced me to Barbara Johnson's books. I just lost my 26 year old daughter in a car accident. The Christian humor is therapeutic. It also helps me realize I'm not the only one in this world who has suffered tragic loss, and is helping me deal with and live with that loss.

Love this Author.......2001-08-17

This book and all the books from Barbara are wonderful and they really help people with there problems and let you know that no matter what problems you have and they seem bad there is someone out there that has more and more hardship than you. She lets you know about gods unconditional love and grace an how we must keep the faith. They are everyday stories and they are wonderful, funny, and loving.

Adversity is not the end!.......2000-09-15

This is a wonderful book! It made me cry and laugh at the same time. The author presents adversity not as the end of our lives but as an opportunity to grow and learn. The book is easy to read but at the same time very profound and inspirational. I would recommend it to anyone who is going through difficult times. The book would help people to be joyful in the midst of adversity.

Average customer rating:

The Kuchar Brothers - Truly Independent American Filmmakers

Reflections from a Cinematic Cesspool
George Kuchar , and Mike Kuchar
Manufacturer: Zanja Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Direction & Production | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Genre Films | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 0915906341

Book Description

A humorous collection of autobiographical literary low-browsing, low-budget filmmaking philosophy, and tips by the legendary twin, underground filmmakers George and Mike Kuchar; a reflection on their flickering universe and the famous and infamous who drop into it from time-to-time. Original illustrations by Mike and George Kuchar and a selection of never-before-seen photos. Includes filmography, bibliography and index.

Customer Reviews:

The Kuchar Brothers - Truly Independent American Filmmakers.......2000-05-30

This book became a filmmaking Bible for me. The Kuchar Brothers make movies for very little money using a whole lot of their souls in lieu of pecuniary advancements. Their movies are intensely personal, funny and brilliant and they've been making 'em since they were preteens using their aunt's 8mm (well before Super 8) camera inspired by the melodramas of Douglas Sirk as well as any piece of cinema they could devour.

This book gives a little taste of what's behind it all and it's a lot like the Brothers' movies - funny, moving, and whimsical with their own personal dreams, obsessions and demons as fuel. If you're a fan of the Kuchars you'll love this book. If you've never heard of them the book will serve as a timely introduction to their vast ouevre containing unforgettable titles like Sins of the Fleshapoids, Hold Me While I'm Naked and the Wet Destruction of the Atlantic Empire. Whether you know them or not, you will find this book invaluable. Mike's chapter entitled the Metaphysics of moviemaking is one of the greatest pieces I've ever read about making movies.

Even though they're not household names like many of the people they've inspired (Andy Warhol, John Waters, David Lynch), the Kuchar Brothers continue to make movies their own way. Though not as famous as some of their contemporaries, their contribution to American cinema is just as grand. That's why you should read this book...

Average customer rating:
Bangkok - Cesspool of the Orient (Twilight: 2000, 2nd edition)

Manufacturer: Game Designers Workshop (GDW)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1558780742

Product Description

"Bangkok is the first adventure/campaign sourcebook written especially for the revised Twilight: 2000 game system. It presents players and referees with a totally new and different background against which to adventure: Thailand. Bangkok describes the geography, climate, peoples, and culture of Thailand, giving maps of the major cities, a rundown on the three main political factions, and complete organizational details of the various armies. From the opium warlords of the Golden Triangle to the 'sea gypsies' of the Gulf of Thailand, from the primitive hill tribes of the northeast to the sophisticated mercantile/criminal syndicates of Bangkok itself, each region of the country is fully described. Each section also includes a short folio-type adventure set in that part of the country. "Further chapters provide adaptations to the slightly different milieu of Merc: 2000, enabling Bangkok to be used with campaigns for that system as well..."

Goodbye to the Flush Toilet: Water-Saving Alternatives to Cesspools, Septic Tanks, and Sewers

Average customer rating:

Old book. Facinatingly relevant.

Goodbye to the Flush Toilet: Water-Saving Alternatives to Cesspools, Septic Tanks, and Sewers

Manufacturer: Rodale Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Water | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Water Storage: Tanks, Cisterns, Aquifers, and Ponds for Domestic Supply, Fire and Emergency Use--Includes How to Make Ferrocement Water Tanks

ASIN: 0878571922

Customer Reviews:

Old book. Facinatingly relevant........2001-08-26

The first chapters are full of information in simple English about the history of sewage, including pictures.
(The dead horse and kids playing in an open sewer is one picture that remains with me since I purchased the book 2nd hand at 11th grade 20 years ago!).

The book shows where the current system is leading us, and clearly states what is needed. It checks what type of people use composting toilets, where they hoped to apply them (20 years ago and same today) and what the problems are. The rest of the book has detailed plans, bibliography and pictures of alternatives that were available then, including experience. Although not always very clear, it's fun reading.
And still an excelent source.

Average customer rating:
LOUISIANA'S GOVERNMENTAL CESSPOOL: THE CONSTITUTIONAL SOLUTION
Paul, Loy Hurd
Manufacturer: AuthorHouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

State & Local Government | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Local Government | Levels of Government | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1420884824

Average customer rating:
2 TITLE SO, STICK A GERANIUM IN YOUR HAT AND BE HAPPY! & SPLASHES OF JOY IN THE CESSPOOLS OF LIFE.
BARBARA JOHNSON
Manufacturer: Paternoster Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Faith | Christian Living | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Johnson, Barbara | ( J ) | Authors, A-Z | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 085009559X

Average customer rating:
2-in-1 Edition - Splashes of Joy on the Cesspools of Life & So, Stick a Geranium in Your Hat and Be Happy

Manufacturer: Word Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Johnson, Barbara | ( J ) | Authors, A-Z | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000CS1MEI

Product Description

Barb, I Need a Splash of Your Joy

Average customer rating:

The American cesspool
R. C Besteder
Manufacturer: 21st Century Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 0966090659

The autobiography of Frank P. Carnese, LLB: In the cesspool of power

Average customer rating:

The autobiography of Frank P. Carnese, LLB: In the cesspool of power
Frank P Carnese
Manufacturer: F.P. Carnese]
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Law | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006RKWQ4

Average customer rating:

Cesspool
Alan Marshall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000UEYCK0

Product Description

"Shameful lusts made this border post a - Cesspool." An Original Nightstand Book. Vintage Erotica.

Average customer rating:

think twice before buying

Another great book by linda jones!

Great how-to book.

Great into to wire working

excellent book to master basic skills

Creating Wire and Beaded Jewelry: Over 35 beautiful projects using wire and beads
Linda Jones
Manufacturer: North Light Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Jewelry | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Bead On A Wire: Making Handcrafted Wire and Beaded Jewelry

All Wired Up: Wire Techniques for the Beadworker and Jewelry Maker (Beadwork How-To series)

Bead & Wire Art Jewelry

Moods in Wire : An Extended Guide to the Fine Art of Wirewrapping (2nd Ed)

Making Designer Bead and Wire Jewelry: Techniques for Unique Designs and Handmade Findings

ASIN: 1581806329

Book Description

With this easy-to-use guide, jewelry designer Linda Jones shows readers how to create stylish pieces of their own, with just three pieces of equipment and the minimum of fuss. This book includes:

* 35 simple-to-make projects, including jewelry for weddings and pieces based on classical designs

* Ideas for fashionable designs using just wire, which is flexible and easy to fashion into a variety of shapes, and simple beads

* Step-by-step instructions to guide crafters through each project, along with creative ideas to spark readers' own designs

Anyone eager to make heirlooms will welcome the simplicity and ease of these projects, making Jones's guide the perfect introduction to this versatile craft.

Customer Reviews:

think twice before buying.......2007-08-03

Even with my several years of experience wrapping wire I found the instructions incomplete and confusing. Definitely not a book for a novice but possibly a good reference book. Beautifully illustrated though. I got some great ideas for displaying my jewelry.

Another great book by linda jones!.......2007-06-08

I have purchased other books by Linda Jones and will continue to do so! Beautiful projects, quality directions, beautiful photos.....it has it all. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to make wire jewelry!Buy it....you won't be sorry!

Great how-to book........2007-03-24

I am a complete beginner and found this book very helpful. The instructions are easy to follow, the pictures vivid and beautiful, and the finished jewelry is lovely. There are lots of different projects to make for every level. I highly recommend this book.

Great into to wire working.......2007-03-23

If you are just learning wireworking this book is for you. Lots of great projects , easy to follow instructions and beautiful illustrations.

excellent book to master basic skills.......2007-01-03

This a great book to get you started using wire in Jewelry. Very clear & concise instructions, I mastered most skills within a short time.

Book Description

Uncovering startling connections between the Cold War and family life, a noted historian challenges assumptions of the "happy days" of the 1950s.

Customer Reviews:

Many Shortcomings.......2007-07-10

Elaine Tyler May's Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era encapsulates the life of the average American family from the decade prior to World War II through the decade of the 1980s, primarily focusing on the Cold War period of the 1940s through the 1960s. Although the threat of the Cold War and use of atomic weapons always loomed in the background, May's work essentially emphasized the social and economic happenings of the time. Homeward Bound is an easy read with each chapter following a format that introduces the reader to the chapter's subject, backs it with statistical data, and provides a summary. And lest the reader think the book is balanced and fair to men and women, later chapters show the author's true intent which is to show how American women were trapped into becoming housewives and not being able to explore their own interests or careers in favor of their husbands'. Nine chapters guide the reader through the Great Depression, World War II, the Eisenhower years, the turbulent decade of the 1960s and ends with the election of Ronald Reagan. Since the book was originally published in 1988, there is a follow-up section for the new 1999 edition. Further, there are several appendices with statistical data describing the demographics of the people about whom it is written. Also, the questionnaire from the Kelly Longitudinal Study, which is the basis for the data provided in the text, is also included.

Vice President Richard Nixon's "kitchen debate" with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev is the opening salvo in a book that paints a bleak picture for American women in the 1940s and 1950s. Much of the information provided to support the author's thesis is from the Kelly Longitudinal Study, which consisted of surveys of six hundred white middle-class families and spanned the period from the late-1930s to about 1955. Families actually began in the 1930s and 1940s for security and economic reasons and "...laid the foundation for a commitment to a stable home life...." Even though women worked outside the home and were in many ways functional within the job market, they were discouraged from working during the time of the Great Depression, since working women took jobs away from men. This changed after America's entry into World War II where full employment existed and the need for workers to drive the military production machine required that women enter the workforce. However, once the war ended and veterans returned from overseas, many women left the job market on their own or were forced out so that men could be employed. The expectation was for women to become housewives and mothers and cater to their families rather than have a career of their own. In fact, many government officials, like FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, for example, stated that being a housewife was one of the most important careers a woman could have to provide stability in the country as an attempt to thwart the growth of communism.

Many women were not satisfied with that life. Although the marriage rate increased significantly and the birth rate jumped after WWII (producing the "Baby Boom" generation), women from the survey experienced a sense of despair in their lives due to their societal subservience to their husbands. Though many believed raising a family and keeping a happy home was quite satisfactory to them, many women were depressed and unsatisfied with their lives in general. May describes in great detail the miserable lives of many of these women whose husbands treated them badly, were not affectionate or sexually gratifying, and who were inattentive fathers. The life of the average housewife was gloomy because she worked where she lived whereas men worked away from the house and saw their home as a sanctuary for them to relax and, seemingly, be waited on hand-and-foot by their jobless wife. Certainly divorce was available for these women; but, unless their husband was abusive or adulterous, most did not exercise that option since a high social stigma was attached to it during that era. Further, from an economic standpoint, most women with children could not survive on their own. Indeed, the economic fortunes of divorced women declined while that of divorced men increased.

Consumerism and the ideal American family bring the reader back to the Nixon - Khrushchev debate. New appliances, new homes, new cars, and other "big ticket" items were the staple of American life and what separated the U.S. from the U.S.S.R. and made American appear more affluent then their Communist counterparts. Not only did Americans want more things, they also wanted more children. Couples who had no children were seen as unsuccessful. "Large families were an indication of a man's potency and ability to provide and a woman's success as a professional homemaker." Women should be able to manage a larger household, after all, because many of the appliances (e.g., washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and electric irons) were invented to make their lives easier and thus enable them to have more time to raise children and keep a clean house.

This era of the nuclear family began to unravel in the early 1960s with the publication of the best-selling book The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. In it, she questioned the status quo and "...spoke for thousands like herself whose dreams and desires withered under the weight of domesticity." Moreover, as the children of the baby boom era came of age themselves, they rebelled against the lifestyles of their parents and turned the 1960s in a decade that saw "free love" and the move away from the nuclear family. This brought about cohabitation without marriage, premarital sex, and an increase in the divorce rate. The author concluded that the conservative movement that helped Ronald Reagan to become elected president and harkened to return to the days of the nuclear family and the stable 1950s was misguided because that era actually diminished the role of women and prevented them from realizing their potential.

As stated earlier, the author shows herself as a feminist whose goal was to prove that women were kept down in subservience to men after World War II. From a statistical standpoint, since the surveyed families were mostly located in the New England area of the country it is debatable that the data the survey provided is applicable to the rest of the country. Basically, twelve hundred adults were surveyed from a 1950 population of over one hundred and fifty million. Does that really represent the American population as a whole, especially when the survey is geographic specific? Further, May is critical of the conservative movement and the supporters of Reagan which further paints her as a liberal feminist. Although there is nothing wrong with having that viewpoint, it diminishes the work in general. What starts out to be a statistical analysis of married couples during a specific time period results in a generalization of the country as a whole and sheds a negative light on men of that time. Although Homeward Bound gives the reader a glimpse of a time in recent American history, it should not be considered the decisive work for which to judge that generation.

How the Hetero-normative, Racialized, Exclusive Suburban Family Ideal Became a Unifying Aspiration of American Culture.......2006-03-25

This work contends that there was an anomalous rise in "marriage, parenthood, and traditional gender roles" in the post-World War II United States that was pan-racial, pan-economic, pan-ethnic, and pan-regional. It attributes this to social constructions of home and family that responded to governmental policy aims and cold war anxieties. The work seeks unearth what, precisely, drives the anxieties behind these social formations and why they dramatically distort the post-World War II child bearing generation from the radicalism that preceded and proceeded them.

May ascribes the geopolitical parlance of "containment" to the domestic cultural policies of the cold war United States. She asserts that the rhetoric and practice of the nuclear family served to contain subversive sexual and political behavior that might evoke contestation of gendered postwar consumerism, masculinist renderings of science qua exceptionalist prosperity, and endanger the social practices of unity, security, and stability that were understood to confer qualitative global advantage in the cold war. The author also engages the nuclear family as an aspiration that mobilized the majority of United States residents who were racially, economically, or otherwise excluded from its suburban actualization. The capacity of family to frame the intelligibility of "prosperity" for economic actors who were conferred unequal advantage is key, May suggests, to its postwar centrality in visions of an abundant and classless society.

In this context, May's suburbs emerge as liminal spaces that both enact and resolve the contradictions between pre-and postwar culture, replacing the aspiration for equal condition with the condition of uniform aspiration, reifying romance as the mutual consent of liberal individuals yet encasing it in an exclusionary propertization of private life, and substituting ethnic kinship and working class consciousness that situated life in power with a homogenous whiteness that rendered power unintelligible. This is artfully demonstrated as the text traces the dispositions and cohesions of families from the New Deal era thru the early 1960s.

The author's hybrid methodology combines statistical demographic data with qualitative analysis of cultural texts. May notes assiduously the key contradiction within this data; that while the imagery of suburban familial prosperity presented a level of prosperity that was realistically inaccessible for the majority of United States residents who encountered it, it nonetheless correlates with a strong voluntary entrance into the social formations of that aspiration that is evident across demographics. May goes as far as to entertain that the disconnect between the consumer aspirations of marginalized peoples and their social reality may have contributed to their motivation to pursue social change, also noting the strong political incentives to resolve visible racial inequality during the cold war. Indeed, the phenomenon through which the rhetoric of the Civil Rights movement became centered around an actualization of the postwar patriarchal family and economic opportunity--it was examples of consumer exclusion from diners, hotels, and municipal services as well as his daughter's weeping at a whites-only amusement park that Martin Luther King rooted his initial moral appeals in-would constitute an entirely separate study. This, if anything, is the question one is left with at the conclusion of Homeward Bound. To what extent has the lasting postwar articulation of the nuclear suburban home as the fruit of prosperity become the constantly greener grass to marginalized peoples, and how has this interfaced with social movements, rebellion, and self-destruction?

An intriguing premise.......2005-11-01

From the 1940s through the early 1960s, Americans married in greater numbers, at a younger age, and with a greater resistance to divorce than either their parents' or their children's generation. There occurred a remarkable dash into the domestic embrace of marriage and parenthood as American women abandoned their wartime jobs and joyfully rushed into the arms of returning World War II soldiers.

But what provided the impetus for this yearning? The World War II generation was raised by parents who had come of age basking in the hedonistic pleasures of the Roaring Twenties following their return from the First World War. And their Baby-Boom counter-culture offspring were certainly no traditionalists. Both of these generations had in fact challenged conventional sexual norms while pushing the divorce rate up and the birth rate down. What then made the World War II generation different? What motivated them to embrace the roles of the traditional family with such desperate fervor and commitment? Homeward Bound is Elaine Tyler May's attempt to explain this sociological phenomenon by linking it to international politics.

According to Tyler May, it was the Cold War that provided the impetus. Americans embraced domesticity during the early years of the Cold War because "the home seemed to offer a secure private nest removed from the dangers of the outside world." This mass retreat to the privacy and security of the home was in response to the twin threats of communist encroachment and potential nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. Specifically, Tyler May contends that the U.S. foreign policy of communist "containment" gave rise to the parallel societal view that the home could effectively contain the economic, sexual, and social desires of American women and men.

To this end, the dynamics of the home required the rigid adherence to gender roles. Specifically, societal pressure induced women to marry young, give birth early and often, shun career aspirations, and stay home to raise their multiple offspring. Men, for their part, were expected to provide a steady and reliable stream of income for their growing families, regardless of the frustrating and stifling constraints imposed by their employers.

Rather than painting a Norman Rockwell picture of comfortable domesticity, Tyler May chronicles a smoldering dissatisfaction with these rigid gender roles, causing guilt and resentment in the supposedly "happy days" world of the World War II generation.

The book is divided into nine chapters covering a variety of topics relating to home life, career choices, sex, reproduction, and consumerism. It concludes with a chapter relating how and why the Baby Boom generation rebelled against their parent's obsession with security.

Effective use is made of magazine articles, books (both popular and scholarly), newspaper reports, documentary films, government publications, and Hollywood movies. A revealing poll in which periodic surveys were taken among housewives and husbands - called the Kelly Longitudinal Studies - provides a wealth of fascinating and insightful data that is skillfully woven throughout the book

Tyler May makes a convincing case that the Cold War created a uneasy state of mind among Americans, fostering a "bunker mentality" that coerced the World War II generation into opting for security over independence and personal fulfillment: secure jobs, secure homes, and secure marriages in a secure country.

homeward bound.......2004-09-21

The book Homeward Bound properly illustrates the hardships that women had to endure throughout the depression, WWII, and the Cold War era. It shows that though women were given brief moments of emancipation they were always held back by a Male dominant society paranoid of their unrestrained freedom and sexuality. It was not until the feminist movement and the erosion of the Cold War Ideology that women realized they deserved more than the status quo and fought for their equality. This book illustrates that women were not housewives because they were well suited due to their differences from men; instead, it was male domination that caused difference and ultimately forced women in to submission. Elaine Tyler May is very convincing in her arguments about the ties between the various eras and their effect on the American family and gender roles/gender inequality. At times she may rely too much on the KLS study, which only covers the more affluent part of society during the 40's, 50's, and 60's. Nonetheless her book makes bold thought provoking claims that shed new light on the "Happy Days" of the 1950's.

Uneven in examining reproductive rights.......2002-11-19

I purchased this book for my graduate-level independent studies course hoping to find definitive answers to a hunch post-war controversy over reproductve rights actually had a larger tie-in to the era's blatant anti-communism.

After all, the advent of antiseptic surgery and antibiotics meant the driving reason behind 19th century anti-abortion campaigns was effectively negated by the post-war period, so opponents of women's rights had to construct a new justifcation for extending the laws beyond their original intent. Abortion was now dangerous because it increased women's autonomy and freedom.

While May does address reproductive policy, this work suprisingly does not delve heavily into how anti-communism and reproductive bias paralleled eachother.Considering many post-war restrictions (pregnancy-related job firing and school expulsion co-existed with illegality of abortion and contraception) were directly related to women's reproductive potential, a considerable amount of research was missing from her book. The research presented skimmed what I had already discovered from Solinger et al's other works and did not provide the insight I was desperatley seeking.

Because May is able to tie anti-communist objectives into television and other cultural arenas, I remain puzzled by the selective exclusion. However well written structurally, it also seemed as if she were skipping around the same argument, but electing not to explore it for whatever reason.

This book is not a good candidate for work with reproductive policy, but would be an excellent choice for a general study of American women's post-war political agency.

Book Description

A derelict antiques and scrap metal business in Owls Head, Maine, is the setting of this multi-layered word-portrait of its owner, William Buck-minster, proprietor of an extraordinary collection of discarded and decaying items, no-longer-functioning remnants of previous lives. Buckminster's world, which includes both his vaunted talents in the local pool halls and his sure knowledge of the seemingly endless number of fascinating objects from his vast supply, are inspiration for Purcell's carefully crafted meditation on collecting and entropy, and the signals both send to those of us willing to pay attention. 34 duotone footnote photographs.

Customer Reviews:

A surreal trip to a small piece of Maine.......2004-12-06

Rosamond Purcell's photography class was on a field trip when she and her students first came upon William Buckminster's land. The eccentric antiques / junk dealer of Owls Head, Maine, had eleven acres of stuff piled high, in mounds and mounds, in and around several buildings. At first the artist in Purcell was intrigued; she was moved to photograph individual objects or random groupings of items. Then at various times over 20 years, she continued to stop to buy things and to talk to Buckminster himself. She took the items back to her own studio in Boston, where she arranged and rearranged them into her own special kind of artwork. And we're not talking about "whole" objects here -- rather, they include broken toys, books in varying stages of disintegration, pieces of furniture, old lobster traps, window frames, rusted parts of machinery.

Gradually Buckminster took on a near-mentor role for Purcell, and it's obvious the two vastly different people came to care about each other. She took him to museums and doctor?s appointments, he took her to pool halls. And as they climbed around the junk piles and investigated nooks and crannies in the buildings, Purcell learned more about Buckminster's personal history. The result is a kind of dual biography pressed against the backdrop of both the antique business and the art world, sometimes questioning which is which.

Some of Purcell's b&w photos accompany the text. But only the photo printed on the cover flyleaves gives us a grander perspective, as a wide shot of the property shows a pile of indecipherable objects stretching from one building to the next, one story high. Reading this book could be a nightmare for neat freaks. It can be heartening to those of us who are ordinary pack rats by comparison; for even after just a few pages, we can say to ourselves, "Well, at least I'm not THAT bad."

This is an unusual book, and it's difficult to nail down what audience it might appeal to. Fellow photographers may be interested in Purcell's process and artist's eye. Fans of Maine life might enjoy the depiction of the eccentricity of a real Down Easter. Still others might enjoy a respite from typical genres. You will certainly look at junk yards differently after reading this one.

Average customer rating:

The Coastal Town of Owls Head, Maine
Edward Wayman Coffin
Manufacturer: The Tug and Grunt Boatyard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VQ4NEW

Average customer rating:

Elves of Owl's Head Mountain
Jamie Sutliff
Manufacturer: Cold River Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Perfect Paperback

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Product Description

The Elves of Owl's Head Mountain is a young adult fantasy based on Native Americans beliefs in magic and magical characters. They believed in elves, witches, wizards (shamans), wind-walkers and changelings. Native Americans believed these magical beings "walk the wind" into other dimensions. The story is about a boy, living in the Adirondack Mountains, who is summoned into the magical dimension by a shaman and he shares adventures with the elves and wizards of that world. This book is illustrated with 52 black and white drawings by Kevin C. Evens.

History of the Owls Head transportation museum 1973-1944

Average customer rating:

History of the Owls Head transportation museum 1973-1944
Seward E Beacom
Manufacturer: The Museum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006S3PQM

Average customer rating:

Owls (Bodley Head New Biology)
Clive Catchpole
Manufacturer: Bodley Head Children's Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Zoology | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0370108027

Average customer rating:

Recipes from Owl's Head, Maine

Manufacturer: Cookbook Publishers, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000OZB7NU

Product Description

Cookbook from the women of Owl's Head, Maine

Advanced primary treatment: a positive alternative for new York's Owls Head Plant.: An article from: Public Works

Average customer rating:

Advanced primary treatment: a positive alternative for new York's Owls Head Plant.: An article from: Public Works
John J. Chack , Vincent Rubino , Richard Florentino , Paul J. Krasnoff , and James Liubicich
Manufacturer: Hanley-Wood, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Average customer rating:

An exciting gothic!
THE BRIDES OF OWL'S HEAD

The Brides Of Owl's Head
Allison Knight
Manufacturer: Starlight Writer Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM
ASIN: 1929034075

Book Description

The Brides Of Owl's Head is a traditional gothic, written in the first person. It is set in Maine in the mid 1800's. Isabel Morrison is to marry a man from Maine, a gentleman who owns a large lumber mill When she arrives from England, she discovers her fianc dead and his property willed to her - if she can restore his home to its original glory. But, the two men who also seem to want the property affect her in ways she can not understand. And, strange things keep happening to her. Who wants her to go back to England, and who wants to claim her inheritance? Isabel must answer those questions as she struggles to save herself from the dangers that seem to surround her.

Customer Reviews:

An exciting gothic!.......2002-02-10

In 1842, Miss Isabel Morrison (also known as Bella) promised her dying father to travel and meet Jonathan Besserman to wed. Yet when she arrived, it was to find that her betroved had been killed in a suspicious lumber accident. Jonathan's lawyer, Duncan Ross, informed Bella that Jonathan had changed his will and left everything to her, even though the wedding had not yet been done. She had a certain amount of time to restore the house to its former glory or the estate would go to Duncan. By no means would the brother, Theo ever be allowed to inherit it. None of the servants, except Sally, seemed to like their new mistress. In fact, someone was trying to scare Bella away from the estate. But Bella would not let herself be frightened away. She would fulfill the last wish of her fiancé. Soon attempts on her life began. It could be any of the servants, Theo the brother, or Duncan the lawyer. Too many murders had happened in this huge home and she seemed to be the next targeted to die!

***** An exciting gothic romance destined to send goose bumps down your arms and back. It seemed pretty obvious to me who the culprit was, but only because I've read so many gothics and have a warped mind already. Gothics have always been a favorite topic of mine and author, Allison Knight, has not disappointed me in the least. I loved every second of this one! *****

THE BRIDES OF OWL'S HEAD.......2000-04-02

I loved this book because I have found an author that reminds me of Victoria Holt. The story is a great mystery and romance all woven together. It kept me guessing and was exciting to read. This was also my first e-book, and though at first it was different, it really grew on me. This is definitely a 5-star read!

Average customer rating:

The crown of silver
Jacob Loring Pratt
Manufacturer: J.B. & L.W. Pratt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006RLZ4W

Dea moss, (Chondrus crispus),: Survey Pemequid Point to Owls Head (Maine. Dept. of Sea and Shore Fisheries. General bulleltin)

Average customer rating:

Dea moss, (Chondrus crispus),: Survey Pemequid Point to Owls Head (Maine. Dept. of Sea and Shore Fisheries. General bulleltin)
Walter S Foster
Manufacturer: Dept, of Sea and Shore Fisheries
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Average customer rating:
The life of Lord Viscount Nelson, Duke of BronteÌ, &c
T. O Churchill
Manufacturer: Sheppard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00089S7EE

Average customer rating:
Nelson's Dear Lord: a Portrait of St. Vincent

Manufacturer: Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0000CLFUI

Average customer rating:

Nelson, the Man and the Myth

A Portrait of Lord Nelson
Oliver Warner
Manufacturer: Cerberus Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Military & Spies | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Military | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Naval | Military | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1841450642

Customer Reviews:

Nelson, the Man and the Myth.......2004-06-29

Nelson may be one of the top ten people who ever lived to have some many biographies written about themselves. The number is stupendous and someone, like me, with no specialisation in his biographies would be daunted by the task of sifting through them. This paperback is now out of print. But it is readily available in almost any second-hand bookshop.

I think however that the vast majority of people do not read more than one or two biographies of Nelson in their lives. This was my second. The first was Hibbert's mass paperback. I liked this volume much better than Hibbert's. I think that I got a much more well-rounded opinion of the man and his leadership style. I do not know if this has so much to do with the fact that Hibbert uses more quotes from Nelson's personal papers than Warner, or whether there is really an interpretive difference. In Hibbert Nelson always seems like a love-blinded conceited wanker with almost prima-donna like pretentions. Warner seems to give a more balanced measure of the man.

The leadership style of Nelson is really something that all can learn from: world leaders or captains of industry. Being compassionate for the right reasons, but absolutely ruthless in insisting upon the best in his men and setting the standard himself. He was an unabashed believer in aristocracy and priveledge, but that rarely let him assume that he deserved more than he got. Warner describes this quality in well; he testified in support of the former Royal Navy captain turned Irish Rebel. The man had been a loyal servent of the King and Nelson could only attest of his good qualities while serving with him. He also saved an AWOL seaman from the gallows. This contrasts to his whipping of those, according to RN policy who had stepped out of line, or were found wanting in battle.

Warner stresses the entire definition of Naval Battle "success" changed under Nelson -- nothing less than decisive defeat would define the nature of sea battles, from Nelson's time to Jutland, Midway and Leyte Gulf. Until that time the old line-em-up-and-pound-each-other ship battles, continuing until one had had enough, became more and more a rarity. Those captains that did not close with the enemy to destroy him were roundly ostricised. The "Nelson Touch" now became the norm.

One is tempted to skip the chapters with Lady Hamilton (or hold one's nose). I think I need to read more of Nelson before I reach the conclusion that this greatest of heros was really fatally flawed when it came to his taste in women... but maybe that is one of the definitions of the most enduring heros.

Average customer rating:
A Portrait of Lord Nelson
Oliver Warner
Manufacturer: Pelican
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KDJMEM

Average customer rating:
A PORTRAIT OF LORD NELSON.
Oliver. Warner
Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O9Q1EQ

Average customer rating:
A PORTRAIT OF LORD NELSON.
Oliver. Warner
Manufacturer: P/B
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O5DVR0

Average customer rating:
A PORTRAIT OF LORD NELSON.
Oliver. Warner
Manufacturer: Reprint Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O8QE30

Average customer rating:
The life of the Right Honourable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson,: Vice-admiral of the White, ... Including ample and authentic accounts of the brilliant ... notes, portraits, and descriptive engarvings
Archibald Duncan
Manufacturer: Printed and published by James Cundee
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0008CGDKQ

Average customer rating:
A Portrait of Lord Nelson
Oliver Warner
Manufacturer: The Reprint Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000M64PWQ

Average customer rating:
Portrait of Lord Nelson
Oliver Warner
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OIU24M

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books