Not Without Love: Memoirs

Book Description

Constance Webb led a remarkably full life as a committed political activist, a fashion model and actress, a writer whose works include the first biography of her friend Richard Wright, and the wife and confidante of one of the foremost intellectuals of the twentieth century, C. L. R. James.

Raised in Fresno, California, Webb became an ardent Trotskyist while still a teenager. After moving to Los Angeles, she remained politically active and met James on his first US tour when he visited the city to speak. He fell in love instantly with her and established an epistolary relationship, offering advice and support during her two short-lived marriages, the launching of her modeling career, an ill-fated affair with a well-known actor, and her move to New York City in the early 40s.

In New York, where she continued to model and act, she became a member of the inner circle of James's Johnson-Forest Tendency, and eventually James's wife. She also established an enduring friendship with novelist Richard Wright and championed his work. Despite a sometimes-rocky marriage, James and Webb had a son together, but when James finally left the United States for England (under threat of deportation), Webb did not accompany him.

Webb offers a candid memoir of political, sexual, and social awakening at a pivotal time in twentieth-century America. Politically committed, she was nevertheless repelled by the misogyny and petty feuds that often marred the actions of the Left. She was able to earn her living by using her beauty, but she was compelled to live a double life because of the virulent racism that surrounded her working days. Through James, before their marriage, she became a close friend of Wright, Ralph Ellison, Chester Himes, and James Baldwin. Webb provides vivid, first-hand portraits of the radical left, the African-American literary scene, and especially, the intimate daily life and thoughts of C. L. R. James.

Customer Reviews:

Better than REDS.......2006-10-02

As a love story, this one's better than the movie REDS with Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton. As a book of memoirs, it's a little frustrating because it closes around 1960, right at the "first half of her life," as Constance Webb wrote. Perhaps she planned to write a sequel, but the recent announcement of her death makes us feel a great loss. She did manage to edit a book of her third husband's fairy stories for children, a wonderful boon for all those who enjoy great writing. Her third husband, after two inconsquential white pigs, was the black, London-based cricketer turned economist and political theorist CLR James, whom his intimates called "Nello," for one of his midddle names was "Lionel" and "Nello" was a pet name for Lionel.

On her side, she was a passionate labor activist and top model for the Conover agency. It's almost like a pulp novel, for during the day she's running around visiting California labor camps like Angelina Jolie in BEYOND BORDERS, saving dying babies, and yet when night falls, she's a supermodel drinking in the sophisticated nightspots of 40s Manhattan like El Morocco and the Stork Club. In those days there were two top modeling agencies, one run by John Robert Powers, the other by Conover, who had the knack for re-naming all of his discoveries with colorful names, rather like Andy Warhol did later on during the period of the Silver Factory. Conover's names were themselves lively and fun as the women who had to smile wearing them--including Choo Choo Johnson, Dusty Anderson, Jinx Falkenberg, Chili Williams, and Candy Jones. Conover didn't like "Constance" Webb as a name, so he called her "Frosty." And her career took off, but in the back of her mind she wondered how long she could continue as a supermodel while her black friends, who included Chester Himes and Richard Wright, were suffering from pervasive race prejudice.

She took the plunge and fell in love with a kind friend, Nello, with whom she had a son, the unfortunate Nobbie. Later in life poor little Nobbie became a mentally ill street person. And many have wondered why Constance Webb refused to accompany her husband when McCarthy's henchmen had him deported back to London. Instead, she preferred to stay at home, raising little Nobbie, and corresponding with "Nello" by airmail, eventually divorcing him.

This book tells all! For anyone interested in black participation of leftift causes of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, this book is a natural, and also of course, if you are curious about the political lives of supermodels. Fans of the comedian Jack Gilford will enjoy this book too, as well as those who want to read garish tales of Salvador Dali's habit of licking his own sperm off the bodies of his love partners. And underneath all the gossip, you get a tragic love story.

Beyond the Academic Review.......2006-02-17

While this story can get a bit bogged down, one of the interesting questions this book raises is how did a young white woman from a bigoted family in small town, Fresno, California in the 1940's, find herself part of one of the earliest groups willing to express civil rights philosophies? Why was she willing to endure ridicule and estrangement from family, friends and strangers to continue her life-long relationships with Richard Wright and other "negros" seeking to speak honestly about their "American" experience? Underlying all is the feeling that this is an incredibly intelligent and loving woman, who stubbornly refuses to give up her ideals in the face of hate and prejudice.

Insight into Political Sects.......2004-05-24

At first blush, there seems little to recommend these reminiscences of an elderly lady. It seems that some six decades ago she had quite a few husbands and even more lovers, and that these men, in turn, were not shy about sex with still other partners. The prose is plain. There are no literary pretensions, and, it would seem, there is little that a reader of today can gain by way of insight into the human condition by reading this book.

But it so happens that Constance Webb is a one-time wife of the noted West Indian political theorist C.L.R. James, and these reminiscences do add to our knowledge and understanding of this writer. Webb recounts many other entanglements with men, but her relationship to James, in and out of marriage, was life-long.

So we learn a great deal about James and his curious band of "Johnsonites." James used "Johnson" as a pseudonym while he was a member of the American Trotskyist movement, and the "Johnsonites" were his cult-followers; they were a cult within a sect.

Webb gives details of the extraordinary nature of the cult. It was a group built around a worship-like adulation of the leader and the strict subordination of the followers. Webb did become disillusioned with the cult in time, but, to this day, she does not seem to realize just how ludicrous the cult's pretensions to wisdom and virtue must appear to outsiders.

Book Description

A long-overdue critical appreciation of the West Indian historian and political activist who played a towering role in the cause of Pan-Africanism in the twentieth century.

Born in Trinidad in 1901, Cyril Lionel Robert James was a precocious polymath all his life. By the time he was a teenager and already a certified teacher, he had embarked on a lifelong advocacy for the Trinidadian oppressed. He embraced Marxism while living in England during the 1930s, during which time he published, among other works, The Case for West Indian Self Government and his masterpiece, The Black Jacobins.

James lived in the United States from 1939 until he was expelled during the McCarthy terror for his political activities. Thereafter he divided his time between London and Trinidad (where he served as Secretary of the West Indies Federal Labor Party) and, until his death in 1989, wrote works of both fiction and nonfiction that would profoundly influence the Black Power movement in the United States and independence movements in Africa and the West Indies.

Farrukh Dhondy knew James personally and was given access to his papers. The result is a biography that is a revelation of the life and work of this legendary intellect and revolutionary.

CLR James's Notes on Dialectics: Left Hegelianism or Marxism-Leninism?

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CLR James's Notes on Dialectics: Left Hegelianism or Marxism-Leninism?
John H. McClendon III
Manufacturer: Lexington Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Modern | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Criticism | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0739109251

Book Description

Author John McClendon has written first ever book-length study of CLR James's Notes on Dialectics. This text opens and simultaneously closes the book on James'sNotes through an erudite and expansive look at the political, social, and cultural context in which James conducted an unprecedented investigation of Marxism.

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C. L. R. James
David Renton
Manufacturer: Haus Publishers Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Educators | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Activism | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1905791011

Book Description

C L R James was born in the British Crown Colony of Trinidad and Tobago in 1901. This colonial birthplace formed his worldview, propelling him onto his place as one of the leading intellectuals of the African revolution. He was a friend and inspiration to Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere, the two leaders of the first generation of independence struggles. His account of Toussaint L’Ouverture’s slave rebellion in Haiti is one of the great historical works of the twentieth century. His studies of Hegel and Marx became part of the common knowledge of several generations of radicals in America, Europe, the Caribbean and Africa.

His thought was also shaped by the experience of his migration to Britain. James was a product of the colonial education system, a world he was a part of, even as he exposed and fought it. His influence was truly global with years spent teaching in the U.S. at the University of the District of Columbia, and serving as inspiration in African and West Indian independence movements. In Britain today, and worldwide, he is known as both a radical and also for his extraordinary autobiography Beyond a Boundary, which is universally agreed to be the greatest book about cricket ever written.

C. L. R. James: A Political Biography (Suny Series, Interruptions -- Border Testimony)

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C. L. R. James: A Political Biography (Suny Series, Interruptions -- Border Testimony)
Kent Worcester
Manufacturer: State University of New York Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Political | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
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Facing Reality (Sixties Series)

ASIN: 0791427528

Amazon.com

C. L. R. James, West Indian author and historian, sometime cricket correspondent for The Manchester Guardian, Africanist, Marxist and black intellectual, is an extraordinary 20th century figure. His history of the Haitian slave revolution, The Black Jacobins, is a masterpiece of humanity and empathy, a classic. He lived in Britain and the United States, where he was friendly with the New York left and the emerging black writers, Richard Wright and Stalinism, was written while imprisoned on Ellis Island awaiting deportation during the McCarthy era. Kent Worchester has written an in-depth biography.

Book Description

C. L. R. James: A Political Biography offers the first sustained account of the life and work of one of the twentieth-century's most important radical intellectuals.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Labour/Le Travail, published by Canadian Committee on Labour History on March 22, 1998. The length of the article is 1068 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: CLR James: a political biography.
Publication: Labour/Le Travail (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1998
Publisher: Canadian Committee on Labour History
Issue: 41 Page: 320-1

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Taken from the actual newspaper reports written in 1929 and the 1930's, this captures the sense of immediacy that's missing from present-day historical perspectives. Covers causes, results, and short-term effects on individuals and the economy. Told by Huey James.

Product Description

CCH's Miller GAAP Guide Levels B, C, and D, the companion volume to the Miller GAAP Guide Level A, analyzes authoritative GAAP literature contained in Levels B through D of the GAAP hierarchy, established by Statement on Auditing Standards No. 69, including FASB Technical Bulletins; AICPA Statements of Position; AICPA Industry Audit and Accounting Guides; consensus positions of the EITF, AICPA AcSEC Practice Bulletins, FASB and SEC staff announcements; FASB Implementation Guides, FASB Staff Positions, and more. It is written in clear, comprehensible language. Each pronouncement is discussed in a comprehensive format that makes it easy to understand and apply. Practical illustrations and examples demonstrate and clarify specific accounting principles. Accounting pronouncements are organized alphabetically by topic. Pronouncements covering the same subject are incorporated into a single chapter, so that the authoritative information is easily accessible. The Practice Pointers throughout this edition explicate, in plain English, how to apply the standards just discussed. Observations enrich the discussion by presenting interesting aspects of GAAP, such as conflicts within the authoritative literature. Material can be located several ways: the Cross-Reference shows the chapter in which a particular pronouncement is discussed; the Index provides a quick page reference; and chapters' tables of contents list all topics covered and the page on which they begin. This book can be used in conjunction with Miller GAAP Guide Level A and the twice-monthly Miller Update Service. The Miller GAAP Guide Levels B, C, and D meets accounting industry standards overseen by the peer review system and contains a document covering the peer review of this book.

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Bottle Collecting

Antique Trader Bottles Identification & Price Guide
Michael Polak
Manufacturer: Krause Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Bottles | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Glass & Glassware | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Warman's Bottles Field Guide: Field Guide (Warman's Field Guides)

Kovels' Bottles Price List, 13th edition (Kovel's Bottles Price List)

Bottle Pricing Guide

Bottles: Identification and Price Guide, 3e (Bottles: Identification and Price Guide)

1000 Fruit Jars

ASIN: 0896892433

Book Description

The "bottle bible" is back with FULL color photos and new categories to give collectors the most up-to-date and comprehensive data on collectible bottles! This impressive 5th edition of the Antique Trader Bottles Identification & Price Guide features two new categories -- perfume bottles and political/patriotic bottles.

Thousands of detailed listings for old (pre-1900) and new (post-1900) bottles, current pricing, and 500-plus spectacular color photos combine for an unparalleled collectibles resource. From collectors and dealers to anyone with a fond memory of bottles for everything from soda pop to ink will find this easy-to-follow resource essential to building a stellar collection.

-500+ stunning color photos for quick reference

-Thousands of listings provide valuable identifying details

-Current pricing to help collectors remain up to date

Customer Reviews:

Bottle Collecting.......2007-03-08

Excellent resource with good photos in color! Antique Trader is always a good purchase decision.

Bottles (Identification and Price Guide, Antique Trader)

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Bottles (Identification and Price Guide, Antique Trader)
Michael Polak
Manufacturer: Krause Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UVBT9A

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A New Look at Log Cabin Quilts by Flavin Glover

Creative and Beautiful

A New Look at Log Cabin Quilts: Design a Scene Block by Block PLUS 10 Easy-to-Follow Projects
Favin Glover
Manufacturer: C&T Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Patchwork | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Quilts & Quilting | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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101 Log Cabin Blocks (4181)

Log Cabin With a Twist

Scraps Scraps

Mastering Precision Piecing

Make a Quilt in a Day : Log Cabin Pattern (Quilt in a Day)

ASIN: 1571202048

Book Description

See log cabin blocks in a whole new light! Celebrated quilt artist Flavin Glover builds on the basic Log Cabin block, turning this American classic into a gorgeous art form! These 10 quilt projects use square and rectangular Log Cabin blocks to create cityscapes, natural vistas, and more. Plus, photos and easy-to-follow charts show how to combine fabrics, colors, and shapes for successful designs. What's more, two magnificent galleries of Glover's work demonstrate her artful techniques!

Customer Reviews:

A New Look at Log Cabin Quilts by Flavin Glover.......2006-03-25

Log Cabin blocks are so versatile. This book introduces the reader to exciting ways of thinking outside the square. Production of animals, scenes and paletes of colour are examined and open the mind to so many possibilities. The block does not constrict you to sqaures, rather explores the sizes and shapes of the block, and the fabric strips along with the internal arrangement of colour to produce amazing effects. The magic of illusion and secondary patterns is evoked by the careful placement of blocks.

Creative and Beautiful.......2005-07-08

When my copy of this book became due again at the library, I had to go out and buy it. This book is beautiful and inspiring -- Glover takes a traditional quilting style and completely transforms it. The pictures are great, the background text is interesting, and the patterns are definitely executable (though they're low on details and expect quilting experience). One word of caution -- this is not an intro to quilting or to piecing Log Cabin squares or to color theory, though she is obviously masterful in all three. Use it as inspiration, not as a project blueprint, especially if you are new to quilting.

Book Description

A New Collection of Three Complete Books
The best loved and best-selling author of The Shell Seekers, Rosemunde Pilcher writes compelling stories that resonate with life, love, and family drama. Now an all-new collection brings together three of her bestselling works: Snow in April; Wild Mountain Thyme; and Flowers in the Rain and Other Stories. These three titles have combined sales of over two million which makes this dramatically-charged, hardcover volume a sure bet winning fans everywhere. 624 pages.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Storytelling.......2007-04-05

These stories are a pleasure to read. You'll smell the flowers and the sea while you take in every single word.

A Pleasure.........2007-03-26

I have never read anything that Mrs.Pilcher wrote that I have not enjoyed.
I recommend all her works to those who love excellent storytelling.

A great way to spend a rainy weekend........1998-03-21

Although not as in-depth as her bigger, later books, these three offerings of Pilcher's offer the same warmth and sense of being there. You can smell the flowers and the sea and the burning peat and feel the damp climate without ever growing cold.

A Brief History of Thyme and Other Herbs (An Evergreen book)

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A Brief History of Thyme and Other Herbs (An Evergreen book)
Miranda Seymour
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Alternative Medicine | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Herbal Remedies | Alternative Medicine | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Reference | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

Herbs | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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The Complete Book of Herbs: A Practical Guide to Growing and Using Herbs

Accessories:

ASIN: 0802140084

Book Description

A compendium of herbs from A to Z, this elegant book pairs Miranda Seymour's insightful essays on herbs with Jane Macfarlane's expertly rendered two-color illustrations. Each piece covers a single herb -- from comfrey, angelica, or woad (three of Miranda's favorites) to the more familiar parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme -- and describes each herb's characteristics, the history of its use, and the myths and beliefs attached to it. The results are often useful, always fascinating, and occasionally very strange. Discover what Homer's Greeks used as sleeping potions and what the Romans took for indigestion, why Henry VIII fined any farmer who refused to grow marijuana, and which herb the seventy-two-year-old queen of Hungary used to extract a proposal from the king of Poland. You can learn which herb is used today to counter chemotherapy's detrimental effects, or the one you can use as shampoo, or to lower your blood pressure, or to stimulate an appetite. A multitude of entertaining literary and historical references abound alongside facts useful for everyday life. The whole book will delight any cook or gardener, and anyone else dedicated to healthy eating or intrigued by ancient lore.

Three Books by Rosamunde Pilcher: Wild Mountain Thyme; The Shell Seekers; Under Gemini

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Three Books by Rosamunde Pilcher: Wild Mountain Thyme; The Shell Seekers; Under Gemini
Rosamunde Pilcher
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0440360102

Killing Thyme: A James P. Dandy Elderhostel Mystery

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Really tepid mystery...
Very Enjoyable
Cooking with murder
Expect the unexpected

Killing Thyme: A James P. Dandy Elderhostel Mystery
Peter E. Abresch
Manufacturer: Thorndike Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Literature & Fiction | Large Print | Formats | Books

Mystery & Thrillers | Large Print | Formats | Books
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ASIN: 0786243368

Book Description

After their last adventure during an Elderhostel bonsai class, when Dodee was kidnaped and Jim found himself face to face with a killer, James P. Dandy (yes, that would make him Jim Dandy) and Dodee Swisher expect that their second trip to a Baltimore, Maryland, Elderhostel cooking class cannot possibly have the excitement the first one did. They hope to simply spend the time together, getting to know one another better, learn about how the great chefs of the world came to be great chefs, and maybe add to their own mediocre cooking skills.

They're wrong, of course. Before they even arrive in Baltimore, the chef scheduled to guide the Elderhostel group dies of mushroom poisoning. Then a very rich Elderhosteler is killed in a traffic accident, Jim and Dodee listen intently to the bickering among the chefs about who's most suited to be the headliner for a new TV show called "A Dash of Thyme" -- and learn that the show's creator has gone missing. And then another chef dies right in front of them from anaphylactic shock.

Convinced there is a murderer on the loose, the irrepressible Dodee is off and running after clues with a reluctant but stout-hearted Jim Dandy at her heels -- but, since Dodee's guessing is right on the mark, so is the killer..."

Customer Reviews:

Really tepid mystery..........2004-05-06

"Killing Thyme" by Peter Abresch is the second of the Dandy series. Basically, Doddie and Jim are reunited and have to solve another mystery. They do get to the bottom of why all these chefs are dying, but it is uninteresting, save a plot device involving lesser known uses of olive oil. Jim also says "yeah, buddy" to a gratitious level, and I was not amused. That, and "damnit to hell" were overused, and it shows that Abresch's writing is thin.

Very Enjoyable.......2001-09-10

Jim Dandy and Dodee Swisher get toget her at an elderhostel cooking trip to see if the magic they generated in their last encounter was still there.

Not only was the magic there but so was a host of murders. The curious Dodee and the hesitant Jim work together to solve the mysteries and get to know each other as well.

I enjoyed this book. The romance wasn't sloppy and the mystery was tidy.

I have to admit that I was a little bit reluctant to read this book when my mother handed it over to me. I didn't expect to enjoy reading about an older couple solving mysteries. What a pleasant surprise. I'm going to buy any other book Abresch writes, it was that good.

Cooking with murder.......2000-10-08

What a believable mystery. The characters are real and draw the reader into the story. The story itself moves quickly with little time for relaxation. The only problem with the story is that is kept me up all night to finish it, my boss was not impressed. But I was impressed with the book.

Expect the unexpected.......1999-06-08

Killing Thyme is the second title in the James P. Dandy Mystery series. The first being Bloody Bonsai.

I knew there was more to cooking than my mother had taught me. After this mystery I will certainly be more choosy about my knives and cooking oil.

Jim Dandy and Dodee Swisher get together in Baltimore for a lesson in love, cooking and murder. When they showed up at their second Elderhoster cooking class, they didn't expect to be in the middle of another mystery. But when the chefs start dying off, someone on the inside has to help solve the murders. Who better than Dodee and a reluctant Jim. These two are charming and work well together.

It looks like Mr. Abresh has found his niche. He characters are well developed and likable. His mysteries unexpected. Brenda @ MyShelf

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Book of Thyme
Jackie French
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Herbs | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0207178550

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Friends for All Thyme (Sewing) (DPC, #03766)
Tamie Orme
Manufacturer: Darrow Production Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000V6S6LI

Product Description

Patterns for stitching "Rosemary Rabbit" and "Buttercup Bear".

Harpy Thyme: Book 17 in The Xanth Series

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Harpy Thyme: Book 17 in The Xanth Series
Piers Anthony
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OFNDBO

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The Little Book Of Thyme
Adelma Grenier Simmons
Manufacturer: Caprilands Coventry Connecticut
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000W9VECW

Product Description

This is a thin green paperback, 42 pgs.

Little Book of Thyme (Little Book of Herbs)

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Little Book of Thyme (Little Book of Herbs)

Manufacturer: Southern Book Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Herbs | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Household Hints | How-to & Home Improvements | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1868126730

The Pear Tree That Bloomed In The Fall (Father Thyme Books)

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The Pear Tree That Bloomed In The Fall (Father Thyme Books)
Will D. Campbell
Manufacturer: Providence House Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1577360176

Book Description

In The Pear Tree that Bloomed in the Fall, two children find truth in an old friend's words that "everything happens for a reason." Unlike her brother Wiley, Mary Virginia sympathizes with a pear tree that seems to have its seasons confused. Its late blooms do end up having a purpose—one that saves a hummingbird's life.

Customer Reviews:

This book is a must for new parents and beats dr. spock!.......1998-01-29

Ok, you find squiggly worm-looking things in your baby's poop - oh my god what is IT? This was the only book to tell me that it was from bananas and not some jungle-disease! Also, when my son's bottom was covered with clear jello-looking granules, this book explained that it came from the diaper and not my boy! That is the power of this book - when you are freaking out, it tells you whether it is normal or you should call the doctor - in a very concise way so you are not leafing through pages and pages of verbage like you have to with Dr. Spock. A must for new parents!!!

Fantastic book!! I'm *really* upset that it's out of print!.......1997-09-18

This book has been a godsend to me. It is a quick, understandable reference to use at the times when you need things to be quick and easily understandable. I left my copy at my mother-in-law's, out of the country...now I can't find another one. I also wanted to buy it as a gift for someone. It has a pull-out CPR/FirstAid chart, in addition to everything else

Book Description

Produced in Jamaica by Jamaican authors with a profound understanding of the artist and his life, this book pays tribute to reggae superstar Bob Marley, the man who brought Jamaican music to the world. Illustrated with over 300 photographs, it contains interviews with many who were close to Marley and includes a complete discography and a journal of Marley's world tours.

By Malika Lee Whitney and Dermott Hussey. 208 pages, over 300 color and black-and-white photographs, size: 8 7/8 X 11 7/8". Smythe-sewn paperbound book.

Customer Reviews:

Bob Marley King of the World.......2000-03-23

Best compilation of pictures. Very thourough accounting of his life. Well written, you can actually hear Bob's voice when reading his interviews.

Marley: King for sure!.......2000-01-11

The book contains stunning photos of Bob and his family and friends. Great interviews are found throughout the book. I feel enlightnened after reading this!

Customer Reviews:

Exile's Return.......2007-02-10

Exile's Return

This is a book of essays, anecdotes, and observations. They are primarily concerned with the 'Lost Generation' of American writers who spent time in Paris between 1918 and 1930. Donald W. Faulkner provides the Introduction and Cowley, who made some revisions to the 1934 publication in 1951, writes a note on the text.
I imagine that many of the 'senior citizens', such as myself, will have some sense of familiarity with the subject matter. A few may have read the book in the days of their youth. Unless they are experts on the subject they will find Cowley's intimate perspective interesting, and they will enjoy the easy accessible style of the writing.
For younger generations it may not be the best introduction to the period. The names Hart Crane, Harry Crosby, and Edmund Wilson should have some resonance, as well those more familiar ones such as Hemingway and Fitzgerald.
Appendices include A Selective Chronology of Events from 1915 to 1934, and A Tabular History of the Literary Life, 1924-1949.
Many detailed works on the authors and the period have been written since. Cowley's perceptions do not date, as they are more of less contemporary rather than historical. But it must be said that they do not provide a suitably informative introduction for those readers not already familiar with the territory.

Classic history of the Lost Generation.......2004-12-03

Cowley was many things: author, poet, editor, reviewer, American expatriate in Paris. He was aware of his diverse past and constantly strove to contextualize himself within what was going on around him. Exile's Return was his first such attempt. In it Cowley recounts his experiences in such notable hot-spots as pre-war Greenwich Village and inter-war Paris. Moreover, he examines the movements of which he was a part within larger historical/literary/artistic trends.

There are some things to bear in mind with this work, however. Cowley returned to his past often, and often his return would bring re-evaluation. While there is some evidence of this habit across the various editions of Exile's Return, the trail of revision is more apparent by comparing this work against other retrospectives (Dream of the Golden Mountains, View From 80, etc.).

Another issue with Cowley is that he (as most, especially Modernist, writers) tends to favor his own position. That is, he perhaps exaggerates his own part and importance. This tendency becomes controversial within the context of his chapter on Harry Crosby. While they were clearly acquainted, Caresse Crosby (Harry's wife), among others, thought that Cowley didn't know Harry well enough to write what they considered a spurious account of Crosby's last days.

However, even with these negatives the book is highly recommended. In it, one gets a concise introduction to Modernism, important figures in the expatriate movement and inter-war Paris, and pre-war New York. Further, one receives a context of how these movements and people fit together. Among Cowley's works, this is one of his finest.

Exhile's Return: No Place Like Home.......2002-02-20

Cowley was the ultimate in a thinking,toughly idealistic American living a literary dream in an epoch which permitted the indulgence. Jaggedly incisive as a writer, Cowley decided instead that editing was his prowess and observation his art. So he proceeded. Much romantic lore has been made of the many great American authors inhabiting the Left Bank scene in Paris in the 1920s. Exile's Return makes sense of the historical, literary and personal sequence of events leading to this decade-long picnic, and transforms the legend and nostalgia into the movingly profound minutiae of everyday life and thought amongst the loose collection of free spirits who changed modern conceptions of Western literary art forever. Artistic and intellectual achievements notwithstanding, "une generation perdue" comprised some very desperate and talented people trying to make sense of a world gone mad and define themselves within the insanity. A lot like now. Imagine an author being able to account for the global, tragic complexity emblematic in 9/11 and explain its implications for humanity and civilization's expressions. Flash back eight decades and you have Cowley's subject matter and his accomplishment. Let's hope someday somebody equals Malcolm Cowley's formidable ability to observe and explicate, and make us love, in retrospect, a loveless and temporarily hopeless age as it finds its way into our favorite novels and poems.

A book that defied yet exceeded my expectations.......1999-12-16

I had expected EXILE'S return to be more of a straightforward history of the Lost Generation, and was somewhat surprised to find instead a profoundly insightful, exceedingly well-written reflection on Malcolm Cowley's literary generation. As a result, many writers that we associate with that decade, e.g., Ernst Hemingway, receive almost no mention, whereas others, e.g., Hart Crane, get a considerable amount. The highest praise that I can bestow on this book is that in looking now at the poetry and literature of that period, I feel much more at home in their world than I did before reading Cowley. A marvelous book in man, many ways.

this is an excellent piece of literature.......1998-10-26

i strongly recommend this book to anyone who needs more insight into the idea of a lost Generation

The Endless Steppe (rack): Growing Up in Siberia

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Child in the steppes
Love this book!
Excellent book!
Courage among evil
One of my favorite all time books!

The Endless Steppe (rack): Growing Up in Siberia
Esther Hautzig
Manufacturer: HarperTeen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 006447027X

Book Description

In the bitter desolation of Siberia, Esther and her family fight to stay alive.

It is June 1941. The Rudomin family has been arrested by the Russians. They are "capitalists--enemies of the people." Forced from their home and friends in Vilna, Poland, they are herded into crowded cattle cars. Their destination: the endless steppe of Siberia.

For five years, Esther and her family live in exile, weeding potato fields and working in the mines, struggling for enough food and clothing to stay alive. Only the strength of family sustains them and gives them hope for the future.

Notable Children's Books of 1968 (ALA)
1968 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book
Outstanding Children's Books of 1968 (NYT)
1969 Jane Addams Award
1971 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award
Nominee, 1969 National Book Award for Children's Literature
1969 Shirley Kravitz Children's Book Award
1987 Deutsche Jugenliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Prize) "Honorable List"
1969 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)

Customer Reviews:

Child in the steppes.......2007-10-21

Hautzig wrote a wonderful novel, placing you in the heart & mind of a young girl. Tragic story on many levels. Definitely recommend it to upper elementary or jr. high students.

Love this book!.......2007-05-05

I, too, read this book in elementary school and while it took me forever to find it, I'm so glad I did. Esther is a young girl when her family is taken from Poland to the Siberian Steppe during WWII. The story chronicles one of loss, love, and the strength of family in times of need. You also get to take part in Esther's growth from a child to a young woman in the face of adversity. A definite must-read for anyone, young person or adult.

Excellent book!.......2007-04-24

The story of a young girl and her family's trials of living in Siberia during WWII. It is an excellent book to include with a unit study of the Holocaust. The author weaves the truth along with some humor. Excellent!

Courage among evil.......2007-04-24

I read this book in junior high school and was thrilled to find it again, although the reading is no less sad now than it was 30 years ago.

Adolescent Esther is arrested along with her family and sent to labor in Siberia. Given only minutes to pack, she seizes photo albums - and her mother packs her clothes instead. Bereft of her home and all she owns, her memories and her family members are now all she has left.

Her grandfather is sent to a concentration camp and never seen again. Left alone with her mother and grandmother, she struggles to survive yet manages to find some happiness among the desolation. A moving story of the Polish holocaust from the eyes of a teenage girl. Highly recommend for young adults, and everyone else

One of my favorite all time books!.......2007-04-01

This book is a treasure...a true story, and a sad one yet it is filled with so much hope. The author has written such a beautiful story out of circumstances that weren't so beautiful, they are ordinary people with a stong love for one another and family ties that are true committments. This is one that I have read many times and will read again.

Galloway Street: Growing Up Irish in Exile

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Scotish Angela's Ashes

Galloway Street: Growing Up Irish in Exile
John Boyle
Manufacturer: Transworld Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0552999148
Release Date: 2002-09-24

Book Description

This is a book about exile and belonging -- a truthful, funny and moving evocation of a unique place and time, xperienced through the eyes of a child.

John Boyle was born and raised in Scotland but he never felt Scottish. His parents were immigrants from the west of Ireland who came to Scotland to find work, and eventually settled in Paisley where John was the first of six children. Galloway Street beautifully captures the poverty and the rough humour of the Boyle family’s life in the Paisley tenements, the songs and stories of their Irish Catholic relatives and the often uneasy relationships with their Scottish Protestant neighbours. He also reveals how a trip at the age of ten to visit an aunt on the remote island of Achill was his first introduction to the life his parents left behind.

Customer Reviews:

Scotish Angela's Ashes.......2002-03-30

The Scottish Version of Angel'a Ashes, set in Paisley instead of Limerick, but the same view of growing up in a poor family through the eyes of a young boy. Down to earth , but still funny.

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Forgotten History
Brings dark times and events vividly to life
A facinating perspective on a heartbreaking story

Exiled to Siberia
Klaus Hergt
Manufacturer: Crescent Lake Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

"Exiled to Siberia" is the biography of a Polish child deported by the Soviets in 1940.It tells about his early childhood until, as an adult, he declares "I am an American." The book also outlines the pertinent history and discusses the German and Soviet policies toward Poland during WW II.The protagonist's story gives a human dimension to these historical events. The book also testifies to his religious belief as a sustaining force. In addition it causes the author to compare his own childhood in Nazi Germany with that of the protagonist during this time.

Customer Reviews:

Forgotten History.......2007-01-03

When I initially read this book just after it was published I called the author and thanked him for writing the book. Most of my mother's family was killed in Ark Angel, Russia and my mother grandmother, and great-aunt were all interned in many of the same places that were described in the book. It is well researched and should be necessary reading for all school aged children. it is both inspiring and educational.

Brings dark times and events vividly to life.......2001-03-16

Exiled To Siberia: A Polish Child's WWII Journey is the engaging biography of a ten-year-old Polish boy deported by the Soviets at the outbreak of World War II. From Henryk Birecki's childhood in a Polish village to his ultimate integration into American society after the war, the reader is treated to a candid and informative story of the hardships and cruelties brought about by the forcible deportation of Polish men, women and children to the bleak and hazardous interior of the Soviet Union. Thousands of Poles died during transport and in the penal and forced labor camps, remote settlements, and the Kolkhozes to which they were banished. After the end of the war Henryk and his sister made it out of the Soviet Union (where his mother died), through Iran and Iraq, then Mexico, and finally to America. Exiled To Siberia is sobering reading and brings those times and events vividly to life for new generations of readers to know and understand the inhumanity and tragedy that afflicted the civilian populace of Eastern Europe during those dark and deadly days.

A facinating perspective on a heartbreaking story.......2001-01-24

This story of the forgotten victims of WWII is told from a unique perspective. Two friends--the author and the subject--were personally touched by the war in very different ways. One, a german child, victimized only by the disemination of misinformation and, the other, a polish child, victimized both physically and psychologically, enslaved by the Russian allies, separated from family, seizes the opportunity to search for better life for himself and his sister. The author artfully intertwines history and real life experiences. The story is, in many parts, heartbreaking and, in all parts, facinating.

Two Cities: On Exile, History, and the Imagination

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Wonderful Stuff
Masterpiece

Two Cities: On Exile, History, and the Imagination
Adam Zagajewski
Manufacturer: University of Georgia Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0820324094

Book Description

In this varied collection of deeply personal, lyrical essays and short literary sketches, leading contemporary Polish poet Adam Zagajewski contends with the effects of coming of age, both artistically and intellectually, in a totalitarian regime. No matter their subject, Zagajewski's essays have the subtlety and resonance of poetry; his is one of the most intriguing voices in today's Europe.

First time in paperback.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful Stuff.......2004-09-18

This guy knows how to write, how to live, how to be a poet.

Masterpiece.......2001-04-27

An outstanding portrayal of the immigrants' dilemmas. But the immigrants in "Two Cities" have nothing to do with the United States. They are exiled from Lvov, an ancient Polish town incorporated to the Soviet Union as a result of World War II, and sent to the post-German city of Gliwice in southern Poland. Everything that comes from Lvov or reminds them of Lvov is sacred while everything else is worthless. A child growing in the dual world of imaginary Lvov and real Gliwice has trouble finding his identity. He returns to the past, examines and questions the drama of the war, and struggles to reconcile his life with the semi-imaginative world that surrounds him. Two Cities as well as other short stories included in this book are true masterpieces but must be read with some minimum background on post-war Poland.

Childhood, Youth and Exile (The World's Classics)

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Enormously enjoyable, detailed biography - needs comprehensive biographical notes though

Childhood, Youth and Exile (The World's Classics)
Alexander Herzen
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0192815059

Book Description

This book comprises the first two parts of Herzen's autobiography, My Past and Thoughts, one of the greatest monuments of Russian iterature, comparable to the major works of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Turgenev. Herzen begins with his nurse's account of Napoleon's occupation of Moscow in 1812,
and continues through his solitary boyhood and close friendship with his cousin Nick Ogarev, his days at Moscow University, and his eventual imprisonment for his socialist beliefs. The book ends with his adventures in exile which are vividly recounted and disply the rich observation of detail that
make Herzen's work so compelling.

Customer Reviews:

Enormously enjoyable, detailed biography - needs comprehensive biographical notes though.......2006-01-07

Herzen is one of the classic biographers of mid nineteenth century men of letters. Brought up as Russian he was actually the son of a Russian nobleman and a german girl only 17. Herzen's parents eloped when she was just 16 and married out of the Russian Rites thus putting Herzen's position in society in an odd kind of limbo as he never received his father's name as such even though he was brought up as his son.

Herzen later went on to be an obsessive wandered, exiled from Russia for his political views. He roamed Europe until dying at the relatively young age of 58.

This book, the first two parts of his memoirs is a detailed, well written memoir of his early life, but includes comentary on the state of Russia and Russian politics of the time. I would highly recommend it to those interested in European life in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, his anecdotal tales and explanations of the serf system clarifies the complex situation of Russian politics.

He was still a young baby when Napoleon reached the gates of Moscow as his father and uncle had delayed leaving (1812) and so the first few weeks were spent in semi-captivity, unable to escape Moscow, and trapped despite fire and marauding. Luckily his father was able to gain support from one of Napoleon's generals which protected his family until he was granted safe passage to deliver a message to the Russian tsar, Alexander 1. This story was told to Herzen in later childhood by his nurse who had been with him in the early days.

This book really needs much better footnotes and explanatory introduction. The names and relationships of the people in her, or their history, are not obvious to non-readers of Russian history and would be very helpful in the long run.

It is still a very compelling book without this, Herzen is an excellent writer and it was an enjoyable read.

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Childhood in exile
Shmarya Levin
Manufacturer: Harcourt, Brace
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Childhood, Youth and Exile
Alexander Herzen
Manufacturer: The Folio Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000I000ES

Exile's return: A literary odyssey of the 1920s / by Malcolm Cowley (Compass books edition)

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Exile's return: A literary odyssey of the 1920s / by Malcolm Cowley (Compass books edition)
Malcolm Cowley
Manufacturer: Viking Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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The life-story of a Russian exile: The remarkable experience of a young girl : being an account of her peasant childhood [, her girlhood] in prison, her exile to Siberia, and escape from there

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The life-story of a Russian exile: The remarkable experience of a young girl : being an account of her peasant childhood [, her girlhood] in prison, her exile to Siberia, and escape from there
Marie Sukloff
Manufacturer: Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B00087U66I

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