International Trade 1993: Statistics (Wto World Trade Organization Annual Report)

Average customer rating:

Review

Wish there was more information about various locations

A Very Poor Guide! :-(

Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands (Lonely Planet)
Andrew Burke , Rowan McKinnon , Arnold Barkhordarian , Sean Dorney , and Tim Flannery
Manufacturer: Lonely Planet Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Papua New Guinea | Australia & South Pacific | Travel | Subjects | Books
South Pacific | Australia & South Pacific | Travel | Subjects | Books
General | Australia & South Pacific | Travel | Subjects | Books
Guidebooks | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books
General | Travel | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Papua New Guinea Map by ITMB (Travel Reference Map)

Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea

Throwim' Way Leg: Tree-Kangaroos, Possums, and Penis Gourds

Lonely Planet South Pacific Micronesia (Lonely Planet South Pacific)

Lonely Planet Vanuatu & New Caledonia (Lonely Planet Vanuatu)

ASIN: 1740592077

Book Description

Feel the frenzy of the tribal drums at a Highlands singsing, follow in the footsteps of history on the challenging Kokoda Track, take a slow boat down the mighty Sepik River or dive into a spectacular underwater realm. Let the best and only guide to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands take you on an unforgettable journey.

• WATCH WILDLIFE - expert naturalist and bestselling author Tim Flannery give the lowdown on a wondrous environment where kangaroos climb in the treetops and luminous mushrooms light up the night forest

• ENRICH YOUR EXPERIENCE - a comprehensive Culture chapter connects you with diverse and fascinating communities

• REST EASY - all the best places to bed down, from world-class resort hotels to humble village houses

• BE INSPIRED - new highlights, itineraries and planning sections help you dream it up and make it happen

• GET AROUND - user-friendly maps take you from highlands to islands and everywhere in between

Customer Reviews:

Review.......2007-05-13

I bought this book hoping it would be helpful for the Solomon Islands. There was only about 30 pages about the Solomons. This book is a great guide for Papua New Guinea. I would suggest looking for older guides. I bought an older guide from lonely planet that was strictly about the Solomon Islands. It was much better, only the finacial info was definitely out of date.

Wish there was more information about various locations.......2007-01-03

The book does not really give sufficient information about the villages which are, in fact, memorable experiences. Nonetheless, I am not aware of a better source for information about places in PNG and so recommend that someone traveling to PNG buy this book. There are a few other good books about the culture and art.

A Very Poor Guide! :-(.......2006-06-08

Once upon a time, Lonely Planet had a good guide to Papua New Guinea (371 pages), and an excellent one to the Solomon Islands (279 pages). For better or worse these fascinating countries don't exactly attract hordes of holidaymakers, so after leaving those books unupdated for many years, the publisher has now decided to dump them together in this new edition (272 pages).
The result is basically a new, much slimmer guide to Papua New Guinea, with fewer than 30 pages on the Solomons (where it only actually covers half the country even nominally).
Not only has much of the detail been thrown out, the quality of information has also gone downhill sharply! :-(
The authors have very obviously never visited even major tourist destinations of PNG described in the book - as confirmed by owners of accomodations included in it, who told me they had merely received phonecalls from the author who didn't even visit most of the Sepik Region or the Highlands, for example!
Much of the "updating" seems to have been done by surfing the web, and as a result the book abounds in recommendations for expensive, upmarket places and tour-operators that do have websites, while completely ignoring cheaper, budget guesthouses which have no info on the net. Even excellent, small locally owned places that were in previous editions of the PNG guide are conspiciously missing! And as for what the authors consider "budget": their itinerary recommended for budget travellers includes staying at a 150 USD/night resort!

This book is a real shame to Lonely Planet.
If you are planning on resort-hopping on a short holiday, it will be sufficient, but if you want to explore these two countries in depth without spending a fortune, you are far better off trying to find copies of the now out-of-print old editions, which still contain far more useful information than this new guide.
Check Amazon for reviews and availablity of the old Papua New Guinea guide and Solomon Islands one.

Another cheap little book that may well enrich your travels in either of the two countries is LP's Pidgin Phrasebook.
Those keen on getting way off the beaten track in PNG on foot will still find Bushwalking in Papua New Guinea invaluable!

Solomon Islands (Lonely Planet Travel Guides)

Average customer rating:

A decade later, still the best and only guide to the Solomons!
useful but must be taken with a grain of salt

Solomon Islands (Lonely Planet Travel Guides)
Mark Honan , and David Harcombe
Manufacturer: Lonely Planet Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

South Pacific | Australia & South Pacific | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Australia & South Pacific | Travel | Subjects | Books

Guidebooks | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0864424051

Book Description

This comprehensive and practical guide to the Solomons is packed with advice for independent travellers of all budgets. Explore the archipelago's 992 pristine islands, from large landmasses with rugged mountains and virgin forests to tiny, low-lying coral atolls encircling stunning lagoons. Stay in traditional leaf-house villages following kastom law and visit sacred skull shrines, caverns or thermal areas with the traditional owners.

the only guide to the Solomons in English
background on customs, ceremonies and traditional art
comprehensive information on ecology, flora and fauna
invalubale tips on where to go diving, snorkelling, walking, mountain climbing and caving
information on a wide range of accommodation, from traditional villages to luxury resorts
full details on transport between islands
practical language section

Customer Reviews:

A decade later, still the best and only guide to the Solomons!.......2006-11-18

This is the last edition of Lonely Planet's Solomon Islands guide.
It has not been updated since the mid-90es, and has in theory been replaced by the publisher's 2005 "Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands" guide, which in reality only devotes fewer than 30 pages to the Solomon Islands, completely ignoring half the country's provinces, concentraiting on Honiara and a few popular tourist spots instead.

This edition (or the nearly identical 2nd edition), in contrast, covers the entire archipelago in amazing detail, all the way from the Treasury Islands in the West to the remote Polynesian outliers of Tikopia and Anuta in the East.
Each major province and island is described in good detail, and is shown on a good map.
Needless to say, some things have changed - however in the Solomons they have probably changed much less than in most of the rest of the World!
I travelled in the country in 2005, and found myself using this book almost all the time, with the then brand new PNG & Solomons guide quickly buried to the depths of my backpack.

If you want to actually travel around this least visited corner of Melanesia, rather than just have a short holiday on a resort island in Western province, and especially if exploring remote islands and hiking remote mountains and shorelines is your thing, this book is definitely the one to take.
It is also highly recommended for those with a general interest in the country, as travel practicalities apart, the background info on the culture, geography and fauna of the Solomons is still better than I have found in any other single book.

useful but must be taken with a grain of salt.......1999-02-10

Somewhat disappointing for a LP guide, lots of text but not as much "meat". After travelling in the Solomons and talking with others one gets the impression that the author did quite limited travelling throughout the islands and largely relied on other's reports. The hike to Mataniko Falls is way more strenuous and dangerous than hinted. (It is still an awesome sight, especially if you're a caver) Likewise a hike along the Weather Coast is more challenging than one would gather from the text, there are places where villagers go by boat because of the vertical exposure. Makira Island is only marginal habitat for salt-water crocodiles according to a Conservation International report and not as abundant as stated in the guide. Given the dearth of information about the Solomons it is still worth buying, but prudence is recommended.

Papua New Guinea (Lonely Planet Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands)

Average customer rating:

Papua New Guinea (Lonely Planet Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands)
Tony Wheeler
Manufacturer: Lonely Planet Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Papua New Guinea | Australia & South Pacific | Travel | Subjects | Books

South Pacific | Australia & South Pacific | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Australia & South Pacific | Travel | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 086442048X

Papua New Guinea, a travel survival kit (Lonely Planet Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands)

Average customer rating:

Papua New Guinea, a travel survival kit (Lonely Planet Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands)
Tony Wheeler
Manufacturer: distributed by Hippocrene Books]
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Papua New Guinea | Australia & South Pacific | Travel | Subjects | Books

South Pacific | Australia & South Pacific | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Australia & South Pacific | Travel | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

It's useful, but not advanced........2002-04-04

It might be considered as "advanced" by an accountant.

Average customer rating:

The Accountant's Guide to Excel
James Fulford
Manufacturer: Oak Tree Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1860760651

Average customer rating:

Accountants Guide to Excel Use

Manufacturer: ELSEVIER COLLEGE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GWXW20

Book Description

Now in paperback: Joseph Califano's "vivid and frank memoir of his remark life" (The New York Times)

Joseph A. Califano, Jr., grew up in a tight-knit working class family in Depression-era Brooklyn. His parents instilled in their son a work ethic and devotion to Church that stayed with him as he rose through the ranks of America's ruling class. From Jesuit undergraduate schools to Harvard Law, influential law firms, Robert McNamara's Pentagon, Lyndon Johnson's White House, Jimmy Carter's cabinet, Fortune 500 board rooms to his founding of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, Califano has been hard-charging, effective, and committed to his causes-whether that meant reforming the military, working for equal rights for all, struggling to be a committed Catholic in America, or combating addictions that ruin so many American lives.

Inside takes us inside Califano's public and private life as one of America's most dynamic and controversial public servants struggles to deal with the tensions of demanding public service, family life, and personal religious belief.

Customer Reviews:

Close but not quite there yet........2004-09-08

I heard Mr. Califano on the radio plugging his book and eagerly sought it out. To me, a disappointment. The merits of his accomplishment - and they are many - aside, the book struck me as just a bit too self serving. It may be my frame of reference - I tend to be more middle of the road, he a bit more liberal. And as in the commercial, "Where's the beef" I'm not certain that all the programs he initiated and helped found have stood the test of time. The Great Society, for example, is far from achieving the wonderfully lofty goals it proclaimed. But perhaps I quibble.

Of very great concern to me, however is his profession of faith and how he sensed that it "guided" him so often in his career and personal life. His explanation of his annulment in the Catholic church and how it could not be considered a "Catholic divorce" left me more than a little puzzled. Words have a way of shaping reality and if nothing else, Mr. Califano is a master at that.

His is, I believe, very good view from a participant in history - the Nixon section was to my way of thinking fair and balance. But overall, the book to me was a let down.

A Massive, Rewarding Memoir.......2004-08-01

Obviously, 490 pages is not enough to cover a life of more than 70 years encyclopedically, but Joesph Califano's autobiography seems almost that thorough by the time the reader is finished. The memoir reads with an energy that carries the reader from Califano's upbringing, his Roman Catholic elementary and secondary education under the rubrics of the Baltimore Catechism, Holy Cross college and Harvard Law School, through private law practices, the administrations of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter, two marriages, cancer treatments, and the establishment of the National Center on Addition and Substance Abuse. That all of this fits into one volume, along with some significant reflection, is impressive. That it all is the true story of one person's life, is inspiring.

As a progressive protestant, I do wish Califano had engaged in more critical reflection on his Roman Catholic faith, seeing his questions as seeds for growth in understanding. Perhaps unfortunately, he tends to view his questions as doubts overcome, with his traditional faith reinforced. But his traditional faith has made many lives better in this country so the disappointment is largely outweighed by admiration. As a spiritual autobiography, using the framework of James Fowler's seminal Stages of Faith, Califano might very well stand in stage 3 where many great leaders and servants have stood.

This book is a substantive undertaking for the reader, but they will most certainly feel rewarded at the completion of this memoir of a great American.

Motivating and Inspiring!.......2004-07-12

I have immensely enjoyed reading Mr. Califano's memoir. He is quite candid in his assessments, even when his candor doesn't reflect well on him or his decisions taken while in public service. (A lot more candor from today's public officials would be most welcome.) Most Americans will not have a clue about the almost Zelig-like presence of Mr. Califano when important policy decisions were being formulated beginning with the Johnson administration and continuing through the Carter years. This book should be recommended reading for all those studying Public Administration and for any person interested in understanding the ways of the Federal government. Bravo!

Keep Your Faith to Guide You.......2004-07-11

Inside is the most interesting memoir that I have read in many years. I strongly encourage anyone who is interested in how to do the right thing while under tremendous pressure to do the opposite to study this book. I also recommend giving this book as a gift to young people who want to pursue professional and public lives, as a study from which they can learn much. If you are a Democrat, you will be especially interested in the inner workings of how many critical events occurred. If you are not a Democrat, you will be fascinated by the misdeeds of some Democrats while they were in office. If you are skeptical of government power, you will find lots of examples of unwarranted abuse. If you like juicy stories that you haven't heard before, you will find this book full of them.

Most people today have no idea who Joe Califano is of why he is important to American history. But if you tell people that he was legal counsel to the Army under Cyrus Vance and Robert McNamara, personal assistant to McNamara while he was Secretary of Defense, ran President Johnson's campaign to develop the social changes incorporated in the Great Society (including the elimination of government-sponsored racial discrimination), and was Secretary of HEW for President Carter (where he took ending discrimination much further, added important health reforms such as taking on smoking and began reforming the way HEW was administered), it's impressive. But there's more. He was also counsel to the Washington Post during the Watergate investigation and ended up being involved in both President Nixon's resignation and that of Vice President Agnew. His private clients have included many of the most important companies in the country. His law partner was Edward Bennett Williams, perhaps the most famous litigator of his generation.

But that's all beside the point, to me. Mr. Califano is of most significance for his candor in explaining his religious faith and how he has tried to follow it while walking the corridors of power and pursuing a challenging private life. It hasn't been easy, and he hasn't always done what he later felt to be the right thing. But he tells you where he thinks he did right . . . and where he went wrong. Other legendary insiders (like Justice Fortas and Clark Clifford) ended up their careers with a cloud over them. Mr. Califano seems to have avoided that path by increasingly taking up the challenges of public service in a disinterested, pro bono way. His latest focus is on a private foundation to help locate and eliminate the causes of addiction. I thought that the lessons he shared are important and timeless ones for us all.

Although the book is long, the prose is spare. He only provides enough information so you get the main point. He's lived through enough important events to fill 10 lives . . . and he seems to keep it all in perspective.

As a person who also graduated from Harvard Law School and found corporate law in a law firm to be less than thrilling, I appreciated his candor about the appeal of taking on challenges where you can make a difference in the world.

As President Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." Clearly, Mr. Califano has met that standard.

Apt Title.......2004-06-21

What is it to be a Washington insider? Consider this quote ': "? no legal fee can be too high for a large corporation with billions at stake on a phrase in the law ?" Meet Joe Califano: simultaneously General Counsel to the Democratic National Convention and Outside Counsel to the Washington Post during Watergate; and the reason you can't smoke in public.

Joe Califano's career as a Washington insider began as a member of the Kennedy administration and continues to this day as that most celebrated but shadowy of creatures, the Washington insider. His book is a very personal account, easily read, of a man who has exercised power and enjoyed himself doing it. His is a quintessentially American not-quite-rags to riches story, the result of hard work and dedication. A heroic figure to many (and quite pleased with himself), Joe Califano is also a card carrying member of the society of arch devils who comprised Liberal America in its pre-Reagan heyday.

Raised by a devout family, in a devout milieu, Califano attributes much of his social consciousness to his strict Catholic upbringing; Catholicism takes up a good part of the beginning of the book and a very large part of all of Califano's life; repeatedly woven into the story are the strength his faith gave him and the wrenching conflicts it forced him to face.

Switching from the reflexively anti-communistic Republicanism of his family, and while working for Republican Tom Dewey's law firm, Joe's policy instincts were first evident in his early support for Jack Kennedy. Supporting JFK in debates at New York City's Reform Democratic Clubs, he recalls "In all my debates, I was never able to capture a single vote for Kennedy". Which led directly to his becoming one of McNamara's "whiz kids" in the new administration, the springboard for all that followed.

He describes a level of intensity and excitement in his first days, in the depths of the Cold War, akin to what was ascribed to the early members of the New Deal administration: idealism, energy, commitment and controversy. A sample of the issues he faced:

- Reforming the military administration at the Pentagon
- Army protection of civil rights and enforcement of desegregation as Army Chief Cyrus Vance's special assistant
- Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, Fidel Assassination plots
- Kennedy burial duties
- Lawyer before an international tribunal on riots in Panama Canal Zone

At first reluctant to work for Lyndon Johnson after Kennedy's assassination, he came to admire the man's programs and the man himself; because of his intelligence, because of his abilities as a politician, and because Califano passionately believed in The Great Society programs which he was eventually to run as Johnson's domestic policy advisor. If a mentor is someone whose influence is evident throughout later life, Johnson was Califano's mentor. Califano's role working with Johnson was central to the making of who Califano later became; all else was prologue or epilogue.

Hate it or love it, Califano was the at the center of the greatest domestic legislative storm of our generation. He loved it: "? to me the public legacy of those years was nothing short of a revolution that saved the Nation ?"

Following the 1968 Democratic Convention fiasco (the Chicago 7, Abbey Hoffman, et al) and Nixon's election, all the strains imposed by Lyndon Johnson's divisive social activism and the unpopular war in Vietnam threatened to rip the Democratic Party apart despite its continuing dominance of Congress.

The 1972 Democratic Presidential nominating convention was a huge fight with McGovern's anti-war politics vs. Richard Daley's machine politics. These days, the convention is just a party but then it actually chose the candidate and a terrible battle ensued. Just as the Democratic Party seemed to be slipping into its grave, Califano filed a little-noticed lawsuit resulting from a little-noticed break-in at the DNC headquarters which would ultimately result in stoking the fires further but which probably saved the party from destruction, giving it a role as loyally opposed to governmental abuse.

When Jimmy Carter became president, he named Califano to head the sprawling Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) where many of LBJ's Great Society programs were located. It had gotten a well-deserved reputation for waste and incompetence and Califano saw it as an opportunity to strike another blow for "his" programs. Califano is openly contemptuous of Carter's na?vet? and felt that success was impossible as a result. Obsessed with detail and not open to compromise, Carter contrasted very unfavorably with LBJ's great skill as a domestic politician.

Some of the issues facing HEW Secretary Califano:

- Handicapped access
- Title IX collegiate women's sports
- Federally-funded abortions
- Sterilization
- Recombinant DNA
- Fetal Research
- Hospice

Califano's greatest contribution and his ultimate demise was his anti-smoking campaign. Commonplace today, no-smoking areas were both unusual and highly controversial then.

Califano's differences with Carter and his inner circle led to Califano's resignation in 1979. Carter was looking forward to the 1980 election and he desperately needed the tobacco interests in the South which Califano had alienated.

Califano has been out of the limelight for decades and he describes his displeasure with this state of affairs. He's been making money, doing and repaying favors, getting remarried to a rich socialite; all of which he describes with a style that makes you feel you know him. His restlessness led him finally to retire from the practice of law and devote all of his energies to founding and running the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. He describes his various encounters with the evils of addition, and he has decided to devote his considerable energy and resources to fighting it.

Apparently, the Secretary of Health, etc. neglected ever to get a colonoscopy and in 1993 he had bloody stool and now he has a considerably less lengthy colon. Almost immediately thereafter, he also discovered rather advanced prostate cancer. Ten years later, he seems still to be going strong and whatever difficulties he now faces because of his physical problems, they have not impaired his ability to write an interesting book about his exceptional life.

Amazon.com

There can be few American stories more inspiring than that of the tremendous 43,000-panel AIDS quilt, a national memorial as powerfully symbolic as the Vietnam War Memorial--but made from a material as fragile and ephemeral as human life. The quilt is predicated on a simple concept: putting names to those who have died of AIDS humanizes the statistics and forces those who visit the quilt to look beyond the stigmatized categories of gayness and contagious disease that cling to the popular image of AIDS. Cleve Jones stitched the first panel in his backyard in February 1987 as a memorial to his best friend, Marvin. He has been speaking in public about the quilt for many years now, and his narrative in Stitching a Revolution is smooth and engaging. Perhaps his best quality as a storyteller is his generous recognition of others, shown in his memory of Rosa Parks in her Sunday hat: "When she handed me the quilts she'd made for her neighbors," Jones recalls, "she wanted to relish only their lives, not the divisions--just memorialize her friends and what they'd meant to her. You're doing a wonderful thing, young man, she'd said. There were no tears in her eyes, just a message for me to continue. Did my fatigue show? Did she see that the death threats and potshots had taken their toll? Dismiss them, she seemed to say, and grow old. A challenge. I brighten and feel combative." --Regina Marler

Book Description

From the frontlines of one of the greatest human struggles of our time comes this powerful and moving tale. Both an important cultural history of the AIDS crisis and an intimate personal memoir, Stitching a Revolution is the story of a man who, besieged by discrimination, death, and despair, found the courage and strength of spirit to conceive and create a unique healing vision-the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Against the turbulent backdrop of politics and sexual liberation in San Francisco during the seventies, Jones recounts his coming-of-age alongside friend and mentor Harvey Milk -- and, later, Milk's assassination and the ensuing riots that threatened to tear down all they had accomplished. But Jones's political aspirations were put on hold after the emergence of an insidious, unexplainable "gay cancer" that would soon become known throughout the world as AIDS. Demoralized by the tide of death and despair sweeping his community, brutally assaulted by gay-bashing thugs, and faced with the specter of his own positive diagnosis, Jones sought a way to restore hope to a world falling apart beneath his feet.

What started out as a simple panel of fabric stitched for his best friend now covers a space larger than twenty-five football fields and contains over eighty thousand names. The Quilt has affected the lives of many people, bridging racial, sexual, and religious barriers to unite millions in the fight against AIDS.

Stitching a Revolution is a compelling, dramatic tale with a cast of memorable characters from all walks of life. At times uplifting, at times heartwrenching, this inspiring story reveals what it means to be human and how the power of love conquers all -- even death.

Customer Reviews:

An Emotional, Moving Memoir.......2002-05-23

For those of us who were fortunate enough to be in Washington on that cold morning in October, 1987 and see the entire AIDS Memorial Quilt unfurled for the first time, we should thank Cleve Jones for both his idea of the quilt as a memorial to those who died of AIDS and this wonderful book he has written. The quilt has almost become a cliche for some of us now-- we have seen it so many times in so many different variations and sizes-- that I did not believe I could be so moved and relive that intensely emotional and poignant day in October. I was wrong. I was taken by Mr. Jones' sincerity and utter lack of egotism. He is remarkably candid about his own life as he takes the reader through his own experiences as a young gay activist in San Francisco, his role in the history of the quilt and his own diagnosis with HIV.

Mr. Jones reminds me of things I had forgotten or repressed: a lot about the heroism of Harvey Milk, for example, the awfulness of Anita Bryant, the indifference of the first President Bush who was too busy to see the quilt, of President Clinton, along with Mrs. Clinton and the Gores, who was not too busy to pay tribute to those who had fallen. We get to see some of our national celebrities in a new light: the gentle Rosa Parks, the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor frightened at making a speech, and finally Jane Fonda who can only be described as totally silly in her adoration of Tom Hayden.

A friend of mine who has seen the quilt in its entirety many times and is active in the Names Project in his hometown in Maine says that he can only read this book a little at a time. Yes, it's very viseral, sometimes painful, and it will make you cry.

In the Epilogue Mr. Jones writes: "My hope is that one day AIDS will be over and we will have to look upon all its different aspects: how it drew a country together from across cultural, ethnic, and religious divisions, and how it was, like the Holocaust, a crucible of definition. I think the Quilt will have a role in this discussion and a place in our history as memory is preserved and recreated imn this symbol of our natural desire for commuity."

And you, Mr. Jones, will have a place in that history. Many Americans cannot thank you enough for that.

A great history lesson.......2001-08-19

Cleve Jones has done many wonderful things for the gay community. Now he adds this wonderful, heartfelt memior. This volume is more than "just" a memoir, it's a rich and rewarding history lesson, an eye witness account. Throught the past twenty-five years Jones has been a witness to murder, a victim of hate crimes, an activist for gay rights, a rioter, a mourner, a survivor and a an ambassador of hope and good will. This is the story of the AIDS Quilt, from its beginnings to its eventual recognition as an international symbol of peace, reconciliation and unity. Cleve Jones takes a refreshingly candid, warts-and-all approach to telling his story. He depicts himself as an ordianry man responding to extraordinary circumstances in the only way he knew how. Past imperfect, but always willing to do whatever was necessary to bring his message to the people, Cleve helped to put a human face on AIDS.

You Can Make A Difference - Read Cleve Jones' Odyssey.......2000-04-15

The AIDS Memorial Quilt has been the most humanizing, uplifting and unifying symbol of the battle against the AIDS virus. As an activist, viewer of the Quilt, and twice a volunteer, I read Mr. Jones book greedily. People need to know what he has to say. People need to know the impact their actions can have on world perceptions; that they can make a difference. People need to know the history of the epidemic - reflected in the experiences of a person immersed in the culture impacted first: how the gay community, so brutally attacked, fought back and set up the protocols now being used by all sectors of society all over the world.

The book is a good read, very accessible, as simple as the concept of the Quilt and as insightful. I thank Cleve Jones for giving humanity the Quilt and this telling of how it came to be.

"Stitching A Revolution" Must be read!.......2000-03-27

As an AIDS activist, I would implore everyone to read this account of how one man can take an idea and turn it into a world-wide reality.

Cleve Jones writes honestly and from the heart - not about sex, not about dirt, but about the true experience of growing up as a gay man, coming out, and dealing with AIDS from the beginning up until now.

His vision in making the Quilt a reality, and the many stories that go with it bring tears and laughter, while pointing out the universality of both AIDS and The AIDS Memorial Quilt.

If his book tour comes to your town - run to that book store. His speaking skills are extrordinary as well.

If only this could become required reading for our youth - the generation that most needs to hear the message and is frighteningly under-educated about a disease which can end their lives.

A Transforming Journey.......2000-03-21

While the emotion of experiencing the Quilt cannot be confined to mere words, this inspiring journey to activism and openness is a fascinating read.

In 1995, while in San Francisco to say a heartbreaking goodbye to my dearest brother, I entered the NAMES project offices and was instantly overwhelmed by the raw emotion--not just sadness, which is the obvious response, but also a healing, a unity and a strength. I have never been so moved--until I traveled to DC to witness the 1996 display.

A part of me travels with my brother's panel wherever it goes, and this book was a cathartic reliving of some of my most grueling and gratifying moments.

'Stitching a Revolution' is a treasure, a reminder that we often forget the power of one voice, and the staggering, wondrous results of bringing together disparate peoples.

Average customer rating:
Stitching a Revolution, the Making of an Activist
Cleve Jones
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000S7JZMY

Average customer rating:
Stitching a Revolution: The Making of an Activist
Cleve with Dawson, Jeff Jones
Manufacturer: HarperSanFrancisco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OF5DLM

Average customer rating:
Stitching a Revolution : The Making of an Activist
Jeff; Jones, Cleve Dawson
Manufacturer: HarperSanFrancisco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000J2Q4KY

Book Description

From 1934 to 1954, Bing Crosby utterly dominated North American entertainment. Nobody has ever had as many hit records, and Crosby was the number one movie star five years in a row. The rise of Bing Crosby was the rise of North American popular culture itself. In Bing Crosby, the first volume of the definitive Crosby biography, award-winning music critic Gary Giddins chronicles the ascension of Bings career. From Crosbys early recordings, to his triumph on Americas most popular radio show, to his first success in Hollywood, Giddins provides the most detailed study yet of the rise of a North American star. This is the first definitive biography of Crosby and was written with exclusive access to unpublished materials. Giddins Visions of Jazz won the 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award. Bing Crosby was the first North American pop culture icon, and his career heavily influenced Sinatra and Elvis, as well as popular music itself.

Customer Reviews:

A Great Book.......2005-11-11

I devoured this book the first time I read it and am now reading it for the second time after discovering for myself a lot about the man, Bing Crosby, and his music and films. I wasn't much of a fan before I read Gidden's book, but am now. A facinating and detailed examination of the early life and career of an extremely talented and complex man, much loved during his long career and judged extremely harshly by many after his death. Too bad they forgot about all of the good he accomplished in his lifetime.

INFORMATIVE BING BIO.......2004-09-23

Anyone interested in Bings life should enjoy this book. Does any
one out there know when part two will be released?

Anyone who enjoys Bing work will find this book interesting. Does
anyone know with part two is coming out?

An Very Good Biography-But Not Perfect.......2004-08-18

When I first picked this book up I wondered "700+ pages on Bing Crosby?" Tho a Crosby fan (more of his early work than later), I wondered if there was enough material for 700+ pages, and that just in the first volume. There is, tho with some judicious editing it could have been cut down a bit. (There is some repetition in the book, especially the author's emphasizing again and again that "Bing made great contributions to American Music", as though we in the younger generations really had to be convinced.)

What I didn't like was the author's putting down some of Crosby's contemporaries. He was relatively kind to Russ Columbo, but scathing on Rudy Vallee. I'm not particularly a Vallee fan, but you have to credit the guy's popularity, and his longevity in show business as a big name. He had a wild, faddish vogue in the early part of his career, which was bound to fade when a more talented performer like Crosby came around, but he stayed in show business as a name to be reckoned with until the mid 60s. And tho he was portrayed as a blowhard and boaster, Vallee at least had enough of a sense of humor to mock his own image in movies like "The Palm Beach Story".

Also the author puts down John Boles, a popular actor of the 30s, who beat Crosby out of an important number in the early musical "The King of Jazz" (it was Crosby's own fault). Again, Boles is nobody in comparison with Crosby when it comes to fame or importance, but he had a decent film career, and before I saw "The King of Jazz", I mainly knew him from films like "Frankenstein" and "Stella Dallas", and when I first saw "The King of Jazz", I was impressed that he could sing at all. Boles was famous enough to be part of a gag on a Leave It To Beaver episode--when June told of getting in trouble in school for trying to impress her friends by telling them that John Boles was her uncle!

Also, as a footnote, the author relates the story of a talent contest run in Spokane as part of a Bing Crosby homecoming celebration, noting that one of the winners was Janet Waldo, and not saying much more than that. Janet Waldo did make some movies, never becoming a film star, but she did later become one of the more durable voice artists in radio and television, specialising in teenage girls (famously as Corliss Archer and Judy Jetson-and in one particular episode of I Love Lucy) into what must have been her old age-sort of a female Arnold Stang (I hope that isn't an insult!) I thought this successful part of her career was worth a mention, especially since Hollywood talent contests of the time seemd to be mere publicity stunts, and that winners were usually given a bit part in a b-film and shipped straight home to obscurity.

One other thing that bothered me was the author's apologising for Big Crosby's being a Republican (a rather mild one at that). Maybe the author is a Democrat or liberal, but that's his business. The assumption that everyone reading this book is a democrat and will be offended by Bing Crosby's conservatism is a bit overbearing.

But for the most part, I enjoyed the book very much. It was well written, well researched, and gave more information than you knew existed on Crosby's recordings and his movies. As someone who knows almost nothing about the more technical aspects of music, such as chord changes and harmonies, the technical descriptions of Crosby's singing went over my head and I didn't quite know what the author was talking about, but I guess that stuff is for the jazz buffs amongst the readership, and my ignorance is not the author's fault. The book was also especially good on one Crosby subject I had always been curious about: the break-up of the Rhythm Boys, and Crosby's subsequent relationships with Al Rinker and Harry Barris. I knew from seeing Crosby's films that Barris frequently had small parts in them, and figured they were probably favors from Crosby to an old pal. His split with Rinker was sadder, but from the descriptions in the book, probably inevitable. (I was so dumb on this subject that I never knew Mildred Bailey was Al Rinker's sister!)

Overall, very well worth buying and reading if you are interested in the history of American music, films or popular culture in general in the 20th Century.

Question the research.......2004-08-10

I enjoyed reading this biography of Bing especially since it included information on my father, Mike Pecarovich. I have to point out the poor editing job, however. My father's name was consistently misspelled as Pecarovitch. I haven't seen the paperback edition but sincerely hope the mistake was corrected.

The Definitive Bing Biography.......2004-02-29

Amazingly, no one had written a serious Crosby biography since 1948 - when Bing was a household name - until Gary Giddins gave us this incredible first volume of what promises to be the definitive study of the man of whom it used to be said, "the voice of Bing Crosby has been heard by more people than the voice of any other human being who ever lived."

"Pocketful" is a thorough, heavily researched evaluation of the first half of Crosby's life and career, and his cultural significance. As such, Giddins covers not only the landmark moments and achievements, but also the minutiae. To me, this is not a drawback. The subject is worthy of such intellectual scrutiny. It isn't a gossip-laden Hollywood tell-all, so if that's what you're looking for, look elsewhere.

Bing Crosby personified everything Americans of his generation found admirable: he was self-assured, easygoing, intelligent, quick-witted and athletic, yet modest and self-effacing. Possessing a relaxed manner and a mellifluous and universally appealing baritone voice, he was adored by women and admired by men, and was the nation's most beloved entertainer throughout the Great Depression and the Second World War. The across-the-board nature of his of fame and longevity - he was simultaneously the world's top singer, actor AND radio star for a number of years, and he remained popular to the end of his life - is almost unfathomable in this age of perpetually divergent trends in entertainment, and disposable celebrity.

The cold, hard facts of Crosby's career, laid out for us by Giddins, are staggering:

* He had sold 400 million records by 1980.
* He charted more records (368) - and scored more #1's (38) - than any other recording artist in history, including Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson.
* His rendition of "White Christmas" is the most popular single ever, and the only one to make the American pop charts 20 times.
* He dominated the medium of radio for over 30 years with his top-rated programs, regularly attracting 50 million listeners in his peak years (about 1/3 of the population of the U.S. at the time!).
* His "Road" films with Bob Hope were the highest grossing comedies of their time.
* He was the #1 box office movie star for five consecutive years (1944-48), a streak which still hasn't been topped.
* He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, and won it in 1944.
* "Going My Way" became the top grossing film in the history of Paramount Pictures. A fluke you say? The next year "Bells Of St. Mary's" became the top grossing film in the history of RKO!
* He was a key figure in the development and popularization of audio- and videotape.
* He started the first celebrity/pro-amateur golf tournament, which raised millions of dollars for charity over the years.

After Bing's death in 1977, his reputation diminished to the point that he was almost forgotten, or simply dismissed, in part due to a hyped-up hatchet job of a book by his eldest son. This straightforward, factual effort by Giddins has begun to turn the tide back in Bing's favor. Since the publication of this essential work, a reassessment of Bing Crosby's life and career has taken place in many circles. A scholarly conference entitled "Bing Crosby and American Culture" was held at Hofstra University in 2002, and last year his alma mater, Gonzaga University, celebrated the centennial of his birth with a three-day event.

Customer Reviews:

Almost as good as the book!.......2003-08-10

Gary Giddins has pealed away the mendacity that has surrounded Bing Crosby in published literature since his death. Bing was pilloried in books by his son Gary, and painted in other biographies as a philandering, cold-as-ice misanthrope. Finally Crosby fans can embrace a book (read by Edward Lewis), which contains much positive information on one of the greatest and most influential Americans icons of the 20th century. Bing's brilliance has been inexplicably eclipsed since his death. Hopefully, this book will introduce the Crosby magic to those who have never been exposed to it.

Without Bing Crosby, popular music would not sound the way it sounds today, it's that simple. When he first started singing with Paul Whiteman's band in the 20's as a member of the Rhythm Boys, all vocalists sounded the same: weak-kneed tenors warbling through megaphones, ala the insufferable Rudy Vallee. Bing's mellifluous, effortless baritone became the standard by which every other singer strove to emulate: Sinatra, Como, Dean Martin and every other singer initially copied Bing.

Giddins correctly emphasizes Bing's influence on 20th century pop culture. He was a vocal innovator par excellence and his jazz phrasing, timing and cadence remains unmatched. Giddins also explores in great depth Crosby's numerous affairs, his tortured marriage to the alcoholic Dixie Lee, and brings out some interesting gossip: did you know Bing smoked pot regularly with Louis Armstrong in the early 30's? No more Mr. Goody Two Shoes!

I've loved Bing Crosby all my life and have waited a lifetime for an intelligent and readable biography. Gary Giddins is an excellent writer and researcher and he has created a minor masterpiece. This is an essential addition to any Crosbyphile's bookshelf. The audio version is excellent, you'll enjoy listening to the book while commuting to work.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books