State and Local Government Workers' Retirement Savings Guide

Book Description

How do teachers, nurses, firefighters, police, and others in the public sector plan for retirement? Hint, for the most part, they don't invest in 401(k)s.

The diverse investment opportunities available to government employees, along with the newly enacted tax laws that have expanded the investment horizon, are outlined in this ""nuts and bolts"" guide for civic employees. Ways to maximize their long term financial security are explained by a Wall Street financial advisor specializing in retirement planning.

Book Description

"Bradley Hoch . . . follows in Lincoln's footsteps, travels to every nook and cranny of Pennsylvania, to places famous and places barely known, discovers much new interesting information, and takes the delighted reader along with him. What a ride for the Lincoln buff—and also for the serious student of history. Experts always have carried a sense of the significance of Pennsylvania's Lincoln connections, but all will be surprised by the breadth of the terrain Hoch visits. We travel along, sometimes amused, sometimes bemused, happy, sad, questioning, enlightened, and at the end of the road we are better people." —from the Foreword by Gabor S. Boritt

What is the Lincoln Trail in Pennsylvania? It is the story of Abraham Lincoln in the Keystone State—the chronicle of where he went, what he did, and what he said in the state. The trail begins with Lincoln's Pennsylvania ancestors, moves on to his travels, public appearances, and speeches, and concludes with his funeral train in 1865. The Lincoln Trail in Pennsylvania tells a story for the reader, but it is also a guide for those who would travel the state figuratively or literally, to recover the memory of America's sixteenth president.

The Lincoln Trail in Pennsylvania transports the reader back in time to key moments in Lincoln's public life. In 1846, at the age of thirty-seven, Lincoln was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Using mileage that Lincoln claimed for his trip, available routes, duration of the journey, and average speeds, Bradley Hoch is the first to establish the probable route Lincoln followed on his way from Illinois to Washington, D.C. Hoch concludes that he traveled by steamboat along the Ohio and Monongahela Rivers and by stagecoach on the National Road into Maryland.

After Lincoln was elected president in November 1860, he transformed his inaugural journey from Springfield to Washington into a grand railroad tour of northern cities, hoping to cement the people's loyalty to the Union and to himself. His inaugural train, the first of its kind, made several stops in Pennsylvania. Hoch follows Lincoln throughout his journey, including the dramatic last leg—the "secret night train"—when Allan Pinkerton and his agents, determined to protect Lincoln from would-be assassins, cut telegraph lines and sidetracked trains in order to spirit him safely from Harrisburg to Washington.

Hoch recovers symbolic moments, none more moving than Lincoln's funeral train as it stopped in several Pennsylvania cities, including York, Harrisburg, Lancaster, and Erie. In Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell was placed at the head of Lincoln's coffin when it lay in Independence Hall. As more than one hundred thousand mourners passed by, the bell's inscription memorialized his life, "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land, unto all inhabitants thereof."

Rarely seen photographs, engravings, and maps enrich this illuminating volume. In the final chapter, Hoch offers a guide of sites to visit in present-day Pennsylvania, making The Lincoln Trail in Pennsylvania a welcome book for a wide range of readers interested in American history.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating, highly detailed, great pictures!.......2002-01-17

A thoughtfully detailed and entertaining narrative with lots of captivating photos of the key people and places of Lincoln's visits to the Commonwealth. I also liked the appendix which provided guidance on how to follow and experience the Lincoln Trail. I'm not a Lincoln expert, so the accounts of his experiences here were new to me and fascinating to read... but that also means my rating is just a reflection of how much I liked this book, not a comparison to other books about Mr. Lincoln. It is unquestionably well-written.

Lincoln Trail in Pennsylvania: A History and Guide.

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Lincoln Trail in Pennsylvania: A History and Guide.
Bradley R. Hich
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000M44C5S

The Lincoln Trail in Pennsylvania: A History and Guide

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The Lincoln Trail in Pennsylvania: A History and Guide
Bradley R. Hoch
Manufacturer: Keystone Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OR3DUS

Book Description

As a graduate student, Michael Mewshaw overheard his girlfriend propositioned by James Dickey, served as chauffeur and drinking companion to William Styron, and under George Garrett's direction impersonated a Playboy fiction editor on television. So he began a remarkable literary life in which Mewshaw grants us the sizable pleasure of passing time with some of the twentieth century's finest and most interesting writers.

Mewshaw describes poignant episodes and painful lessons, including his complex relationship with Robert Penn Warren and Eleanor Clark. But his memoir is also filled with humorous events: mistaking Carlos Fuentes for James Jones's handyman, being tricked into babysitting Anthony Burgess's precocious son, and receiving publishing advice from safari-garbed pulp novelist Harold Robbins. Mewshaw recounts visits with Paul Bowles in Tangier, brief collisions with the likes of Mary McCarthy and William Gaddis, and enduring friendships with Graham Greene, Pat Conroy, and Gore Vidal.

Vivid and original, this book shimmers with Mewshaw's talent as a reporter and travel writer and benefits from a novelist's distinctive voice and flawless instinct for what makes a situation sad or important, arresting or just plain funny. Do I Owe You Something? Will appeal to anyone who has ever yearned to write or to meet the men and women who do.

Customer Reviews:

Gossip galore from a true-crime master.......2004-08-08

Though we know him now mostly from his writing about tennis and true crime, once upon a time Michael ("Mike") Mewshaw had loftier ambitions and moved with the famous novelists of his day (the 1970s is the period treated in this book), aided and abetted by his lovely wife, Linda, whom William Styron called, "Slim." You will love reading Mewshaw's accounts of his brushes with fame, as he tries to get this one to write a blurb for his book, the other one to write him a reference letter. He is endearing, always saying and doing the exact wrong thing, and managing to alienate the shallow people he wants to impress. His account of meeting Eleanor Clark and her rudeness to him is very well written. She is a monster in human form, even down to having a face with a tragic flaw in it which made her look as though she were sneering all the time. Eventually her personality came to match her face (according to this book, there may be another side to the story). And Mewshaw's account of the Southern writer Peter Taylor is another prize. What a terrible person!

When he gets to Rome, he tries repeatedly to impress the once-famous novelist Anthony Burgess, who wrote A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Instead he has a hilarious eight-hour encounter with Burgess' wife, an excitable and grasping Italian, and their little boy of 7, a wild child with nothing but id. In this context we come to admire Harold Robbins, the lowbrow best-seller. He may not have been esteemed to critics, but at least he was generous to Mike and Linda!

Settling the score.(Do I Owe You Something? A Memoir of the Literary Life)(Book Review): An article from: New Criterion

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Settling the score.(Do I Owe You Something? A Memoir of the Literary Life)(Book Review): An article from: New Criterion
David R. Slavitt
Manufacturer: Foundation for Cultural Review
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Classics | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Foundation for Cultural Review on October 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1362 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: Settling the score.(Do I Owe You Something? A Memoir of the Literary Life)(Book Review)
Author: David R. Slavitt
Publication: New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2003
Publisher: Foundation for Cultural Review
Volume: 22 Issue: 2 Page: 75(4)

Article Type: Book Review

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A TRUE ARTIST WHO NEVER COMPROMISED HIS ART

Long overdue, but worth the wait.

A Monument To Creativity

Inspiration for creative juices

The Wizard Shows His Tricks

Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life
Ray Harryhausen , and Tony Dalton
Manufacturer: Billboard Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

The Art of Ray Harryhausen

Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection

The Winston Effect: The Art & History of Stan Winston Studio

The Fantastic Films of Ray Harryhausen - Legendary Science Fiction Series (It Came from Beneath the Sea / Earth vs. the Flying Saucers / 20 Million Miles to Earth / Mysterious Island / H.G. Wells' First Men in the Moon)

Stop Motion: Craft Skills for Model Animation (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation) (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation)

ASIN: 0823084027

Book Description

Who among film fans and movie buffs cannot remember with fondness the marvelously realistic dinosaurs, fantastic aliens, and imaginative mythological creatures in 20 Millions Miles to Earth, Jason and the Argonauts, One Million Years B.C., and Clash of the Titans? Who cannot recall the battling skeletons in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad or the chaos and destruction wrought from the skies over our nation's capitol in Earth vs. The Flying Saucers? These and other classic movie moments represent the work of Ray Harryhausen, arguably the greatest stop-motion animator in the history of motion pictures.

Inspired by Willis O'Brien's King Kong and schooled by animation genius George Pal (The War of the Worlds, Time Machine, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm), Harryhausen blazed new trails in special effects from the 1950s to the 1980s. Now, in the animator's own words, accompanied by hundreds of previously unpublished photos, sketches, and storyboards from his personal archive, comes Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life.

Anecdotal, insightful, illuminating, and honest, the book takes readers through Harryhausen's entire career - film by film, triumph by triumph - from the impact that watching The Lost World and King Kong had on his life to creating the magnificent creatures seen in Clash of the Titans, his last movie. In words and images, it explains the basics of special effects and stop-motion animation, along the way telling tales of working with the film stars of the day - such as Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, and Lionel Jeffries, to name a few - and revealing how Raquel Welch was picked up by a flying dinosaur in One Million Years B.C., why the octopus in Mysterious Island was really only a sixtopus, and what Madusa's blood was made from in Clash of the Titans.

* No motion picture animator has greater recognition than Ray Harryhausen

* The book explores in detail how the animation models were made

* It also offers a film-by-film breakdown of the animation techniques used

* And it includes never before seen concept sketches and movie production drawings from films such as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans, and many more

* And provides frame-by-frame deconstructions of how ground-breaking effects were achieved

* Finally, it contains previously unpublished behind-the-scenes photos revealing Harryhausen's expert artistry, unique talent, and production secrets

* Foreword was written by Ray Bradbury, legendary author of fantasy and science fiction

Customer Reviews:

A TRUE ARTIST WHO NEVER COMPROMISED HIS ART.......2007-10-09

So much has already been said & written about this amazingly talented man that although his talents have always been savored like fine wine....talking about his painstaking incredible stop-motion animation abilities almost seems to be redundant. Suffice it to say that so many of us monster kids sat in awe of Ray's work as we watched " The 7th Voyage of Sinbad " circa 1958.Harryhausen has always accomplished more on the movie screen with his special effects techniques than computers will ever be able to do. This book lovingly details all of the richness of Ray Harryhausen----Thanks for a great book, Ray !

Long overdue, but worth the wait........2006-02-19

Die-hard fans of special effects master Ray Harryhausen may recall Jeff Rovin's book "From the Land Beyond Beyond", which arrived in 1977. It was a welcome addition to the Harryhausen legacy, but was too subjective and fan-based for some tastes. Hard to believe it took almost thirty years for this definitive, color version of the Harryhausen story to arrive on the scene. Some will feel it is merely an extension of Ray's previous work, the Film Fantasy Scrapbook, and in many ways, it is, but there's so much detail here that this deluxe volume is worth picking up. Though of course modern special effects have become almost ridiculously complex, it's wonderful to hear Ray describe in great technical detail the processes and techniques he used to bring his animals and fantasy creatures to life in films like "7th Voyage of Sinbad" and "Jason and the Argonauts". He's also candid about which films worked for him (and audiences) and which somehow missed the mark. Even readers who prefer modern spectacles to Harryhausen's classical, stately epics should find something of value here, and there is plenty to inspire any animator, filmmaker, or budding cinematographer. This book isn't just a special effects guide, it's a valuable and integral part of the history of film: Harryhausen's career spanned five decades, and he worked with some of the greats in the industry--not only effects geniuses like Willis O'brien, but actors like Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, James Franciscus, Honor Blackman, Richard Carlson, Jane Seymour and Raquel Welch. A little pricey, but worth the cost. A must have for Harryhausen fans, naturally, but anyone interested in the movies will come away satisfied.

A Monument To Creativity.......2005-08-04

This is a top-notch compilation of genius on the cutting edge of our cultural history.

Inspiration for creative juices.......2005-03-04

I just recently purchased Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life.
Mr. Harryhausen was influenced by King Kong for his remarkable career. I was influenced by his first movie released in theaters
entitled BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS. Ever since I gazed at the
incredible effects when I was six, I wanted to know why and how
something could seem so life like. Unfortunately, all I did was manage amateur special effects with an 8mm camera, but enjoyed thrilling friends and relatives with what talent I had. Now I can appreciate all the patience and imagination that this
genius has somehow transmitted to the screen. All of his movies are showcased with the wonderful behind the scenes stories and photos that made such magic in my childhood. Anyone who has ambition to follow the FX trade, should definitely read this book. Granted the technology is greatly improved today, but that even made Mr. Harryhausen seem more adept at his work. How tedious it is to move a model just a fraction of an inch until it appears fluid on the film...how educational it is to realize what props were used and what artistry was projected to make everything REAL. This coffee table book will be a treasure
in my collection of literature.

The Wizard Shows His Tricks.......2004-09-11

Computer generated effects are standard in movies now, and any big-budget action film can be expected to have plenty. We didn't always have computers, so the effects such as putting fantasy creatures on the screen, like King Kong, had to be done with meticulous stop-motion filming, whereby a movie frame picture would be made of a model Kong, then the model's arm would be slightly raised, one more frame of the movie shot, and the process repeated until a smooth arm movement could be seen when the entire strip of film ran. It was Willis O'Brien who animated Kong and many other creatures in early movies. It was Kong who inspired Ray Harryhausen to start making stop-motion films. In _Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life_ (Billboard Books), Harryhausen and Timothy Dalton tell the story of Harryhausen's entire career, including his humble beginnings. He was crazy about dinosaurs as a kid, and at the age of thirteen, he was taken by his mother and aunt to see _King Kong_. He studied up on the movie's techniques afterwards, and started making his own movies, first using a home camera that he could merely hope took only one frame at a time when he tapped it, and then purchasing his own 16 mm camera with a one-frame shift. He was one of those lucky kids who knew early what he wanted to do in life, and was able to do it; Harryhausen was the special effects wizard behind _Earth vs. The Flying Saucers_, _Jason and the Argonauts_, and _Clash of the Titans_, among many more. This beautiful book, filled with photographs and drawings to show how the models and effects were made for each of Harryhausen's films (and pictures of the artist's work as a thirteen-year-old as well), is a fascinating record of a career that could only have taken place in a restricted window of time.

To start with a clearing of the record: Harryhausen's first model, a cave bear, was covered with fur cut from an old black fur coat hanging in his mother's closet, but despite reports to the contrary, his mother _did_ know all about it and _did_ give her permission beforehand. This reflects the support his parents gave him toward his youthful enthusiasm, and he is certainly grateful. Most of the book describes his work for the studios; it devotes pages and pictures to all his films, and he gives detailed descriptions of just how he managed particular shots. Harryhausen isn't boasting; throughout the book he lets us know what he thought worked and what didn't, what he is proud of and what he winces at. If stop-motion is no longer going to be an art form, it is good that we have this documentation of what he actually accomplished, for the complexity of his creations and the way they were shot is astonishing. For instance, the Hydra in _Jason_ not only had a serpentine body and a double tail requiring their own movements, but also seven heads. In every frame, the model's movements might be only a millimeter, but there were sometimes more than thirty movements to do. He would have to remember for each head whether it was in the process of going up, down, right, or left, if the mouth was opening or closing, if the neck was flexing, and so on. Astonishingly, he was so in tune with his creation that he did not keep notes on what each head was doing, except if he were taking a break at the end of a work period.

Harryhausen has real affection for his creations. He has used real animals in some films, like an iguana made to look like a giant lizard in _One Million Years BC_. The trainer in charge of the iguanas was ready to use an electric prod to rouse the usually torpid lizards, but Harryhausen would not allow any cruelty, so action could only be obtained by a little prodding. Nonetheless, it was a lot harder to get the iguanas to move in just the way he needed compared to his obedient stop-motion models; he says that using models would have been more cost-effective and more realistic, too. He refuses to call his creations monsters; they are mostly creatures who are simply out of place. Of the tyrannosaurus in _The Valley of Gwangi_, he writes that he felt sorry for him, "... because all he wanted to do was live his life and eat a few people along the way." When he had to dismantle one creature to use its armature for another in a succeeding feature, he confesses, "It always breaks my heart to have to cannibalize my models. It's like losing a close friend." Gentle, self-deprecating humor is a hallmark of all the chapters here, no matter how technical the descriptions become at times. This is a handsome, large format book suitable for the coffee table; however, along with the beautiful illustrations, the written record of work here to show how creature features were made before the computers took over will be enjoyed by any fantasy film fan.

Book Description

This A-Z reference contains 275 biographical entries on Native American women, past and present, from many different walks of life. Written by more than 70 contributors, most of whom are leading American Indian historians, the entries examine the complex and diverse roles of Native American women in contemporary and traditional cultures. This new edition contains 32 new entries and updated end-of-article bibliographies. Appendices list entries by area of woman's specialization, state of birth, and tribe; also includes photos and a comprehensive index.

Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary

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Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary
Gretchen M. And Lisa, Laurie (Editors) Bataille
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000TDTH5W

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