Book Description
In 1990, IndustryWeek magazine established a prestigious new competition, the America's Best Plants Award, designed to recognize and honor the top manufacturing operations in the nation. To date, sixty-two companies—from such well-known names as Hewlett-Packard, Sony Electronics, Steelcase, and Xerox to smaller companies such as Zytec, John Crane Belfab, and Lord Corporation—have earned the illustrious designation of being one of America's Best Plants.
Now these award-winning plants are profiled in America's Best, a unique reference that takes an in-depth look at leading-edge manufacturing practices. Detailing the individual components of world-class manufacturing, while providing personal experience from the field, America's Best offers practical guidelines that will help managers make strategic decisions regarding their own organizations.
The book begins with the nine essential components of world-class manufacturing, their individual make-up, and how they interact with each other. These components—customer focus, quality, agility, employee involvement, strong supplier relations, technology, new product development, green manufacturing, community involvement—come together to create the basis of manufacturing excellence and will serve as a road map for improving your organization, your products, and your people.
Profiles of each of the 62 Best Plant winners celebrate individual excellence in the field. Highlighting these profiles are on-site visit reports by IndustryWeek editors; detailed coverage of the many unique programs, tools, and techniques currently in use at each plant; and a listing of contact information for individual plants. Also included is a complete set of the winners' statistical measurements for use in benchmarking your own organization, as well as an assessment survey to help you determine how your plant measures up against the best.
Filled with helpful data, advice, "lessons," and firsthand stories from Best Plant leaders and employees, America's Best will be essential reading for managers in executive suites to the shop floor who are charged with the success of their manufacturing organization.
"A clear and exciting depiction of the dramatic changes taking place in manufacturing and the innovative approaches used to sustain world-class excellence." — Jerry J. Jasinowski President, National Association of Manufacturers
"Highly readable and packed with relevant examples of what makes the best, best." — Carla O'Dell, PhD President, American Productivity & Quality Center
"A rousing standing ovation for Ted Kinni and the editors of IndustryWeek. America's Best is a benchmark book, and Kinni and colleagues have pulled off an Olympian feat. . . . If you've set a course for excellence, you must read this book." — Jim Kouzes, coauthor The Leadership Challenge and Credibility, Chairman and CEO The Tom Peters Group/Learning Systems
Advanced Filtration Systems, Inc.
Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.
Allen-Bradley Company
Baxter Healthcare Corp.
Chesebrough-Pond's USA Co.
Cincinnati Milacron, Inc.
Coherent, Inc.
Continental General Tire, Inc.
Copeland Corporation
Corning, Inc.
Dana Corporation
Digital Equipment Corp.
Edy's Grand Ice Cream
Engelhard Corporation
Exxon Chemical Co.
Fisher-Rosemount, Inc.
Ford Electronics & Refrigeration Corp.
Ford Motor Co.
The Foxboro Company
GE Fanuc Automation NA, Inc.
General Electric
General Motors
General Motors Corp., Cadillac
Gilbarco, Inc.
Hewlett-Packard Company
Honeywell, Inc.
IBM Corporation
John Crane Belfab
Johnson & Johnson Medical, Inc.
Kennametal, Inc.
Lockheed Martin Corp.
Lord Corporation
Marlow Industries, Inc.
MEMC Electronic Materials
Mettler-Toledo, Inc.
Milwaukee Electric Tool
Motorola, Inc.
New United Motor Mfg., Inc.
Nippondenso Mfg., USA, Inc.
Northrop Grumman Corp.
Pella Corporation
Rockwell International
Siemens Automotive
Sony Electronics, Inc.
SPX Corporation
Steelcase, Inc.
Stone Construction Equipment, Inc.
Super Sack Manufacturing
Symbiosis Corporation
Tennessee Eastman Company
Texas Instruments, Inc.
The Timken Company
TRW Vehicle Safety Systems, Inc.
Unisys Corporation
Varian Associates, Inc.
Wilson Sporting Goods Company
XEL Communications, Inc.
Xerox Corporation
Zytec Corporation
Book Description
The Guide has been developed on the basis of international experience in the planning, operation and evaluation of drug abuse treatment services in different countries. It aims at providing a broad up-to-date framework to planners and implementers through a number of key steps required for the initiation and the further development of treatment and rehabilitation services. The Guide is a practical resource for Governments, policy planners, service commissioners and treatment providers.
Amazon.com
The greatest of all American historical legends, Abraham Lincoln's life has been told and retold countless times. Good, old Abe stands alone, a colossal figure of peerless achievements: the Great Emancipator, the deliverer of the Gettysburg Address, the president who saved the Union and paved the way for the destiny of the modern United States. It's more or less impossible to look beyond the layers of myth and legend now, but this is a different kind of biography: Whimsical, imaginative, empathic, it ambles through his life sketching an endearing though not unquestioning portrait of an American icon, seeking out the essence of the man. Jan Morris's motivation was the somewhat irritated incomprehension she felt when faced with the all-pervasive sainted status of the man on her first visit to the States in the 1950s. Since then she has explored and written about America extensively and it's clear that Lincoln was always somewhere at the back of her mind. After many years of gestation, her insightful musings make for an absorbing, fresh perspective on the man and his legacy.
The narrative follows a journey through the country, a manner of pilgrimage, tracing the remarkable transformation of Lincoln's life as he migrated from humble beginnings in Kentucky, via social respectability as a lawyer and politician in Springfield, Illinois, and on to his ultimate destiny of the presidency and Civil War leader. The picture that emerges is of a somewhat eccentric man of deep contradictions: feisty and capable of ruthlessness yet genuinely kind; prone to periods of misanthropy yet also blessed with an appealing sense of humor apparent from self-deprecating remarks and aphoristic stories of enchantingly universal appeal and simple, homespun wisdom. Through it all, though, right up to the tragedy of which he reputedly had a premonition, this great man of destiny shines through as, essentially, a decent and straightforward man. The book does lack any pictures of the people and places in his life, perhaps a slight oversight, but, then again, in view of the richly evocative nature of her portrayal, easily overlooked. --Alisdair Bowles, Amazon.co.uk
Book Description
Brash and skeptical when she first came to the United States in the 1950, Jan Morris cast a decidedly dubious eye on the saintly image of Abraham Lincoln and the log-cabin-to-the-White House legend that surrounded him. In innumerable visits over the last fifty years she has tried to make up her own mind about the sixteenth president, and after nearly half a century she has crystallized her conclusions in this unique portrait -- part historical fact, part travelogue, part reconstruction, part personal specullation -- her first book on America since the acclaimed Manhattan '45.
Renowned on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the finest writers on history and travel in this century, Morris is part of the long tradition of foreigner observers who are able to illuminate America for Americans. In Lincoln: A Foreigner's Quest, she looks at Lincoln with her singular perspective, and the result is a historical journey free of sentiment and nostalgia.
Morris has not only travelled wherever Loncoln traveled, from his alleged log cabin birthplace to the box where he was assasinated, but she has willed herself into his time and, with wit and sagacity,she brings us as close as she can to the presence of the man. She conjures him in both his personal and public capacities -- politician and father, commander-in-chief in a time of national calamity, orator and husband.
We sit in the chair of an Illinois judge as Lincoln the lawyer argues a case. We hear from across the road in Springfield of Lincoln's household quabbles with his wife. We take tea with President Lincoln at the White House. We imagine his responses to the seductive comforts of a slave plantation, and wonder what would have happened had he come face-to-face with his celebrated opponent in the Civil War, Robert E. Lee. Morris excavates myths about Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks; his love affair with Ann Rutledge; his marriage to the unstable Mary Todd; and his often frustrated relationships with his Union generals.
With the iconclasm and humor and marvelous sense of place, Morris seamlessly blends travel narrative, history and biography into the origins of the American Empire to reveal the real Lincoln -- maverick, artist, oddball, natural aristocrat.
Customer Reviews:
Well, at least it was a quick read.......2006-04-10
I don't know much about Jan Morris, and I am probably not going to learn more about her. But I was cautiously optimistic when I picked this book up. I forgot I had it until just after I finished Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, which may not be the perfect book on Lincoln (I am still learning) but which rings much truer than this absurd little book. Which is a shame because I came away from Kearns's book feeling so inspired by Lincoln that I couldn't believe anyone could be as basically decent and good as Lincoln seems to be.
The travelogue part is actually the most interesting part of the book, because the history is apallingly bad. Others have cited the numerous errors, ranging from the site of the Donner Party's "cannibalism" (itself recently debunked) in the "Rocky Mountains" to some aide to Lincoln by the name of "Nicolai." The idea of Lincoln reading "ticker tape" at the War Department is charming but impossible, since the ticker wasn't invented, I think, until the late 1870s or 1880s. There's really nothing wrong with the book that some serious fact checking couldn't have fixed. And no amount of off-hand theorizing about Lincoln's sexuality can compare with the careful treatment--within the proper social context--that Kearns gives the subject in her discussion of the mode of male fiendships in the mid-1800s.
The book is fine as entertainment, but is a failure as history.
British Arrogance.......2006-02-09
Lincoln by Jan Morris is no doubt the worst book that I have ever attempted to read. Ms. Morris attempts to put down America and Mr. Lincoln with very scathing and pompous words throughout the book. In the first chapter she visits Mr. Lincoln's birthplace in Kentucky and uses the normal stereotype words to describe Kentuckians which I found very offensive. She states that she could not find a bookstore in Kentucky. Ms. Morris I have news for you. I bought this book in Kentucky, and believe it or not, at a bookstore. The bookstore thought so much of this book that I paid $2.00 for it. I wasted my money. This book should be used for firewood. Ms. Morris if you do not like America, please keep your pompous self in England.
More Telling About The Author.......2006-01-29
Ms. Morris' American animus is a leitmotiv throughout the book. The idea that Lincoln was gay is ludicrous. I've read several books on Lincoln from Vidal to Sandburg and this loose psychoanalysis from a smug Brit is not worth the paper it's written on.
Nice Read, But Not Good History.......2005-03-25
Morris spins an interesting tale, a mixture of biography, travelogue, and historical fiction. While it reads nicely, it has enough errors that I had to double-check the publisher. Expecting a small publishing house, I was shocked to see "Simon & Schuster" on the spine. A few sloppy typos caught my eye, but the author began to lose credibility when I found the glaring error others have noted about the Donner Party. When I find an error in a book, I wonder how many other errors I do not realize because the information is entirely new to me. In fact, I found several other events in the book where her version of history didn't match mine.
The book has a rather awkward ending. After what I consider a balanced (though not entirely accurate) assessment of Lincoln throughout the book, Morris declares that Lincoln's presidency fomented America's imperialistic attitudes and policies. She follows with a harsh assessment of American militarism in the twentieth century. This is an interesting idea, but it doesn't fit with the rest of the book. In hindsight, I can see parts of the book that might argue for this conclusion, but such an indictment deserves better support. Instead, it comes across as a strong opinion without much corroboration. It is as if she slapped a proposal letter for a different Lincoln book on the end of this one.
Overall, this book provides a brief overview of Lincoln embellished by visits to the places he knew. While I enjoyed it, I wouldn't particularly recommend it. Though entertaining, it misses the mark. Someone less familiar with Lincoln might get lost in the author's non-chronological organization. And while Morris hits most of the highlights, there are important things left out or glossed over. At the other extreme, a Lincolnologist would find little value here. In other words, it is too scattershot for students and too frivolous for scholars. For those of us in the middle, it is a nice read but not a good history.
part history, part stream-of-consciousness, part-travelogue.......2005-01-30
Jan Morris starts off rolling her eyes at the Lincoln she received in school books in her native England. She travels Kentucky and Illinois and scoffs at the obese men and women waddling about the aisles of rural Wal-Marts and 7-11s. Is this the legacy of Lincoln's backwoods Kentucky? She notes that Lincoln's parents was the 19th century embodiment of "white trash" and that had Lincoln been born in the 20th century, it would have been in a trailer (the log cabin equivalent of today). She calls them as she sees them: her Lincoln is a backwoods man, a know-it-all, who became a big business lawyer and used the slavery issue as his ticket to the White House. She sees a gangly oddball of enormous drive who miraculously remains a "nice man" despite of his melancholia, burning ambition, dreadful wife, sneakiness, and distinction of presiding over more American deaths from war than any other President. Morris writes well, at times lyrically, and when she conjures up Lincoln receiving a visitor in the White House, or trudging up the street for yet one more Matthew Brady photograph, you are there with her. She also imagines a meeting, at the end of the war, between the "marble model" Robert E. Lee, and the "gorilla" Lincoln, a meeting that never actually occurred but is fun to think about nonetheless. She falls under the spell this long-dead man still casts and becomes an admirer, though offers the caveat that Lincoln started America on its path to constantly playing global cop - a thesis she offers as an aside but is certainly worth thinking about. The American soldier occupying Baghdad is a linear descendent of the Union solider occupying Richmond in her view. This is a short, thoughtful volume that adds another angle to the Lincoln story. You might disagree with her assertions that Lincoln was essentially an artist but this should not stop you from reading this quirky, essentially personal book.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Southern Historical Association on August 1, 2001. The length of the article is 680 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: Lincoln: A Foreigner's Quest.
Author: Peter J. Parish
Publication:
Journal of Southern History (Refereed)
Date: August 1, 2001
Publisher: Southern Historical Association
Volume: 67
Issue: 3
Page: 677
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Economic and Political Impediments to Middle East Peace: Critical Questions and Alternative Scenarios (International Political Economy Series)
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
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ASIN: 0333678990 |
Book Description
The Middle East peace process has gone through various stages of development, but has been impaired at each step by an inability to overcome economic problems in the region. This book both chronicles this process and offers critical insights into the factors that impede progress toward regional peace. The volume, with a foreword by Queen Noor of Jordan, includes contributions from thirteen specialists who hold senior positions at universities, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.
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- A Long Search For The Place Called Home
- It took him nearly a lifetime
|
Looking for My Country : Finding Myself in America
Robert MacNeil
Manufacturer: Random House of Canada, Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Do You Speak American?
ASIN: 067931248X |
Book Description
Renowned journalist and author of the international bestseller
Wordstruck, Robert MacNeil reflects on a life lived between nations, and why he finally decided to call himself an American.
Growing up in Halifax during World War II, it seemed to Robert MacNeil that nothing of significance ever happened in Canada. From his mother’s obsession with all things English (even the marmalade) to his own love for American music like Rhapsody in Blue, Canada seemed too small, too parochial for his ambitions. Moving to Britain in his mid-twenties, MacNeil was suddenly exposed to a country with thousands of years of history, extraordinary theatre and culture. But it was in America that MacNeil finally found his country -- America, a land of contrasts and possibilities.
A journalist for NBC and later for PBS on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, MacNeil was a witness to many of the current events that shaped the last century: the erection of the Berlin Wall, Kennedy’s election and assassination, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Watergate and finally September 11, 2001. As the well-respected and trenchant news reporter brought world issues to the American public, he discovered that his Canadian values and upbringing allowed him some valuable detachment and perspective. And when MacNeil returned to Nova Scotia after 40 years, he found his country of birth much changed -- multiculturalism and diversity had caused Canadian culture to blossom in his absence.
With charm and warmth, but also with a piercing eye on the century, MacNeil looks at the meanings of patriotism, nationalism and home, and explains why he finally made the decision to become an American citizen.
Excerpt from Looking for My Country
I grew up in a nation trying to build a distinctive culture in an environment that constantly threatens extinction, physical from the north, and political/cultural from the south. Each fear, in its own way, reinforces the other. The inhospitality of the northern climate induces Canadians to drift southwards and the magnet of American material prosperity and opportunity reinforces that urge. Yet the fear of being swallowed, ingested by the American leviathan, makes Canadians draw back, shrinking from the smothering embrace, to find a source of national pride and identity in overcoming the natural human fear of perishing in frozen wastes. Peter Gzowski, the late, beloved CBC radio host, once ran a contest which produced this inspired response, “As Canadian as possible under the circumstances.”
Customer Reviews:
A Long Search For The Place Called Home.......2003-10-19
To some degree, we are all products of place...even those of us who spend significant portions of our lives moving from one place to another. In this slim volume, veteran journalist Robert MacNeil recounts his growing-up years in Canada, his move to Britain in the mid-twenties for work in print and broadcast outlets, his return trip across the pond to work for NBC, and eventual teaming with Jim Lehrer for public television's evening news program. MacNeil recalls the great events of the era that he witnessed from a newsman's front seat, including the building of the Berlin Wall, JFK's assassination, and the destruction of the World Trade Center....and also shares the joys and heartaches of family life through the decades. But the dominant theme in this volume is MacNeil's long search for a place that he truly could call home. His decision to become a citizen of the United States, after more than three decades of residency here, is explained with MacNeil's usual insight, warmth and grace.--William C. Hall
It took him nearly a lifetime.......2003-10-10
Robert MacNeil struggles nearly a lifetime with the idea of becoming an American citizen, all the while enjoying the benefits of residing in Canada, Britain, and the United States. It takes a horrendous disaster, 9/11/01, to make him realize that Americans are good people, after all, and he is one of them. His book conveys a coldness about himself, perhaps characteristic of Canada, an absence of emotion about his life apart from his career, for which he holds great driving ambition. His career is truly exciting to read about, and one can see how submerged he was in it, perhaps too much, to focus on which country was right for him.
Average customer rating:
- As you know Bob...
- The Samurai Might Disown His Daughter . . .
- Wow. I mean, Wow.......
- As much a novel as a mystery
- So so
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The Samurai's Daughter
Sujata Massey
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
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Binding: Paperback
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The Pearl Diver (Massey, Sujata)
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Bride's Kimono, The
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The Floating Girl
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The Typhoon Lover
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The Flower Master
ASIN: 0060595035
Release Date: 2004-07-06 |
Book Description
A new crime–thriller full of suspense from Sujata Massey, the acclaimed author of The Bride's Kimono and The Floating Girl.
Antiques dealer Rei Shimura is in San Francisco visiting her parents and researching a personal project tracing the story of 100 years of Japanese decorative arts through her own family's experience. Her work is interrupted by the arrival of her boyfriend, lawyer Hugh Glendinning, who is involved in a class action lawsuit on behalf of aged Asian nationals forced to engage in slave labour for Japanese companies during
World War II.
These two projects suddenly intertwine when one of Hugh's clients is murdered and Rei begins to uncover unsavoury facts about her own family's actions during the war. Rei unravels the truth, finds the killer, and at the same time learns about family ties and loyalty and the universal desire to avoid blame.
Customer Reviews:
As you know Bob..........2007-02-18
This book suffers from chronic "As you know Bob" syndrome. Like a bad science fiction movie the characters have to tell each other all the backstory to fill the viewer in on what has, is and is going to happen. It makes for really stilted dialogue that makes you grit your teeth at it's ridiculousness. "As you know Bob, the alien species first landed on Earth five trillion years ago and formed a colony of lepers underground that now want to take over the world and the only way we can stop them is to play yodelling music because, as you know Bob, only yodelling can destroy the alien lepers." I mean, seriously, you know the information is relevant, but please don't lecture me.
Reading this book made me realize how much mastery it takes to unobtrusively weave backstory and historical facts into a narrative. Here it was so heavyhanded that I felt like I was being slapped in the face with Japanese history every time I turned the page, which is a sad reaction given that I only read the book because I was interested in the Japanese historical aspect of it!!!
It's too bad, I read a previous book of hers and I thought it wasn't bad. Not great, but not bad. Here, I think she was trying to meet a deadline and was rushing through it and, as you know Bob, haste makes waste.
The Samurai Might Disown His Daughter . . . .......2007-01-10
First, a confession: I am not the biggest fan of detective novels, apart from Agatha Christie for whom I have a peculiar and abiding love. Nonetheless, one of my New Years' resolutions was that I would try to read a wider variety of genres, rather than simply sticking to my usual diet of science-fiction and fantasy. With that aim in mind, when I was at the library this week and saw The Samurai's Daughter on the shelf of new books, I thought I would try it. I am interested in Japanese culture in general, and the idea of a detective series set in Japan and America intrigued me, especially as Massey has been praised for her insight into both cultures. Finally, I was curious to see how the novel would handle the sensitive and controversial topic of "comfort women" -- women from China and Korea forced to serve as prostitutes for the occupying Japanese forces -- and the call for them to be paid reparations by either the Japanese government or the national zaibatsu that used them as labour once they were no longer desirable.
That said, I did not find The Samurai's Daughter a good book. It failed to engage with the complex issues that it raised with sufficient depth or sophistication, and it lacked the necessary historical grounding that would have made it truly powerful. Apart from one or two admittedly harrowing details about the lives of comfort women and other indentured labourers, the novel felt as it could have been about any corrupt and evil corporation. It could have involved cigarettes or nuclear waste or even sexual harrassment. It felt to me as if Massey was tentative about engaging with the real horror of what had happened, and the need for the Japanese government to admit their guilt and make restitution.
Moreover, the novel was weak from a technical perspective. The characters were unconvincing. They were cardboard cutouts who were given one or two significant personality traits in an attempt to give them depth, but who failed to live and breathe and convince me of their reality. Similarly, the prose was stilted and clumsy. Massey's descriptions were flat and banal, and almost inevitably involve food and eating for some reason. I frequently felt like I was reading a menu, rather than a novel. She also has a tendency to go into long, didactic explanations about Japanese culture. Many passages are simply information dumps that would not be out of place in a guide book. The weakness of the writing was most evident when it came to the character's dialogue. I understand that Massey was trying to capture the different flavours of Scottish English, American English, and Japanese, but she does not strike me as having a good ear for dialogue and all of the dialects came off as equally unconvincing.
Nonetheless, I have since heard that The Samurai's Daughter is the weakest novel in the series, and I shall certainly try at least one of the others before consigning them all to the category of "good idea but poor execution."
Wow. I mean, Wow..............2005-09-23
..... this book...... SUCKED!
I am a voracious reader of mysteries, especially mysteries that involve other cultures. Wanna read a good mystery? Read Bangkok 8 by John Burdett, read anything by Peter Lovesey or Henning Mankell, definitely read Out by Natsuo Kirino, read anything by John Sanford.
Granted, I didn't get past page 50, but this felt like it was written by a 17-year-old girl just trying her hand at writing..... Everything was "telling" instead of "showing". In no way was the reader brought into the story and the people. The language was stilted and the characters were cardboard cutouts. I actually found myself guffawing at the inanities that abounded. I'm a San Franciscian and am embarrassed that it took place (or the part I read took place) in my wonderful city.
Please, there are so many other good mysteries to read. I would bypass this one completely. I don't normally write reviews of books --- but I had to for this one, because I feel so strongly about it. Please, please, please read the ones I suggested above if you really care about interesting, fascinating mysteries.
As much a novel as a mystery.......2005-09-06
This book is a bit slower-paced than some of Massey's other works (and I've read all of the series). The subject matter took center stage in this book, and probably rightly so, since the subject was Japanese war crimes during WWII, particularly the issue of reparations for the so-called "comfort women," very young woman of other Asian countries, who were forced to "service" Japanese soldiers or other slave labor. It's all very well to be enthusiastic about many aspects of Japanese culture, but I'm sure many readers wrote to Massey to point out the dark side of Japanese history, one which the Japanese powers-that-be have refused to accept responsibility for and tried to conceal (more so than the Germans have, for example) from their own people. If you're really gung ho about Japan, this dose of reality may make you squirm, but I think it's a point well worth making.
The book begins at Christmas time, with Rei Shimura visiting her San Francisco parents with her boyfriend Hugh. He is working on a class-action case on behalf of survivors of Japanese war crimes who will be suing the major Japanese corporations who benefited from these crimes, particularly slave labor. He takes Rei along in a visit to his chief complainant, an elderly Filipino woman living in poverty in San Francisco. Not long afterwards, a murder occurs, although it appears to the police to be a natural death. Rei doesn't think so, and after she returns to Japan for the New Year's festivities, she continues to investigate. Hugh is also in Japan with her, and Rei becomes convinced that someone on the inside -- either of Hugh's group or the megacorporations they're suing -- is the killer.
Since Rei is also researching her family history (Japanese side of the family), there are digressions into the events leading up to the Second World War which are interesting to me but slowed down the pace of the book.
Still, this book is well worth reading, even for those who like their mysteries with more mystery and less digression.
So so.......2005-08-21
She has lost some of the charm... needs to work on more depth into the figures and also into the story... sorry
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- Graphic SF Reader
- The beginning of an Era...
- Daughters Of The Dragon
- Daughters Of The Dragon/Samurai Bullets
- Daughters of the Dragon
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Daughters Of The Dragon: Samurai Bullets TPB (Daughters of the Dragon)
Justin Gray ,
Jimmy Palmiotti , and
Khari Evans
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
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Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall
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Captain America Vol. 3: Red Menace, Book One
ASIN: 0785119442 |
Book Description
Bounty hunters Misty Knight and Colleen Wing star in this sexy action thriller, the latest project from writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti - an entertaining mix of gritty action, biting comedy and sharp visuals provided by talented newcomer Khari Evans. When four less-than "super" villains - Whirlwind, 8-Ball, Humbug and Freezer Burn - skip bail and team up to rob the penthouse apartment of a wealthy publisher, they get more than they bargained for. Misty Knight and Colleen Wing are on the case. Unfortunately, so are a host of villains and assassins looking to recover what was stolen. Collects Daughters of the Dragon #1-6.
Customer Reviews:
Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03
Gray and Palmiotti do a fine job here, as they bring back, and, of course, sex up a bit Misty Knight and Colleen Wing.
Some 70s homage action, and some pretty low rent superheroes and villains combine to make this a whole lot of fun.
A bit of a light spot in all that 90s scowling Civil War stuff.
The beginning of an Era..........2007-06-28
In 1986, Marvel published a mini series called "Longshot" and introduced fandom to the incredible talents of a soon-to-be superstar artist, named Arthur Adams.
In 2006, history is repeated in "Daughters of the Dragon: Samurai Bullets" as Marvel showcases the incredible talent of artist Khari Evans, who is quickly becoming a fan favorite artist due to his devastatingly awesome drawing style and gorgeous ladies.
Don't miss out on this 5 star TPB!
Daughters Of The Dragon.......2007-01-05
glad to see it collected...and for all of you who enjoy these characters. hey, i think its fun. lol
JIMMY
Daughters Of The Dragon/Samurai Bullets.......2006-12-15
In comic books, limbo doesn't exist anymore. Every character you can think of has been brought back. You don't have to know Spider-Man or The Avengers or The X-Men to be allowed in the Marvel Universe anymore. You just have to come back Cool. Like Misty Knight and Colleen Wing.
I had only recently probed the Daughters' origins as collected in The Essential Iron Fist, when the DOD mini-series--now collected as this Samurai Bullets graphic novel--came into existence. No longer are the duo in the capable hands of people like Chris Claremont, John Byrne, or the incomparable Marshall Rogers (hey, sue me, Rogers redesigned the coolest dude ever--Deadshot...but I digress into a Villains United review or a Batman: Strange Apparitions review. Sorry). But if Claremont has lost touch with Knight & Wing, that's okay, we've got Gray, Palmiotti and Evans making us say "move over, Elektra". And except for a few nitpicks, Samurai Bullets is terrific stuff.
Contrary to other opinion, no one steals the show--not from these ladies. Certainly not Freezer Burn (be serious!). Colleen is still as tough as ever; she used to slash up Angar, now she slashes up Razorfist (though even thirty years later the actual slash is still artfully concealed, out of concern for the faint-of-heart, I guess). Misty is still touchy about her missing arm (compensating, apparently, with Big Hair, which, ironically, was not present in the seventies!), and she still has a thing for Iron Fist, whose appearance in this story could have been dropped. But if Iron Fist is wasted here, shorter drop-bys by the likes of the Punisher, Tony Stark, Orka, the Rhino, the Trapster--and most especially the Mole Man, who gets the best line of the book--really make this an unpredictable romp. Where else do you see the Hand kill a cockroach, or the Jester keep his yap shut and just brawl, I ask you!
Hmmm. If there is a show stealer, she's Ricadonna, scheming, Daughter-smacking villainess extraordinaire. Hmmm, I'm thinking Rosamund Pike as Ricadonna for the film, so she can be breakout star of the year all over again. Speaking of breakout stars, Khari Evans's art is eye-snatching all through, but some of the fight scenes do appear a bit wonky or awkward, with combatants in motion (ie. flying through the air) in artful ways that don't always deliver a clear pay-off (ie. let's see more of someone actually klunking someone else, rather than just the acrobatics). Motion not always fluid enough, IMO. But that's okay!--Everyone looks great, especially the ladies!
Total fun, without Spider-Man. Though his name gets dropped a lot. So does Blizzard's, once, in a backhanded kind of way. (No more Freezer Burn, PLEASE!--give me back Blizzard. I liked Blizzard.)
Daughters of the Dragon.......2006-11-17
What a great job Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti have done in updating the near forgotten Marvel characters Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. It's a rip-roaring adventure with plenty of grit, action and adventure, all with tongue firmly placed in cheek. It's fun to see Misty and Colleen go up against an established Marvel villain such as Rhino, but Gray and Palmiotti really ratchet up the fun with the main villains Whirlwind, 8-Ball, Humbug and Freezer Burn. They practically steal the show.
For those who can remember and enjoy the great 70s exploitation films such as FOXXY BROWN and SWITCHBLADE SISTERS, you'll get a real kick out of this. Similar to what they did with JONAH HEX, Gray and Palmiotti have revived great characters from the past in a truly grand manner.
The art by Khari Evans is excellent and Christina Strain's colors are outstanding.
This book has something for everyone, and if you liked DANGER GIRL, you'll love this.
Product Description
Mrs. Kiyooka's story of her own experience in those difficult years after the war when she found herself suddenly stripped of property and her husband ill. She took a job in a billet for the Prosecutors of the International War Tribunal.
Average customer rating:
- A Daughter of the Samurai
- A Charming and Informative Book!
- A Charming and Informative Book!
- A glimpse into the cultural foundation of Japan
- Charming book, beautifully written, I wanted it to continue.
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A Daughter of the Samurai
Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto
Manufacturer: Tuttle Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0804816557 |
Book Description
A Daughter of the Samurai tells the true story of a samurai's daughter, brought up in the strict traditions of feudal Japan, who was sent to America to meet her future husband. An engrossing, haunting tale that gives us insight into an almost forgotten age.
Madam Sugimoto was born in Japan, not in the sunny southern part of the country which has given it the name of "The Land of Flowers," but in the northern province of Echigo which is bleak and cold and so cut off from the rest of the country by mountains that in times past it had been considered fit only for political prisoners or exiles.
Her father was a Samurai, with high ideals of what was expected of a Samurai's family. His hopes were concentrated in his son until the son refused to marry the girl for whom he was destined and ran off to America. After that all that was meant for him fell to the lot of the little wavy-haired Etsu who writes here so delightfully of the things that happened in their childhood days in far-away Japan.
Customer Reviews:
A Daughter of the Samurai.......2003-09-22
A great book if you are interested in old Japanese ways. Well written, but not hard to understand. Would recomend to anyone
A Charming and Informative Book!.......2001-03-15
Unfortunately, out of print - but seek it out any way you can. A fascinating, wonderful, and truthful account of the life of a daughter of the Samurai class, which had existed for centuries, just at the time when it was beginning its decline. Much of what you read in this book will explain the behaviour of modern-day Japanese. As an American living in Japan, that has proved invaluable. The book is well-written, focused, imaginative, whimsical, and resourceful, just like the author herself. If you can get your hands on a copy, be prepared to fall in love with Etsu-bo!
A Charming and Informative Book!.......2001-03-15
Unfortunately, out of print - but seek it out any way you can. A fascinating, wonderful, and truthful account of the life of a daughter of the Samurai class, which had existed for centuries, just at the time when it was beginning its decline. Much of what you read in this book will explain the behaviour of modern-day Japanese. As an American living in Japan, that has proved invaluable. The book is well-written, focused, imaginative, whimsical, and resourceful, just like the author herself. If you can get your hands on a copy, be prepared to fall in love with Etsu-bo!
A glimpse into the cultural foundation of Japan.......2000-05-02
I was completely charmed by this beautifully written autobiography! I couldn't put it down! Not only did I learn some rich social history of Japan, but I was able to see into the Japanese heart for the first time. Although many of the customs mentioned are now outdated, they show the foundation that shaped and molded the Japanese people of today. I can now say that I have a much clearer understanding of the Japanese. Apart from what I learned of Japan, I also got a glimpse of America and how we haven't changed much over the years in our attitudes. I saw into the heart of the immigrant and the adjustments and readjustments they must face. I was awed and inspired!
Charming book, beautifully written, I wanted it to continue........1998-12-07
I didn't want this book to finish so soon. I loved the style and became involved in the characters. I want to know how her children re-adjusted back to life in the USA - how did she manage as a single Japanese mother alone in the USA.
Nothing tumultuos happens, no sex, no violence - just a peek into the not-so distant past!
Especially interesting for me since I am a Brit who has lived in the USA and now living in Japan.
Can anyone reccomend more books of this calibre?
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