Bank and Brokerage Back Office Procedures and Settlement: A Guide for Managers and Their Advisors

Book Description

Financial institutions worldwide grapple with the problems of proper legal recording of customer transactions--whether a simple stock trade or conversion of currencies. This book shows banks, brokerages, mutual fund companies, and a host of financial institutions how to improve and enhance operations management to ensure careful and accurate back office activity and transactions settlement.

Customer Reviews:

Very High-Level Overview.......2001-12-13

If you are a Treasury Back Office professional...don't buy this book. It is a broad and very high-level overview.
Be aware that you can have precisely the same book, from the same author with a different name: Back Office & Beyond.

Good High Level Overview.......2001-02-05

If you're interested in obtaining a high-level overview of the subject, this is an excellent book.

back office procedures and settlements, by mervyn king.......2000-04-19

Not many book titles exist in the area of back officeprocedures and settlements, so after seeing the title of this new book and its review ... , I decided to order it.....now I wish I had spent my [$] another way. The subject referred to in the title covers less than half the book's text. The other half of the book regurgitates the same old "risk management best practices", well known examples of risk oversight failures and Basle recommendations issued with respect to the regulation of market risk (issued in 1996, which came into effect in 1998). There are far better books written on the subject of risk management and the author should have stuck to describing what the title of the book suggest: back office procedures and settlements. In this area, the he book would have benefitted from some updating to reflect "state of the art" technologies. The "best practices" for managing operational rsk in the area of foreign exchange settlements are far better described in a paper on this subject by the NY Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (1996)and can be downloaded for free from (for example) the JP Morgan website.

Average customer rating:

Much needed info inside

great companion to Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business

An easy-to-use "must-have" for small business owners and managers everywhere

Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business (Book with CD-Rom)
Fred S. Steingold
Manufacturer: NOLO
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

The Small Business Start-Up Kit

Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business

Legal Guide For Starting & Running A Small Business (8th Edition)

Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business, Seventh Edition

Tax Savvy for Small Business: Year-round Tax Strategies to Save You Money

ASIN: 1413304117

Book Description

The legal documents you need on any given day!

Like most small business owners, you probably can't afford to hire a lawyer to draft the legal documents you need in the course of your day-to-day business.

Now there's an affordable solution -- Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business, which provides you with over 60 legal forms and documents and all the step-by-step instructions you need to use them.

This collection of essential legal and business documents helps you:

create contracts to buy, sell, rent or store goods hire employees and consultants protect your trade secrets create noncompete agreements prepare an LLC operating agreement borrow and lend money buy a business lease commercial space prepare corporate bylaws record minutes of meetings buy real estate and much more

The 4th edition is updated with the latest legal documents, contracts and other forms. Includes all the information and instructions you need to complete and use your forms effectively.

List of Forms

Amending Contracts Attachment to Contract Amendment to Contract

Forming Your Business Checklist for Starting a Small Business Partnership Agreement Pre-Incorporation Agreement Corporate Bylaws Stock Agreement LLC Operating Agreement for Single-Member LLC

Running Your Corporation Notice of Shareholders' Meeting Notice of Directors' Meeting Shareholder Proxy Minutes of Shareholders' Meeting Minutes of Directors' Meeting Minutes of Telephone Conference Directors' Meeting Consent of Shareholders Consent of Directors

Borrowing Money Promissory Note (Amortized Monthly Payments) Promissory Note (Balloon Payment) Promissory Note (Interest-Only Payments) Promissory Note (Lump Sum Payment) Security Agreement for Borrowing Money

Buying or Selling a Business Contract for Purchase of Assets From an Unincorported Business Contract for Purchase of Assets From a Corporation Corporate Resolution Authorizing Sale of Assets Contract for Purchase of Corporate Stock Bill of Sale for Business Assets Seller's Affidavit: No Creditors Security Agreement for Buying Business Assets

Leasing Space Gross Lease Net Lease for Entire Building Net Lease for Part of Building Sublease Landlord's Consent to Sublease Assignment of Lease Notice of Exercise of Lease Option Extension of Lease Amendment to Lease Attachment to Lease

Purchasing and Improving Real Estate Contract to Purchase Building Option to Purchase Building Contract to Purchase Vacant Land Option to Purchase Vacant Land Attachment to Real Estate Purchase Contract Amendment to Real Estate Purchase Contract Removal of Contingency Extension of Time to Remove Contingencies Exercise of Option to Purchase Real Estate

Buying, Selling, Manufacturing, Renting, and Storing Goods Sales Contract (Lump-Sum Payment) Sales Contract (Installment Payments) Bill of Sale for Goods Security Agreement for Buying Goods Contract for Manufacture of Goods Equipment Rental Contract Storage Contract Consignment Contract

Hiring Employees and Independent Contractors Employment Application Authorization to Release Information Offer of Employment Confidentiality Agreement Covenant Not to Compete Contract With Independent Contractor

IRS and Government Forms IRS Form SS-4: Application for Employer Identification Number IRS Form W-4: Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate IRS Form 2553: Election by a Small Business Corporation IRS Form 940-EZ USCIS Form I-9: Employment Eligibility Verification

The following forms are on the CD-ROM, but not included in the book: Disputes Resolution Clause Names Formats Signature Formats

Download Description

"Like most small business owners, you probably can't afford to hire a lawyer to draft the legal documents you need in the course of your day-to-day business. Now there's an affordable solution -- Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business. This book with CD-ROM provides you with over 60 legal forms and documents and all the step-by-step instructions you need to use them. The forms include: 7 employment forms and contracts 5 forms to start your business 8 corporate meetings forms 4 promissory notes 3 security agreements 10 commercial lease forms 10 forms to purchase and improve real estate 8 forms to buy, sell and store goods and much more All forms available on CD-ROM. "

Customer Reviews:

Much needed info inside.......2007-08-23

This book really helped us with all the forms that we needed to provide to the federal govt. & accountant.

great companion to Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business.......2006-10-28

After I got Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business I found about this Legal Forms title...made my day..This book is loaded with FORMS !

An easy-to-use "must-have" for small business owners and managers everywhere.......2006-03-03

Now in a newly updated and expanded third edition, Legal Forms For Starting & Running A Small Business is a comprehensive resource packed with forms for getting a business off the ground, borrowing money, hiring employees, creating contracts, buying or leasing space, and much more. Legal Forms For Starting & Running A Small Business balances its wealth of reproducible documents with straightforward "how-to" instructions and advice, a new checklist to help first-timers, and an accompanying Windows and Mac compatible CD-ROM makes printing out the forms a breeze. An easy-to-use "must-have" for small business owners and managers everywhere. Also very strongly recommended are Nolo's two companion titles in their simply outstanding business instructional guide series: The Small Business Start-Up Kit: 3rd Edition (1413300405, $24.99) and Home Business Tax Deductions: Keep What You Earn: 2nd Edition Updated for 2006 (1413303749, $34.99).

Legal Forms for Starting and Running a Small Business (2nd ed.)

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Legal Forms for Starting and Running a Small Business (2nd ed.)
Fred S. Steingold
Manufacturer: Nolo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 087337634X

Amazon.com

Attorney Fred S. Steingold's Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business: Volume 2, Legal Forms, is a comprehensive self-help manual in the useful tradition of its predecessors from Nolo Press. In support of the cardinal rule for all corporate agreements--get it in writing--the book and an accompanying PC disk contain contract blanks for forming and operating a business, borrowing money, leasing space, buying and selling goods, hiring employees, and more. Helpful tips, valuable cautions, worthwhile suggestions, and references for additional information are also sprinkled throughout the book as appropriate.

Book Description

Like most small business owners, you probably can't afford to hire a lawyer to draft the legal documents you need in the course of your day-to-day business.

Now there's an affordable solution -- Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business. This book with CD-ROM provides you with over 60 legal forms and documents and all the step-by-step instructions you need to use them.

Average customer rating:
Nolo Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business [With Cd-rom]
Steingold
Manufacturer: NOLO
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000Q5FV5I

Average customer rating:
Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business (And CD Rom)
Attorney Fred S. Steingold
Manufacturer: The Company Corp.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TUM1EY

Customer Reviews:

truly captures the era and times. makes me very proud.......1999-10-27

truly captures the era and times. Makes me realize all that my forefathers' sacrificed and why we should fight to preserve the confederate flag so that they are not forgotten. Our heritage has been swept aside by so many who want to rewrite history, and we should not let that happen. This book is many true stories of a brave southern army who fought like no other before or since. southern army who fought against all odds.

Very emotional personal experiences.......1999-10-20

I found this book to be the most informative about what it meant to be a cavalryman. The stories tell of hardship, devotion to their country, and gives a sense of being there where the action takes place.

The Gray Riders: Stories from the Confederate Cavalry

Average customer rating:

The Gray Riders: Stories from the Confederate Cavalry
Lee; Ed. JACOBS
Manufacturer: Burd Street Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0739403044

Book Description

The aim of this book is to understand why, despite an increase in average income in Mexico during the 1984-92 period of economic liberalization, the conditions of the poor deteriorated and income inequality increased. To explain why some individuals were able to take advantage of the opportunities that economic liberalization was generating, while others were prevented from doing so, Miguel Székely suggests a methodology to extract additional information from poverty and inequality measures, and to test the main theories of household saving behavior.

Book Description

Merrill Reese has lived his dream. From the time he could talk he wanted to broadcast Philadelphia Eagles football games and that's exactly what he has done for more than 20 years. In his autobiography, Reese tells of his beginnings as a radio and television child actor, his early struggles in the radio business, and how he went from a small station in Pottstown to the familiar and popular Voice of the Eagles.

Customer Reviews:

Worth A Look.......2006-12-01

It's Gooooood! tells us the story of Eagles broadcaster Merrill Reese, from his days as a very reluctant child actor through the 1997 Philadelphia Eagles season. We learn about his upbringing, his college days at Temple, and his humble beginnings in the broadcasting industry. At one point he was told his voice wasn't "big-time" enough to be hired at a radio station in suburban Coatesville, PA. Later, he was hired to broadcast a high school football game because the only other alternative was dead air.

Through it all, he persevered, and eventually became "The Voice of the Eagles." Of course, it happened in the worst way possible, as he was hired as a temporary replacement for Charlie Swift, who committed suicide late in the 1977 season. Reese was not guaranteed the job for the 1978 season, and other candidates, including legendary Philly sportscaster Al Meltzer, were considered. Reese would be re-hired, and he has not missed a single game since.

It's Gooooood! is very fast paced and extremely enjoyable. The chapters on Buddy Ryan and his colorful Eagles teams from 1986-90 are often hilarious. The chapter on Randall Cunningham (entitled "Starship 12," a nickname given to Cunningham by Stan Walters, Reese's longtime partner in the booth) is quite fascinating. While Reese has often been accused of being a homer, he makes his dislike for Rich Kotite and Ricky Watters known in no uncertain terms. Also memorable are his Top Ten (and Bottom Ten) Eagles plays and calls from 1977-97.

Keep in mind, this book was written in 1998. Some parts have become a little dated. There's an entire chapter ("My Guy, My Pick") dedicated to Bobby Hoying being the Eagles' "Quarterback of the Future," and Reese tells us how he talked Hoying up to the team's management while the quarterback was at Ohio State. While Reese stops short of taking credit for the Eagles drafting Hoying, he suggests he may have been somewhat influential in the pick. This was the only really weak part of the book for me. Even though I also believed Hoying was going to develop into a star quarterback, the chapter comes across as self-congratulatory. A minor annoyance is that the book did not seem to be proofread very well, as it contains its share of grammatical mistakes.

During the Eagles' 2004 run to Super Bowl XXXIX, there had been rumors of Reese releasing a second edition of the book, but so far they remain just rumors. For diehard Eagles fans or fans of Merrill Reese, It's Gooooood! is absolutely worth a look .

ITS BAD!!!!.......2001-08-03

This book was not what I expected. Im a huge eagles fan and had liked reese but this book changed my mind. The funniest chaptor is the one titled "my guy, my pick". Reese tells us all how great a certain failed player is and how his influence picked him for the eagles. Reese also talks about how the players respect him when in fact my brother was a memeber of the team in the late 80's to mid 90's and constantly said that reese was a running "joke" in the locker room, he was known as the mosqiuto for being an annoying pest. Buyer beware.

Cut-and-dried typical homer broadcaster.......1999-07-31

Merril Reese's book is called "It's Good." Unfortunately, in my opinion,it's not. I found this to be the typical, cut-and-dried biography of a home-town broadcater whose life is totally defined by one dimension. He's the voice of the home team. That's pretty much it. Unless you eat, sleep and live Eagles football -- and this a 3-13 team now that creates yawns instead of yeahs, I would pass. (The Eagles wish they had a quarterback who could pass.) I guess Merrill won't be writing a sequel anytime soon.

For all with a passion for the Eagles or sports broadcasting.......1998-11-11

Merrill Reese is an icon in Philadelphia. He has always come across as a passionate fan and a dedicated, prepared sports broadcaster. His masterful radio broadcasts of Eagle games help his listeners watch the game in their minds. With this book, Reese goes far beyong the games, allowing the reader to view his team and sports broadcasting through his eyes, and what a view! Everyone loves to get the skinny on things, and Reese doesn't disappoint. The book is a very quick read for not only Philadelphia Eagle fans, but for those looking to get into sports broadcasting as well. In my opinion, it should be required reading for all those former athletes turned broadcasters, yet have little knowledge of how to communicate. Maybe they would come to understand Reese's passion, professionalism, and command of the English language, and why Philadelphia Eagle fans turn down the volume on the television and turn up Merril Reese on the radio.

Merrill tells us the lowdown!.......1998-10-23

I may be biased, since I've admired Merrill for a long time and since I am a huge Eagles fan as well as a fellow radio broadcaster, but I found this book to be very entertaining and interesting. Merrill gives us a look at what was going on behind some of those Eagles teams from the late 70's until now. His insight is unsurpassed when it comes to the Birds. On top of that, he gives us a look into his life and his experiences behind the microphone as well as his climb up the ladder of broadcasting. If you're looking to get into the broadcasting field, this book just might give you the pointers and inspiration you need. If you're a diehard Eagles fan, then this is a must have. Highly enjoyable.

Book Description

Aleksandr Nikitenko, born into Russian serfdom in 1804, almost miraculously gained his freedom as a young man, thirty-seven years before serfdom was abolished in the Russian Empire. His compelling autobiography -- here translated into English for the first time -- is one of the very few ever written by a former serf. Nikitenko describes the tragedy, despair, unpredictability, and astounding luck of his youth, bringing to life as never before the experience of a serf in nineteenth-century Russia.

Customer Reviews:

Up From Serfdom: My Childhood and Youth in Russia, 1804-1824 by Aleksandr Nikitenko [Paperback.......2005-09-18

good

A fascinating look at life in early 19th century Russia.......2001-10-30

What a fun book! The author tells of his life as a serf in the Imperial Russia of the early 19th Century. Admittedly, his was not the life of a typical serf--he was well educated, eventually being emancipated by his "owner" (and the description of this process is in itself fascinating). The great part of this book is in the details--the descriptions of the people, places, and interactions of his childhood; the reader cannot help sympathizing with his poor father who tries over and over again to make the best of his situation, yet is trapped by his social standing. This work is a great addition to the current understanding of life in Russia during the period.

UP FROM SERFDOM. My Childhood and Youth in Russia 1804-1824. Translated by Helen Saltz Jacobson. Foreword by Peter Kolchin

Average customer rating:

UP FROM SERFDOM. My Childhood and Youth in Russia 1804-1824. Translated by Helen Saltz Jacobson. Foreword by Peter Kolchin
Aleksandr Nikitenko
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORYXAW

Book Description

For fifty years David Attenborough has entertained, educated, and generally enchanted millions worldwide with his pursuit of the secrets of life in its many guises. For such groundbreaking television series as Life on Earth, The Private Life of Plants, and The Life of Birds, he has traveled to the ends of the earth to give viewers their first (and often only) close look at some of nature's wonders--from the great wildebeest migration to the blooming of desert cacti. Now Attenborough invites readers to travel with him once more, as he reflects on a life at least as interesting as any he's managed to capture on camera.

Life on Air begins when, at twenty-four, Attenborough throws over what looks to be a staid future as a "gentleman publisher" for an uncertain position in the BBC's fledgling television service. An adventure in itself (with primitive equipment and unpredictable personalities), broadcasting work involves the Cambridge-educated naturalist in hilarious attempts to improve the upstart Talks Department. Then the discovery of a coelacanth fish off the Comoro Islands offers him his first chance as a producer, and his career introducing wildlife to the public takes off in earnest.

From his first expedition--a junket to Sierra Leone to find the elusive Bald-headed Rock Crow--to his most recent, Attenborough conducts readers on a life journey as instructive as it is enthralling. Rich with insights into nature and behind-the-scenes glimpses into broadcasting history, it is also filled with adventure and humor. Attenborough's storytelling powers are legendary, and they don't fail him as he recounts how he came to stand in rat-infested caves in Venezuela, confront wrestling crocodiles, abseil down a rainforest tree in his late sixties, and wake with the lioness Elsa sitting on his chest. His story ranges from British Guinea to the Zambesi, from Borneo to Madagascar, from the darkest depths of caves to the canopies of the loftiest trees. With quiet erudition, searching curiosity, and generous wit, the world's best-known and most beloved naturalist documents a life that reflects his changing time and our natural world as well as his own irrepressible character.

Customer Reviews:

Attenborough at his best - insightful & entertaining.......2003-07-09

I love this book. As a kid I used to sit glued to the TV watching Attenborough's programmes, such as the series 'Life on Earth' and countless others, bringing exotic places and the wonders of natural world into our living rooms. This book is an autobiography focused on David Attenborough's long and unparalleled BBC career starting from the birth of the TV medium in the 40's and 50's up untill today. What shines through in this book is vintage Attenborough: A true passion for his vocation, and an indefatigable desire to bring the most fascinating aspects of natural history to our TV screens. In a time when a lot of TV is hopelessly pre-digested and bland, Attenborough stands out more than ever, and so does this book. Read it an enjoy.

Simply a great book by a fascinating person.......2002-12-20

I have watched David Attenboroughs TV documentaries for years and have consistently found them to be unrivalled in their ability to bring the subject matter to life in a way no other presenter can. This book maintains that tradition. As you read the book you travel with the author and what a trip it is. He is an immensely likable person who has led a fascinating life. The book is also well constructed, highly readable and offers a host of insights into both the author and the natural world. I would strongly recommend it to you.

The Talking Cure: A Memoir of Life on Air

Average customer rating:

A HEROIC AND MOVING STORY!
Tripping the Life Fantastic!
A wonderful, ferociously entertaining read
Talking Cure
The Talking Cure

The Talking Cure: A Memoir of Life on Air
Mike Feder
Manufacturer: Seven Stories Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1583220410

Book Description

New York radio show host Mike Feder spent his childhood years in Queens telling stories to his shut-in mentally ill mother so that she could vicariously experience the world outside. Later Feder took his stories to the airwaves. The Talking Cure recounts his ridiculous jobs, first failed marriage, and reluctant fatherhood. Whether through his description of growing up next to a cemetery or of checking himself into a mental hospital, Feder writes of his life with painful objectivity. In scene after scene, vivid descriptions of his sessions with a string of psychiatrists, his troubled search for love, and his haunted relationships with his mother and father reveal a bizarre balancing act between hilarity and seriousness, conventionality and strangeness.

Customer Reviews:

A HEROIC AND MOVING STORY!.......2001-08-19

This is an awesome book, harrowing, but at the same time often funny -- hilariously funny, in fact, for Mike Feder is a master storyteller and, as this book demonstrates, a brilliant writer too. His material, the subject of his riveting monologues on stage and on the radio, is the story of his exhausting life - the nightmare childhood, the mental hospital incarcerations, the jobs that stand out as cameos of relief, the failed marriages, a brief, dizzying flirtation with fame - and, ultimately, his surviving the crash back to reality. The key to his miseries was his psychotic mother who, early on, is destroyed by a psychiatric system that doesn't really know what to do with the unhappy creatures dumped on it. Shock treatments seemed a shortcut back to normalcy, so they burned out her brain. Mike could never escape the little boy who grew up with that crazy woman, obsessively talking about it, not only to numerous psychiatrists but, especially, on his weekly radio program on WBAI-FM, when he pours his heart out to his listening audience, many of them, like me, who also had a history of mental problems and long years of psychotherapy. That is his true "talking cure." The climax of the book is his brief, fantastic success as a stage performer when the New York Times gave him a rave review for his one-man show, bringing Hollywood offers, and dreams of wealth and glory - all of which came to nothing and brought on his worst bout of depression -- that he only came out of when he met a truly nurturing woman at last. With no obvious marketable talent except his gift for talk, and living in a world where you are expected to be a winner, or at least support your children -- all the parents of his childrens' friends were moneyed professionals -- he has never sold out, kept true to himself, and chosen his own difficult path. It is that that his listeners love him for. And it illuminates every page of this book.

Tripping the Life Fantastic!.......2001-07-30

"Talking Cure" swept me in to Feder's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and the ride was fascinating! After the initial gut wrenching chapters introducing his family and their view of the world, Feder enthralled me with his tales of the innards of alternative radio and the fawning over people in Hollywood and television land. The book reads like a novel with a the characters unfolding at a rapid rate. Sometimes there is a slight disconnect or unevenness between chapters; I want to know more but am moved forward to another place by the author. I liked the presentation, the often black humor and the candid tone especially about how difficult it can be to find competent psychological help. For those who feel any shame or privacy about their families or their own innermost thoughts and feelings, Feder provides a path through the looking glass that many can follow. I am sure that the basic argument of talking in therapy and/or drugs in therapy will continue to be debated as a result of this book. I recommend it highly!

A wonderful, ferociously entertaining read.......2001-07-16

I'm not usually a fan of memoirs, but I read this in two sittings. Feder's compulsive honesty is fascinating. He doesn't spare anyone, least of all himself, as he tells the story of his failures as a husband (twice), father, and Hollywood schmoozer, and his success at one thing: talking. (Note to Mr. Feder: you are also an excellent writer.) Anyone who has worried that their dark side is too frightening to share with others will relate to this wonderful book. Also, those with bipolar disorder will find much to identify with. I was truly sorry when the book ended! I wanted more!

Talking Cure.......2001-07-07

Great book. Feder write's with painful truthfulness. It's funny and it's poignant. I reccomend it.

The Talking Cure.......2001-07-04

A great read. My usual complaint about memoir writing is that the author usually vents his/her sorrowful experience and solves everything with a neat literary ribbon. Feder doesn't do that. The honesty with which he tells his story includes the consequences of his fraility and, at times, self-involvement. Just when you think a situation is heading in one direction, life throws Feder a curve; something with which we all can relate. He writes about his mentally ill mother and difficult father without playing the blame game. Pick this one up, particularly if you're tired of big baby memoirs.

Book Description

In early 1942, the U.S. government imprisoned, without charge or trial, 120,000 American citizens and legal resident aliens. Their crime? They were of Japanese ancestry and were living on the West Coast.

The Cross on Castle Rock chronicles the World War II years which author George Nakagawa spent in American prison camps. In spite of the poor food, stark conditions, and restrictions on freedom, communal living and freedom from chores resulted in a fun-filled three years for the young son of a poor immigrant farmer. Endless days of school, sports, play, and mischief-making with adolescent buddies who lived together like members of the same family are the source of many of Nakagawa's best childhood memories.

There was also a dark side. Widespread racism in America and instances of gross incompetence on the part of inexperienced camp administrators resulted in mistrust and misunderstanding. This led to ruined lives and the irreparable fracturing of the closely-knit Japanese American community, leaving scars that have never healed. There was also needless pain and suffering when the camps were suddenly closed and some of the last residents of the camps, mostly the elderly, were evicted, leaving them homeless, jobless, and virtually penniless.

Customer Reviews:

A Must Read for Anyone Interested in American History.......2004-05-06

This fascinating first-hand account describes life as a young Japanese-American boy imprisoned during WWII in the American internment camps. This book covers Mr. Nakagawa's experiences of May 1942 through October 1945--from the first day of his relocation to the last day of his imprisonment at age thirteen. Mr. Nakagawa writes about each camp where he and his family were relocated: Pinedale, Tule Lake, and Heart Mountain. (The camp names alone are strangely surreal and somehow revealing of this sad era in American history.)

Yet while the period itself is a sad one, Mr. Nakagawa's story, as told through the eyes of his childhood self, remains uplifting. The writing is impeccably clear and non-filtered; unlike many memoirs that lose themselves in nonessential meanderings, The Cross on Castle Rock focuses on the matter at hand--how a child copes in dire straits. Mr. Nakagawa is too graceful to dwell on the darker matters, instead focusing on the daily routines of camp life. This is what makes the story so heart wrenching.

The detail used to describe games he and other children played in the camps is amazing. "The Ring Game" and "Poison" are two marble games explained so well one can't help but feel you're there watching the children play.

The Cross on Castle Rock, however, is not all child's play. Mr. Nakagawa touches on the difficulties of camp life--family separations, property loss, and conflicts within the Japanese American Citizen's League (JACL). Sufficient background on Pearl Harbor, Executive Order 9066, President Roosevelt, General DeWitt, No-No Boys, agricultural competition in California, and the general climate of that period are provided so that we have the historical perspective to understand the significance of young George's experiences.

In short, this book is highly recommended for those studying American history, Asian-American history, the internment camps of Japanese Americans, or autobiographies in general. Readers are guaranteed an enriching experience that, like I, will want to share with others.

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