Hardcase (Joe Kurtz Novels)

Hardcase (Joe Kurtz Novels)
Average customer rating:

Best in genre since Travis Magee

From the chameleon writer of many genres, a good detective novel

Kurtz is the man.

On your mark, get set, kill.

Really Cartoonish Characterization Hurts this Novel

Hardcase (Joe Kurtz Novels)
Dan Simmons
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery & Thrillers | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Hard Freeze (A Joe Kurtz Novel)

Hard as Nails (A Joe Kurtz Novel)

Darwin's Blade: A Novel of Suspense

A Winter Haunting

Summer of Night (Aspect Fantasy)

ASIN: 0312980167

Amazon.com

Penzler Pick, July 2001: Dan Simmons is not an author who writes the same book twice. He doesn't even come close. Since switching from fantasy/horror to mystery, Simmons has written Crook Factory, set in Cuba and starring Ernest Hemingway, and Darwin's Blade, featuring a genius insurance claims investigator who only has to look at a demolished vehicle to be able to know exactly what led up to the crash.

With Hardcase, Simmons both pays homage to over-the-top pulp fiction and writes a remarkably good example of it. Joe Kurtz has no intention of giving up his chosen profession of private investigator, even though he's just spent 12 years in jail. He believes it's only a matter of finding the right case. But that case will never come to him, so he pays a call on Byron Tatick Farino, mob boss, and suggests that for $400 a day plus expenses, he'll try to find the Family's missing accountant and also figure out who's hijacking the Family's trucks. Farino is inclined to let him do this since he has nothing to lose, and Joe did save his son from a fate worse than death in Cell Block D.

So Joe is off and running, and after picking up his ex-assistant, Arlene, he opens an office in the basement of a porn store and begins looking into the Mob's business. He no sooner interviews the accountant's wife than she is found dead and horribly mutilated.

The list of those who want Joe to butt out is long, and they are evidently very serious about preventing Joe from finding out too much. There's the person who is hijacking the trucks, and wants to continue. There's also a couple of sociopaths (if not psychopaths) named Malcolm and Cutter who work for the Mob's lawyer. Unsurprisingly, they are not exactly loyal and know that there's a $10,000 reward for the guy who wasted Ali, one of the Death Mosque brothers in Cell Block D. Finally, there are the Levine brothers, Manny and Sammy. Joe hasn't heard of either of them, but word is that Manny blames Joe for Sammy's death.

These numerous and varied storylines remain remarkably lucid as Simmons treats us to a fast-paced thriller with excitement on every page. --Otto Penzler

Book Description

Once Joe Kurtz needed revenge-and revenge cost him eleven years in Attica prison. Now Kurtz needs a job, and the price is going to be higher. Out of touch, out of prison, and with only one friend in the world, Kurtz signs on with the Farinos, a Mob family who has a problem in its own backyard. The Farinos don't know it yet, but they have a bigger problem in Kurtz himself. Searching for a mob accountant gone missing, Kurtz starts rubbing the wrong people the wrong way for all the right reasons. Within forty-eight hours he's got two low-rent, high-impact killers on his trail, a beautiful, ruthless woman in his bed, a legendary hit man flying in from Denmark, and the wreckage of his past falling down around him. As Kurtz keeps pushing into the shadows of a chaotic underworld, he turns up killers, freaks, traitors, and madmen. And the final outcome will be the most devastating of all ....AUTHORBIO: In his twenty years of publication, DAN SIMMONS has won more than 50 major American and international awards for his fiction. Currently working on a new novel and screenplay, Mr. Simmons lives in Colorado.

Customer Reviews:

Best in genre since Travis Magee.......2007-05-09

This is overall some of the best writing I've seen since McDonald's Travis Magee series. It is deceptively simple and direct but the main charecter is unforgetable. We also have some fully developed unique badguys.

From the chameleon writer of many genres, a good detective novel.......2007-03-30

Dan Simmons writes Science Fiction (he won the Hugo award for Hyperion in 1989). Dan Simmons writes Horror (Bram Stoker Award, Carrion Comfort). Dan Simmons writes Fantast (World Fantasy Award, Song of Kali). And Mr. Simmons writes detective fiction.

These different genres mostly have different writing styles. Instead of trying to force one type of writing into another genre, Mr. Simmons changes his colors, adjusts his pacing, wording and style for the hard-core nasty world of private investigation.

Hardcase is the first of three (and we hope more) Joe Kurtz novels. Hard Freeze (A Joe Kurtz Novel) and Hard as Nails (A Joe Kurtz Novel) are the other two. Joe Kurtz isn't mean and nasty, but he also has no compunction about sticking a man's hand in a disposal or running over an unconscious man's legs. Kurtz has his own code. Getting out of jail after following that code, Kurtz throws himself in the middle of a Mafia mess that he learned about in prison, and starts churning up the mob and old acquaintances.

The pacing of this novel is well done, the dialogue believable. The plot integrates several subplots well, although some of the plot twists are tipped off early (ain't this called foreshadowing?).

I also liked how Mr. Simmons slides in a reference to one of his other books, The Crook Factory, about a spyring in Cuba run by Hemingway (see page 221 in the paperback for the reference).

Language and graphic violence make this an unsuitable read for kids. Everyone else will enjoy it.

Kurtz is the man........2007-03-12

Okay so I am a fan of the Joe Kurtz books, I wish more than three where written. Solid writting, good depth of people that make this book so great.

On your mark, get set, kill........2007-01-05

Hardcase by Dan Simmons could be thought of as hardboiled crime fiction on steroids. The action is not merely violent, it is brutal with a take no prisoners attitude.

Former PI Joe Kurtz has just been paroled from Attica after a rather long stay. His first act as a free man is to hire himself out as a stalking horse for the head of a western New York crime family whose fortunes are rapidly dwindling. This is a novel with a very fast paced, action packed narrative. The body count mounts up at a dizzyingly accelerated rate, with no shortage of new and improved ways of dispatching the ever shrinking cast.

Does Hardcase qualify as great literature? No. The plotting, though not without some unexpected twists, is contrived and not believable. The characters are generally over-the-top stereotypes who lack nuance. Still, for what it is, Hardcase is very competently written. If you like action-adventure laced with graphic violence, you could do considerably worse than this book.

Really Cartoonish Characterization Hurts this Novel.......2006-11-28

I realize that HARDCASE is supposed to be a tribute to the hardboiled noir novels of times past. Still, I don't think that's an excuse for the book's remarkably one-dimensional level of characterization.

Most of the major players in this rather slim novel are cartoonish, unbelievable stereotypes. It doesn't help that the main character, Joe Kurtz, is an unlikable anti-hero whose only goal in this book is to make money for himself. Most of the villains are appallingly stupid and pose no real threat to Kurtz. There is therefore no one to root for in this novel and very little real suspense.

HARDCASE is readable and fast-paced, but its convulted mafia plot is ultimately kind of silly. This is ultimately a tongue-in-cheek type of a book with a lot of twists and double-crosses. If you're looking for realistic situations and characters, you won't find them here.

I read a lot of thrillers and crime fiction, and I think you could do much better than HARDCASE. My advice is to skip this novel and read novels by PI writers like Robert Parker, Richard Stark, Bill Prozini, Max Alan Collins, and Lawrence Block, who do far superior work in the noir subgenre.

Average customer rating:

Another excellent tale by Pronzini
Busman's Honeymoon
Another excellent entry
A NEW LIFE
Nameless delievers page turning mystery

Hardcase
Bill Pronzini
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Crazybone
Boobytrap (Pronzini, Bill)
Bleeders: A "Nameless Detective" Novel
Illusions: A "Nameless Detective" Novel
Hoodwink (A Nameless Detective Mystery)

ASIN: 0440221498
Release Date: 1996-06-02

Book Description

Fresh from his recent marriage, the Nameless Detective returns to what appears to be a routine investigation, an adoption case.  While searching through the effects of her recently deceased mother, 23-year-old Melanie Ann Aldrich discovers some papers which show she was adopted.  With her father dead as well, it seems unlikely she will ever find out why she was never told.  So she hires Nameless to find her true parents.

In the course of his investigation, Nameless quickly learns why Melanie's parents never told her she was adopted and why everyone is so eager to keep it quiet.  Melanie's biological mother, an emotionally disturbed young woman who died in her early twenties of a brain tumor, was raped by a then teenage delinquent named Steven Chehalis.  In his attempt to piece together the past, Nameless tracks down Chehalis only to discover that he's a serial rapist responsible for a large number of rapes and at least two murders as well.

Nameless finds himself in a race to bring Chehalis to justice.  Chehalis, aware of Nameless's intention, sets his psychotic sights on both his biological daughter, Melanie, and Nameless's new bride.  Hardcase is Pronzini's most suspenseful mystery to date.

Customer Reviews:

Another excellent tale by Pronzini.......2004-06-24

Summer 2004 Reading List - Mini Review

I have been reading Bill Pronzini for over 20 years but somehow never read this one. Pronzini's protagonist titled "The nameless detective" is an endearing staple of modern detective fiction because while we are never told the character's name, he is one of the better developed characters I have ever experienced.

Hardcase begins with a wedding and ends with a honeymoon and in between deals with adoption, rape, racial prejudice, technophobia and the risks involved in knowing too much about your past.

Pronzini's prose blends great character driven drama with excellent descriptions of Nameless's San Francisco and other California locales.

Busman's Honeymoon.......2003-11-25

Seemingly inspired by the Sir Peter Whimsey novel, Busman's Honeymoon, Hardcase is one of the very best books in the Nameless Detective Series. To appreciate this book, I suggest that you read Hoodwink, Quarry and Demons before this one.

Hardcase marks a new beginning for Nameless in the series, and those who want to understand and appreciate the following Nameless novels must read this one!

The book opens with a delightfully funny description of Nameless's wedding to Kerry Wade. You'll be delighted by this sequence.

Nameless also begins to replace his former partner, Eberhardt, with someone who can help him with computer work. You will find his two interviews with Tamara Corbin to be a great introduction into a great new character for the series.

The case itself is an unusual one for Nameless. He's asked by Melanie Ann Aldrich to find her birth parents. She's just lost her adopted parents, and also just found out that she has been adopted. The laws in California make it hard for her to find out her origins, so she calls on Nameless. Quickly tracking down those who should know, he finds that everyone tells him that some things are best left unsaid. What is the dark secret they are hiding?

In the midst of the case, Nameless finds himself wondering how much of what he learns should be revealed to his client. After finding out that the birth father has no interest in meeting Melanie Ann, Nameless decides to pretend that the father cannot be found. That decision lays the seeds of a terrible tragedy. Before the story's end, even Nameless's new marriage is at risk. This is a gripping story in the best tradition of noir detective fiction.

The threat and action in this story are compelling. I read quite quickly . . . but not as quickly as I wanted to in this case. My heart was pounding rapidly as I raced to the end.

I don't recall reading a story this gut wrenching in a long time. As I finished the story, I was reminded of how fragile all of our lives are.

Another excellent entry.......2003-05-19

In one of the best, and certainly most under-appreciated, mystery series around. Why aren't these books bigger sellers? Why aren't the new entires available in paperback? One tip on reading Nameless: Read the books in order. The character changes and develops more than almost anyone in the field.

A NEW LIFE.......2000-10-13

Congratulations! Nameless has tied the knot and is on the way of beginning a new chapter in his life. Forget about the fact that he was sweating like a pig before "choking" out his " I do." And let's not mention his less than spectacular performance during his wedding night. Nameless is just his plain old self and has a case to work on before he goes on his real honeymoon.

His case is easy, simple and won't take long. Uh, oh. Forget about long. A case of him trying to find the birth parents of an adopted woman becomes more complex than you would think. No one wants to talk about it and Nameless finds himself up a wall that will lead to more trouble and impact on this newlywed's bride.

Pronzini spins a tale in which some things are best left alone. Nameless is also challenged to come into the 20th century with computers and an assistant who can stand toe to toe with our aging investigator. This was a delightful story in seeing a man set in his ways coming to terms with the needed changes in his life. It is also a story that makes you wonder if there are some information in one's life that should be kept secret. Find out as you read this enjoyable Nameless thriller.

Nameless delievers page turning mystery.......1998-08-18

Bill Pronzini's continuing series of the Nameless Detective who is drawn into another puzzling case of abuse and murder. Pronzini is excellent in building suspense and is superb in using simply dialogue to "paint" a character, to reveal the dark and disturbing side of people. Prejudice-yes! I love this series and hope the detective continues to take me on his twisting adventures as I keep-my-eye-on-that-book-so-I-don't-lose-it (my no.1 indicator of affection).

Average customer rating:

Hardcase
Luke Short
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GSH252

3 Titles in Nameless Detective Series - Demons - Epitaphs - Hard Case (Hardcase)

Average customer rating:

3 Titles in Nameless Detective Series - Demons - Epitaphs - Hard Case (Hardcase)
Bill Pronzini
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000S5SXZQ

Product Description

Multiple books shipped as one item for your convenience. Save on Shipping/Handling charges.

Average customer rating:

Brand 2: Hardcase (Linford Western Library (Large Print))
Neil Hunter
Manufacturer: Ulverscroft Large Print
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Average customer rating:

Cade #2: Hardcase (Cade, No 2)
Linaker
Manufacturer: Gold Eagle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Men's Adventure | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0373638051

First 3 Titles in Cade Series (1-3) - Darksiders - Hardcase - Firestreak

Average customer rating:

First 3 Titles in Cade Series (1-3) - Darksiders - Hardcase - Firestreak
Mike Linaker
Manufacturer: gold eagle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000SP1RAY

Product Description

Multiple books shipped as one item for your convenience. Save on Shipping/Handling charges.

Forbidden Adventure in Angkor Starring Wilfred Lucas VHS Tape in Hardcase 1937 B&W

Average customer rating:

Forbidden Adventure in Angkor Starring Wilfred Lucas VHS Tape in Hardcase 1937 B&W
Wilfred Lucas
Manufacturer: Something Weird Video
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Cards
ASIN: B000MMEEGM

Product Description

Another gem from the golden age of exploitation movies

Average customer rating:

The Ghost Riders and Hardcase Halloran

Manufacturer: Ace
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HQTOX6

Average customer rating:

Gunn No. 13: Arizona Hardcase
J. Sherman
Manufacturer: Zebra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

In this much-needed examination of Buddhist views of death and the afterlife, Carl B. Becker bridges the gap between books on death in the West and books on Buddhism in the East.

Other Western writers have addressed the mysteries surrounding death and the afterlife, but few have approached the topic from a Buddhist perspective. Here, Becker resolves questions that have troubled scholars since the beginning of Buddhism: How can Buddhism reconcile its belief in karma and rebirth with its denial of a permanent soul? What is reborn? And when, exactly, is the moment of death?

By systematically tracing Buddhism’s migration from India through China, Japan, and Tibet, Becker demonstrates how culture and environment affect Buddhist religious tradition.

In addition to discussing historical Buddhism, Becker shows how Buddhism resolves controversial current issues as well. In the face of modern medicine’s trend toward depersonalization, traditional Buddhist practices imbue the dying process with respect and dignity. At the same time, Buddhist tradition offers documented precedents for decision making in cases of suicide and euthanasia.

Customer Reviews:

webooth..........2002-02-11

Breaking the Circle is a comprehensive account of comparative religion between schools of Buddhist thought concerning the nature of death and life's continuity from death forward. After first vindicating the theory of rebirth, its karmic nature is discussed--namely, how the karma of previous existences can effect one another in the light of annata: the view that there is no soul, in opposition to belief in a Vedic/Hindu atman. While the Buddha taught that an enduring self did not exist, it seems he as well taught that the action of the dying person was in a contiguous cause-and-effect relationship with the birth of a new being. This version of rebirth however, suggests a casual continuity between one birth and the next without requiring that the two be identified as the same person. What exists is an instantaneous rebirth of thought complexes, neither identical with nor unrelated to the dying person and not definable in terms of a single permanent underlying substance. Within a Buddhist worldview accepting psychic phenomena it is explained how these elements survive with the death of the location-specific physical body. pp 17, "pyschic components (khandas) neither exist nor cease to exist when dissociated from their cranial counterparts; they simply are not amenable to temporal measurements until they are again affiliated with neurophysiological structures existing within this temporal continuum."
However, my personal understanding of the Buddha's words has always been along much more naturalistic lines. With annata established, it is apparent that although there may not be an immutable soul, the illusion of one certainly arises at times. This character is characterised by thoughts picked up along the way simulating originality of consciousness. The other possibility is that they are an original combination of thoughts, creativity, but nontheless acquired elsewhere. Thus anything you say or do can be potentially be plagiarized at a later setting by another being, thus emphasizing the importance of positive thoughts and not sending out "bad vibes." In this view, previous existences are no more than those who have thought and felt what you think and feel what you do now, and in that way still causally conditioning your present individuality.
As the book traverses each tradition of Gautama's belief in an afterworld (Pure Land, Theravadin, Mahayana, Vajrayahna) its noted that there are similar landscapes recounted in NDE's, ancient Christianity, Pure Land Buddhism, and medieval Asia. What I speak of are intersubjective surrealities. These dreams may result from common human brain chemistries. Several models for survival and continuity are explained. But the "Pure Land" of blissful dreaming is usually only a purgatorian transition from material suffering into the liberation of Nirvana or a place to meet back up with loved ones. Things like this are hard to believe on faith alone (and silly) but definitely cool thoughts. Yet there is also attempts all throughout to make such notions compatible with modern scientific knowledge.
The last section deals with suicide, which Buddhists surprisingly accept. (though not under all conditions) It all depends on the the state of mind inhabiting the organism upon the moment of death and thus its reasons for manifesting a voluntary death.
This book was very informative and highly interesting but loses one star for a lacking structural style. No doubt a fine work on the subject. :¤)

Breaking the Vicious Circle: Toward Effective Risk Regulation

Average customer rating:

Breaking the Vicious Circle: Toward Effective Risk Regulation
Stephen Breyer
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

U.S. | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Federal Government | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Public Health | Administration & Policy | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Regulation and Its Reform
Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution
Public Policies for Environmental Protection (RFF Press)
Getting the Signals Right: Tax Reform to Protect the Environment & the Economy (Littman Library of Jewish Civilization)
Foundations of Environmental Law and Policy

ASIN: 0674081153

Book Description

Breaking the Vicious Circle is a tour de force that should be read by everyone who is interested in improving our regulatory processes. Written by a highly respected federal judge, who obviously recognizes the necessity of regulation but perceives its failures and weaknesses as well, it pinpoints the most serious problems and offers a creative solution that would for the first time bring rationality to bear on the vital issue of priorities in our era of limited resources.

Breaking the Circle of Satanic Ritual Abuse: Recognizing and Recovering from the Hidden Trauma

Average customer rating:

Hilariously Funny
A message to anyone who believes in SRA
A helpful introduction to ritual abuse
Breaking the cycle of Satanic ritual abuse
Not a hoax. Not a witchhunt. This is the real deal!

Breaking the Circle of Satanic Ritual Abuse: Recognizing and Recovering from the Hidden Trauma
Daniel Ryder
Manufacturer: Compcare Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Substance Abuse | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Occult | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Safe Passage to Healing: A Guide for Survivors of Ritual Abuse
Reaching for the Light: A Guide for Ritual Abuse Survivors and Their Therapists
Blessed : Reclaiming My Life from the Horrors of Ritual Abuse
Amongst Ourselves: A Self-Help Guide to Living With Dissociative Identity Disorder
Ritual Abuse: What It Is, Why It Happens, and How to Help

ASIN: 0896382583

Customer Reviews:

Hilariously Funny.......2007-01-05

A perfect book for reading on the toilet or in the bathtub. You can pick it up, start anywhere in the middle, and stop anywhere without having to bother with marking your place. Genuine delightfully mindless drivel.

A message to anyone who believes in SRA.......2006-01-13

I highly suggest that you read "Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend," as it debunks more effectively than any other book the myth of SRA. That time was a horrible black mark on our history which destroyed many innocent lives, and for the myth to continue to be promulgated is inexcusable.

A helpful introduction to ritual abuse.......2005-10-22

This book will be helpful to therapists and support friends of ritual abuse survivors. While Breaking The Cycle takes a 12 step approach to recovery (similiar To Alcoholics Anonymous), Daniel Ryder presents a more secular approach on healing. While traditional therapy and peer counseling may be extremely helpful, a more spiritual approach will often produce remarkable results.

I'd suggest it as a good place to start for those who are interested in learning more about ritual abuse. Therapists and support people may benefit greatly from Daniel Ryder's research and sensitivity toward survivors. There's a great deal of documentation and heroic stories of recovery by several survivors. Some of the material is out of date and survivors now have greater resources via the internet. There are now numerous support groups and on-line healing forums that were previously unavailable.

Overall, I'd recommend Breaking The Cycle as a supplement to traditional therapy. I'd also caution survivors while reading due to the highly triggering material. For further reading I'd suggest: A Safe Passage to Healing by Chrystine Oksana.

Breaking the cycle of Satanic ritual abuse.......2005-09-21

This is an excellent insightful book. Well written by someone who has researched the subject carefully and accurately. Definetely worth the reading for anyone interested in learning more about satanism from a Christian perspective.

Not a hoax. Not a witchhunt. This is the real deal!.......2005-09-06

People who belong to the False Memory Syndrome Foundation have been encouraged by that group to write anonymous negative reviews for all books that 'encourage' false memories, and flood the major booksellers with these reviews. While the book they fear most is The Courage to Heal, this is another valuable book for those recovering from, or helping others to recover from, organized ritual abuse. Survivors have suffered the horror of the original abuse, the humiliation of being disbelieved, and the fear of speaking out due to threats of retaliation. Despite all this, healing is possible, and this book can help.

Race in the Mind of America: Breaking the Vicious Circle Between Blacks and Whites

Average customer rating:

Superb explanation the psychology of race relations.

Race in the Mind of America: Breaking the Vicious Circle Between Blacks and Whites
Paul L. Wachtel
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Discrimination & Racism | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Social Psychology & Interactions | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0415920000

Book Description

Internationally recognized psychologist Paul L. Wachtel sheds new light on the psychological foundations of our nation's racial impasse and applies his pathbreaking "vicious circle" approach to help resolve it. This timely and fascinating analysis shows how the ways we attempt to cope with racial tensions and inequalities often lead to the perpetuation of our difficulties rather than their resolution. Understanding the ironies that characterize contemporary race relations is the first step toward extricating our nation from the vicious circle.

Both controversial and healing, Race in the Mind of America challenges the orthodoxies that shape black and white opinion and liberal and conservative policies while sensitively exploring the way the world looks to both sides and why it looks that way. Wachtel probes the daily experiences of blacks and whites, shedding new light on how individual experiences and larger social, historical and economic forces continually re-create each other. In illustratinghow blacks and whites get caught in vicious circles that sustain the very behaviors and attitudes they wish would change, Wachtel also points toward the concrete solutions to our seemingly enduring dilemmas and shows how to move beyond the adversarial rhetoric that divides us.

Customer Reviews:

Superb explanation the psychology of race relations........1999-05-17

Many books on race deal extensively with social and economic issues. While not ignoring these issues, this book concentrates on the powerful psychological factors that influence race relations. It explains the vicious circles that blacks and whites are caught in that perpetuate racial problems. The book explains how both blacks and whites participate unknowingly, and often innocently, in maintaining these vicious circles that inhibit progress. Besides presenting the many problems and difficulties to be overcome, the book provides hope and guidance for resolving many painful issues.

Breaking (into) the Circle: Group Work for Change in the English Classroom

Average customer rating:

Breaking (into) the Circle: Group Work for Change in the English Classroom
Hephzibah Roskelly
Manufacturer: Boynton/Cook
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Lesson Planning | Education | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books

Grammar | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books

Vocabulary | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books

Usage | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0867095431

Book Description

Every student loves to hear the teacher say, "Let's break into groups" because group discussions and activities can quickly turn into a digressive social hour. Yet group work can be a powerful strategy for promoting literacy, inquiry, and diversity among students of any age. Breaking (into) the Circle offers tested methods for utilizing groups in the English classroom, methods that won't lead to anarchy but will lead to a classroom where students cooperate in the pursuit of common goals, deepening their literacy and learning skills while gaining valuable experience with group dynamics.

Hephzibah Roskelly examines groups inside and out, using both theory and ethnography to document why groups succeed and how to remedy them when they are failing. You will watch groups work together to find a voice, resolve conflicts, clarify motives, and deepen understanding. Meanwhile Roskelly's pragmatic advice about monitoring and mentoring groups will help you maximize their learning opportunities. There are chapters devoted to teaching writing with groups, teaching literature with groups, and one devoted to issues of race, ethnicity, and gender that may arise inside groups. Roskelly firmly believes that group work can help you foster acceptance of diversity in your classroom, and she demonstrates how this can happen. Finally, in a special feature that every teacher will find useful, she offers a Q & A of the questions that teachers have most frequently asked her about group work

Practical, research-based, and smart, Breaking (into) the Circle will guide you in successfully introducing satisfying group work in your classroom or assist you in redesigning group work to best meet your students' needs and your own curriculum agendas. With Hephzibah Roskelly's help, you'll discover that the next time you say, "Let's break into groups," the discourse inside them will go far beyond social digression.

Power and Conflict Between Doctors and Nurses: Breaking Through the Inner Circle in Clinical Care

Average customer rating:

Power and Conflict Between Doctors and Nurses: Breaking Through the Inner Circle in Clinical Care
Maureen Coombs
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Health Policy | Administration & Policy | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Public Health | Administration & Policy | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Nursing | Medicine | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0415301939

Book Description

Drawing together sociological theories and clinical practice, Power and Conflict Between Doctors and Nurses explores the role of nurses in delivering contemporary health care.

The breaking of the circle;: Studies in the effect of the "New science" upon seventeenth-century poetry (A Columbia paperback)

Average customer rating:

The breaking of the circle;: Studies in the effect of the "New science" upon seventeenth-century poetry (A Columbia paperback)
Marjorie Hope Nicolson
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Beyond Jules Verne: "Enza" Circles the World in a Record-breaking 74 Days

Average customer rating:

Beyond Jules Verne: "Enza" Circles the World in a Record-breaking 74 Days
Robin Knox-Johnston
Manufacturer: Hodder & Stoughton General Division
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Travel | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0340632356

Average customer rating:

Breaking Circles
Britta, editor Olinder
Manufacturer: Dangaroo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000RKZR06

Average customer rating:

Breaking Circles
Olinder
Manufacturer: Dangaroo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books