Customer Reviews:
Makers of Modern Strategy .......2005-09-22
"Makers of Modern Strategy" is a scholarly collection of high quality papers on strategy since Machiavelli to the present nuclear age. The beauty of the book is that one can focus on the era that one is interested in. There is no need to read the book cover to cover as the various essays are stand alone although they are presented sequentially and related papers are adjacent to each other. I have read and re-read some of the papers. The book is about strategy and the realities of war. The essays are clearly balanced and not biased. The phenomenon of war was clearly explained from the studies of past wars. It is clear that war has been a fundamental reality of social and political existence from an early stage of political organisation to the present times. The tragic aspects of war and the intellectual and emotional disturbances it creates could be discerned from the essays.
The book is divided into the following five parts:
Part One: The Origins of Modern War.
Part Two: The Expansion of war
Part Three: From the Industrial Revolution to the First World War.
Part Four: From the First to the Second World War.
Part Five: Since 1945.
The eminent contributors include Peter Paret, Felix Gilbert, John Shy, Gordon A. Craig, Maurice Matloff, Condoleezza Rice, Lawrence Freadman, Michael Carver and D. Clayton James. Their essays showed the role of force in the relations between states. It is now very clear to me that war has always been a compound of many elements ranging from politics to technology, to human emotions under extreme stress. Strategy is one of the critical elements of war.
The various essays trace the ideas and actions of past generations, as they used war to achieve their national goals, an analysis of military thought and policy in the recent past and present
My favourite part is Part Two. Here three great historical figures are highlighted namely Napoleon, Jomini and Clausewitz. I can now see the genius of Napoleon as one of the greatest soldiers in history in its proper strategic context. I think history need to rescue Jomini from the obscurity he is now relegated since it is largely him who has clearly related the greatness of Napoleon and the attempt to reduce war to some sort of science.
Makers of Modern Strategy add immense value to any study of warfare and strategy. I recommend it to Army Staff Colleges and those studying military history at postgraduate level.
Mandatory Reading for Army Staff Majors.......2002-03-13
As the title indicates, the Army's Command & General Staff College requires students to read Makers of Modern Strategy in the core history class. Professors can make best use of this book as a supplement. As other reviewers have noted, the chapters are disjointed with each other. Taken separately, however, many of the chapters help the history student or enthusiast to develop a depth of understanding on a particular subject. Authors such as John Shy, Douglas Porch, Michael Howard, and Condoleeza Rice, just to name a few, explore many of the strategic issues involved with the evolution of military thought.
From Machiavelli and Clausewitz to strategies of world wars and colonial wars, Makers of Modern Strategy adds value to any serious study of warfare. The high quality academic research and thought that underlies many of the articles is worth the price of the book. Highly recommended.
Good general military history overview........2001-03-05
One of the essentials, a good starting point for the study of military history and strategy.
Still, this is a good book............2000-08-12
Although I agree with the reviewer preceeding me that this might not be as strong of a book as was the masterpiece which preceeded it (by Earle), it is still a strong book and does (generally) what it sets out to do: to provide an accounting of major developments in military thought (i.e. western military thought) from the Renassance to the modern age.
As a text or as a reference, this is still a powerful and useful book. Each of the chapters discusses a major figure's thought in a fashion that can be dealt with easily in a sitting: for those people who don't want to sit and sort through Jomini (though everyone reading this should sit down with Clausewitz! ) or Douhet, to see their rights and wrongs....
I like this book. I bought my copy for $8.00 in NYC and have had it with me through a number of moves since....
Newer is Not Necessarily Better.......2000-07-18
This second version of the book is disappointing. I would have thought that it being edited by an historian as good as Peter Paret would have improved on the original, which was edited by Robert Earle. However, it is weaker both in scholarship and accuracy, especially John Shy's essay on Jomini. Old myths are resurrected about the Swiss renegade whose own works are generally historically inaccurate.
Many of the older, more professional, historians, who are unfortunately no longer with us were much more careful in their research and writing, hunting down sources that newer historians either refuse to look for or refuse to use. they also were more blunt, calling a spade a spade, and weren't worried about offending people or in 'revisionist' (read inaccurate) history. Political correctness was unknown to these stalwarts.
Books of this type are highly useful. If you are looking for this particular volume, get the first version edited by Earle, even if you have to go looking in second hand book stores or on the internet in used book services. I did, and it is well worth the effort.
Book Description
From Scorsese and Lynch to Wenders and Godard, interviews with twenty of the world's greatest directors on how they make films--and why
Each great filmmaker has a secret method to his moviemaking--but each of them is different. In Moviemaker Master Class, Laurent Tirard talks to twenty of today's most important filmmakers to get to the core of each director's approach to film, exploring the filmmaker's vision as well as his technique, while allowing each man to speak in his own voice.
Martin Scorsese likes setting up each shot very precisely ahead of time--so that he has the opportunity to change it all if he sees the need. Lars Von Trier, on the other hand, refuses to think about a shot until the actual moment of filming. And Bernardo Bertolucci tries to dream his shots the night before; if that doesn't work, he roams the set alone with a viewfinder, imagining the scene before the actors and crew join him. In these interviews--which originally appeared in the French film magazine Studio and are being published here in English for the first time--enhanced by exceptional photographs of the directors at work, Laurent Tirard has succeeded in finding out what makes each filmmaker--and his films--so extraordinary, shedding light on both the process and the people behind great moviemaking.
Among the other filmmakers included are Woody Allen, Tim Burton, Joel and Ethan Coen, and John Woo.
Customer Reviews:
Master Class, unmasterly with repetition .......2007-10-01
This book is great and has a wealth of insightful conversation with some amazing directors but my one complaint is that the bulk of the book is framed too similarly. While the directors all have their unique take and insights, Tirard essentially asks them all the same questions which leads to repetition over the bulk of the book. In no way am I saying not to purchase this book but I'm simply criticizing it's redundancy.
Master class for sure!!!.......2006-10-18
This is exactly what a moviemakers master class should be. It asks technical and artistic questions to some of the greatest directors of all time.
If you want to hear why Tim Burton likes wide lenses, which contemporary directors Scorsese admires and why, Jean Pierre Jeunet's theory of camera movement, David Lynch's "secret dolly move", John Woo's method of shooting and cutting scenes to music, The Coen brothers writing process, Lars Von Trier's take on the rules of Dogme 95, Jean-Luc Goddard's theory of filmmaking out of desire vs. need, then this book is your ticket.
This is a goldmine of knowledge. There are no fluff interviews here; only the best filmmakers in the world relating solid technical advice and tried and true shooting strategies developed from years of experience.
Very telling.......2006-02-24
Great stuff. Gives a lot of info on each director. For example; Sidney Pollack was an acting coach before he became a director.
This book is filled with insight, knowledge and terrific stories all from the top directors of our time.
Highest possible recommendation.......2005-10-23
What with formal education and all, I don't really have much time for outside reading. It's rare that something is so addictive that it will make me completely ignore my studies, against my better judgement.
This book is fantastic. Not only is it first-hand advice from actual filmmakers, rather than second-hand interpretations from critics or theoreticians (which are both helpful, the latter moreso, and I do read such things), but they are short enough to be digested at any pace whatsoever, and diverse enough to give you multiple perspectives. You get to find out if you're a Scorsese or a Wenders. You also find out that Von Trier is actually a pretty nice guy. Who knew? (Just kidding, I'm a fan).
Anyway, there's really no excuse to read this. It's very inspiring, and it's simple and fun. I read 150 pages or so in one sitting without becoming restless. Go for it.
Best conversations with Directors.......2005-08-30
This is the must read book for any aspiring movie director. It encapsulates the ideas and personal perceptions on presentation of screen story. It's not a book to know nitty gitty technical details, this is a collection of interviews with many directors and their style of making movie, when they talk about it. Same questions have been asked to all directors (Very good questions, no sterio typical questions you see in movie promos).
Get your copy today and enjoy it.
Book Description
Now in its second edition, this bestselling textbook may be the single most influential study of the historical relationship between science and technology ever published. Tracing this relationship from the dawn of civilization through the twentieth century, James E. McClellan III and Harold Dorn argue that technology as "applied science" emerged relatively recently, as industry and governments began funding scientific research that would lead directly to new or improved technologies.
McClellan and Dorn identify two great scientific traditions: the useful sciences, patronized by the state from the dawn of civilization, and scientific theorizing, initiated by the ancient Greeks. They find that scientific traditions took root in China, India, and Central and South America, as well as in a series of Near Eastern empires, during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. From this comparative perspective, the authors explore the emergence of Europe and the United States as a scientific and technological power.
The new edition reorganizes its treatment of Greek science and significantly expands its coverage of industrial civilization and contemporary science and technology with new and revised chapters devoted to applied science, the sociology and economics of science, globalization, and the technological systems that underpin everyday life.
Customer Reviews:
introductory textbook to the subject "history of technology" and "history of science).......2007-10-01
The main thesis of this book is to show how technology and science developed largely independently of each other throughout almost all of history. Science and Technology in World Literally is quite literally an undergraduate course book. In view of the complexity of the subject matter, I found this to be a boon rather then hindrance. The authors do an amazing job summarizing complex material.
SciTechinWorHis (my abbreviation for the lengthy title) begins with a survey of the "pristine" civiliastions of earth: the middle east, india, china, south america, central america.. and... uh that's it. These are alll the original civilisations who started raising crops. The authors point out at that all of these civilisations were empires that built large hydraulic projects to help raise more food. Most of them also built large monuments (the pyramids in egypt). In these "prisitine" civilisations, the central government used "scientists" for calendar purposes. "Technology" was made these civilisation's possible in the first place- farming improvements and the maniuplation of water to supply large urban populations. In these pristine civilisations science was sponosored by the emperor to achieve practical ends. Technology enabled these civilisations in the first place. And so, technology precedes science. Indeed, technology is one of the things that makes us "human" whereas "science" only comes into play AFTER civilisation and "history" begin.
In that way, the authors make the point- right at the beginning- that technology is quite central to being human, whereas science requires some form of organization.
After running through Egypt, Mesopatamia, India, China, The Aztecs and the Inca, he moves into the "greek miracle" and we are off to the races. After the multi cultural preamble, the book gets locked on europe and chapter by chapter we move through greece, to rome, to the middle ages, to the scientific revolution. Two hundred pages and nine chapters in, this book settles into chapters consisting of mini bios: Copernicus, Galileo, Newton. Then with the advent of the industrial revolution, they march through the "modern" period. Throughout the writing is crisp, and as a non-science type, I found this book quite useful as a survey and introduction to the subject.
Good intro-level textbook; needs supporting materials.......2007-08-15
This is a great introduction for an undergraduate level class on the history of sci/tech/med. However, as other reviewers have pointed out, there are some rough patches as the work nears the 20th century. Even though some glossing is necessary in a massive overview, I was particularly disturbed by the boilerplate explanation of mid-19th c. Darwinism without much reflection on the German, French, and English precursors (Lamarck is the exception, of course) and oversimplifying the impact on the religious community (who generally accepted "evolution" while rejecting "natural selection"). For an undergraduate course, I recommend supplementing these segments of the book with R. Richards Romantic Conception of Life or The Meaning of Evolution and/or P. Bowler's The Non-Darwinian Revolution. For upper level courses or tutorials, I would relegate this work to "recommended overview."
All that being said, I was impressed with the broad geographic scope and McClellan's ability to account for the vast majority of the ancient, medieval, and early modern material in an interesting and nuanced fashion.
Must buy.......2005-02-24
This is an awesome book. It portrays a very well organized anrrative of science in history. I do not even major in history yet I kept the book. Awesome.
Outstanding book, except..........2004-01-10
I agree with the previous reviewers on their accessment of the book--with the exception of the very last part of it. In fact, the chapter on modern physics has so many mistakes that it is almost rendered unusable, which is odd because the quality of the rest of the book is so high.
I wouldn't expect that two authors would be able to pull off what they have tried to do here (with such a breadth of material), but I believe that if they invite a guest author (or editor) to help with the chapter on the history of modern physics they will be fully successful in a subsequent edition.
History Through Science and Technology.......2002-10-14
This is an ambitious study of human history through its scientific and technological development. It begins with prehistoric times and ends with the many accomplishments of the late twentieth century. No area of the world is neglected, with much attention paid to the great civilizations of Asia in particular. There are also many mini-biographies of such worthies as Copernicus, Newton, Galileo, Edison, etc. which place them in the context of their time and the overall theme of technological development. The book is scholarly but not dry. Attempts have been made to appeal to the laymen through notes on "Cool Websites" and the like, and this is successful. Its a good overview of world history from a less than usual angle.
Book Description
In a culture that often understands formal experimentation or theoretical argument to be antithetical to pleasure, Atom Egoyan has nevertheless consistently appealed to wide audiences around the world. If films like The Adjuster, Calendar, Exotica, and The Sweet Hereafter have ensured him international cult status as one of the most revered of all contemporary directors, Egoyan's forays into installation art and opera have provided evidence of his versatility and confirmed his talents.
Image and Territory: Essays on Atom Egoyan is both scholarly and accessible. Indispensable for the scholar, student, and fan, this collection of new essays and interviews from leading film and media scholars unpacks the central arguments, tensions, and paradoxes of his work and traces their evolution. It also locates his work within larger intellectual and artistic currents in order to consider how he takes up and answers critical debates in politics, philosophy, and aesthetics. Most importantly, it addresses how his work is both intellectually engaging and emotionally moving.
Customer Reviews:
Expertly compiled.......2006-12-09
Atom Egoyan has made significant contributions to filmmaking, installation art and opera that contradict the widespread notion that formal experimentation and theoretical argument must, of necessity, be antithetical to the pleasures of creation and/or enjoyment of observational or experiential art. Expertly compiled and collaboratively edited by Ryerson University Department of English associate professors Monique Teschofen and Jennifer Burwell, "Image + Territory: Essays On Atom Egoyan" offers eighteen diversely informed and informative essays grouped around the themes of `Media Technologies, Aura, and Redemption'; `Diasporic Histories and the Exile of Meaning'; `Pathologies/Ontologies of the Visual'; and `Conversations'. Enhanced with the inclusion of an exhaustive Filmography, an extended Bibliography, Notes on Contributors, and an Index, "Image + Territory: Essays On Atom Egoyan" is offers impressive body of commentary pertaining to the study of theatre, film and opera which would prove to be a core contribution to university library collections and supplemental reading lists for academic studies.
Book Description
A fully illustrated history of one of America’s finest and most innovative company.
Customer Reviews:
Bought as a gift.......2007-01-10
My father use to work for Remington Arms as a project engineer back in the sixties. I was born in Ilion, New York. He really enjoys the book. I gave it to him for Christmas.
Book Description
This is the most spectacular and informative book ever assembled on the history of the piano. Features a collection of 200 stunning photos of more than 150 pianos ranging from the instrumentÕs earliest roots to todayÕs magnificent upright and grand pianos. Includes specifications for each instrument shown, information on the mechanics of pianos, manufacturer profiles, and more. Hardcover.
Customer Reviews:
Some assembly required.......2005-02-26
The book is nice visually, as a gallery of handcrafted wooden marvels, many hundreds of years old, and has a wealth of interesting facts and photos, but, because it is so fragmented, is not a history that can be easily read straight through. For a briefer history, but with descriptions and samples of modern makers, and with maintenance and buying advice, get The Piano by Jean-Paul Williams. Just as nice visually.
Should have ten stars!.......2000-08-14
If your musical bookshelf has room for only one book about pianos, then it MUST be this one. It is truly gorgeous to look at, lavishly and lusciously illustrated with color photos on every page. Once you get past its pretty face, however, you'll be pleased by the technical content as well. Presented in easy-to-understand fashion and accompanied by 200+ color photos of some 150 keyboard instruments, or paintings that feature keyboards or some other facet of music appreciation, here is the history of these marvelous instruments from the late 1600s right up to the very latest electronic machines, all in one, wonderful-to-look-at volume.
There are four double, double-page fold-outs (four-page centerfolds, if you will, but minus staples) with full-color photos of the best examples of the craftsmanship being explained in easy-to-understand language. The last one is my particular favorite, unveiling modern--even futuristic--examples of art as partner with design and function. On the regular pages, there are diagrams demonstrating the various keyboard instruments and the sometimes subtle differences between them. There is a chronology of piano manufacturers or 'houses' plus an alphabetical description or short history of them; a discography of recordings made on 'notable' (author's term, not mine) pianos and a glossary of terminology used in the book as well as the instruments, plus an index. Truly, everything you always wanted to know about these marvelous instruments--with the bonus of those wonderful, scrumptious photographs.
It's as much an ART book, as it is a MUSIC book, or even a HISTORY book. It's on my shelf, and it should be on yours. I wish I could give it ten stars! At the very least.
A wonderful resource for the piano fan!.......1998-07-02
David Crombie has compiled the definitive collection of facts and photos detailing the evolution of the world's most popular musical instrument, The Piano. Glorious color photographs, detailed construction techniques, why some designs survived while others did not, interesting insights into many of the builders and player/composers for which this most intricate of musical instruments were built, fill the pages of a book that should be in the library of any and all that love music in any form. Crombie has presented the development and evolution of the piano in an easy to read and hard to put down reference book.
Book Description
This, the first book-length study of Hong Kong cult director Wong Kar-wai, provides an overview of his career and in-depth analyses of his seven feature films to date. The study also takes an intriguing look at Wong's commercials for the likes of Motorola, BMW, and Lacoste and at his music video for DJ Shadow. Stephen Teo probes Wong's cinematic and literary influences--from Martin Scorsese and Alfred Hitchcock to Manuel Puig and Haruki Murakami--yet shows how Wong transcends them all. This comprehensive and thoroughly accessible study confirms Wong's position as the star of the Hong Kong-global nexus and as a postmodern exemplar of world cinema.
Customer Reviews:
Still waiting for a good book on Wong.......2006-01-24
The problem for me with Teo's references to telos or Julia Kristeva, to follow-up on the comments of a previous reviewer, is that they seem symptomatic of the author's inability to truly get a handle on Wong's films. Teo applies ideas/theories to Wong's works like a graduate student dutifully displaying his wares. His work seems generally intelligent (as a student he'd get an A- for the assignment), but he provides very little insight into Wong's aesthetic. It came as little surprise, toward the end of the book, when the author admitted his indifference to In the Mood for Love. One thing is for sure: no one is going to write a good monograph on Wong Kar-Wai who thinks that In the Mood for Love is cold and uninvolving.
All about Time and more.......2005-11-04
The one thing one can say about Stephen Teo is that he has figured out Wong Kar-wai in part because he understands the enigmatic director on so many levels. Part of watching movies is trying to figure them out on one level and then to try to catch other levels or layers on a second viewing. Kudos to Stephen Teo - for making me aware of the multi-layered as well as multi-dimensional quality of Wong Kar-wai's work.
On one level, Teo reads Wong Kar-wai as intensely local and at the same time are intimately global. Moreover, Teo brings to presence the iconoclastic quality of Wong Kar-wai's experiments. Lastly, Teo deftly navigates the reader to the multitude of symbols relating to Wong Kar-wai's play on time, space, and memory.
Teo's Wong Kar-wai (published in the World Directors series) situates Wong's work primarily in a Hong Kong cultural milieu as well as explores Wong Kar-wai's historical context. Teo also is really good at framing Wong Kar wai's work around the literary inspirations and sources. However, Teo does not pull any punches in that most of the literary inspirations are pushed aside and little of the book or movie that are supposed to inspire the movies show up differently in the new creation.
One could well imagine that Teo reads Wong Kar-wai's movies as text. Teo's Wong Kar-wai is easy to read but not simplistic at all. He does what few are able to do - sustain an argument questioning Wong's oeuvre. It is an understatement to say that his book is extraordinary because of its range and profundity. Teo brings together an all-inclusive sweep of home grown Chinese interpretation to the movies with a not equally matched familiarity with the Hong Kong film industry. Teo convinces me of both the local significance as well as the international impact of Wong Kar-wai's movies - which ironically fail at the local Hong Kong box office. He locates Wong's movies vis-à-vis a highly complex local historical background - which I would never have understood unless I had read this book. At the same time, Teo grounds each film against the literary readings that supposedly guide their creation. This is very difficult to do while still maintaining some sense of cohesion. Teo brings in an incredible understanding of authors like Puig, Cortázar, Murakami, Dazai, Jin Yong and Liu Li-chang while still maintaining a real sense of Wong Kar-wai's musings on time, space, and memory.
It would not be fair to ignore Teo's ability to understand genre. Teo situates "As Tears Go By" as a gangster movie. "Days of Being Wild" - I cannot help but agree - is an 'Ah Fei' (discontented punk) movie-cum-romance. "Chungking Express" argues Teo is a light romance with touches of noir intrigue. "Ashes of Time" is predictably a wuxia movie - but not really one as it breaks rules while adhering to some very key ones. "Fallen Angels" according to Teo takes over from where "Chungking Express" leaves of. "Happy Together" according to Teo is predictably gay road movie. "In the Mood for Love" is what Teo calls a "wenyi film" evoking deep emotions about love but more importantly repressed desire.
One other thing that I am grateful to Teo for is framing Wong's three great "nostalgia" movies: "Days of Being Wild," "In the Mood for Love," and "2046" which are a 1960s trilogy. The films are linked via Tony Leung Chiu-wai enigmatic character from "Days of Being Wild's" mysterious epilogue and working its way to the other two. I loved this book. It brought a new level of understanding as well as a new level of appreciation to my viewing of Wong Kar-wai in particular and movies in general.
While Wong's movies move from the narcissism of Yuddy (in Days of Being Wild) and Chow Mo-wan (In the Mood For Love and 2046), the doubling of cops in "Chungking Express," Murong Yin and Murong Yang in "Ashes of Time," the mise-en-abîme of role playing within role playing between Chow Mo-wan and Su Li-zhen Chan in "In the Mood for Love" on the surface it would lead one to believe that it was all about identity. Just like the works of Milan Kundera - which are also about identity - but they are also more than that. To reduce Wong Kar-wai's work to identity would be like saying that Tiger Wood's gold game is all about the putting. Yes, Wong Kar-wai explores the crises of misidentification as well as the pathologies of self and others that epitomize an identity without established borders. However, without Teo - we would not be able to understand that it is about that and also more.
Miguel Llora
Terrible book on terrific director........2005-08-30
This book is an obfuscation rather than an elucidation of Wong's films. If you use the word "teleological" frequently and think the following fragment from one sentence makes sense--"...because of the messages encoded in the ambivalence of the film's 'linguistic structure' - ambivalence that arises from the 'insertion of history (society) into a text and of this text into history' as Kristeva defines it..."--, then you will probably love this book.
Having recently discovered the films of Wong Kar-wai, I wanted a book that would tell me about him, his ways of working, and that would discuss his films in a way that would be meaningful to a reasonably well-education person who does not and did not work in academia. Because this book does have some of this information buried within it, I can't trash it completely. But, I will call it pretentious, pseudo-intellectual B.S. And, I will certainly avoid any more writings by Mr Teo.
Amazon's physical description of the paperback is filled with errors. The book is 191 pages rather than 212 pages. The publisher is the British Film Institute and not the University of California Press. The listed dimensions are wrong. Also, the subtitle listed by Amazon does not appear on the book's cover or title page.
If you must have a book on Wong Kar-wai, then go ahead and buy this. You will get a small amount of useful information and a filmography. The price is inexpensive enough to justify the purchase.
Excellent collection of essays.......2005-07-31
Thought provoking essays on most of his films up to this point
Book Description
Few cars of any kind have a more exotic and exciting reputation among enthusiasts than the first BRM, a 16-cylinder wonder machine that was a bright beacon of promise in Britain’s drab post-war years. Heralded as a certain race winner and backed by the nation’s motor industry, exploiting the seized secrets of the 1930s Germans, the British Racing Motor bid fair to put the UK at the top of the Grand Prix tree. It did come good--producing more than 500 horsepower--but only after the Formula 1 for which it was built had expired. From the files of the Ludvigsen Library come more than 80 rare photos of the BRM, one of the handsomest, indeed sexiest, racing cars of all time. Related articles and ephemera round out the story of a bold but ultimately misguided British venture that delivered too much too late.
Customer Reviews:
BRM V16 review.......2007-10-05
Anyone who knows about the BRM V16 can't help but be fascinated by this very unique car and a quantum leap in 1950. Someone has said that to build this car in 1950 was equivalent to the Victorians launching the Space Shuttle. Almost every aspect of this car is wildly different and the author does it justice. I've never seen this many detailed photos of the BRM V16, all of which will help me build a detailed model of this gorgeous sounding racer. A great book for the dedicated motor racing enthusiast.
Average customer rating:
- Beautifully written, unsentimental, unflinching
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The River Of Angry Dogs: A Memoir
Mira Hamermesh
Manufacturer: Pluto Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0745322336 |
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"An extraordinary book, an extraordinary, frightening life. To be Polish without nation, Jewish without family, hunted down in a land at war - and to be a genius in the making - well, it's not the normal teenager's life. Mira Hamermesh sees past and present with a film-maker's flawless eye, in this shattering written memorial to those she loved and lost." -- Fay Weldon, Introduction
Mira Hamermesh is an award-winning filmmaker, painter and writer. This moving memoir gives a vivid account of her remarkable life. As a young Jewish teenager she escaped the horrors of German-occupied Poland with only her natural creativity, a rebellious spirit and a talent for good fortune to rely on. Of the millions of words written about WWII, few come from women, and even fewer recount such adventure. Spared the experience of the ghetto and the concentration camp that claimed most of her family, Mira's story is life-affirming account of a life lived to the full, and a meditation on survival and coincidence, that pays homage to other people's courage.
Recounting her escape into Soviet-occupied Poland, Mira shows how her status as a refugee has continued to influence her throughout her life. The journey led her across Europe and eventually to Palestine in 1941; her account of that region, before the establishment of Israel, provides a fascinating insight into the historical setting for today's conflict.
Having settled in London where she studied art and married, she eventually won a place at the celebrated Polish Film School. At the height of the Cold War Mira Hamermesh commuted across the Iron Curtain -- her experience of a divided Europe offers many insights into the political factors that affected people's everyday lives.
Mira's theme of political conflict, so often explored in her films, is brought to life here in an intimate account that will live long in the memory.
Customer Reviews:
Beautifully written, unsentimental, unflinching.......2004-12-06
As gripping and moving a book as you will ever read.
A truly extraordinary and emotional work. I had to pinch myself when I finished reading the book to remind myself where I was.
Average customer rating:
- Interesting But Spotty
- Wood
- The Price of Innovation
- As brilliant as it is controversial
- Occasionally insightful and obscure at the same time
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Hitchcock's Films Revisited
Robin Wood
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
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Hitchcock (Revised Edition)
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A Hitchcock Reader
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Hitchcock on Hitchcock: Selected Writings and Interviews
ASIN: 0231126956 |
Amazon.com
This is really two books in one. It contains the entire text of Robin Wood's groundbreaking
Hitchcock's Films and supplements it with articles and commentaries on Hitchcock that Wood wrote from the time of that book's publication until today. Tracing the trajectory of Hitchcock's career,
Hitchcock's Films Revisited also allows us to follow the intellectual and emotional development of one of the cinema's major critics. Wood's close readings are always revelatory and exciting, and this volume contains probably the best single essay ever written on a Hitchcock movie, Wood's analysis of Vertigo.
Book Description
When Hitchcock's Films was first published, it quickly became known as a new kind of book on film -- one that came to be considered a necessary text in the Hitchcock bibliography. When Robin Wood returned to his writings on Hitchcock's films and published Hitchcock's Films Revisited in 1989, the multi-dimensional essays took on a new shape -- one that was tempered by Wood's own development as a critic.
This new revised edition of Hitchcock's Films Revisited includes a substantial new preface in which Wood reveals his personal history as a film scholar -- including his coming out as a gay man, his views on his previous critical work, and how his writings, his love of film, and his personal life have remained deeply intertwined through the years. This revised edition includes all original eighteen essays and a new chapter on Marnie titled "Does Mark Cure Marnie? Or, 'You Freud, Me Hitchcock.'"
Customer Reviews:
Interesting But Spotty.......2007-04-02
On the rare occasions when they bothered to contemplate him and his work, arts intelligentsia relegated Alfred Hitchcock to the status of competent craftsman of popular thrillers--until the 1960s, when a few critics began a major re-evaluation of his work. Among the best known of these was Robin Wood, who published HITCHCOCK'S FILMS in 1965. It would be among the first critical texts to give Hitchcock the status of master artist.
Republished as HITCHCOCK'S FILMS REVISITED, most of the body of the book remains the same as the originally titled HITCHCOCK'S FILMS, a critical study of eight of Hitchcock's then most recent films: STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, REAR WINDOW, VERTIGO, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, PSYCHO, THE BIRDS, MARNIE, and TORN CURTAIN. But then as now, the study is very problematic, and this has a great deal less to do with the films than with the fact that Wood is much like the Mother Goose nursery rhyme. When he is good he is very, very good, but when he is bad he is horrid.
Wood was among the first to rescue VERTIGO from the dismissive reviews and tepid audience response it received upon its debut, and his comments here are tremendously insightful; he is no less effective in his studies of REAR WINDOW and PSYCHO. His thoughts on STRANGERS ON A TRAIN are excessively pendantic and have a forced quality, but they are none the less interesting. He does not manage to convince me that I should regard NORTH BY NORTHWEST as a masterpiece, but even so he makes a good case.
In his opening remarks, Wood states that he is not among those fans for whom Hitchcock can do no wrong, and attempts to prove his point by citing several famous Hitchcock films that he considers weak. Indeed, he largely dismisses virtually every film Hitchcock made before 1940 and has a tendency to regard Hitchcock's films of the 1940s as developmental. But there is no two ways about it: he is completely off the mark when describes THE BIRDS and MARNIE as masterpieces and TORN CURTAIN as merely disappointing.
The basic problem is that Wood focuses on thematic elements to the virtual exclusion of everything else. It is true that Hitchcock tends toward certain themes--perhaps most obviously an ironic form of individual isolation--so it is hardly surprising that these also occur in THE BIRDS, MARNIE, and TORN CURTAIN. Indeed it would be a shock if they did not. But thematic presence does not necessarily qualify a film for the description of "masterpiece," and where THE BIRDS and MARNIE are concerned Wood throws the word around much too freely for my liking.
The great strength of both THE BIRDS and MARNIE is their numerous set pieces, many of which are very famous and all of which are highly watchable. In each instance, however, the film emerges as a premise in search of a viable plot, and whatever thematic interest may exist pales alongside this very fundamental fact. TORN CURTAIN has several interesting performances in the supporting cast and one truly spectacular Hitchcockian set piece, but it is chiefly remarkable for being among the handful of boring films that Hitchcock made, and no amount of thematic presence can alter this rather basic observation.
Wood has annotated his original text with subsequent articles, and the same situation holds true here as well: he tends to offer praise to those films that have something he can identify as a consistent thematic purpose and dismiss those that do not, all of it without regard to whether or not the film actually works as a film. His comments are not without interest, but in the end these are the musings of a literary scholar instead of an individual who has any real idea of the difference between "interesting failure" and "cinema masterpiece."
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Wood.......2006-05-25
There are alot of cool insights and interesting ways of looking at the several of Hitchcocks's films in this book, but....Wood's prose is choppy and a real bitch to read. I feel like he is constantly making an exposition on some great insight into the films and then he sort of drops it, leaving the reader feeling a little cheated. The introduction is very long and not really applicable? Who cares that you are a gay marxist. The only real critique from a marxist perspective is the chapter on blackmail. this isnt your autobiography, and I don't really care to draw connections between your evolutuion in criticism and the events of your life. That said.. The second half is superior to the first. The first half reads like a high school english teacher wrote it. The second half has some gems. Specifically the chapters on Blackmail, Rope, The Man who knew too much
The Price of Innovation.......2005-10-09
Forty years ago Robin Wood joined a then-small number of serious critics who urged that Hitchcock be taken seriously. Since many of those critics did not receive a wide reading, Wood's effort was of extreme significance in garnering Hitch the respect he deserved.
It's wonderful to note that Wood, still writing, has continued to update his first work without repudiating or diluting any of it. He made some highly daring observations in 1966, which so many writers ridiculed or dismissed. His originality and critical integrity is so notable, though, that it has weathered these attacks and survived to the present, in actually even better form.
Consider, for example, that Wood countered a then-contemporary tend in dismissing "Marnie" as a failure. Instead, in his first book and most recent edition, he insists that "Marnie" be counted in among films like Psycho, The Birds, Vertigo and North by Northwest as a masterly pairing of visual images addressing psychological elements. And who else before Wood saw the utterly original qualities of "Vertigo," or deconstructed them more effectively?
You won't be sorry to have this book in your library. It originated a critical lanugage of film, and celebrated one of film's greatest contributors in a unique way.
As brilliant as it is controversial.......2005-09-08
Most of the comments posted about this book are embarrassing in their refusal to engage properly with what Robin Wood is actually trying to argue. Previous readers appear to resent Wood's desire to take the cinema seriously, and suggest that we should look to Hitchcock's films for no more than "craft" and "technique". If that's all one is concerned with, I'm not sure why it would be worth reading a book on Hitchcock at all. Wood has always been firm in asserting that the experience of watching a film is both emotional and intellectual. Taking the cinema seriously doesn't mean one has to stop responding to it emotionally. Nor does Hitchcock's status as a consummate entertainer invalidate Wood's arguments that his films raise profound and troubling moral and political questions.
Wood writes beautifully. Complaints about his reliance on Freudian or Marxist terminology are wrongheaded - such terminology is in fact employed far more rarely than by most academic writers. Wood's use of language is magnificently precise and careful. It is true that he conducts his critique of Hitchcock, as of other filmmakers, from a leftwing viewpoint. One does not have to share his commitment to Marxism (a kind of reconstructed, humanistic Marxism, incidentally, which has nothing to do with the atrocities perpetrated by Mao or Stalin) in order to appreciate the strength of his analysis. Anyone who is prepared, as a reader, to engage in lively debate with a writer's ideological and moral assumptions, should be able to profit by reading Wood's book.
I certainly don't agree with everything Wood has to say either on a political or an aesthetic level. But no other writer on Hitchcock, or on the cinema, has the same depth, reach or passion for his subject. Hitchcock's Films Revisited, presenting in tandem Wood's earlier and later thoughts on one of the cinema's great masters, is not only great criticism; it is also a moving account of one man's personal and political evolution.
Occasionally insightful and obscure at the same time.......2004-01-26
Wood's seminal book was first published in 1966 and he has revised it since then on a number of occasions. This latest revision allows Wood to revisit his past and comment on both his acute observations on Hitchcock's films and comment some of the sillier concepts that dotted the original book as well. It's appropriate that Wood cites Freud as often as he does; Hitchcock was fascinated with psychoanalysis and it figures significantly in a number of films in one form or another. On the other hand, Wood also revisits many of the same films in the newer material and while the observations are always interesting, they are, at best just as overblown as some of his original inflated claims for Hitchcock as well.
Hitchcock's Films still stands as an essential read for Hitchcock fans and film students but much of what Wood has to say should be taken with a grain of salt. Wood frequently becomes so anayltical that he loses touch with the power and joy in Hitchcock's craft. Hitchcock's films are as much about his technique as they are about the themes that fascinated him. Hitchcock's Films isn't a bad book; it's a book that needs to be read by someone who has already developed enough critical skills to recognize when the author's arguements have become as full of hot air as a balloon.
Like all the hyperbole written about an important artistic figure, Wood's book has a number of noteable insights but, again, he reads more into the material than is there sometimes. I much prefer Patrick McGilligan's fine biography of Hitchcock. McGilligan manages to mix his observations with comments from people who actually were involved in the making of the films. We get insight from the artist's that collaborated with Hitchcock vs. second hand observations from someone sitting in a darkened cinema.
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