Book Description
When a heart attack claimed Bert Boyle's husband in 1970, the forty-six-year-old housewife and mother of three found herself at the helm of Columbia Sportswear, a small and financially struggling outerwear manufacturer in Portland, Oregon. With no business experience whatsoever, Boyle was faced with the challenge running Columbia, which had been founded in 1937 by her father-a Jewish immigrant who fled Hitler's Germany to come to America. Though many expected Boyle to fail, she and her son Tim persevered, and kept the business afloat through very challenging times. In 1970, Columbia Sportswear boasted forty employees and $800,000 in annual sales. Under the leadership of Gert and Tim Boyle, the company now has more than two thousand employees, annual sales approaching one billion dollars, and is the leading seller of skiwear in the United States. And thanks to a creative advertising campaign that billed her as "one tough mother," Gert Boyle has become an icon in her industry, and she is the first woman ever inducted into the International Sporting Goods Hall of Fame. In ONE TOUGH MOTHER, Boyle presents and honest, open, and often irreverent account of her truly remarkable journey from a childhood in Nazi Germany to fame and fortune in America. Boyle offers insights into succeeding in business and in life, and shares many of the advertisements and strategies that have made her so recognizable. Her story is one that will inspire anyone who dreams of turning a small business into a bigger business, as well as individuals who find themselves facing circumstances beyond their control.
Customer Reviews:
Quick bites of inspiration........2006-05-30
If you're looking for a hard hitting business manual, or even a thorough history of Columbia Sportswear, look elsewhere. But if you're looking for a very quick read full of no-nonesense advice, straight talk and a few laughs, then this is for you.
Gert Boyle, from what I read here, is rather straight forward. She won't get all gushy about management approaches, philosophies and the like. Truth is, her manual would read something like this: work hard, use your head and when you aren't smart enough to figure something out, at least be smart enough to find someone else who can. And that's what I found refreshing about this quick entertaining read.
Thank God for this book.......2005-12-02
I was lucky enough to have this book with me on a recent accounting seminar. Thank God for that. It is a very quick read, and does not offer many details about the specific challenges the business faced.
But it is still very inspirational, funny and informative. It is a great book to give as a gift to someone that is feeling a little down or needs more motivation.
I love stories like this because they prove that persistence and sucess go hand in hand.
Great history....but incomplete storytelling.......2005-08-30
The Columbia Sportswear story is one of the most compelling business building stories of our time. However, this books is a totally incomplete treatise. It is well written and somewhat captivating, but way too summarized if you expect to learn anything useful. It is a waste of time to read, although you'll only have to waste 20 minutes to read the entire book.
Outstanding book!.......2005-08-23
What a wonderful treat to read about Gert Boyle's unique life. It's not only about success in business, but it's about triumph, history, the Pacific Northwest, advertising and motherhood. It's a great way to learn how to live a meaningful life!
The best part about this book is that all of Gert's royalties will be donated to CASA and the Special Olympics. It's an all around feel great experience.
One Tough Mother.......2005-08-08
By the time you finish the book, you feel as if you are having a one on one meeting with Gert. It's a fast read -- and even has great illustrations from past advertising campaigns. It feels good to read a book with a happy ending -- and shows that hard work, listening to others, and caring is what it takes to succeed. I too have a business and have gone through hard times. Gert's words made me think I can still pull myself up, dust myself off and get where I want to go. I have purchased 4 additional copies and have already sent them off to business friends of mine.
It's not a Harvard Business School type of book. Some may find it too short and sweet. I found it delicious -- (and I don't mean just the recipe).
Book Description
The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest cultural institution and a great repository of both intellectual and cultural treasures. This is the first popular illustrated history of the Library of Congress. It is more than an account of the careers of thirteen men (only one of whom was actually trained as a librarian), this is the story of discovering the great body of knowledge housed in the LOC and how it came to be there. Conaway has written a very accessible cultural history of the Library of Congress, complete with lively illustrations that begin to hint at the richness and diversity of collections available to the public. The LOC's amazingly wide-ranging collections (fire insurance maps, Cold War documents, folk music, Eames Collection of Design, Leonard Bernstein Archives, WPA/FPA photographs, the contents of Lincoln's pockets the night he was assassinated, etc.) are represented in the illustrations. The LOC is a favorite tourist attraction and reference (1 million visitors a year; the Library's website is visited by 1 million users a day).
Customer Reviews:
Superb introduction and history of the Library of Congress........2000-08-04
The American Library of Congress holds over 110 million items - many of them unique and priceless - and this charts the history of the Library and its holdings, from its initial 740-book collection begun in 1800 to its miles of bookshelves today. Vintage photos and illustrations pack a presentation which is a 'must' for any who would understand American book history.
Book Description
With more than two hundred entries by leading intellectuals in the French- and English-speaking world, this new volume presents the authoritative guide to twentieth-century French thought. Unrivaled in its scope and depth, The Columbia History of Twentieth-Century French Thought covers and critiques the intellectual figures, movements, and publications that helped shape and define fields as diverse as history and historiography, psychoanalysis, film, literary theory, cognitive and life sciences, literary criticism, philosophy, and economics. The contributors also discuss developments in French thought on such subjects as pacifism, fashion, gastronomy, technology, and urbanism.
More than just a reference volume, The Columbia History of Twentieth-Century French Thought offers original and imaginative explorations of a variety of topics. Contributors include prominent French thinkers, many of whom have played an integral role in the development of French thought, and American, British, and Canadian scholars who have been vital in the dissemination of French ideas. The book brings together such pairings as
Etienne Balibar on Althusser;
Jean Baudrillard on the futures of theory;
Judith Butler on Hegel in France;
Régis Debray on mediology;
Julia Kristeva on Proust;
Michael Morange on the life sciences;
Paul Ricoeur on ethics;
Elisabeth Roudinesco on psychoanalysis; and
Roger Shattuck on humanisms.
The book is divided into four parts:
Movements and Currents (including all the major schools of thought, such as the Annales, deconstruction, Gaullism, négritude, the New Right, psychoanalysis, and structuralism);
Themes (ideas that helped define intellectual work in the twentieth century, such as anti-Semitism, the avant-garde, everyday life, film theory, and nationalism);
Intellectuals (including critical accounts of the lives and work of such figures as Aron, Barthes, de Beauvoir, Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault, Irigaray, Kristeva, Levinas, and Proust); and
Dissemination (covering influential journals, television shows, radio programs, and newspapers).
Customer Reviews:
How to make sense of some important 20th century intellectual movements.......2006-04-05
This is an incredibly well organized and thought through reference book, not only for Francophiles, but also for everyone who is interested in - or even confused by - some of the most intriguing and complex intellectual and literary movements of the 20th century.
More than 200 articles have been written by Anglo-Saxon and French-speaking academics and non-academics. They cover 30 movements more than 60 themes, and profile around 110 intellectuals. The last part of this 787-page book touches on the role of media in the French intellectual life, from newspaper to radio and TV, via journals.
The style is enticing and to-the-point (well done to the group of editors). And each article provides a short list of useful references for those who want to learn more.
I can't see any drawback - definitely a 5-star volume.
Book Description
The 1960s continue to be the subject of passionate debate and political controversy, a touchstone in struggles over the meaning of the American past and the direction of the American future. Amid the polemics and the myths, making sense of the Sixties and its legacies presents a challenge. This book is for all those who want to take it on. Because there are so many facets to this unique and transformative era, this volume offers multiple approaches and perspectives.
The first section gives a lively narrative overview of the decade's major policies, events, and cultural changes. The second presents ten original interpretative essays from prominent historians about significant and controversial issues from the Vietnam War to the sexual revolution, followed by a concise encyclopedia articles organized alphabetically. This section could stand as a reference work in itself and serves to supplement the narrative. Subsequent sections include short topical essays, special subjects, a brief chronology, and finally an extensive annotated bibliography with ample information on books, films, and electronic resources for further exploration.
With interesting facts, statistics, and comparisons presented in almanac style as well as the expertise of prominent scholars, The Columbia Guide to America in the 1960s is the most complete guide to an enduringly fascinating era.
Customer Reviews:
Comprehensive Purview Of the Fascinating 1960s!.......2003-11-24
Aging baby-boomers like myself can rest more easily; herein one discovers a wonderful effort, which succeeds marvelously in accurately and faithfully recounting and retelling the somewhat convoluted and always multi-currented tenor of the times for the 1960s. Given the massive neo-conservative effort to discredit the theoretical positions and social ethos of the sixties generation, it is terrific to have such a carefully researched and meticulously documented effort as is "The Columbia Guide To America In The 1960s" to give greater voice and renewed verve and credibility to the ideas and theoretical positions that arose from the ongoing new-left critique of mainstream society that emanated from the events of that storied decade. Authors David Farber and Beth Bailey are both academics with considerable expertise in the area of contemporary 20th century history, and this aplomb with the facts and the sense of the times is fascinating to plow through on both an intellectual and also an emotional level. This is scholarship well done!
It does one well to remember that the sixties decade and what came out of it are both subjects of serious disagreements as well as continuing controversy, given the attempt by the right wing to define the ideas stemming from those times as bogus and discredited. Therefore, making sense of all that is brought back to the surface in this book represents a considerable effort, but it is hard to deny such an effort to make sense of a time with so many crosscurrents and so much social, cultural, and political turbulence is well worth the effort. Therefore, the book is organized around several different perspectives and approaches. In the first section, we are presented with a well-developed and intricately organized narrative that superbly covers the waterfront of the era's most significant events, policies, and changes. The second part of the book is organized around ten different essay efforts by well-regarded contemporary historians on various salient aspects of the decade, ranging from the counterculture, the civil rights movement, the sexual revolution, and of course, the war in Vietnam.
The net effect of the combined first and second sections is to give us a much more comprehensive and detailed understanding of both the issues and events on the one hand, and how they fit into the mosaic of the sixties, on the other hand. Subsequent section also add to the overall contribution of the book, by giving us shorter essays on other aspects of the era, subjects of particualr interest to each of the authors, and a terrific extended bibliography for those of us interested in further exploring the eddies and currents of various aspects of the decade in question. It fairly well smashes revisionist interpretations of the era into smithereens by exposing them for the solipsistic efforts at refashioning the truth that they are, and does so while educating and entertaining us on an number of levels at one. This is a great book, and one I can recommend to anyone interested in learning more about the most fascinating decade of the 20th century. Enjoy!
Book Description
Firsthand accounts and photographs chronicle the restoration of the White House during the Kennedy Administration.
Designing Camelot recounts one of the most influential interior design projects in American history, the restoration of the White House during the Kennedy administration. Fueled by the intense fascination with the charismatic First Family, the project had a profound effect on the popular American imagination and taste in interior furnishings. Emphasizing the historic restoration of each room and the efforts to have these rooms reflect the personalities and tastes of Jack and Jackie, Designing Camelot features a wealth of first-person quotations, personal and public correspondence, media accounts, and photographs. Included are detailed room-by-room analyses of the restoration, anecdotes about the people involved, and insights into the choices made.
James Abbot (Baltimore, MD) is currently Curator of Decorative Arts at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Elaine Rice (Wilmington, DE) is an independent consultant on American fine and decorative arts.
Customer Reviews:
Spectactular.......2006-04-08
James Abbot and Elaine Rice are right on the money! This book entails the Kennedy restoration of the White House during 1961 - 1963. Much research has gone in to producing an excellent history that otherwise would be lost. Great photographs of the Kennedy White House as well. I can say this book is a treasure for both Kennedy and White House enthusiasts alike. I have had this book for several years and still find myself picking it up.
Classic Lady, Classic Designer, Classic Book........2004-03-21
James Abbott and Elaine Rice have documented the blueprinting and designing of much more than rooms in the White House. The title says it all. Camelot was about all things Kennedy Administration. Navy suits and Limousines were younger and more progressive. Presentations on the lawn for visiting heads of states by far surpassed the ho-hum receptions at the train station. No detail of Camelot, the White House public rooms and the family quarters escaped scrutiny of Jackie, Sister Parrish and Boudin. Jackie even designed the ash stands with Boudin's help.
I don't understand the criticism of this book as dry or wordy. It's a book. It's a narrative, not a coffee table book. Tomes have been printed and documented of the restored rooms, before and after. The photos are what they were. In this world of colorized movies, Photoshopped magazine covers and remastered music, Abbott and Rice have given us the plain unvarnished way it was, warts and all. I found the background very interesting. It was a collaborative effort between the committee, Jackie, Sister Parrish and Boudin, with a giant does of Henry duPont thrown in. Any one person could have completely changed the way the great house looked, but Jackie rescued the building from it's Gimbell's basement look. It remains generally true to her vision, even though eight First Ladies have imprinted on it. This country would not exist if not for the help of France during the Revolution. It influenced this country greatly and I see nothing wrong with the influence. No one criticized Mamie Eisenhower for the his and hers tvs in the wall or the Mamie Pink.
I enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it to anyone.
not enough for the money.......2003-05-17
The writing is dry. The pictures are not the best and it fails to show whnat the White House looked like before the restoration. Everyone says that it looked horrible so why not give the reader a taste of what was so wrong with it? If you can find the White House guidebook that was produced to pay for the restoration read that instead. It has much betters photos.
Superb!.......2001-06-25
A superb survey of the White House decor of President & Mrs. Kennedy. The book documents the ideas, process, decisions and choices behind the stunning interiors of the Kennedy White House-both the public and private rooms. What comes through the text is Mrs. Kennedy's leadership and vision - combining taste, history, beauty and great cunning - just to create and then manage this melange of egos, talent and intelligence was an accomplishment, and the results live on today (albeit not as beautifully or artistically). We all gained a greater knowledge and appreciation of our nation's historic and artistic past because of Mrs. Kennedy's work.
I've corresponded with Mr. Abbott and he's been most kind and interesting. He assisted in the current show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years," and there's a number of items on display relating to the White House decorations.
Read the book, catch the exhibit (it moves to the JFK Library in Boston in the fall).
Wordy and Disappointing.......2001-05-15
I was very disappointed with this book. I found the writing style dry and the photographs/layout just not up to par. It almost seemed like somebody's thesis with som photos thrown in. Somebody needs to do a large format picture book on this subject with more about Jackie!
Book Description
Architecture Culture 1943-1968 is an anthology of seventy-four international documents with critical commentary. Both a sourcebook and a companion history of architecture, the volume traces the evolution of modern architecture from the midst of the Second World War to the student revolts of May '68. Many of the selections are from hard-to-find sources, and some are translated into English for the first time. Readers will discover a rich and illuminating array of material from a period crucial to understanding the present time.
Customer Reviews:
inside theory.......2007-01-15
This books is a must have for any architect or urbanist interested in theory.
excellent anthology.......2005-12-19
An excellent compendium of writing from that period. Unlike KM Hayes' book covering a later period, the selections were made with the wisdom that comes with almost 30 years of hindsight and is less about the time in which it was published (90s).
Customer Reviews:
Latin American Modernism from Washington DC.......2007-10-08
This is a fine catalogue in general, but the description of the art of Carlos Alfonso creates a strange impression of this great artist's work. After reading the description you'd think that his paintings give off a sense angst and even powerful agitation. After seeing the great Carlos Alfonso show at the Freedom Tower in Miami during the Art Basel Miami Beach 2006, I can say that the effect is one of sublime beauty and fantastic imagination. That he
uses images like daggers and other imaginary-occult symbols certainly does not mean anything about violence and it seems silly to suggest it does. Alfonso was simply a great artist, who happened to be Cuban, thus the images from Santeria and the like. I suspect what lies behind the misreading of his art as hugely angst-ridden
is a crypto-political point about his status as an Cuban exile. All great artists are alike in taking the accidents of life and making them something more. Crypto-politics almost never have produced great art. Alfonso had a health problem and had suffered from political viscisssitudes of our time, but the angst this might have created are not the source of his art. The Freedom Tower show, as well as the Hirshhorn show in Washignton DC a few years ago make this very clear.
Smithsonian teaser.......2003-06-18
How do you highlight 200 years of Latino art in the United States and Puerto Rico in a book from a world renowned collection? Well you don't do it in a 108 page book from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Having visited the said museum it is a pity that this small book is an offering they produced to represent the vast collection. The book uses the term "highlights" but it is just not enough. It is like a variety of crackers offered in a fine restaurant; it'll hold you over but not satisfy your hunger. The collected pictures are beautifully presented accompanied by very short analysis of the piece and usually a paragraph about the artist. If you like looking at a few nice pieces than this book will do.This book is like fast food for the art aficionado. Since the represented art is in various media it results in a disjointed but varied whole. Most of the featured artists in the book are contemporary but there is the occasional misplaced unknown colonial artist or noted 19th century santero Felipe de la Espada that just doesn't fit or do justice to the subject. There is a lack of continuity and thematic cohesion with the book. When the book is thread together it is when the art of New Mexico artists are featured , most notably the works of santeros and wood carvers, George Lopez, Gloria Lopez Cordova, Luis Tapia, Horacio Valdez, Jose Benito Ortega, Ramon lopez, George Lopez, Felix Lopez(yes, it a long family line of Lopez santeros) and Patrocino Barela. Again the problem here is that they are placed between other media like oils, acrylics, fiberglass, woven cotten rug, colored pencil, granite and silver prints for a resulting weird representaion. The book has no chapters and unfortunately it could have used them. This book just scratches the surface and falls short. This book is for someone just beginning on their quest for knowledge about Latino art. Possbly from this point you can depart to finding out more about some of these artists but this book is only a starting point. If you are looking for a Latino art appetizer than this book is for you, otherwise look elsewhere to satisfy your appetite.
Contemporary Latinos Productions.......2001-11-30
This is a great source book of contemporary art productions which includes contemporary Latino artists. The selection of art represented is varied and the text gives readers sufficient background for understanding the works. Very colorful and clear photographs of the works are each full-page sized with a full page of text next to each to help capture the image and short biographies and artistic interpretations of the artists at the turn of each page.
Average customer rating:
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The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
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ASIN: 0231140320 |
Book Description
A wholly unique A to Z reference for modern drama, this authoritative encyclopedia differs from others in highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of drama by placing playwrights and plays within their social, cultural, and historical contexts. Over 450 leading scholars provide students, general readers, and scholars with clearly written and concise entries that steer clear of technical jargon while also offering advanced readers new perspectives on familiar figures, movements, trends, issues, and texts. The Encyclopedia concentrates on drama in the literary sense rather than as performance.
The scope of this encyclopedia is truly global. The editors follow the development of modern theater in both Western Europe (England, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Italy, Ireland, France, Spain) and Eastern Europe; in Russia, China, Japan, India, and all of Southeast Asia; in Australia and New Zealand; in the United States and Canada; in Latin America, Africa, and in the Yiddish language. Entries are at least 500 words, richly researched and innovatively written. In "Brecht" the playwright's central themes and theories on theater are contextualized within the story of his exile, which paints a larger portrait of the cultural and political state of Europe at the time. In "Spain" the stories of certain theaters and prominent playwrights, such as Federico Garcia Lorca, are woven within the history of the country itself. And a colorful look at "Off Broadway" emphasizes the importance of theater economics and reveals its influence in shaping the development of drama.
The history of modern drama is quickly becoming a popular area of study. The Encyclopedia of Modern Drama is a comprehensive and original approach to understanding this history and a powerful tool in reinforcing the vital role of drama in the intellectual and artistic life of the last 150 years.
Book Description
The Black Washingtonians
THE ANACOSTIA MUSEUM ILLUSTRATED CHRONOLOGY
A history of African American life in our nation's capital, in words and pictures
From the Smithsonian Institution's renowned Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture comes this elegantly illustrated, beautifully written, fact-filled history of the African Americans who have lived, worked, struggled, prospered, suffered, and built a vibrant community in Washington, D.C.
This striking volume puts the resources of the world's finest museum of African American history at your fingertips. Its hundreds of photographs, period illustrations, and documents from the world-famous collections at the Anacostia and other Smithsonian museums take you on a fascinating journey through time from the early eighteenth century to the present.
Featuring a thoughtful foreword by Eleanor Holmes Norton and an afterword by Howard University's E. Ethelbert Miller, The Black Washingtonians introduces you to a host of African American men and women who have made the city what it is today and explores their achievements in politics, business, education, religion, sports, entertainment, and the arts.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful Compilation.......2006-01-13
I was raised in Washington, DC so this book is particularly close to my heart. It chronicles more than 300 years of black history in the nation's capital. From stories about slavery to the March on Washington, DC has a strong and varied African American history. It is arranged chronologically, with interesting tidbits and mini profiles on the sides. The pictures alone tell a wonderful story. A great addition to any history buff's shelf!
Book Description
The first in-depth study of the political, social, and cultural history of juvenile delinquency in modern Japan, Bad Youth treats the policing of urban youth as a crucial site for the development of new state structures and new forms of social power. Focusing on the years of rapid industrialization and imperialist expansion (1895 to 1945), David R. Ambaras challenges widely held conceptions of a Japan that did not, until recently, experience delinquency and related youth problems. He vividly reconstructs numerous individual life stories in the worlds of home, school, work, and the streets, and he relates the changes that took place during this time of social transformation to the broader processes of capitalist development, nation-state formation, and imperialism.
Books:
- Our History Is Still Being Written: The Story of Three Chinese-Cuban Generals in the Cuban Revolution
- Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid
- Plain Lives in a Golden Age: Popular Culture, Religion and Society in Seventeenth-Century Holland
- Ramses Volume II: The Eternal Temple
- Sinners Down the Centuries
- Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps
- The 10 Things You Should Know About the Creation vs. Evolution Debate (Rhodes, Ron)
- The 48 Laws of Power
- The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Authorized Edition)
- The Buffalo: The Story of American Bison and Their Hunters from Prehistoric Times to the Present
Books Index
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