Book Description
The massive political, economic, and social changes China has undergone during the past decade have dramatically altered its cultural landscape. The exhibition New Photography from China and its catalogue offer the first comprehensive look at the body of photographic art produced during this period. Often ambitious in scale and experimental in nature, the works featured in New Photography From China encompass a wide range of highly individual responses to these unprecedented transformations.
Essays by co-curators and distinguished scholars Christopher Phillips and Wu Hung examine the recent history and current status of photography in China. Also included are artist interviews conducted by Melissa Chiu, Lisa Corrin, and Stephanie Smith; artists' biographies; and a bibliography. Many of these artists will be introduced to the American public for the first time. This catalogue is a valuable resource for art and cultural historians, students, or anyone interested in contemporary Asian art.
Book Description
In the past, the present, or the future, life is grim and often short for the few who protect the many, usually for little pay, less gratitude, and dim prospects of growing old.
*A squadron of fighter spacecraft, their mother ship destroyed, are lost in the interstellar void, with little hope of finding their way home.
*A Roman soldier, serving both his emperor and creatures beyond his comprehension, must destroy a usurper who is the catspaw for beings from another world with very unpleasant plans for this one.
*Two battle-scarred Vietnam veterans battle the insectoid horror abducting humans for a purpose to which death is infinitely preferable.
*The alien enemy at war with humans and their allies has blown up Halley's comet. Can Earth uncover the reason for this apparently meaningless act before it's too late?
*And two new Hammer's Slammers adventures.
Soldiers battling throughout space and time, as only David Drake can portray them, doing what they have to do to keep the darkness away from hearth and home, even if they have little chance of surviving to return there.
Customer Reviews:
Mixed bag.......2007-05-06
I have read most of David Drake's novels and many of his more recent short stories. This anthology contains older stories, including some that he classifies as horror. I had read two of the stories before, but the others were new to me.
Unsurprisingly, the early stories lack the polish of his later works. Some stories tie into later series or characters, which fans may find interesting. The standalone stories were of equal quality to the tie-in stories.
I give the book 3 stars because I'm not a die-hard Drake fan, and some of the stories were not well-written. (Die-hard Drake fans should add one star.) Despite the rating, I do not regret buying the book: none of the stories were klunkers.
Book Description
In the early 1990s, three young people attracted to the ambitious global peacekeeping work of the UN cross paths in Cambodia. Andrew, a child of missionaries and a New Zealand-trained doctor, strives for a better world through medicine. Heidi, a New York social worker, is in need of a new challenge and a better paycheck. Ken, fresh from Harvard Law and full of idealism, is searching for a meaningful career. As the Cold War ends and the new world order dawns, as the peacekeeping community in Phnom Pehn throws wild parties-the three become friends for life. In this powerful, devastatingly honest memoir, Andrew, Heidi, and Ken mingle their distinct voices and experiences to paint a searing portrait of life amidst war and genocide. Andrew's journey takes him to Haiti, and then to Rwanda and Bosnia. Heidi and Ken are posted together in Somalia, during the infamous Black Hawk Down incident. Each of them risks death and, one way or another, survives. As their stories interweave, the trio reveals a dangerous world of witnessed atrocities, mass graves, desperate loneliness , and primal desires. By day they work in brutal war zones; by night they stave off fear and futility with revelry, in sex, in any human connection in a frightening world. Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures is a startling celebration of the strength of the human spirit-and the gritty power of friendship to keep you alive.
Customer Reviews:
Could have been so much better.......2007-07-22
Saving lives while putting yours under risk sounds like the perfect material for a compelling memoir and the juicy title of this one sounds like it would deliver in spades. However I was ultimately disappointed by "Emergency Sex".
The book is written by three aid workers: Ken, a recent Harvard graduate; Heidi, a social worker from New York; and Richard, an idealistic doctor from New Zealand. The three meet initially when they are all working in Cambodia and their stories intersect as they work together and separately on assignment in various `90s trouble spots: Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda, Bosnia. The book is written by each of them in turn and the pace is quick and lively. Parts are exciting (the description of being in Somalia when the Black Hawk helicopter was downed) or very moving (the description of the terrible atrocities in Rwanda and Liberia).
So it's an interesting read but somehow it failed to grab me. The book does convey what its like to be an aid worker: alternating fear, adrenalin, exhaustion, hopelessness, cynicism and only very occasionally the sense that you've made a small difference to the world. It certainly gives the flavor of how terrible things were in these places and how the UN could have done things better. However the three personalities never rang true for me. I didn't feel that I got to know these people. As another reviewer has commented, they all sounded curiously alike and I got the sense that Ken perhaps penned all three stories. Heidi's story was too much Ken's fantasy of the girl with the limpid eyes and the active sexual appetite. Richards's story was also Ken's fantasy of the heroic and noble doctor who windsurfed in his spare time. I'm not saying that these aren't real people, just that they never leapt off the page and became real to me.
Perhaps because of this, or perhaps because the nature of aid work is such that it's one long grind, the book dragged along for me. While I didn't mind it, I never felt the urge to pick it up and read more. I felt several times that I could have skipped 100 pages here or there and it wouldn't have made much difference. Really, you could flip open the book in a bookstore, read a few pages here and there, and get the flavor of the entire piece. It's not a bad book by any stretch, but it could have been better with judicious editing.
LOVED this book.......2007-07-13
I really enjoyed this book. I was hard-pressed to put it down. I am an avid reader and politics/history person yet at times I still found my self appauled that some of the things discussed in the book never made it to light in the media. We all know how the media is - they report locally not globally. It was so refreshing to hear the personal accounts of 3 individuals about what their lives were really like living in these war-torn areas. Average citizens should be so lucky to be informed of these unfortunate events. It's a huge wake up call....
5-star stories. 3-star writers........2007-04-09
I picked up this book and read it, almost compulsively, during a trip to Cambodia earlier this year. Structured as interspersed diary entries of three people who become involved in one way or another in the big moments of UN interventions from 93 on -- democracy to Cambodia, Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda, Bosnia...
Although lacking the narrative skills of more accomplished writers or the insightful introspection of truly self-aware diarists, you cannot help but develop an understanding (no matter how objectionable) to the different characters, their motivations and the different ways they choose to react to and cope with the overwhelming reality of the horrors that surround them.
Andrew is a doctor driven by a genuinely humanitarian streak; all the more poignant for his painful shyness which seems to make him unable to relate to others as strongly as he relates to humanity as a race. Ken's motivation seems to be a desire to live up to quixotic ideals which he wants others to acknowledge -- feels can best be served through his involvement in the humanitarian work. Heidi appears a shallow narcissist who deals with her own insecurities with a dominating personality and a self-destructive hedonism and abandonment that seems to be only heightened by an impending feeling of doom.
Overall, the stories are riveting. Deeply personal moments sprinkle what little gems of unexpectedly prescient insights -- the mistakes of the "international community" and NGOs in handling the crises, the lack of many shades of gray and the impersonal amorality and frailties of many of the people who we would hold to a higher standard.
But perhaps what I found most powerful was the creeping realization -- almost imperceptible -- of the futility of the whole thing. Spirits are high at the start of the book, the sense of purpose almost messianic. But as the stakes climb and the disappointments become harder to justify, the very real limitations of human interventions and the personal toll they take on those who are asked to be involved become apparent. There is a numb feeling of nothingness as the book draws out and the reader is left with a numb emptiness as he realises how little there is left to hope for.
The ending of the book is an awkward attempt at closure (with some interesting words by Ken) but overall suffers from the limited skills of the authors. However, purely for the benefit of the experiences they lived and the lessons they learnt, the book is worth a read.
Oh, and as most others point out, Heidi's sexual exploits (from where the book gets its title) are as sordid and pitiable as they are unnecessary.
Intense Reality Check of History in Our Lifetime.......2006-12-29
This book was absolutely amazing. Written as a memoir from three different perspectives (twenty-somethings working for the UN with widely various backgrounds), the use of point of view is incredible and adds significant insight into the characters and the different aspects of world conflict through the nineties.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in world events or anyone who hates history because it's boring. The detail of character and plot development provide such an interesting foreground for the tumultuous, wartime background that you almost don't even realizing you're learning about real historical events.
Please read this book. It will open your eyes and entertain your socks off.
A gripping, candid story of wartime events which refutes popular myth........2006-12-13
Here's a winner: a book which reads with all the high drama and action of fiction, but which is a nonfiction first-person story of three U.N. Peacekeepers who exposed atrocities during a decade of peacekeeping missions. This book received much acclaim in hardcover: its paperback rendition includes a new afterword by the authors and provides readers with a gripping, candid story of wartime events which refutes popular myth.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Product Description
3 parts in 1 book,CD included with the book
Customer Reviews:
The Thich Nhat Hanh Collection.......2005-09-05
This book is a collection of 3 books put together by Bookspan and One Spirit Press by arrangement with Bantam Books and Parralax Press. Included is "Peace Is Every Step" edited by Arnold Kotler with an introduction by Dalia Lama, "Teachings On Love" edited by Arnold Kotler, and "The Stone Boy and Other Stories" which is a collection of 10 stories, some taken from "The Pine Gate" and "The Moon Bamboo", with illustrations by Vo-Dinh Mai and Nyuyen Thi Hop.
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- Some Advice For Prospective Readers
- The Best thing next to a time machine
- Cat Club Review: www.freewebs.com/hlgstrider
- Daunting, but splendid!
- probably the most serviceable in English
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War and Peace, Second Edition (Norton Critical Editions)
Leo Tolstoy
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
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Crime and Punishment (Enriched Classics)
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Anna Karenina (Signet Classics)
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Anna Karenina (Oprah's Book Club)
ASIN: 039396647X |
Book Description
Three-Volume Boxed Set
Download Description
Tolstoy's classic, complete and unabridged.
Customer Reviews:
Some Advice For Prospective Readers.......2007-09-29
Truth be told, I am nowhere near finishing this gargantuan tome, and if I ever do get through it I might end up giving it a five star rating. But for now, I thought I would go ahead and post a few suggestions for the person considering tackling this novel. These are drawn from my impressions based upon what I have read thus far, and I hope they help prepare you. Here's my list of tips:
- I suggest making notes (I'm not kidding). I realize you might not
feel like taking the trouble, but I'm telling you that the myriad of
Russian names & characters is staggering, and a few notes jotted down
as things unfold (especially a list of characters) can help you keep
track far better.
- Make a firm but manageable plan as to when you're going to find time
to read this work. If this is not done, it's definitely the kind of
book that will very likely end up unread. Random snatches here and
there won't cut it.
- Become a patient reader, letting Tolstoy tell his grand story at his
own pace. This is no Agatha Christie! If you give it time, though, I
think you'll eventually find the author's overall sweep magnificent.
- Finally, realize this. It has been said that with Russian authors,
the more you get to know them the less you know them. In other words,
there is something a bit strange (or unique) about them which you
might not always care for. Almost hard to put your finger on. My
advice would simply be not to let this aspect of their literature keep
you from seeing its considerable virtues.
For example, one virtue of this novel that I have not seen mentioned is how effectively and poignantly it brings out the element of confusion in war. It is not just a matter of sharp strategies, brutal conflict, etc. In the midst of matters of life and death, there is plenty of madcap absurdity mixed in as well, purely unintentionally. Was it not a dash of genius on Tolstoy's part to notice, think of, and include this often-overlooked, seemingly incongruous aspect of human warfare? You get that kind of thing with Leo.
The Best thing next to a time machine.......2007-09-16
This novel presents you an image of what the life of European upper classes was like in the 19th century, their never ending parties and balls, their courtships, the perennial presence of war. It's interesting to observe how the persons were full-fledged adults by their late teens. And it was accepted as a normal thing that your children could die at any moment, be it in combat, for the sons, or during child labour if they were daughters.
This novel has as a background the Napoleonic Wars and several historical characters have intermittent cameos like Emperors Napoleon and Alexander, their generals, etc.
There is also an interesting mention to Freemasonry and its rites. It's thick as a brick, do not despair, continue reading, even if it is some pages every day, at the end you'll enjoy it.
Cat Club Review: www.freewebs.com/hlgstrider.......2007-07-13
I do not actually own War and Peace, but I thought I'd point out that I have read it. This is me saying, "I have read it!" It took me about six months and I am still not really sure what the point is, but I have read it. It was a matter of pride.
I am not a slow reader usually. I read Crime and Punishment in two days. However, I couldn't read Tolstoy's master work in long sessions, only in small, bite sized portions, one every other day or so. This is why I somewhat un-affectionately refer to this book as War in Pieces. Now, I have been told that this is a book that you don't really get when you are young but later on when you have lived life if you come back to it and read it all over again it makes a lot more sense and is a lot more interesting. . .so maybe I should wait and pick it up again in fifteen years, but still. . .what was the plot? Why was Pierre the main character when everyone else was so much more interesting? Why didn't they kill Pierre and let Andrei live? I liked Andrei. Why didn't they spend more time doing things rather than talking about doing them? Why did it take me six months to chop through that thing. . .why why why why why. . .
So, I only give it a two, but who knows. In fifteen years I might change my mind, so stay posted.
Daunting, but splendid!.......2007-06-26
"so well bound that it will lie open at any page" haha not quite, unless you've read it a few times.
I enjoyed the introduction to the book, to Tolstoy, the translation, characters etc... and the quick references in both back and front, which made it simple to look something up during those times when my head was swimming in a sea of names and places.
Since I do not know French I would often read near a computer with the Babel Fish translation web site up for quick decoding. I imagine a French-English dictionary would have sufficed. If you do not know French (like a few of us out there) then a reference is a must because most of the first half of this book you will be confronted by many French terms and phrases and if you have no idea what they're saying then the impact of the story kinda gets lost momentarily. Having to translate with this book made it that much more fun and interesting, I hadn't realized how enjoyable it could be to get that envolved into a story.
This took me aprox. 3 weeks of on and off reading, and the sheer size of it can be intimidating, but it is a superb read, with detailed historical accounts accompanied by Tolstoy's educated opinions (not your average novel). The depth of the characters is wonderful, although I find the aristocratic life to be a little odd and facetious at times.
probably the most serviceable in English.......2007-05-25
The Oxford World's Classics edition of "War and Peace" is the one I find myself coming back to whenever the need arises to sink into Tolstoy's novel again. I have tried others but I am most comfortable with this version.
What you're looking at here is the entire novel, unabridged, in one volume: the previous Oxford's World Classics edition of "War and Peace" was two volumes, but was entirely the same text, including the footnotes.
They've used the Louise and Aylmer Maude translation, which reads fluidly enough, except that it uses British English, including a lot of British slang, the intended effect of which, I imagine, will fall flat on an American ear.
As for the footnotes, the ones here were done by Henry Gifford, and they work as follows: next to each glossed term in the text, there appears an asterisk. In the back of the book are the corresponding annotations; there are no notes in the running text itself. The footnotes are well done and literate, but Gifford seems a bit stingy with them: there are only 26 pages of them for the entire text!
One thing I kind of wish is that Gifford had glossed the ubiquitous British slang that peppers this translation. This would help out many readers (especially American ones) considerably, but the folks at Oxford University Press would probably take a dim view of such charity.
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Ain't Gonna Study War No More: The Story of America's Peace Seekers
Milton Meltzer
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
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ASIN: 0375822607
Release Date: 2002-07-23 |
Book Description
The Story of America’s Peace Seekers
While terrorists kill in pursuit of their goals, there are people whose goal is never to kill, no matter what the situation. Here, Milton Meltzer explores Americans’ long tradition of pacifism. From the Quakers of colonial times to the conscientious objectors of Vietnam, Americans have risked much to stand against violence in any and every form. First published in 1985, Ain’t Gonna Study War No More is now fully updated and revised by the author.
Book Description
In his own quest for sobriety and happiness, AA author Mel B. found continual hope and inspiration in the classical writings of James Allen and Henry Drummond on the spiritual life, and in meditation on the deeper spiritual meaning of the famous Peace Prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. He has reprinted all three of these in this present volume, with his own introductions and commentaries to aid the modern reader.
James Allen's As a Man Thinketh teaches us that our lives are governed and shaped by the way we think, feel, speak, and act. We discover that we are always masters of our fate: when our thoughts are wrong, our lives necessarily become wrong.
Henry Drummond's The Greatest Thing in the World, a commentary on I Corinthians 13, is a short book on the true nature of Love--eternal and all-powerful, surviving anything we now see in our world. He describes in detail how the simple ways we act towards ourselves and others are actually ingredients of the Divine Love itself.
The St. Francis Prayer, which A.A.'s Bill W. found so valuable in his own struggle with the Dark Night of the Soul, makes it clear that true Peace can be found only within ourselves. It shows us step by step how to change our inner attitudes and goals to achieve the only kind of serenity and satisfaction in our lives that can endure.
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Suppose They Gave a Peace and Other Stories (Five Star First Edition Science Fiction and Fantasy Series)
Susan Shwartz
Manufacturer: Five Star (ME)
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ASIN: 0786241667 |
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Ain't Gonna Study War No More: The Story of America's Peace Seekers
Milton Meltzer
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
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ASIN: 0060242000 |
Books:
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- Blue Skies, Black Wings: African American Pioneers of Aviation
- Britannia's Children: Emigration from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales since 1600
- Building a Digital Human (Graphics Series) (Graphics Series)
- Cheyenne Again
- Chief Marin: Leader, Rebel, and Legend
- Claude Lorrain--The Painter as Draftsman: Drawings from the British Museum (Clark Art Institute)
- Comanche Moon
- Conservation Is Our Government Now: The Politics of Ecology in Papua New Guinea (New Ecologies for the Twenty-First Century)
- Countdown: A History of Space Flight
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