1990 Books

As a mixed-ethnicity Bosnian who lived through this war, I must say the editors of this book were extremely well informed.
They present a set of writing from both local and foreign contributors painting a vivid picture of the true events in Bosnia and the surrounding area, as well as international reactions and the complete peace process.
The book was completed in December 1993, and came out on the market in March 1994, so it does not include the events from 1994 and later, which are also critical to understanding the war and its outcome, but I still strongly recommend it, because it is one of the best books on Bosnia of 1990-1993.

As a mixed-ethnicity Bosnian who lived through this war, I must say the editors of this book were extremely well informed.
They present a set of writings from both local and foreign contributors painting a vivid picture of the true events in Bosnia and the surrounding area, as well as international reactions and the complete peace process.
The book was completed in December 1993, and came out on the market in March 1994, so it does not include the events from 1994 and later, which are also critical to understanding the war and its outcome, but I still strongly recommend it, because it is one of the best books on Bosnia of 1990-1993.

An important collection of essays, interviews and literary texts, providing a richly varied introduction to Bosnia's multi-national and multi-cultural society, while chronicling and analysing its internationally sanctioned destruction. An ideal starting point.

A brilliant and essential collection of high-quality essays ranging from personal accounts to attempts at academic (but never dry) analysis of the components of the evil that preyed on Yugoslavia and destroyed Bosnia. A bitter criticism of the West's failure to play an equitable role informs all the essays. A remarkable achievement for the editors.

I think this book was good and interersting and to me It was a good book.This author is my only uncle and I think he is a great poet/author!!!!!!

Neal Bowers made an interesting discovery one day - one of his poems was published under someone else's name.

With this minor irritation (one never gets rich from poetry, one's own or others), Bowers began the trek down a bizarre path to try to find out who was plagiarising his work, and why. Bowers discovered a man going by the name of David Sumner, aka David Jones, who had a habit of copying the poetry from others (not only Bowers), changing the title and a first line or two, and submitting these to poetry journals, magazines and other media outlets as his own. Exactly why was unclear - any pieces of note would undoubtedly be discovered, and few publishing successes came with any kind of monetary compensation attached.

Bowers never intended to become a detective, but the trail just kept on going. Bowers actually made contact with the person, threatened legal action, abandoned because, after all, there was no money in it beyond Sumner/Jones sent to Bowers (some $600 or so that he managed to make from the poems), copies of journals from which he'd lifted poems, a marked book that showed his submission patterns - each step of the way, Sumner/Jones claimed to be operating in good faith, but there was inevitably more to be found.

What was going on?

The more Bowers dug, the more surreal the situation became. Sumner/Jones had been a teacher in Illinois and Oregon, dismissed under terrible circumstances (molestation of children from his second-grade classrooms), jailed for the actions, and strangely, focussed his plagiarism on poetry that dealt with family issues and loss. Bowers was not the only poet plagiarised - as it turned out, Sumner/Jones was successful enough to have many publishing successes, and even had poetry readings arranged.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this is near the end, the attitudes of various persons towards Bowers and his quest for some sort of justice. Journalists by and large were sympathetic, not liking the idea of someone stealing the words (the stock-in-trade of their profession) and getting away with it. But there were those in the media, including poetry journal editors, who seemed to think that Bowers was the 'bad guy' for making such a fuss. Because of the attentions of journalists, others who felt they'd been wronged (not only in plagiarism, but in other realms, too) assumed Bowers would be a kindred spirit and naturally willing to help them - Bowers' mail quadrupled, with all manner of bizarre requests.

Bowers even discovered plagiarism from his friends - one friend, a calligrapher, set some of Bowers' poems in her art, and even produced her own hand-drawn book of his poems (offered at a very high price) without permission, and perhaps more surprisingly, without any recognition that what she was doing was in any way wrong - words were hers for the taking.

In the end, the story ends the way it began - Jones/Sumner still sending out plagiarised work, now having 'graduated' to short stories. But one assumes that Bowers will let others continue the pursuit. Sumner/Jones, in finding Bowers to be a reasonable, even nice, person generally, may have focussed upon him more directly because of this. No good deed goes unpunished!

A fascinating and unexpected tale.

This is a fascinating and scary book.

WORDS FOR THE TAKING is by the poet Neal Bowers, who stumbled on one of his poems that appeared under another writer's name. After some detective work, he found out that the plagiarist, David Sumner/David Jones, had ripped off several other of his poems, and had also stolen from poets as well known as Mark Strand and Sharon Olds. Further investigation located the man, and it turned out he was also guilty of child molestation -- a second-grade teacher who was convicted of molesting 7-year-old girls left in his care.

I wonder if you have to be a writer yourself, to understand how violated the author felt. (And how terrifying it must have been to find out how completely bereft of morals the violator turned out to be).

The first instance Bowers found was "Tenth -Year Elegy," a very personal remembrance of his father. Most of the other poems stolen were about family relations, which in context is sinister.

(One must quote, for fun, the response that he got from the editor of _Poetry Forum_, with an unlikely name, Gunvor Skogsholm, the burden of which seems to have driven him to reinvent the history of poetry in his own eloquent terms: "It's my strongly felt opinion that a good poet by nature ought to possess humbleness and that he or she ought not to think to [sic] highly of him- or herself. Throughout history, those have always been the personal traits associated with a POET. If you have read any of the literary histories associated with the great names in the art of poetry, you will know this is so.")

It's a very well written book on a fascinating subject. Bowers understands that merely ordinary people might see his concern and the steps he was driven to as being excessive, and I think in that light, both he and the publisher, W.W. Norton, are to be commended for keeping a proper perspective.

I was fascinated by this book, especially since I worked with Bowers in his quest to catch up with his plagiarist, a quest detailed by this book. Although the editor before me published the poem, I was the editor of a small poetry magazine which had printed a plagiarized version of one of Bowers' poems. Both in our brief correspondence and in this book, Bowers' impressed me as a brave soul. Plagiarists, on the other hand, are not the pranksters they imagine themselves to be; they are the cowards of the literary world. "Words for the Taking" is a tale of courage, both in the story it tells of the tracking of a criminal, and in the example it sets of one man believing in his writing. There are many lazy, slack-off writers out there. "Words for the Taking" shows us more than any writing course could that putting effort into and believing in your writing is one of the bravest acts possible.

When the Hormel strike went down, I went to meetings, sent in money, and told my coworkers about it. Then we went right back figuring out how much overtime we could get on the job, and what we could buy with it. Today many of my friends are among the millions of airline workers who are wondering whether they will have a job tomorrow, and think they will have to take big cut backs and lose their job anyway to do that. The auto plants have laid off 100,000 workers quietly in dribs and drabs in the last year. Public workers like myself have no illusion that we wont be hit by the war-drive tax-cuts-for the rich cutbacks both Democrats and Republicans favor to one degree or another.

Hormel is no longer a bunch of heroes in a special situation. They were pioneers pointing out what millions of working people have to face. Their struggle shows if you fight you can win things, and if you fight you prepare for all the tommorrows. That why I enjoy this pamphlet now in a way I couldn't have back when it first came out. I think you will too.

I had the privilege to attend a strike rally in Austin, Minnesota, the scene of this remarkable pamphlet. The president of the striking local, Jim Guyette, and the head of the spouses auxiliary (the Family Support Group, anyone who had a relative on strike could join, as well as supporters of the strike with no relative on strike), Jan Butts, had just come back from the Labor Party conference in Blackpool, England. Guyette said what he learned at that conference " is that the struggle of workers, whether in South Africa, El Salvador, Nicaragua, or Austin, Minnesota, is indivisible." At the time, those fighting for freedom in South Africa and El Salvador were called terrorists and communists by the U.S. government, and as for the " communist" Sandinista government in Nicaragua Ronald Reagan and his Democratic Party allies were trying to overthrow it. Yet here was a guy straight from the kill floor talking about the struggle to overthrow apartheid, led by the "terrorist" Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress which he led, the war waged by guerillas (who were workers and farmers in arms) to topple the U.S.-backed dictatorship in El Salvador, the Nicaraguan workers and farmers defending their " Marxist" government--and a strike against the Hormel company as being the same fight, because he had met fighting workers from all those countries in England, who were there for the same reasons as he was: to give and get solidarity. I still remember Jan Butts speaking along the same lines, and her moving description of the strikers and their supporters-and the whole working class around the world-as one giant family. Much has changed in the meatpacking industry: the union is weaker, the wages are lower, it is now predominantly immigrant workers in the plants-yet once again packinghouse workers are at the cutting edge of labor resistance to the effects of the world depression we are entering into. And the cream of the crop is those fighting to get the union into their plants, Immigration and Naturalization Service raids be--whatever. What I learned from the Hormel strike-and from distributing this pamphlet in the plant where I worked at the time-is that the seeds of the new human being Che Guevara talked about are here in the U.S. working class. They come to fruit most often in strike action-where you find out you need solidarity to win, and to get solidarity you've got to give solidarity. As we enter into the future-as-present of wars and capitalist economic disaster, this pamphlet is and indispensable tool for fighters to learn about how the consciousness of millions in this country --as guide to action-- will be changed. Yes, right here in the belly of the Empire. Will be changed. Sooner than later.

I remember sitting at dinner with Hormel strikers in 1984 or 85, visiting, trying to gain solidarity not only for their strike, but for workers around the country. I remember what they told about what was happening in the meat packing industry in Minnesota, and why the workers in that union fought not just the company, but the union bureaucracy. What they faced then is more like too many workers, not just in the meat packing industry but especially there, face or know they will face soon. This book about the strike is not a sociological or journalistic analysis, but the analysis of a longtime working class leader, who was also one of the central leaders of the anti-Vietnam war movement. In this pamphlet we have the voices and struggle of the Hormel Strikers displayed so that workers of today, around the world, in and out of meat packing can learn from their successes and failures, and use this pamphlet as a weapon in their struggle.

I would recommend everyone to buy this book, regarding if you are a "Hondafan" or not.

As a recently new Acura NSX owner the more knowledge generated about this exclusive and unique automobile the better. The Acura-Honda NSX Performance Portfolio has been invaluable in better understanding every aspect of the car, its history, concept development, operation, performance, technical aspects, and much more. For every NSX owner or anyone considering the purchase of this one of a kind supercars, this book is a MUST and also great reading for non-NSX owner automobile enthusiasts as well. Truly a 5 Star book of information.

Lots of professional writeups on the Supercar from Japan. Not a fast read as the information is from many different perspectives. Very intersting for the NSX owner or fan.

Interesting reading considering how Zinoviev's views changed after the fall of the Soviet Union. He fought to keep Lenin's body on display, and had huge critisim of the new russian system/economy. He also said he was never an anti-communist.

There is no book better than this to examine the social system under which hundreds of millions of people lived, largely wasted, and ended their lives. In contrast to, say, "Cursed Days" by Bunin, the author lived out his life in the mire of Absurdistan, and can explain the WHOLE period even better than Solzhenitzyn. An era, the most tragic in human history, when one could choose to either be beaten to death or bored to death. A must for any intellectual contemplating the future.

This is the famous lampooning of how life was in the Soviet Union, with veiled and caricatured personae of Stalin, Khrushchev, Solzhenitsyn, Pasternak and many more from the time period. One of the Soviet Union's leading philosophers, Alexander Zinoviev was, upon Brezhnev's personal orders, stripped of all degrees and honors, dismissed from his appointments, expelled from the Communist Party and deprived of citizenship for writing this book. This novel has been described as the one of the bitterest satirical attacks on the Soviet system to appear in Russian (and most probably in English as well). The book can be read on a number of different levels. Comparable to Swift, Kafka, Rabelais and Orwell. And quite readable, despite its length. Go for it.

The shame about this book is the rather cursory coverage given to Impiglia's early period OF SUCCESS.

Despite a major commission from a New York City Bank in the late 1970's, Giancarlo Impiglia was prolific in the early to mid-eighties in his production of serigraphs.

From initially selling 300 copies at $25 print (yes, hard to believe) in the early 1980's, and jumping to 200 copies at $600 a print by about 1987,
Impiglia's art quickly grew in stature, and price.

His work seemingly increased annually; $1500; $2000; $4000; $6000' $8000; $10000; $12000; $14000; $16000; $18000; $20000.

But, the art didn't change that much.

His early work was just as masterful, but the author doesn't cover this period in sufficient depth, I feel.

Impiglia's Dinner for Two represents as fine an example of his style and substance as any, and was as seminal for him, and his reputation in 1984, as Les Damselles D'Avignon was for Picasso.

Otherwise, there is much discussion of his work from about 1988 thru 1996.

I just feel that more time should have been spent going over his prolific "early period of success," when he gained great notoriety.

I got this book as a father's day present and I absolutely love it. It has great photography of each of the finished projects, gives a brief description of the project and interesting facts about each. There are also photos of some of Graves' 3-d models for some concept buildings that never "made it to production", as well as a peppering of his wonderfully whimsical sketches. A must have for anyone interested in architecture or design, or anyone that has even a remote fascination into the beauty that is a Graves' design.

A wonderful addition to the library of any Graves fan. Beautifully photographed, with wonderfully descriptive texts.

An awesome collection of ads from this decade. Hundreds of pages w/ ads of all categories. Very enjoyable. I'm an advertising major & this is a fun book to own!!!

I first tried the examination of 70's advertising as nostalgia and boy did I receive it in spades. The comprehensive nature of these books truly allows readers to examine attitudes towards a variety of products (Technology, Business, Cars, Food, Liquor, Movies, etc.) and see how our sensibilities have changed and in many regards regressed. The 80's book highlights the dawn of Spuds McKenzie, the peak of Joe Camel and the advent of Absolut. The ads carry such immediacy that you'll be reminded of ad campaigns, jingles and events you hadn't considered in years. I can't even recall the last time I thought of the MG Midget automobile, but it was wonderful being reminded how much my sister wanted one as her first car. The book is even more valuable when you have other volumes to compare it to as the verbose nature of ads within the 70's seems remarkable compared to the high gloss "image first" approach of the 80's. I adore these books and the introductory chapter also helps frame the time beautifully. I cannot more heartily recommend this book and all the others for readers with even a cursory interest in advertising or popular culture.

The seventh book in the fascinating Taschen 'All-American Ads' series and as editor Jim Heimann says in his short introduction, print creativity wasn't exactly sparkling in the Eighties. Television took most of the ad budget leaving print to soak up what was left with ads that reinforced what had been seen on the small screen. Still, some ads did capture the consumer's imagination, do you remember 'The united colors of Benetton', 'Just do it' for Nike, Maxell cassettes, Swatch and Absolut vodka campaigns?

The 608 pages in this latest book follow the same style as the others, divided into nine chapters which do actually vary in each book according to which decade you are looking at, here Electronics gets a fifty-eight page section all to itself and not an mp3 or DVD player in sight (or a reel-to-reel tape-deck). The ads are either whole page or four to a page and they have all been cleaned up colorwise and corrected to avoid screen clash with the originals.

I enjoyed the section on Entertainment, loads of memory-jogging movie ads showing how Hollywood moved ever closer to the teen and twenties market. Alcohol and Tobacco contains almost the last ads for cigarettes, remember the Camel 'Smooth Character'? As with 'All-American Ads 70s' I thought the best designed stuff was in the Business and Industry chapter, agency designers and typographers could ignore the restraints that often applied to consumer ads.

I now have the seven books in the series (the set will be complete with 'All-American Ads of 1900-1919) and they all reveal a fascinating look at American life and consumer culture over the previous decades.

american's of all ages and colors should feel indebted to Mr. Crouch for writing some of the most interesting commentary on our american cultural scene. it is because crouch understands so well the basic promise and opportunity of american life that he can weave such wide-ranging and often disparate opinion without losing touch with the reality of the culture. most importantly, crouch establishes himself as part of the great triad of negro americans - along with the novelist albert murray and trumpet virtuoso wynton marsalis who seek to recommit americans to the power and complexity of our national music: jazz. this can only be done by tossing some left hooks at our great national embarrassment: namely the nihilism and materialism of modern popular music, especially rap music. the fact that this music has been co-opted by white suburban kids shows that it has long been a bankrupt and impotent force whose only purpose is to further depress the culture for the enrichment of a few. crouch is calling on americans of all stripes to turn their back on the 'electronic judgement day' of the mass media and the self-serving race-hustlers of the academic and literary establishment and rededicate the culture to jazz and literature based on the 'tragic optimism' that has always been at the heart of jazz/blues music and american culture. count me in.

Crouch has a long history as a politically incorrect commentator on the vexed questions of race & victim politics. From what he calls "the Afrocentric hustle" to the real "race card" played in the O.J. Simpson trial; a stunning suite of essays in praise of Ralph Ellison; and how the Constitution is like the blues, I found my self in passionate agreement & furious dissent - often within the same sentence. For pure verve, style & energy Crouch is possibly the only writer who stands with Camille Paglia as a thinker who is hard to like but impossible to ignore.

Crouch continues to prove beyond any doubt to be an individual with the highest standard of literary precision. His insight into the human condition and clearness of thought are peerless in American correspndence.

Ken Mask, MD
New Orleans

Do yourself a favor - and buy this bargain volumne of classic photographic images collected by the Getty Center from the archives of over 1,000 publications.

Subtitled: "1,000 Remarkable Years of Incident and Achievement", this concise encyclopedia of human culture in North America captures the pleasures, passions, fads and follies of our collective past with short captions and vivid images. An easy and delightful conversation starter.

Another Konemann bargain (how do they manage to produce such lovely books at the price?) with 832 pages, many of them with more than one photo, all the main events in the Nation's history instantly available with a picture and caption (and index). History in the broadest sense too, plenty of people and events from the everyday world. As the text is mostly captions don't expect any great historical insight though.

I think this would be an ideal book for children, rather than a textbook with a few photos why not start with lots of photos to inspire their curiosity about an event or personality and then let them read about it in other books.

What a stunning book! And what an incredible bargain for the price! This book attempts to provide a visual history of the America (or, that part that comprises the present United States) for the past one thousand years. The bulk of the book is photographs, but there are a large number of prehistoric and prephotographic drawings. While this book could never replace a text history of the continent and nation, it provides a stunning supplement. Very few major events are omitted, and a large number of the photographs are notable for their brilliance. Most are unfamiliar photographs. They are not the stock photos that seem to get passed on from collection to collection. The famous Dorothea Lange photography of an "Okie" is an exception rather than a rule. No matter what period in American history, this collection never fails to delight and fascinate and educate.

I had only a couple of quibbles. One is that the sports photography, which was considerable, focused almost exclusively on boxing, track, and baseball. As a result, many of the most dominant athletic figures are omitted. This would not be a problem except so many lesser figures were included. A second is that towards the end of the book, the photographs become surprisingly mundane. For instance, there are several pages where PEOPLE magazine type publicity photos of people like Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan are simply place four to a page. Surely there were more interesting photos than these. Most of the book is stunning; it isn't clear why the late 20th century should suddenly become so flat and uninventive.

Nonetheless, this book is a delight. It makes a great history book, art book, photography book, bathroom book, bedside book, or even coffee table book (though in diminutive form).

"American Studio Glass 1960-1990" is a scholary and engaging look at the development and current state of this relatively new art form. Through experience and research the rapid evolution of art in glass form is described through history and from factory to studio. The acceptance in the high-art world, in museums and among collectors is documented in interesting and authoritative ways. The footnotes add considerable value to the text. This is a must-read for seasoned, new and future collectors as well as for curatorial and gallery staffs.

Dr. Lynn writes with authority and clarity and explains a generation's search to learn to manipulate glass and with it, to make art. We look forward to her next book, SCULPTURE, GLASS AND AMERICAN MUSEUMS.

I quote below a review of Martha Drexler Lynn's "American Studio Glass 1960 to 1990":


"Martha:

I have seen your new book "American Studio Glass 1960-1990" by Hudson Hills. It is fabulous, beautiful, wonderful, exciting!!!! Much much congratulations on a SUPERB JOB. As always, you are a credit to our profession.
Wow, you are incredible!

Barry Shifman
Curator of Decorative Arts
Indianapolis Museum of Art"