1990 Books

I enjoyed this biography of Ariel Sharon. The author, Uri Dan, had been a close friend of Sharon's and had insight into Sharon's thoughts. Much of the book is based on interviews Dan had with Sharon. Uri Dan did not mince words with Sharon about the Gaza pullout and other decisions that were controversial.
The book was written recently and is fairly current. I found the book to be an easy read and recommend it for those that want to learn about Ariel Sharon.

Great insider's view, and basically an awesome history of the entire state of Israel. Well worth the read.

This book is the story of a friendship, between a journalist and a major military and political figure. The focus however is on the life, and most importantly public actions of one of the great leaders of modern Israel, Ariel Sharon. The book traces the career of Sharon from the Israeli War of Independence in 1948 to his final actions as Prime Minister of Israel when on January 2, 2006 Sharon suffered a massive disabling stroke. A short while later Uri Dan himself came down with terminal cancer and passed away before his revered friend.
Dan was for many years accused in Israel of being only a 'yes-man' for Sharon. But that is hardly the case. The book is filled with instances of disagreement in which Dan openly as good friend gave Sharon his critical advice.The greatest difference was in Sharon's decision to make a unilaterial disengagement from Gaza in the summer of 2005. It is interesting that in an earlier section of the book Sharon explains why two of the settlements which were removed were of vital security significance.
The overall story however is not focused on differences of opinion, but rather on cooperative action in service of a cause and ideal - end both Dan and Sharon believed in with all their hearts, the founding and defending of the state of Israel. It is their total committment to this cause which was at the heart of their friendship.
Sharon's deeds are so numerous and legendary that it is difficult to know where to begin to chronicle them. He is of all the great Israeli modern soldiers Dayan, Rabin, Meir Har- Tsion, Avigdor Kahalani the one who is great at at every level of operation. He is the founder of the 101 Unit which combatted Arab terror in the fifties. He was the one who formulated the Israeli battle- orders by which an officer ideally goes forward first always saying 'After me" He illustrated more than one time the principle of not leaving wounded soldiers behind . He was of all the Israeli military leaders the one who truly understood the futility of static defense, the Bar- Lev line, and the one whose turnaround action in crossing the Suez Canal in October 1973 turned an Israeli military defeat into a victory.
Dan was not an armchair journalist but trained specially so as to be able to accompany Sharon on the field of battle. His descriptions of Sharon's control and command , his low sure voice at the most critical moments of battle help explain why Sharon's soldiers so loved and trusted him.
Dan gives a lot of space here to Sharon's controversial part in the First Lebanon War. He makes a strong case that the Kahane commission and Chief Justice Barak did a great injustice in blaming Sharon for what the soldiers of the Phalangists did to the Palestinians. Dan also describes the famous libel suit in which Sharon unprecedentedly won a retraction from the American magazine 'Time'.
Sharon has been not only a major military but a major political figure in Israel. He was instrumental in helping found the Likud which in 1977 became the basis of the first non- Labor party led government in Israel. Dan also tells the story of Sharon's massive election victory over Ehud Barak and his struggle to restore badly damaged Israeli security which had come in the wake of the Oslo process.
Without going into the family story at great length Dan touches upon major events such as the loss of Sharon's first wife , the death in a shooting accident of his eleven year old oldest son. Dan also indicates what was a well- known public fact in Israel Sharon's very successful marriage to Lily who was his principal help and source of support. Though Dan does not speculate upon this many believe that her death from cancer had a deleterious effect on Sharon's political policies.
Insiders , and close- followers of Israeli politics will note certain emphases and omissions in the book. Dan gives great credit to one Sharon adviser Aryeh Genger while saying next to nothing about the person thought to be Sharon's right- hand man in his last few years, Dov Weisglas. Dan does not say much about the role of Omri Sharon and his influence on his father's politics. He mentions without comment Omri's conviction for election- fraud.
The book contains narrative sections interspersed with interviews with Ariel Sharon. In these we again see his fighting spirit, his optimism, his dedication to and concern for the security of Israel, his committment to the Jewish people.
Sharon was by some affectionately and by some pejoratively called in Israel, 'The Bulldozer' He was time and again whether it was in founding the whole settlement movement , or removing Yamit from Sinai the one who could do what no one else would do. Instructively in an early conversation with Ben- Gurion cited in the book, Sharon is asked about Moshe Dayan's appointment as Minister. Sharon says then that he thinks that Dayan is suitable for every position, save one, Prime Minister. And this because Sharon says Dayan tends to avoid taking responsibility. Sharon of course was the opposite of this. He took responsibility and more than responsibility for countless actions taken in the defense of Israel. At times he was ( During the Lebanese War) the most vilified person in Israel.In his last years he was the greatly esteemed leader who would have won reelection in 2006 had he not been incapacitated.
Uri Dan's last words in this book tell about his reaction to the news of Sharon's second and finally disabling stroke. He said that he began to cry and has been crying ever since.

I got this book because I'm a fan of Kennedy. As I expected I got a very good overview of Kennedy's acting career. But what surprised me is how this book places Kennedy's work in historical context. It's a remarkable achievement. The pages written by Kennedy's daughter are a great addition -- poignant and richly detailed.

This book brings to life a time when character actors were an integral part of a film. Arthur Kennedy's role in each of his films demonstrates the vitality of the character actor. His ability to give meaning to a scene by just a gesture, glance or reflection of his voice made the difference of caring about the story and its characters. He made each one come to life. From the beginning of his career on stage at the Globe Theatre in New York in 1937 to the end of his career in a film called Grandpa, in 1989, a span of 52 years, Kennedy gave us a quality of acting that even Laurence Olivier called him a "lovely" actor during their production of Becket in 1961. The book is a treasure.

It's about time that someone wrote a book about one of the greatest, and sometimes overlooked, American actors of the 20th Century. This book is one of the best film biographies I have ever read for two simple reasons (besides the fact that it is extremely well written and researched): 1) It is about the man and his WORK - and I emphasize W-O-R-K as apposed to G-O-S-S-I-P.
The main thrust is focused on the richeness that he has brought to the screen and shared with his audience. 2) It ties his life and work by interjecting what was going on in the world at each major step in his illustrious career. This is a very illuminating device for me as I believe that artists cannot separate themselves from the events and idiologies of their time. For actors, choices such as the roles they accept or reject and, needless to say, the films themselves are a reflection of their times. So this becomes a vaulable avenue by which one can better understand the artist.
The research that must have gone into writing this book, and the careful attention to detail is impressive. This a book that should set the standard for other books on actors and one that should be part of anyone's bookshelf if they are seriously interested in the history, art and legacy of a great actor. My only critisism is really directed toward the way the book is promoted. On the surface, it appears that the publisher is bent of promoting Kennedy as an actor in Westers when his greatest roles (such as in "Elmer Gantry and Lawrence of Arabia") were clearly not. So don't let the cover of the book deceive you. This is an exceptinal book about a very great artist who left an impressive body of work for us to enjoy. Meredith Macsoud, we can never thank you enough!

As always with all the Autocourse CART Yearbooks, the quality is Empire-State-Building-high. You know, it's just awesome. And I recommend it to all the CART fans.

When I saw this book I knew I had to have it. I absolutly love CART racing and this book is for a lover of racing. All the pictures are absolutly beautiful. I was also a big fan of the late Greg Moore and I was very happy to see the tribute they did for him in this book. So if your a lover of CART this book is a must!

This book is the best of its kind, it has a collection of the best picters taken during the whole season and then some also it tells a whole story behind each picture, i first bought 1 and then orderd 2 more. I give it 10 STARS

I have read many classics of war literature, but this was quite a surprise. Notwithstanding its being a translation form the Arabic, the richness of Samman's style and the power of her images manages to reach the reader, and give you that nightmarish feeling that she obviously meant to convey. The book is bleak, but powerful, and some pages have a terrible intensity. Sometime you just ask yourself what are the nightmares: what the narrating-I dreams in her restless nights, or the daily scenes of brutality and abomination?

One thing that struck me is that this book written by a Syrian woman who happened to live in Beirut during the devastating civil war of the late Seventies and early Eighties has many things in common with more famous books written by W.W.I veterans. The stench of corpses, the fear of snipers, the devastating experience of shelling; this is the trench warfare re-created in a modern urban environment. Once more, this proves that there is such a thing as a war literature, and that it has its own themes, images, atmospheres, produced by the supreme form of violence. But the fact that the narrator/protagonist is a woman adds a clear-headed but passionate point of view on the pointlessness and atrocity of warfare that you can't find in all W.W.I writers.

All in all, a book that doesn't absolutely deserve to be out of print, a literary gem that should be more famous than it is currently.

First of all...i would like to tell that all of her work is wonderful..it springs from her various truth emotions that makes any of her articles and novels different and distinguishing. this book is a realistic one...do you want to know why? cause she lived the disaster that happend in beirut -the civil war in the seventies-..you only feel that you are reading a novel by a person...but by time when it passes , you will definitely explore that it is a daiary..a daiary that is full of pain ,suffer,revultion from the war and silence,unjustly,envy,avid,hope,faith,different emotions ...they all gather together and make this wonderful book. it also contains these astonished comparisons and thoughts witch makes this book that talks about her life in an apartment next to the holiday-inn hotel...witch we can call the source of the war..you will find what is the difference between the ranks from all directions and sides.especially the pilitical and official...you will know and discover what's behind the bourgoise and poor people......you will know the right meaning of "revolution" and surviving.

Having myself lived through the war in Lebanon, Ghada Samman's autobiographical book brought back some painful memories. The book vividly recreates the desparation felt by normal people living in shelters and watching their world crumble around them in a senseless cycle of bombings, fighting and cruel murder.

The only optimistic and somewhat refreshing character in the book is the author herself. She never gives up on trying to leave the basement of her home located close to the demarcation line between East and West Beirut. However, as a reader who knows that the war brought only poverty and domination of Lebanon by Syria, I could only be disgusted by the uselesness of all the deaths and suffering. This led me to putting the book away several times only to pick it up again later and reading through the ugly war nightmares.

Finally, I am bemused that this leftist author seems convinced that the civil war was necessary in Lebanon. Civil-wars have no charm and no winner and the writers who instigate and wish for bloody "revolutions" are as guilty as the snipers who kill innocent civilians.

I highly recommend this book for its truthful recreation of the Beirut civil war experience.

Very impressed. I am glad I read it again after all these years. The story of the Mad Man is very funny. I was cracking up while reading it.

Did you know that free schooling was only briefly offered in Nigeria? There's a poignant story about it here.

I learned a lot about Nigeria from these stories. Sometimes, the stories seemed to end a little too abruptly, but I guess that's part of the story format: it has to end sooner than a short novel, anyway.

Mr. Achebe is a fine storyteller and he has many interesting things to say about the people and customs of Nigeria. I recommend this book, but only after first reading his classic novel about 19th century Ibo tribe people, Things Fall Apart.

After reading these stories, I was both attracted to Nigeria and repelled by it (I've never been to Africa). Achebe does a good job of capturing the ambivalence aroused by Nigeria's exotic nature (to Americans) mixed with its societal dysfunctions.

Diximus.

This is an impressive collection of short stories that covers a twenty-year period of Achebe's writing. They also cover a period of history in his native Nigeria that spans from the late colonial period to the Biafran war. In them Achebe explores various aspects of a predominant theme in his work, i.e. tradition vs. modernism in his country (as introduced by British colonial administration). The various stories offer glimpses into the lives of people from various classes and walks of life. Achebe has a concise and eloquent writing style; he has an almost singular talent for making very pertinent observations in an extremely pithy fashion. Thus, for example, in the few pages of a story like "Dead Man's Path," Achebe brings to life the problems which ensue from the drive for quick modernization, the desire to adhere to tradition and the hypocrisy of Nigeria's colonial administrators. Also impressive is Achebe's mastery of narrative styles, i.e. first person, omiscient, etc. These stories can be read on their own, or as a supplement to Achebe's similarly powerful novels.

Though the Boeing 747 has been eclipsed by the Airbus A380 in size, the original Jumbo remains the most recognizable of commercial airliners and maintains a dedicated fan base. Those who love the Boeing 747 as much as I do will enjoy looking through the wealth of photos, documenting the evolution of the aircraft from the original Series -100 through the -400, covering nearly three decades of service and production.

Each civilian model (military variants are not covered here) is given a well-written introduction covering the most important aspects of the jetliner. The only thing lacking is a more detailed introduction, that is the events that led to the world-famous design and commentary from chief designer, Joe Stutter. The photographs are all of high quality and show the aircraft from various angles, both on the ground and in flight. Enthusiasts will be grateful for the photographic record of aircraft no longer in service. Each pictures is accompanied by a detailed caption. My only criticism is that some photos span both pages, making them somewhat hard to view in their entirety.

All in all, anyone interested in the Boeing 747 will appreciate this fine book.

Many readers will understand that I am a most avid researcher of any matters aeronautical: military, covert, or civil. Osprey Publications, a leading publisher of the transportation genre, have, yet again, with the help of the world renowned Robbie Shaw, compiled a fascinating documentary of every Boeing 747 ever produced. Shaw, an author who must have travelled the earth to find so many wonderfully graceful pictures of the so called 'Jumbo Jet', has, along with all of his other works, collected an unmistakable collection of photos to accompany Osprey's growing range of books. The fairly large sized book, filled with large, glossy, colour pictures, and outstandingly accurate essays delves in to each and every version of the 'forty seven: the -100, -200, -F, -200F, -300, -SP-, -SR, and the -400, as well as describing how they are designed to be such perfect machines, and, inevitably, what sort of company shall part with so much cash for one. Indeed, nearly every large airline has atleast one of these graceful machines: BA, American, Delta, Royal Deutsch... and what's more, not a word is against such beautiful planes- the author talently describes the positive and negative viewpoints about the aircraft, but I must applaud him on how well he handles such a taskful genre to write about. Osprey, and Mr. Shaw, you are, some of the best documentors of aeronautical technology the world has come across: I shall certainly award five stars for such an excellent book, and I shall undoubtedly read more and more of your books in the future. A great, great book.

This book is the greatest Boeing 747 book I have read so far; I have my own copy and I never tire of looking through it and admiring the great photos and detailed captions telling the whole story of the particular aircraft pictured, including its name, tail number, previous owners, etc. I also love the text; it is a great history of all the series of 747s: -100, -200, cargo, SP, -300, and -400. Some of my favorite photos are of a TWA 747-100, the Pan Am 747s, the SPs, and the Aer Lingus 747-100. The only things that are missing that I'd like to see are "classic" 747s (Delta, American, Braniff, National, etc) and interior shots. Otherwise, an A-1 747 book for Jumbo fans like me!

Francis Smith (smitfj01@holmes.ipfw.edu) Garrett, Indiana USA

While the songs won't ring as familiar as those in the Top 40 book, you'll undoubtedly find a song or two that you'd forgotten about or always wondered about. Unearthing these nuggets makes the purchase of a book like this easily worth the price, but in the case of this book, be prepared for the incredibly small type. Not a big deal if you're a young kid like I was when I bought it, but I notice myself having to squint a lot more when I read it these days. ;-)

If you're a fan of the Billboard charts, Joel Whitburn's books are the place to go for research on your favorite artists or those one-hit wonders. This book covers three charts: Bubbling Under the Hot 100 (songs that never got past #101); and two defunct charts, Bubbling Under Albums (LPs that failed to chart higher than #201) and Billboard's old EP chart (this chart was deleted when Billboard decided that the EP format was never going to catch on in the US). The EP section includes a photo of the cover of each EP ever to chart (heavy on Sinatra & Presley). This chart petered out before the arrival of The Beatles. The Beatles, for those who care, charted 3 songs on the Bubbling Under the Hot 100, including "I'm Down", the B-side to "Help!", which topped the chart in 1965 at #101. If you want to get beyond the Hot 100, this book will satisfy. As with all of Whitburn's Billboard compilations, the depth of the information is stunning, going beyond simple peak position and weeks-on-the-chart info to include guest artists, info on each artist, and on and on.

Can't get that song out of your mind? If so, then get this book!
Find the songs, though popular, were not in the top pops! There are many of these songs around and Joel Whitburn does a fantastic job of documenting the artists, documenting the songs.
I recommend this book highly!
-- Kraig

At the beginning of this book, Fidel Castro exclaims to a multitude of cheering Cuban workers and peasants near the beginning of the revolution, " This is democracy !" The democracy of workers power in the factories, shops, and sugar mills and plantations. The democracy of the peasants owning the land they work. The democracy of almost two million Cubans armed and trained by their government to use modern weapons in a people's militia. The democracy that means the workers and farmers not empowered, but IN power. Cuban workers and farmers vote for their representatives, but this book shows that even before those revolutionary institutions were set up, Cubans had more democracy than ever existed here since Radical Reconstruction (from 1865-1877) ! This book also potrays the battle between the geniuine communist leaders around Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro, Che Guevara,et. al. and the pro-Moscow wannabe--capitalist Stalinist bureaucrats. Read the rest in the New International Marxist review # 8 : "Che Guevara, Cuba, and the Road to Socialism" and # 11 " Imperialism's March Toward Fascism and War."

In the first speech in this book, "This is Democracy!," given to a mass rally on May Day 1960, Cuban leader Fidel Castro discusses the new society that was beginning to be built in revolutionary Cuba after the 1950 overthrow of the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship. The more than twenty speeches printed here detail the revolutionary course charted by leaders of the Cuban revolution and their response to big challenges along the way, from U.S. and Cuban capitalist attacks, lies and slanders to bureaucratic misleaders that developed within Cuba itself.

Many of the speeches are from the 1970s, difficult years for Cuba given the failure of revolutionary movements elsewhere in Latin America and strong pressure to adapt to the bureaucratic methods and practices of the Soviet Union. I'd recommend reading this along with another book of Fidel's speeches, "Cuba's Internationalist Foreign Policy,"-- that details the worldwide perspective of solidarity and the selfless assistance Cuba gave to others fighting for their freedom at this time.

The last speeches come from the early 1980s, after the worker and peasant revolutions in Nicaragua and Grenada gave new impetus to Cuban revolutionaries. You can see the seeds of the deep-going changes Fidel and the Cuban leadership led forward in the mid-1980s in the campaign known as "rectification." You can also read more about this in the book "In Defense of Socialism," a collection of Fidel's speeches from the late 1980s.

More than twenty speeches and articles, spread out over more than two decades, describe the socialist system Cuba?s workers and farmers are creating. The fight against bureaucracy, the role of labor unions, and Cuba?s electoral system all illustrate the point that the Cuban revolution has produced a power that is deeply democratic.

Politics as seen by, "the innermost of California's political insiders."

New insight into the reasoning behind strategic decisions from the winners and losers.

California Votes is a tribute to Democracy

Again, Helen Nelson Reed has shown why she is among the top New Age artists on the scene today. Her work is deeply visionary and touches a chord for most people who view her work. She seems to immerse herself in the subject matter, and expresses through her brush, the vision she has beheld. Her work is magical and deeply spiritual; the detail work is intricate and superb. I find the images she conjures and manifests to be highly meditative and inspiring. I have framed some of her works.

The paintings in this calendar are inspirational as well as beautiful. The ethereal, mystical imagery is complemented by verse written by Nelson - Reed. The color and subjects are wonderful, I think suitable for framing. As a man, I seldom purchase feminine, or goddess related artwork or products - this calendar is a notable exception. Anyone buying this product will be pleased, and enjoy these images for years - like myth and legend, these paintings and the spirit that inspired them are timeless.

If you have been hearing the Goddess call you, Helen Nelson-Reed's Call of the Goddess 2001 calendar is an inspiring next step for your journey. Her fluid style of many light, translucent layers is captivating and fulfilling for those who enjoy symbolic art with many meanings to contemplate. This calendar is full of beautiful images which you will want to save and display for many years. It will help you keep track of time as you investigate your spirit.