1990 Books

A thorough and demanding book which reveals to the world many facts and issues needing attention from those seeking intallectual stiumlation.

A thorough and demanding book which reveals to the world many facts and issues needing attention from those seeking intallectual stiumlation.

This book contains a great list of places to stay and eat with prices. Some of my favorite sections of book include the following: Listing of Best Unspoiled Small Towns, which include Kodiak, Petersburg, and Cordova; Listing of Strange Comunity Events which include Cordova's Ice Worm Festival, Fairbanks' Midnight Sun Baseball Game nad Nomes Polar Bear Swim/Bathtub Race. If you are going to Alaska's number 1 destination, Denali National Park, make sure you pick up a copy of Discovering Denali.

I was planning a cruise to Alaska. I chose "Fodor's 2001 Alaska" as a guidebook and was so impressed, I purchased two more of them for my cruise travelmates. This book went with me wherever I traveled in the "land of the midnight sun". Not only did Fodor's guidebook describe the cruise ships to the inth, but all of the activities, etc. Every bit of the text was accurate to my experiences. This was my first cruise, and my first trip to Alaska. I found this book to be indispensible! The data on Alaska, the facts, the figures, the special places to see, things to do, walks, hikes, eats, animals, and people...all here in crisp detail for you to enjoy. Upon my return to the "lower 48", I even narrated my Alaska photo albums with information I retrieved from this book. History, indiginous peoples, it's all here. Do get this book if you are thinking of going to Alaska, or returning to Alaska. All text is up to date, with maps, etc. Excellent resource! From the Inside Passage to Denali National Park I traveled, and I learned much more about this great land we call Alaska because of Fodor's book. I am now planning on going back to this beautiful place in great part due to reading this guidebook.

Having lived through the chronicled events once, as a 9 year-old, the pain comes flooding back as you read in vivid detail the events that unfolded in the most horrid of baseball summers for Phillies fans. Against the backdrop of one of the worst summers of racial unrest, and a society grappling with many changes, the author contrasts the city and team's treatment of our first black sports superstar through the clarity of 40 years removed. While I have recollection of many of the events, having some of the details clarified in conjunction with my more mature perspective creates an interesting study of the times of my early youth and the team I hated to love. While there are some contradictions in the book, if you love baseball, history, and the Phillies, or, just the Phillies, by all means this book is for you.

I remember being 10 years old and watching the PHILLIES winning the World Series. A defining moment of a boys childhood. It's great to remember, be reminded and relive that time in ALMOST A DYNASTY. Kashatus does a wonderful job discussing THE PHILLIES history, the farm system, outside influences that effect baseball (free agency, players strikes, etc), individual players; weaving it into what is almost like an enjoyable, well-researched thesis paper. If you a fan of baseball this is a great read, and if you're a PHILLIES fan this is a must read.

This book is large format (12" square) and comes supplied with a strong card case which protects the book and dust jacket from damage.

The photographs themselves are extremely well presented, many in colour or with colour surrounds or mounts. The range moves from formal portraits to some sex images to self-portraits to flowers and a couple of excellent still-life pieces. The book is simply sumptuous in its feel.

Most of this work is definitely towards the 'art' end of this photographer's spectrum. There is a very useful list of plates at the rear of the book with full details of the date, subject, photograph size, etc.

There is also a rather meandering essay by Edmund White which can safely be ignored or, if you enjoy pompous and meaningless written drivel, enjoyed depending on yourself.

A superb addition to the bookshelf of any Mapplethorpe fan, or indeed any lover of art photography.

One of the most beautiful collections of Mapplethorpe's work that I have seen; it is a very good overview of his photography and is a must-see for any art aficianado.

Third Battalion, Third Marines has recently served valiantly in Afghanistan and Iraq. As always, they served their nation with honor and valor.

3/3 was the battalion of Ollie North during Vietnam. It was also my battalion. I joined 3/3 not long after it returned from Desert Storm, and I was trained, hazed, and befriended by the men described in this book. I heard many of these stories firsthand from the grunts who lived it, and I can tell you this book is not only accurate but also well written.

While this is the story of a unit in the First Gulf War, it had direct bearing on what's going on over there now. This story follows the Third Battalion of the Third Marines (The 3/3). This is one of the famous units in the USMC having fought at Bougainville, Guam, Iwo Jima, then in Vietnam and in 1990 in the Persian Gulf.

The author has a great ability to take oral histories from a wide number of people and put them together with his own commentary to form and interesting tale that flows very well while conveying the tone and material from the oral interview.

During the war the 3/3 fought in the battle of Khafji, then were the first to penetrate the Iraqi wire and minefield to provide flank security for the beginning of the allied offensive. It is a remarkable tale of the events in the war as seen be the members of one of the fighting units.

The collection of original essays in this volume is impressive. Together, they explore the history and current state of government policy toward health care in the United States. Each essay is clear and relevant. And the proposals make great good sense. Health care is far too important a service to be left in the hands of politicians and bureaucrats. This book helps explain why.

"American Health Care" is a collection of multidisciplinary essays supporting the argument that government and business must assume appropriate roles within health care to effectively change it. Working within these seemingly disparate roles, government and business should focus on how the private health market can further the health care system's ability to provide social services as a function in the marketplace.

The book challenges the concept that government can effectively manage the nation's health care. This model -- the authors collectively suggest -- was questioned by the public through a lack of support for the 1993 Clinton health care reform package. The editor compiles the analyses of expert economists, physicians, lawyers, and historians to explain the underlying rationale behind the public hesitancy to accept the notion that government should and can fix the deficiencies of the US health care system.

'American Health Care" provides insight that allows learned readers to speculate about where markets can take health care now and in the future. Its authors recognize that there are no fast solutions coming down the pike. This work presents concepts that are intended to generate constructive conversation toward the improvement of health care. The ideas are supported through the substantial notes and references accompanying each chapter.

Topics of discussion covered by the contributors represent four major policy areas that provide stumbling blocks to system-wide change. Essays in the first section contain discussions of the issues involved with health insurance financing, including an in-depth analysis of the Medicare program. In part 2, contributors look at health care services and institutions, antitrust issues, and reform at the state level. The effects of regulation on the drug approval process and its impact on patient care is examined in part 3, and the final section of the book looks at issues involving liability, licensing, and the health care fee structure.

The Independent Institue of California is a public policy education and reserch organization the aims -- through its various publishing programs -- to redefine the debate over public issues. In "American Health Care," it has provided ample scholarship to do so.

This is the story of an American nurse who chose to serve the people of Lebanon. It is a fascinating account of a young woman finding herself in a Civil War and the impact that has on her own life and those around her. Reading it I felt as if I was having a conversation with the author, it is definitely her voice, and speaks with an astonishing mixture of courage and humility.

I received a copy of this book as a birthday gift in Aug 2005. At the time I was on vacation in San Francisco, so I didn't really start reading the book until I was on an airplane flying back to Pittsburgh (through Washington DC). What happened during my flight and layover in Dulles (6-7 hours in total) was shocking to me, as I was unable to let go of this book. I was glued to it and didn't even once yawn or take a break, simply because I couldn't. I also couldn't resist crying while reading some of the most terrible and heart-breaking stories that the author witnessed during the war in Lebanon. After reading this book, my perspective about nurses and nursing in general took a 180 degree shift, as I now appreciate and respect the vital role that nurses play in our lives.
In conclusion, I can say with confidence that so far, this is the best book that I've ever read in my 26 years of existance on this planet.

Johnson-Smith, a lecturer in film and TV at an English university, reaches the conclusion that unlike earlier periods of science fiction, "modern American sf fiction is neither utopian or dystopian...it enforces a critique of the Western mythos whilst renegotiating its finer aspects." This Western mythos centers on the desire for exploration. This desire was seen as far back as the Gilgamesh myth of the ancient Babylonians; and it emerged in American culture especially in Westward expansion and the related romance of the West. It entails a sense of wonder and the hope of encounter with the Sublime--elements undeniably evident in modern TV sci-fi, which are a major reason for their appeal. But imparting this sense of wonder and picturing the Sublime became possible only when TV technology improved from its first days. Only in recent years has TV arrived in an "era where far-seeing 'tele-vision' can finally live up to its name" by making use of "brilliant colors and dynamic motion" to enhance sf narratives. Today's TV science-fiction shows, notably "Star-Trek," are contrasted with earlier ones such as "Twilight Zone" creating an atmosphere mainly by suggestion, leaving much to the viewer's imagination. The author identifies a new era in science-fiction TV and analyzes the bases of its themes and popular appeal.

American Science Fiction TV: Star Trek, Stargate And Beyond by Jan Johnson-Smith (Senior Lecturer in Film and Television Theory, Bournemouth University Media School, United Kingdom) surveys the development of science fiction television over the last twenty years with a special focus on narrative, imagery, and ideology. The author makes some fascinating connections between the ancient tradition of the epic journey with the more recent American tradition of the "Wild West". The reader is shown how themes of journey and exploration, and the archetypal characters associated with these themes, have continued from ancient times to the modern era. Johnson-Smith utilizes case studies of several key science fiction series including "Babylon 5", "StarGate SG-1"; "Space: Above and Beyond", and others to reveal common narrative patterns and visual styles. These case studies explore diverse themes including politics, ideology, race and ethnicity, gender difference, militarism, and the use of science fiction narratives as allegories of present-day social and political issues. American Science Fiction TV will prove of immense interest to students of American Popular Culture, the history of American television programming, and fans of fantasy and science-fiction.

I have owned Aquatique for about a year now and what I have come to love and appreciate about Oglesbee's work is that every time I pick it up it is a different experience , much like the water that is the fluid membrane of his picture plane - always changing and in motion. On one level the fluidity is purely visual - what I see and discover is always shifting and the more I look the more I see. It is like the experience of looking in nature - the longer you look - the deeper you go - the more there is to see - and everything is always changing. It's as if Oglesbee has brought nature into the studio and all of the complexity of scale - from the macro to the micro is there. The fluidity is also in the meaning. It is mythic.... Narcissus ... Ophelia.... Water Spirits....birth......death..... it's the moment in the Matrix where Neo touches the mirror and it turns fluid and that membrane is what he passes through to the other side of reality and illusion ... in one viewing its tragic ... another comic..... I love this work.

I actually have two reviews in mind for this book: a shorter one and a longer one. I'll give you the short one first and then add more background on Brian Oglesbee and his book: When I was first studying photography I was fortunate enough to have a photographer for a father, and a mother that loved beautiful books. At Christmas I often got photographic monographs and histories and that created in me a lifelong obsession to own fine photo books. The thrill I got from discovering and exploring a new photo book--especially a monograph by a single photographer--was an experience I just loved. In recent years though fewer and fewer great photo books have been published--they're just too expensive and most (not all) publishers are after the fast buck with a cheap book.

That is why Brian Oglesbee's Aquatique is such a refreshing and inspiring book: it picks up the nearly forgotten torch of masterful photographic monographs and proves that it is still possible to create (and hopefully be financially successful with) quality fine-art books. This is a big, beautiful, superbly printed book that is incredibly fun to look at. It is, in fact, one of the most beautiful monographs I've ever seen and there isn't a thing about it that is less than perfect. If you have this book in your house, I promise that you'll eagerly sit every visitor down and share these intense images with them.

Oglesbee's photos are of models that seem to be at once both under, in and escaping from pools of water and surrounded by gentle bits of nature: leaves, tree branches, seemingly natural reflections. Your first thought when you look at these images is that, of course, they must have been created in post production--a masterful job of Photoshop pehaps. Nothing could be farther from the truth: these photos were created entirely in front of the camera and they have not seen one pixel's worth of Photoshop. These are in-camera originals created by perhaps the photo world's greatest master of studio lighting and image design. And I know that they are camera originals and camera originals only because I have known the photographer since he began this decade-long project and I've seen these images evolve--and I've seen the original 4x5 Polaroid negatives (he uses Polaroid Positive-Negative film to create them).

The photos were invented, created and captured in front of the camera, each with a single exposure. And when you see these photos, you will be stunned by that realization. Many of the shots also include bubbles as a thematic (and very complex) visual element. Often, in close-up details that are superbly reproduced in the book, you can see wild and unexpected repititions of the models' figures, distorted in fantastically complicated patterns. Amazing. Again, you'll sit all your friends down to show them these pictures--and they won't give you back the book any time soon.

OK, that's my basic impression of the book. Now, a slightly longer backstory--I'll use an anecdote based in part on an article I wrote for American Photo magazine:

One spring night a few years back Oglesbee was invited to show some of his work (long before he had a book contract) at the New York PhotoGroup Salon and, because we'd been friends for a few years and I'd always wanted to attend a Salon meeting, he asked to join him. (I'm a former editor at Photo District News, so a lot of the faces were familiar to me.)

He had been invited to present a brief slide show of his work to a group of the New York photo world's elite and the audience included photographers like Jay Maisel, Walter Iooss, Howard Schatz and the (now) late Arnold Newman. Oglesbee was placed in the line-up after retrospective slide shows by both Newman and Iooss and before a showing of Schatz's newest work--probably not the placement any newcomer would voluntarily choose.

Oglesbee began his presentation with some early offbeat room-set shots to a polite, if cool, reception and then moved into his newest work: a fine-art work-in-progress called "The Water Series" (the photos that this book is based on).

There were some curious murmurs as Oglesbee's first black-and-white slide hit the screen--a sensual looking female figure peering up from the inky-black depths of a pool of a bubble-covered water. Then he dropped a second slide--a moderate close-up detail of the first shot that revealed repetitions of the figure just distinguishable in a group of bubbles. The murmurs grew louder and several photographers who had been milling around the edges of the darkened room took seats. Then a third slide dropped, an even tighter detail shot that revealed in utter clarity the same figure repeated in exquisite perfection in every single bubble surface. Instantly a barrage of questions were fired at him from the darkness.

Politely, the photographer offered to explain a bit (not everything) about how the images were made. He explained that all of the shots were done in camera using a single exposure and that there was no image-editing used. Another voice (it was Newman's) asked from the front row, "You mean you didn't use any Photoshop? None?"

No, no Photoshop.

There was an audible gasp in the room. I'm not kidding, a gasp. That's how shocking these photos are--particularly the details. Oglesbee was pummeled with questions about how he created the images and at one point he looked squarely at me and said, "There's only one person in this room that really knows how the images were made and if he says a word he won't get back to Connecticut tonight." I didn't say a word.

Anyway, it was at that gathering that I knew Brian's work was destined for the level of recognition and wide exposure that I hope this book provides. I used two of Brian's photos in my own book The Joy of Digital Photography (Lark Photography Book) and readers still single them out to comment on (two photos out of 400 in the book). If you are looking to to provide inspiration to a young photographer, please, do what my parents did for me: share this great photo book with them. Those books they generously gave me shaped my career and my perceptions of what great art really is. If you know an artist who needs inspiration and to know that new ideas really do happen (and that they come from hard work and an endless pursuit of passion) and that they can get published, again, share this book. It is, as I said, one of the most beautiful monographs you will every lay eyes upon--and thank the photo Gods that the publisher treated the work with the respect and great care it deserved. The paper, the ink, the binding: all world class. That said, this is not a book for collecting, it's a book for devouring.

This is the ultimate treatise on the Waco "incident," the massacre that at rock bottom informs us of the limitations of our government's ability to "uphold the Constitution" of the United States of America. Whether deliberately or by tom foolery, men, women and children were burned to death because the BATF and the FBI failed in their mission to inform themselves of what was at stake. The authors of the various essays in the book are well-informed, articulate and thoughtful souls who have given great care in crafting their words. They have brought forth many of the troubling aspects of the Branch Davidian conflict that the mainstream media did not even have the capacity to approach.

Do not be simple-minded about this issue. It is the seed from which there has been much trouble since (think Oklahoma City). It is important to understand Waco as much as is humanly possible in order for this country to get past it. Of all the books I have read so far on the subject, this one is by far the best.

Dr. Stuart Wright brings together experts in sociology, psychology, criminal justice, constitutional law, and the media to analyze data collected, witness testimony, and survivor accounts of a tragedy in Texas. For anyone wanting the truth of what really happened in Waco, this is a good start. The authors present a sociologically sound study of many of the dynamics affecting the events in Waco. The Branch Davidian's orgin and what ultimately happened in Waco are also clearly detailed.