EE Books

You wouldn't think it, but this little baby packs a huge radical punch. Written in 1929 after the Depression set in it's Dewey's testament on what he thought society would have to do to solve that kind of systemic problem and survive. What comes out from Dewey's experiential philosophy is a radical critique of individualism that fit's into the category today of "Council Communism" or "Autonomous Marxism", meaning socialism which is concieved according to Marxist type theory but is realized according to radically democratic and workerist means. A forgotten gem, read this and then absorb the liberatory potential of the rest of Dewey's many philosophical works.

This book is written by the author who made RSPICE. In this book, he explains the inner workings of SPICE and what those strange spice parameters(such as ITL1, ITL2...)mean. I can say I understand and use SPICE much better because of this book. Highly recommendable!

Excellent little thriller for the 11 to 14 crowd. I'm a children's librarian, a sucker for ghost stories and can't resist a good scare. While "The Intruders" may not satisfy the gore and guts crowd, the tale will give the younger teens and tweens a few sleepless moments...partly because they won't want to put the book down. I know I couldn't.

Usually, in a book like this, the subplot (in this case, a blended family trying to find its way to be a "real" family) not only takes a backseat to the main, scary plot, it's usually boring. But the tension between the children is so palpable and fascinating, it *almost* kicks the threat of the ghosts to the back. I really liked the characters (well, yeah, the parents were typically clueless) and enjoyed spending time with them. The teens were witty without being too adult. All in all and excellent effort and I look forward to more of Richardson's books.

Jean Lafitte, le connaisseur de la vie du chien, and Elizabeth Elkins have put together a book that is not only full of useful resources for any NY dog owner or visitor to the City, but also very entertaining as well. Jean Lafitte, we learn, is regarded as dog royalty, and he and Elkins take the reader on a tour from dog-friendly restaurants and hotels to parks to dog portraitists and mind-readers to pet chauffeurs and so on. Also, practical information, like city pet rules and regulations and where to go in case of medical emergencies, is included. This book makes a great gift for any dog owner!

Dr. Kissinger stands as a premier Secretary of State in the
previous century. The work begins with his early years at Harvard; wherein, he was denied tenure initially. Dr. Kissinger
worked for 4 Administrations. He argued very strenuously with
the Vietnamese, Chinese and the Soviets. After a short period
in government, he emerged as an interesting diplomatic figure.
He quickly rose to be Secretary of State, although he was
anti-Nixon originally. The former President sought to hire him
immediately and to bring him to the center of power as soon as
possible. The Kissinger diplomacy required high intellect,
strategy and patience in its implementation. His performance
was a virtuoso balancing act. Occasionally, he would sacrifice
form in order to gain substance in a negotiation. Initially,
Harvard denied him tenure because they believed that he had
greater designs in the area of government service. By late 1957,
Dr. Kissinger returned to Harvard to secure a tenured position.
The Kissinger technique was to pose a "spectrum of possibilities"
in order to confound the Soviets in the foreign policy arena.
His approach to the NSC was to combind the best of the departments of State and Defense. The Secretary disliked too
many small details in favor of studying the "big picture".
Conceptually, he envisioned strategies more in the Kennedy
style than the Eisenhower paper trail. Dr. Kissinger concerned
himself with the important details of "verification" in the
SALT treaties. He found in President Nixon- a willingness to
accept re-unification of Vietnam in exchange for a verifiable
peace. In the later part of 1971, he visited Peking to pave the
way for a visit by President Nixon in May of 1972. The famous
visit accomplished a normalization of relations with China.By
January of 1974, Dr. Kissinger bartered a disengagement of
Egyptian and Israeli forces from the Suez Canal. He continued
to influence public policy long after his tenure as the
Secretary of State. This work attests to a solid career in
public service with many diplomatic achievements and honoraria
to attest to his many accomplishments.

Poetry, perhaps, began its own demise with a stepping away from the common man, or with a fanciful idea that it must be high art comparable to the masters Shakespeare, Keats, the Brownings. What is often missed is that the language in which Shakespeare and these others wrote their work was the language of their day. Generations of lesser poets have tried to make poetry into something that it is not. As Ron Buck says in his foreword, a bloodline of myth, fantasy and abstract self indulgence has taken a seat in the halls of academic poetry.
Well, I am here to proclaim to all who will listen that this book, this collection of rejections from the prestigious literary world has come to return poetry back to the common man. It is not the same blue collar poetry of Charles Bukowski, but it is fine well crafted work much like Theodore Roethke and the open-road walking verse of Walt Whitman.
"Sanctuary" and "Hand-me-downs", the opening shots of this collection set the tone for the life of a coastal New Englander. The Harvard halls do not show up here, but the knife blade of an oyster farmer can be felt in your hand as it unhinges the shell and takes the meat in "Shucking".
Life is what Ron Buck brings to the table, and even an old Oklahoma cowboy or Indian like myself can see it, hear it, feel it, smell it, taste it in the words he has crafted as a fine carpenter planes, shapes and finishes wood for his project.
The book is poetry. It is art both visual and auditory; to hear Ron read is a whole other experience. It is formed, and it is free, not bound by the expectations of an academic class. It is the two by four framing of a house, the fine finish work of a cabinet maker, the weathered hands of a fisherman, the architectural eye of a landscaper and always, always it holds the heart of man and the mind of a philosopher twined together like like the climbing tendrils of a vining flower.
I own this book, and it sits proudly on the shelf with Dickey and Kooser and Komunyaaka. It has a place up there with Ken Nye and Lynn Doiron next to my volumes of Seamus Heaney and N. Scott Momaday, right up there with old Walt himself. When it comes right down to it, poetry should speak the truth as an individual sees it. That has always been what set the masters apart from the rest, not some preconceived idea established by robed and tasseled professors or lesser men with no understanding of humanity. Poetry is what moves us to be what we can become and to appreciate what we have been given. Ron Buck is a poet.

Just like the Mack trucks of old, and what the reputation of the brand was built on, this book is top notch. The legendary E model Mack's lighter end of the scale is examined in detail with excellent photos showing factory fresh and working trucks. Excellent for anyone into modelling, dreaming of owning one or currently restoring a survivor. Some of the supplied model information is pretty basic but the pictures speak thousands of words. A fan of classic trucks will get a real kick out of this and will no doubt want to get the EH-ES photo archive to continue the journey through the E Model.

The photos in the copy I own seem to be printed a bit funny. They are still excellent but seem to have a kind of semi-gloss finish, almost facsimile look, to them. Odd when compared to other Iconografix books in this series but nothing to be too stressed about!

OK if you want tell all stuff this book isn't for you. Get Fishbait Millers book (doorman of the house). If you wan't some of the low down and nasty of politicts rough language and all get John Farrell's book. But if you want an enchanting story, The story of a people and a culture. A story painting all that is best in America this one is it. The stories of Curley and Rayburn and the early days in the Mass State House are a joy. The stories of Work Buttons and bricklayers make you remember that all wasn't always well or easy in America. More than in the latest volume you see WHY Thomas P "Tip" O'Neill believed what he believed and battled for what he battled. His inability to say no might not serve today, but his belief in what was right yet willingness to respect those against him would be a godsend today. This book like a Jimmy Stewart or John Wayne paints a picture of what is great in America, it's the picture the way we'd like it to be, the way I think O'Neill wanted people to strive for. Its a picture of looking out for the other guy and all the stories of all the regular people that come with it. It's portrait of the regular guy is its charm, and the stories THE STORIES mother's milk for the political junkie. If you want all of the rough edges Farrell's book is probally better, but if you want the essence of a great man this book should be your choice.

I find David Mamet highly (lowly?) humbling. Is he never wrong? Just for his writing of Glengarry, Glenross, I bow down in eternal obeisance. Anyhoo, I read a stray remark of his in some obscure magazine article where he set forth the novel premise that this book was the best thing ever written on American politicians. Booyah, I said to that. But then I ran down a copy of this book, and discovered, yet again, dang it, he's right. The book covers the Presidents Harrison through Coolidge as well as the lesser politicians, Richard Croker, Thomas Collier Platt, Alfred Emanuel Smith and William Hale Thompson. White writes a vignette about each man but stitches the whole thing together as an alternative history of British royalty from The Old Kings, through The Early Stuarts, Two Warwicks, The Great Rebellion, The Restoration and, finally, The Young Princes of Democracy. This could have been pretentious fluff but it's not. White was an old-school newspaper editor who knew cant when he saw it and loved to skewer it. He's a very entertaining writer--just like Mamet. Sigh.

This book enlightens the reader to major enconimic forces influencing the history of New Mexico while telling the story of the development of the Camino Real through New Mexico and into the United States.