Directors Books

All of us in the nonprofit world worry about money. It seems we're constantly trying to balance our finances and our mission. "It's simple! : money matters for the nonprofit board member" is a powerful tool for aligning our two "bottom lines", fiscal solvency and mission. An easy read, this book is packed with helpful suggestions and novel ideas useful not just to any nonprofit board member but to anyone interested in helping nonprofit organizations realize their potential. I can personally attest to the value of the information. We employed the innovative approaches outlined in "It's simple! : money matters for the nonprofit board member" to successfully secure capital funds for the construction of a state-of-the art marine education facility which enabled us to expand our programs. Without the information you'll find in this volume, we'd still be "Sitting by the dock of the Bay, watching the tides roll away" rather than riding those moving waters to achieve our mission of educating people about the world of water. I recommend this book highly.

If you are a parent and are reading this review, do not laugh, for I am over the age of 9-12. One of my daughters love to ready history and biography, and she brought this book home. After looking at the cover, I thought "hmmm interesting.J.Edgar Hoover." I picked up and read and thougth "cool book." This book sum up the life of J.Edgar Hoover. The summary fulfilled my curiosity of J.Egar Hoover and his life as a director of BI and how he asked the Government to confrimed it as FBI. The captures of crimininals were short and they moved my interest to reading more of the captures and the crimininals. J.Edgar Hoover described in this book as a power hunger person, but yet, extremely hard working person. A little of a brown noser, but a clever and hard working person.

The production values of a famous film auteur are revealed in Robert Emmet Long's book, JAMES IVORY IN CONVERSATION.

Merchant Ivory production secrets are revealed in great detail, with much gossip and in great depth. Long's questions are very knowledgeable, and James Ivory's answers are candid, humorous and often quite pointed. We learn much about his relationship with Anthony Hopkins. We find out such how frightening the Eiffel Tower scene was for the actors in LE DIVORCE. And, we go behind the scenes as Ivory interviews various cast members and finally lands them for roles in his beautiful movies.

His partnership with the late Ismail Merchant is set before us warmly, and his appreciation for India, Paris and Venice are detailed delightfully.

Throughout the interview, Ivory gives the specifics of his many uses for art and artists in his films. The difficulties in working with Picasso's family are well told, and the fabrication of many pieces of art for his films (with permission from the artists, of course) is well explained and fascinating.

Students of film and art will be smiling throughout the book as the settings in so many wonderful films are described with life-like realism.

Reviewed by Larry Rochelle, Author of BOURBON AND BLISS, DEATH AND DEVOTION, THE MEPHISTO DIARY, GULF GHOST and BLUE ICE.

This text is an excellent source for jazz educators. Richard Lawn's straightforward approach and comprehensive presentation will benefit all jazz educators but especially novice instructors.

If you are an educator looking for help in starting, rehearsing, and sustaining a jazz ensemble, you need to have this text. Everything from set-up to sound systems to rehearsal techniques is covered. It would make an excellent textbook for a jazz pedagogy course.

Of particular interest to me is the section on teaching beginning improvisation. Lawn addresses isssues that are pertinent to jazz educators today (i.e. do you start beginning improvisers on the blues scale or playing over the changes immediately). However an instructor will need to augment this relatively brief treatise with other courses of study simply because of the complexity of learning to play jazz.

Another very handy chapter addresses running a jazz festival. The author provides sample adjudication sheets and pre-concert checklists of tasks the ensemble director is responsible for as well as a suggested concert sequence.

The final chapter is devoted to using computers and music software.

This is a great resource for any jazz educator.

Andre Bazin makes a meticuluous and extraordinary analysis around the entire filmography of this famous filmmaker .
There are many issues to know and we have to miss the fact Andre Bazin jus only lived forty years .
But in Francois Truffaut words , this is the most complete book about the greatest french filmmaker in the century .
In my personal opinion only two directors overpasses him in this order: Robert Bresson and Marcel Carne.

Wendy Miller fills a unique void in her books on spirituality. Its a subject of great interest to many people; but, good resources like hers are hard to find. I recommend this book and the others as well on spirituality.

Hank Messick has written six books on crime. He has been a college professor, investigative reporter, researcher on organized crime, and advisor to newspapers. This 1972 boo examined the continuing alliance between crime, business, and politics with the life and times of J. Edgar Hoover. The 'Author's Note' explains this book as examining the action or inaction of public officials and businessmen that helped make organized crime powerful. The Pentagon Papers told of the hoax used to brainwash Americans. Messick gathered the facts scattered among various files for this book. This book has 'Notes' and an 'Index'. The 'Introduction' tells about Hoover's personality cult; his whims are satisfied: "watch the borders" (p.2). Was "McCarthyism" pushed to distract America from the work of the Kefauver Committee (p.7)? The 'Afterword' summarizes the legacy of Hoover (pp.254-255). Later books went into more detail but avoided the linkage of businessmen and criminals.

Chapter 1 says Hoover joined the Dept. of Justice in July 1917, worked hard (p.11), and was helped by A. Mitchell Palmer. Hoover was the contact during the Palmer raids (p.17). When Harding became President William J. Burns appointed Hoover to the #2 job (p.22). Hoover had the right connections. Chapter 2 discusses the Justice Dept. during the Teapot Dome era. There were other scandals. There was more corruption during Prohibition. Organized criminals took over distribution (Chapter 3). Organized crime moved into restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, the service industries, and entertainments like movies (p.54). Chapter 4 tells what happened after FDR was elected. The bootleggers went legitimate. The FBI went after kidnappers and bank robbers (these were not part of organized crime). Organized crime increased its powers (pp.72-73).

Chapter 5 explains the origins of the Annenberg publishing business (pp.77-79). Hoover's power was increased by FDR, who liked to read his reports (p.85). Right-wing businessmen who dealt with organized crime supported Hoover (p.94). Messick says FDR helped to destroy "big-city political machines" (p.100) and this increased the political power of the crime syndicate! Organized crime expanded into new areas (p.101). The Reconstruction Finance Corporation loaned money to syndicate figures (p.102). While the syndicate expanded, Hoover concentrated on juvenile delinquency (p.104)! In 1945 Hoover boasted about keeping the secret of the atomic bomb from foreign powers (p.108). Then cam the stories about Red spies in Washington (p.109). Chapter 6 tells of other influence peddling deals. Joe McCarthy's early history is on pages 118-121.

Chapter 7 reminds us of the Kefauver Committee and its investigation into organized crime. [Why don't they do that anymore?] Do we need a national crime commission (p.135)? McCarthy's chief counsel Roy Cohn was connected to gamblers (p.138). Little is known about Hoover's private life except his interest in horse-racing (p.143). Racing tracks increase crime (p.147). Gambling grew spectacularly during the Eisenhower administration (p.155). Joe McCarthy was condemned by the Senate (Chapter 8). The attempt to set up a permanent task force on syndicated crime failed in the Eisenhower administration (p.171). Castro was hated for his attacks on syndicated crime (p.172). Robert Kennedy challenged organized crime (p.178). [They could make a movie about Newport Kentucky (p.179)!] Was organized crime an extension of the free-enterprise system (p.191)? Chapter 10 tells about organized crime and the McClellan Committee hearings in 1963. "No one was indicted" (p.197). Are judges and prosecutors part of a secret society (p.202)? Chapter 11 notes that Hoover handled civil rights by bugging and attacking M. L. King (p.207). Page 214 explains how to gain influence with a government official. Hoover's job was saved by JFK's death. Chapter 12 tells about gambling in the Bahamas and the help of Thomas Dewey and Richard Nixon! Does organized crime have a "secret police" (p.240)? Messick describes the last scandals (pp.249-250). [Is there a correlation between Gun Control and the rise of organized crime?]

This book obviously required years of tireless research and extensive resources. Mr. Levy has left no stone unturned in his efforts to provide every aspect of technical information to the prospective John Ford scholar

I was never too big a John Ford fan, just got this from the library out of curiosity, and I'm definitely going to purchase it. Its such a beautiful book, with not only large photos which capture the most visually awesome moments from all of Ford's many movies, including a revealing array of moments from lost films. Really illustrates Ford's genius in two ways: you can read it once with the margins, absorbing each large picture and its caption, then more in depth by reading the text in the middle by Eyman, who wrote a good book on Ernst Lubitsch amongst other things.

This book's great! It reviews John Grierson's tough decision,to join or not to join the Nfb. I saw that this book is full-colour. It's great! It also has a list on the back of all the cartoons that John Grierson has produced. John Grierson still makes cartoons today. Since the time he first started makin' cartoons,he turned the cartoon world upside-down! I've also heard that his latest cartoons,"Bad Man's Trash" and "Old Scary Monster" are in the National Film Board of Canada. So i and my family are gonna go to Canada next week. So if you're a fan of The National Film Board,then this book is for ya!