Interviews Books

Wow! What nasty reviewers! I did not expect to see so much hate and contempt spewed at a women who lost her child to a mindless and illegal war. It just boggles my mind! This reflects the intelligence of those who disagree. Whatever happened to "respectfully disagreeing" with an opponent? Whatever happened to just plain, old fashioned common sense?

This insightful booklet lays out in a very simple manner one person's objections to an immoral war. This is not World War 2 where civilization was endangered by another breed of hate mongers. Nor, is Iraq another Afghanistan, no matter how hard some of our elected officials try to make us believe bald-face lies.

It's important to remember - Iraq was a country ruled by a bunch of gangsters much more interested in lining their pockets than killing over religious doctrine. Afghanistan, on the other hand, was essentially a country occupied by foreign forces, which is why there is currently no brutal civil war despite having to deal with an active insurgency, and homegrown war lords, to boot!

In Iraq we are in the middle of a full fledged civil war. If we can draw any lessons from our own American Civil War, where 14,000 captured Union soldiers died horribly from disease and malnutrition in one single prison complex (Andersonville) - it's that Civil Wars tend to be extremely brutal. So it's reasonable to assume any sane person could disagree with the American government's involvement in someone else's civil war! My hat's off to Cindy Sheehan for her brave and robust dissent!

P.S. Both of the very nasty reviews of "Dear President Bush" has since been deleted! I guess the reality of an endless & unjustified brutal war has caused a change of heart!

The Activist's Handbook: A Primer Updated Edition with a New Preface

When I had the opportunity to meet Cindy Sheehan, what impressed me the most about her was how "real" she was - completely unpretentious. She clearly is speaking straight from the heart, with a fundamental resolve driven by grief and compassion.

For it isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

This book provides much needed discussion on what has always been a heated political/emotional issue - desertion from the military. While desertion has commonly been attributed to cowardice and lack of moral character, Robert Fantina thoughtfully discusses the larger issues, physical and emotional, that would compel a soldier to go AWOL. Some causes that stand out include: substandard supplies and lodging, inferior leadership, and personal disagreement with how the war is being conducted. Causes that are less obvious to the public,but no less deadly, include mistreatment of the soldier by the military itself.

Fantina documents the causes of desertion in each of the major conflicts through US history. Included are extracts from letters of soldiers who chose to desert, and details of the subsequent treatment of these men and women. These stories are not included in our general history texts; and as such, an important face of war, namely the cost to our soldiers, is never fully discussed.

This book brings a needed human face to a popular, but politically driven caricature Understanding the causes of desertion, is not an easy thing to come to grips with. But if we are to better understand the situation of all our soldiers past and present, we must look beyond the propaganda and see the nitty gritty details of their lives.

I know this book was coming and looked forward to it with great anticipation. Fortunaley I was not disappointed.
I knew little of nor had considered desertion from any military. Fantina offers some well thought out insights into what, beyond the reasons the powers that be give, my motivate someone to leave military service. Fantina does it by chronicling all the major wars of the US military.
The book is quick and to the point. The writing on what could be a very dry topic is not dry but quite an accessable read.
If he wrote the book to get the reader to think about the military and its role in a democratic society Fantina succeeded.

I saw a film and the works of Louise Bourgeois at the Tate Modern in London while I was on vacation. She was a fascinating woman! Brutally honest with raw insight on her life, emotions, and works! Fascinating! This is a great book showing the many sides of this artist!

The artist's diaries reveal so much about her fascinating creativity. It is very helful to read her comments over the decades as wintess and participant to the changing art world. The Walters Art Museum is presently exhibiting 39 of her works in "dialogue" with works from our permananet collection of Ancient, Medieval and Renaissanc art through May 21st, 2006. If you are in Baltimore, please take advantage of this amazing opportunity. The text of the diaries (that covers over 60 years)was very helpful to both staff and docents/guides in preparing for our tours. I recomemnd this text to all students and professors of contremporary art.

When I say "Photographer's Bible" it is not just a catchy title for this review, I believe it is truly "The Book". The sacred book doesn't have pictures, right?, well this one also have none, it treasures the soul and thoughts of some of the most important and famous photographers of the XX century. A good photography book about a famous photographer is easy to find, we all know the images from many of them, but what do they think about life and this hard profession, I just found it on this must-have masterpiece.

When I say "Photographer's Bible" it is not just a catchy title for this review, I believe it is truly "The Book". The sacred book doesn't have pictures, right?, well this one also have none, it treasures the soul and thoughts of some of the most important and famous photographers of the XX century. A good photography book about a famous photographer is easy to find, we all know the images from many of them, but what do they think about life and this hard profession, I just found it on this must-have masterpiece.

The more you read in this book the more you will resent the fact that the author/editor was able to spend time with Dr. Whitehead and you couldn't. We are offered an intimate view of Whitehead's breadth of interests and his famiylife. We sit in the home sharing refreshment and easvesdropping on the conversations. We gain a feeling of knowing the very human philosopher. If you enjoy the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table and the like, you will read this again and again.

I read this as a freshman in college, again years later, and am finishing my latest reading. A pleasure to read, forcing one to think. Some of the ideas are clearly dated, Whitehead being truly of the 19th century, but what he and the other discussants say makes one think.

"Coleman's discussion of the impact of technology on traditional photography serves as a brilliant . . . record of how new electronic tools have permeated our lives. . . . [Coleman's] ideas and concepts . . . are immensely valuable and insightful, with hints of what our future may hold. Coleman's critical eye makes [The Digital Evolution] required reading for today's media-savvy or information-obsessed artist." -- Daniel Carter, Design Editor, Wired, July 1999

"Nazraeli also publishes critical prose, . . . clearly anchored by the accomplished writings of A. D. Coleman and Bill Jay. . . . [Coleman's] latest book, The Digital Evolution, examines with a forthright lucidity how computerization and electronics have affected the photographic arts. Coleman's writing . . . is informative and unpretentious -- a rare combination in art criticism of any kind." -- Eric Lorberer, Rain Taxi: Review of Books, Winter 1998/99

It's fascinating when writers are put in the spotlight - some flourish and some flounder. This collection became compulsive bedside reading for me - it's not heavy on literary theory but it sure revealed the people behind the author's cloak in a personal, perceptive and frequently funny way. I really got the feeling that I was meeting the people interviewed - warts and all. Yet it was done so as to leave dignity intact. Vanities, secrets and courage were all revealed. It made me want to rush out and buy many of the subjects' books. I guess the best comment is that I was sorry to finish. I also liked the way the authors were such an international range - and I recommend the chapters on Antonella Gambotto, Kinky Friedman, Morris West and Brian Keenan in particular. More please.

My older sister turned me onto this book - and she was right, as older sisters often are. It is a real gem. She discovered it when she was Downunder on holiday last month and brought it back with her. The author is an Australian journalist who writes insightful and human stories. Half the book features Australian writers, half features American, English and Canadian authors. Each chapter takes a different approach and you end it wanting more. I liked the humor, I liked the sharp observations, I liked the way he made me feel as if I had met the subjects. I just wish American journalists wrote like this - read it, you will enjoy the experience.

I got a copy of this book simply as research for a school paper, but soon myself reading a lot more. The entire book is filled with fascinating insights into the process of television directing. The interviewer does an excellent job of exploring all aspects of the process and interviewing directors in a wide range of television fields. Readers will almost certainly learn many things that they never knew about television directing and gain a new respect for the process.

This was an informative and well-organized survey of American TV directors. The interviews proved that these men and women are often as creative as their counterparts in film. Brian Rose does a sensational job of examining the problems and struggles directors face in their everyday lives. I highly recommend this book to those with interest in the field and to those want to satisfy their hunger for learning new information.

An outstanding collection of today's Hollywood directors and their personal stories. It's one of those books for which you are glad somebody told you about it since its fascinating lessons will stick with you a lifetime. The approach of this book is not so on the nose as interview volumes often are but original and intriguing: it lets the directors (almost half of which are foreign-born) explain their colorful backgrounds, working their way up from either inside or outside of Hollywood - what they did in the past has now entered their very filmmaking and, boy, it shows: listen to Bryan Singer's crazy story of how he co-founded a Nazi club as a boy and his Jewish mother had to rip the swastika armband off him. Or David Fincher on how the studio messed up his Alien3 movie. Or Barry Levinson (Rainman, Good Morning Vietnam) being motivated about pretty much nothing as a kid - until he discovered that this was his strength... A truly remarkable read until the very last page.

...if only I could give 6 STARS... Movie directors Inarritu of "Babel", Frears of "The Queen", or Fincher of "Zodiac", Mangold of "Walk the Line", Pollack of "Out of Africa" - the list of great names goes on and on - when I saw the 21 star directors featuring in the table of contents I was surprised I hadn't heard of the interview book yet when a friend recommended it to me - also that I am the first reviewer here. I am a great fan of Director volumes such as "My First Movie" or "Breaking In" and this is just as informative as these two - and even better in my opinion. It presents directors from all different backgrounds and you get a real understanding of where these directors are coming from and what makes them tick.
I am a second year film school student and this book really blew me away - I just couldn't put it down. The interviewer does an outstanding job in making the directors explain their lives and the Hollywood fortress from the inside. Great anecdotes, great storytelling! Of course luck was sometimes involved in their careers, but only ever after hard work and never giving up even in the face of countless struggles. I really recommend this book to everone who is afraid the system doesn't have a place for them and loves to learn from the very finest storytellers of today's Hollywood - the best film school education you can get for your money! Thanks for putting this book out there.

Beerklee College of Music professor Stephen Webber writes the interesting account of scratching from the beginning to its growing acceptance as a legimate music form. Professor Webber was the first to teach turntabling as a regular course in a music college. His Stylus Symphony featuring turntables was premeired in November 2007. The book makes an important contribution to a neglected area of the history of music. But the great contribution is that it is a complete and fully illustrated text on the art of the DJ. The novice might choose to begin with Professor Webber's first book "Tutntable Technique". "DJ Skills" goes beyond the introductory elements of scratching and mixing and will prove to be an asset even to professional. Other books on this new musical form will surely be written, but this book will always be considered the definitive work.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. I mean, how can you write a comprehensive book on DJ'ing, Skratching, AND the history of records and recording combined? once I picked up this book and started going through it I realized, Yes, this is it! I LOVE this book! the first really together book on DJing/history/Skratch I know. The original! all the way back to EDISON! ROOTS!
Whether you are a dance DJ, Skratch DJ, or are a friend or loved one of someone who is, I would recommend this book to you. Interview with Qbert! and Herbie Hancock! and BT(my hero)! Great for casual reading. You can open it up to any section and find cool stuff.
-DJ BigBangRiddimRula