C Books

I bought this book in the Louvre Museum in Paris, where we were able to see some of the originals. They're compelling and just draw you in! This book allowed me to bring the paintings home, and study them. It's easy to read, and goes into detail explaining not only about Bouguereau, but also explains a lot of the detail and symbolism that he used in his paintings. So now I can enjoy them on a whole new level. I'm not a big art buff, but I know I'm drawn to his paintings, this was just a perfect book to cut my teeth on, and help to develop a better understanding of some very famous paintings. Buy the book. You won't regret it!

Adolphe-William Bouguereau (1825-1905) is in many ways the French equivalent of the British Victorian class of figurative painters - Lawrence Alma Tadema, Lord Leighton, JW Waterhouse - and had he lived in England rather than in the Impressionist laden France, he would be much better known today. Not that Bouguereau is unfamiliar to collectors and museums: in his time his portraits and luxurious paintings of shepherdesses and mythological creatures in a world of eternal beauty were popular and were added to important collections. It is only now with the new respect for the figure in painting that his name is becoming more recognizable.

Fronia E. Wissman has written a concise and illuminating text for this monograph and her style of exposition matches her subject. The book is filled with magnificent illustrations of Bouguereau's paintings with details and full-scale works allowed the prestige of excellent color reproductions. This is a fine monograph and one that belongs in the libraries of collectors and art historians who remain fascinated with the fin de siècle schools of painting. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, September 05

Wissman did a great job providing a fair and balanced view of French painter Bouguereau's career. And it's a good thing too! Everything else related to the artist is either out of print or a flimsy postcard book. How could this be? Well, the unfortunate stereotype of Bougeureau buffs is that they "don't know much about art but know what they like." It may be that many editors assume that if you like Bougeureau's paintings, you aren't the type to read a serious art book. I like to believe this is wrong. I enjoy Bougureau's art very much and am glad that someone published a reasonable paperback history and criticism of the artist. I hope that one day, others write similarly good books about other "forgotten" 19th century artists.

The art of Bouguereau is stunning. It stirs a beauty from deep within us that blooms in recognition of a beauty made visible by the stroke of his brush. So full and intoxicated with passion, his work seems an extension of gratitude for life itself. Through the canvas of this fine French Academic Artist, we witness how love is truly more persistent than time.

I am so taken by the art; I have yet to read what Wissman has written about his life. I think his art speaks with such clarity; he must have been a man with a great capacity to fully embrace the nature of the life he was given.

Yes the reproductions are great and deserve full stars yet there is much fault with Wissman's ignorant statement that Bouguereau did not use (paint from) photographs. This comment potentially questions the creadability of what otherwise would have seemed to be a very good analysis. For alternative comments, see "W.B" - Montreal Museum's '84 publication for a traveling show. It offers more "behind scenes" info. about the production of his work and their authors more credibly state, he "actively collected photographs" but "he almost never worked from photos" which is still an understatement. Included are photos of him in his studio painting and with another photo of Mich's. Pieta in background. I found a used copy here on Amazon, ISBN 2-89192-047-3 Mr. B. was a transitional figure in art history, caught between early 19th C. "tail end" classical art and late 19th C. art when photorealism began rearing its evil head, destroying classical art and bringing this "ism" to a point of extreme today. It is impossible to determine what extent he used them, yet it is clearly evident to a more trained eye, that he used photos, particularly with some of the complex children/cherubs he incorporated. This occasionally created a quality which, no doubt, helped to inspire criticism (noted in Wissman's bk)regarding the overly polished, sometimes cut-out and outlined aspects of some of his figures. He was able to get away with it for the most part because he had a more proper training as a student prior to exposure to photos. (I myself am a painter/sculptor studying classical art - I admire B. greatly yet to say he was a purest would be false since he clearly had an opportunist streak about him as many others did, and to a certain extent I can't blame him. But he helped to start a terrible trend which has turned classical painting and sculpture into a virtually lost art).

This is a lovely book, fantastic illustrations and a wonderful theme throughout. "Where are you going bear, please wait for me". Follow the bear and the boy through different places real and imagined. Suitable for 12 months - 3 year olds.

After reading it a few times to my son, I was surprised to hear him reciting the rhyme text back to me. We enjoy reading it together. The text is very simple but is perfect for a toddler. We learn names of different fruits, vegetables, and animals, as well as different ways of traveling. As all the Barefoot books he has, he loves it.

this book has vivid color. when you read to your kid. they love it too.

The illustrations are absolutely fantastic! they are beyond vivid its truly a feast for the eyes!
The story is simple and cause the illustrations are so perfectly done for a toddler it's very self-explanatory, Bear is traveling through the entire story on different means of transportation he goes to an island on a boat, to the market on bike, to a grand ball in a carriage and through the story the little boy is trying to keep up with bear but he just keeps missing "the boat" so to say. It's a very fun rhyming journey to introduce to little ones! This is our favorite of Stella Blackstone's Bear series its by far her best book!

We recently got this book out of our public library and I must say that it is a big hit with all of us. We (my son, my husband, and I) absolutely love the pictures and the text. I think this is a wonderful book that will get lots of mileage.

This analysis is most valuable in describing/explaining/analysing classical style in a way that assists actual performance of the piano music of that style. Excellent comments are interspersed throughout it.

Charles Rosen by now has attained a place among musical analysts on a par with the likes of Tovey and Grout, though his style is very different from either of these luminaries. Taking the music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven as the pinnacle of the musical style that developed in the late eighteenth-century, Rosen explains how around 1775 there was a decisive shift away from the High Baroque style of Bach and Handel, and why this new music was different. After his general introduction to the style most of the book explores different genres, symphony, opera, concerto and string quartet among them, to create a lucid and multi-faceted picture of how these three great composers approached and solved common musical and formal problems. The new edition adds a preface that addresses criticisms of the original book and an additional late chapter on Beethoven.

Rosen's writing, though it can be dense and repetitive, at its best is unmatched in its ability to relate analysis to what actually is heard by a listener. To this end, an ability to read and understand the copious and detailed musical examples is essential to fully grasping his points--this book is not for the casual amateur. But to those willing to do the work, The Classical Style remains as richly rewarding after three-plus decades as when it first appeared. As another reviewer has mentioned, it is a book one returns to again and again simply for the sheer pleasure of reading it.

This is an important and in many ways excellent book by Charles Rosen, who has also written other fine books. Rosen explains how the 18th-century sonata form was a logical extension and elaboration of what had come before and of what was inherent in traditional tonality. He shows that Romanticism wasn't a further development of the same principle, but rather a gradual dissolution. Rosen gives a scientific explanation of how traditional tonality itself is natural, grounded in physics. The implications of all this are clear enough. It's no accident that Beethoven was generally thought of as the greatest of all composers, until relatively recently (now it's not acceptable to think that anybody was greater than anybody else).

The anonymous reviewer from July 3, 1999 talks about sloppy thinking, while himself indulging in straw men, ad hominem, and plain deception. The reviewer gives a single quoted example of Rosen's allegedly sweeping statements, and this quote is of course taken out of context and isn't even Rosen's. It's Rosen quoting someone else in a context in which the quotation seems quite appropriate. The rest of this reviewer's statements are similar smoke and no substance. Please, do yourself a favor and read The Classical Style, and make your own conclusions. It's politically incorrect enough to inspire devious reviews and to be enlightening even to many professionals (if they have an open mind). It's not dumbed down, but it's written in an understandable language--something many other academicians might want to emulate. But if you are a "Liberal Warrior" or some other mind-already-made-up duffer, don't bother with this book or any other intelligent book: read Harry Potter and other children's fantasy instead, because that way you can escape reality while remaining rather harmless.

The author does an impressive job of showing how the classical style of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven evolved from the musical chaos following the high baroque period. Perhaps giving too little credit to transitional composers who blazed the trail for these three geniuses, Rosen intersperses analysis with superlatives that at times is useful but at other times seems more like hero worship.

I found some parts particularly fascinating, such as the comparison between a work by Haydn and C.P.E. Bach. Certainly when the analysis was complete, you could see why Haydn's art was more rational and complete, however Rosen's dismissal of C.P.E. Bach's work as incoherent was somewhat off base in my opinion because the styles and goals of the two composers were not synonymous.

Though I didn't always agree with the author's conclusions, this book is still the best out there that I have read on the subject and is well worth reading.

This is a beautifully written and illustrated book on a noble subject. On the basis of that rarity alone it deserves five stars.

This is one of the more interesting free motion embroidery
Books. I think that any one who can sew can do these projects. They are well illustrated and directions are clearly given. No guess work.

I have tried several of the techniques and the author has made learning free motion very understandable and attainable. It is my favorite new quilting book!

This book presents good technical information on handling thread, etc. for free-motion techniques. I find the examples quite uninspiring artistically, though.

As a freehand embroiderer for more than a couple of decades, I purchased this book a few years ago and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I must admit that I buy books like this as much to enjoy reading as to learn from. Unlike a prior reviewer, I won't criticize Ms. Fahl for having a different artistic vision that I might have--and my work is quite different from hers. So what? This book is presented as a jumping-off point for the buyer's creativity. This book is a great companion to Ms. Fahl's DVD presentation on working with thread; I have reviewed it separately. For a beginner, this can be a very good first resource.

We just cannot get enough time to try everything in this book It is absolutely inspiring. It is exciting just reading it and makes one long to get to the sewing machine. Why do we have to do housework, cooking and cleaning when there are such exciting things to create. Thanks to Ann Fahl for the work she has put into this book.I will always treasure it as I learn the art of Thread Painting.

Not only have I learned an amazing amount from this book, it has truly saved me from making very costly mistakes in selling vintage clothing. I adore period costume but good research books, especially when you are just beginning...are VERY hard to find. This book offers measurements, construction details and puts smaller accessories into context. Many times I would purchase a large box of antique clothing at auction that contained smaller items which would have me baffled. Countless times I find them in her illustrations. Pretty pictures are great, but her details will truly educate you. Thank you for this great reference. I wish you would do one entirely on personal accessories.

I bought this as a gift but I want a copy for myself. Can I say better?

Excellent reference for illustrators and animators. However, "Costume in Detail" only covers women's costuming, which is unfortunate considering the attention the author paid to the material.

the best of its kind. library copies constantly used by local stage costumers. a brilliant piece of work!

I would have loved to had seen the pieces of the garment drawn in their pattern shapes, but otherwise an excellent book with much detail written about each garment. Only other problem was that sometimes the writer's handwriting about the details on the drawings were a bit hard to decifer.

Excellent selection of fine writing about crime and vice - another winner provided us by the LOA. It's early era merely extends it's charm into a time past that's as vibrant as if it were set in the last decade, allowing us a nostalgic glimpse into our own literary birthright.

One, entitled "The Big Clock", is about the highly sophisticated and competitive world of big city publishing and involves a murder committed by it's top executive who is losing his ability to cope; a uniquely arranged set of chapters detailing the thoughts and actions of each player through their own individual eyes and each written in the "first person" which adds another layer of intrigue and dimension to it. An innocent man, fearing he will be the prime suspect, becomes enmeshed in an incredibly intricate plot trying to keep himself out of it, wading in deeper and deeper even though he has had nothing to do with the actual murder, but definitely has knowledge of certain of the events that will bring his family - that means his wife - into it which must be avoided at all costs.

In "Thieves Like Us", a gang of bank robbers is on the run through the Oklahoma countryside, living by their wits and for the day because tomorrow may never come; the doomed rampage is prolonged by the lack of law enforcement technology of the era. The visual image projected into the mind of the reader is vivid; of 1930's automobiles, dust and sweat, of desperate, reckless men who have nothing more to lose except their lives, which have never been good anyway - to them, for them or because of them. The old phrase of "Honor among the Thieves" becomes duly recognizable for a few chapters, as does the necessary bonding, and uneasy, false friendship that was tantamount to survival. This, due to it's very nature begins to unravel just when dependence upon one another is needed most; and the loser's urge to "do just one more job" to compensate for the money that seems to run through their fingers like sand through an hourglass overrides any thought process any of them may have had. It has it's anti-hero in one man who seems straight enough to maybe make it if he can just manage to split from his bad seed influences; but nothing can alter his headlong rush down the lonely path to perdition, taking the one lonely person who actually cares about him down with him. He has known nothing else; he has never been nurtured, never been taught the good lessons of life to offset the problems of it; he simply reacts to stimulus; the once child of clay has hardened to brittle nothingness.

Highly recommended for anyone enjoying mystery and suspense in it's finest form.

Before reading this handsome, well-made volume of six crime novels, I tended to consider 'noir' a movement, one of both style and period. I now know that noir is also and more generally an atmosphere and pertains to a wide variety of literary styles, characters, plots, motivations -- but all informed by a dark and often depressing overall mood. Ultimately, these six novels are character studies and although they are offhandedly described as 'pulp novels', their qualities of description, dialogue, and even basic construction techniques such as gradual disclosure and story arc far exceed most recent crime novels I've read. And although classic noir undoubtedly exposed the dark recesses in the minds and hearts of its contemporary audiences, these stories today confirm that there is very little that can shock us; the beauty and longevity of these novels is in their exposition and description of characters and surroundings and the significance of a single, seemingly insignificant event building to an inexorable, devastating climax.

Rather than recount each novel's plot and characters, I will only add that again, each of the representatives of the noir genre present in this edition illustrate a wide variety of settings and styles, places and characters. From what most of us probably consider classic noir represented by Cain's classic "The Postman Always Rings Twice" with its classic highway settings and passion, to the suave, biting, and sardonic wit of Fearing's "The Big Clock" reflecting the unusual structure of multiple first-person narration around a single, main protagonist in an urban, corporate setting, to the Oklahoman grit of a group study in gang crime via serial bankrobbers in Anderson's "Thieves Like Us", to the more explicitly horrifying, psychologically penetrating and depraved "Nightmare Alley" of Gresham, this edition is like a menu of various aspects and directions noir can and did take.

As other reviewers have stated, there is not a weak novel here. I found "The Big Clock" the most singular in structure, setting, and style and in certain aspects, it defies categorization as 'noir' except perhaps only in mood. In fact, it is the novel that for me most broadened the definition of the genre. I found "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" the most depressing because it appears to be the least fanciful, most truthful and thus the most devastating of the set. In this sense, "...Horses..." comes closest to rivalling truly great literature not so much for its details, but for its overall impact. In my opinion, Woolrich's "I Married a Dead Man" is the least successful because its exploration of mistaken identity (first mistaken, then deliberate) is somewhat banal and after finishing it, I wished Woolrich might have explored the contrast of genteel facade and grasping desperation a bit more explicitly. It is in many ways the most subtle and emotional of the set as well as the most modern (it is chronologically the last), but suffers a bit from the repetitive description of Helen/Patrice and the strain of her external and internal duality.

Several reviewers have found Anderson's "Thieves Like Us" the weakest of the set, but I disagree. The description of a gang is necessarily different and unlike the other novels, Anderson manages to accomplish what the other authors are unable to do (save perhaps McCoy): Describe the criminal as a legitimate, objective individual who deserves our sympathy and even our allegiance. Bowie, the central character, is described as taking a far more relaxed view of his own criminal activity and isn't portrayed in dark, tortured terms. In this light, Bowie has either the weakest conscience or the strongest depending upon how you choose to read him and in either sense, he and together with his cohorts provide and excellent example of the Anti-Hero.

"Nightmare Alley" is the longest and the most absorbing of the set. It is also the most violently and sexually explicit, has the largest cast of important and varied characters, and best succeeds in addressing the big questions concerning truth, faith, relationships, society, etc. Who are the real freaks -- carnival oddities and tricksters, or respectable society members seeking spirituality? Those with mere physical abnormalities or those who deliberately develop intentional differences? What is deception, particularly self-deception? "All the world's a carnival" might be a nihilistic worldview, but Gresham's portrait of an intelligent young carnival magician's development from a sensitive, impressionable boy into a full-blown 'spiritualist medium' whose only desire to trick the vulnerable out of their money (and who ultimately is tricked by one who lacks his ultimate weakness -- his conscience) is devastating. Although I predicted the ending, this truly nightmarish journey down Stanton Carlisle's alley is the point of the book. The true ending is, in fact, never reached and is a brilliant literary stroke.

I highly recommend this set of novels.

This collection of novels from the 30s and 40s was terrific fun and an outstanding introduction to the genre. You can debate whether they're all noir (at least what I expected noir to be); but nonetheless they each convey a distinct impression and view of the time. Without getting into lengthy reviews, I enjoyed Woolrich's "I Married a Dead Man" the most--from his eloquent style to the actual story-line. You know you're reading a master story-teller. Second was Gresham's "Nightmare Alley;" although sometimes I thought he could have expanded on some aspects of the story and shortened other passages (i.e., a little bit of editing would help). But each novel was distinct and enjoyable. Highly recommended.

First of all, the Library Of America collection provides the reader with some of the most beautiful hardcover editions available today. That said, the selections chosesn for this edition are all first class; for someone just getting into hard-boiled fiction, this is the ideal place to start. If you're like me and have been reading this genre for many years, this is a perfect volume to add to one's collection.

Noir emerged in the early 20th-Century from Pulp paperbacks published for mass consumption. Highlighting in gritty and sensationalistic detail the sordid undercurrents of Western society, Noir became an artistic force that became the medium for the representation of the down and out segment of the populace. Whether set in the impersonal grime of urban reality or at the deceptive simplicity of rural picturesqueness, Noir in Film and Literature revealed the odyssey and travails of lost souls whose misguided characters bore too much of the weight of their selves and their pasts to break from the shackles of their present.

"Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930's and 40's" is the American equivalent in prose of the influential and enduring genre. The grim and unforgiving tales of the dejected cast of mid 20th-Century American life are openly depicted ("The Postman Always Rings Twice"; "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"; "Thieves Like Us"; "Nightmare Alley"); vicissitudes of fate ("The Big Clock"; "I Married a Dead Man"). Whether set in scenic California, the vast and open Midwest, or a high-rise office in Manhattan, these novels uniformly render a panorama of blighted dreams, twisted turns of fate, and the sad recurrence of misfortune in desperate individuals doomed to tragedy.

None too substantial in content but highly readable, this edition is the first of a handsome 2-Volume anthology on American Noir fiction published by the venerable Library of America. Edited by Robert Polito (Poet, writer, anthologist on Noir Lit. and author of a biography on Jim Thompson), these stories enduring relevance are seen in various forms of contemporary society: from the writings of James Ellroy, Brett Easton Ellis, Lawrence Block, and Robert Bloch; in films like "Scarface", "Pulp Fiction", "Fight Club"; and in everyday life.

Milan Kundera gives us a new insite on what makes a novel a different type of literature. He is widely read, witty and light. At the same time his opinions are thought provoking and the breadth and appropriateness of his quotations a joy to read. I must say that I read the book in one rainy weekend sitting and that it has been a long time since I have enjoyed so much following an author's thought process.

The Curtain is Kundera's third work of literary criticism/theory and it is, in my view, the best. It is more focused than Art of the Novel and less bitter than Testaments Betrayed. Here Kundera presents extremely readable and pointed analyses of several works and, more importantly, provides a larger argument about the role of the novel in the world and its moral capabilities. He provides insights into several well known writers such as Cervantes and Kafka, but he has also alerted me to many writers with whom I was previously unfamiliar. It is one of those books that, after you finish, will make you want to go and read a dozen other books. And I think that is a good thing.

In The Curtain, which in fact is a series of separate pieces, each of which are further divided into component pieces, Kundera presents the novel and novelists in a tableau of history, politics, and culture. His manner is discursive. Among his shaggy dog elements: the novel as psychological exploration of character or as existential analysis; phenomenological observations on the workings of memory; Rabelais, Cervantes, and Hermann Broch (The Sleepwalkers) as stand-alone contributors to the nonlinear history of the novel, along with Sterne, Flaubert, Kafka, Carlos Fuentes, and more; the influence of national culture on art (the difference between French "vulgarity" and Central European "kitsch"); the innards of a novel's process, and the workings of prosai-comi-epic imagination ...

It occurred to me, as I began to scribble notes on this or that observation, put so succinctly and well, that I hadn't felt the need to do that in a while, since reading E.M. Cioran's observations on life, in fact, and before that the aesthetic takes on visual art of Andre Malraux in Anti-Memoirs) and the comments on writing by Sartre in Why I Write. You can reread such books, as I expect I'll reread this one as well.I Think, Therefore Who Am I?

It is unfortunate many readers of serious fiction will never read this book. Milan Kundera (1929) is a Czech-born writer who writes mostly in French these days. He is best known for his novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novel (Perennial Classics) (1984), a profound exploration of the fragile nature of the life of an individual. Following The Art of the Novel (1985) and Testaments Betrayed (1992), his seven-part essay, The Curtain, is part three in a trilogy of essays on the European novel. Translated by Linda Asher, it was originally published as "Le Rideau," in French in April 2005 by Gallimard. It should be considered required reading for anyone interested in knowing what the novel is all about.

Kundera believes that reading novels, from Cervantes, Dostoyevsky, and Tolstoy, to Kafka, Garcia Marquez, and Rushdie, offers a way of thinking that is essential to understanding human nature and our own lives. Reading allows us to tear down "the curtain" of pre-interpreted assumptions ingrained in our psyche, enabling us to have an unobstructed vision of the world we inhabit: "A magic curtain, woven of legends, hung before the world. Cervantes sent Don Quixote journeying and tore through the curtain. The world opened before the knight errant in all the comical nakedness of its prose" (p.92). For Kundera, "a novel that fails to reveal some unknown bit of existence is immoral" (p.61); its objective should be to reach into "the soul of things'" and the '"enigmas of existence." Understanding human life--that is "the raison d'etre of the art of the novel" (p.10). Anything less than that is mere "babble."

Although Kundera's subject is erudite, his writing is easy to follow--like sitting in a Paris cafe with a 78-year-old scholar, discussing why reading serious European literature matters.

G. Merritt

Kundera's book about the novel is not exactly as billed. These are not seven
essays. What we have is a set of notes, some speculations and assertions about
the past and future of the novel and its place in the world of literature and art.

Since these happen to be the spectulations of one of the most radically unsentimental
writers of our time, they are very valuable indeed. As the thoughts of a writer
whose work inspires other novelists (well, okay, this novelist) to keep writing,
they're especially precious.

Kundera urges us to see the novel in the context of its history. He suggests that its
reason for being is that the novel can tell a particular kind of truth, that it can
get to the heart of things and tear back the curtain of interpretation that veils
our realities.

The specifics of this arguement are as enlightening as the arguement itself:Cervantes'
humor as a reprise of what grownups know about the world, Rabelais' coinage of
a word for the humorless, Musil's irony, Stifter's prescience. Read Kundera to enlarge
your circle of acquaintance and turn literary acquaintances into teachers.

For all the inspiration that Kundera's work affords writers, this is a very pessimistic
book. With the death of historical awareness and appreciation for the moment comes
the death of the novel. Without 'the history of various arts, there's not much left
to works of art'. It's the pessimism of the true conservative-one whose heritage and
nation have vanished and being now incapable of growth can only be shored up
against the inevitable ravages of the new.

This perspective encourages-I think-an appreciation for the everyday, a Gestalt
shrink's awareness of the here and now. It's the kind of appreciation that rubs off on
the reader. If the reader is also a writer, this is the stuff that keeps you going.


--Lynn Hoffman, author of New Short Course in Wine,The and
the extremely charismatic bang BANG: A Novel ISBN 9781601640005

love this book broke down many times on some of the letters great book!!

This marvelous little book offers a parallel and human voice to the more academic books about Vietnam.
There is no "agenda", here just a selection of moving, articulate, impassioned voices talking about their experiences and feelings at the time they were there. Some of the most moving, of course, being those from young people who would die shortly thereafter. We see through the letters in the book that even on the front lines this "war" was seen through a wide diversity of opinions, from those that were totally committed to it, and why (though they tend to become less prevalent as the years pass), to those who came to believe it was not a worthy effort to justify the consequences. And the majority, just confused. A must read.

This is a wonderful book for anyone who wants to see the Vietnam war from the eyes of those who were there. The book is a collection of writings from Vietnam veterans that were written during there time in country. This book shows the War as more than casualty numbers and battle field dates. A good read for everyone.

This book captivated me so that i could not put it down, untill i had finished. It touches your heart and soul. Wonderful read!! Please put it on DVD!!! Thank you :-)

After the amazing documentary about Vietnam that solely exists of actor voice overs of funny, goofy, anxious and heartbreaking letters home from soldiers at the battlefront in Vietnam, accompanied by graphic footage of the war itself, this book came out. It contains the letters read out in the movie, and additionally has some more background information about the soldiers who wrote the letters.

Even without the trained actor voices reading the letters out loud to you, and without the grim and realistic war images, this book is a pageburner. Heart-wrenching accounts of the legacy of war written by the soldiers that fought it, as well as by the people they left behind.

This is an excellent and much needed book. Gray Lynch courageaously takes on the JFK apologists and lays it all out so folks can see what really happened at the Bay of Pigs. His front-line service with the Brigade during the invasion gives the account credibility. As a CIA operative attached to the exiles he had first-hand knowledge of the planning and decison making that led to its failure. Lynch doesn't mince words either, he clearly articulates where the blame lies - at the feet of JFK and his administration. The account is from his actions during the initial landings and later while running operations from one of the transport ships that made up the exile force. Consequently, you won't get much coverage of the battles on the ground. However, he does an excellent job of giving the reader the overall picture and all the events that led to the failure. He also provides some interesting observations about the battle and some of its participants that I had not seen before. In the final couple of chapters he superbly blows away all the people that cast the blame on the CIA or the exiles in an attempt to cover up the true culprits. You'll come to realize how politicized the whole project became once Kennedy and the Democrats took over in 1960 and how their cowardly approach to foreign policy finally led to the betrayal of Brigade 2506. This is a quick, easy, yet powerful read that helps to dispel the conventional wisdom that has been developed about the incident. Basically, a well-planned opportunity to remove Castro from power was squandered due to politics, cowardice, and betrayal.

Grayston Lynch was one of two American "advisors" who stormed the Bay of Pigs with the 2506 Assault Brigade on April 17, 1961. In Decision for Disaster, Lynch attempts to set the record straight on what caused the mission to fail. He offers a unique perspective in that his position privileged him to the inner happenings of CIA and White House planning, yet he can also give a firsthand account of the battle itself, having fired the first shots of the invasion himself. Lynch is clearly not content in the contemporary historical account of the Bay of Pigs, proclaiming in the preface that "the true story has never been told, until now." Lynch goes on to tell his story with reasoned contempt for Castro and Camelot, and a deep reverence for the 2506 Assault Brigade.

Lynch became a player in the Bay of Pigs in December 1960. The Texan had just retired from a 22 year career with the US Army, most recently as the captain of a US Army Special Forces A-Team in Laos. He had seen combat and was wounded at Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge and Heartbreak Ridge in Korea. He was awarded two Silver Stars and a Bronze Star with Valor. The Cuban cause was something that Lynch took to heart; even after the Bay of Pigs he continued to play a major role in anti-Castro commando raids. His decision to write this book now came from the recent passing away of his fellow "advisor" William "Rip" Robertson and the declassification of items essential to the telling of the story. Besides using his first-hand account, Lynch enlisted the knowledge of commanding officers and 2506 Assault Brigade survivors in writing this book.

Lynch had his book published by Potomac Books which was founded in 1983 as a part of British publishing house Brassey's. Since this books publishing, Potomac was purchased by American book distributor Books International. Potomac has strong roots in military history, but has broadened its range to include general history, world affairs, foreign policy, intelligence, memoirs, biographies, and even sports. Its most successful book to date was Michael Scheuer's American Hubris. Potomac's usual offerings come with a strong dose of realism backed with a healthy dose of knowledge and first hand experience; Decision for Disaster is no exception.

Lynch gets off to a rough start in his account. He attempts to weave together several concurrent stories that will eventually lead to the invasion. A difficult enough task by itself, he attempts to do it as a flashback story while on his voyage to invade Cuba. This continued flashback-fastforward-recollection-juxtaposition can give the reader a mild case of mental whiplash. His constant foreshadowing and alluding to the invasion gave me a strong case of deja vu by the time he was invading in real time. However, whatever Lynch lacks in authorship, he makes up for in laying out an intriguing fact-laden journey through all relevant events leading up to the invasion.

One of the stories Lynch tells exceedingly well in the build up to the invasion is Castro's initial revolutionary undertakings in Cuba. Lynch robs any Bolivarian Romanticism from Castro's invasion, likening him and his cohorts more to a buffoonish F-Troop, who shortly after arriving are gunned down from eighty-three men to twelve. What is especially amazing is that through some perfect storm of idiot journalism, Congressional nativity, and Batista's yellow belliedness, Castro still somehow manages to seize power in two years time. This is something that the US backed 2506 Assault Brigade would fail to do.

When all members of the invasion force meet in Nicaragua, Decision for Disaster takes off. From here Lynch takes command of the story and tells it with an earnestness and humorous wit that allows the reader to experience a real empathy for him and the 2506 Assault Brigade. The story that follows is so outlandish and multi-dimensional that it left me wondering why fictional war stories exist. The politicking, bravery, cowardice, mutiny, and chance that make up the Bay of Pigs invasion is mind numbing. There is no way an academic or bureaucrat could deliver a better synopsis of the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

All good stories have a villain, and Decision for Disaster's is not who you might think. Though Lynch makes no doubt about his contempt of Castro, he dismisses him as a thuggish opportunist who only reigns due to the failing of our true villain: JFK. Lynch begins his case against Kennedy during his presidential race with Nixon. He quotes Kennedy arguing with Nixon, "If you can't stand up to Castro, how can you stand up to Khrushchev?" Kennedy played this weakness card throughout the election, and was befuddled to learn of the extensive invasion plan already in place when he arrived in office. From here, Lynch documents action after action that Kennedy takes to push the project closer and closer to failure. Against the heeds of all military advisors, Kennedy relocates the invasion spot, restricts Air Force use, and delays the project enough to allow Castro to receive his first shipment of Soviet tanks and arms.

What is especially frustrating about Kennedy's actions is that not only did they doom the invasion, but they did absolutely nothing to meet his misguided intention of hiding the obvious US involvement. Kennedy's inexcusable pussyfooting around the invasion offers a case example of what happens when the US tries to placate international concerns. A more Machiavellian approach, using overwhelming power to achieve decisive victory, would have brought success and avoided the missile crises that followed due to its failure. Lynch succeeds in painting Kennedy as an incompetent boob, who should be held ultimately responsible for the deaths and loss of American respect that resulted from the Bay of Pigs fiasco. For those who would like to place blame elsewhere, Lynch starts his book with the following quote, "For the greatest enemy of truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, pervasive, and unrealistic". This is quoted from none other than JFK himself.

Decision for Disaster is an excellent book that succeeds in telling the story in a believable manner. There is no circular logic or excuses made in Lynch's book. His humbleness while telling the story makes it clear that he has no agenda outside of relating the story as it should be told. Though Lynch occasionally stumbles to tell his story coherently in the beginning, he builds enough momentum through humor and insightfulness that it is easily overlooked. With Decision for Disaster, Lynch offers a great opportunity to relive the macrocosm of the Bay of Pigs with a genuine and witty tour guide, highly recommended.

I share the author Lynch's disgust for the attitude of John F. Kennedy and how he treated the Cuban exiles. In his campaign, Kennedy stated he would pay any price for freedom. He also chided Nixon about being tough on Castro. When it gets his turn to decide, he waffles on how to deal with Castro. He dumps the 2506 brigade on the beach and then refuses them air support either from the exile aircraft or U.S. aircraft. He states it would give a bad impression in the world.

Fortunately Kennedy toughened up in a year and faced down the Soviets and Cubans. He would not have had to if he would have supported the Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs. Lynch details his work in the Cuban exiles training. He also details the exploits of the brave 2506 Brigade and their heroic defense. The U.S. should have supported these people more forcefully.

This book is definitely an eye opener. I remember as a child my father telling me of the cover-ups and distortions created by the Kennedy administration. The real truth about what happened at the Bay of Pigs is finally out. JFK's mistake caused untold missery to millions of people. Not just Cubans, but also Nicaraguans, Guatemalans, Colombians, and now Venezuelans. Cubans, and Americans as a whole, should be extemely grateful to Mr. Grayston Lynch for writing this book. I know I am. Thank you, thank you Mr. Lynch.

This is an excellent book. Finally an author speaks out against "Camelot." America's love affair with the Kennedys is sickening. The CIA has gotten a bum rep because of the Bay of Pigs and this book finally points the finger in the right direction

This is truly one of the cult pieces of literature, right up there with Tropic of Cancer and even Fight Club. The writing is beautiful and erotic, and Nin comes across as a mature individual with special needs and insights. While every woman should read this book, guys will enjoy seeing things from the "other side."

I recomend reading Anais Nin's diary. The book is such poetic prose. Some sentences really took my breath away, the way she can captivate something so beautiful and human in simple words. Since it is a diary, its main focus is her life, but its not selfish, infact she mentions herself very little. The main focus is Henry (Miller) and June, his wife. When Ananis Nin falls inlove with someone, so does the reader. Her descriptive skills gave me goosebumps, you really can see it in your minds eye, hear the music or feel the softness of skin. I highly recomend this to anyone thinking about reading this book, you will come away with a slice of life from 1930's France.

...with "Tropic of Cancer." For newbies, read the synopsis of Anais Nin and Henry Miller at "wikipedia." Then start reading Volume 1 of Anais Nin's diaries (1931 - 1934). After a while, maybe 30 - 40 pages you will want to take a break. So, pick up "Tropic of Cancer" and read the first couple of chapters. Anais had Henry read her journals; Anais and Henry helped each other with each others works. The preface to "Tropic of Cancer" was written by Anais Nin (at least it was signed by her; legend has it that Henry actually wrote it). "Tropic of Cancer" was published (and immediately banned in the United States) in 1934. (By the way, off topic, Henry Miller reminds me a lot of Hunter S. Thompson, at least "Tropic of Cancer" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.")

A bit long and occasionally dense, but overall, a worthwhile and insightful glimpse into the life of a remarkable, thoughtful writer in 1930s France.

This is one of the most profound works of literature I have ever read. Nin leads you directly into her life, the nature of the people around her, her feelings and internal conflicts. She writes delicately and powerfully and womanly. Everyone should have a chance to read this.