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Whether you are a fan of Edgar Tolson's work or of woodcarving in general, this is an essential book to have if you are interested in folk art of the 20th century. The thorough research done on Edgar Tolson is fascinating and through his art and career the world of 20th century folk art is examined. From key folk art collectors to various museums and institutions, the 20th century folk art movement was created and sold to the buying public. By the time the "important" artists were established all of the "important" early work was already in the hands of a few collectors and the museums. It's no accident that Tolson's work ended up in a prestigious Whitney Biennial and his artwork sky-rocketed in price. The same with Howard Finster. By the time his work was presented as being important to the general public, a narrow group of collectors and critics had already hoarded the first few thousand of his numbered pieces which the critics then deemed as the most important of his career. And the story continues to this day with collectors / critics buying early key works, then recommending them to the general folk art buyers. This book is perhaps the best analysis of why and how a folk artist becomes "important" in the 20th century. It may or may not sour your view on 20th century folk art but is a great read either way. As with all art or decorative objects, if you just buy what you like and ignore the critics, you'll be happy. Who's to say 10, 20 or 50 years from now if anyone will even care about "20th century folk art."

Ms. Julia S. Ardey has put together an extraordinary work -- filled with stories and pictures of a poor Kentucky man who whittled stuff to which other folks took a liking. My grandfather Edgar Tolson will always remain an elusive character both in life and in death hard to explain and to understand. As all great artists he was not one dimensional. Ms. Ardey did a fine job of grasping enough bits and pieces of his life, through the eyes and hearts of those who knew him, to give a reasonable representation of who Edgar Tolson was and why he whittled. Ms. Ardey interviewed scores of people and personalities who all have their own opinion of Edgar Tolson the Man and Edgar Tolson the Woodcarver and the times in which he lived. Ms. Ardey managed a remarkable feat in compling those interviews into an a very good work. She included many pictures that give insight into an artisan and his art. Many pictures capture Edgar's soul in his eyes -- others show a family life of just real folks who just have a Daddy that whittles in the living room and lets the shavings fall to floor. As a granddaugther of Edgar Tolson, beloved Kentucky woodcarver, I am very pleased with the work Julia S. Ardery managed to put together on his life and extraordinary talent. With a family as large as he had I am sure that this book will be debated into generations, however, it is a real good starting point at which to kick off the debate of fact or fiction. The papaw I knew was a wonderful minister; he loved his God, knew his bible and had a passion for sharing the Biblical Truths of his God with others through his work. He managed to reach the very far corners of the earth with his renditions of Adam & Eve in Garden of Eden, Their Fall, and Noah's Ark among a few--how many ministers can stake that claim. He carved what was upon his heart to carve. He was discovered by others who marketed it to a world who craved his carvings and what they represented to them. I am so pleased that Ms. Ardery managed to compile so much ! of his life and work into this book. It makes for really good reading and gives the reader the opportunity to linger with story and photo's of Edgar Tolson and his artwork long enough to gain an understanding of why so many are so drawn to it, him and living upon this earth. Thank you Ms. Ardery for a job well done.

This book provides a Chasidic largely Habad reading of Rambam's thirteen principles of faith. Gurary teaches that the Jew has before birth prior knowledge of God, and that the belief in God is therefore inherent in every Jewish soul. As he understands it all Torah is a manifestation of God, and the learning of the thirteen principles of faith is what he calls ' experiential'and not simply abstract reasoning. Each of the chapters is a meditation on one of the thirteen principles. There is too a chapter on Faith itself, Faith and Experience, Faith and Reason, Faith and Self- Sacrifice, Faith and Life et. al.
The last principle is Resurrection of the Dead and I would like to quote Gurary's closing words in the hope that they may be of some help and inspiration to anyone who reads this.
"Perhaps the reason that Maimonedes final principle is about the resurrection of the dead is in accordance with the maxim" that the beginning is wedged in theend, and the end in the beginning'.
Rightin the beginning we explained that belief in God comes from God Himself, that God Himself is revealed to the soul We conclude with the idea that the relationship of God to the Jewish person as a whole,comprising both soul and body , will ultimately be revealed in the era of the resurrection of the dead. Thus we see that the Essence of God is connected in every way to the life of the Jew in this world.As explained by Chasidus, the final principle emphasizes that this intrinsic connection is everlasting and will ultimately be revealed forever. In this sense, there is no end. The final principle explains how there is no end.'
This work was compiled and edited by Moshe Miller.

Library Journal: A knowlegeable proponet of the Lubavitch movement, a Chasidic sect that embodies many of the mystical aspects of Judaism, Gurary has written an extensive interpretation of Judaism. He uses framework of Maimonides's famed 13 principles to attach basic Lubavitch concepts. He correctly distinguishes between normative Judaism and Chasidim and prefaces many statements with "Chasidus explains..." this distiction is particularly important when he addresses controversal areas such as the doctrine of reincarnation orthe concept of the differences between a Jewish and non-Jewish soul. Well sritten, highly recommended

But you don't have to pay for it. Google it and get it off the Military Review site. As for the other reviewer who thinks GEN Petraeus doesn't know what he's doing...he's uninformed. He might consider that Petraeus' words were intended to spread a "subversive" thought process that needed adoption. He was not trying to squash Kilcullen's thoughts, as proven by Dave's continued role as an advisor.

The Washington Post carried an article on Feb 5 about the new Iraq Commander, General David Petraeus and his favored advisors. It said his chief advisor is "an outspoken officer in the Australian Army. Lt Col David Kilcullen. . . . Twenty-Eight Articles was read by Patraeus, who sent it rocketing around the Army via e-mail. Among Kilcullen's dictums: 'Rank is nothing: talent is everything'--a subversive thought in an organization as hierachical as the U.S.Army."

That is what experts at the top think about this short paper. Me,an old civilian, wonder just how much the commanders a long way from company level operations really know. But the CinC clearly has no clue.

My boyfriend and I have been together for about 4 months. I've definetly heard of U2 before, but I never really got into them until my boyfriend introduced me to their amazing compilation of songs. Ever since, I have been a die hard fan of U2 just like my boyfriend. I was searching for a christmas gift for my boyfriend, and I came across this book. I orderd it and intended to give it to my boyfriend, but I liked it so much I had to keep it for myself. The book has great and vibrant images and very conclusive articles. This book is a must for and die-hard fan!

If you are a reader of Rolling Stone magazine and a fan of U2, then you should pick up this book. It compiles all the articles, concert reviews, album reviews, random notes, interviews, etc. that have appeared in the magazine on the band. It is interesting to read the earlier stuff before the band became superstars. A great compilation.

I, for one, am amazed by the versatility of this new uniform. It has inspired me to go out in public more often and show off my sexy sailor wares. When all I had were the janitor-esque work uniforms and coveralls to go out in, the only things I could bet on receiving were punches to the face and an occasional pity beer. Now when I go out wearing my sexy new Navy uniform, people treat me like a king. I still get free beers, but I get them because I'm awesome and everybody wants to see me slosh my 9th or 10th bottle all over my water-resistant powerhouse of a uniform. I also still get punched in the face, but now it's only so people can see how well the uniform deflects bloodstains. This article is a brilliant, life-changing homage to a brilliant, life-changing piece of cloth. Bravo, Adam Stapleton, Bravo!

Stapleton, or "Stapes" as he was popularly known to fellow sailors, really does the field of journalism justice in this deftly crafted article on the transition from old to new working uniforms for Navy sailors.
This article is highly recommended for anyone who is interested in learning about how the U.S. Navy is transitioning from the old and instantly recognizable dungarees to brightly blue colored camoflaged fatiges that allow the modern sailor to more easily blend into his common environment, haze gray and deep blue.
The enemy will never see you coming while wearing these new uniforms, they'll think a completely unmanned amphibious assault ship has drifted into their territory, then when they board the ship, they'll be completely caught off guard when they discover what they thought was a ghost ship is actually a fully manned battle ship.

In the three months since I bought Writing Feature Articles it has proven invaluable in marketing my work, and in making me a better and more confident writer. I recommend this book to anyone seeking guidance about how to sell their work and enhance their creativity.

This is the best book I have found for practical guidance on developing feature articles and marketing them to a wide variety of publications; the author presents information in a way that is easy to follow and a pleasure to read. Excellent resource!

This book and its companion from the library of america, have everything that Hurston wrote - except some unedited manuscripts, and some articles and short stories.

Her interest in language, folklore and ritual, and the cult of local color comes through in all of her works. The personalities and struggles, failures and victories of all of her characters become real for the reader.

She is writing earlier in the 20th century, when people were starting to buy radios and automobiles -- she saw a lot of the south, and north, rapidly transform into the beginnings of the consumer culture we know today.

When I read Hurston, it is like I feel an anxiety to preserve. I sense a underlying insight, that she probably had, that within a couple of generations, the rhythm of life would radically change.

I think she saw that a lot of the folk traditions and rituals in North America would disappear, so she did what she could to demonstrate a vibrant african american cultural life, as she knew it, and interpreted it.

The two collections of Hurston's work show the span of her writing, over her lifetime. These pieces reveal how many of her imagination and many of her themes and character-types evolve over the years.

I recommend the two volumes.

The debate of whether Ms Hurston was a true Harlem Renaissance writer is does so little justice to her contributions to that scene that I spent an entire semester debating it. Of course she was and she was one of the writers who helped give it its significance. Just the scene in Jonah's Gourd where she is talking about the physical features of the male protagonist is important enough. Her "peope" are real and you wonder if she had interacted with them in real life because they are your neighbors, relatives and friends...they are just that touchable. Her pain in life comes through all her books but you are so busy savoring her prose that you only wonder about it after you are done. The best thing to do is to gather several authors from that period and read them all. She is among the genius of the era but you will see how far she stands out from the brilliant.

Martin considers the problems facing Mankind now in the twenty- first century. He lists seventeen challenges. 1) The healing of the Earth, its climate and environment. 2) The problem of the Poverty and short brutal lives of a good share of mankind. 3) The challenge placed by Over- population and in his judgment the need to reduce human population. 4) The problem of Lifestyles, meaning the need for people to adopt more environmentally harmless lifestyles. 5) The need to prevent a War which could destroy Mankind. 6) The challenge presented by an irreversible Gloablism which must be constructed so as to allow local cultures to thrive. 7) The challenge presented by danger to the biosphere, the loss of species. 8)The challenge of Global Terrorism 9) The challenge of Creativity for the younger generation 10) The challenge presented by Disease and possible pandemics. 11) The challenge to increase the degree to which human beings realize their potential 12)The challenge presented by the Singularity the moment computer intelligence begins to feed on itself. The danger that this may get out of control 13) The challenge of Existensial Risk of mankind learning to ban unacceptable risks even if this means limiting certain kinds of scientific activity 14) The challenge presented by Transhumanism or the enhancement of human beings which may alter human nature , or possibly lead to Civilizations beyond anything we can imagine today 15) The challenge presented by an Advanced Civilization in which machines do the work and human beings have opportunities for creation beyond those they had before. 16) The challenge of 'Gaia' the earth's self- control system which we may catastrophically disrupt 17) The challenge of the Skill/ Wisdom Gap.
In his analysis Martin hopes to lead Mankind to take the necessary steps to ensure a remarkable future for itself one beyond what we can imagine for it now.

I prefer the print version of the MLA bibliography to the online as it's easier to manipulate physical pages than to slog around through slow hypertext links. Though the CD version offered by Silver Platter is excellent, it lacks access to a fully collated, alphabetized subject index. Volume 1, the most consistent and frequently consulted of 5 volumes is an excellent tool for those who wish to specialize in the literature end of the hyper-interdiscplinary miasma into which English and American Studies have increasingly ventured since the late 1980s --not that there's anything wrong with that. Volume 1, however, is the single best tool for remaining focused on one's quest to build or maintain a career as a teacher of English language literature --a vanishing creature in the sprawling mall/moll-ifying of literary studies amid its apparently irreversible stratification. (thank you for reading my runaway sentence)
Research among one's peers, within a defined realm is what makes great teachers, especially if they build their philosophical foundation without relying on the pre-set theories of big name postformalists.
Sadly, scholars, PhD and Masters candidates won't be taken seriously in their field if they don't religiously consult the MLA bibliography in its 5 volume entirety.
Dropping all ideological pretentions and defending the 5 tiered print bibliography, it's ultimately good --and necessary-- to branch out. Since the arrangement and weighting of topics from year to year in the printed subject index gets lost in the electronic versions, it's helpful to have (access to) copies of the 4 or 5 most recent print versions to properly scale your work within the visible arrangement of critical trends. Yes, to sell out and, at least temporarily &/or secretly join the ranks of the publish and perish set, taking care to avoid the addiction to theory that accelerates the latter effect.
Though costly and bulky, I can't recommend having the print tomes --or ready access to them-- enough. The brilliance of the anonymous compilers of this amazing and essential research tool is mind boggling. If you want to accelerate your research or push to the forefront of your specialty --recognized as such or not, you need access to these gems of literary metaresearch. In a perfect world, it would be sufficient to rely on one's education, intellectual curiosity and imagination to produce scholarship worthy of the classics, but in this reality, there is no better tool with which to reserve a shoulder ride on the giant of the moment. You need this.

In this day and age, WANGO is often misrepresented or misinterpreted. Not since Cram's 1977 review of Int'l WANGO practice has anyone so skillfully demonstrated the proliferation of NGOs. As Brown points out, it's going to take a few sittings to delve through all the red tape, but the limbo stick keeps getting lower and the song keeps getting faster. Voodoo Bravisimo!