Cultural Books

Out of maybe a few hundred, this is probably the funniest book I have ever read. I remember reading it late at night in my parents house, trying to stifle my laughter so I wouldn't get in trouble for waking people up. "...a cry went up from the sleaze-mavens"

With this book, you could argue that John Waters is a better writer than he is a film maker.

This book is impossible to describe in one word. It's no surprise that Water's life is funnier, and more bizare then any of his films can ever hope to be. We learn about Baltimore life, his childhood, Divine, Edith Masey, Pink Flamingos,Desperate Living,and more. THIS needs to be his next film project! The only thing sad about this book is that it feels dated at certain parts (especially when it refers to Divine in the present tense, since this was written before he died...and before Cookie Muller died...and Edith Masey). But it remains a fascinating read that really encourages people to feel grateful for living in Baltimore(or makes you wish you lived there).

Shock Value is like Waters' autobiography, mainly focused on his film career. There are only two chapters about his childhood. The book will be very interesting to every Waters fan as it provides in depth looks at the making of several of his earlier films. The book's material is dated, however, since it was written before he completed "Polyester". Waters' updates you in the new introduction though. It is very clean and has few curse words, unlike Waters' films, but is still good. I recommend it.

This book was without a doubt the funniest book I've ever read. Naturally, readers familiar with his movies will get the most out of this book, but there's a lot in there even for those who can't sit through one of his movies. I especially like Waters's tales of his mischief as a lad attending Catholic school. Considering the time, his educational background, and the Baltimore environment, I can really understand how Waters turned out the way he did.

I finished Shock Value only moments ago, and i feel like i should go to baltimore and fall on my knees worshipping Waters and the crew. i thought i was weird...This book focuses on the early years and has truly inspired me to raise myself above the boring muck of semiconformist existence. READ IT

Sun Ra has remained one of the most misunderstood musicians of our time. And in the case of many music geniuses, Sun Ra would keep the critics and fans at arm's length, but welcome musicians into his world of philosophy and art.

Author John F. Szwed does an almost impossible task of peeling of the layers of myth and disinformation to present the real life, struggles and triumphs of Sun Ra. Szwed brilliantly weaves through the situations which shaped his life while growing up in Birmingham, Ala., the highs and exteme lows in the jazz world of Chicago and New York City & how persistence finally yielded an understanding - on various levels - from fans who also wanted to challenge the barriers erected in the music industry.

The philosophy of Sun Ra is explained and Szwed shows how it influenced every facet of his life on and off stage. I strongly believe Szwed ends any debate on how Sun Ra lived his life and what he demanded from those around him.

This must have been a very difficult undertaking for Szwed, but his outstanding research and balanced reporting yields a fantastic biography on a person we can continue to learn from.

Great book.
If you have an interest in who Sun Ra was you ought to read this. Not a lot of musical analysis, but an extrordinary explanation of the ideas and philosophies behind it. Good job on the life as well.
I wish the highly-praised Lewis Porter Coltrane biography was a quarter as good as this.

The book is well-written and does what it sets out to do - explain who Sun Ra was and what he was doing. This is no mean feat. Sun Ra was a man of many interests and beliefs, of whom many misconceptions exist. Even most of his fans (I've been listening to Ra's music for about 10 years now) will probably learn much and gain tremendous perspective on him from this book (I certainly did).

The book's story is one of a man with artistic genius within him, who probably could have been a millionaire and musical "star" - who chose to do other things instead. Here is the unusual story of what he did and why he did it.

There is room for another book in the world on Ra's discography, that traces the patterns, forms, and themes of his vast catalogue of recorded music. There is room in the world for a book that tells the stories of the members of Ra's Arkestra. But this is not those books, this is the first logical step in studies : an explanation of Sun Ra himself. It's a difficult job very well done.

Frankly, Sun Ra seemed to go out of his way to make a biography pretty much impossible. Professor Szwed is to be commended for his effort, though I think at times the professor takes Ra and himself too seriously. It is a hip jazz disease that Ra played off of brilliantly and would have been amused by.

What is of value is you get some idea of the depth of this fellow, the complexity, the seriousness and simultaneous playfull nature. In being too deep or altogether dismissive of him, we missed the amazing creations.

The book confirmed my evaluation of Ra's heart and motivation. A few years prior to reading this book, I went with my family to an assembly of jazz musicians who processed, played outrageous free jazz, and did this while listening to an old woman recite Sun Ra's poetry while "dancing" and "singing" in Wichita. My young daughter was squealing with delight and loving the wild affair. The adults were being so "into it", solemn, and so serious. This book confirmed to me she was likely the only one Sun Ra would have concluded got it. He probably would have commenced to direct the band to improvise off of her squeals.

He from above probably was smiling and particularly happy that a little white girl "understood the vibrations" and would have been encouraged for the future of the earth which he was convinced would take all the races working in harmony to rescue.

This is, simply put, the greatest jazz biography I have ever read. Sun Ra is a complex and fascinating character, and Szwed's narrative more than lives up to the challenge. The most impressive thing about this book is that Szwed places Ra's, shall we say, bizarre beliefs in a context that makes him seem brilliant, lonely, compassionate, and vulnerable--in a word, human. Interwoven with the facts of Ra's life, his childhood, his musical development, his status as 60s cult icon, Szwed goes into long, fascinating digressions on the roots of Ra's beliefs--from ancient Egyptian mythology to the Bible. After reading this book, it was as if a whole world had been opened to me, and I now enjoy and appreciate Ra's art so much more. I wish I could convey how much this book moved me...it is more than the best jazz biography I have ever read, it is one of the best biographies I have ever read, period. If you are at all interested in Sun Ra, experimental jazz, or modern mythmaking, then DO NOT hesitate to pick this book up.

This book was a hoot! It was truly disgusting, and I loved every minute of it. Hilarious. At times you may feel a little sick, but you'll get over it. Highly recommended.

This is one of those conversation starter books. A great book to add to the toilet library. I read this in a day (on the couch not in the powder room) and it was great!!! Very funny and kind of gross when you consider the truth behind it!

i recently just saw this title and was intreged by it.

It is a short book, you can read it in a few hours, but it certainly stands up to its name.

The topics are strange, yet, somehow they hit upon the questions that we all have about those strange and gross things that are out there.

Certainly a conversation starter!!

This book is a must have for those of you with a cast iron stomach.
There are topics covered here that will, I'm sure, gross out and
repel some folks. I happened to love everyone of them. This book
is a treasure to have.

In case you haven't figured it out yet: This book is not for the squeamish.

Purely disgusting, rude, crude, and lewd--guaranteed to make you squirm. I didn't think it would be able to disgust me, but I was PLEASANTLY surprised.

This book is a real GOLD mine--a treasury of TRUE facts that are too hideously revolting to be fictional--beautifully organized into many chapters.

Presented humorously--but not for little kids; about 1/2 of the facts have something to do with something sexual.

A wonderful tribute to the places where culture, custom, religion, craft and beauty reign. Places where the people understand and honor their paths in life and their connections to both the past and future. I find I return to Small Corners to enjoy anew the magnificently touching photographs, and simple and profond commentary....to find a moment of contemplative peace for myself, my thoughts, my heart...to rekindle memories of a few small corners and their inhabitants thatI have known.

What can I add to the well deserved compliments and comments on Carol's beautiful, inspiring, thoughtfully crafted book? Perhaps I'll just repeat the comments of my work colleague, Allison Quattrocchi, another published author and photographer of the world, including Africa: "Thank you for sharing this. It's lovely."
I thank you, too, Carol, for your intelligent, loving reminder that we're all in this life together.

Photographer and author, Carol Scribner, reminds us what it means to be members of the human race. Using astounding professional photography skills and emotion-laden poetry, "To Life" reveals not only the expanse of Carol's heart of service but also the true beauty of our diverse world. This book should sit on every coffee table in the United States as a constant reminder of how fortunate we are and how great our ability is to help our brothers and sisters around the world; and it should be required reading for every student studying to be a teacher, manager, social worker . . . in short every profession requiring interaction with the diverse human race, which of course excludes no one! Kudos to Carol Scribner for having the vision and artistic expression to bring this message to life so artfully in "To Life in the Small Corners".

Ms. Scribner is that rare commodity, an intelligent traveler who shares her insights with the audience through photography and appropriate interpretative statements. She covers many countries unfamiliar to many travelers. Some of the countries Carol Scribner visited and recorded are Namibia, Burma, and Mali. On a par with and perhaps exceeding the photography of National Geographic, Ms. Scribner offers insights into ordinary lives that become extraordinary by virtue of her observations and analysis. Carol Haralson edited the narrative and produced the book's excellent graphic design. One should also be aware that all proceeds from this beautiful book are donated to the TurtleWill Foundation to aid in preservation of the cultures presented here. This book will grace any coffee table and also be an appropriate gift. I can hardly wait for Carol's next book!

Daily, the media bombards us with bleak and negative images of the "third world", countries most of us will never visit, peoples we have learned to fear. This book offers a corrective experience--the beauty, the joy, and strength of cultures we ought to know more about, cultures we need to know in their wholeness and not simply in their tragedies.
An important book, and for children, especially important.

I like to travel and to observe the cities, landscapes, the plants and animals and the human inhabitants of the countries I go to. So does Levy-Strauss, and he is a fantastic observer, much more sharp-eyed than I could ever hope to be, and a highly entertaining writer. In this classic he talks about a wide range of observations from a number of corners of the world, but mainly about South America.
The book deals with Levi-Strauss' time as a teacher in Brazil and his trips into the South American hinterland; his escape from Nazi-occupied France; His later expeditions to visit remote tribes in the Amazon; and an assortment of observations about such diverse topics as the frustration of the traveler to never encounter the true, pristine state of a culture, the Indian caste system and the division of public and private space in different parts of the world. The book is full of fascinating anecdotes: My favorite one is how a native chief from observing Levy-Strauss grasped the social importance of writing, but not its role in information storage and transmission. He bluffed to impress his underlings and drew freshly invented line configurations on a paper. This leads Levy-Strauss to observe that from the invention of writing to its universal knowledge a few millennia passed, during which it did not serve to liberate the masses, but to control them. Such wide-ranging philosophical associations are frequent and were very enjoyable to me. The book is, however, definitely not only a collection of anecdotes, but in parts a very detailed description of the life of some of the native tribes he visited in the Amazon. Drawings of artifacts, patterns used in body-painting and photographs supplement the text. We are given both anthropological descriptions of the lifes of these peoples, their social organization, attitudes and material culture, as well as Levy-Strauss' personal experiences when living among them, sometimes his friendships with members of these tribes. Of course these people were strongly affected by the contact with European civilization, often to the worse. We also learn about these developments. There isn't really much direct explanation about his theoretical approaches to anthropology. This is the kind of book which made me wish that I could have been an expedition member of Levy-Strauss' team. Highly recommended.

I often review works which I have read long ago. Upon beginning to write about them I invariably discover how much time I gave to something which seemed so worthwhile at the time, and which I have almost completely forgotten. I then ordinarily do some catch- up learning about the book. And my review becomes an amalgalm of distant past and most recent present impression. And meanwhile the heart of the book is forever unknown to me and lost. And my review is only a minor tracing an impression both of the book itself and what of my mind knew when reading through it.
This certainly applies to my reading of this particular work, ,the one work of Levi- Strauss which I remember reading with any degree of real understanding and pleasure. His making of a life and career as an anthropologist which are a good part of the first part of the work interested me then.
The long travelogue and explorations into Amerindian society and mind, interested me less.
I understand though that the real voyage is into and along with the mind of Levi- Strauss itself, a mind much more complicated than I was ordinarily used to meeting and ingesting .
I do remember however the somewhat majestic tone, the tone of restrained sadness of quiet mourning which seemed to go through the work as Levi- Strauss met with worlds being lost and deterorating , in part through their meetings with the very kind of Western mind he himself exemplified. It is the mind destroying the object in the process of knowing it , as the Western explorers of these tribal societies transformed them out of their own natural state by meeting with them.
For Levi- Strauss and this I remember, the ' primitive mind' is not ' primitive at all' and may be in its linguistic complexity and social structure far more intricate than the ' civilized ' as it were sophisticated worlds we believe we live in.
I read this work as a way of being acquainted with a great mind, a mind which to my mind proved to be quite elusive and even distant.
But clearly the exploration made by Levi- Strauss of his own inner and external worlds is one which calls to the curious human mind and heart in its quest for understanding ' of the other'
Montaigne took a trip in the Brazilian jungle in the twentieth
century, looked in the mirror and saw the face of Levi- Strauss.

One way to gauge who's in among fashionable academics is to read the catalog for the "Writers and Readers' Documentary Comic Book" series. Sartre has an entry, and so does Derrida, and Lacan. Thirty years ago, you would have expected to find an entry in this index for Claude Levi-Strauss. No more. Translations of his principal works appear to persist in print, but the sales numbers are look low, and he seems almost to have disappeared from the trendy book reviews and such. This is perhaps a matter for at least idle curiosity: Levi-Strauss is surely no more abstruse than his magisterial contemporaries - but no less so; one is perfectly willing to be relieved the obligation of ever picking him up again.

With one exception. In style and temperament, Tristes Tropiques is so different from almost everything else Levi-Strauss wrote that it is hard to believe it is written by the same man. Oh, the primitive tribes are there, and a brief personal intellectual history, that offers a bow to Freud, and Bergeson, and Saussure. In my own copy, which I first read about 1980, I even have a pencilled notation "structuralism" - this at page 375 (Pocket Books edition, 1977). But there is almost none of the portentous vacuity that you had to cope with in the so-called "serious" works.

What you get instead is Levi Strauss the raconteur, full of travelers' tales. He dines on roasted parrot, flamed with whisky. The termites make the earth rumble. Virgins are made to spit in pots of corn, to provoke fermentation - but "as the delicious drink, at once nutritious and refreshing, was consumed that very evening, the process of fermentation was not very advanced." You almost expect the anthropophagi and the men whose heads grow beneath their shoulders, that you meet in the Voyages of Sir John Mandeville, Knight.

Laced through it all, you get a kind of austere sadness which is either (a) a tragic view of life; or (b) a kind of self-indulgent posturing, depending on your temperament for skepticism. "Every effort to understand," he says, "destroys the object studied in favor of another object of a different nature." Or: "Anthropology could with advantage be changed into 'entropology', as the name of the discipline concerned with the study of the highest manifestations of [a] process of disintegration."

Well, call me anything the like, they say, as long as you call me for dinner. It might even be an elaborate con. But so, for that matter, might the stories of Herodotus were you get the same mix of the eclectic and the tolerant, the surreal and the sly. Herodotus, we may note, is one of the first great works of Western literature. Let's hope that Levi-Strauss is not one of the last.

This is Levi-Strauss most readable book, and it is a fantastic introduction to the "why" behind his interest in structuralism. There are hints of the various methods and approaches that he uses in later works, but this book shows why he was to develop structuralism in later works. The writing is clever and eloquent, and various conclusions he made about cultural diversity address contemporary concerns in a highly articulate and responsible manner. Read this book before delving into the other writings of one of the 20th Century's most important anthropologists.

Tristes Tropiques, surely one of the great books of the twentieth century, is Levi-Strauss at his intoxicating, idea-overloaded best and an elegy for a world that colonialism and then globalisation have doen their rational best to annihilate.

Levi-Strauss, like most thinkers who come up with new ways of describing the world-- those who Richard Rorty calls "inventors of philosophical vocabularies"-- has of course been mis-read and his ideas mis-applied, as we see with the much-hyped "creation" and then "demise" of "structural anthropology." The real pleasure of this book, which mixes fascinating accounts of Levi-Strauss' travels in Brazil in the '30s with autobiography, and adds chapters on the Maya and ancient Hindu (Indian) civilisations, is in its sheer mass of artfully arranged detail and its endless, provocative play of ideas.

Levi-Strauss stays conversational, descriptive and straightforward, avoiding academic jargon and obscure references. He assumes you know the basics about people like Freud, Marx, Darwin and the Buddha, and then shows you a trip through largely non-industrial societies which unfolds from anthropological description into deep philosophical speculation on the meaning of society and life.

In Brazil, Levi-Strauss watches an illiterate but canny chieftain use his anthropological fieldnotes to intimidate his illiterate tribesmen subordinates, and speculates on the parallel origins of writing and slavery. In Matto Grosso, he meets a butcher fascinated with elephants, since "he could not imagine so much meat in one place." On the banks of the Amazon, a non-industrial tribe is dying, hypnotically lost in the symbolic intricacies of an ancient social system that makes its citizens inbreed. In India, Levi-Strauss watches Islam and Hinduism-- the "locker room" and "mother" religions-- wage symbolic and then real war post-Independence.

The book starts as anthropology, turns into philosophy, and ultimately becomes a critique of the West, driven by "reason" and technology to shake off what Levi-Strauss calls the "thick blanket of dreams" with which non-industrial civilisation arranges the Universe into Meaning, which remains for the industrialised world the greatest and unanswered question.

But Levi-Strauss does not idealise the primitive. His point is that through the study of those and that which are different, a kind of "ideal model" of society-- one which will never exist-- can be built in the imagination, and people can evaluate their world by reference to this community of mind.

This is a remarkable book-- easy to read, engrossing, and endlessly thought-provoking.

I think this book it`s wonderful and really excellent brilliant thing I `ve ever read
Thank you!

This book is incredible. The book is full of life with photos, documents, blueprints, and much more. Readers will be pleased with all of the detachable documents and things that somehow make you feel closer to Pac. My mom and I were in tears when we read on of the detachable court documents that a father wrote to a judge regarding Tupac's true character. He stated that his son was deathly ill and had one final wish that Tupac granted. What a tear jerker!! Read and enjoy. You will come away inspired and more in love with a man that helped change the way we perceived thugs and how we felt about hop-hop.

Excellent book. The copies of tupacs writings etc are unbelievably realistic. The CD is fantastic. If you are a Tupac (2Pac) fan this is a must have book

WOW, what a great book! This is a must-have book to add to your 2Pac collection, if you are a true die-hard fanatic, like me! The inserts and reproductions of Pac's handwritten poetry will give you chill bumps! This book shows all sides of the man most of us never got to know personally, unfortunately. He was a very compassionate, very caring and very intelligent young black man,,,and not just the hard-core thug rapper "persona" he portrayed. You will not regret purchasing this book.

I bought this book for my son-in-law who is much interested in Tupac. When I opened it, I was amazed at how beautifully put together the book is. It has an innovative, creative format which combines story, photo, and the primary source materials of his life. I know this is probably a pretty academic review--but really, this is a creative, gorgeous, well- designed auto/biography. Excellent.

Over the Andes and through the jungle to ineptness we go. A quite humorous account of science gone jumbled. But not all is lost here.

In 1923 eight scientists plus the author venture through the South American mountains and rainforests to make further discoveries in their respective fields of study. Touted as, "The most perfectly equipped expedition that has ever started to explore South America", it quickly unfolds into a blundering journey with many problems and mishaps.

Thanks to MacCreagh's sense of humor and wit we see how every imaginable incident went from bad to worse. One by one these scientists quit the expedition to forsake the author and one other to travel up the remote Uaupes and Tiquie Rivers meeting face to face with hostile natives. What transpires is a remarkable short term study into the culture of these indigenous peoples.
Entertaining read.

I am enjoying this travel account very much. It's like Bertie Wooster goes to the jungle.

Mr MacCreagh has maganed to write an outstanding book based on a rather unsuccessful expedition. It is the tale of an expedition of eight eminent scientist in the Amazon, who were put together not for their ability in the outdoors, but for their scientific knowledge.

The author is a helper/manager of the expedition. He manages to describe the expedition from its beginning in the Bolivia highlands out to the Amazon plains and to its disintegration. It is quite clear that the scientist were not sure what to expect, and so had not prepared accordingly. Huge volumes of luggage went unused and were a huge burden. Egos and discomfort made the scientist into bickering children and inept explorers. The author masks their names because apparently these were well known figures of their time.

There is a bit of scientific content in the book, but clearly the main reason to read it is for the good humor of the author in describing the situations they get themselves in. One learns more about people and how they behave when taken to extremes than one does about the Amazon.

When your read of other expeditions and how well they were conducted, then you read Gordon MacCreagh's humorous account of a mistake-ridden expedition into the Amazon, and you may wonder how this could happen. Clearly, the leader of MacCreagh's expedition was no Roy Chapman Andrews. Too many mistakes with both men and equipment. It is a humorous, often hilarious account of how not to conduct an expedition into the Amazon -- or anywhere else. I found it to be much better than Peter Fleming's "Amazon Adventure" and somewhat better than Arthur O. Friel's "River of Seven Stars," which has not been reprinted. MacCreagh's sense of humor and keen observations are what place this book at the top of my list of exploration/expedition books. I found it difficult to keep from sharing portions of this book with family and friends...

I can't believe you can get this book used! I own three copies and I don't even loan it out. This is a terrific expedition book and a wonderful book about being human. My family was thrilled to know that this book was being re-issued. Like one of the other reviewers, I was brought up knowing who the various scientists were because my father had worked with a colleague. It gave us plesure to know the names, some of whom were quite well known even today. It was also nice to know that at least for the eminent icthyolgist and the eminent entomologist the work that they produced from this expedition was very useful. I have recommmened this book countless times, and get copies for friends I really like.

It is such a great book - maybe the best I have read about China. It really touches me.
The book shows a very different picture of the lives of more than half the population in China: The farmers.
It is written by to Chinese journalists, who have done a marvelous job and with big courage.

Will the Boat Sink the Water? is a series of stories that show the problems of peasant life in the villages and farming counties. The farmers are held down by unchecked greed among the village leaders, heavy taxes demanded by the layers of government, barriers between them and those who could help them in the National Government. The book gives you a vivid picture about how helpless the 900 million people are under the crushing weight of Communist China. They live the same as they did before the Revolution and, in some way, their life is worse. Millions are out of work, millions pour into the cities but don't have the proper papers or the contacts needed to get good jobs.
The rural poor make up most of China and yet rarely do they have a voice in either the government or in the press.
Has a time line of important events, with a focus on those important to the peasants, and an introduction by John Pomfret, author of Chinese Lessons. A must for anybody interested in Asia or in China.

This is not a fun book to read, it is bloody, sad, lawless, power vs non power, poor is poor. most of people think China is developing so fast in recent years, but people don't realize that they are still about 800 million people live in rural area in China, they are still struggle with their daily life, and voiceless.

Forget the title, this is an interesting expose on the Chinese peasant. These 900 million people toil in the backwaters of rural China, and were instrumental in getting their country industrialized. They also helped the country sustain itself following the Great Leap Forward (or backward in reality) and the Cultural Revolution. These people spend countless hours in backbreaking labor only to have party cadres unfairly tax them beyond their means. This book by a husband and wife team examines stories about their home province and show the corruption of village and party administration. China may be a coming superpower, but it better solve these problems before the people throw the rascals out.

I found this a very informative read. It starts out slow, but this is an intensely interesting book about the unfair lives led by millions of Chinese peasants and the people that are supposed to protect them-the party and village government hacks.

John Pomfret writes in his introduction to this book that when he was in college in the late 1970s, professors taught that the Chinese Communist Party "truly represented the wishes of China's dispossessed" and one quoted Mao's saying that "A revolution is not a dinner party." Chinese reporters Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao document the plight of the peasants in their country, showing Pomfret and anyone else who dares to read their expose how corruption, excessive taxation, miscarriages of justice, too many layers of bureaucracy, and unchecked industrial pollution oppress and threaten the very existence of China's poorest.

China is no worker's paradise. The rural population is basically an unprivileged underclass -- a class of serfs -- that the government squeezes mercilessly. Despite declarations from the top Chinese Communist rulers that peasants should not be pay more than 5% of their annual income in taxes, 19% is closer to the truth. For a subsistence population, such heavy taxation (often in the form of ill-defined, sometimes illegal, fees and fines) is more than they can bear. Yet, their appeals for relief to various levels of their government generally result only in the status quo retained.

A sizable portion of the book relates journalistic investigations into specific several cases of murder of peasants by village or township officials. The petty officials became enraged to the point of doing or ordering bodily violence against peasants because the fed-up farmers were taking public steps to expose their (the officials') corruption.

Then, the authors cite some of the recent policies of the Chinese central government that have increased the sufferings of the peasants. Examples include increasing the layers of local governance, commanding villages to invest in industrial enterprises that are not sustainable and that force them into mountains of debt, and permitting giant gobs of industrial pollutants to turn black rivers peasants must use for bathing and drinking water.

"Will the Boat Sink the Water? The Life of China's Peasants" does feature portraits of good, conscientious officials who put the welfare of their villages or regions ahead of their own advancement. But the Chinese Communist system does not ordinarily promote such people. The Party is more interested in keeping the peasants in their place, and it promotes those officials who inflate the agricultural yields and other economic "successes" of their locality and who deliver their assessed taxes in full.

This revealing look at China at the grassroots level should be read by everyone who has read glowing reports of the progressive, sweeping economic and social strides allegedly remaking the most populous nation on earth. There *is* a dinner party going on: the Chinese peasants are being feasted upon by their cadres, village heads, and Party watchdogs.

This English translation of the book now banned in China is very highly recommended.

Fast shipping and great item, well packed, no problems, would buy again.

Book was in perfect condition. Price was great. Photography fantastic. Would like to purchase more by this author/photographer.

'Above Chicago' by aerial photographer Robert Cameron is an example of my very favorite type of souvenir to buy when I was visiting a new city, generally on business. There is simply nothing quite as evocative as this truly amazing selection of photographs of an eminantly photogenic city. I have seen similar efforts done, for example, by David King Gleason on Boston. And, while Boston is easily as interesting a subject as Chicago, Mr. Gleason doesn't seem to carry it off quite as well. I do miss the bit of local color added to volumes on London (Alistair Cook) and San Francisco (Herb Caen), but the star of the show is the quality and expert selection of photographs.

This book is just wonderful. If you love Chicago, it shows everything. I love how they have old photos next to the modern ones to see the comparisons. This is truly the best book for any Chicago collection.

This was the first Robert Cameron book I purchased and has always been one of my favorites. I think the photos in this book are just amazing and they are so vivid and captivating. Chicago is such a beautiful city and from the air you understand what great civic planning can do for a city. Cameron hits all the most important areas and does not miss anything; from Oak Park to Lake Forest, for Aurora to the Miracle Mile, it's all here. This is one of his best books and he does Chicago proud. I recommend this book as I do all of his wonderful books, if you love great photography you will have to have them all, but this is a great place to start.

The book is an accurate account of an unusual pioneer. I knew Andy, back in 1952, and have ridden in the Wien Norseman, with Andy piloting. If there is any fault to be found with his story, it is that it is understated.
Typically reserved, his account does not linger on the incredible cold and loneliness that was his lot on many of his journeys. His willingness to go to the rescue of lost and injured miners and trappers, at great risk to his own life and safety, testify to his own character.
Andy, and the pilots of his time, benefitted from the experience of his friend and mentor, Noel Wien. The pilots of today fly the routes that Andy pioneered.
I recommend the book, "Arctic Bush Pilot" to any who hunger for a taste of how it used to be, in the remote Arctic Circle regions of Alaska.

Excellent book, fast shipping, great packaging. Thank you. Also I might add I received 3 more books from you which I was notified that they might arrive here by the 23rd, they arrived yesterday, the 12th. Super service. Thanks again.

I bought this book expecting it to read about Bush flying. There is a fair bit about bush flying however I was expecting a bit more.

The book is actually a biography of the authors experiences as a bush pilot in the Alaskan wilderness. As such it deals mostly with the authors experiences with the people and environment of northern Alaska. This was still very interesting and I enjoyed reading the book.

This is a FANTASTIC book!! I simply could not put it down!! I bought it on the day I departed on my 4th trip to Alaska...the flight passed so quickly as I read page after page!!

I read with great interest the section about Jules Thibedeau, my First Cousin who was a bush pilot from Barrow, AK in the 50's and 60's...his comments about Jules, "The Walking Pilot" brought back memories of the stories I heard as a child about my cousin who would fly anywhere, at anytime, to help anyone in Alaska...a guy who was truely a "tough-luck, no-money" pilot who cared more for the people he helped than he did his own well-being many times.

Anderson's comments came back to life for me during that trip as I visitied Barrow for the first time...only to have an 80+ year-old Eskimo woman tell me how my cousin had saved her son when he was young kid...Jules had flown out in a blizzard to bring her sick child back to Barrow...

Bravo to Mr. Anderson on a "must read" book!!

ODE TO ANDY

A COLD DAY IN 73' - A DAY THAT IS MORE THAN SPECIAL TO ME
JUST ANOTHER DAY ONE MIGHT SURMISE BUT THAT DAY I WAS IN FOR A PLEASANT SURPRISE
ALL MY LIFE I HAD LONGED TO FLY, BUT NOW THE YEARS WERE PASSING ME BY.
ON THE LADDER OF LIFE, NEITHER OLD OR YOUNG,
I WAS NOW ON THE 37TH RUNG
THE EVENTS OF THE DAY, NOT PREVIOUSLY ARRANGED
MADE FOR THE DAY MY LIFE WAS CHANGED.
I'VE CHASED MANY RAINBOWS AND MANY DREAMS DID PURSUE
AND ON THIS DAY MY FAVORITE DREAM CAME TRUE.
WHEN I PULLED INTO THE AIRPORT IN GREENE COUNTY PA.
I JUST HAD THE FEELING THIS WAS MY LUCKY DAY.
AS I WALKED INTO HIS OFFICE, MY PRESENCE TO EXPLAIN
SAID I AM HERE TO LEARN TO FLY A PLANE.
THEN i'LL TAKE A SHOT AT IT, JIM ANDERSON'S MY NAME.
LITTLE DID I KNOW WHO WOULD PUT ME TO THE TEST
FOR I HAD JUST SIGNED UP TO BE TAUGHT BY THE BEST.
AND I RECALL OUR FLIGHTS AND THE MULTITUDE OF THRILLS
THAT I EXPERIENCED AS HE HELPED MY HONE MY SKILLS
WITH A MANNER THAT WAS EASY AND A VOICE THAT WAS SOFT
HIS STYLE NEVER VARIED WHETHER AGROUND OR ALOFT
HE TOOK HIS WORK SERIOUSLY THOUGH SOMETIMES HE WOULD TEASE
BUT WITH NO OTHER MENTOR WAS I EVER MORE AT EASE.
OH HOW I MARVEL AT THE THINGS HE HAS DONE
FOR HE WAS A PIONEER BUSH PILOT IN THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN
FLYING THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS AND LANDING ON THE LAKES
WHERE YOU HAVE TO DO IT PROPERLY OR PAY FOR YOUR MISTAKES
WITH GOD AS HIS COPILOT HE ALWAYS MADE THE RUN
HIS LIFE HAS BEEN REWARDED FOR THE DEEDS HE HAS DONE.
AND I KNOW OLD WEST VIRGINIA IS PROUD OF THEIR NATIVE SON
AS ARE ALL OF US WHOSE HEARTS HE HAS WON.
NOW THE LIFE OF THIS ARCTIC BUSH PILOT IS AT LAST PUT INTO PRINT
OF THE YEARS IN THE ARCTIC AND HOW THOSE YEARS WERE SPENT
AND ANDY, I AM MOST REWARDED WHEN YOU CALL ME A TRUE FRIEND
I WANT ALWAYS TO BE DESERVING OF THAT TITLE TO THE END
SO LET ME CLOSE BY SAYING TO YOU AND YOUR LOVELY WIFE
I BECAME A WHOLE LOT RICHER THE DAY YOU CAME INTO MY LIFE
GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU, ANDY
YOUR FRIEND AND LITTLE BROTHER
BOB WOOD

THIS ODE TO ANDY WAS WRITTEN BY ONE OF THE PILOTS ANDY TAUGHT TO FLY. HE HAS REMAINED A FRIEND OVER THE YEARS AND WHEN ANDY HAD HIS STROKE BOB SAT DOWN AND WROTE THIS MEMO TO HIM. BLESS YOU BOB