Renaissance Books

I'm very impressed with this anthology. Explanatory notes and definitions are added in all the right places, making the plays easier to understand than any other annotated Renaissance literature I've read (including Shakespeare). I've read about six of these plays and still haven't had to consult a dictionary; the brief definitions in the margins explain nearly all archaic words and phrases. And the notes are always on the same page as the text, no disruptive endnotes! This anthology is, as a result, remarkably readable.

Many of the important plays of Shakespeare's contemporaries are included in this excellent collection. In other editions of these plays, the reader is left to his or her own devices, but this edition has thorough notes and introductions of the type one usually only sees in Shakespeare collections. Plays that one has often read about, but not actually read, such as Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, become wonderfully accessible in this superb edition.

This is an excellent anthology--good selection, fine editing, helpful notes, BUT it is printed on incredibly light-weight paper. So much so that it can be hard to read because the printing from the other side of the page always shows through.

This is an excellent selection of plays from authors contemporary to Shakespeare. There are some real masterpieces here, such as Women Beware Women and the Maid's Tragedy, that have been unfairly neglected due to the looming presence of Shakespeare. The editing is generally fine, although perhaps a bit overdone. According to the editors, every second line includes a sexual reference. The introductions to individual plays are helpful AFTER you've read the play. For English Majors and scholars, these plays are an unexplored gold mine!!

This is a calendar I will enjoy everyday, and I knew I would when I ordered it. Fra Angelio is a featured artist of The Met this year, but they were out of the calendars when I ordered, so I was very happy to find that Amazon had it. The pictures selected for this calendar are beautiful, and provide daily inspiration, though painted by this Italian artist about 800 years ago.

This is much more than a coffee table book because of the extensive coverage of the artist: his life, his contemporaties, influences on his style and his influence on the styles of others. The lavish illustrations in glorious color emphasize the other-worldliness of the subject matter.

This beautiful book, published in conjunction with the first major exhibition of Fra Angelico's work since the cinquecentenary exhibition of 1955 in Florence, will feature more than seventy paintings, drawings, and manuscript illuminations covering all periods of the artist's career, from round 1410 to 1455. Also included will be fifty selected works by his assistants and losest followers.

Fra Angelico ("the angelic friar"; ca. 1390/95-1455) was one of Renaissance Florence's leading painters. In addition to his celebrated altarpieces and frescos in Florence, Fiesole, Cortona, Perugia, and Rome, Fra Angelico also completed many masterpieces on a small scale. His predella panels, the small narrative scenes included beneath large altarpieces, are among the most innovative creations in fifteenth century Florence, while his images of the Virgin and Child still retain the inspirational immediacy and presence that first secured the artist's reputation as the premier painter of his age.

Research undertaken in the last fifty years now allows scholars to reconstruct a more historically reliable biography of Fra Angelico that goes beyond the legends and traditions to establish his position not only as one of the greatest masters of the fifteenth century, but also as one of the most intellectually accomplished painters who ever lived.

This book is an up-to-date, and comprehensive, look at the sublime works of one of Renaissance Italy's greatest masters.

FRA ANGELICO may be a museum catalogue for the current exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, but it is also one of the more impressive historical documents on this important painter and his influence on the world of art in the library today. The book is a masterwork of scholarship and visual examples of this 15th Century artist.

Words fail in describing the degree of integrity of scholarship of the contributors. Under the curatorial guidance of Laurence Kanter the museum has gathered seventy-odd paintings, drawings and illuminations from books by Fra Angelico, and then to add to the dimension of the great master's influence, they have added some fifty works by his students and disciples. While Fra Angelico shines in his extraordinary sense of detail and representational art in a period when art was flattened decor and just entering the blossoming of the Renaissance, the works included by his pupils are quite staggeringly beautiful. Some would say comparison to the master is unfair: history offers another vantage, that being the concept that the truly great teachers enlighten their pupils to exceed the teacher's creations!

While the visual components of this fine book are incomparable, the various written sections by not only Laurence Kanter, but also by Pia Palladino, Magnolia Scudieri, Carl Strehlke, Victor M. Schmidt, and Anneke de Vries not only inform - they also read like a novel of the life and times in 15th Century Florence. In every way this is a magnum opus that represents well the Museum's exemplary exhibition of the work of Fra Angelico. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, October 05

I watched Scream a couple of times, before. After reading this book, I wanted to go out and rent Scream again. In fact, I will be purchasing the DVD. It got me really excited in every scene, and every word spoken in the movie.

This biography is great for the reader interested in the career and life of Kevin williamson . If you are interested in him or any of his movies this is the book for you .

This biography is a very informative take on his life and career . It also has information on the actors and actresses he's worked with . I found it a good book , for the reader interested in this phenomonal screenwriter , director and producer .

I bought this book because I love the way Kevin writes and wanted to know how he does it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book is as much about the actors and actresses he has worked with as it is about Williamson himself. Looking at all those names and photos, I figure Kevin must be responsible for launching at least half of all of today's teen idols. Sure they have pretty faces to begin with, but it's the words that he gives them that makes them so attractive. Also, this may be the only place for fans of the short lived series Wasteland to see details of the now-forgotten show in print. If you're a fan of Williamson's work or even just a fan of Dawson's Creek or I Know What You Did, this book's for you.

This book, actually the catelog for an exhibit of 3 of the panels, tells you everything you want to know about the panels and the doors that are one of the signature achievements of the Renaissance. It's got well written chapters on the narratives in each panel and a detailed step-by-step description of how they were made, with beautiful diagrams.

A must read if you're going to see the panels or doors...

"The Gates of Paradise" is the title Michaelangelo gave to the extraordinary bronze doors on the Baptistery in Florence created by Lorenzo Ghiberti in the mid-1400's. This book is not a "coffee-table book" for impressing friends, but is for lovers of great art or the Italian Renaissance who want to look at beautiful photos of these doors (recently restored after years of painstaking work), and to learn more about them in a serious way. The book is a collection of essays, each focusing on a different aspect of the doors; their origin (questions of authenticity, date of the work, the extent that Ghiberti [and not his apprentices] were involved; the technical aspects of casting, and then gilding, bronze in the 15th century (how Ghiberti was truly at the leading edge of his time, not just in artistry, but in technology); the difficulty and technical aspects of restoration; and more. I found this book fascinating and would recommend it highly.

The book is excellent. Each chapter is written by a different person with his or her own area of expertise. Somewhat redundant comments at the beginning of some chapters recounting the history of the doors but overall each chapter is very good. Image quality is good and text is readily understood by the average person . . not an overly technical book and is thus good reading. However, the format of the book is absolutely stupid. Who would create a book illustrating SQUARE panels such as these and then print it in a tall rectangular format. Someone wasn't thinking and it leaves the reader longing for a full page image of each panel in its entirety. All we get are vertical slices of panels and no complete image of any of them. One of the silliest mistakes in a book I have seen. Also some pages are not numbered and the numerous notes at the end of each chapter can have you jumping back and forth a bit. We went to the exhibition in Seattle and the book was a great background read. Shortcomings aside it is well worth buying. Enjoy it! By the way I have not yet purchased the other book available here at Amazon but may yet do so.

This is the luxuriously published catalogue on the occasion of the exhibition "The Gates of Paradise: Lorenzo Ghiberti's Renaissance Masterpiece", till January 13, 2008 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York after having been on show at Atlanta's High Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. It's about the gilded bronze reliefs on the East Doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence (Italy), made by the Florentine sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti between 1425 and 1452. The book contains seperate quires with photographs, mostly in detail, of the three reliefs on show: the "Adam and Eve" relief, the "Jacob and Esau" relief, and the "David and Goliath" relief, which allow the spectator to see what great masterpiece indeed Ghiberti made in his reliefs, depicting intricate scenes from the Old Testament. And these photographs do capture --since but few people will be so lucky as to see these reliefs in reality-- Ghiberti's artistry and amazing craft: his originality of invention, his majesty of designs, his vivid illusion and clarity of space as well as the diversity, intensity, and meticulousness in his depiction of the figures' physical, mental, and emotional states of mind, the aforementioned being a new realm of representation in Renaissance art. For all the expressive power and convincing vitality of human figures in early Renaissance art and their seeming to be intensely alive, only rarely are their individual and distinct states of mind and sentiment indicated if not captured the way Ghiberti managed to achieve.
The book contains very readable essays on the artist Ghiberti and on the art and innovation in his amazing reliefs. In his essay, Andrew Butterfield offers scholars and students who still put their trust in Richard Krautheimer's 1956 book on Ghiberti (the 1970 hardcover and the 1983 paperback editions are still available) convincing arguments --based on the latest research-- to question Krautheimer's methods and results (in despite of their overall importance) which are largely based on Krautheimer's basic principal of the "single-point perspective". Mr. Butterfield argues that "single-point perspective" is a system intended for the projection of space on a two-dimensional surface, whereas relief sculptures are three-dimensional and have complex surfaces. It's a basic problem that figures in a relief must have real three-dimensional volume, and consequently there must be a projection at the bottom of a relief for these figures to stand on. This being rather self-evident for us now, Mr. Butterfield pursues his point by explaining the requirements of narrative and setting that Ghiberti faced, and fulfilled, among them the direct confrontation of but a few (usually two) figures in one scene of a relief, against the necessary depiction of large groups of figures in events in the biblical history of a nation or people in another scene of the same relief. All this is connected with Ghiberti's other primary concerns: legibility and a desire for clarity. Which stresses the need to look beyond the prejudicial notion that Ghiberti was in essence a Gothic and conservative artist, as advocated a.o. by J. Pope-Hennessy ("Italian Gothic Sculpture", 1986).
Gary M. Radke's essay explores the realms of collaboration Ghiberti had to enter into and looked for. In his days, most public commissions knew a high amount of interaction and Ghiberti had manipulative relations with his patrons, at the same time furthering his own best interests. Furthermore, this book explores historical documentation on the Gates of Paradise, reconsiders the creative sequence of Ghiberti's doors, documents the now almost finished restauration and examines both Ghiberti's art of chasing and casting technique of the Gates of Paradise reliefs, abundantly supplied with photographs and illustrations giving overviews and many details of each relief under survey. There also is a chronology of Ghiberti's life. See "The New York Review of Books", Vol. LIV, Nr. 17, November 8, 2007 for a more professional review of this catalogue.

A.B. Christa Schwarz's GAY VOICES OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE isn't an easy read. Barring the first two chapters, "Gay harlem and the Harlem Renaissance" and "Writing in the Harlem Renaissance....Burden of Representation and Sexual Dissidence," the remaining chapters will need a second or third reading for a coherent understanding for those interested in her discussion.

Ms. Schwarz looks at the work of three male writers from the period who are given their own chapters: Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Richard Bruce Nugent. Of these writers, Cullen, Hughes, and McKay are identified as using
Whitmanesque techniques to express in coded forms their desire for those members of their own sex. For the none initiated, Walt Whitman often changed male gender specific pronouns in his poetry to the feminine form for public consumption. Bruce Nugent was the only one of this group out and open, to some extent, with his sexuality in work and life, even during the down low days in his marriage of comformity.

Of the writers featured here, Countee Cullen is known to have had a few affairs with black and white men as Claude McKay. Cullen was the only one to envelope much of his work in the traditional European framework. Even his funeral many years later was staid in the European tradition of ceremony, contrary to the funeral of Langston Hughes who embraced his blackness in a funeral ceremony far, far away from the white American and
European traditional dogma and form. Langston Hughes wrote primarily for a black audience, celebrated his blackness with radical pride, and avoided with great distaste the traditional European style in the framework and subject matter of his body of work. This should come as no surprised after reading Arnold Rampersad's meticulously researched biographies of Hughes, particularily Vol. 2 where in three uncommom moments absent
of sexual prejudice Rampersad states Hughes's "preference" for black men as evidenced by Hughes's work and "life" (the label of Rampersad being entirely homophobic is not totally fair to him). Schwarz has this in mind when making the comment that in many of Hughes sea/sailor poems, race isn't specified because of the camaraderie of sailors of different nationalities which is in synch with Hughe's socialism poetry of the 1930's. Claude Mckay had the most in common with Hughes in terms of radical black pride and a like of the "low life" or common working class black, but his foreigner status as a Jamaican also made him an outsider to Harlem both figuratively and literally; he chose Greenwich Village as a primary residence and spurned many of the Harlem black intelligentsia. McKay was the only real bisexual of the bunch who had affairs with men and women, black and white, domestic and foreign. Yet, as many of his coded gay references appeared to indicate, he could be harsh toward white society in gerneral. Richard Bruce Nugent was the only openly gay black man of the men in this book who did not employ Whitmanesque techniques to conceal his interest. He was open and primarily showed an interest in white men and white Latin men in his work and life, the complete polar opposite of Langston Hughes. Sadly, Ms. Schwarz fails to grasp an accurate understanding of the work SMOKE, LILLIES, AND JADE whose protagonist is black, not white or of underminded race. This bias is disturbing and ignores on her part that its inclusion in the short lived FIRE!! that was devoted to works "by," "about," and "for" black Americans (i.e. Negros circa 1920's). Two, she fails to realize that "Beauty," the Latin object of desire in the story is a composite of Langston Hughes, Harold Jackman, and Valintino.

The book isn't an easy read, but it is a worthwhile read providing one shows patience and at least a little knowledge of the subjects other than that of their surface persona. Incidentally, the cover is based on Cullen's poem "Tableau" where a black and white man are portrayed as walking hand in hand at the surprise and disgust of onlookers, black and white. The painting was designed by Jacob Lawrence.

I'm not sure why the other two reviewers found Christa Schwarz's Gay Voices of the Harlem Renaissance difficult to read. I find Schwarz's prose clear and natural and her organizational scheme transparent. More important, Gay Voices of the Harlem Renaissance is a valuable contribution to black and queer studies--Schwarz's scholarship is impressive and thorough. Until this book appeared, the critical question of how queer genealogy intersected with the New Negro literary movement tended to be localized in debates over individual authors, such as the question of Langston Hughes's sexual orientation. But Schwarz's book does much more than merely consolidate archives into a single text. Gay Voices of the Harlem Renaissance performs the necessary labor of demonstrating that to talk of the Harlem Renaissance is to speak of the beginning of the queer revolution in the U.S., to suggest that among the emancipatory products of the New Negro was queer counterculture. The significance of Gay Voices of the Harlem Renaissance cannot be understated.

Honestly, the book is a a difficult read in some spots. Some items may require a second reading just to make sure the point is taken the way it is meant by Schwarz. That said, it is not an impossible read. Usually, Langston Hughes is the primary focus of such detailed scharlarship. This book examines Nugent, Cullen, and McKay who were, in their distinctive ways, just as important as Hughes in contributing to the Harlem Renaissance. All men were gay and dealed with their sexuality in print in a the mannor comfortable to them. Hughes, Cullen, and McKay employed Whitmanesque techniques and Nugent was completely unguarded in his sexual proclivities. For me, that Hughes and Nugent were both gay and yet showed different tastes in men and how they dealed with their sexuality is so interesting. The two men are the same and yet polar opposites of one another. Anyway, the reader will be happy with this book. Such work as Schawrz provides a new way of reading and re-reading these important figures in general literature and adds to the growing study of literature by gay African Americans, an under represented and all to often overlooked area of study.

A. B. Christa Schwarz wrote a really learned book. Maybe it's the only way a German scholar can write. Not always easy to read it's a interesting study to read not only for literary historians. The study is a must for everyone interested in the Harlem Renaissance as a literary phenomenon. Schwarz focuses on Countze Cullen, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay and Richard Bruce Nugent. Readers learn a lot about Alain Locke as well. Locke played a leading role in the Harlem Renaissance. Maybe Schwartz' next book will tell us more about Locke. We are waiting for it.

I totally agree with tifepiphany! The work is a gift to all who love 17th Century poetry / George Herbert / and poetry of the highest level. The Critical Introduction alone makes this a necessary book - the re-creation of the text and a generous selection of facsimile prints on corresponding pages make this a delight! Do yourself and favor and buy this book... I bought 2 copies. Books like this usual cost 50 to 60 dollars. Thank you Mario Di Cesare for this amazing work that should set a new standard for scholarly re-creations of texts - especially for those of us who can not afford $150.00 facsimiles. This is now one of my most beloved books.

The amount of detail in this reproduced/recreated edition of the Bolleian Tanner 307 edition of Herbert is a GREAT service to all interested in Herbert and 17th Century English Literature. This text, convincingly, elucidates many elements of the strong editing by Buck (1633) and makes available the source text for Buck and what is arguably the central text for understanding George Herbert. Thank you Mario Di Cesare!!!

--- by way of correction, Amazon lists this work as only a little over a hundred pages, it is in fact closer to 400 - and each page a treasure.

Di Cesare makes a relatively persuasive argument that this Bodleian manuscript is more authoritative than a widely accepted first printed edition of 1635. The manuscript is not Herbert's, so it is a live argument as to which represents his most specific intentions. I don't know which is closer to what Herbert had in mind, but the extraordinarily painstaking reproduction of such elements as the relative size of letters is appreciated.

Mario A. Di Cesare writes: The Bodleian manuscript of George Herbert's wonderful set of poems called The Temple is a beautiful work made with loving care at Little Gidding in the months after Herbert's death in 1633. It is also the most important manuscript of Herbert's poetry.

This volume presents an exact transcription of the manuscript, page by page, rendering precisely or recording not just the spelling and punctuation (including the placement of punctuation), but also the visual layout, the special characters (size, position, emphasis), the corrections and insertions, and the graphic characteristics of the page: Computer typography allowed me to imitate the original pages closely. (Lots of facsimile pages are also included.) My three-part introduction shows why contact with original manuscripts is important, argue the primacy of this manuscript for Herbert's text, and give critical readings of the poems themselves.

I am happy to report that my book has been widely praised by reviewers and called indispensable for anyone seriously interested in Herbert's poetry.

What a page turner! In a prose style that bops along like riffs floating out of a Central Avenue nightclub, RJ Smith's book The Great Black Way: L.A. in the 1940s and the Lost African-American Renaissance sheds long overdue light on the history Black Los Angeles. I was prepared to learn more about the fabled music scene on Central Avenue during the 1940's, but there is so much more to this story. The unsubtle ways in which race has shaped life in Los Angeles are fleshed out with sketches of Central Avenue's leading cultural, religious and political leaders; some familiar, others undeservedly obscure. Although the focus is on African-Americans, racist events like the forced internment of Japanese Americans and the Zoot Suit Riots intersected life on Central Avenue and readers will gain a nuanced vision of what this fabled multicultural city looked like sixty years ago (not a pretty picture at all.) The standard narrative of the civil rights movement tends to locate all the action in the south, but LA's home grown struggles to end segregation in the wartime defense industry and post war housing boom deserve a place in schools' curriculums and popular culture. And for anyone interested in the survival strategy known as "passing", or for anyone with more than a "passing" interest in the musical/cultural genre known as "exotica", the chapter on Korla Pandit is a must! Thanks RJ, for one of the best books I've ever read on the city we call home. As a postscript I'd like to add that a great book to fill out the "overlooked history" niche of your library is Whitewashed Adobe: The Rise and Los Angeles and the Remaking of its Mexican Past by William Deverell.

If you love Los Angeles and L.A. history, this book is a fantastic read. It both honors the African-American community's struggles for justice and respect in the city and introduces the reader to an extraordinary range of people-artists, journalists, civil rights leaders- who were indispendable to the development of black life and culture in Los Angeles.

Mr. Smith also does a superb job in communicating a sense of place and time, namely the sights and sounds of L.A.'s African-American neighborhoods in the 1940s.

No matter what your color or background, if you live in L.A.'s city's limits, reading this book wil make you proud to be an Angelino.

The ghosts and shadows, spirits and voices long since quieted are awakened, resurrected and put on display for all to see. This is quite simply an excellent book. What the author captures is the pride and determination, intelligence and ignorance, the creative genius and social failures of a street which became an area and an area which became a neighborhood and a neighborhood and its cultures. Cultures and counter-cultures, the civic minded hustlers, businnessmen, club owners, jazz musicians, lawyers, spiritualists, con-men, pimps and whores, atheletes and common folk. Those who endured racial taunts only to serve up taunts of their own, thumbing their nose at society while making plans to kick down the door of barriers constructed to keep them in their place. The sights and sounds of black Los Angeles, the birth place of attitudes which prevail to this day. Rarely has the spirit of urban Los Angeles been captured so completely.

The recollections gathered from old newspapers, cards, letters and the fading memories of those still around leave the reader enraptured. Every page is a treat. The fantastic stories coupled with the brilliant personalities make this an enjoyable historic voyage. To understand the roots is to understand the fruit and the subject of this book is definately a root to be studied and enjoyed by all with an interest in urban Los Angeles.

The history of our Los Angeles African-American roots have finally been given long overdue mention. With all the attention paid to Harlem, you'd think L.A.'s contributions to black American culture, civil rights, and religion pales in comparision. Hardly true!

Azusa Street, was literally the birthplace of the modern Pentocostal movement. And with certain recent documentaries on Jazz, it seemed no one had ever heard of Central Avenue's Club Alabam, or the hot and swingin' Bronzeville district of Downtown.

There was the still standing Dunbar Hotel, a black oasis for many of the well known, and not so famous, to find shelter while visiting the "City of Angels." Not to mention black L.A.'s major contributions to standup comedy, and as much as anyplace else, the jumpstart for R&B music.

Checkout the early civil rights movement here that foreshadowed such major figures as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, or the black literary community of Los Angeles. A powerful reminder of the huge and highly forgotten contributions of the black Los Angeles community, to the African-American struggles in America. R.J. Smith should receive an honorary medal of human brotherhood.

Well put together, very encompassing, good explanations...... It doesn't need a paragraph to describe it. If you like Da Vinci or want to learn more about him, this is a great place to start!

I never imagined that through a "child book" I would learn about this master-genious and moreover to be capable to comprehend the "details" about his art. I really enojoyed reading this book, I learn more about his famous paints and why they are considered pieces of art. I was motivaded to read more over the other great art's men such as Picasso or Michael Angel Buonorrati; I never thought that could be an easy way to understand this genious. I strongly recommend this book and the other series too; you can not only learn but also share with your child and encourage him to develop his talents or just enhance your "general culture" reading this great book. The talent consist in explaing complex ideas using a "simple language" that everybody can understand. There is not reason to became so sophisticated and not be able to "share" what you learn with the rest of the world. When you learn a good joke you want to tell the rest about it; it is meaningless if you just keep it for yourself...

This excellent book focuses on Leonardo's drawings in the Royal Library at Windsor. Everyone has seen the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, but Leonardo's greatest achievments are found in his drawings. Vivid HIGH QUALITY color reproductions are accompanied by insightful commentary and historical/biographical information. The book covers the whole breadth of Leonardo's intellectual development. 100 color drawings by history's greatest draftsman, and indeed one of most powerful minds the world has ever seen. As the book says "...[Leonardo's] drawings [are] the pure expression of his genius, boundless and magnificent."
What more could one want in a book? 5/5

It's not the best Da vinci book, but it has a LOT of drawings.

This book seems to be a prelude to "Mazda MX-5 Miata: The Book of the World's Favourite Sportscar" both by the same author. I'd suggest the "....World's Favourite Sportscar" as a more complete history since it covers the 3rd generation.

Brian Long has in essence, fully researched the history of the Miata Roadster. This is a timeless keepsake which traces the origins of the Mazda corporation and the step by step development of an incredible automobile. I applaud his attention to the chronology and details of the car's history. From the initial design team sketches to the clay models to the smallest details which came together to capture the spirit of the old British roadsters. It's a great source of information and details which most enthusiasts aren't aware of. If you're a fan of the Miata, or of the simplicity of the British roadsters then this one's a winner!

Great Pictures and life story of the miata includes EVERYTHING!!! About miatas and fun to read.

This book was great! The perfect book for the Mazda Miata enthusiast. Great color pictures and the most complete history of the car Ive ever seen. Highly recommend. A+++++

Yes, you are correct in that -to some extent- we are able to choose what we consume. Corporations market their products to specific audiences, people who are likely to buy the product. Thats why sugared cereal commercials are aired on Saturday-mornings. Things get a bit dicey, however, when we begin to market toxic substances in this same way.

For someone who claimed to be African American, I found it quite interesting that you often referred to the black communities as "their communities". You must be one of "those" african americans. You know the ones who are either too comfortable or too ignorrant to beleive that their may be some sort of systematic plan to hold the poor down. Notice I said poor, not black or "ghetto" communities, poor people. It's "those" type of blacks that aren't ready to admit that racism in this country is a strong as it ever was. It's "those" type of blacks that finger point once they get beyond arms length of the struggle that poor people go through. It's "those" types of african americans that will beleive whatever Fox news or Peter Jennings reports, but can't entertain the progressive and educated opinions brought forth by Mr. Powell.

It is about economics, but it's also about who profits from these economics. Who profits? Is it you Mr. "African American"? I doubt it. The same ones are profiting today as were profitting since the 16th century. The same ones who figured out way earlier than you did that it is about economics, and the only way to sustain that economic hunger is to make the masses consumer starved. You can put fake nails, alcohol, drugs and guns in ANY community of ANY ethnicity and if there's nothing there except unemployment, poverty and a systematic blueprint for exactly that to happen, then you'll get the same results everytime.

This is a class society, and for that to work someone has to be in the lower class. Last time I checked there were more non-blacks in that category than anyone else, but that gets past some of "those" african americans. They'd rather fall victim to mass media and pop culture and look at "those" people with disdain and contempt. Pay no mind to who is profiting from this blueprint of destruction, just focus on judging the victims of their genius economic plans. As long as you do that you'll never really know who is paying the ultimate price for Americas economic growth. It's the same ones that have been paying the price since 1558.

First - I am a collector of what is commonly called "Breweria" - that is, all things related to beer and the brewing industry (cans, bottles, trays, ads..you get the idea). I became aware of this work through a discussion of the book in an internet forum and "had" to have it in my beer book collection.

After reading the book I didn't know whether to bust out laughing or be in a state of total outrage. I am leaning, however, towards laughter. The author's analysis of the labeling and marketing of beer and malt liquor ranges from fascinating and even bordering on credible to absolutely gut-busting. For instance, he analyzes the name "Schlitz" yet makes no reference to the fact that Joseph Schlitz was a German immigrant who started a brewery in the 19th century. In another example, he would have the reader believe that Miller Brewing's "Red Dog" Beer was marketed entirely toward the African-American population. Perhaps if he had done any legit research he would have known that the beer was also marketed heavily to NASCAR fans (a group not well known for African-American representation!). These are just a few examples - don't want to spoil it for you!

As with most books of this genre, it is filled with strange machinations of numbers and letters and other contrived means of establishing the author's point.

If you buy any of this - you'll be outraged. But you'll more than likely be amused.

If you love this type of conspiracy theory book - buy this one, you'll love it. If you collect breweria books, this will make a great (and possibly unique) addition to your collection and might even get you interested in 40's - I recently started collecting in this arena and find it fascinating myself. So head down to your local corner store, pick up a couple 40's and sit back for a great easy read (sorry Coach, they sell 40's other places than in "the hood").

I found this book to extremely interesting. Not only is it an excellent addition to the other conspiracy literature that is available, but it lends a new twist to the victim theories that many African Americans subscribe to.

The market and people move to wherever money is made. If money is made in the black community in alcohol, drugs, fake nails, check cashing places or weapons, those are the products that will be sold. It isn't conspiracy, it's economics. What you choose to buy determines what will be sold.

You and your communities are only victims if you choose to be. If you choose to buy alcohol, drugs, weapons, fake nails and use check cashing places, that is what will be sold.

And, how do I know............I'm African American too.