Rebecca Books

The book was in perfect condition. It was mailed to me in what I think must be record time.

"The Modern Murasaki" is one of those rare definitive anthologies, the kind that constitutes a cornerstone contribution to the field while being just in and of itself profoundly interesting and enjoyable to read cover to cover. Within its pages are translations of literary works written during the Meiji era (1868-1911) by Japanese women of various temperaments and backgrounds, all of whom though sought more out of life than the role of "good wife, wise mother" dictated to them. And it's a good thing they did, too, because modern Japanese literature would be much the poorer without the excellent stories, poems, plays, and essays found herein--highly thought-provoking or deeply moving, terribly heart-wrenching or wonderfully entertaining, but all noteworthy and significant.

In many respects too this is an important anthology. Of course it vastly expands the horizons of what we think of as Meiji literature, but the works here are also key representative texts rather than the footnotes of literary history; I know for certain that I have come across countless references to Kishida Toshiko's speech/essay "Daughters in Boxes" in who knows how many historical studies and such, but now finally I got the chance to actually read the real thing for myself. The translations are of an exceptional quality, too, carefully accurate and scholarly and yet vibrant and accessibly literary. Furthermore, the selections seem carefully chosen so as to be equally relevant both in terms of literature and social history, making this book extremely useful to scholars and students in both areas of inquiry--not to mention Women's Studies in general. Finally, the handy format of this book makes it ideal for classroom use so it should hopefully find its way to many a syllabus, and yet it's the perfect book to just sit back with at a coffee shop and read for good old-fashioned enjoyment's sake.

Selections included in this book are:
1. Poems in various styles by Matsunoto Misako, Saisho Atsuko, Shimoda Utako, Nakajima Utako, Higuchi Ichiyo, Nakajima Shoen, Yosano Akiko, Yamakawa Tomiko, Chino Masako, Ishigami Tsuyuko, Okamoto Kanoko, Yazawa Koko, Otsuka Kusuoko, and Takeyama Hideko
2. "Daughters in Boxes" by Kishida Toshiko
3. "Warbler in the Grove" by Miyake Kaho
4. Journal Entries by Higuchi Ichiyo
5. "The Temple of Godai" by Tazawa Inabune
6. "Hiding the Gray" and "Wretched Sights" by Kitada Usurai
7. "How Determined Are Today's Women Students?", "The Broken Ring", and "School for Emigres" by Shimizu Shikin
8. "Wavering Traces" by Hasegawa Shigure
9. "Persimmon Sweets" by Nogami Yaeko
10. "For More than Forty Days" by Mizuno Senko
11. "Lifeblood" and "The Vow" by Tamura Toshiko

I have studied this book as well as other Guided Activity Workbooks and was so impressed that I researched how this one has been used to help traumatized children and want to share what I found, quoting from source material as the book has been written up and used by parents, teachers and mental health professionals to help many thousands of children.

"When Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans on August 29, 2005, causing extensive flooding, immense destruction, and mass human suffering, we began collaboration with Mercy Corps to produce and distribute a guided activity workbook within a week after the disaster. To evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention, the American Psychoanalytic Foundation and Mercy Corps jointly funded a study of the resource. The objective of the resource was to decrease post-traumatic symptoms in several hundred among the evacuated fifth to eighth grade children attending a displaced school, temporarily based in Houston. Fortuitously, Tulane University was also relocated to Houston and the project had the advantage of an independent psychiatrist's involvement in setting up and studying the effectiveness of the project, including the supervision of interns to introduce and follow the children's use of the workbook. The formerly New Orleans student population was 100 percent African-American, the majority (82 percent) from impoverished areas of New Orleans that were widely devastated by Katrina. The University of California at Los Angeles Child Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index (PTSD-RI) was administered to the children prior to beginning work on the Hurricane Workbook and again after three months of working with the specially designed psychoanalytically informed workbooks. Mercy Corp eventually distributed more than 12,000 workbooks throughout the region."

"Tulane University School of Medicine's preliminary report on results of using Guided Activity Workbooks with middle school children displaced by hurricanes is published on The Children's Psychological Health Center's website: www.cphc-sf.org. Briefly, My Personal Story About Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: A Guided Activity Workbook for Children, Families and Teachers was given to each child. Each worked on it in class for 30 minutes weekly for three months. Post-traumatic symptom level scores among 100 twice-tested adolescents declined sharply. The improvement was statistically highly significant (p=.0001). It confirmed compelling clinical observations that even classes of highly agitated and overactive inner city children almost immediately became very calm and focused when using the activity workbooks. "

Results for Children Caught in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

I am currently working with Drs. Jan Johnson and Leslie Lawrence ...using your Katrina and Rita workbooks in a middle school in the French Quarter of New Orleans. When we used your workbooks last year in Houston with displaced 6th-8th grade students, we found that using the books for 30 minutes once a week for two months decreased PTSD risk factor/symptom scores by 18.75% (from 32 to 26 median; p=0.0001). In our current study, we have expanded the student population to include 5th graders, and also are allowing students to participate whether or not they were displaced; they all, however, live in post-Katrina New Orleans, which is in itself a stressor. Other studies have found that PTSD continues to be a major issue, especially among children, here in New Orleans, and so far our work has replicated this finding.

We just wanted to inform you of this because the workbook itself is your creation, and we love it. We also thought it might be appropriate to be in communication with you in the future about how our results turn out, and also how we might use concepts from your book to continue helping New Orleans kids who are likely to have continued stress living in our troubled city.

-Adrienne D. Mishkin, Tulane University School of Medicine

A friend gave me this book to look at. After reading it, I HAD to have a copy. Amazon is always the place to find what you are looking for. Anyway, the book has very sophisticated menus andrecipes. I have not had the opportunity to use any as yet, but I do look forward to trying them soon.

This was the most entertaining cookbook I've ever read. The stories were as entertaining as the recipes were tasty and easy to do. Very unique, very impressive!

I ENJOYED THIS BOOK. HAVING GROWN UP IN THE FALLS, I REMEMBER SOME OF THESE EVENTS AND THAT MADE IT ALL THE MORE INTERESTING FOR ME. I ALSO LEARNED THINGS THAT I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT NIAGARA FALLS. EVEN THE LAST CHAPTER ON NIKOLA TESLA HAD SOME FASCINATING INFORMATION IN IT.

Being a native of Niagara Falls, I found this book absolutely fantastic!
Niagara Falls has a strange history of violence, mob activity and
weirdness related to the Falls itself.
I am buying a few for my relatives - they'll love it!

A wonderful and refreshing cookbook. This author obviously looks at life and its unusual situations with a fantastic and often off-beat sense of humor. The FOREWORD, written by her nephew, is hilarious.....reminds me of something Robin Williams would write...only BETTER. There is something for everyone in this book...stories and recipes alike. An unusual and interesting addition to any book collection. Honey Walnut

This is one of the best cookbooks I have ever bought! It was written by a gourmet pastry chef as a series of funny stories all related to her recipes and adventures as a cook. And it proves to be totally hilarious. You will laugh alot and really enjoy all of the incredible desserts and delicious dishes she has in here. It's alot like being able to watch the gourmet chef in one of those great restaurants and learn all of his secret little tricks. I highly recommend this book and hope to see many more by this author.

This book was the only book I've ever read that I actually enjoyed. It kept me interested the entire time, and I even read during some classes. Because of this book, I've been looking for my books by Rebecca Winters. Definitely a book for anyone who likes romance stories.

NOT WITHOUT MY CHILD is one of the most heart wrenching, heart-warming emotional story that I have ever read. Tessa Marsden is without a doubt one of the most awe inspiring characters I have ever had the privilege to read about. She is an extremely tough woman, who is unfortunately judged not only by her stunning good looks, but by the lies that her husband tells
others. Tessa knew almost immediately that her marriage to Grant was a mistake, but because of her religious and personal beliefs she felt that she must make her marriage work. Unfortunately, the only good thing to come out of her marriage is her now five year old son Scotty. Tessa loves her son with every fiber of her being and is a terrific mother.

However, when Tessa files for divorce, she is shocked to discover that Grant counter sues her for full custody of her son and claims that Tessa is an unfit mother. Tessa is devastated and vows to fight for her son. The deck is stacked against Tessa from the very beginning. After her son was born, Tessa was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder. Before filing for divorce Tessa puts her life on the line when she stops taking medication that she had been on for four years. This took so much courage and strength on her part. Her husband and his lawyer (also known as little Hitler), however, try to make Tessa look like a sick, drug addicted, adulterous, emotionally distraught, and dangerous woman in court. Thankfully, Tessa has luck on her side in the form of her attorney Alex Summerfield.

Alex pulls out all the stops in order to win Tessa's case. In the process he also falls in love with her. Alex and Tessa can in no way give into their feelings for one another because it could have a negative impact on her case.

This is a great story of one womans struggle, but with the help of her family and a man that gives her so much more than she ever thought possible, she survives and comes out stronger than ever. Terrific, heartbreaking, heartwarming! Rebecca Winters makes the reader want to fight for Tessa just as much as Alex and her family do. Highly Recommend, especially to someone who feels that they can not rise above the problems in their life and come out a better and stronger person.

I am a traveller from Madrid and was given this book as a gift by a friend from Manila. It was full of everything a traveller who is unfamiliar with an exotic country like the Philippines. When I went there with several friends last year we found the book to be extremely helpful and so accurate in detail that we had an easy time moving around, finding hotels and site-seeing areas. To the authors: thank you for a very relaxing trip to the Philippines!

We were being assigned to the Philippines and I browsed through all the travel books available on the country. I chose this (the first edition) because i liked the way it was written and that the writers live in the Philippines. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed! In fact i found both the information provided and the personalized descriptions of places to stay and eat very helpful. When the second edition came out i bought it and passed on my old copy to a friend. The 2nd edition has new information (unlike others that i have found are almost completely re-writes of past editions) and continues to be a more personal travel guide. I will be sorry to leave the country and this book has helped my family enjoy our travels.

I looked for this kind of info for 20 yrs. This is a great book!! It uses tone on tone and give all kinds of info on how to do it. I'll keep my copy.

If you are a decorative painter, this is one book that you must have for your "stash." The projects are incredibly beautiful and very doable with Rebecca's step-by-step approach. Her directions are detailed and precise, enabling you to complete projects that look just like the pictures! Well worth the price, this book is a must have!

This book is perfect to use as a diary or just to write down what you have done for the day...if you take medications it's good to write down what you took and the time so you don't forget!

"What a weird idea, to review a blank journal", you will say. But this journal I really enjoy because the picture on the cover is so inviting and propicious to soul confidences. The quality of the paper is excellent and the large wire allow the book to be folded back without messing up the pages. I am definitely going to get the other journals in the same collection such as the amaryllis, bouquet of roses and peas journals.

Passionate Dialogues is a book well worth reading even though Mel Gibson's film came out some time ago. The articles in this book highlight many reasons why we, Christians and Jews, should not let the flurry of conversations and opinions and feeling that the movie sparked die out. The editors did a great job of pulling together a rich array of perspectives that dig deeply into everything from film making to the war on terror and Biblical scholarship.

These are my comments, section by section:

Historical perspecitives:
Denova's article is a trove of clear and concise information culled from extra-Biblical sources. She uses this scholarship to help inform us of Gibson' manipulation of the Passion Narrative. She shows us that his primary focus on who was responsible for Christ's death overshadows the very real tragedy of Jesus' betrayal by all. She makes a compelling argument that Gibson's film is unfortunate because its portrayal of Jesus' death as atoning sacrifice continues what J. D. Crossan calls the "largest lie" in Christianity.

Richard Miller's article continues on with the atonement. His quite original work compares Gibson's traditional portrayal as Jesus as victim - an atoning, universal sacrifice for sin, with an older tradition culled from 2 and 4 Maccabees and other Hellenistic sources. His argument that Jesus, following a strong theological and historical precedent for martyrdom in his own time, determined to attain martrydom to foment a radical change, is meticulous and compelling.

Anne Brannen's article points to a place that I identified with strongly as I watched the movie - there was no point of contact for me to implicate myself into Christ's passion as a perpetrator. She describes a medieval resource that Gibson overlooked in his medieval treatment of the story: The York play "Crucifixtion." Using the perspective present in this play, people would have been drawn into the realization of their own sin and redemption, much like a modern day David Mamet play can do for an audience today.

In "From Stage to Screen," Ziva Piltch discusses quite well the translation of the somewhat parallel tradition of medieval Passion Plays to the genre of film Her analysis is very thought provoking. I found myself fascinated by her revelations about how film direction, editing and photography moves us in ways that are more limiting than the techniques of the medieval playwrights. Her insights into anti-semitism in Gibson's film are key and exacting.

Dorothy Chansky's easily accessible article is a great look at the more homespun modern passion plays in North America. I appreciate her bias completely. Especially good are her observations that when these plays are "preaching to the choir" their underlying purpose of conversion, like Gibson's film, marginalizes anyone from outside the community. She makes the point that theater can be used to critique and reinvent stereotypes such as the evil Jews or a Caucasian Jesus. Gibson wasted this opportunity.

Literary perspectives:
Ray Keck's literary analysis is inventive and powerful. He sees a certain awful beauty in the violent portrayal of the sacrifice of Christ in Gibson's movie. Mentioning several Spanish authors and works - Lorca and Miro - he identifies the Passion of Christ as a modern day metonymy for the state of our world today. Much as "the bottle" has become a metonym for the disease of alcholism - Christ's passion has become a metonym for our reality.

In a dialogue with the writings of Flannery O'Connor, Williams does a beautiful job of upholding Gibson's portrayal of Satan and the ongoing battle between him and Jesus. Using the vehicle of transubstantiation, he makes a case for placing Gibson's vision on par with great literature. This disturbs me because he fails to see, I think, Gibson's failed attempt to "present violence s a vehicle to understanding the world." (p. 120) I wonder if Gibson's personified Satan does anything except place our own hands on the mallet and nails (as Gibson claims.)

In the article "What Gibson Really Meant", Wilhelm Wurzer seems to echo things that preachers, probably even including Jesus, have long known: "the real spirit of Gibson's film is not limited to ... the various incidents... on screen." (p. 137). I think what "Wurzer really meant", but never says, is that the Holy Spirit can be relied upon to allow a picture of Jesus that is alive and in the world, inspite of Gibson's alternative purposes. This unlimited quality, along with the masterful cinematography and score lead Wurzer to dub the movie a "work of art."

Sarah Haeglin examines Gibson's cinematic decisons and declares that his intense scrutiny and portrayal of the scourging of Jesus is an ethical failure. She argues convincingly that his flashback technique - cutting violence with loving moments with the women - subverts the message of Christ and the mystery of salvation by shifting the historic theology of the cross to the theology of the whip.

Psychoanalytic perspectives:
Don Carveth take on Gibson's film claiming that its violent picture of Jesus' death supports a less evolved understanding of the atonement - limiting it to the substitutionary model. He recognizes a more "advanced" understanding of the atonement (that I like except for the hiearchy he attributes to it.) This is one that allows good and evil to be experienced and held in tension with one another. He, therefore, judges Gibson's film to be narrow and primitive by supporting a view of Christianity that denies many of its central truths and paradoxes.

Philip Gundersn sees Gibson's film as another voice in the "language of sacrifice" (p. 180) that has taken over in neo-conservative rhetoric since 9/11. He argues rather brilliantly that the old Freudian model of psycho-sexual development, wherein we sacrifice pleasure for delayed gratification at some stage in our lives, is played out in extreme in this film. This same CHOICE for sacrifice is being called for in the war on terror by the power that be today.

Britton Johnston's argument that Gibson portrays Jesus as the ultimate Lethal Weapon is compelling. Using the anthropological/literary work of Rene Girard, Johnston shows that Gibson's work totally reverses and undoes the hopeful message of the whole Bible - that humanity can say NO to its ancient and mythic patterns of scape-goating as opposed to grace and mercy.

Interfaith Perspective:
David Shtulman write a very well balanced article on how Gibson's film provides a teachable moment for Jewish/Christian relationships. He highlights the progress of this reconciliation starting with Vatican II. And, while not ignoring the anti-Semitic aspects of the film, he cautions Jews not to over react or expect to tell Christians how to tell their own story.

Daniel Burston finishes the collection with an article that takes us back to the beginning articles. He cautions Christians to deepen their understanding of why Jews don't necessarily appreciate the universalism of humanity's culpability for the death of Jesus. He feels that Gibson's movie is an anachronism that has reversed the ideal of a vibrant and humane religious pluralism" (p. 239) He also outlines, with brave honesty, what he sees as a "Faustian bargain" that exists between Evangelicals and Israeli Jews and also between more mainline factions of both faiths as we band together against the Muslims. His discussion of original sin was eye-opening.

This is an amazing book that deserves wide circulation. It is not simply a book about Mel Gibson's movie - it's a frank and scholarly discussion of the role of religion in American life. The editors - Daniel Burston and Rebecca Denova - have done an excellent job of assembling a wide-array of opinions on Gibson's movie. Indeed, Burston and Denova deserve our gratitude for insisting on essays that are both challenging and contrary to the editors' own view. This book does not bash Gibson's movie. That would be too easy and not particularly edifying. Rather, the editors have done what Gibson himself is constitutionally incapable of doing - they have treated religion as something problematic, as something that needs to be thought out, and as something not to be used as a bludgeon to force people into line.

The book has 14 chapters, organized by 5 themes. The first section is Historical Perspectives, which looks at Gibson's movie from a number of different perspectives. The lead essay by Denova gives a very good overview of the meaning (to both Christians and Jews) of passion plays, the crucifix, the arrest and trial of Jesus. Overall, Denova writes a very measured essay, criticizing Gibson for emphasizing conflict over love. This, of course, could be criticized, for Gibson is hardly deserving of one's moderation; but Denova has written a fine historical essay that is very thoughtful and sensitive.

The other essays in the section are less rigorous, but no less interesting. Richard Miller thinks that Gibson is courageous to tell the story as he does, but he doesn't back that claim up; Anne Brannen dislikes the use of "medieval" as a synonym for reactionary, and tries to revive an alternative understanding of that concept. She finds that Gibson's medievalism may not be the most salutary understanding of that term.

Piltch and Chansky both discuss the meaning of the Passion play in western culture. It seems clear that Gibson knows that Passion plays incite anti-semitism and hatred; it is hard to divorce the meaning of these plays from innocent religious theatrics.

The next section discusses Gibson's movie from literary perspectives. The two essays are short but incisive commentaries on the role of violence in Gibson's movie.

The next section is on Film Studies. These two essays are perhaps the best of the book. The first essay by Wurzer is a strange one. He not only tries to revive Nietzsche as a rightwing philosopher, but he brings along Mel Gibson and Jesus too. Wurzer is clearly having fun using rightwing postmodernism to his favor. His essay suffers, however, from his desire for play at the expense of locating Gibson's excesses, his stupid anti-semitic remarks, his paranoia, his historical inaccuracies, and his bloodlust within the tradition he is trying to revive. Sarah Hagelin's essay rectifies some of Wurzer's omissions. She discusses the film from the standpoint of film studies. She finds problems with the movie as well as with its theology (which Wurzer doesn't address). She rightly places the movie in context with other movies on Jesus' life (Scorcese), as well as within a literary tradition, emphasizing the movie's violence as part of the larger American culture and Mel Gibson's filmography. It's an essay well worth reading.

Daniel Burston is a professor of psychology (see his other books on Amazon), and no doubt encouraged some authors to discuss essays from a psychoanalytic perspective. This was a brilliant idea. In this section, there is one short essay, a medium essay discussing Rene Girard, and a longer one that discusses the movie through a Lacanian and Deluezian perspective. This essay too is one of the finest in the book, and a good corrective to Wurzer's.

Finally, there are essays on inter-faith dialogue. It's clear that Gibson's movie has irritated the issue, with conservative religious people defending the movie without acknowledging its major defects, its distortions, its use of violence, its antisemtic imagery. Dan Burston clearly feels the pain of Gibson's efforts. He writes a sensitive essay on the damage done by Gibson to interfaith dialogue. But Burston, one feels, is an optimist, and the book reflects his overall efforts to bring diverse people together. Bravo!

This is a fine book on a difficult topic. Burston and Denova are sensitive and fine scholars of their respective fields. Although the movie came out some time ago, this book is not untimely. The issues it addresses are contemporary issues. It is fair, open, moderate, and dedicated to the finest spirit of liberalism - all things, unfortunately, Mel Gibson seeks to rid us of.