Departments Books

Our church group received Dept 56 buildings with the proviso that the collection be sold and the money used to help those in need. Although we knew of Dept 56, we didn't know how to identify or value the houses. This book divides the collection into villages and offers an explanation about each one. A tiny icon shows each village; in some cases, it shows the different versions of the same building. Dates of introduction are listed with original retail price. Then the 2005 suggested secondary market price is listed. Space is available for the collector to record his purchase of each item. Additional information is offered in a simple to read and understand format ~ for example, if a part is especially fragile or if a paint job is starting to craze. At the end of each section, the accessories for each village are pictured and listed. Well worth the money and the time!

This guide was very easy to use to determine the values. You could search on name or item number. The color pictures were helpful because some items had more than one edition of that item number released.

Halle Brothers was a Cleveland institution. It was, like many family-owned department stores, a vital player in the city's history. As the city grew, so did Halle Brothers. Author James Wood paints an interesting, vivid portrait of a store, the likes of which, are rarely seen in today's world of "cookie cutter" chains.

If you were a Clevelander in the 50's and 60's and wanted to shop in style, Halle's was your store. This book refreshes the memories of those who had the pleasure of shopping this retail institution while it told how a family of merchants experienced the successes and ultimate failure of a Cleveland retail icon.

If you are not a Clevelander, this book gives great detail of what "carriage trade" retail was and what happened to it.

Good reading, lots of memories, good fun.

The best part, I think, is the essay chapters. It tells you what do the admission officers really want to know in each type of essay questions. For example, the ethic question is different than legal issues. Anything illegal is clearly not a good topic to write in ethic essays.

A very thorough guide to applying to business school. It provides excellent information about the internal workings of the admissions process as well as thought-provoking guidance to help you through the essay writing process. It also provides good insight on the types of things to consider when choosing the business schools you want to apply to.

I bought this as a required text for a graduate course. It was exactly what I needed, and I got a great price.

John Gabriel draws from his experiences and manifold success as a high school English teacher, team leader and administrator in writing this book. He gives clear, practical advice and a true vision to accomplish the curriculum goals of any school as a team leader. Honing one's own intuitive sense, and skills of communication, trouble shooting, prevention of foreseeable problems, and motivation of teachers toward a common goal are only a few of the accomplishments of this book. The author addresses differentiated curriculum, much needed today with our increasingly diverse student population in the regular classroom. I was impressed with his varied and incremental approach to change when faced with resistance by teachers or administrators. Time and again, the author demonstrates that good intuition coupled with a tireless and thorough effort yield results in higher student achievement and test scores. If team leaders follow the approach of this book, their students, teachers and whole school will benefit. With the "No Child Left Behind" Act and high stakes testing now in place nationwide, this book is vital and gives the proper frame to accomplish any school's goals.

If you're a native Atlantan there are a few things that you will hold dear to your heart--the swan-shaped cream puffs at the Swan Coach House at the Atlanta Historical Society, the Ladies Lounge at the Fox Theatre, the frozen chicken salas at Rich's Magnolia Room, the old magnolia tree at the old Ponce de Leon Ball Park, Mary Mac's pimento cheese, and--at the top of the list--Priscilla the Pink Pig Flyer at Rich's. It's just the most unique thing about Christmas in the city. We might not have snow or ice skating, but we have Priscilla!!! This book is just adorable. The book has a scrapbook section in the back so I printed out photos of my daughters on Santa's knee (in 1964!)and the photos we took of my grandbabies Kylie, Josh, and Paige at the Pink Pig last year (the 50th anniversary)and gave copies to each of those grandchildren. They just though it was so "cool" to see their mommies at their age--in a Mini-skirt kilt and saddle shoes and horn-rimmed glasses! This book is such a blessing and a treasure!

If you're an Atlantan--a true, old-line Atlantan, that is--you'll love this book! Riding the Pink Pig was THE way to get into the Christmas spirit for anyone who grew up in the 1950s or 1960s (although the ride continues to the present day). This book is packed with so many memories, pictures of Santa's Secret Shop, recipes from the old Magnolia Room downtown (remember the frozen chicken salad), it just about made this old fool cry. Although the Rich's name is not going to be around too much longer--which is a crying shame itself!--the Pink Pig Flyer continues and this book is a must-have celebration of something uniquely Atlanta and too rapidly disappearing.

Then and Now: Kyrgyzstan is great for research. I used it for a school project, and it told me almost everything I needed to know.

This book is intended for middle-school readers, but it's a useful introduction to anyone looking for a short overview to the people, land and industry of Kyrgyzstan. Chapters include The Land and People of Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan's Story, Making a Living in Kyrgyzstan and What's Next for Kyrgyzstan.

The text is accompanied by factual sidebars and interesting photos. A good first resource for anyone wondering: where and what is Kyrgyzstan?

My 3-year-old requests this book over and over and over and over again. We have hundereds of children's books in our home, but for some reason this book is my 3-year-old's favorite! She loves the storyline, the suspense, and the wonderful watercolor illustrations. And I love that it reinforces safety and problem-solving skills. Great book! Definitely worth purchasing!

I read this to my 4 and 6 year-olds and they loved it. Great learning for children on the do's and don'ts in getting lost.

Ron Brown was AWESOME! This book tells the inspirational storyof a kid from Harlem that changed the face of national politics andreally made a difference. I like that the book tells us all about Brown's private family life as well as his public life.

Throughout this novel the love and affection with which the Brown's enjoyed life is evident. Along with a strong love for his family Ron Brown had a love for life. This book describes a man who was not afraid to rescue a sinking ship. Throughout his life he was the one who brought organizations up. The novel offers inspiration for all.

Read this for graduate American history course. Lost Revolutions by Pete Daniel is a book that looks at the South during the 1950's. More specifically, it is a cultural history of the American South from the end of World War II until the Freedom Summer of 1964. Daniel's thesis is, "The South that evolved in the twenty years after the war emerged out of displacement, conflict, and creativity - not tranquility" (1). Daniel covers many themes that support his thesis. Among these themes are the migration of small farmers to cities, the advent of NASCAR, Rock n' Roll, and the lost occasions to give full citizenship to African Americans. The author's intention for writing this book is twofold. First, Daniel explores the cultural achievements of the "Lowdown culture" (91). He does this by looking at how the displaced farmers kept their rural roots, despite the fact that they lived in urban areas. Second, Daniel delves into the reasons why the middle-class and upper-class South did not want to desegregate. Lost Revolutions is a fascinating cultural history that sheds light on many current issues.

Daniel discusses numerous issues that surrounded the South after the end of World War II. Primarily, the author looks at a multitude of reasons that massively shrank the number of farmers in the South. "Over a million farm operators left the land in the 1950s" (60). Ezra Taft Benson was a major contributor in the displacement of small farmers in the South. Benson was appointed the secretary of agriculture under
Eisenhower in 1952. This is about the same time that farm machinery, such as tractors, began to replace labor-intensive farming techniques. Additionally, since the Great Depression the majority of southern farmers relied on Government subsidies. "Calculations, allotments, and regulations - not hard work - determined whether farmers succeeded or failed" (46). In 1959 a seventy-one-year-old Alabama farmer named E. Spech said, " ... now we can't move without a handout ... Each morning the men headed for some local restaurant for a cup of coffee while their wives sleep till noon" (59). It was obvious to many that Benson did not want to support the small farmer, but rather Agribusiness and the large farmer. Many of the white southern landowners bought more farms, machinery, and became wealthy with the support of the government. Conversely, small farmers, tenant farmers, and sharecroppers, both black and white, left their farms for the cities.

One of the themes that Daniel discusses in Lost Revolutions is the role of the government on the southern environment. As machinery cut down on the need for workers on a farm, so to did the use of chemicals. Interestingly, after World War One, two the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) teamed up with the Chemical Warfare Service to combine their chemical research. These organizations researched
chemicals like DDT, which could be used against humans or insects to shut down the nervous system. DDT and other similar chemicals were used to dust crops by plane, but usually this was done by hand to save money. The USDA even funded the dusting of private property with dieldrin, which is 20 times more toxic than DDT in order to eradicate Argentine fire ants. This supposed scourge was built up by using "Red propaganda" in order scare Americans that an invading insect was going to ruin their land.
The government would eventually spend $156 million dollars to extinguish the Argentine fire ant. This resulted in ruining the environment in many places and actually caused the ...fire ant to speed up its evolutionary cycle and spread throughout the country. The picture that Daniel paints of organizations like the USDA and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) helps to support his thesis that the South was changing out of conflict.

Lost Revolutions gives the history of displaced southerners who banded together, despite having different skin colors. " ... when it came to exchanging something offensive to the upper class, racial barriers collapsed" (92). The Lowdown culture of the South thrived on being unruly, unrespectable, hard-drinking, and rough. The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) has roots in bootlegging and quickly became something that the Lowdown culture gravitated to in the 1950s. The drivers, mechanics, and fans typically put pleasure over values by their bad behavior on and off the track. Additionally, the Lowdown culture produced, "jazz, blues, country, gospel, rhythm and blues, rock On'roll, and soul music" (122). People like Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Willie Mitchell, and Otis Redding were the sounds of the 1950s and the music had no color barrier. The culture that the displaced southerners found joy in reflected their beliefs and could have helped to end segregation in the South. The author describes the South in the 1950s by looking at the continuation of segregation as something that came from the white middle class and the elite. Daniel argues that the working-class southerners were typically not fighting against integration in the South. This is seen through the crisis at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Daniel describes why many whites and blacks feared integration at Central High School. The nine black students who attended Central were kept from major physical harm by the 101st Airborne, which was sent by President Eisenhower. Segregationists saw this action as a threat to state rights and a throwback to
Reconstruction. The strength of Daniel's account of this well-known event lies in his telling of the rest of the story. He tells how the "Littlerock Nine" were subjected to being hit, having hot soup dumped on them, seeing racial words written in the bathroom, and having to be submissive. In the end, Daniel notes the opportunity for positive integration was lost when, "Segregationists policed the color line with a vengeance and intimidated and white person who deviated from their code" (283).

Lost Revolutions is a book that looks at the driving forces behind the Southern culture in the 1950s. The author focuses on segregation as a major topic, but also looks at the cultural collision brought out by the upper-class, middle-class, and the Lowdown cultures. After WorId War II many people in the South favored integration, civil rights, and a positive change in culture. However, "The white elite engineered agribusiness, migration, and massive resistance, a counterrevolution that poisoned both the environment and race relations" (305). The damage done to race relations is to take many years to heal, and in many places is still waiting for resolution. The Blues and NASCAR are proof that race relations in the South could have come from positive cultural influence. Daniel does not look at the South as being predominantly full of segregationists. Rather, he points to lack of leadership, ignorance, and fear as the major reasons that the South had an uneasy end to segregation. Daniel claims that the working class
people of the South were swept away in the racial tension that embattled the 1950s. Segregation in the South ended through laws and intervention rather than a belief in equality. "Before they [the working-class] were divided or tamed, these people redefined the South and established enduring cultural monuments" (305).

As a graduate student in philosophy and history, I recommended this book for anyone interested in American history, civil rights era history.

The 1950's South was both a time and a place of contradictions. On the one hand, there was a cultural revolution going on that fused both white and black musical tastes into one revolutionary music genre (rock 'n' roll) and a political revolution that went on (integration) which made the cultural achievements seem to pale in comparison. In essence, the South of the 1950's was a confusing maelstrom of contradictory policies and failed opportunities for peaceful change.

So argues Pete Daniel in his book "Lost Revolutions: The South in the 1950's". Daniel's thesis is that the South offered ripe opportunities for change during the immediate post-World War II era but these opportunities were overlooked by the fact that warring factions between African-Americans and whites prevented to make important cultural revolutions make a difference in the political spectrum. These important cultural revolutions consisted of: the importance of rhythm and blues in forging feelings of appreciation between blacks and white country and western singers, the rise of NASCAR as a unifying factor among lower-class whites to challeng the hegemony of the white middle and upper-classes, and, finally, the rebeliousness exhibited by both white and black youth to forge a new consensus for political change. Daniel's book does an excellent job of explaining both why there were contradictions in Southern society and how these contradictions contributed to a painfully fought battle for integration and equal rights. This is a battle which is still being fought today but more on a state's rights and regionalistic front than a racial front.

Daniel's book is a true lesson in primary source research and his endnotes clearly demonstrate this. Interviews, 4 pages of manuscript collection sources, and numerous prominent secondary sources fully back up a thought-provoking thesis. This book is a welcome addition to southern historiography.

Ken libo has shown an excellent ability to convey jewish history time and time again.. This book is no exception.. It's very readable, and will not let you down. If you want to concieve the struggles and successes of jews and others in the early twentieth century; buy this book.

This is a great book. It's chock full of history told in an easy-to-read style. Leon Harris reveals the struggles and successes of 12 of the earliest Jewish retailers of America including Levi Strauss, Sears, Roebuck, Neiman, Marcus etc. It appeals to readers on many levels. First it is an historic account of the people whose names have become so familiar as store-names that we have forgotten there were ever people with those names. "Merchant Princes" includes many personal anecdotes about the founders of the stores and their families, retailing practices of yester-year and what these merchants did with their incredible wealth. Told by a Jew, about Jews, it reveals in surprisingly candid ways the ostracism of Jews in this country addressing how this all began. It's a book you can put down and pick up at any point without losing the flow. Jews will love it. Gentiles will be impressed. I was!