Editors Books

I always make sure I have a Time Out guide with me when I am visiting a city with much to offer. I spend two full weeks every fall in Las Vegas and always have the latest Time Out Las Vegas guide with me. The restaurant and hotel listings are comprehensive and varied. No category is shortchanged- they even suggest the best places to get married and offer at least a dozen side trips from Sin City. Attractions and local shops for everything from souvenirs to haircuts are listed. The gambling section describes many of the most common games, which have the best odds, and where the best place to play each of them is.
In addition, the Time Out guides are written in a very entertaining and cheeky fashion. You will be hard-pressed to find a guide that offers as much information on the multitude of things on offer in Las Vegas.

i'm heading to Las Vegas in September in 2008.i wanted a book that would go through everything that las vegas had to offer. i am not going to gamble. so i was delighted that the book only had a small chapter about gambling.the book listed everything from shopping to eating. the most informative part of the book was the trips of of town, i didn't realisze California was so close to Las vegas (1 hour flight) so now i'm heading to LA aswell thanks to the book. it also has a wedding section which i found useful as i hope to get married in Vegas in 2009. it had all the information about about getting a marriage licence & the hidden costs.
great read. Well Worth Buying!!!!!

TIME OUT LAS VEGAS is a great book about all the pleasurable activities available in Las Vegas, as well as its seamier side. The book also discusses how segregated the city was racially until the 1960s, and how African-Americans were made to feel unwelcome there. Also, there is a discussion on the influence of the Mafia in what has become known as "Sin City." Finally, there are tips on how to avoid losing all of your money at the gaming tables, slot machines, sports books, and, if you're a horse-lover, horse-racing betting stations. This book is essential for keeping yourself healthy and safe in Las Vegas, and if you go there without it, you could be declared too mentally disturbed to manage your own affairs.

This book pretty much tells it like it is. It accurately describes the tacky and over-priced sights. It also tells where to find the good values and reasonably priced venues. There are sections on all the free goodies you can get and places to go when you get tired of the glitter of Las Vegas.

To me, Time Out guides are the best you can buy. They are better than Lonely Planet and Frommers and anything else on the market. They are very in-depth, colorful, heaps of photos, so informative and often go the extra mile by adding bonus pages on either the history of the city, or the culture or anything of even minimal interest.
This 2007 edition is choc-full of anything you wanted to know for your vacation to Vegas and day trips to other places like Arizona, California and Utah. It even has a mini segment about gambling and lessons on how to play some of the more popular games in the casino. There are listings in the back for hospitals, websites for where to find dentists, list of radio stations, post offices and almost anything you could want to find. It covers where to stay from budget to grand opulence, what to do with or without kids, maps of the Strip and surrounding areas and of course my absolute favourite topics - food and shopping.
By the time you read this guide, you will be a novice of Vegas whether you've already been before or going for the first time. I'm about to go to Vegas for my 12th time and I still find this book of use. I highly highly recommend it and recommed their other guides for other great cities around the world.

A well-written, well-researched, touching look at the life and struggles of a young girl during the depression era. Recommended!

This is by far my favorite read over the past year. I review books for the library at my elementary school and just happened to pick this book up. I am so glad that I did. The imagery and the writing in this book are fantastic and put the reader in the time period. I found myself thinking more about the Great Depression and I am now collecting reading material to extend this theme for my students. Young readers and Older readers will enjoy this book. I even ordered another book by this author because I enjoyed her so much.

You can all read the summary and the other reviews, so I don't feel obligated to restate what others have already said so well. I discovered this book at my school library, one of the GA Book Award titles, and took it home over the weekend. The story was so engaging, that I called the author. As it turns out, the story is based on the real life story of Mrs. Hale's grandparents. It was such a thrill to speak with her. Besides the engaging story, the meaningful life lessons, and the memorable characters, Mrs. Hale has an amazing skill with words. Even my students noticed the prolific use of figurative language, which helped them to visualize events from the story. I used this book in class to teach students how to recognize and utilize figurative language in their own reading and writing. The text was something my students shared, so we were always able to revisit the story and talk about it. I strongly recommend this book for any teacher who wants to teach the elements of literature using a whole class read aloud. Mrs. Hale is not only charming, but she is a talented writer as well. I look forward to reading her 2nd book. I must warn you, though, be prepared to shed a tear.

As a child of Depression Era parents & someone who was born & raised in Aransas Pass, I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It brings into focus just how hard life was for our parents growing up in the Depression. It is also a great historical commentary on the birth of the shrimping & fishing industry of the South Texas area. I recommend it for anyone who is interested in the history of the area & the Great Depression.

The Truth About Sparrows is a wonderful book. It takes place in the 1930s, which is generally the time the Great Depression occured. There is a young girl named Sadie Wynn. She originally lived in Missouri, but her father lost his job and she and her family were forced to move to Texas. Sadie wants to stay, but she has no choice. When they arrive in Texas, there family earns money by picking cotton. The Wynns meet the Gillems, a friendly family that Sadie later learns is in the same predicament as they are. Sadie has a hard time becoming good friends with Dollie Gillem, because she had made a promise to Wilma, a friend from Missouri, that the two would always be best friends. She soon begins to give in to her new surroundings and make friends. Texas is somewhat difficult for her because it's SO much different than Missouri. One day, she sees a mysterious man on the seawall, who she nicknames Mr. Sparrow. Every now and then, Sadie sort of checks up on him to make sure he's doing okay. A little while later, Sadie makes a pretty big mistake. Sadie yells at Dollie and says that she doesn't deserve to be there and how they're so much different. She says she had better in Missouri and how she wants to go back. It sort of messes up their friendship a little. Generally speaking, this book is a great book with a wonderful story line.

Enhanced with more than 3,700 full color covers from America's most popular, iconic, and widespread weekly magazine, "TV Guide: The Official Collectors Guide" compiled by Stephen F. Hofer (Curator of the Philo T. Farnsworth Television History Center, Auburn, Indiana, and who himself is the owner of one of the largest collections of TV Guide magazines and memorabilia in the United States) covers all the national and regional digest size covers from April 10, 1953 to October 9, 2005. Included are TV Guide foldout covers, holographic covers, and multiple covers. For the antique dealer and hobbyist collector, each issue has the current secondary market prices listed. Featuring memorable quotes from TV Guide and from television shows, "TV Guide: The Official Collectors Guide" is more than a price guide compendium, (and a superb history of the magazine itself), it is also a very highly recommended tour of American television programming through more than fifty years of popular culture.

I was so happy to receive the TV Guide Official Collector's Guide, it is a great publication!! It has a lot more information than I expected - comments by stars over the years and much more!! It is very colorful and I will enjoy reading it for years to come. My 45 year old son has a collection of TV Guides and I know he will be interested in seeing the publication to see if the ones he has are valuable! Thank you

The episode of Seinfeld where Frank Costanza was noted to be a collector of TV Guide pretty much cemented that publication's place in the lore of pop culture. Now, from Bangzoom publishers comes "TV Guide" the official Collector's Guide. A lot of collector's books claim to be the only book you'd ever need to own but this one truly fits the bill. With over 3700 pictures, and every national and regional TV Guide cover pictured from 4/10/1953 through 10/19/2005 this is truly the ultimate resource for not only collectors, but fans of the magazine as well.

With a foreward by senior TV Guide editor Michael Davis, the book provides info geared towards the collector on where to buy, grading, and preserving your TV Guide collection. The cover subjects are what drives the price of back issues with the very first issue featuring the baby Desi Arnaz Jr. being the most valuable. While I've never collected TV Guide I was a long-time Comic Book collector and basically TV Guides should be kept and stored the same way...in protective bags and ideally in acid free storage boxes.

The guide provides a 19 page history of the magazine as well as a look at TV shows and trends by decade from the 40's through the 2000's; everything from Milton Berle and Howdy Doody to Lost and American Idol. I was born in the 1960's and love many of the shows from that era even though I didn't watch many in their initial runs. It wasn't until syndicated re-runs in the 1970's that I came to adore shows such Bewitched, Gomer Pyle, and Green Acres. As noted in the book, The Brady Bunch was never a top-rated show, but you'd hardly know that since it has gone on to become one of the most syndicated shows in history and a true TV legend.

Next up is 213 pages which show each of those covers from 1953 through 2005 in full color and it's like a trip on a wonderful time machine to page through the decades to see many of the actors and shows that you remember so fondly, and many you may have forgotten such as The Governor and J.J. One TV Guide trend that seems to have ended some time in the early 80's was featuring Santa Claus on the cover of a December issue. The book concludes with a 68 page index and value guide for each issue and doubles as a handy checklist for collectors.

Whether you are storing issues away chronologically like Frank Costanza, or just have a life long love of TV, you are certain to find something to enjoy in this fabulous book.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

This book has several major flaws. For a start, there is no index. The only way to locate covers with your favorite stars or shows is to browse the pages year-by-year.

The price guide only gives values for "mint condition" issues, with no guidelines for how to adjust value for copies in less than mint condition. (Most collectors' guides give a range of prices based on condition.)

It would have been nice if they had included some lists, such as: the most valuable issues; issues with multiple covers; people who have appeared on the most covers; etc. All of these things are mentioned in the text, but there is no way to look them up except by browsing every listing.

Despite these flaws, this is still an invaluable book for collectors, because of it's comprehensive checklist.

A mind-bending, if not surreal, parade of TV trivia presented week by week, year by year, era by era. Every single TV Guide cover is shown in true color, from April '53 to the first mag-size issue from autumn of last year. They're arranged as text would be on each page, left-to-right, top-to-bottom and IN ORDER on each page, dated and readily viewable. They even include full displays of all fold-out covers, as well as every version of each multiple cover, such as the one which had to be updated at Michael Landon's death, different regional sport-season previews, and the 25-cover tribute to all the Star Trek cast.

The book is in 3 main sections:
1) A 26-page section of blurb overseeing the history of TV Guide and background trivia of many of the covers
2) The section displaying the covers themselves, and
3) A listing of all covers (with dates and captions) and their collectible worth in mint condition.

It is bound in durable yet manageable paperback binding.

Anyone can invent their own TV trivia diversions just by scanning through this book (i.e. what are the earliest covers featuring people who are still alive? or Who has appeared the most times? or How did TV Guide handle documentarial times and issues [JFK's assassination, 9-11, the advent of cable & PBS etc.], or When did one televion era end, and another begin? and the like). The price list section also serves as an easier-to-count ready-reference of all the cover headings.

Mad Magazine presented a similar, also top-rate, timeline of all their covers a few years ago upon the advent of their 400th issue. The first such resource to incorporate all the TV Guide digest covers certainly doesn't disappoint.

I recommend this book to all fans of the Lonely Planet travel guides. I love how the travel guides are organized. I also loved the TV series and even their calendars so I couldn't resist opening this book when I saw it. Reading this book tells you how the business of Lonely Planet started. It's a story of survival and courage. It's also brutally honest at times. Tony mentions which books were a success and which ones weren't and why. Sometimes the Wheelers meander in their discussions (much like how they meandered in their travels), but you won't mind because the overall story is so captivating. The most amazing thing is how Tony and Maureen managed to travel and raise two children all while running a business. Lonely Planet has always been an inspiration and will doubtless continue to be to its readers.

Lonely Planet Publications began in 1973 when the authors self-published a unique travel guide ACROSS ASIA ON THE CHEAP. What began as a one-time publication evolved into an entire publishing company specializing in places where few conventional tourists traveled. UNLIKELY DESTINATIONS is a wonderful addition to any travel library: it blends autobiography, business history and travel and covers the authors' personal story and the evolution of their budget travel guide business. Armchair travelers and any familiar with the Lonely Planet lineup of excellent independent-travel guides will relish this expose of how they came to be.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Tony and Maureen Wheeler talk about all the places they have visited so far, how they built Lonely Planet as a publishing house, and share their personal views on several topics.

The Wheelers' have travelled so widely that even the names of all the places they have been to can be tough to follow! They understandably have to rush through them. The most interesting part of the travel memoir section is the comparison between how the places were in the 70s/80s and how they are now, something the Wheelers' always point out.

Besides being a travel memoir, this is book about building a boot-strapped busines. The Wheeler's show that building a business is more than just pursuing your dreams, it is about keeping a tight leash on finances, building a good team, competing with similar and larger competitors, staying ahead on the technology curve and reacting to external changes. The chapter "All about guidebooks" is an interesting introduction to how guidebooks are produced - from writing them to getting them printed. As a business book, it is similar to the Starbucks story (Howard Schultz, "How Starbucks built a company..").

The book does not come together as a captivating story. In the first few chapters, the authors describe a chronological order, but that breas down in the later part of the book. Chapters like "All about guidebooks", though very interesting on their own, do break the flow of the story. In addition, there are topics that the authors pick up but do not do justice to (e.g. comparison with competitors is incomplete).

An interesting book overall about travel, how travel is changed over the last three decades, and the challenges of building a business even if it is your dream business.

While the book is well written and covers many fascinating travels throughout the world, including obscure places in Southeast Asia, it is offensive by describing "September 11th and all that." September 11th may have been a joke to wealthy people who live their lives travelling and being paid for travelling, but it was not a joke to the people who lost their lives and the only thing this author can do is complain that there was a "Sept. 11 downturn" in donations to a Lonely Planet Charity. Give me a break. There are more important things than seeing the next 'exotic' destination and playing drums with the natives. While travel is important, and who does'nt love it, is it not the end all, be all. There are times to judge and there are times to take a moment out and say "where did I come from? Did 3,000 of my countrymen just get murdered." There are times and by poking fun at 9/11 and complaining that it led to less donations and pretending that the deaths of people is a joke this book does a disservice both to travelelrs who have morals and to the world. Civilians don't deserve to be murdered and making fun of them is degrading and offensive. Eveyrthing else in this book is interesting but the 9/11 rant spoils it all.

Seth J. Frantzman

If you love to travel and love the idea of making your passion pay for itself, then this is a must read. An open and honest look at the creation and evolution of Lonely Planet!

The title caught my eye, and although there are no sensational exposes revealed (as other critics have also noted), it was eye-opening for someone like me who hadn't read the Enquirer and assumed it was still publishing articles about 3-breasted women with screaming headlines like "Headless body found in topless bar". So it was a shock to learn how seriously the Enquirer pursues real (not fabricated or fanciful) stories and how frequently it lands scoops that have been the envy of mainstream publications like the NYTimes. As editor, Calder frequently threw enormous resources at stories sending vast teams of reporters and photographers to cover notable events and outstripping in quantity and quality the journalistic talent of big city daily competitors. While building his case for a ranking atop the ranks of professional journalism, it is amusing and disappointing to find Calder listing among his "great" gets the 'news' (!) that Lisa Marie Presley was all of two months pregnant at one her weddings. But this is a mere quibble. Calder is immensely entertaining in his account of learning the trade as a youngster in the bruisingly competitive Scottish newspaper wars, and then, having crossed the pond, his ascent through the ranks to the leadership of the Enquirer, as well as the rise of investigative journalism applied to celebrities.

I absolutely loved this book.
It was full of interesting stories of how the management of Enquirer and its reporters got scoops on hot stories, even before any mainstream media knew what was happening.
I have been reading the Enquirer since I was about 10 yrs old, which is when I saw the cover showing Elvis in his coffin. The story on how they got that picture is worth the price of the book alone. Great read for an Enquiring mind!

Hundreds of Tabloid pros were fired by America's Most Feared Editor, Iain Calder - I was one of them. No matter, one simply should not bugger off AWOL to Egypt and not tell the boss!

Iain's fantastic romp down Tabloid Memory Lane took me back to many forgotten NATIONAL ENQUIRER escapades.

Yes, we carried $ thousands in cash, yes, we hired helicopters by the dozen, yes; we got the story before the local press even knew we were in town. Small wonder the "legitimate press" dubbed us the Foreign Legion of journalism. Poor scribes, they simply could not compete.

The ENQUIRER was also used in classrooms as an educational tool; we exposed Government waste, published happy pictures of our staff dog, Lucky, visiting big name stars; we published Rags to Riches stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

NE medical reporters were the best in the media - diets that really worked; we broke the World's First Test Tube Baby story, too.

An editor on the NE during those swashbuckler days, even I was unaware of many of the UNTOLD STORIES so vividly described in this five-star adventure yarn - Can't wait for the movie.

Kudos to Calder!

The National Enquirer has a bad reputation that can never be overcome, and the magazine is proud of it. No one working for the Enquirer will ever win the Pulitzer Prize, whether he or she deserves it or not. The rag's rep is based on gore and gossip and ever more shall be.

That's from the horse's mouth. Iain Calder, a Scotsman who left school at 16 and was a millionaire by the time he got his pink slip from the Enquirer, spent twenty years in the traces, sniffing out some of the best stories the paper handled. His breeze-easy journalistic style makes this book a fun read, and the stories he turns over like moss-covered rocks will keep you giggling, even if you don't approve of the Enquirer's tactics.

Largely the brainchild of Generoso Pope, Jr., who was rumored to be seriously mobbed up, the Enquirer's flame burned brightest during his regime. Pope lived up to his name by his love of hard-luck stories and his personal generosity to many of the causes the paper championed. In those days the Enquirer was purple but personal, with small features including rags-to-riches sagas as well as tales of those who had made it big and were getting away from the rat race. Sick kids needing medical treatment was another favorite theme. All had perennial appeal to the housewives of America, and getting the paper on the racks at supermarkets was one of the biggest strategic breaks of Pope's dynamic career.

The Enquirer, while noted for its nasty photos of beheaded animals, ghastly human follies and bloody death, scooped more than poop. It was often the first with an important story (Jesse Jackson's love-child, Clinton's pardon of an errant brother-in-law and subsequent $200,000 kick-back) and its rivals never seemed ready for the rag's rough-and-tumble determination to be fustest with the mostest. When Princess Grace died in a tragic car crash, the Enquirer staff "bought" the gardener in whose yard the wreckage landed and held him hostage in his own home to keep him from talking to other papers. After a week the poor man got so stir-crazy that he took a rifle and shot a hole through his cottage roof. To be fair, they had offered him what they often handed out to other sources --- a holiday. The man was just too dumb to take it.

But then we have the seaman on board Aristotle Onassis's yacht who was easily bribed and blabbed about everything going on with Ari and Jackie. He even took photos and was sent back to Greece where his fiancée awaited, all on the Enquirer's tab. And the distant relative of Elvis who was paid surprisingly little money to take flash photos of the corpse as it lay in state at Graceland. There was an absolute ban on photos, but whatever the Enquirer wanted, it usually got.

The book is chock full of such stories, but Calder manages to keep his sources safe from detection, even now. The one major exception is Tom Arnold, who actually ratted on his bride-to-be, the famously profane comedienne Roseanne Barr, who had threatened to sue the paper for its outrageous stories of her and Tom. When an Enquirer staffer held up the canceled check signed by her inamorata on Geraldo Rivera's TV show, Roseanne was furious --- not so much at Arnold (whom she married anyway) but at the Enquirer operative, who was later sent a punch in the schnozz and a bouquet of flowers, compliments of the unsinkable Ms. Barr.

Calder praises, rather than buries, the Enquirer, so those expecting the worst may be disappointed. But even when only mellow yellow, the paper's scurrilous tactics and its staff's plucky antics make for a great read.

--- Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott

The Untold Story is a tribute to the people that made the National Enquirer a journalism trendsetter and one of best selling newspapers in the nation. Iain Calder, the former editor-in-chief of the Enquirer, has written the biography of a newspaper with obvious affection and pride. Included in this accolade are the hardworking and colorful employees of the Enquirer-writers, photographers, editors, and business managers. The celebrities, physicians, stars, and ordinary people that filled the pages of the Enquirer appear in The Untold Story treated with obvious respect and affection. Interwoven through most of the book is Gene Pope, an extraordinary man and boss with rare vision, insight, and daring, albeit often coupled with a complex personality mix of compassion and uncompromising demands.

Calder has done a fine job with The Untold Story-the book has a brisk pace, flows well, and always keeps the reader engaged and entertained. The Untold Story is not an expose, and anyone looking for a detrimental gossip or the airing of nefarious deeds or secrets will be disappointed. The book will not disappoint any reader looking for a clear and compelling story of one man's unique, challenging, and interesting career.

Visible Spirits delivers the goods in this tragic tale of the Mississipi Delta, faithful to the way it was, regrettably, when the subjugation of a race knew no bounds and unspeakable acts of inhumanity were accepted as right.

Yarbrough added his research, no doubt, to what he remembers from his childhood experiences. Though it's wrong, he gets it right (historically) ... "it" being the unmitigated malice nourished by so many against a race of people who were kidnapped and yoked to a foreign land.

We read and pull for the brother, Leighton, who sees the light of hope, though we know the brother of wounded darkness, Tandy, will sway too many like-minded citizens of Loring and blood will be shed -- precious and innocent blood. There's nothing we can do but read and agonize over what remains an aching wound in the heart of this country's history.

May God have mercy on us.

So weep for what was done, and remain vigilant against the blackguards who somehow still harbor injurious beliefs against those of different color and remain insensitive to the sacred soul of all humanity.

This is strong stuff, like barely distilled moonshine, and Yarbough serves it in heaping and sickening helpings. Overall, this is a novel that deserves an enduring place in the the tragic legacy of slavery. It tells the tale in tight, fluid prose that marches relentlessly toward what we fear most.

Note: Read my rating as 4.8, given a conclusion that seems less sure-handed than the rest of the work. The resolution moved too swiftly and confused me.

VISIBLE SPIRITS is my first novel from Steve Yarbrough. The setting is circa 1905 Mississippi, and before and after. The story is deeply moving, written by an extraordinary literary talent. Highly recommended to anyone who loves Americana, a contemporary history of its people, places and life.

I absolutely loved The Oxygen Man, so I was eager to pick up Visible Spirits, the the second novel by Steve Yarbrough. It is elegantly-written and impossible to put down. I would recommend it to everyone out there!

"Visible Spirits" is the best book I've read since "Plainsong." It is moving, terrifying, and totally unmissable.

Set in the racially charged atmosphere of turn-of-the-century Mississippi, Steve Yarbrough's compelling and subtle "Visible Spirits" is a nuanced investigation of the tortured, conflicted relationship between two dissimilar brothers. Secrets, many of them swirling around sexual assault and compulsion, dominate the life of erstwhile Leighton Payne, the conscience-driven mayor and newspaper editor of Loring, a small town which steadfastly refuses to relinquish its past and defiantly adheres to racist principles. Leighton grapples with his family's past, his wife's elusive affections and the sudden reappearance of his reprobate brother, Tandy, whose inability to hold a job is equalled only by his appetite for gambling, deceit and sexual satisfaction. It is not an accident that Leighton uses a cockroach to "author" newspaper columns which admonish the community for its perverse commitments to ignorance, bigotry and hatred. Nor is it an accident that the malevolent Tandy seizes a racist political opportunity to advance his own interests.

The central focus of "Visible Spirits" on the seething antagonism between Leighton and Tandy matches the novelist's perceptive inclusion of a series of fully-realized African-American charactes. Loring's postmistress, Loda, proudly discharges her responsibilities, despite confronting the daily pressures of a culture determined to minimize her and the constant awareness of connection to the Payne family. Her husband, Seaborn Jackson, a diligent insurance salesman, symbolizes not only the development of an African-American bourgeoisie, but the inherent fragility of social mobility in the South for any Black who dared tamper with the social rules of Jim Crow. In turn, their lives quietly rotate around the quietly defiant Blueford, whose single act of rebellion ignites a firestorm of racist reprisal.

"Visible Spirit" gains its intellectual stature from the seemingly insoluble moral problems it dissects. To what degree does a son tolerate or repudiate his father's legacy? How strong are the bonds of brotherhood, and what consequences result from blood ties? What occurs to a man when he discovers he has never fully obtained his wife's affection? What is the cost of racism, both on the victim and the victimizer? What constitutes an act of heroism, an act of resistance, an act of love? Yarbrough is nothing less than brilliant as he steps back from his own writing and permits his characters to wrestle not only with their own lives, but the vexing moral dilemmas they constantly encounter.

This talented, spare novel contains exceptional dialogue, vivid atmosphere, deft description of physical environments and absolutely believable characterization. "Visible Spirit" is also subtle and multi-faceted. It is a novel whose pace gradually accelerates and whose conclusion leaves the reader chastened but thankful. Those concerned about the issues of racial justice and historical responsibility will welcome the addition of this novel to a national dialogue.

Tony Collings writes stories of courageous men and women who are fighting to bring the truth to their readers. Collings writes from the vantage point of an international correspondent who has risked his own life to cover world danger spots. This book should be read by anyone who values a free press.

For the American layperson who may not be familiar with the dangerous situations and murky but volatile undercurrents journalists often face in foreign trouble spots, Tony Collings book "Words of Fire" will be revealing in its accounts of journalists who have given much--even their lives--to the cause of truth and democratic ideals. As an international journalist himself, Collings knows well of what he writes. This work might even raise the level of regard in which journalists are held as defenders of the people's right to know. Here Collings is talking about the important issues shaping the growth and development of any of a myriad countries, not the latest American fad-gossip which passes for "news" on tabloid TV in the U.S. For the professional journalist with overseas experience--and I include myself in that category with friend and former CNN colleague Tony Collings--I found his work well researched, well written and a good account of what is the best in our craft.

At a time when print journalism has often been justly criticized in the U.S. as medium of entertainment, without independent moral backbone, Tony Collings has written a moving, brilliant record of the deadly struggle between a free press and totalitarian goverments around the globe. Collings is an experienced broadcast journalist and an eye-witness to much of the corruption and terror hidden and sustained by censorship everywhere, from Russia to Columbia. He argues that press freedom is an essential and enabling condition for the expansion of democratic reform in reactionary regimes. But perhaps what is most moving about WORDS OF FIRE is the many true stories of personal courage, the harrowing dangers faced by journalists in our historical era as they attempt to unmask the face of tyranny with only the truth of their words.

Author Anthony Collings knows how to bring this vital topic alive. In the USA, we take press freedom for granted. If anything, some of us feel there's too much of it about: we often sympathize with Hollywood stars who punch out swarming paparazzi. But in much of the world (and not just the kleptocracies and one-party regimes), simply getting the basic truth to press can be a career-ending or even life-threatening endeavor. Collings wisely decides to illustrate this by focussing on individual cases, many of which will astound you. This is an important book on an important subject.

At a time when print journalism has often been justly criticized in the U.S. as medium of entertainment, without independent moral backbone, Tony Collings has written a moving, brilliant record of the deadly struggle between a free press and totalitarian goverments around the globe. Collings is an experienced broadcast journalist and an eye-witness to much of the corruption and terror hidden and sustained by censorship everywhere, from Russia to Columbia. He argues that press freedom is an essential and enabling condition for the expansion of democratic reform in reactionary regimes. But perhaps what is most moving about WORDS OF FIRE is the many true stories of personal courage, the harrowing dangers faced by journalists in our historical era as they attempt to unmask the face of tyranny with only the truth of their words.

The 10-Minute Tech series books are great. You will find a lot of good ideas and spin off some of your own too after reading same. Ideas for all types of RV's, tow vehicles, etc. Good for anyone with an RV.

Well written ideas and short cuts, and creative ways to solve some problems. Highly recommend for the serious RV'er.

This book had lots of helpful hints although some people definitely have much too much time on their hands to think this stuff up.

An awesome book Tells you all you need to know about quick repairs YOU can do. This book will save you thousands of dollars over the "long haul" ( pun intended) Tells ya' how to keep that RV running.

To rephrase Ratty's famous comment to Mole in "The Wind in the Willows": There is nothing- absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in an RV.

By even the most charitable of definitions, I am not what anyone would call "handy" when it comes to fixing things about our sticks-and-bricks house. I am not good at it and I hate taking the time for even the most basic of repairs.

Having said that, I also note that I love puttering around our 5th wheel and could happily spend hours at a time on RV related projects! I guess that's why I think the 10 Minute Tech books are so terrific. More than 600 practical and money-saving ideas in each of the three volumes . . . clever, practical solutions to both everyday challenges and to obscure situations the average RVer will never come across. Each idea presents a practical, real-life solution. Each has been developed by an RVer. The projects are presented in language which is brief, understandable and to the point . . . and the illustrations do a great job of clearing up any questions left unanswered by the text.

The books are conveniently divided into sections on Livability, Safety, Appliances, Maintenance, Automotive, In Camp, Systems, Storage, Towing, Accessories, Sanitation, Doors-Hatches-Handles, Cleaning-Protecting, and Tools. Only a brief perusal is needed to start the creative juices flowing - to send the reader, tool box in hand, off on another project. A fun read when you are nowhere near an RV. An indispensable reference when you are on the road.

The "American Cars of the 1950's" book I ordered was delivered on time and in exactly the same condition as advertised.

I can't stress how much I value the reviews on Amazon, which is why I write them. Here's a case in point: I wanted to send my 14 year old nephew something fun while he was away this Summer, and I knew he loved cars. By relying on the reviews, I chose this book and he loved it.
I may not always agree with other reviewers, but their insights and opinions help me make better choices. What really amazes me is that Amazon will print the negative ones.

Lots of great vintage art from ads and brochures. Well designed, easy to navigate. It's a beautiful little book but i just wish it were larger since it is only about 5 inches tall.

5 JUNE 2008.
IF I HAD SEEN THIS BOOK FIRST HAND WITH THE LITHOGRAPH ILLUSTRATIONS, FROM MANUFACTUREERS SALES BROSHURES, VICE REAL PICTURES, I WOULD NOT HAVE ACQUIRED IT.

This book is well-produced in a very easy-to-read format. If you're looking for in-depth details you won't find them. But if you want a picture of life in the 1950s this book is for you. Each brand of car is presented alphabetically by name and then year-by-year. The color, quality of paper and the printing process are all first-rate. You'll also learn about the independent makes that didn't survive the decade like Hudson, Packard and Willys. I recall visiting our local Ford dealer in the 1950s as a small boy and collecting the brochures for each model. I would study them for hours. You could not help but be impressed with with each company's self-promotion on how good their make of car was. This book condenses the highlights of all of those old brochures and helps convey the message of how great the '50s truly were.

I bought this stuff in Colombia for $4 one year ago and I've found it AWESOME.
Good meanings for the words and easy to bring with yourself when travelling.

i bought this dictionary for my advanced spanish grammar class at college, and it was a good buy. it's not too large or too heavy, and comes with up-to-date definitions and references for various modern things. in all honesty, i bought this dictionary as a replacement when my original was stolen... the oxford collegiate dictionary with CD-ROM is far superior for advanced collegiate level courses, but if you're an intermediate or high school student that doesn't intend to use spanish as intensely, the american heritage dictionary will do nicely.

The American Heritage Spanish Dictionary is an exceptional book for those interested in the words used in the Americas. Highly Recomended! So good that I even purchased the electronic version for my Palm Treo. Other dictionaries that are as good is the "Larousse" Dictionary. But then agian this dictionary is based on the "Larousse" spanish dictionay.

For beginning and intermediate students, this dictionary is excellent. I give it five stars for this audience. It is both useful and affordable. If you are an advanced high school student, an undergraduate or a member of the general public learning Spanish, the American Heritage Spanish Dictionary is at the top of my list of recommendations for you. (If you are getting into literature or professional areas that exceed the limits of this dictionary, you need to look at the unabridged editions of Oxford, Collins, Simon & Schuster's, possibly Larousse, and the major monolingual Spanish dictionaries.)

For an intermediate user of Spanish like me, this dictionary has anything I need, and more. It provides accurate definitions, explains the context, is easy to search, not too bulky, and durable (hardcover).