Rebel Books

I enjoyed this book. It was a bit longer than I expected (550 pages seems like a lot for a young adult read); however, the writing was simple and easy to follow, so it didn't become tedious. The plot was very nicely designed. I enjoyed the first book as well, but this one was even better. This book is a worthy addition to the Gemma Doyle saga.

Rebel Angels is the wonderful sequel to A Great and Terrible Beauty. A gulped up AGATB in two gulps, and RA in the same way. I enjoy this book series emensely, yet at the same time find them annyoing. I always seem to find qualms with ther hundreds of books I read each year, and this one is no exception. But don't totally forsake this book if you read this review: Rebel Angels is beautifully written, and Libba Bray is a great writer. But no work is ever perfect....

Qualm Number 1: I am a true romantic. Although I would never read downright romance novels, I love that little bit of love and denial in each book I read; I come to expect it. But I was so mad that Kartik and Gemma didn't get together in this book. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM? Kartik is so obviously crazy about Gemma, and she chooses to ignore him, sit in her little realm world, la la la I can't her you. And what she said to him was unintentionally mean, but he should have gotten over it, since love is endless. Personally, I would already have them together in the first book...but that's just me. But Kartik sounds like such a nice guy, you know? I have the absurd tendency to fall in love with characters, and Kartik joins Percy Jackson and Edward Cullen in this department. Why can't Gemma realize that? WHY? Ok, ranting over on that subject. I am not crazt haha :)

Moving on....
Qualm Number 2: Is it just me, or does it seem like Felicity and Ann are using Gemma? I think that they are, just to get to the realms. Felicity wants the power and to see Pippa, and Ann just wants to be beautiful. They really don't have those experiences friends have. When Gemma finds out about Felicity's past abuses Felicity doesn't cry on her shoulder; she just gets all amd. And Ann...although I liked how she lied about her family, I thought that was too out of character for her. Felicity is so pushing her to be what she is not. And what about Pippa? In the last book she seemed like she had multiple-personalities, and in RA too. One minute she is nice, the next whiny, althoug that might be the realms I don't know. Felicity also treats her weird, one minute Gemma's best friend and the next Pippa's. The whole friendship aspect is a little crazy.

Qualm Number 3: SPOILER!!!! I knew Miss Moore was Circe since AGATB, so that was very predicatble. I was a little sad though. She seemed really nice. :(

Ok, so I loved this book with a passion, and it is now on the sacred bookshelf in my room. I'm getting the sequel, The Sweet Far Thing, so soon as I can. So if you need a book to read, read this one. It's scary at times, but I was enraputured 24/7. Go get it now!!!

Second in the Gemma Doyle trilogy.

When she held Circe at bay and destroyed the runes at the end of A Great and Terrible Beauty, Gemma loosed the power of the realms and made the magic available to anyone in the realms.

Now she has been given the task to find the Temple and bind the magic. Kartik and the Order have their own plans for the magic of the realm and Gemma finds herself caught between them.

Meanwhile, Circe is still on the loose and Pippa refuses to pass as she should. Dark things are awakening within the realms and fighting to control the magic. As Gemma struggles to set things right, she has only the ravings of a mad girl to guide her.

Set against the backdrop of Victorian society, this gothic tale combines historical fiction with fantasy. Readers will be riveted by this well-paced mystery filled with authentic details of Victorian life.

(daughter of user)
Well, I found Rebel Angels to be a slightly better book than A Great and Terrible Beauty. It added to the characters and explained them more, which was very good. Personally, I liked Simon much more than Kartik. I don't know why, but I haven't been able to like his character quite yet. Simon was a gentleman and very sweet. Maybe I just liked him because I want to be adored by a sweet gentleman the way Gemma was adored by him, I don't really know. I was a bit sad that Gemma(SPOILER ALERT) didn't pick him in the end. I understand why she couldn't though. Over all, Rebel Angels was a great book and I'll be rushing to buy the next in the series.

Rebel Angels is the beautiful sequel to A Great And Terrible Beauty. It is just as captivating and page-turning as it's predecessor, if not more so.

In this novel, much is revealed about the characters introduced in A Great And Terrible Beauty, with many shocking twists and turns. This book contains puzzles that the reader is dying to uncover, and Gemma is developed into an even more likeable protagonist.

Libba Bray has improved her plot line in this one, but her writing is as beautiful as ever. Rebel Angels is a fast read, as the reader will want to finish the vivid novel in a single sitting.

Enough good things have been said about the Guide and they're all true. Having said that, the technical chapters on the book may seem to you (at least they seemed to me) as a conversation between two experts on the matter. In all fairness, the book is tagged as an Intermediate, Advance one and the author does advise early on the first chapters that the book assumes the reader has some background knowledge. Well, I don't consider myself as a beginner and I have more than some background knowledge (including After Effects) and I had (and still have) a hard time understanding some topics. You see, when I buy a book (specially a book that's advertised as having all the info I need), I expect the book to open my eyes and my mind and provide me with enough information so that I can be on my way. I don't like it when I have to supplement my reading with lots of other resources to understand what the author is saying. Also, books that refer to a certain software sometimes recommend that you be able to run that software in order to gain a better understanding of the topic; this one does this. However, most books with this characteristic can be read and understood without the software. Not this one. The way I see it, this book costs around $1030.00 if you don't have the After Effects. You need it to be able to grasp about 50% of the book's information.

Also, if you're looking to understand workflow, image optimization and effective editing techniques but action is not really your cup of tea, meaning that you are driven mostly towards making visual stories without the action element, you'll feel that you're using about $15.00 of the $30.00 price tag of the book. Topics like special effects, color correction and onlining are covered with a subtle assumption that your film is about action (I guess that's the reason for the title).

In general, the book's benefits outweigh its flaws. I would say that if I go into a set of an independent movie or if I meet the director of a short film being made and I see this book among his resouces, I would think that the guy knows what he's doing. I suggest suplementing the book with the DV Rebel's Cafe (forun) and other entry level books on DV and HD workflow.

Do you have Adobe After Effects? If not, I wouldn't purchase this unless you are just an armchair filmmaker because this book's techniques are based on that program. I wish I had Adobe After Effects and this book would be useful, not just entertaining.

I have been studying film since I was a little nerdy kid, writing down the names and titles from the credits of every Happy Harmonies or Merry Melodies cartoon I watched, but in all that time (yes, a lot of time) I have never encountered a more fundamental and essential guide to just picking yourself and your idea up and making a movie, from start to finish. If you have tried in the past and gotten overwhelmed or bogged down in the mire of details involved in making a film on your own, then this book will help you out bigtime.

I have to admit, I am not into action movies, but the principles in the DV Rebel Guide are not really action-movie specific, and what's more, the truth is that if you are making a movie for audiences, it had better keep moving, which is essentially what an action movie is about. You will have literal explosions and bullet holes in your movie, or you will have artistic-symbolic explosions and bullet holes in your movie, but either way, you will have them.

The important reasons to own and read this book, if listed concisely, would be about as long as the book itself. Why? Because everything in the book is *essential information* for making your movie--especially if you're not rich (and maybe nerdy enough to not have a long list of people to call in favors from).

Do you hate wading through 500 page tomes that painstakingly sidetrack on a zillion different flavors of what you might or might not need to know about several aspects of whatever? The best book on C programming is only a half inch thick, and the best book on getting out there and actually making your idea into a film (digitally), with or without a budget, is The DV Rebel's Guide. And that's because you will be able to read it cover to cover without ever falling asleep, and you will know just what to do when you are done. From the amazingly insightful concept of the "resource list" to a nutshell run-through of the daunting field of color correction, as applied in the very accessible software, After Effects, this book will give you the answers you need long before you might have given up in frustration reading another book (or pile of books).

Great book for the beginner & advanced pro. Gives you many suggestions on how to get the shot finished with out spending a lot of money. Many movie clips included on the DVD for examples in support of the text. But what I found is that this book is just fun to read. There is a no holds bared, if you want to make a movie then just do it, "I hate green screen" attitude that encourages everyone they CAN make movies. There is technical stuff on setting up shots & After Effect is the only post software used, but you can skip over or breeze by these on your first read because you'll be using this book as a primer as you make movies of all kinds..."just do it!".

Somebody's got to be honest here -- the movie that Stu made with all of his techniques is simply godawful on nearly every level. In fact, his emphasis on "rebel" technique might very well have you redirecting your creativity in all the wrong ways. Films are about good STORIES.

That being said, for the discerning reader, there is an enormous amount of useful information in this book and it will really get you technically up to speed fast. For that the "guide" really does deserve five stars. But what we have here is also a recipe book for making the most cliche-ridden Hollywood imitations, which is the furthest thing that movies need right now. I believe you should be using your first work to explore your understanding of filmaking principles with relative minimalism.

Rebels and Redcoats is not the first book to read about the American Revolution.

I know this book has glowing reviews by others. But those readers already know the basic story. If you think you fit in that category, go for it. Fascinating as the first person accounts may be, the context of the war is sometimes lost.

The men who fought the War are not the most literate. Spelling and grammatical conventions of the late 18th century may be confusing to the modern reader.

A teacher or another reader to help with the story line would be good. Or read 1776: America and Britain at War, by David G. McCullough first. You'll get much more out of your reading.

The editor/authors do a good job weaving the tales told by various participants. The reader may find the differing styles confusing. An interesting alternative would be Joseph Plumb Martin's classic account as a teenage recruit during the Revolution.

What else can be said that has not already been posted? Scheer and Rankin nail this book! A must for anyone interested in our amazing revolution and the men / women involved in it. With actual written accounts from people who were there you could not get a more fact based account of what it must have been like. It is very rare that this book gets "dull" as some fear history must be. Written how all history should be - so that it touches you and makes you think of what it must have been like to live through such time, If you want to learn and enjoy history (esp. such an important part of history) get this book and "Angel in the Whirlwind" by Benson Bobrick = both are fantastic! A plus!

"Rebels and Redcoats" is a tremendously good read recommended for anyone interested in a history of the American Revolutionary War written by those that fought and lived it.

Authors George Scheer and Hugh F. Rankin have compiled, organized and edited a comprehensive collection of letters and papers that provide unparalleled insights into the war as it unfolds. Some of the participants, such as Paul Revere, are well known. Most, however, are not, including rank and file American and British soldiers.

The result is an extremely well written and compelling chronological history of the American war for independence through the eyes of those that won - and lost - it.

Lasting eight years, the Revolutionary War was both America's first long war and civil war. By it ends, four times more American had died (percentage wise) than in World War II. The war showed how hard it is for any nation, no matter how powerful and technologically advanced its military and economy, to defeat a people numerous, armed and far away, possessing strong allies, and fighting for their independence on ground of their own choosing.

Anyone interested in a first-hand account of a war that gave birth to the United States of America and changed the world should read this book.

Reads like a good novel. The first hand accounts woven into the narrative are well selected and perfectly integrated. A variety of perspectives was chosen and this is quite even-handed. There is enough detail to make it lively and interesting but not so much that it overpowers. Anyone wishing to pursue further personal study has broad cross section of topics, biographies and events to choose from. This is an excellent book and should be required reading for all high school and college students instead of the the race-gender-class dribble that is probably used today. 1000% better than Langguth's "Patriots".

This is a very good, readable history of the American Revolution. The book does a very good job of giving you the British side of the Revolution. I enjoyed the book, and so did my 13 year old son.

The only thing the book doesn't have is much material about the war at sea, but this is a minor shortcoming.

This book is wonderful... I couldn't put it down, it was such a compelling read. Anyone who has any interest in the Emerald Isle must read this detailed, comprehensive account of the most important moment in Irish history. It is well-written, entertaining, enlightening, and will deepen the outsider's understanding of the Irish struggle throughout its history with Britain. It is told in an informative tone, yet brings history to life with all the fine details that surround the lives of the Irish heroes. It is by far the best book I have ever read, and I will read it again and again! I also agree that it is a screenplay waiting to be made!

The Easter Rebellion is the subject of this engrossing book. What makes the tale more interesting than so much of the patriotic gloss that has been so often repeated is the fact that the rising was so poorly planned that it was nothing short of a miracle that it proved to be ultimately successful in many of its long term aims.

Apart from the seizure of the General Post Office in Dublin, the rebels were unable to secure most of their objectives. British forces were able to suppress the revolt within a week. Due to disputes and internal squabbles between competing factions, many Irish militias simply refused to take any active role in the rising and the rebels in the GPO were hopelessly outnumbered from the start.

The revolt may have proven to have been unnecessary had Britain not chosen to suspend Irish Home Rule for the duration of World War One. John Redmond's long awaited legislation was enacted and then immediately placed on indefinite hold. Had Home Rule been permitted, it is quite possible that Ireland might be a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations today. Britain's refusal to implement Home Rule, despite its Parliamentary approval, gave rebel leaders the opportunity to plot a course for independence.

With British Army fully engaged on the Western Front, it was thought that assistance could be readily obtained from the Central Powers to arm the rebels. Roger Casement spent months in Berlin where he took part in a series of unproductive meetings with skeptical representatives of the Kaiser. An open revolt in Dublin would be a useful diversion, but the Germans were wary about committing significant resources to such a plan and to a motley crew of disorganized and impoverished revolutionaries.

Casement's efforts to raise a revolutionary brigade composed of captured Irish colonials who were being held as British prisoners of war in German camps proved to be futile as these soldiers overwhelmingly refused to defect. The promised weapons offered by Imperial Germany turned out to be a cargo of antiquated army surplus, including some obsolete cannons and mortars that probably dated back to the Franco-Prussian War. A single ship was provided to deliver the arms to the Irish coast.

After the disguised ship skillfully evaded the British naval blockade, the entire shipment was captured on the beach within mere minutes of its unloading. Casement, himself, was placed under arrest almost as soon as he arrived on shore. His betrayal was the work of a paid informer, a homosexual renter, who had been communicating with the English about Casement's activities and the shipment of arms for weeks.

Initially, many Dubliners had been enraged at the rebels both for the disruption of their daily lives and the destruction that had been visited upon their city. When the British imposed a brutal state of martial law, which included the summary execution of most of the captured rebels, Irish public sentiment changed abruptly. The rebels were no longer reviled as damned fools, but considered as martyrs to the cause of Irish freedom. Padraic Pearse had been vindicated. Out of the blood sacrifice of the rising on Easter Monday came heavy handed British reprisals which reignited the spirit of revolt on the part of the Irish people.

While not a historical novel, the book does contain some fictionalized dialogue mixed with actual quotations. This does not detract from fascinating and sometimes hilarious account of cowardice, heroism, idealism and stupidity that attended the birth of the Republic of Ireland.

We all realize the book is a bit fictionalized, but it's a better read that way, I think, and I've been studying the Easter Rising for 2 years now. All the information is accurate, and it gives you a good sense of the times. We can never truly know what these men were thinking, but this gives you a fairly good idea. I have a question though, there were two things I could not verify and since I'm researching this, it's quite important: does anyone know about the authenticity of Moira and Agna Connolly's existance? Most places say Connolly only had 6 children, but then they never give names, and the names of all his other children are accurate.

Rebels is wonderful book, encompassing the years leading up to the Rising, the events of the Rising, and the executions after the failed Rising. The book is rich in the characters of the major figures involved in the events of the Easter Rising. Pearse, the fatal idealistic, to the hard-nosed general Maxwell are beautifully protrayed. Rosa encompasses the whole view of what the rebellion meant the leaders, the British, and the people of Ireland. Also, Rosa shows the changing attitudes of the Irish people after the Rising. If you love Irish history, this book is a must read.

This is one of the most emotional, powerful books I have ever read. I felt I was I there and that I knew these people personally. The author did some incredible research or else is the ghostly embodiment of all the men of high spirit involved.

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT Guide to Digital SLR Photography
This is a well written and well organized guide to operating the Rebel XT. I highly recommend it. Trying to learn from the owner's manual what this book describes and explains succintly and clearly, would literally take hours and hours. It is an essential read and a valuable tool for XT owners.

Would be better to read this book, then read the Canon manual.
Gives a little more in depth to the camera functions, as well as, good photography tips.

I found that the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT Guide to Digital SLR Photography went one step past the camera manuel in all aspects of camera operation and explains how to make all of the settings to produce a good photograph. Basically, it helps you to learn how to use your new camera.

While the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT comes with a thorough owner's guide that nicely fits in your camera case or pocket, this fantastic book serves as a great combination of an informative beginner's guide to digital SLR photography AND an excellent manual specific to the Rebel XT that goes way beyond the included owner's guide in both detail and quality. Unlike the owner's guide, this book is illustrated with large color photographs of the XT's specific features and menus, as well as actual photographs taken with the XT to demonstrate the results of various camera settings and techniques. Even if you are an experienced SLR photographer, but are new to the XT, this book will be a valuable addition to your professional library. Even if you are the owner of a different digital SLR, this book will serve as a good introduction to digital SLR photography; but, I warn you, it will make you wish you had purchased the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT instead.

Through, well written, and well illustrated for the Canon XT and Canon accessories.

I have only one criticism: While the book does cover some items not made by Canon, it ignored other very useful accessories made by other manufacturers. For example, the Opteka BGRXT Grip for Canon XT. This grip houses twice the battery power in the form of either two of the stock batteries or six rechargeable NIMH AA batteries. More importantly, the grip allows much easier VERTICAL format picture taking.

Putting this minor criticism aside, every XP owner should own this book.

An outstanding view of the War Between the States from the point of view of an "ordinary" soldier.

Perhaps if the writer had put his thoughts to paper soon after the events described he might have remembered a few details! We barely find out anything about his weapons, his leaders, his thoughts on seccession etc... While the small details of camp life and escaping are interesting a better book on that subject is Prison Pen.

Excellent, first had observations made by a common private in during the Civil War. The author IS NOT a professional writer. This makes it all the more valuable. The author is not writing the book to entertain, or to pass along old, gory war stories. This is a story by a simple man trying to tell us his point of view, simple as that. This account is quite valuable to anyone interested in the study of this horrible conflict. Recommend it's reading and recommend you add it to your collection. I do wish there had been more like this one.

This book is a very enjoyable and powerful read. The "War of Northern Aggression" has never seemed such a real happening to me before. It makes well-known battlefield names come alive. Fletcher was a very practical, down-to-earth man and the reader is exposed to the practical everyday concerns of a Confederate soldier. The plight of the wounded is nearly felt by the reader. Fletcher candidly discusses taking food from women and children in Union territory and scavenging the dying. He even expresses regret that he had refrained from shooting an enemy soldier because he appeared very young and he wonders if it hurt his nation's cause. There are very exciting stories about being captured and escaping from a moving prison train. After the war, he heard a North Carolina soldier ask Fletcher's Texas cavalry unit if they had any bacon. When one answered yes, the man said "Grease and slide back into the Union." After thinking about it a while, Fletcher saw the wisdom in that statement and did just that. He became a highly successful lumber entrepreneur. I highly recommend for students of military or Southern history or anyone who likes true adventures.

This is a good, first hand account of the life of a Confederate soldier. Fletcher writes of only what he seen during the war. The only judgement he cast is upon his leaders actions at Gettysburg. This book will definitely change your perspective on the life of a common soldier.

I am a huge Nigel Tranter fan and hesitated to pick up another historical fiction account of the life of Robert Bruce and the rest of the famous Scots and English from the early 14th century. I received the Hammer of the Scots as a gift and now I have no regrets. I could not put the book down. I stayed up late for a couple of nights until I finished it. Although it is just over 400 pages, I went back to read some chapters over again just to re-live the experience. In my opinion this is in a different category from Tranter. I wouldn't say better but different. Where as Tranter saw life through one character and sometimes a little more righteous than some would, Charles and Carolyn Bruce give us a raw look at believable people. Each chapter is of a specific day and from another characters view point. Most were actual people but some are fictitious. All the characters are believable. They have human problems, not perfect or beautiful. They are cold, poor, hungry or proud, arrogant and strong. They seem REAL. This book was a pleasure and a breath of fresh air to read. The Hammer of the Scots is full of equal doses of action and emotion.

This first installment of the series occurs from Jan 1306 to July of 1307 and chronicles Bruce murder of the Red Comyn and immediate claiming of the Scots crown through his trials as a refugee, loss of family and lands to his slow growth at guerilla war-fare and victory at Loudon Hill. We see famous people like the Bruce, the Red Comyn, The Black Douglas, Sir Robert Boyd, Edward I hammer of Scots, Earl of Pembroke, Angus Og Macdonald, Thomas Randolph and many others. Full of amazing characterization. I enjoyed the interesting relationship between Pembroke and Randolph.

I am well into the next book. Thank you Charles and Carolyn for giving us another view of Medieval Scotland and her people that make her history so rich and interesting. This is easily the follow up story to Braveheart. Although the book has its historical inaccuracies as did the movie, it stirs the mind and soul and kindles the fire in your heart for Scotland as did the movie. Well done.

I found information on this book on a Scottish bands web page(Albannach) after seeing them in concert. I absolutely love this book. I can't hardly put it down but I force myself to stay paced so I don't get too ahead of myself. I have already purchased the 2nd and 3rd in the series and will be placing an order for the 4th as soon as it's made available. The combination historical facts intertwined with personal/human involvement brings you right into the midst of the story line. The authors have done an incredible job on this series and I will be sure to look for any other writings they have to offer. I would definately recommend this book as a must for your future reading list!!

We enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone who likes a bit of history augmented with the persona of the people making it. There is no history as exciting and brutal as Scot history. This book will help make it real to you. I suggest reading the books in the order of their introduction.

I first met the authors of this little gem at the New Hampshire Highland Games. I was impressed by their knowledge of the subject. This book has a way of making you feel like you are in the actual events of the story. They are great authors and I look forward to more of their books.

I met the authors at a Highland Festival. They told me about their research and the writing of their books. I decided to buy the book "Hammer of the Scots" and was glad that I did. It is well written and makes the historical events during the time of Robert de Brus come to life.I have not yet read the other two books but I am looking forward to reading them. My husband also enjoyed this book.

While I enjoyed the book, it wasn't very original. I was hoping to find out additional information that wasn't already contained in Passions Child: The Extraordinary Life of Jane Digby by Margaret F. Schmidt, published in 1976, Charles River Books. This book didn't provide any additional information, despite the author's claims.

Jane Digby led a life of glamorous scandal - mostly played out during the reign of that most prudish of rulers, Queen Victoria. Biographies of her in the past have not been too successful as her story is obscured beneath layers of misinformation generated from the tabloid press of the time, and from well-meaning interference by such people as Richard Burton's wife.

Lovell has done a stunning job in digging through all the sources and turning up a great deal of new information on Digby which finally exposes her life in all its strengths and weaknesses. It is interesting how much you can dislike a subject and still like a story and that is what happened for me with Jane Digby. I found her as a person to be rather flirtatious and passionate and not very sensible. She did so much for 'love' and was so disappointed by in it. She married four times and had an equal number of well-known lovers as well. There is a litte on her childhood but the story really begins from her first fatally flawed marriage to Lord Ellenborough. As Digby's life progressed I felt Lovell managed to capture her increasing commonsense and growth as a person. The story of Digby is so amazing - she travelled all round Europe creating scandal as she went until finally settling in Palmyra with her last husband, an Sheikh.

Her life is part a travel-logue of Europe in the mid Nineteenth century part brilliantly readable scandal. A truly flawed subject, she makes great reading and Lovell has done a great job in presenting her.

I adore biography - especially those of the great characters of the second half of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries. I knew of Jane Digby el Mezrab from Irving Wallace's Nymphos and Other Maniacs which I read many years ago and also via several biographies of Sir Richard Burton. This is a well written, carefully and extensively researched book which benefited enormously from the author's good luck in uncovering much new, previously unseen and unpublished family material in Dorset and New Zealand. This, the author says in her acknowledgements, is more satisfying than the publication of the book itself. I agree, for this sort of discovery is palpably thrilling and the author's excitement shines through her narrative.

This biography reads like fiction and Jane Digby, firstly Lady Ellenborough, was one of those larger than life people who followed their own path, irrespective of the mores of their own time. Following Jane's life is a tour through the drawing rooms of Regency England, several European and Balkan courts to the deserts of Syria and Arabia. It is the story of a woman (thrice divorced) who eventually found happiness and fulfilment with a man of great nobility from an entirely different race, culture and religion. Jane's interest in the minutiae of life in Damascus in the mid 19th century makes fascinating reading and her wit and fondness for her adopted "tribe" in the desert is moving.

Highly recommended!

When the then Pamela Digby Churchill (later to be Pamela Churchill Harriman) shocked British and European society with her string of marriages and romantic alliances, she was actually following more in the footsteps of an ancestor than blazing new ground. Over a hundred years before Pamela romped her way through Europe and America, the Honorable Jane Digby, Lady Ellenborough was embarkening on a series of affairs that drove her from England and eventually to the desert where she spent her final years.

Mary S. Lovell could have potrayed Jane Digby as a heartless tramp or made her a cartoon maneater that wouldn't be out of place in a Jackie Collins novel. At times, Jane Digby's life does seem larger than life and more like a daytime soap opera. Her lovers included crowned heads of states and even her own beloved cousin. Her final years were spent as the wife of a Beduoin chief, performing the traditional female duties while the tribe was traveling. Luckily, Mary S. Lovell is a carefully biographer who sorted through masses of documents to find the truth behind the rumors and legends.

Along with the legacy of her scandals, Jane become a mother several times. Her children, mostly seen as more annoyance than objects of affection, where left with their fathers when Jane moved onto her next adventure. Tragically, one of her daughters succumbed to madness and two of her sons died in childhood.

If you adore biographies or have come across the name Jane Digby in your reading, "Rebel Heart: The Scandalous Life of Jane Digby" is must read.

An excellent and accurate account of Jane Digby - A woman ahead of her time. Several surprises and facts are in store and would be great interest to students of the Middle Eastern culture, in particular the Bedouin tribes, the Arabian horse, falconing, Salukis and the social customs and manners of this golden era of history. Couldn't put it down. Very highly recommended!

The funds for cultural revolution rest in the coffers of a bankrupt society. That's not to say that change is meaningless. Raoul Vaneigem believes - along with the rest of the troupe from THE SITUATIONIST INTERNATIONAL - that if change comes from within the very culture being critiqued, then the only way to effect change is to change the way culture affects.

UNDERNEATH THE PAVING STONES - THE BEACH!

Urban renewel and changing the economic goal posts cannot prevent the inevitable exploding of the plastic society. Sometime. When the world becomes its own refuse the voices of refusal will echo down time until it pins the world against its own refusal.

If madness is the only remedy against the insanity of our contracting world, then THE REVOLUTION OF EVERYDAY LIFE might be a good guide. Its truth will speak to anyone whose heart is passionate, whose soul is strong, and whose mind is as yet still taciturn; it will help them express the homily:

I TAKE MY DESIRES FOR REALITY BECAUSE I BELIEVE IN THE REALITY OF MY DESIRES.

I concur wholeheartedly that this is momentous writing:
one that is even now more critical and urgent than 40 years ago, when it was first published.

Each page offers words-thoughts that ricochet long after their initial bang! Here's a sample:

+ to work for delight and authenticity is barely distinguishable from preparing for a general insurrection.

+ the surest chances of liberation lie in what is most familiar. Was it ever otherwise?...
the living reality of non-adaptation to the world is always crouched ready to spring...
it confronts you at each self-evasion, it grasps your shoulder, catches your eye, and the dialogue begins...

+ docility is no longer ensured by priestly magic, it results from a mass of minor hypnoses...
ideological hypnosis is replacing the bayonet.

+ people who talk about revolution without referring explicitly to everyday life,
without understanding what is subversive about love and what is positive in the refusal of constrains,
--such have a corpse in their mouth.

+ if the word 'innovation' means anything it means transcendence, not camouflage.

+ consume, consume: we take ashes for fire.

+ the young are already old and everything we are building is already a ruin.

+ the obligation to produce alienates the passion for creation.

+ affluent survival entails the pauperisation of life.

+ the dictatorship of quantified exchange (market value) colonized everyday life... the bourgeoisie traded in BEING for HAVING.

+ the fight is unfair. words serve power better than they do men...
at this moment language swoops down on living experience, ties it hand and foot, robs it of its substance, ABSTRACTS it.

+ the system of commercial exchange has come to govern all of people's everyday relations with themselves and with their fellows.
every aspect of public and private life is dominated by the quantitative.

+ ideology still has one trick up its sleeve--that of posing false questions,
raising false dilemmas and leaving the conditioned individual with the worry of sorting out which is the truer of the two.

+ even when it is co-opted and turned against its original purposes, poetry always gets what it wants in the end...
no poetic sign is ever completely turned by ideology.

+ the long revolution means that we have to build a parallel society
which can counter the dominant system until such time as it is strong enough to replace it.

+ the fight for language is the fight for the freedom to love, for the reversal of perspective.
the battle is between metaphysical facts and the reality of facts:
i mean between facts conceived statically as part of a system of interpretation of the world
and the facts understood in their development by the praxis which transform them.

And on and on the explosive phrases go, injecting heavy doses of adrenaline into our resolve.

Even though I take exception to Vaneigem's advocacy of violent resistance,
his book comes the closest to diagnosing the cause of our present narcosis and, even better,
grounds the revolutionary turning on the rich dirt of everyday life.

How could we ever think it would be otherwise?

This book, along with Debord's "Society of the Spectacle", forms the core of the theoretical output of the Situationist Movement which emphasized the necessity of spontaneous, joyous creative activity to overcome the alienation and oppression of mass consumer culture, giving inspiration to the youthful insurrectionists of Paris '68.

The book is peppered with witty, canny, and memorable aphorisms on revolutionary struggle, and its emphasis on spontaneous activity motivated by felt needs for freedom and self-expression was at the time an important corrective to the Stalinist model of the revolutionary as selfless, altruistic drone. Vaneigem and the situationists go overboard at times in emphasizing the revolutionary value of selfishness, pleasure and spontaneity-- the shortcomings of 1968 are the proof. These shortcomings have been stretched to the point of parody in Hakim Bey's "Temporary Autonomous Zone" and the writings of the Crimethinc collective, but there are important elements of truth in them.

The presentation of the ideas is hobbled by Vaneigem's writing style-- you have to slog through 5 pages of bloated abstractions before coming across one of the keen one-liners that make the book worthwhile-- I think the ideas come across much more powerfully as street graffiti than in a 200 page manifesto. For a more palatable presentation of situationist ideas, check out American situationist Ken Knabb's wonderful piece "The Joy Of Revolution", available online or in his book Public Secrets: Collected Skirmishes of Ken Knabb.

No Amazon review can really do this masterpiece justice. This is simply one of those classics that will sweep you away, leaving you stunned that someone was able to so precisely articulate the mechanical alienation from self and palpable inner decay that you feel daily as you sit in your cubicle (wash, rinse, repeat) and mimic the farcical motions assigned to humans in modern industrial civilization--a hierarchical vaccum in which "survival" is contingent upon our economic value, obedience to Power and our ability to force others to either consume or produce. The dominance of the lie of economic value has poisoned every area of our lives and left us defunct as human beings, most notably stealing from us the innate urge to spontaneously create and give.

Vaneigem attacks the dead, vacuous nature of modern life with all of the venomous intensity conceivable. He does not misuse or mince words. Each sentence is filled to the brim with harsh truth, the sheer brute force of which will take your breath away.

[...].
I recommend at least printing it out to fully revel and enjoy the intensity, though!

This is one of the most viscerally exciting political / philosophical books in history. You can't help but be swept up by the force of Vaneigem's appeals... and though one may not assent to all of his positions or specific interpretations, all in all you will have to say that he had managed to tap into something very true.

read it, ponder it... and get out and live. you have nothing to lose but your boredom.

This is a beautifully designed book. Makes a great gift item. The ecclectic collection of scrapbooks is sure to inspire anyone interested in scrapping.

I loved this book because it provided a glance into lives of scrapbookers who are not the stereotypical "soccer mom" type of scrapbookers. It was truly a breath of fresh air to see scrapbooking pages from strippers, a woman in a rock band, tattoos, and a woman in a burlesque show. Another great thing about this book is that not only does it have a wide variety of scrappers showcased, but it also relies on creativity of the scrappers rather than "cutesy" embellishments and other mass produced scrapbooking products. I would definitely recommend this book because you can see layouts from "conventional" scrappers and the not-so-conventional scrappers all in one book.

This book is really fun and funny to read, and opens creative doors in your mind. IT's time for a scrap booking book that isn't about "beautiful people" living in perfect suburbs! I like the different lay out and art ideas. My critique is that I wished for better "how-to's". This is a compilation of pages and suggestions from the scrappers who made the pages, and their stories are interesting. The pages are not shown step by step, like in other scrap book books, and some additional guidance of achieving the art effects would have been good. Overall, an inspiration to make scrapbooks that are about more than my own face or my kid's first tooth ;-)

Remember those really cool kids in high school? I mean the REALLY cool ones, the ones who weren't afraid to do their own thing and go their own way? Here's your chance to peek at some of their scrapbooks!

What I really like about this book is that the artists aren't concerned with being "on-trend". The lay-outs are cool and vary so much from artist to artist, it refreshes your brain after seeing the magazines where it's hard to distinuish one artist from another. The variety inspires me to do things my way and encourages me to shake things up a bit.

Bravo!

(Disclaimer: If in high school your main aim was to be exactly like everyone else, this might not be the book for you. But you should give it a try, you just might see something you like. :-)

I am a non-traditional scrapbooker. Don't fit the typical scrapbooker demographic whatsoever. I live in a huge city, have no kids, eclectic interests, and somewhat of an alternative lifestyle. I tried, and tried, and tried to get excited about other idea books, magazines, etc... but could never really relate to the layouts and themes featured within. I saw "Scrap City" on a rack of idea books in a store, opened it, and was immediately taken with the colors, the themes, the textures! And more than anything, the way I could totally relate to the themes of the layouts and other projects. Finally an idea book that resonated with my soul and validated my love of scrapbooking by showing projects and layouts I could truly relate to. Aside from scrapbook layouts, the book features other projects, including handmade books, altered art, and more. At the back of the book there is some good information on the basics of scrapbooking, techniques and tools and the like. And ideas on how to inspire your creativity. Definately the book I will be referring back to most often to spark my creativity and inspire new ideas.