Oscar Books

In this urban planning classic, Newman addresses the question of why some public housing projects are insanely dangerous, and others only moderately so. Generally, he emphasizes the importance of surveillance- that is, that crime is lower where residents can see what is going on around the building. He also believes that such projects should not be too large [with over 1000 residents] or too dense [over 50 units per acre].

Some of his other key points:

*Streets near housing projects should not be closed off, and their lobbies should face public streets, because "streets provide security in the form of prominent paths for concentrated pedestrian and vehicular movements; windows and doorways, when facing streets, extend the zone of residents' territorial commitments and allow for the continual casual surveillance by police in passing cars." (P. 25) At a minimum, lobbies should be in a straight line from public streets because "Winding access paths provide many opportunities for muggers to conceal themselves while awaiting the arrival of a victim." (P. 82).

*Housing projects should be designed so that residents can see bordering streets from their windows; where housing projects look inward on themselves, "these bordering streets have been deprived of continual surveillance by residents and have proven unsafe to walk along". (p. 80) Newman prefers rowhouse neighborhoods because police and neighbors can "spot at a glance any peculiar activity" (p. 81).

*People generally feel safer on "heavily trafficked public streets and arteries combining both intense vehicular and pedestrian movement" because "the presence of many people is seen as a possible force in deterring criminals." (P. 109) Some commentators have asserted that Newman is a critic of mixed use, because he states that crime is higher in projects near certain land uses- in particular, high schools and other teenage hangouts. But it appears to me that Newman is making a much narrower argument: that land uses that primarily attract teenagers are particularly problematic, probably because teenagers are particularly likely to commit crimes.

Moreover, this book does not seem to endorse low-density sprawl; he admits that "a correlation between density and crime rate for all New York City projects reveals that there is no evident pattern until one reaches a density of fifty units per acre" - far more dense than most urban neighborhoods outside New York City, let alone suburbs.

I did notice a couple of weaknesses in Newman's analysis. His use of statistics is not always persuasive; among low-rise buildings with over 1000 residents, the median crime rate was 45 crimes per 1000 people, while high-rise buildings had 67 (p. 28). However, the standard deviation among the latter group was 24- a fact which suggests that this difference might not be statistically significant.

And although Newman provides readers with some pictures, I wish he had added even more: sometimes I found it hard to understand him without visual aids.

Also, his own figures show that the crime rate for high-rise buildings with under 1000 residents is almost as low as the crime rate for low-rise buildings. Doesn't this fact suggest that his critique of high-rises is erroneous?

This is a greate book about the way architecture affects the lives of people who live in it. If you want an explanation for the recent two weeks of riots in France's banlieus, you will find part of the explanation here. This is MUST reading for anyone interested in urban planning, or in modern urban society. I give it the highest possible recommendation.

I used this book as my "bible" when writing my undergrduate honors thesis. The theories Newman sets forth in this book are genius and timeless. IF you're interested in public housing and the effects of the architecture on its inhabitants PLEASE do yourself a favor and get a copy of this wonderful book. Every architect and planner should read this book regardless of what they design as these guidelines will improve any building built or any city planned.

Eli Whitney ranks as one of the great inventors of American history. Associated in innumerable textbooks with the cotton gin that he developed, his contribution to the development of the American economy extended far beyond this simple device. Constance McL. Green explains his impact on our history in this brief biography, one that serves both as a study of his life and of the evolution of early American industry.

Whitney displayed his mechanical aptitude from an early age. Growing up in colonial Massachusetts, he preferred tinkering in his father's workshop to his various chores on the family farm. Though his family was middle class by the standards of the age, his request to go to college was nonetheless a considerable burden on the family finances, though one to which his father assented. Whitney attended Yale, which Green sees as a decision with critical consequences, as his subsequent career would be greatly aided by his fellow alumni.

After his graduation in 1792, Whitney's acceptance of an tutoring position brought him to Georgia, where he made the acquaintance of the remarkable Catherine Greene, the widow of General Nathaniel Greene. It was while he was staying at her plantation that he set himself to solving one of the most perplexing problems the South faced - how to process green-seed cotton cheaply. Here the author provides a valuable context, explaining the new nation's economic straits in the aftermath of the American Revolution. With America now cut off from most British markets and with her industry undeveloped, many believed that the solution was to develop a new staple product to export. The Industrial Revolution was stimulating a growing demand for raw cotton for the new machines to weave into cloth, but the green seeds of the dominant American variety were prohibitively difficult to separate from the fibers.

Eli Whitney solved this problem by building a machine the separated the seeds from the fiber easily. His new device, the cotton gin, was quickly seen as the revolutionary device it was, energizing the economy of a region that until then was bereft of a role. Filing a patent for it, he went into business with Greene's plantation manager, Phineas Miller. Their plan to gin cotton for 2/5 of the crop soon encountered hostility from numerous Southern cotton growers, however, who preferred to copy the gin and do it themselves. The subsequent legal battles dragged on for another decade, and resulted in judgements that brought in only a fraction of the money Whitney and Miller had hoped to make.

Yet Whitney's efforts on the cotton gin were to lead to an even more revolutionary innovation. To produce the number of machines believed his company would need, Whitney developed a standardized production process, one which he soon sought to apply to the production of muskets. After his struggles with marketing the cotton gin, Whitney turned to musket manufacturing as an endeavor that ensured a guaranteed income through federal contracts. His promise to deliver thousands of muskets rested not on a new design of the weapon, but on the application of his "uniformity system" to their production. This, as Green notes, was Whitney's "unique contribution to American industrial development . . his execution of a carefully-thought-out system, of which every separate type of machine was a part." Such a system offset the shortage of labor plaguing the young nation, and permanently transformed both American manufacturing and the American economy.

Green's book is a good examination of both the man and his legacy. Drawing upon a range of materials, it describes his inventions and his business activities in a clear and accessible manner. More than just a portrait of Whitney, it is a study of a pivotal moment in the history of the American economy and in the development of American technology, with lessons and insights that are as applicable today as they were in his age.

Excellent book! The author presents the life of Eli Whitney from birth to death, and all his accomplishments. I found that Eli was more gifted than previously thought and accomplished much more than is covered in simple biographies.

She shows how Eli was mechanical from a young age, and how through perseverence in the many tribulations he faced, he finally reached the success he desired.

The author used the letters and papers from Eli's life to write the biography and inserts their text throughout the biography.

When I walked in to class the first day of school , he told us get out some paper and write this down. I thought O.K. just probally those boring class rules again. He said read Eli Whitney and the Birth of American Technology,I thought oh how cool we get to read a book! So I found the book and read it.Here is my comments and summary.I was amazed to learn that we were not doing to good economical in the 1700s. England got mad at us because we were no longer doing things they hoped America would,so we went our way and they went thiers.America started declining in economics because we no longer had the machinery that England had supplied us with. We kept declining because we no longer knew how to do anything independantly. Suddenly we could grow cotton! Pulling the seeds out of the cotton was hard labor and the colonists could only produce 1 pound a day. Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin to make the labor of picking seeds out of cotton easier. He was not very good at reading, but doing figures was easy.This helped him majorly in inventing the cotton gin and many other inventions. If you are interested in America's struggle for economics in thr 1700s,I would highly recommend this great book.

I AM STARTING UP A PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS. AS THE BOOK MAY HAVE TECHNICALLY CORRECT PICTURES,THEY DO NOT TELL THE READER ANY OF THE CAMERA TECHINIQUES USED AT ALL. THE ONLY TECHNIQUE MENTIONED IS HIS USE OF LIGHTS. IT DOESN'T GO IN DEPTH OF THE TYPE OF LIGHTING. IT JUST TELLS THE READER OF THE POSITIONING. ALL OF THE PICTURES IN THE ENTIRE BOOK ARE BASED UPON CHARACTERS OF THE MEXICAN RELIGOUS HOLIDAY OF "DIA DE LOS MUERTOS" DAY OF THE DEAD A.K.A ALL SOULS DAY. IT IS A FESTIVAL DATING BACK TO THE ADVANCED AZTEC INDIANS. IT IS A VERY BEAUTIFUL HOLIDAY IN WHERE THE DEAD ARE HONORED AND DEATH IS VIEWED IN A HUMEROUS MANNER SO NOBODY MAY LIVE IN FEAR OF THE NATURAL PROCESS OF DEATH. PEOPLE DRESS UP IN COSTUM AND MAKE-UP REPRESENTING DEATH AND DANCE WHILE THEY PARADE THROUGH THE STREETS. OSCAR LAZOYA DOES AN EXCELLENT JOB IN CATCHING THE ESSENCE OF THE CHARACTERS. HIS IMAGES ARE EXPRESSIVE AS WELL AS POWERFUL. LAZOYA THOUGH FAILS TO DISCLOSE ANY OF THE TECHNIQUES HE USED TO CAPTURE THESE IMAGES. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE BOOK THAT IS UNDER THE TITLE CAN BE VERY MISLEADING TO THE WOULD BE PERSON BUYING THE BOOK TO LEARN TECHNIQUES OF PHOTOGRAPHY. IT IS RATHER A BOOK MORE TOWARD A GALLERY OF IMAGES. PERHAPS THE TITLE SHOULD HAVE BEEN"LAZOYA'S IMAGES OF ALL SOUL'S DAY" BUT THEN, THE COMPANY THAT PUBLISHED THE BOOK MIGHT NOT HAVE FOOLED AS MANY PEOPLE INTO BUYING THIS BOOK UNDER DIFFERENT PRETENSES.

I very much disagree with SkyHunerV about the absence of technical details. The Author illustrates what lights went where, plus what camera and lenses were used. Yet I highly recommend this book for its glimpse of Mr. Lozoya's bold photographic and cultural vision. It's not "about" Dia de los Muertos, or even the Hispanic Southwest, although these are often its subjects. This is "about" Lozoya's unique perspective on our cultural myths of love and death and innocence. It's playfully bright and solidly graphic. No, this is not (strictly speaking) a how-to book, although most techniques are clearly explained. It's more about talented vision, personal passion and having fun with your camera, family and friends.

Oscar Lozoya's book is an outstanding body of work that very few people can duplicate. The lighting, the posing , the attention to detail is absolutely marvelous. It is a unique style that Mr. Lozoya masters very well and I strongly beleive that it does not matter if you are a beginer or an old timer at photography, this book is worth it. This is what great Black and White photography is all about. Perfect lighting, perfect poses, perfect negative equals a perfect print. A great Master no doubt.

Oskar Pinkus is a Polish Jew who lived in Losice, located 85 miles east of Warsaw and 10 miles from the Bug River. In 1939-1940, after the German-Soviet conquest of Poland, Losice's Jews didn't believe in Hitler's threats (pp. 50-51). This further shows that the widespread Jewish-Communist collaboration of 1939 couldn't have been driven by fears of Nazi extermination.

The Polish Blue Police (Policja Granatowa) was kept in the dark until the last moment before the August 1942 roundup of Losice's Jews (p. 106). The Germans also forced the local farmers to come with their carts (p. 106). (This corrects the misuse of a painting shown in the movie SHTETL, through which the viewer is misled into believing that the local farmers collaborated willingly in the roundup and transport of Bransk's Jews). At Siedlce, 20 miles from Losice, the Ukrainian police took over (pp. 109-110), and both the Blue Police and Polish farmers were sent home. The Ukrainians and Germans loaded the Jews onto trains for their 60-mile trip to their deaths at Treblinka. At Siedlce, it was the Germans, not Poles, who were jeering the Jews: "As the Jews passed, the Poles fell silent watching the procession of doomed men and women. The German soldiers who stood on the sidewalks commanded in sneering voices...: (pp. 109-110).

Just before the roundup, Pinkus fled Losice. Throughout his treks, he was helped by Poles in numerous, successive occasions (p. 88, 90, 91,128, 129, 137, 212), including once by a Polish Blue Policeman (p. 87). This further proves that many Polish benefactors were necessary for the saving of even one Jew. Pinkus also mentions Poles who refused to help owing to the German-imposed death penalty for such acts (p. 89, 93, 133) and, unlike Jan Tomasz Gross, recognizes the legitimacy of this motive for Polish inaction (p. 119). However, Pinkus criticized overseas Jews for their lack of assistance (p. 119).

Pinkus eventually found "permanent" lodging in a shelter underneath farmer Karbicki's barn. At first, Karbicki helped only because Pinkus paid him but, in time, became more altruistic (p. 199; "But I can't keep you for nothing", p. 220). The reader may exonerate Karbicki after considering his extreme poverty, which included tattered clothes and hole-ridden boots (p. 128; p. 153). (It is unfair that Poles who were paid to help Jews are deemed ineligible for the Yad Vashem medal, whereas Danes, who were incomparably better well-off under German occupation and yet took hefty fees for shipping Jews to Sweden, are eligible).

At first, Pinkus praised the AK and commended it for assassinating Germans, spies, collaborators, and informers (pp. 195, 204), and for making the Germans fearful of entering the woods. As a result of all this, in 1943 the hidden Jews felt safer than ever (p. 196).

In time, Pinkus left his shelter at Karbicki's farm and encountered other Jews in hiding in the forest or nearby farms. They assembled into a band that built an independent shelter within the forest, and that stole feedstuffs and livestock from Polish farmers (pp. 204-206). One may understand why Poles sometimes killed fugitive Jews.

Pinkus then writes: "Shymeluk had gone to Wolki for food one night and did not return. At first the farmers denied that he had even been in the village but eventually we learned that he had been killed by...the AK, the Polish underground. Shymeluk was in a farmer's house when the AK arrived. They took him with them, and although there was no direct proof that they killed him, it remained a fact that Shymeluk never returned from that trip." (p. 213). Obviously, Pinkus didn't see any of this, but was relying on someone else's statements (in other words, hearsay). Besides, could "going for food" include stealing? Finally, in any event, how could Pinkus know that Shymeluk's presumed death didn't occur sometime AFTER the latter's presumed contact with the AK?

Interestingly, Pinkus' only clearly eyewitness experience with the AK was a positive one. The AK visited the area, forced all the Jews out of hiding, and, not only didn't harm them, but encouraged them (pp. 215-218).

But later that night, the AK allegedly returned and "without even looking" threw grenades into the forest shelter in which the Jews had until recently been hiding (p. 218). Considering the darkness of the forest, and unless Pinkus was very close to the shelter (which he doesn't indicate), how could he possibly know such details? Besides, if the AK was out to kill Jews, why didn't it do so earlier that day, in broad daylight, when it had all the Jews gathered together?

Skepticism is justified. The informed reader may recount Polish Jew Jerzy Kosinski's tall tales about Polish atrocities against Jews, exposed as such by independent investigation, or Yaffa Eliach's contradictory, fantastic account of her 7 year-old self counting the number of bullets fired by an AK soldier into her baby brother. (Who counts shots, and what AK soldier would waste multiple scarce bullets on an infant?)

Pinkus even makes a Yaffa Eliach-like accusation of the AK having an order to kill all remaining Polish Jews. He admits the nonexistence of written evidence of it, yet says: "But better evidence lies in their record of persistent and widespread murder...In 1945 alone, 352 Jews were murdered by the AK..." (p. 226). What a non sequitur! A few hundred Jews killed, even if all correctly blamed on the AK, is hardly proof of an AK "mini-Wannsee" (Eliach's term). And 352 killed out of over 250,000 remaining Polish Jews would only mean that the AK did an atrociously poor job of it.

Pinkus claims that, in March 1945, the AK killed 3 of the 20 surviving Jews of Losice (p. 226). This is a flat lie. The AK no longer existed then! It had already been disbanded by Leopold Okulicki, its final commander, in January 1945.

Very painful but extremely well written account of the author's experiences as a teenage Jew under Nazi rule. In addition to the horrific experiences of this young man and his family, he gives us a glimpse of the bigotry and ignorance in Europe that allowed Hitler to slaughter so many Europeans, most of them Jews. A must-read for everyone, especially anyone who is so ignorant as to compare Israeli Jews to Nazis.

Devastating saga of endurance and inhumanity that makes Anne Frank's fate appear almost benign by comparison - and just ONE of so many individual tragedies. To Pinkus's descendants I can only reach out a hand of solidarity and voice my hope that Palestinians/Moslems/Arabs (do Americans know the difference?) are never so demonized.

I recently returned from Puerto Rico and on my walk up the coast to old San Juan saw a jagged hillside on the beautiful ocean filled with cardboard homes built on slopes and stilts. It struck me as very odd; the gorgeous Ocean with this somewhat small enclave of slum housing... surrounded by the beautiful streets and history of old San Juan. I then saw two little girls in Catholic School uniforms, giggling and running down to the steps into the Slum. I asked a travel partner who explained that the place the little girls were running to with the windows that were open holes, the trash and bums in the alley, was one of the most notorious slums around; La Perla.

I left Puerto Rico with the thoughts of my wonderful hotel and gorgeous dinners but I could not get the picture of La Perla out of my mind. It was such a strange sight; again a slum of all slums on one of the most goregeous pieces of world I've seen. I became enthralled and interested in what made this small piece of the earth they way it was. In my research, I came across Oscar Lewis' study of this place. Interestingly enough, he wrote it in 1964.... and it seems this small slum hasn't changed at all since then.

I am about a quarter through the book and am absolutely enthralled. The tragedy of poverty and how it repeats itself is evident very early on in this study.

The main character, Fernanda, (Nanda) a child of poverty of which this story begins, goes on in interviews about her life. From her childhood, being at first abandoned by her Mother then to reuniting with her Mother, all the while being abused physically and emotionally by all in her life. She becomes a "bride" at 14 having a child thereafter by a man her mother 'adores' and yet her beats her. This is normal life.

Nanda's children lives are also captured in their own voice with an earily similar account. I've found myself confused... thinking I've already read passages... I have but it is of other characters in the study. Poverty breads poverty.


I'll let you know what I think when I finish the entire study; it is detailed and intense.

La Vida is an anthropological study that tells the story, in their own words, of an extended Puerto Rican family in San Juan and in New York. What a lively and colorful culture! If you want to get a sense of life among Puerto Ricans in the 1960s who exist low on the economic scale, this book will tell you everything you could possibly want to know about their individual lives from their perspective. The perspective is important because it can change the way the reader views a person until she hears that character's own voice. Every day I looked forward to "living" with this family.

Lewis was able to go inside a family that trusted him enough to show just how difficult life can be. This book makes you think and shows you just how grinding poverty can eat away at ones soul. It also manages to show the vibrancy this family has. you are able to see the world from different members attempts at making a better life. It tells vividly how the streets of New York which hold so much promise ultimately cause most members of this family so much pain. This is a must read not only for latinos but for everyone. This book is more about the endurance of a soul as it is about ethnicity.

Alright. Which is better? Behind the Wheel Spanish Behind the Wheel - Spanish 1 (Behind the Wheel) or Learn in Your Car??
The titles sound similar, but the courses are quite different.
I have both and have benefited from both. Of the two, I much prefer Behind the Wheel Spanish. My reasons for this follow:
1. Behind the Wheel Spanish is a much less rigid and more intuitive type of course where you are allowed the freedom to create your own sentences on the first CD and beyond. While Learn in Your Car is great for vocabulary, there is no such feature included.
2. Learn in Your Car uses a 'non-interview' instructional type format which is somewhat reminiscent of your high school language class days. Very structured and a bit geekish.
Behind the Wheel has an English speaking teacher with great native speakers that sort of stroll you through the language. You really never feel like you are in a class, but you are always learning to speak.
3. While I use both courses, I always walk away from even a short session with Behind the Wheel knowing how to say and understand more immediately after my lesson, whereas with Learn in Your Car, the material does not 'stick with me' nearly as fast or as easily.
4. Behind the Wheel has taught me some certifiably cool idioms like 'Me costó un ojo de la cara' or 'It cost me an eye out of my face' that all the native Spanish speakers with whom I have spoken have instantly understood. They nearly embrace me when I use these little 'gems'.
Once again, Learn in Your Car doesn't have any of this stuff.
Conclusion: Buy and use both courses, especially if you like variety.
If you only have enough money for one, then by all means purchase Behind the Wheel first. The advantage to using both is that the more rigid structure of Learn in Your Car can be a refreshing (albeit much less effective) change to Behind the Wheel.

This is an affordable learning system and full of useful phrases. The lessons are ordered in a way that allows for combinations of phrases that translate into real learning. I suggest Level 1 and 2 as well.

As the editor of the Learning Spanish Products Reviews (LearningSpanishProductsReviews) site, one of my responsibilities is to review Spanish courses that are listed on Amazon. I am also a native Spanish speaker of Argentina and a professional private Spanish instructor.

In addition, I am the author of two learning-Spanish products offered here at Amazon:

1. Anna Rivera's 1000 Plus Most Powerful Spanish Words

2. Anna Rivera's 800 Plus Most Powerful Spanish Phrases


I will start with the good points of Learn in Your Car Spanish:

1. The course starts with a very thorough overview of how-to-learn-a-language by language-learning guru, Graham E. Fuller. If you are not familiar with Graham E. Fuller he is the author of How to Learn a Foreign Language. To one extent or another, Fuller has studied more than a dozen languages including Latin, Greek, Russian, Arabic, Persian, Turkish and countless European languages. In Learn in Your Car Spanish, Fuller begins by giving the student a roadmap to learning a foreign language. Although he does not hesitate to tell the student that learning a foreign language takes lots and lots of hard work, he does provide the student with a roadmap that has numerous short cuts.

2. Learn in Your Car Spanish puts an emphasis on communication and the author of the course knows that it is not always necessary to use a complete sentence to convey a thought when having a typical conversation.

3. Learn in Your Car Spanish is based upon the premise that the best way to learn a language is the way that a child learns, by learning one-word sentences, two-word sentences, three-word sentences, etc.

4. The course also teaches the most useful vocabulary first instead of having the student memorize vocabulary that she will never use. It also puts an emphasis on survival and Spanish for getting-around.

5. When Spanish grammar is introduced in the course it is done so with the use of examples as opposed to rigid rules.

6. No textbook is required. So just like the name of the course, you can "Learn in Your Car Spanish." But the transcript is included in case you are an auditory-text learner.

7. The course attempts to use literal translations whenever possible to enable the student to understand the structure of Spanish grammar and to understand the definition of Spanish words. I personally use this technique by teaching my own students that "me gusta el carro" does not mean "I like the car," but "to me it's pleasing (the car)."

8. The greatest point of the course is that it covers a tremendous amount of content. I don't know of any auditory Spanish course for just over $30 that covers nearly as much content.

But Learn in Your Car Spanish is not a Spanish course that's devoid of an Anchiles heel or two:

1. There are some mistakes in the audio translations.

2. The teaching method is basically a listen-and-repeat approach. A listen-and-repeat method is probably not the most modern and advanced way for a complete newbie to learn a foreign language because the newbie is not forced to really think in the target language. But a listen-and-repeat method can be helpful for an intermediate or advanced student that is looking to expand her vocabulary. Even though the course has a frailty or two, I still give it 5 stars. Compared to what else is on the market in this price range, you are not going to find a course that covers so much content and that gives you a bonus lesson in language-learning by one of the world's greatest language-learning experts.

An excellent study/review tape. I have purchased three sets of cassettes to reveiw my spanish and this was my favorite.

Note however that I already speak spanish at a lower intermediate level. I lived in Colombia for over two years. I mainly bought this cassette to increase my vocabulry during time otherwise wasted in my car. It was an excellent tool for this.

If you already speack Spanish and wish to improve I would give this a 5 star rating. If you are trying to learn Spanish... then you will need to judge for yourself (thus I gave a 4 star rating as it might not be as perfect for that) Good Luck! (Buena Suerte)

Even with my interest and vast reading of pioneers in the arts, I was surprised by what I found when I read The Life and Work of Oscar Micheaux. The book (non-fiction) about one of the leading Black American pioneers in the filmmaking industry, starts with a commentary from renowned actor Ossie Davis. After reading the commentary, I settled in for an unexpectedly revealing and unforgettable read. I had no prior knowledge of Oscar Michaeux. The book starts out during what was often referred to as America's "Darkest Period", the years just after the Civil War.

Oscar Micheaux was born January 2, 1884. He was the son of former slaves, a couple who had twelve other children besides Oscar. Not much is written about Oscar's childhood. The book focuses on Oscar's young adult years, when he began to bud into a talented movie producer, and the remainder of Oscar's professional career in the arts. The Life and Work of Oscar Micheaux is well researched. Memos, promotional write-ups and other correspondence between Oscar, business partners and the media are found throughout the book. It is obvious that both the author of the book, Earl James Young, Jr., and the book's editor, Dr. Beverly Robinson, did their homework when compiling the facts and other pertinent data found in The Life and Work of Oscar Micheaux.

The Life and Work of Oscar Micheaux is a biography written in a style and with an intent unlike many of today's celebrity biographies. Except for mention of Oscar's relationship with his father-in-law, the book sticks to the facts. It does not give weight to rumor or assumption. Laymen and students of the theatre alike will gain valuable knowledge from reading The Life and Work of Oscar Micheaux. Readers will learn about this pioneer in the arts whose work speaks for itself. Oscar began his career at a time with silent films were in vogue. He was one of the most prominent and influential Black American filmmakers of his day. He worked with legendary actor Paul Robeson and created his films with all Black casts, one of the only filmmakers to do so at the turn of the 21st century. His films were so well received despite effective efforts to limit the distribution channels for his films, his movies were popular with the public and allowed Oscar's company, Michaeux Film Corporation, to be successful for several years, this at a time when race riots and discrimination were blatant and rampant.

Anyone wishing to know more about the beginnings of Black Americans in the film industry, should read The Life and Work of Oscar Micheaux. As the book states in closing, "This work on Oscar Micheaux is but a first step upon which, it is hoped, other scholars may build the path to a fair place for Micheaux in the history of American films, and African Americans. This much he is due." I agree.

Oscar Micheaux was born in 1884 and from childhood seemed to be driven to be different. Throughout his life he wore many professional hats; he was a successful farmer and author. But perhaps his most well known accomplishments were as a filmmaker. There is a fair amount of misinformation about Micheaux which this book clarifies and corrects. For example, he was not the first Black filmmaker; however, he was one of the most prolific Black filmmakers of his time with an impressive number of silent films and quite a few sound films. He was able to accomplish this in spite of a national recession and eventual depression, harsh and uncooperative censor boards, limited venues in which he as a Black filmmaker could show his films, financial hardship, and harsh criticism. Still Micheaux's innovative promotion skills, coupled with his tireless efforts helped him survive and continue producing films.

The most fascinating aspect of this book was the fact that many of the issues being faced by Micheaux and other filmmakers during his time are quite similar to those of filmmakers today. Debates about how it is the responsibility of African American filmmakers to produce quality work depicting African Americans only in their most positive light were perhaps more heated in the 1920's than they are today. This heated debate was a particular issue to Micheaux because much of his work included controversial themes and not so positive images of African Americans. While the masses of African Americans seemed to enjoy and support his work and the themes he discussed, the critics and intellectuals of his day often took issue with it.

This book paints a historical overview of the times in which Micheaux lived as well as broad overview of his life and accomplishments. For the most part, this book was an easy read packed with lots of information, but there were times when some of the technical jargon was difficult for a person who has not studied film to understand. Still I highly recommend this book for anyone that would like to learn more about a pioneer in Black film.

Reviewed by Stacey Seay
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Decades before film directors Spike Lee, John Singleton or even Gordon Parks showed audiences that blacks can be more than just cut-out characters and racial punch lines, visionary film director Oscar Micheaux had made movies featuring African-American cowboys, adventurers, detectives and millionaires --- more than 70 years ago.

"The Life and Work of Oscar Micheaux" became the subject of late author Earl James Young's graduate thesis because he was an admirer of Micheaux's pioneer spirit. Micheaux was the first filmmaker to offer his audience a range and diversity of African-Americans in film. Micheaux became a controversial figure raising the ire of blacks as well as whites for filming what he wanted, not what others felt he should.

Micheaux fought an uphill battle to get his films shown. White distributors would not market films by blacks, so Micheaux was only allowed to show his films at African-American theaters. In addition, Hollywood jumped on the African-American band wagon and created African-American films superior in quality to Micheaux's and other Indy filmmakers. Micheaux stayed with it but struggled until his death in 1951.

Young dedicated his research to Micheaux life, because he understood the pain of having a gift, but lacking the opportunity to give one's all to a career. However, Young died in 1993 of a brain tumor before publishing his thesis into a book.

With the permission of Young's family, Dr. Beverly J. Robinson has edited Young's thesis into a compelling and essential book for up and coming filmmakers and movie buffs about Micheaux's 40 plus films which made him hero to some and a victim to others. "The Life and Work of Oscar Micheaux" includes a complete filmography of Micheaux's films and bios of the actors who appeared in Micheaux's films --- some such as William Fountaine and Evelyn Preer who went onto star in Hollywood productions.

If you are charged with reengineering a piece of software; if you are considering rewriting software; or even if you are trying to evaluate whether or not it is worth further effort in maintaining a piece of code: in all of these cases, read this book before you start. Not only will it give you tried and tested advice about the motivations for reengineering, should you then decide that reengineering is necessary, this book provides suggested approaches which will help structure your work and could save you valuable time and effort.

Excluding an introductory chapter and an appendix, the book is divided into two sections: Reverse Engineering (Part 1, Chapters 2-5) and Reengineering (Part 2, Chapters 6-10). The first of these sections deals with analysing the code and seeks to answer the question: "Where does one start when presented with a large code base which is a candidate for reengineering?" The patterns presented here help one decide how (or whether) to proceed, help establish confidence in the course of action chosen and give guidance for those worrisome first steps into the unknown. The second section deals with the reengineering itself: testing, migration and restructuring of the code base. Testing ensures that what is re-created reproduces (to the extent desired) the effects produced by the original code base. How do you know that your changes haven't broken the code? Strategies for migration are clearly necessary since we want our new system to be used and evaluated as it is being reengineered. Finally the last three chapters in the book give good, solid, uncontroversial advice about the restructuring of object-oriented code.

Presented in an easy-to-read style, the patterns presented in this book should give you a head start in your reengineering endeavours.

The authors define a reengineering pattern as one to be globally applied to a large, functioning system that needs to be improved. Their formal definition is "Reengineering is the examination and alteration of a subject system to reconstitute it in a new form and the subsequent implementation of the new form." Reasons for improvement could be necessity due to poor performance or just the next iteration of the upgrade cycle where major changes are necessary. In any case, the intent is to perform substantial modifications to the code, generally all the way down to the basic design. Their emphasis is not on converting legacy systems without objects to one that is object-oriented. These patterns are used to convert object-oriented systems into systems that are still object-oriented, but where the implementation is more efficient, either in speed of execution or ease of maintenance. In that sense, the book is timely, as object-oriented programming has now been around long enough that the early systems are beginning to show signs of code rot. Furthermore, our understanding of object-oriented programming has matured a great deal in the past several years, and for many it is time to take advantage of this knowledge.
The start point is expected, you begin by setting a general goal, which imposes a generic direction. This involves determining what the inadequacies are perceived to be as well as the expectations for the reengineered product. Once this is done, the next step is a feasibility analysis, which involves the following patterns: Read All the Code in One Hour, Skim the Documentation and Do a Mock Installation. While these patterns are not necessarily to be taken literally, they are very sensible. The source code that currently exists may not be the original, so the most logical first step is to attempt a compilation and install operation. Nothing could tell you more about the seriousness of the potential problems than having an attempted compile fail with a number of errors that exceeds the limits set on the compiler.
Assuming that works, the next step is to perform an hour-long scan of the source code. The idea here is not to read it all, but to examine enough of it to get a sense of how well it is put together. This time limit is of course somewhat arbitrary. It may only take you ten minutes to realize that the code was written by deviants. Finally, a cursory examination of the documentation will help you determine if it is to be of any use. This is the point where you must pay the greatest attention, so it may take longer than the other two. Although the documentation may be wonderful, it is necessary for you to read it in conjunction with the associated code, to verify that the two are synchronized. In this case, one may simply want to randomize the examination in some way, and then probe the selected sections in great detail.
Once you have performed the previous tests without running away in terror, it is necessary to begin the changes by applying more specific patterns. The first set of specific patterns are used to capture a detailed model of the system, followed by the construction of tests, migration strategies, how to detect duplicated code, redistribute responsibilities, and transform conditionals to polymorphism. The last three are standard refactorings, which shows the movement from general strategies to the more specific. However, the authors are still operating at the system level, so the patterns are more general than refactoring. For example, the patterns on duplicated code are how to identify duplicated code rather than the mechanics of how it is removed.
The patterns are described using the structure: The name of the pattern and the problem(s) it addresses, the solution, the list of trade-offs separated into the pros, cons and difficulties; an example, the reasons for applying the pattern and other patterns that are related to it. I found this approach to be refreshing, as many authors give solutions without pointing out the problems their solutions can generate. In general, the patterns form a set of sound advice, but it is up to you to make the transition from the system level to the specifics of code change.
If you are faced with a major reorganization of a large project, then I wish you well. However, like these authors I will do more than just give you sympathy and encouragement. My task is much easier, in that I will simply encourage you to read this book. They did all the hard work of constructing a plan, and you would be wise to listen to them.

Published in the online Journal of Object Technology, reprinted with permission.

The authors wrote better than they knew. My own experience is that reverse engineering is at least 20% of a typical software engineer's typical day. It's the study that a developer puts towards understanding a system well enough to make necessary changes, rediscovering enough about the system to enable the task at hand. The authors addressed their book to specific re-engineering projects, as isolated events, but they really wrote about the everyday life of almost every programmer.

As Johnson points out in the foreword, much if the information has an "everybody knows that" feel about it. I found a few new tips or new phrases, but mostly I found a clear, systematic organization of facts and techniques that are widely applied. The authors' arrangement of known techniques makes them especially valuable, much the way an arrangement of ordinary playing cards can become a valuable hand in poker.

Among other things, these authors are the first to convince me that software metrics can be a net gain to a developer. My own, sad exposure to metrics has been normative, a stick wielded blindly in the name of misunderstood "quality". This book shows how to use metrics in a constructive, exploratory way. The complexity (or whatever) scores are not the output of the process, they are intermediate results to be discarded as soon as they've pointed the way to the real problems.

I found only a very few points to disagree with. For example, the authors point out pros and cons of prototypes, but missed the biggest danger of a working prototype: that, no matter what caveats are given, it can be mistaken for a real system. Over-eager clients or managers driven by a false sense of efficiency may demand that the developers just add a feature or two (usually, system's entire capability) and ship it tomorrow. Elsewhere, the authors noted that converting from a command line interface to a GUI can be jarring for users, but did not point out that a GUI can provide a command entry field, at least as a transition aid. I would also have been happier with a longer discussion in ch.10 of type checking - I agree with the authors completely, but feel that they missed some common variations on the type-testing theme and reasons for it.

The authors suggested using dot plots for describing similarity between bodies of code, a representation I first saw in genome analysis. It strengthens the image of a program as a living, evolving thing, but also suggests that other genomic tools could possibly have value in understanding software. Programs are really just long strings, and geneticists have a huge box of subtle tools for analyzing long strings. Mating of the two fields could spawn a new generation of techniques for extracting information from existing software.

I recommend this book very highly. It's thorough, practical, and readable. It addresses software maintenance - i.e., most of the software industry - as a valuable task, worth serious study and investment in tools. A brief review can't do justice to the book's rich content. I hope you explore it for yourself.

If you listen to Oscar Peterson recordings and ever wonder just how and why he became so great this is he book to read. An accurate and facinating biography of Peterson from birth right up the year 2000 in this updated edition.

The book is full of little musical details that you won't know about. Stories about Oscar's influences, his musical competetiveness and his abhorence of racism. There is lot written on the mixed reaction to Oscars playing over the years. Nobody disputes he has (or had) technique of the highest standard, but some critised him for lacking originality and Miles Davis (in)famously once said "...he even had to learn how to play the blues". All this is discussed and more.

A great biography of a great artist.

This updated version of the great jazz pianist is an excellent work by Mr. Lees. Few other writers could do justice to this project. Gene Lees has known most of the legends of jazz and counts many as personal friends. Only someone like Lees could have done such an extensive piece on this celebrated artist. The story of Oscar Peterson and his impact on modern jazz is worthy of 5 stars. Highly recommended for students of jazz history and those many fans that have collected OP's recordings for decades. A marvelous effort by the author.

This is somewhat of a mixed bag, uneasily straddling the divide between a fan's gushy enthusiasm and a critic's more distanced perspective. I, in turn, am torn between giving it 3 or 4 stars. Perhaps it is the fan in me that ultimately nudges my decision upwards to the fourth star.

In my youth I spent countless hours at the piano, almost all of it devoted to classical music. Hence, I have less of a feel for jazz piano than I would like. But for a long time, Oscar Peterson has been one of my favorite jazz pianists (along with Bill Evans, until about a decade ago when I first was introduced to Art Tatum, who may even edge out OP). I also was familiar with the NPR duo/interview disc Marian McPartland did with Peterson, and I was impressed with his obvious intellect, thoughtfulness, and dignity.

With all that as background, I opened this book with keen anticipation. I learned that Oscar Peterson, even putting aside his mammoth musical ability, is a remarkable and admirable person. (So, too, were his father and sister, both of whom had a lot to do with his character and musical training, and Ray Brown, his bassist and alter-ego in perhaps the finest trio(s) in jazz history.) And I learned that indeed Oscar Peterson is a person of intelligence, thoughtfulness, and dignity. I also learned much about his life, in a straightforward, easy-to-digest fashion, albeit without at times sufficient critical distance.

The book is written by Gene Lees, who is both a long-time fan and friend of Oscar Peterson (and, apparently, fellow Canadian) and a long-time jazz critic. To my mind, the best chapters of the book were two in which Lees-as-critic were more to the fore than Lees-as-fan: Chapter 18 deals with jazz criticism, the uneasy position of the piano within jazz, and Oscar Peterson as a piano virtuoso in the tradition of Chopin and Liszt; Chapter 21 contains a provocative discussion of the present problems with jazz and reasons for its decline in popularity. I can unreservedly recommend those two chapters to anyone interested in jazz or piano, but the rest of the book, I believe, would be appreciated primarily by those already taken with Oscar Peterson.

I can't resist ending with one quote from Oscar Peterson. As a youth in Montreal, he had received considerable teaching and training as a classical pianist. When asked late in life whether he would have continued in the classical tradition had it not been for the then almost insuperable barriers to entry to the concert stage for black musicians, Peterson said: "No. I'd still have taken the direction I did. Because of the creativity of jazz."

Ms. Blanchards book was meticulously reasearched and presented. It was an innovative approach to the years after the Civil War exposing a counter culture that I was astonished to discover.But she did discover it and unknown and unheralded women who make this worthy book even more fascinating.

Blanchard's book is about a whole counterculture, not usually suspected of flourishing in the last decades of the 20th century in the America of Carnegie and Bryan. Blanchard not only proves beyond doubt that it was there, like the contemporary movements in England and France, but also that it was rich, embracing all the arts, both sexes, and every expression of gender, not to mention fashion, popular culture and arts usually labelled "domestic." Designed with an equally rich iconography, its text laid out together with contemporary pictures, "Oscar Wilde's America" is a model of cultural and intellectual history -- which might confuse poststructuralists and anti-poststructuralists alike.

Reading this book has been an astonishing experience . . . Never have I been so informed by the substantiality of the aesthetic ideas of Oscar Wilde in an American context I thought I knew. Who, after all, has ever connected Wilde with William Dean Howells and Henry Adams? Nor was I aware of the impact of aestheticism on the thoughts and innovative behavior of middle class women during the so-called Gilded Age. Henceforth that catch phrase will always betoken a deeper or at least a double meaning. Blanchard's subtle yet precise writing, drawn from an enormous range of fresh and original materials, exhibits the aestheticism Wilde so powerfully preached.