Oscar Books

"BUT THEY CAN'T BEAT US" BY RANDY ROBERTS

The 1986 film "Hoosiers", based on the true story of tiny Milan High School's 1954 state championship, told the story of legendary Indiana basketball. Certainly, the state has great tradition, going back to John Wooden and Piggy Lambert, right on up to Rick Mount, Bobby Knight and Larry Bird. Now, Purdue University history professor Randy Roberts tells a little different story about Midwestern sports. The Crispus Attacks High School basketball team from Indianapolis, a team comprised of poor, urban black kids, overcame terrific obstacles to capture for coach Ray Crowe the 1955 and 1956 state titles.
Crowe's talented squad was led by Oscar Robertson, who would go on to a hall of Fame career with the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks. The "Big O" would also capture a Gold Medal at the Rome Olympics'. In '55, Crispus Attucks became the first all-black school to capture a state championship. In '56, they were the first to go undefeated.
Crispus Attucks "helped define and enshrine the Hoosiers' myth by being its negation," according to Roberts. This is an inspiring story of race, joy and achievement during a critical time in this nation's history. While Crispus Attucks was winning on the hardwood, hard-fought civil rights were being won for black people in the Supreme Court (Brown vs. Board of Education). What is often forgotten is that many of the key battlegrounds of the civil rights era were not in the South, but in the North--that is, the Midwest.
Roberts' story of social upheaval, racism and the dawn of a new era in politics centers on a school that was built for blacks. Actually, Crispus Attucks was built so white students would not have to sit next to black students in the 1920s. The school first had to petition the Indiana High School Athletic Association just to compete in the state tournament.
Roberts' also tells how "The Big O" spurned Indiana U. because coach Branch McCracken was said to be a racist. Indiana native John Wooden tried to get him to U.C.L.A. (can you imagine that?), but Oscar envisioned a long bus ride (he was afraid of air planes) and chose Cincinnati instead.
Roberts has written a number of sports history books. In "But They Can't Beat Us", he tells the story of Robertson, a shy kid who shined in athletics. He tells the story of Coach Crowe, who instilled his team with pride and discipline. Through hard work and talent, the Tigers' were able to forge one of the great stories in prep sports history. For fans of high school sports, and particularly Indiana basketball, "But They Can't Beat Us" is a must read.

This book is the story of Crispus Attucks rise to basketball fame despite the prejudical climate in Indiana at the time. There is a history lesson in explaining what prejudice existed and how the Crispus Attucks family dealt with it. The book cronicles the high school story of Oscar Robertson in particular and the Crispus Attuck Tigers from 1950 thru Oscar's final high school game as the number one player on Indiana's all star team vs the Kentucky all star team lead by "King Kelly Coleman". I was an Indianapolis high school resident during this period and can speak for the historical accuracy and emotional insights brought into focus by the author Randy Roberts. For those of you who enjoy basketball, this book is a worth while purchase.

In 1987, the World's Best Doctor wrote a handbook for other physicians (Kill as Few Patients as Possible), that hilariously passed on choice tricks of the trade. Now managed care has made it impossible for Dr. London to care for his patients in the exemplary fashion he laid out - and so he's written the book that will allow patients to get this excellent care on their own. From spelling out the medications and diagnostic interventions which have been proven to help prevent disease, to a list of the symptoms which mandate a visit to your doctor TODAY, this book may be lifesaving.

Not nearly as amusing, nor as heartwarming, as Dr. London's first book, "Kill As Few Patients As Possible." Still an enjoyable read, just not as much fun.

It is interesting to me that a short book such as this illuminates as much about the Kennedy administration than many thicker books for popular reading. A main difference is that the more popular readings focus on sensational stories and some try to make unsupported connections between some aspect of the political figure's personal development and that person's decisions while in office.

This short political biography ignores the bed sheet and fashion stories that dominate so many other Kennedy books. This is a book for a person with a serious interest in the Kennedy presidency. Despite its brevity, the author gives a strong presentation on the president's political style and his influence on domestic and foreign affairs. His discussion on Kennedy's significant domestic policies is of particular importance since, except for civil rights, JFK is better remembered for his foreign policies.

The writer without engaging in Peggy Noonan-like glorification of his subject (Noonan writes on Reagan) portrays JFK as a highly intelligent and astute figure developing more into a statesman than a politician.

Unfortunately, Kennedy's legacy was long ago hijacked by those who want to minimize his influence by remembering him as a youthful charmer with little substance. This is done by both conservatives (who are angered both by his civil rights efforts and his growing independence of military), and by liberals (who too are angered by his civil rights positions that moved too slowly for their taste and his general refusal to put the cart of the liberal agenda ahead of the national horse). As a result, most discussions of Kennedy center on matters that had little to do with him as the nation's leader.

Many of us (for me as a child) remember him and know him as a person whose death was very personal and traumatic. It was the first time many of us saw our parents and teachers cry. This book helps us to better explain to younger generations Kennedy's importance to the nation and to ourselves.

Burner wrote this biography upon previous works written about Kennedy. He admires Kennedy a lot because he doesn't really give any shortcomings that came about while Kennedy was President. Burners does give a clear picture about the events taking place in the book.

Sir Robert Helpmann gave the performance of his career in Justin Fleming's classic play, The Cobra, in the Sydney Opera House, as the aged Lord Alfred Douglas, set during World War Two, as Bosie looked back on his doomed relationship with Oscar Wilde. Regarded as the definitive theatrical treatment of Wilde and Douglas, the play observed among other things that Wilde was the first Irishman to leave Ireland, go to England and become Greek.

H Montgomery Hyde absolves Douglas of ruining Wilde, even finding Douglas "kindly" to younger people. This is a portrait hard to reconcile with the same Douglas who threw fits of ungovernable rage to have his way, and told various well wishers to butt out when they advised Oscar to go to France. Even the magistrate post-dated the warrant for Wilde's arrest to give him time to leave the country. Being Irish, why did Douglas insist on maintaining an Englishman's right to remain in England? Also, was it not critical that Douglas' insistance that Wilde sue the Mad Marquess of Queensberry was based on pure revenge against his hateful father?

Hyde's book is excellent, notwithstanding, as it allows us to be the judge. It is finely accounted, well researched and has the merit of considered clarity. A good read. But it should be read alongside the classic play, The Cobra.

In 1983, Sir Robert Helpmann gave the performance of his career in Justin Fleming's magnificent play, The Cobra, in the Sydney Opera House, as the aged Lord Alfred Douglas, set during World War Two, as Bosie looked back on his doomed relationship with Oscar Wilde. Regarded as the definitive theatrical treatment of Wilde and Douglas, the play observed among other things that Wilde was the first Irishman to leave Ireland, go to England and become Greek.

H Montgomery Hyde absolves Douglas of ruining Wilde, even finding Douglas "kindly" to younger people. This is a portrait hard to reconcile with the same Douglas who threw fits of ungovernable rage to have his way, and told various well wishers to butt out when they advised Oscar to go to France. Even the magistrate post-dated the warrant for Wilde's arrest to give him time to leave the country. Being Irish, why did Douglas insist on maintaining an Englishman's right to remain in England? Also, was it not critical that Douglas' insistance that Wilde sue the Mad Marquess of Queensberry was based on pure revenge against his hateful father?

Hyde's book is excellent, notwithstanding, as it allows us to be the judge. It is finely accounted, well researched and has the merit of considered clarity. A good read. But it should be read alongside the classic play, The Cobra.

I like the book "Hot Hot Hot". Neal Layton is the author and the illustrator. The book is about the Ice age. In the summer it gets hotter and hotter. Oscar cuts his hair. He cuts Arabellas too. I think children would like this book

My three year-old son and I really like this book. It's silly and quirky. A simple little fun book which will introduce kids to mammoths that lived during the last ice age.

this is the kind of book that will be treasured down through the years.not an investment of money,but rather a feeling of well being

Basically, this collection of Oscar Wilde stories is a reasonably good collection of the man's fairytales, mixing a few old favourites with some new (or at least reasonably unknown) stories; some excellent, some strange, and some, well...not so good. P. J. Lynch is the illustrator, who in my opinion is a man who can do no wrong. Some of his best are not in fact the full page illustrations, but the small pictures at the beginning and end of each stories, beautifully simple and framed only by the white of the page.

"The Selfish Giant" is probably the most famous of all Wilde's children's stories, of the giant who forbade children to play in his beautiful garden, resulting in winter claiming it all year round. Only when he tears down his walls and permits the children to play does he find happiness, especially in the discovery of a particular little boy who one day comes to claim him for his own garden...

"The Nightingale and the Rose" is a beautiful, haunting poetic tale that doesn't really come across as a children's story in content and form. A small nightingale hears the sadness of a lovelorn student, whose beloved has promised to dance with him if he brings her a red rose. Since none are in the garden, the Nightingale sacrifices herself in order to present him with one, singing of love in the moonlight whilst pressing herself up against the barren rosetree's thorn. No where is Wilde's stunning prose more obvious than here, as the Nightingale sings: "Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song, for she sang of the Love that is perfected by Death,
of the Love that dies not in the tomb." Just beautiful, and Lynch's garden scenes are striking - especially that of the Nightingale pressing her breast up against the thorn.

"The Devoted Friend" is an odd story-within-a-story as a Linnet tells a grouchy Water-rat about the friendship between an honest man named little Hans and a wealthy Miller: a friendship that is decidedly one-sided. Again, it is not entirely a cheerful children's story, as it ends with Hans' death and the Water-rat's complete inability to understand the moral. Overly long, the moral will probably also be lost on most readers, as its a strange ending to say the least. Illustrations are mainly pastoral scenes, but unfortunately don't compensate enough for the dull narrative.

"The Happy Prince" is the other of Wilde's most popular stories, and my definite favourite. The golden statue of the prince in the town is baffled by the reality of poverty in his city, and so employs a swallow to prolong its flying south for the winter in order to pick his jewels and gold plating and take it to those in need. Poignant, tragic and beautiful, I read this story when I was a child and it's stayed with me ever since. Lynch's illustrations are the best here, with aerial scenes that are from (literally) bird's eye-view.

"The Remarkable Rocket" is not however, one of the most memorable...in fact its downright boring. At the Prince's wedding a box of rockets are let off, including one arrogant one that is completely wrapped up in its own importance. That's about it, and yet it stretches over 17 pages. No one will blame you if you skip this one, and even Lynch seems a bit confused at how to present this story, creating cartoonish-like fireworks that don't fit in with the rest of the book.

Finally, "The Young King" is also quite long (one sentence has 125 words in it!), but compensates by fascinating imagery and beautiful, mysterious language. No other story shows Wilde's Christianity than here, but it is saved from being to preachy and moralising by the very real sense of the higher powers at work upon the Prince who adores beauty above all things, but is given several dreams (both beautiful and disturbing) that show him how this beauty is acquired. Again Lynch works wonders with his precise water-colours, though be warned there are a few rather dated assumptions of ethnicity, including the words "Negroes" and "Moors" in a negative light.

With the rest of the mysticism and violence of other stories, and the sparseness of Lynch's illustrations such language further implies that the title "Stories for Children" is misleading - surely these words could have been changed for that suited audience. This is more of an anthology for adult collectors, but such people may want to look for a more complete version - only those who adore the work of P. J. Lynch may want to purchase this book. For children, only two are appropriate, the others are too long or too complex.

I gave this book to my grandson for Christmas. He's only 9 months, but we all love reading it to him. I made him a sock monkey and gave him the book to go with it.

Oscar is a little sock monkey that belongs to a little forgetful girl named Susie. Susie's class is having a pet show. She brings her rabbit but forgets the key to the cage. Oscar sets out on a mission to deliver the key to the girl's school! Will he make it!






The story was very cute. It gave life to stuffed animals. A lot of kids think that their toys can do think like humans can.



Yes. It has a message that even little kids can do BIG things!

From the publisher: Often exuberant, spatially charged, and vividly polychromatic, as well as flat-out fun, Ace places are the antithesis of the current vogue for cool, minimal, abstract, and modern.
Ace has received a range of architectural distinctions, including awards from the Graham Foundation, American Institute of Architects, and California Preservation Foundation. The firm has twice been included in Architectural Digest's "AD 100." "
From Builders Booksite: We are fortunate to be in the playground of Ace Architects and are inspired, amused, and informed by their work around the Bay Area. This little book has 124 pages, 100+ photographs and numerous drawings, paperback. Rockport Publishers (5/2000)

This firm knows how to have fun! Not my style, but definitely interesting.

The photography is very nice and the drawings and text are very well laid out. I would highly recommend this book, and two others from this series: Rebecca Binder & Lake Flato.

Oscar Wilde's first play, written in 1880-it is described by Wilde's son Vyvyan Holland - in the introduction to "Complete Works of Oscar Wilde" as " A rather immature play, which ran for one week in New York, and never reached the boards in London".

It is weak and clichéd in some parts but not without flashes of brilliance in others. Beautiful peasant girl, Vera Sabouroff joins a fanatical band of Nihilists, to avenge her bother, Dmitri, who is excelled by the Tsar. She becomes their heroin and Russia's most wanted assassin. The Nihilists are joined by Tsarevitch Alexis, who after the assassination of his father, becomes Tsar, and is thus marked for assassination by the Nihilists. Vera, who has fallen in love with the Tsarevitch, is chosen to carry out the operation to assassinate Alexis, who has embarked on a string of reforms. What follows is an ending, which mirrors Romeo and Juliet as Vera takes her own life to `save Russia'.
The hallmarks of the play are the wit of the Tsar Senior's Prime Minister Paul Maraloffski, and Vera's Lady Macbethesque speech where she steels herself to assassinate Alexis, before turning from Lady Macbeth into Juliet.
It lacks the finesse of Wilde's later plays like The Importance Of Being Earnest , Lady Windermere's Fan and Salome , but is interesting as part of a study into the development of Wilde's work.

This rewriting of Romeo and Juliet is not convincing at all because the Nihilists are reduced to sectarian fanatics, the Czar to a manipulated tyrant, the courtiers to bloodthirsty powerhungry wolves, the Czarevitch to a romantic puppy suddenly grown adult. Vera, the most popular and feared Nihilist, will kill herself out of love to save the Czarevitch who is on a trail of reforms after the assassination of his father. This caricature has nothing to compare with Gorki?s The Mother, nor Brecht?s Mother Courage and Her Children. It is yet interesting to see how Oscar Wilde is far from understanding what simple suffering people can be in Russia at that time and what the psychology of the Nihilists was. He uses quite many clich?s and does not get into any depth. So the superimposing of a pale Romeo and Juliet ending does not give depth to something that is shallow.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

While Wilde was one of the greatest wits of our time, this book of epigrams is sorely lacking. His bits of conversation are fun to read, but quotations from his written works are taken out of context and lose much because of that. I recommend this for any Wildephile, but with reservations.

Formerly published under the title of 'The Epigrams of Oscar Wilde,' this compilation of quotes is one of my favorites. I turn to it again and again when looking for a choice bit of humor to accentuate a letter or conversation. There are bits and pieces from all of Oscar Wildes plays, non-fiction works, and even conversations. Topics are as diverse as Religion ("Religion is the fashionable substitute for Belief."--Dorian Gray) and Love ("...love and gluttony justify everything"-In Conversation) and Criticism ("...the first duty of an art critic is to hold his tongue at all times, and upon all subjects."-The English Renaissance of Art). Highly Recommended, and makes a great gift as well.