Mitchell Books

This book is a wonderful account of the changes being wrought in the Andes by globalisation and evolving economic realities. It also tells the story of one anthropologist's growth as he works among the people of the highland Andes. I reccomend it highly.

VOICES FROM THE GLOBAL MARGIN: CONFRONTING POVERTY & INVENTING NEW LIVES IN THE ANDES focuses on the Peruvian poor and uses narratives from people he's known for forty years to explore how they've coped with poverty and rapid population growth. Chapters are based on these case history narratives and come from an anthropologist who lives among those he writes about, making for far more of a detailed survey than any archive-based study could achieve.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This ia a truly masterful work on a person British Columbians recently selected as their person of the century.

Mitchell has done a top notch job in recounting the life and times of W.A.C., using the medium of a biography to relate the growth and development of a region. This is even more remarkable given the disfavour that biographies of white, male politicians have fallen into in the past few decades as a historical means of recounting the past.

Mitchell relies heavily on personal interviews he conducted with Bennett in the last years of his life, along with those of the many individuals involved with this first Socred regime. The only fault I can personally site with this book is that it might be too sympathetic, a point Mitchell even alludes too!

There is not much that this book misses out on. It starts literally at the beginning with W.A.C.'s start in New Brunswick, the move to Alberta and the starting of the first hradware strore, and then the final move to the Okanagan where Bennett was to become involved in politics, leading a rather obscure existence (with a few failures along the way) before he finally bolted from the coalition government to start Social Credit in the early 1950s - a move which was decidely different than the grassroots movement of Social Credit in Alberta. Social Credit in B.C. would always be a top-down movement.

Regardless, this is an excellent piece of work and does much to shed some light on the political history of a province whose historiography has been woefully inadaquete in this area.

With the ascention of the technocrat Bill Bennett to the premier's office, one may indeed wonder if the age of populism in B.C. and across Canada is over. David Mitchell provides a masterful picture of one of Canada's great politicans; a man in the exclusive company of past politicans like Bill Aberhart, Diefenbaker, Mitch Hepburn, and Joey Smallwood. The difference between Bennett and these others is the amount of success in their political careers. Mitchell also guides readers through the time of expansion, "The Rise of BC," accomplishments that were largly due to the efforts of it's premier. Mitchell states that when Bennett finally passed away in 1978, BC was, for the first time in a quarter of a century, on it's own. He's right. BC has always lacked strong premiers to lead the province since Bennett. The book is a beautiful journey through Bennett's life, his times, and the province he moulded in his image. Anyone wishing to understand BC politics and BC in general need to first understand the man who defined both, and Mitchell does an exceptionally good job of doing so.

William Samelson's WARNING AND HOPE is an outstanding book. Dr. Samelson provides a well-documented and well-researched account of significant events and people concerning the Holocaust. The book is well-written and is a valuable addition to Holocaust studies.

This is a remarkable book. William Samelson survivied slave labor and concentration camps, and has written an outstanding account of the history of anti-Semitism, the Nazi war machine, and the causes of the Holocaust -- yet still retaining his humanity even while writing about those whose evil destroyed his family. A brave, erudite, and scholarly man, Samelson has added an important document to the Holocause literature.

In the chapter titled the same as the book title, in laying out the grounds for his innovative exposition on images and culture, Mitchell explains, "[Images] present not just a surface but a face [italicized] that faces the beholder." Elsewhere in this chapter, he remarks that images may not have the power attributed to them; which supposed power is seen as absolute and all-encompassing in postmodern culture. Not suggesting that images ave no power, Mitchell takes the position that "the problem is to refine and complicate and refine our estimate of their power and the way it works." The author allows that his perspective based on what pictures "want" rather than what they "do" can at first blush seem to anthropomorphize pictures or give them an aboriginal animistic nature. But Mitchell explains that he means this as metaphorical, conceptual, and theoretical; not literal as in animism or even symbolic as with icons. Mitchell's provisional approach thus corresponds to the provisional quality of postmodern culture to bring extraordinary illumination to this contemporary culture.

Fantasy, multiple selves, and virtual reality are other terms used to express this provisional quality of postmodernism. Playfulness is another--and Mitchell's book, while sound literarily and with extensive learning and cogent though, exercises the principle that playfulness can take one farther in some cases. Whereas in postmodernism, play with its provisional, usually somewhat artificial attributes is a manner of avoiding commitment and engagement with fundamentals, with Mitchell it is a technique for coming to grips as much as possible with the elusive, ethereal nature of postmodernism. It is impossible to encompass or define postmodernism; whose primary attributes are contingency, continually changing imagery, and pseudo-events and provisional personas to play to the media. But Mitchell has managed to relate postmodernism's sprawling nature and what accounts for this.

Professor Mitchell has put together an intriguing collection of essays that are distinctly devoid of the presumptuous art talk so often seen in the top periodicals and art blogs of our time - thank you sir! Since these essays are the work of an exceptional scholar, some of us mere mortals may have difficulty in following the abstract constructs and thoroughly academic ponderings. That said, I believe Professor Mitchell poses an interesting fundamental question as to whether the experience of viewing images has evolved within our minds to the point where we actually wonder if they have a life or consciousness of their own. If this is the case, the next question one may ponder is, what do they want? Professor Mitchell is quick to point out that in taking on the exercise of this thought experiment, we are not to proceed as though we are engaged in finding a cure for cancer here - my words, not his - but to proceed on a path of open-ended exploration. In attempting to answer this question, the author guides us along an extensive path that deals with numerous invocations, comparisons, analogies, postulates, arguments and other worldly considerations. Not only are the considerations of the world, but they contain a sampling of nearly everything in the world as well, from biblical chapter and verse to Marx, Blake, Nietzsche, Chaucer, Freud, Dante, et al. In the first half of this book, Professor Mitchell has indeed composed a concerto of tribute to much of Western Civilization. There are worse things one could do. That said, I would encourage the good Professor, in his ninth book (this is his eighth) to forsake his colleagues in academe just enough (heaven forbid!) to leave the huddled masses with fewer more distinct concepts and a more consistent theme. A reduction in the scope of considerations may help the reader to come away with a perception that there is a more differentiated hierarchy of importance amongst the contents of the book. In all fairness, each chapter of this very worthwhile book deserves its own review. I would also submit that the educational potential of this subject matter would not suffer in the least if the Professor were to delete his political inclinations, which, as interesting as they may be, do not enhance the subject matter of this book in any way. Anyone who wants to understand how we really relate to images should read this comprehensive book.

This was a great book on how to maintain your vehicle. It was good advice that will save you money and guide you to the best places to get repairs done on your car when you need them.

I highly recommend this book and it was definatley worth the price.

Who would have thought that there could be so many ways in which your car repair person could rip you off? If you're like me, and know absolutely nothing about cars, this is a must read. It actually used terms that i could understand.I recently became suspicious after my mechanic told me that I needed new brakes for the 3rd time in 1 year. This precious gem made me realize that i was being taken for a ride. I wish that my mechanic was as considerate of me as Mitchell Zelman is of his clients. THANK YOU!

This is a well woven story of a murder and the tangled web the main characters Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Alan Markby must untangle to find the killer ... or killers.

The story opens with a young Ursula Gretin, an archeologist on a dig with a former married lover, Dan Woollard. Ursula broke off the affair with Dan who refuses to give up on her. He's married to a romance novelist Natalie Woollard. During the opening of the story, Dan calls Ursula to come to his home to see him on an urgent matter. Urgent to him that is. Once there, Ursula realizes that his main motive is to try to rekindle their relationship. She flatly refuses, insisting that their relationship is over. While there Dan tells her that his wife has gone off to visit her mother ... yet, Ursula spots her pocketbook, complete with wallet and car keys and begins to suspect the worst. What woman in their right mind would leave home without her purse, wallet or keys. Ursula suspects the obvious, that Dan has done away with his wife so he can spend his life with her .... or did he? Ursula confides to her friend Meredith her suspicions that Dan has done something to his wife, who then confides to her friend and police detective Alan. Together the two sleuths unravel a few mysteries -- not only the present one of Natalie Woollard's disappearance, but also a murder that is some 25 years old.

This is a well written, well told, spellbinding tail of love, betrayal, murder, guilt and innocence. Find this book and find out the conclusions. You'll hang on each and ever page until you come to the amazing conclusion. This is a great read!

Why have I never heard of this author before; she's as good as P.D. James or Deborah Crombie in this genre! Just lucked onto this at the library and loved it; good characters and interesting plot. Have two more of hers on hold. If you enjoy James or Crombie you will like this.

Five years ago, when my daughter Katie was ten I told her that I would take her the greatest city in the world, New York City! We stayed at the Plaza, Carriage ride in Central Park, Ground Zero, Shopping on 5th Ave, Broadway Show, Dinner in Little Italy. It was a great trip for every Dad and Daughter to take. I recently bought this book and gave it to my now 15 year old daughter and she loved it. She could not put it down and we took out the pictures an recounted the weekend all over again. This is a great idea and a great book!

This is a great book for kids and parents alike. It shows great points of one of the greatest cities in our nation. You'll really enjoy it and the other book in this series. Highly recommended....

If you read this book you get a very good vieuw of the Australian wines and winery's mr.Halliday did,as in his other books,an amazing job. for all the wine lovers out there a must buy

My recent month-plus tour of wineries in Australia and New Zealand was greatly based upon the excellent research,reviews and contacts using this fine reference.As a budding wine writer, collector, and head of a local Enological Society in the Pacific Northwest,Halliday's Atlas has been the virtual bible enabling the design of both the tour and subsequent writing.As my primary interest was a focus upon pinot noirs, my tour began in Australia where I visited Halliday's own Coldstream Hills Vineyard.His work provide a roadmap enabling me to contact other prominent pinot noir producers in the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula-Main ridge, Stonier, Yering Station, Paringa Estates and others.While there, I also made contacts and was invited to a new release winetasting of New Zealand wines held in Melbourne. Quite amazingly, the first person I met was the great James, himself. It was fun and a privilege to share wine tasting experience and comments.
From there, the tour extended to the whole of New Zealand. Again the Atlas laid the groundwork for my visits, enabling me to meet most of New Zealand's greatest owners and winemakers, including John Buck at Te Mata,Kevin Judd at the famous Cloudy Bay,Neil McClallum at Dry River, Grant Taylor at Gibbston Valley and many others.Naturally, covering nine separate wine regions entailed tasting many other prime quality varietals in such warmer climes as Waiheke Island and Hawkes Bay with their magnificent cabernets and Bordeaux blends,plus gorgeous chardonneys,etc. In all cases, the Atlas gave regional and subregional data and exacting descriptions of "terrior" necessary to a serious study.Halliday is, in my book, a more comprehensive writer and reviewer of "new world" wines than even Jancis Robinson or Robert Parker. He also adds the direct insights of his winemaking in Australia and his pioneering of pinot noir developments "down under". His reputation as a critic is simply impeccable and his easily read writing style, while detailed, is at once comprehensive and comprehensible.It is a must read and essential reference for serious oenophiles and fellow wine tourists.

This is an excellent reference for the serious horse player. The appendix "Statistical Validation," which shows you how to determine how many races you need to test before you can have confidence in a new system, is worth the price of the book.

Bob Pitlak, nehandicappers.org

I should have included this book in my list of best handicapping books but it was out of print. This is not a simple book and the author assumes you are an adequate if not great handicapper. The most valuable information in this book is how to validate a handicapping method, how to create an objective value line among many other gems. The math is highschool math not Ziemba and Hausch math, although he covers the authors in this book too. I've gone back to this book many times for reference. It's a unique and valuable contribution to any handicapping library.

Dylan Alliata
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/SartinAlums/
Supporting the Sartin Methodology

I had a good friend of mine say to me once "I don't want to have anything to do with a religion that says unless you believe and follow Jesus Christ that you're not going to go to Heaven." I didn't know how to respond to that. It made sense to me, there are too many "good" people in this world that never even heard of Jesus Christ and it just doesn't seem fair that they should be condemned to hell. I know you don't get to Heaven by being "good" otherwise Jesus death on the cross was unnecessary. But for the billions of people over the years that never even heard of Jesus, not to have a chance to go to Heaven just didn't seem fair. I think it's this kind of thinking that makes people "shop" for a belief system like they're in a religious cafeteria. "With Cords of Love" is a response to religious pluralism that helped me with that question of "unfairness" and I know how to respond to that with a little more confidence now. I'd recommend this book for anyone that has ever had trouble reconciling that subject with themselves or with being able to defend their Christian doctrine when asked to. This is one of those books that I had trouble putting down and was sorry when I got to the end.

wscott0000@aol.com

Al Truesdale has given a great gift in his book, With Cords of Love: A Wesleyan Response to Religious Pluralism (Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City). The book is accessible, and it should secure a wide audience of readers.

Truesdale's gift is presenting the Wesleyan view of God's grace extended to all people whatsoever, while maintaining the Christian conviction that Christ is necessary for salvation. Wesleyans recognize God's activity wherever it appears, says Truesdale, but this does not force Wesleyans to be religious pluralists or believe that salvation comes through good works.

"Prevenient grace goes forth without reference to the historical, cultural, or religious contexts in which persons are born," says Truesdale. "It is the real presence of the Spirit of Christ in a person's soul, working to enlighten and draw him or her to repentance and regeneration and moving him or her toward new creation in the image of Christ."

One of the helpful aspects of the book is Truesdale's distinction between the individuals who affirms nonChristian religions and the nonChristian religions themselves. While not making the distinction too sharp, Truesdale uses real-life illustrations to argue that God reaches out even to those who have not heard the gospel. Truesdale puts human faces on religious pluralism.

With regard to nonChristian religions, Truesdale says that "the value of a non-Christian religion rests upon its ability to serve as an instrument of prevenient grace. To that extent alone can its positive features be recognized, but even then only as a result of God's creativity in diverse cultures - not from some inherent and independent value in the religion itself."

Truesdale reminds his readers that "no religion has saving merit of its own (including Christianity)." Christians should ask, How well does this religion serve the purposes of prevenient grace?

There is much about this book that is helpful. I plan to recommend With Cords of Love to my students and to pastors who puzzle over how to respond in our present age to nonChristians as individuals and nonChristian religions.

Thomas Jay Oord