Labor Day Books

Poignant, powerful stories. Beautifully written with a distinctive and important design. This book's not to be missed--by you, your friends, your business colleagues. Bravo!

Within his book A Leader Becomes A Leader, Kevin Sheehan delightfully illustrates the essence of true leadership. He poignantly definies a diverse group of past and present leaders; while exploring their life events and characteristics of greatness. Encourage your friends, family and coworkers to read this motivational book!

The author does a phenomenal job of breaking the topic down into small manageable and inspiring readings; also covers a great cross-section of leaders and the characteristics that made them successful. I ordered a dozen copies as executive and motivational gifts.

J. Kevin Sheehan presents a celebration of what's possible in his biographical snapshots of great leaders. By focusing on the unique character traits of outstanding leaders the author transforms the mysteries of leadership into something very real. He answers the question "what made them great?" in an extremely concise and inspirational style. Great as a corporate gift or graduation present. My children have used it for school projects and I have found inspiration for my own business. No home or school library should be without this most valuable tool.

What I love most about "A Leader Becomes A Leader" is it's timeless simplicity. I can take this book (turn off the television) and spend quality time with a young child, parent, teacher, grandparent or peer and connect on a visual, thoughtful and emotional level. These inspiring stories remain simple, true and steadfast in their messages of perseverance (and are told with grace). A thoughtful journey through and towards what is really important in life. A great exploration on human potential. This must be shared!

This is an important and well written book about a hidden crime of the modern world. The author is brave and smart as well as street wise beyond imagining in his pursuit of information and illustration of the current status of slavery in the world.

The work is full of revelations that will educate, shock and dismay the readers. It should be widely read and understood, and could be useful in college level economics and sociology courses equally.

Benjamin Skinner traveled around the world to witness firsthand the drudgery, abuse and depravity of modern-day slavery; he probably saw a good deal more than could fit into his book, which is an unsparing account of just how horrible and widespread slavery is. Skinner's writing is evocative. He brings to life various places around the globe including Haiti's cities and countryside, Romanian slums, the desert of Sudan, night clubs in Dubai, rural mines in India, and a well-to-do American suburb; his descriptions of human degradation, cruelty and greed are sickening. He talks to slaves (both current and former), slave traders, slave owners, anti-slavery activists, and government officials; throughout the book he also tells the story of U.S. official John Miller and his uphill and exhausting battle against slavery worldwide. To get some of his stories Skinner actually had to pose at various times as a potential slave buyer, and he briefly touches on the ethics of that choice (as well as his decision not to buy people's freedom from slave traders).

He succeeds in conveying the complexity of slavery, how and why it continues to exist and the various forms that it takes. In addition to the harrowing accounts of slaves themselves, he writes about the role that individuals, institutions, cultural norms and socioeconomic factors play in the perpetration of slavery and the creation of circumstances and conditions that allow slavery to flourish. It's frustrating to read about the way governments around the world turn a blind eye to slavery, even while paying lip-service to the idea of fighting it and upholding human dignity. The UN's record on this issue is unsurprisingly disgraceful as well. Skinner relates how UN officials, for political reasons, often refuse to refer to slavery as slavery (preferring terms such as 'abduction', for instance), and half-heartedly spend money on anti-slavery initiatives that are proven failures (he also discusses the complete farce that is the UN Human Rights Commission).

The book is detailed, complex and approaches slavery from different angles. In addition to discussing commercial sex slavery, his book brings to light agricultural, industrial and domestic enslavement (where, in addition to backbreaking work for no pay whatsoever, rape and brutality are also commonplace), and slavery in the context of war - as with the cultural and racial genocide waged on black Africans in the Sudan. Into this bleak picture Skinner also brings stories of hope - people who survived slavery, whether as children or adults, and who in spite of their scars have rebuilt their lives; he also profiles individuals who fight against slavery and actively work to rebuild the lives of former slaves and integrate them into society as productive members. Skinner doesn't write these stories with melodrama or sentimentality, but as a means of giving these people a voice and in hopefully motivating the reader to learn more and contribute to the fight against slavery; the conclusion of his book names what he thinks are effective anti-slavery organizations and non-governmental groups.

Overall, he's written an excellent book about an ages-old human condition that persists to this day, no matter how much we'd wish to pretend otherwise.

I believed that we, as a nation, where able to stand tall and be proud of our abolishment of slavery 150 years ago. This book gives lie to that belief and exposes the GROSS hypocrisy in both our government and more importantly the United Nations. Well written and documented, this should be a must read by leaders and citizens.

Skinner does a spectacular job of personalizing a terrible crime that is committed daily in countries all over the world, including our own USA. His accounts of real slaves are gripping, utterly believable, and absolutely heart-wrenching.

Completely nonpartisan, Skinner pulls no punches. Where officials do right he reports it with honor; where they fail to do right or turn their backs he justly condemns them with the evidence. There are plenty of rogues, and a few honorable warriors, among these pages. But the compelling stories are of those who live still in bondage, and those who have been freed.

Conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, if you don't come away from this book enraged and outraged, you aren't paying attention. The only thing more shameful than the lipservice and window dressing that are all the Bush administration has given to the cause of slavery, would be the fact that previous administrations from Clinton on back didn't even do the window dressing.

Brooklyn's Ben Skinner deserves a lot of credit for doing the legwork on this interesting book, but his youthful, jaunty tone wears on one, and his insistence on viewing slavery as existing outside the context of other forms of exploitation gives this book a kind of narrowness of scope that reduces its importance. After a while, you may find yourself skimming, but if you know someone who is completely in the dark about the existence of slavery in the modern world you could do worse than to give them this book.

As a childbirth educator, I highly recommend NINE MONTHS and a DAY to women at any stage of their pregnancy. Great graphics, up-to-date information and tightly organized chapters add to the ease and enjoyment of reading this book. I wish it had been available for my 4 pregnancies and I will be encouraging my clients to add this one to their "must read" lists.

Nine Months and a Day was my go-to pregnancy book these past nine months and a day! My prenatal visits started off poorly due to a lack of information, but once I had Nine Months and a Day to help guide me with questions to ask my midwife, I began to feel confident and prepared. I referred to Nine Months and a Day every month and found the exercises to relieve back pain and prepare for childbirth extremely helpful. The book is really well-organized and easy to read without being simplistic. My husband and I also took Nine Months and a Day to the store when we registered for baby paraphernalia; it was extremely informative. Lastly, I took this book to the hospital and read the "And a Day" part which gave me confidence about bringing our baby home. Thumbs up for Nine Months and a Day. If I ever have another baby, I'll read it all over again!

My wife and I are expecting our first child in February. Like all expectant parents, we are both very excited and very nervous. This book was a great find. My wife and I read it together last weekend and we were both delighted by the helpful advice that it contains. The format is clean and clear and there is a wealth of important information.

I would highly recommend this book to any expectant parent.

This is really a wonderful book! It is filled with information expectant mothers need--laid out clearly and comprehensively. I especially enjoyed the many lists of questions (questions to ask about prenatal tests, childbirth classes, baby doctors, etc.), which take a lot of the guesswork out of getting the information you need. I highly recommend this book.

I started my pregnancy with information overload, and received 9 Months & a Day as a gift. I was relieved to read a book that was clear & concise that answered my questions (which were many) AND helped me plan (the lists are great), but didn't overwhelm me with too-technical jargon or too many "what if's". I have kept this book next to my bed for the past 7 months (only 3 weeks to go!) and have read and re-read as we prepare for labor & delivery. I highly recommend this book for first-time moms, for those of us who think we want to "know it all" (and then burst into tears because it's just too, too much, on top of all the hormones!) and for parents who value direct, to-the-point writing. It's been one of our pregnancy's greatest resources.

"A Day's Work: A Sampler Of Historic Maine Photographs, 1860-1920: Part 1" is compiled with annotations by Maine historian, author, cattleman, and businessman W. H. Bunting who labored for almost 30 years assembling his collection of historic photographic images of the people, buildings, activities and landscapes that comprise Maine's history, commerce, and communities. Each of the 225 black-and-white photos is accompanied by a narrative caption that are as entertaining as they are informative. From a lumber batteau working on a log jam, to an eccentric cobbler traveling from island to island by sailing scow, to trains wrecks, hootchie-cootchie dancers, coastwise cargo schooners, and so much more, readers are treated to unique perspectives captured by a camera's lens and documented life and work in the state of Maine during a sixty year span that begins in 1860 and ends in 1920. Also available in a hardcover edition, "A Day's Work" is especially recommended for academic library Regional History reference collections in general, and Maine's community library State History collections in particular.

My only objection to this book is that it's a tease waiting for the third book. Sometimes I wish it were more integrated topically, or at least that the index were more expansive. But few would want to miss any page. Each reads by itself, with valuable insight (and entertainment). The printing, layout, author's style, comprehensive research, and especially the photographs are all wonderful. In a way, the non-topical approach is exciting too: the penultimate in "coffee table" books. One never grows tired of it, rarely if ever skips a section, looks forward to the next session, and cherishes it as much as the spectacular first volume.

NO author of Maine historical and cultural subjects writes better, or has done more comprehensive research. I would certainly include it in the parcel I would assemble for exile to Boon Island.

I pray for the author's health, happiness, and continued productivity. He is the best of Maine writers and scholars, and sets the best example and model for the generally motley group of Maine "writers", especially the very narrowly-scoped academicians who slavishly follow fixed models of interpretation and presentation. I'm sure Fanny Hardy Ecstorm, Elizabeth Ring and James Baxter (god bless their beautiful souls) are smiling at this wonderful, wonderful writer.

BOOK REVIEW

A Day's Work: A Sampler of Historic Maine Photographs, 1860-1920, Part I, annotated and compiled by W. H. Bunting. Sponsored by Maine Preservation, Tilbury House Publishers, 132 Water St., Gardiner, ME 04345, 1997. 380 pp., oversize, paperback, $35.00

This is a wonderful book, so don't let the title drive you away. You must read halfway through that forbidding title to find out that it's about Maine, farther yet to learn that it's photographic, and "Part I" leaves you dangling. I would have called it Maine at Work, 1860-1920: Photographs and Text; the rest is superfluous--and I have added the word "text" because the text is just as delightful as the photos. I am writing this review because it's a book that people who love Maine shouldn't miss.

I have been summering in Maine for about forty years. The mountains and the skies and the rockbound coast make one constantly aware that Maine is different--the most northern and most eastern state in the USA, with a thousand of miles of shoreline and huge expanses of forest wilderness. Its wild geography has shaped its people and determined how they live. Vestiges of the past are everywhere, from the old docks and windjammers and lighthouses to the barns and sawmills and huge piles of firewood. If one wants an understanding and a feeling for those old times, this book is for you.

William Bunting's fascination with these historical photographs is communicated through the text. He has spent decades immersing himself in local history, and he not only explains each photo but goes behind it, delving into the history and significance of what is shown. If you want to know how to make hard cider, see p. 150 opposite the superb photo of the farmyard with a pile of apples by the old barn. The complex process of logging in the wilderness and getting the logs downriver to the mills and eventually by ship to market is followed through many photos with descriptive text (see pp. 34-44, 86-88, and more). Many buildings in Boston and points south were built of Maine granite; here you can see the granite cutters and the ships and men that carried that heavy cargo to market. Would you like to know and see how in the old days lobster fishing, seining, dip-netting, and canning were done? Or railroading, hunting, or harvesting ice? They're all here, and much more.

Start reading at the Introduction, a fine evocation of Maine today in relation to the past, and a convincing demonstration of the value of photos as historical documents. You will also discover that the author raises cattle and is a bulldozer operator, which doesn't quite explain his mastery of local history (this is his third book) but puts him closer to the down-to-earth people in the pictures. The introduction takes you directly into the text; there are no breaks or chapter headings. Bunting explains that the book is like "taking a journey," one that he took himself--and fortunately it has a good index. I began by looking up the places I know best: Waldoboro, Boothbay, Edgecomb, Casco, Bath, Damariscotta, but the book is a trap--once in, it's hard to get out. You go from photo to photo and from text to text.

The content of the pictures and text is absorbing, but I have said nothing about the aesthetic quality of the photographs. These old black and whites, from the days of heavy cameras and glass plate negatives, have a crispness and wealth of detail rarely seen in today's polychromatic action photos with artificial photo-effects. Many of them were taken for the purpose of making a record, and they project an authenticity that makes the viewer a participant. They have the grip of reality. The photos are worth the price of the book, and the text multiplies their value.

A Day's Work (Part I) focuses on many economic aspects of life in Maine in the late eighteenth and early twentieth century. The author, or annotator and compiler as he calls himself, says that some topics will appear in both volumes, but Part II will emphasize the pulp and paper industries, cotton textiles, coopering, axe manufacturing, etc. Perhaps he's waiting to sit down with the photographs and see where the journey leads. If it's anything like this one, it will be worth waiting for.

Herbert S. Bailey, Jr.
Fearrington Post 248
Pittsboro, NC 27312

Wow! Once in a while a book comes along that is so satisfying that one wonders if you really read it. I can't praise the author enough for bringing to life the life of Maine 100 years ago.

What a full and passionate life Regina lived. As another reviewer pondered, one can't help but wonder - what if she'd lived beyond her 33 years? Where would she be now? The story told in the book is colorful, touching, inspiring, sad and yet filled with hope. That she touched so many lives in such a short time, and that both her life and her death impacted so many people is somewhat amazing.

The book takes the reader on a fast paced journey through the very short but amazingly full life of this young labor leader. Would make a great "Norma Rae" style movie!

Gina and I spent the better part of 2 years together back in the 70's. The stories about her pets are very true as I can attest to. Her love of finding new experiences was always there. When we lived in New Mexico I was involved in working with the IBEW to organise the electronics company I was working for at the time. Gina helped me with this and this was probably Gina's first experience with the unions. After our move back to Chicago I could see there was no stopping her and I would just be slowing her down so we parted ways. One of our trips through the deep south was a real wake up call to her and how Women were being treated in those days.
After reading the book I now can see very clearly that she had made the right decisions in her life and how to live it.

Here's a readable, professionally written and published story about a real woman named Regina Polk who was born poor in Arizona, went to California in the 1970s and wound up in Chicago, of all places, working as an organizer for the biggest, toughest Teamster local in the country. This book brings her to life, complete with pictures. Filled with energy, beautiful in an unconventional way, gifted in her ability to build relationships, committed to honest representation, she broke some serious glass ceilings. Then, at age 33, she gets killed in a small plane crash. This book does not penetrate all the mysteries around her life and death, but it probably does the best that can be done. Women around Chicago today benefit from funds raised in her memory by the stewards council at her local, IBT 743,to pay for labor education and labor leadership development.

After reading this lovely, detailed, story of a woman whose mission was cut short - it can't help but make you wonder, what if...

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to be inspired, anyone who is pursuing labor studies, or anyone who would like to read the story of a woman whose life was dedicated to helping and defending those who needed someone to speak out for them.

this book is really great to help on the job. i really like the plastic coating on all of the pages that makes the book really durable. even though the book is small and fits in my toolbox you can use it to say just about every thing you need to say to you're workers. it has been a big help for us!

This book is a "must have" if you work with Hispanic labor!!!
I am a civil engineer for a large construction company and most of our sub-contractors employ large numbers of Hispanic workers. As a supervisor, part of my job is to ensure the safety of all the workers on our job sites and to maintain OSHA compliancy. I can't tell you how much this book has helped! It's small enough to fit in your back pocket and it has a heavy lamination, so it's durable even in the rain. Every command has a phonetic pronunciation next to it, so even if you never studied Spanish (like me) you'll be able to use it immediately! I showed this book to my boss and our company is going to make these mandatory for all of our 'white hats' (supervisors).

This book gives a complete summary of the major problems with child care in the United States related to the high cost to parents, the mediocre quality of most care, and the difficulty parents have finding it. The authors argue that the affordability problem can only be solved through large increases in financial aid and that the federal government is the only practical source given the magnitudes involved. They also make recommendations for more public spending to create incentives for parents to demand good quality services and for providers to give it. I found the book extremely informative, authoritative, and easy to read.

Este es un tremendo recurso para el predicador ocupado. Bosquejos claros, sustanciosos, con comentarios, a veces con ilustraciones y otros detalles enriquecedores. No tan solo procura presentar una estructura homiletica coherente, sino una que sea consistente con el contexto biblico en cuestion. Es muy aprovechable.

Para darle una idea mas concreta le comparto algunos detalles de la introducción y de la contratapa del libro.

"Predicarle a la gente del mundo actual es un reto multiple. Para quienes pastorean, especificamente, la predicacion demanda repetir una y otra vez las mismas "cosas", año tras año, y siempre de manera certera (exegetica y contextualmente), nueva, atrapante y persuasiva. Los ministros y ministras de Cristo sabemos que predicar es uno de los deberes pastorales más desafiantes." (de la Introduccion)

"¿Es usted un predicador o predicadora? ¿Se ha encontrado en ocasiones escaso de tiempo? ¿Desearia un recurso especializado extra?

El presente volumen es un recurso homiletico para auxiliar a los pastores, maestros y predicadores durante los dias y ocasiones especiales que, ineludiblemente llegan cada año. Incluye bosquejos, enriquecidos con comentario e ilustraciones para:

Año nuevo
Semana Santa
Dia del trabajo
Dia de la Biblia
Dia del niño
Dia de la madre
Dia del padre
Navidad

Sergio Altesor Ramos, ha sido profesor de homiletica, pastor en Uruguay y los Estado Unidos, y predicador desde sus 15 años. Es graduado del Florida Center for Theological Studies (Miami, FL)" (tomado de la contratapa).

Por el mismo autor, y util como recurso homiletico adicional, vea: Pulpito y Poesia: Recursos poeticos para la predicacion, la ensenanza y la devocion espiritual

Tambien por el mismo autor, pero sobre las relaciones humanas, Como Relacionarse Mejor: Manual de Tecnicas Para Desarrollar Relaciones Mas Satisfactorias, Dinamicas y Duraderas (Serie Recursos Ministeriales)

Whether you are a community development planner, in resource development, a child care provider, parent, or private-sector business, this is the bible of options available to employers in the work/life arena. For those jumping on the bandwagon to increase productivity, retention, and recruitment within their community or workforce, this is the book to get. For those enhancing the awareness to employers on the direct relationship that child care has on their bottom line.....this is the book. Filled with understandable, comprehensive information, this book is a must for any consultant, human resource manager, or anyone working within the child care arena. Folks, it's finally here...the message..."the reason that child care exisits, is because parents work." This book is for anyone who wants to affect productivity and profit margins in a positive manner.

Kevin Coyne proves that night is a place, one far different than day. Night uncovers a seperate world. In A Day in the Night of America, Kevin Coyne lets us live a night in the life of the people who keep America alive while most people sleep. From the police who roam the streets to those taking their final exam at Dunkin' Donuts University, you will be introduced to a very interesting group of people.