Minnesota Books

Steven McDowell is a wonderful storyteller. "Chasing the Minnesota Moon" spans the county, along with your range of emotions, in telling the story of Paulette Swenson's life. There are surprises, twists and turns and Mr. McDowell knits the story together in a way that makes it extremely hard to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am anxiously awaiting his next.

Wavering between four or five stars.

Although he is an academic, rather than being cumbersome, Friedmann's book feels like he sat down and simply wrote off the top of his head all that he knew about the subject. This is a good thing. It doesn't get bogged down and it reads well. It does have explanatory notes, but the notes themselves are interesting and the book is slim. The first chapter is the best, concise introduction to the history of the Chinese city out there. As a planner practicing in China, I even learned quite a bit. Other chapters deal with the migrant mobility, urbanization in the countryside, regional policies, governance, and social aspects among others.
This book is best for someone who does not know much about China but wants quick introduction to what is happening in Chinese cities today.

I have to admit, this wasn't a book I thought I'd read, but I came across it in a college library, glanced through it and ultimately later decided to buy and read it. I was surprised at the odd ways that decisions are made by everyday people, and the misconceptions upon which those decisions are made. Once explained, the reality of some premises was quite clear, and I could even see where I myself had been led astray in my own decision making on more than one occasion. This is a clearly written work that even the average reader will understand and appreciate.

My family once lived in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was near West Seventh Street and the memories I have of visiting are many, vivid and wonderful. When I saw Jerry Fearing's book, Christmas on West Seventh Street, I wanted to devour it. The stories are wonderful and the cartoons added to the book. It was simply a blast to the past.

It's 1940 and the depression is becoming a dim memory. The United States wasn't involved in WWII yet and people were doing all the things they did in the `good ole days.' They played hockey, took their sleds to Irvine Park, listened to the radio and went to movies. And kids actually left the house (at age 10) and wandered the streets without the intense supervision of adults. It was heaven-and a time like we'll never see again.

In 1940 we saw the Armistice Day Blizzard (do people even know what Armistice Day was?) where many died. Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for his third term and Jerry Fearing drew cartoons for the occasion. One of them caused some problems with the nuns at school. Fearing remembers that kids walked everywhere. And he learned that if you strayed into another, tougher neighborhood there might be trouble.

In Fearing's world, Christmas was Christ's birthday to everyone but the kids. The kids lived for the `stuff.' Fearing remembers his father's contribution to the festivities (besides paying the bills). He took everyone to buy the Christmas tree. The trees weren't flocked; most were short-needled pines and didn't cost more than a dollar or two. The nostalgia of a Jerry Fearing Christmas brings to mind my own Christmases of long, long ago.

For a trip down memory lane of your own earlier days, enjoy Fearing's life on West Seventh Street in this book.

Armchair Interviews says: A Christmas gift worth giving to those that remember.

Although Deleuze mentions that this bookfs aim is to make a typology on cinema, for readers, it will be the object of thought more than that. In this book, Deleuze considers many films in which time is not subordinate to movement any longer (the time-image). His way of developing theory is like Bergsonfs one on time and memory, but his theory of time has variations that are reflected in various films and becomes a profound notion of the world with dynamic extension. Deleuze proposes us not only new concepts through films but also the question: What is the world? Deleuze creates a system on cinema as same as he analyzes clearly what is new and what is different from the past films in films of neo-realism or the new wave. While many people have mentioned to genres in films, Deleuzefs analysis of the border between the genres is one of the most precise.

If you had gCinema 1: The Movement-Imageh, this book would be more interesting for you because you could compare the two books. Moreover, this book treats so many films that you must find ones you have ever seen, which makes this book more fascinating.

Harry Boyte has written an approachable book calling citizens to be engaged in our democracy. Using compelling real-life examples of citizen action that has prompted change, the book helps us to rethink the meaning of democracy as not something we elect for but that something that requires all citizens to build every day.

Michael Kackman's CITIZEN SPY: TELEVISION, ESPIONAGE AND COLD WAR CULTURE provides the first comprehensive survey of prime-time secret agents during the Cold War, considering how media depictions of such agents fired the American imagination and helped public approval of intelligence actions. These documentaries also reinforced the media's approval of government policies - until the Red Scare weakened and spy shows turned to criticizing their own ideals.

In twelve essays drawn from papers dealing primarily with the fifteenth century, but spanning England, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, various authors deal with public events- like victory celebrations, signing of a city charters, tournaments, and coronations of a kings- as not only expressions of popular culture but as intercessory actions between the populace and those in power. Hanawalt and Reyerson have divided their collection into four sections that deal successively with municipal and royal relationships, public and private religious expressions, discord in urban ceremonies, and political overtones in public entertainments. Of particular interest is Sheila Lindenbaum's "Ceremony or Oligarchy: The London Midsummer Watch," in which she describes the way a show of power in the processional visibility of the mayor reinforces an oligarchic control over an unquiet city in London of 1521.

A masterpiece. Christopher Fynsk thoughtfully seeks to secure a foundation for the Humanities upon what he calls "The Claim of Language". Enthusiasts of nuanced and powerful thinking - of Heidegger and Blanchot especially - are certain to find this and Fynsk's other books indispensable.

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