Indiana Books

I have to agree with Dr. Sadoff, and amplify, whereas most books on the subject tend to stick to anecdotal or biographical aspects of film music, Gorbman looks at and names what seems to be happening in the phenomena. Others of a more systematic discipline, will be empirically proving, for years, what Gorbman got right by observation. It is beyond a shame that this book is out of print, but the high price being asked is worth it, if you are seriously concerned with the subject.

This is one of the rare studies that addresses the way "underscoring" actually functions within the narrative feature film. The book is both theoretical and practical, i.e. film theory ("diegetic & non-diegetic" perspectives), and a practical model based on Max Steiner's "Hollywood" style. The concluding chapters deal with insightful analyses of a few films. This book could be beneficial for both composers and those seriously interested in film music.

applicable to literary theory as well. so well written, especially for a scholarly book! don't miss the conclusion, where you will be blown away. and the intense reading of "all about eve" will take your breath away.

This book is fascinating and compelling to read. I am thankful to Patricia White for doing all this research. I can't wait to watch these films.

This is a great academic book. It is a much-needed update from Bennett's "Monitor Lizards: Natural history, biology & husbandry" (1998), which has been out of print for a number of years.

Most known facets of monitor biology are described for each species in Pianka and Kings' book, with each species being addressed by a person familiar with the species. Captive issues are addressed almost solely by a European audience, which is unfortunate since there are some very successful monitor herpetoculturists in the United States who could have made the captivity dimensions of this book far more respectable.

The book's only fault worthy of mention here is that of photograph quality. You can likely find better photos via pictures of pet monitors on MySpace or Photobucket! Not only are most of the photographs of inferior composition, but the print reproduction is terrible - very hazey. The photographs seem more for being able to say "Look, we pictured each species" rather than "Look, you can use these photos to properly compare and IDENTIFY species." With these photos, your ability to do the latter is limited. Just the same, I don't feel this fault is so heavy a detractant to warrant deleting a star from its rating.

Very good book. Monitor biologists likely already have their copies. Monitor pet keepers who wish to apply common sense and integrate their species' natural ecologies into the captive regime should have this title.

This text includes detailed, accurate information on most types of monitor lizards. I consider it my "Monitor Bible." A must have for the enthusiast. Typically speaking the best monitor books are not around for long, so get it while you can. HIGHLY recommended!

One hundred years after the Vivekananda'a talks in Chicago at the World's Parliament of Religions in 1893, this book appears to trace and evaluate the spread of the Ramakrishna / Vedanta Movement in the USA. While he does no more than touch briefly on what the movement is doing presently in India, Jackson illustrates the peculiar forces at work in India and the US at the turn of the century that were so propitious to the movement's beginning. He shows the reasons for its early growth while so many other eastern religious imports languished and died, and sketches out the many causes of its later successes and failures. He does not go deeply into the theology or spirituality of Vedanta, but gives a brief summary of the lives of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda and their general teachings, and he contrasts the movement with the more modern USA phenomena of Krishna Consciousness and Transcendental Meditation. He suggests some of the strengths and weaknesses that will affect its future success. Most of the history of the movement has been written from within; it is good to have an outsider and a professional historian give his interpretation and present the various sides of the conflicts that have arisen. I think he presents an informative, objective, and balanced picture.

Written by a professor of history at the University of Texas, this medium sized book tells the story of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement from it's asian and American preconditions, through it's origination, through it's first twenty difficult and upheaveled years up to the present time (ca. 1993). It also deals with questions like, how the organisation compares to other hindu groups in America, what the typical member looks like (, although this is based on too spare materials,), then what of the movements teachings appeals to western people etc. Highlights are topics like schisms, or the exclusion of of a swami from the organisation, who was a direct disciple of Ramakrishna. Then the many deaths of hartatacks of swamis, even one bombing. Although a scientific book, it reads nearly as easy as a novel. The number of facts Jackson has collected is amasing. Since he knows so much about the movement he can afford to write complitely unemotionally about the topic. Some of the critical statements he has hidden in the notes, probably for not totally offending the swamis. It has to be said, that this is not a spiritual book. The author avoids any spiritual statements. It's after all a history book.

Illustration quality is very high. The photos and captions bring back a lot of good memories for me about growing up in Vincennes. If your hometown is Vincennes Indiana then this book is a must. You'll find you can't put it down. Each page with great old photos wiil have you thinking and talking about those simpler times. Remember when.............

Well done. Excellent coverage. What a host of memories this book evoked!! I grew up in Vincennes during these years. When I told my son about the book, he immediately ordered one for him and one for his sister. I have gone through the book and written notes for them regarding each photo that had special meaning for me.

I was disappointed that Smith Hardware (now Beard's) was not mentioned or pictured--even though it was across the street from Clean Towel Service, page 12. I worked in Smith's office summers during my high school years.

Dante's Vita Nuova is an unusual work: Dante alternates between verse passages, describing his love for Beatrice, and prose passages which comment critically and meditatively on the verses. This edition of the work provides editor Mark Musa's translation of the prose and verse passages, plus the original Italian text of the verses. Moreover, the second half of the book contains a comprehensive critical analysis and essay by Mark Musa running to 120 pages. So this volume is an all-in-one text-and-commentary edition.

Dante's Vita Nuova is an unusual work: Dante alternates between verse passages, describing his love for Beatrice, and prose passages which comment critically and meditatively on the verses. This edition of the work provides editor Mark Musa's translation of the prose and verse passages, plus the original Italian text of the verses. Moreover, the second half of the book contains a comprehensive critical analysis and essay by Mark Musa running to 120 pages. So this volume is an all-in-one text-and-commentary edition.

This book is well written and was very helpful in my research for an independent study that I am doing for college credit. The writing style was interesting and held my attention.

Voicing Gender is a beautifully written and meticulously researched addition to the growing body of scholarship on women in opera. Naomi Andre has made much-needed, insightful connections between castrati, travesti, and women's characters -- these insights are firmly grounded in opera of the nineteenth century but resonate throughout opera of the twentieth century as well. This book is strongly recommended for Women in Music, Opera, and Gender and Performance studies. A thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating read.

This is a classic of modern Taiwanese literature. Fourteen short stories of different characters in post-war Taipei -- realistic yet dream-like. It marks the end of pre-communism China and the beginning of another era in Taiwan. The narration is powerful and vivid, the technique a milestone of the Chinese language literature. A real treasure.

This is a classic of modern Taiwanese literature. Fourteen short stories of different characters in post-war Taipei -- realistic yet dream-like. It marks the end of pre-communism China and the beginning of another era in Taiwan. The narration is powerful and vivid, the technique a milestone of the Chinese language literature. A real treasure.

Though this book was written by an academic, it is accessible and indeed gripping reading for anyone with even a passing interest in sadhu culture, philosophy, and spirituality. Anyone who has been to India, and has seen sadhus, has no doubt wandered what their world is all about. Hausner has spent years wandering with them to find out, and in this book she brings what she has found to her readers in a way that is both informative and neither glorifies nor dismisses the complexities of their world -- you'll come away knowing more than ever, and wanting to know even more.

An extremely well written book about an aspect of Hindu society little known to Westerners. Hausner presents a depth of ethnographic detail that exhibits remarkable research and insight. Anyone interested in either anthropology or sociology can benefit from reading this book for the methodological expertise as well as for the content. A must read for anyone studying asceticism and/or ethnographic research.

Given the central role of World War II in American culture, most Americans know surprisingly little about its impact on German civilians at the end stage of the war. More, the Germans themselves, copying the American view of W.W.II as the absolutely "good, clean, just war we won" over the absolutely bad and collectively guilty Germans, have shown little interest in remembering their own war experiences. Since the Allies' goal to get rid of a criminal regime had been good, very few if any questions were asked about their means, such as the American and British fire-bombing, especially late in the war and using new and devastating technology. It is still controversial in the U.S. and in Germany to discuss the wholesale destruction of German cities and the mass killing of civilians in terms other than the richly deserved punishment of the defeated. But the extent and manner of this destruction was an important part of that arguably worst war in Western historical memory and it needs to be analyzed and remembered as such. Based on a wealth of new historical and contemporary documents, Barnouw's new book The War in the Empty Air discusses the political uses of the memory of W.W.II in their impact on the history of the German and American experience of that war. Anticipating accusations that German interest in their own memories meant disrespect for the uniqueness and centrality of the Holocaust, the German intellectual and political elites have over many decades censored them so that they only recently began to be discussed more openly. Barnouw welcomes this beginning of a more inclusive, more questioning, more historical narrative of W.W.II, not only in Germany, because it might enable more people to learn more about and from that huge human disaster that was W.W.II. Instructively, one of her topics is the invocation in the post-war era of the Good, Just W.W.II to justify America's unjust wars and war-like interventions, a prime example being the invasion of Iraq. To quote from one of the reviews at Amazon.co.uk: "Barnouw's book covers the ground thoroughly. It is a book for the thoughtful reader." Given the catastrophic situation in Iraq and the current critical interest in the politics of the Israel Lobby, it is also a very timely book.

This book is an examination of thinking about World War II from the German side. Right after the war a series of photographic essays were published by the Allies showing the concentration camps and the inhumanity shown by the Nazi's on conquered people. These images seem to have created a skeleton in the closet that in turn became difficult to discuss.

Now that sixty years have passed since the end of the war, and the integration of what were two Germanies into one, there appears to be an awakening of discussion about the war. Perhaps there will be a merging of the horror of Auschwitz with the horror of Dresden.

I notice though there is very little such discussion coming from Japan. Nothing appears to have been Japan's fault. They were going peacefully along when all of a sudden we started dropping atomic bombs on them.