Texas Books

All That's Left to You is a sad reminder of all that was lost by the Palestinian people in 1948. Families were separated, yet a nation was born from their sorrow. This novella is the second in what became a trilogy of the evolution of Palestinian consciousness. It is here that their anger erupts. It is here that a nation begins to hear the plea of the author himself - salvation comes through actions, not through memories. A most interesting and important aspect of the novella is Kanafani's accurate portrayal of a woman's heart. This story must be recognized as a contribution to feminist literature. The main female character struggles within the parameters of a deeply paternalistic society under military occupation to come to terms with her sexuality and her shattered dreams. It is through her that the nation will be reborn. Kanafani utilizes excellent literary devices and the translation by Kirkpatrick is superb. The reader is advised to read Men in the Sun first if possible.

Like all other Kanafani works, this book was a tremendous pleasure to read and at the same time intensely thought-provoking. "All that's left to you" contains, in addition to the title novella, a selection of Kanafani's short stories. All the stories in this anthology share the feature for which Kanafani has no contestant: the seamless changes of voice within a story, often from paragraph to paragraph, sometimes from sentence to sentence. Thus we explore the trials and tribulations of the five main characters in "All that's left to you", not as outsiders or even as one of the characters, but as each one of the characters in turn. The reader is made to travel invisibly from the mind of one of the characters to that of another, miles away, to learn what they are both thinking at the same instant. This is as close to a drama or a movie as one can get in a short story, or perhaps even better. It is also interesting to see how certain threads unify the narrative. Time, for instance, whom Kanafani even declared at the start to be actually a character, is one such thread. The layers of symbolism in the story destine it to be very deep reading for decades to come. Yet the novella is so fascinating, it is very difficult to put the book down. The short stories in the anthology are equally fascinating, each in its own right. They don't lack from the changes in voice that is present in "All that's left to you", and they also have their share of critical plot twists right at the end of the story. Thus be prepared to completely change your perspective after reading the last sentence of each story.

From the DJ: Often described as the primary mover behind the Mexican Revolution, Ricardo Flores Magon was a liberal journalist working in Mexico in 1900. By 1910 and the Revolution, he was a radical anarchist in exile in the U.S. This book studies Magon's transformation during those crucial ten years, placing his changing ideas in the context of the liberal movement in Mexico, government suppression, the development of the "Partido Liberal Mexicano" in the US, and thwarted attempts at revolution in 1906 and 1908. The first work to concentrate on Magon himself, this book makes clear the journalist's significance in Mexican history and explains modern Mexico's growing appreciation for him.

This study of Ricardo Magon is a fabulous addition to any library's collection on the Revolution. It is thoughtful, well-researched and entertaining.

I think this book is great. It illustates pioneering in a unique way. History buffs of all ages will enjoy it.

All three of these paper doll books are wonderful, they combine history and art to create an interactive experience for the child to treasure always. I highly suggest getting two copies, one to cut out and one to treasure forever :)

Author's field works and photographs document changes in the way people and their environment interact. Book design: Heidi Haeuser.

Nigel Smith is a longtime student of the Brazilian Amazon. In this illustrated book, he attempts to capture the social, economic and environmental reality of the estuary region of the Amazon river, where it meets the Atlantic Ocean.

This is a wonderfully illustrated book, with the pictures going a long way in capturing the reality of the region. The region is quite peculiar even within the Amazon in that it suffers the influence of the Ocean, with ingredients such as daily tides and beaches that are not common elsewhere in the Amazon.

The social and economic contrasts are vast: on the one hand, there is the city of Belem, with over 1 million people and a cosmopolitan feel to it; on the other hand, you have the people who live in the banks of the thousands of rivers that crisscross each other on the way to the Ocean, living very simple lives, often without electricity. The book depicts, with few words and many images, the distinct local living conditions.

The environmental aspect, which makes the region all the more interesting, is present throughout. Despite an economy heavily dependent on natural resources, especially in the Marajo island, the author presents an ecossystem that is often well integrated with man. For example, he demonstrates how people survive off gathering acai (a local plant), crab or eels, in such a way that the resources are naturally replenished.

The sweet sea is clearly a distinct region from the rest of the Amazon, and hence deserves unique attention. The books gives one a full view of life there (human or not), which is quite amazing. I highly recommend this book for the armchair voyageur, or to someone considering visiting Belem and surroundings. It will definitely give you a perspective that most of the locals don't even have.

This is the best book on Airports that I have ever read. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in this important subject.

"America's Airports" is a valuable addition to the historical literature on the development of flight in the United States. One could argue that the ability to fly is the critical technology of the twentieth century and airports are a critical piece of the infrastructure of this technology. Anyone who has spent hours cooling their heels in airports--and who hasn't--will attest to their significance.

Now Janet Bednarek, one of the permier historians of aviation in America, has written a book on the rise of these institutions from their origins as grass strips to the paved runways and terminals that offered a variety of amenities. In so do, she chronicles the development of airways, air traffic control systems, and the other components of airports from restaurants to rental car agencies.

A core part of Bednarek's book is its discussion of how the airports started as private endeavors and evolved into huge government institutions with local, state, and federal involvement. How and why this took place is a critical element in the history of aviation in the United States. At a fundamental level, this resulted from the seizing of the technology of the airplane for government purposes through the air mail, military operations, etc. Additionally, the cost of operating the technology ensured that it could not remain a wholly private endeavor and that public funds had to be invested for the advancement of the air system. Most Americans accepted this as an important investment in the future of the nation and did not question these expenditures.

By 1947, Bednarek concludes, the basic system of public/private involvement in the airport infrastructure had been solidified and that is where she ends her study. I hope she will continue it in another book, bringing the history of American airports up to the recent past.

Reluctantly, I gave this book five stars. It's not a five-star book at all by amazon.com standards. It's a ten-star book (at least). It's the best short story collection I've read in years. Brazaitis is a master of the form. Every single story is precise, powerful, poignant. This collection deserves a lot more attention than it's getting. I don't know what's up with the Texas Review Press, but AN AMERICAN AFFAIR was published in Fall 2005, and a cover image is still not here on amazon.com in February 2006. It's a shame that one of the big publishing houses didn't get this extraordinary book and promote it in the way it deserves. It would be a national bestseller.

While Mark Brazaitis's RIVER OF LOST VOICES was an extraordinary debut, he has come into his own as a master storyteller in AN AMERICAN AFFAIR. Together, the two volumes cement his place as the leading chronicler in American fiction of the ins and outs of life in Guatemala. Brazaitis is uniquely qualified to do this work, by his extensive in-country experience (in the Peace Corps) and by his nuanced understanding of the contexts-historical, social and political-in which his stories take place. Brazaitis's background in history (a B.A from Harvard) and comprehensive reading about Guatemala enable him to ground the action of his stories in the reality of place in a way that is extraordinary in expatriate fiction. The ghost of Graham Greene animates this work, and that is a high compliment.

While many of the stories in AN AMERICAN AFFAIR do have a political edge-and this is one of their virtues, they teach-Brazaitis never allows politics to hijack a story. Indeed, it is in the mastering of narrative that these stories move forward from his previous work: every piece in the collection, no matter what formal strategy it pursues, maintains a spanking pace. Brazaitis has done a remarkable job of wedding the concerns of serious fiction with the narrative pull of the best popular fiction. That this book is written to a high literary standard is evident by its winning the George Garrett Prize in Short Fiction. But readers will not need the prize citation to recognize just how good the book is: the prose is extremely economical and yet also beautiful; the movement of the sentences is so assured, no word, no pause out of place.

Brazaitis has a deep understanding of the many ways of being human, and this allows him to convincingly tell stories from the perspective of men and women, Americans and native Guatemalans. Because he is able to inhabit so many different points of view, the world of AN AMERICAN AFFAIR achieves a kind of 3-D vividness. It's there in each particular story, but the stories together suggest a whole world, as multifarious as reality itself. As readers, we both know the stories we read and come to believe that each of the minor characters must also have a story to tell. And we've no sooner finished AN AMERICAN AFFAIR then we want to hear those stories...

I would like to single out "Air Conditioning and Heat," "The Foreign Correspondent," and "Iris, Thirty Years Later," as three of the best stories I've read in years (and I've read plenty). All three delve deep into the heart of the matter. They generate both pathos and understanding; they move us, so what's said can count deep down. These stories can stand with the best short fiction written by an American writer in the last 10 years.

There are few species of birds better known to the general public than the Robin; with it's red breast and distinctive voice, few can say they have little affection for it. This book, as slim as it is, is a wonderful portrait of this cherished bird. It was a pleasure to read, and very informative to boot. One cannot but gain a better appreciation for the Robin by reading this book.

Author Wauer has given us more than a delightful book of cheer. Who is there that does not love a robin? I have been a lifetime observor or robins, but learned many new things about my old friend. The pictures chosen for this volume are outstanding and capture this little guy in a charming way. Our thanks for such a warm picture of the American Robin.

I went right to the middle section of this book to read about The Haskell Silk Mills in Westbrook, Maine. Why? Because my Great Grandfather Edwin Haskell was the founder. Excellent research by the author and her obvious love of the subject matter gave us, the Haskell descendants, an incredible look at the success and subsequent failure of this local business. I learned much more about my forebears and the operation of the mills than I had picked up anecdotally all these many years. If you have an interest in the textile industry in New England or in fact, anywhere. This is a wonderful read about the days before the synthetics came to town.
Ben Haskell
Brewer, ME

Co-authored by a former costume curator, a professor of math and science history, and a costume curator, three top authors create a high-quality scholarly analysis of an industry in AMERICAN SILK 1830-1930: ENTREPRENEURS AND ARTIFACTS. At one time America's silk industry was the largest in the world, so even though it hasn't nearly the stature today, it's an essential piece of American and business history. Here three case studies of silk company production mills span the heyday of the silk industry era and cover the technological and social issues surrounding silk. A key college-level title for any holding serious about American and American business history.

True mystery, true events, truly engaging reading. The other side of the moral values of the land of Bush is revealed in this exciting read. Five stars for sheer entertainment in reading.

This is a must read for those who find truth stranger than fiction and prefers their mystery reading torn from the pages of today's headlines. The stories are real, exciting and chocked full of everything mystery lovers enjoy. The editing is superb, the writing top notch.

I read this book some years ago (about 1994 or 5) and it stays with me every day. What Montejano has done for Texas in telling its social and racial history sheds light into the complex contemporary tensions of the southwest. He skillfully uncovers the racial and class subordination of people with Mexican ancestry. I found this book to be extraordinarily enlightening and useful in interpreting California history. What he does best in the book is isolate the racism of Anglos in the Southwest targeting Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. If you're looking for a quick snippet to get a feel for the book, I recommend chapter 10 on "Segregation". I can only hope that Montejano will grace us with more books.

I can not tell you how many copies of this book I have given away. Why? Because if you're visiting Texas, or have just moved here, and you don't "get" it (& why would you?), or have lived here a while but have been only subjected to the official story, you MUST read this book. But it's not only Texans -- new and veteran -- who need to read this. If you are interested in Southwestern U.S. history, you need to read it, and if you're interested in a very good case study of how "race" and class work together, against each other, and are intertwined in very complicated ways, you need to read this. And any student of civil rights movements will benefit from Montejano's analysis.

Montejano's writing is clear and direct, without being oversimplified. You'll be grateful you read this book, and probably keep coming back to it....things that may not make sense at first will become clearer with time. If only more history was written this well.