Bernard Books

Jeffrey Hatcher's play, which is based on George Bernard Shaw's novel _The Unsociable Socialist_ is a wonderfully funny play, with some delightful one-liners: the opening line "Hetty, I'm leaving you" is bound to catch the audience's attention. It also has a well mixed class of good roles for both men and women. A great alternative for those looking to do a period turn-of-the-century piece but are tired of doing yet another production of Oscar Wilde's _The Importance of Being Earnest_. Shaw purists beware, though, it is not totally faithful to the novel, there are some significant departures.

SMASH is a wonderful play about a young socialist who leaves his wife after only having been married for one hour so that he can try to make England a socialist country by first taking over a girls college. There are many obstacles which he must first overcome before obtaining the ultimate prize. SMASH is a gloriously humorous and an excellent choice for any small theater as well as any that aren't so small; not only because of any crowd it might draw, but is fun for anyone in the production staff as well. I would recommend it to anyone, even as just something to pick up and read for a good laugh.

This is an eclectic collection of testimonials by those occupying America's most infamous "no mans land," the intersection on the nation's Social grid between the dominant racist culture and those struggling to integrate it -- despite the nation's deep reservoir of racism.

In every instance, these are quiet but profoundly heroic tales about those struggling out on the very slippery precipice of our society trying to maintain a modicum of dignity while not genuflecting under the withering pressure to conform to the omnipresent racist norms and standards. Almost all have willingly paid the price in living lives, often of quiet desperation, always of self-imposed denial and always by distorting their own lives to coexist with a racist way of life.

More than anything else, this is a mostly upbeat reminder of how deeply embedded the newest form of racism, the seemingly more benign, yet much more (passive) aggressive form, is.

Even though this group straddling America's no mans land is slowly increasing, they remain stranded "in" but never completely "of" America. They are often brutally cut off by both sides of the color divide from the normal connections one would find in a more civilized society. Yet, they push on relentlessly, surprisingly making a much larger impact on the racist culture than their numbers would suggest.

Thank God for their courage! For the sake of the rest of us they must keep pushing!

In a more perfect world, or in an America that took its cherished values and principles seriously, there would be no need for these stories, or a need for telling them. This book proves, with dramatic "lived" evidence that in America, despite exaggerated claims to the contrary: the racists are still winning. Five Stars.

Emily Bernard tackles a complex and often uncomfortable subject with grace, humor, and true feeling. Her selection of contributors is intriguing and they approach the subject from all sorts of angles you might not expect. Truly a means to opening a very important dialogue.

This book was so riviting that I read it from cover to cover in four hours straight. I am a mother of a four year old high-functioning autistic boy. With the miriad of treatments now available I sometimes feel lost in my search to help my son. Reading Sound of a Miracle and other books told by mothers of autistic children and their struggles has helped educate me on what treatment options are available and where to focus my tedious research efforts. The author makes it clear that AIT does not produce miraculous results in every child, however, it did for her daughter and that's a story worth being told and read!

Georgiana (Georgie) was born on May 24, 1965. She made all developmental milestones within normal limits as did her older sister, Dotsy. Speech was the only major milestone that Georgie did not make during her early years. She was nonverbal until she was 4.

Georgie's mother had many overwhelming issues - a divorce when the girls were quite small; Georgie's aversion for any sound, music included and Dotsy's being diagnosed with leukemia at age 4.

Annabelle naturally has Georgie tested and sent to early intervention programs. The only place where Georgie appeared to have thrived was at Bellevue Hospital because, as Georgie explained years later, "it was quiet there." Dotsy's health plummets and she dies at the age of 8 in 1971. Georgie, then 6, was sent to a residential facility identified as "Childville."

Childville sounds like a genuine Chamber of Horrors. Georgie complains about the noise and staff dismiss her complaints. She is overmedicated and complains about how the medicines make her feel. She becomes hostile and displays aggression because she cannot tolerate noise. A social worker who sounded cruel and incompetent from the telling, identified as "Judith" seems determined to block and undermine any and all progress on Georgie's part. When Georgie shows an unusual balancing ability and begs for a skateboard, Judith refuses, telling Georgie's mother that Georgie is "overcompensating a fear." Fortunately Georgie gets her skateboard and is quite proficient on it.

Georgie is fortunate enough to have summers free of that institutional wasteland. Luckily for all, Annabelle marries Peter, a gentle, loving man. That union produces a brother and later a sister for Georgie. Peter has grown daughters from a previous marriage and it is in this loving, blended, extended family that Georgie blossoms.

Annabelle decides that Childville is just not the answer and withdraws Georgie in 1976. Peter had accepted a job in Switzerland, and naturally Georgie wanted to join her family. Childville staff threaten to keep Georgie by refusing to release her (how could this legally be done). Judith invokes just about every Freudian cliche possible to block Georgie's withdrawal from Childville. Fortunately, Peter and Annabelle withdraw Georgie and move to Switzerland. The medications are discontinued and for the next several years Georgie flourishes in Switzerland. She learns to ski, is mainstreamed and explains that her aversion for sound is due to having a heightened auditory sense. Luckily, she has been treated by several very humane doctors specially trained in Auditory Integration Therapy (AIT) and this treatment is continued during her years abroad. One can't help but cheer when Georgie dances in the rain, explaining that the rain "doesn't sound like a machine gun anymore." Georgie said AIT literally saved her life.

After several years abroad, the family returns to the United States. Georgie's records "mysteriously vanish" because the cruise ship she was on met with a disaster and several cartons had to be discarded. The disaster turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Free of previous baggage, Georgie attends a public school in Connecticut. She graduates as class valedictorian in 1984 and is currently happily married. She is now fluent in 6 languages including Arabic; is a gifted artist and very spiritual. Georgie is also an author. She has chronicled her life story in "Overcoming Autism," in which she promises readers that upon reading her book they will have a very clear understanding of what it means to have autism. The book is currently available on her web site, but it is worth reading. It is a book you will cherish.

Bernard Cafferty is the former editor of the British Chess Magazine and former weekly chess editor of the London Sunday Times. He is also an expert speaker and reader of the Russian language.
In this book he covers the career of the brilliantly aggressive and stunningly speculative Soviet Grandmaster Boris Spassky up to the point where he conquers Tigran Petrosian and becomes world champion. He then carries the story on to the celebrated match of the century against the mercurial Bobby Fischer. In other words, this book contains the very best of Boris Spassky. Spassky's games at their best exhibit an almost mystical feel for the initiative. At times material is offered for little tangible compensation, only for Spassky's forces to gather and deliver some unpredictable death blow. These games are classics and the comments to them are based on the best analyses of Soviet Grandmasters, in whose language Cafferty was, for a western chess writer, uniquely fluent.

the author bernard cafferty is a russia expert who followed spassky's chess career closely. spassky himself is famous as bobby fischer's opponent in the reykjvik match of the century between the reps of the usa and ussr.

spassky's games are vibrant with sacrifices and each one is painstakingly annotated.a very useful training kit as well as highly enjoyable!

This book sets the standard for sport marketing literature. Sport Marketing provides a good overview of marketing concepts and how they are applied to the sport product. Dr. Sutton is THE guru of sports marketing and delivers a quality instructional and practical guide for the serious sport manager.

If your job is to sell sports, you MUST own this book. Otherwise, you're just a sports wannabe who is constantly guessing about what works and what doesn't. It is the only book that shows you guaranteed ways to build sustainable attendance figures. It shows how factors such as your facility, your promotion efforts, location, pricing, and product relate with each other to provide an overall experience for your customers.

Get this book, use it, and change your career for the better!

Street Without Joy is an excellent work by Bernard Fall about the French War in Indochina (also known as the First Indochina War). It is an honest, hard hitting history book that traces the struggles of both the French and the Vietnamese as they fought an eight year long war mostly in the northern part of Vietnam.
Bernard Fall writing is clear and easy to follow for the average reader. He is at his best when giving an analysis on battles like Bac Khan (Operation Lea), the Border Campaign (with the Chinese border), and Dien Bien Phu. Fall puts these battles in perspective by comparing them with other battles in French military history (e.g. the Battle of Quebec was cited in comparison with the Border Campaign). In addition, he gives an excellent description of the nature of guerilla warfare, and how the French, fighting a conventional war, were unable to adapt to this form of war.
Although one may find history of the Vietnam War a touchy subject (especially when compared to today's war in Iraq), Street Without Joy is nevertheless an excellent book for anyone learning about counterinsurgency. I would recommend this book as part of the US Army's recommended reading list for leaders as opposed to books on the Civil War, which I find it to be more romance than serious history.

The French involvement in Vietnam or Indochina has always been fascinating. France vainly tried to hang on to its far-flung and difficult to administer far eastern colonies after WW II without success. Bernard Fall was by far the expert on this endeavor and explains the intracasies and operations conducted by France in this failed attempt at maintaining their grip on their doomed colonialism. The book is extremely detailed, insightful, and tactically precise. This book should have been commited to memory by our military and political leaders during the early to middle 60s. We may not have repeated the historical mistakes, or maybe it was fate that we did. Once you are finished with this book, immediately read Fall's "Hell in A Very Small Place." It is as equally excellent.

This book is great. This book allows one to peer into the harsh life of black soldiers. I was shocked how many on the WWII black soldier who re-enlisted had to give up their military rack just to fight in the war. I commend Mr. Nalty for telling the story of the Black Soldiers.

America's military has always touted itself as being the bastion of equal opportunity for Blacks. Just how true is this assertion? What exactly has been the military's attitude towards Blacks?

Strength for the Fight, a comprehensive history of Blacks in the military, examines the historical record and forces one to rethink the military's so-called benevolence to Blacks. Nalty's work brings up several facts regarding America's attitude in having Blacks serve in the military.

1. America never wanted to arm Blacks no matter how patriotic they were. Of course slavery and the possibility of insurrection played into their fears of having Blacks in the military.

2. Blacks serving in the military were there because of expedientcy not because they were willingly welcomed as equal partners.

3. Military icons thought Blacks were inferior soldiers and did their best to keep them in segregated units.

Those and other insights give you the tools to evaluate both the good and bad that the military has placed on Blacks. Everyone should remember that the military is a mirror image of the majority society. It changes out of necessity not because it needs to do the right thing. Nalty corrects the one sided view concerning the benevolence of the military and also gives the rich history of those who fought for America's freedom even when they themselves were not free. The major fault one can find in his work is a paucity of information regarding Black women in the military. Other than that this is an outstanding work which should be read by all ROTC cadets and leaders serving in the military. Pressing on inspite of the indignities layed on Black military men and women is the rich heritage that they pass on to future generations.

It can be called a bible of U-boat design.Because its writer has a long experience over the subject. I recommend all designer to have this book on their shelves!
Unfortunately it needs some modification by considering recent developments on submarine design.
It can be good for those who wanna design U-boats for themselves.But its reading needs some knowledge of general engineering.
I recommend it for all Submarine fans.
Regards/mit freunlichem gruess
M.Ranjbar (mehranjbar@hotmail.com)

Interested in Submarine design? Then this is the book for u! An easy to follow book on the different components that make up one of the best military vehicles/weapons.

Inspiring description of what visioning is, the value added of it and the power it gives to organizations to change for the better.

This book provides an overview of vision, visioning, leadership and examples of successful leaders but the authors warn us that little or no learning can be transferred from one organization to another because each requires its own distinct approach. Of all strategic management tools, visioning is usually rated first but satisfaction with its use receives a lower rating because a sound platform on which to grow a vision was missing. Visioning is the process by which leaders can articulate the future directions they wish to pursue, focusing on the future of the organization and its role in society. Forming a vision is a complex procedure involving a sophisticated process of discerning and equally sophisticated negotiations with all key stakeholders who need to be involved in achieving the vision. A motivating vision or one that produces "creative tension" implies innovation, departure from past practice and different organizational capabilities. In order to overcome indifference and resistance that major innovation provokes, a champion is required to identify the idea as his own, to promote it actively through informal networks and to risk his position and prestige to ensure the innovation's success. The champion must have the capacity to inspire and enthuse others with his vision of the potential of an innovation. A good place to start is to agree on what has been done well and what the group wants to continue to do well. A well-prepared vision should spontaneously help individuals to take decisions and free people to take initiative. The authors provide guidelines for promoting a shared perspective and generating a corporate vision.

One chapter is devoted to Allen Sheppard and GrandMet where the goal was to take a successful company, ensure it continued to be successful, and make it even more successful. Often this situation is more difficult than a typical turnaround, because people do not see the need to change. The top group developed a set of criteria for a vision statement that was so far reaching that it could not be publicized for two years but it led to the sale of 25 companies and the acquisition of Pillsbury. Another chapter presents the remarkable success story of Toray Industries and the role visioning played in its transformation in the decade from 1987. Describing the way in which vision works, H. Maeda said, "We keep the image in our minds at all times when we take decisions on various business matters. Keeping the picture of our company in say, ten year's time, we decide on management strategy and business policy. In a company of this size, the leadership of the president is absolutely crucial. He must be able to exercise his leadership at a fairly practical level, and have a management philosophy as well as an ability to manage. Another important quality he needs is the ability to win the hearts and minds of all employees and to inspire them to focus on the shared goal. I believe that a CEO must be prepared to hear everyone's views, let them discuss thoroughly matters that are important to management, and get totally involved in the process of building up consensus among directors. This will ensure that the future direction of the firm will become firmly established on shared values, but the important point is that there must be constant effort on the CEO's part to create and maintain a forum at which all directors can express their views freely to the CEO. There are many facets to leadership, but to put it simply, it is the ability of the leaders to anticipate what is coming, and the possession of the sense of balance in their judgement." Few people will read this book and not come away with ideas for improvement.

This is a good book because it covers the subject of "Southwest Louisiana Pop" music in great detail. Lots of names and quotes of the people who shaped the sound. The author did his homework and the reader gets a lot of info - a LOT. I have read this book several times because it is a great refresher course on the musicians, promoters, the night clubs, and what all.

Louisiana musicians have always gone their own way, fusing elements of various styles to create music of stunning beauty. One of the most creative and finely crafted forms is Swamp Pop, a fusion of Cajun, R & B, country, and pop styles. Shane Bernard has written a definative history of Swamp Pop based on extensive interviews with the makers of the sound. He discusses the diverse background of the music and its interracial origins. This book is essential for any collection of American music.