Bruno Books

I think that "Serious Surveillance for the Private Investigator" is a great book for anyone interested in surveillance and investigation. I found several good ideas , but as I like Computer Forensics, I've read too "Le Guide du Cyberdétective", published in France by Editions Chiron, ISBN 2702707831, with interesting things about software surveillance

This is a case of a simple minded man writing a simple, useless, and outdated book. How anyone can conduct surveillance (exclusively)out of a van is beyond me. I've been tracking people for 18 years and getting film of what they do. Life is just too fast moving to sit in a van. Investigators must be responsive on short notice; that means using a host of vehicles to suit whatever situation is at hand. Bob just sits in his van; worse yet, his cloned backup shows up in another van. Bob had a heat stroke from sitting in his van. Had to be rushed to the hospital. Give me a Toyota extended cab with a good AC, I'll use my wits to set up and run a smart surveillance; and be quick and fresh when its time to follow and film. If you can't follow then you can't film! Bob gives the following bad advise: he says: give the attorney the original film (Hey Bob, attorneys lose stuff!); he says: don't film the claimant if he changes his tire because everyone will think you flattened the tire (Hey Bob, film everything!); he says: when the claimant departs, just sit and wait for him to come back (Hey Bob, learn to follow and get the film wherever the claimant goes)I would fire someone for using Bob's static approach. Nothing worth spending money for here.

Please note that this review is not intended as, nor should it be construed as, an assessment of Mr. Bruno's skills in and/or knowledge of the private investigation profession. I personally consider Mr. Bruno to be one of the premier investigators in the nation, especially in the area of covert surveillance.

As a licensed private investigator, college instructor of private investigation courses, and an experienced covert surveillance operative, I can personally tell you that the title of this book is highly misleading. This book contains little information regarding actual covert surveillance techniques/procedures - certainly nothing worthy of the title. As always, be fully aware of what you are purchasing and you won't be disappointed.

Bruno's book is good for those investigators that have the time and resources to equip a van specifically for covert surveillance. I can personally tell you however that I, like most private investigators, perform the vast majority of my surveillance activities using my personal vehicle, which I have equipped accordingly. So if you are looking to equip a surveillance van, this book might be what you are looking for; other than that, I would advise against purchasing this title.

If you are looking for a title that actually contains useful (emphasis added) surveillance techniques/procedures, I would highly recommend: "Covert Surveillance: The Manual of Surveillance Training" by Peter Jenkins (ISBN: 0953537803). I have had the pleasure of reading this fine text, which I consider to be the only covert surveillance techniques/procedures book worth recommending. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a copy for purchase.

As always, check with your local library or bookstore to see if you can read/review this or any title before deciding to make a purchase. This method has effectively allowed me to make the most of my investigative library budget.

I hope you found this review helpful. [...]

When this book was written it was the first one on the market for anyone seeking ANY kind of information on surveillance. While I am the first to agree this book is way past it's time several things still prevail. It has been said that the title is misleading. I guess that would be a matter of perspective. When I spoke of SERIOUS, I was referring to the amount of money one spends on buying the best equipment out there to do the job with. At the time of the writing, what I had was state of the art. While, several of you would disagree about "Doing one thing, about converting and old van into a surveillance van" is all the book is about. I have a couple of comments about that, that anyone doing surveillance should agree with. Once you are outside of your vehicle, your danger rate goes up about 90%. Your personal danger that is. If you stay in your van, or vehicle and stay far enough away, with powerful lenses you should have no problem being "Made". Your only concern are those around you. While at the time, I had serious competitors, I have now retired and can say what I want. I purposely left things out of the book so they could not see what we were really doing. If you live in NY, I would agree, this book is not for you. If you are over 40 you should have a van. Why? Comfort.
This may be a mobile society, but being scrunched up in the back of an SUV is not my idea of doing a complete surveillance. We did a survey and found (This was all based on insurance surveillance) that men made terrible claimants. They couldn't stay indoors for a full 8 hours. (We would be on station for up to 10) We knew they would come out for air and we knew we would catch them on film. When they became mobile, we casually followed. They may go to the doc's office, they may go to physical thereapy and finally they may go to the grocery store. When they do, THAT was the video I wanted and needed. I had plenty of time to set up, plenty of time to capture those most needed moments. I kept my distance (we) and the claimants never knew they were even followed. O.k. I missed them going into the doc's office. So what did I miss? Them opening the door, them limping? What? SO I missed them going into physical thereapy, I got them coming out. I got that famous limp. Was that enough?
Not really. But I got them coming out of the grocery store carrying 6 bags of groceries. 3 in each arm! Was that worth it? One has to decide what, during their day they would hope to capture on film. We knew age groups, ethnic backgrounds and work they did before the injury. Statistics was a good precursor to what we would see that day. While it did not always work, in 80% of the cases it did. If the claimant was a welder, you can bet your boots at one time or another he will do it again, injury or not. Same with other blue collar fields.
About my reports. During and up till the time I retired, most attorneys did NOT want a report and allow the video tape to do the talking. I did my best to detail every movement of the claimant, but all that happened was the attorney never produced it. In fact I was told time and again to either not create one, but If I had to, do it generically. No specifics.
So now you all know why and what was SERIOUS. You would show up to a job site with no tools, would you? And if you did, you didn't buy them in the home section at Wally mart did you? NO, spend the money. Borrow it(The money) and be serious about what you are about to embark on. Remember, buying cheap is buying twice. I am placing my e-mail address in here for feedback if you desire. I am not looking to be harranged, just what about the parts I left out? AND there were many. Look at the date of the writing. You won't find a book on amazon older than it. BUt to this day, the knowledge still applies. I can't tell you how many times I have seen investigators doing surveillance out of mini vans, with dark tinted windows, no plate and their vin covered up. This also goes for SUV's. When you get older, comfort is a big issue. As far as "Being a mobile society" Well, if one is doing domestice work. I would have to agree. WHile that is a way to make a living, to me it's seedy. Not my style. I could write another book, but I guarantee you, by the time it came out, several database companies will be out of business and a new camera format will prevail. In fact, as far as filming goes my book was outdated the day it hit the market. At least equipment wise. I retired at age 53 and live very comfortably. Look at yourself, and where you are. I must have done something right. As far as an author goes, well, I could use some help, I sure am not denying that. E-mail me, I'll tell you what I couldn't in the book. That way, you'll get your moneys worth. [...] and good luck. Bob Bruno

Having spent a great amount of years carrying out surveillance both for the government and in the Private sector, I can honestly say that this book has to be one of the worst I've ever read on the subject.

As someone else said, it should be entitled "How to Equip a Surveillance Van". It tells practically nothing about anything else - no real tactics (unless you include "blasting through a red light!") - and is of no benefit at all to a new surveillance operative. It will more than likely get you compromised, and also fired if you use the shoddy outdated report format the author suggests!

The book is in dire need of an update - but even then, unless the content changes dramatically, it would still be of no use. In my opinion, the best book on the market at the moment is "Advanced Surveillance" by Peter Jenkins - even old hands can learn a trick or two from it. Buy that if you want to learn - don't waste your money on serious surveillance - its a serious joke.

Mr. Fisher takes the most controversial case in the twentieth century and shucks off all the wild conspiracies. After reading Fisher's cogent explanation, on can only believe that collective hysteria fueled all the earlier conspiracy books. Mr. Fisher reveals taht Hauptman was a criminal
who left Germany facing jail time. The guards find Hauptman's tray is missing a spoon. They shake down his cell and discover he has already fashined the spoon handle into a shive. Is this an innocent man or a veteran of jailhouse society? Hauptman quits work within days of the kidnapping and starts living the high life. Did the police frame him?
Bring in the missing board and plant it in the attic--to match with the ladder? No way. No need to read another book. Hauptman did it! Fisch was only his invented alibi. Bravo, Mr. Fisher!

When I was a teenager I read several Kennedy Conspiracy theory books. The problem with them is that there was always someone new who did it. One time the mafia and the next Castro and the next time the CIA and the next all did it together. That is the way with conspiracy theories. And we the public believe it because we don't realize that so many of these conspiracy cases are based on manufactured effidence and hearsay. Jim Fisher gets it right with this book because he sticks with the effidence from the scene of the crime. The letter was written by Hauptmann. You don't have to be a hand writing expert to figure that out. He also had quite a bit of the ransom money in his garage. One Critic said Fisher didn't address issues like the defense experts claiming the wood wasn't from Hauptmann's attic. Anyone knows that you can find an expert to agree with you no matter what the facts happen to be.

"The Lindbergh Case", Jim Fisher, Rutgers Univ. Press, NJ, 1987 ISBN: 0-8135-1233-6, HC 430 pages plus 30 pages of Notes, Sources & Index plus 22 B & W photographs. 10 1/4" x 7 1/4".

Jim Fisher, lawyer, previous FBI agent and teacher of Criminal Justice, has chronicaled, rather tersely, the A to Z of the Lindbergh case using records not previously released until 1981, the NJSP records and the Hoffman papers, etc.

The author's writing style blends factual or verbatim quotations with a thoughtfully reconstructured conversational dialogue that admittedly departs from the purest journalism, but garners acceptance by utilizing adequate notes, etc. to effect a pleasant conversational style prose that makes reading almost effortless and ought not alter veridicality.

A lot of "loose ends" are tied or concluded, and many factoids are included so that much detail prevails that appeared lacking in previous books I've read on this case, some of them via Notes but others spelled out in great details, i.e. the details and results of the jury's many votings, the verdicts and setting & re-setting of execution dates, last minute appeals, etc. However, in the end, the reader like the author will find the evidence given to the jurors is compelling beyond a reasonable doubt. It is a long book and the print is small, but the intent, the evidence, and its presentation provides a cerebrally ambitious journey for the reader.

Jim Fisher's book is an excellent achievement. He brought forth many facts and pieces of evidence which had never previously been disclosed. He has done a great service to Lindbergh researchers everywhere.

However, his exuberance and desire to prove Hauptmann guilty have resulted in several problems. First, he creates dialogue based on letters and documents contained within the archives. However, the substance of the dialogue creates false impressions. For example, there is a fictitious conversation during which Hauptmann suggests that he would enter a plea bargain if different police authorities handled the case. Th actual letter merely states that Hauptmann once asked if he could ever expect leniency. The differences between the facts and the created dialogue are striking and significant.

Additionally, Fisher relies upon the word of a former archivist as a citation in support of several claims, such as the folding of a $20.00 gold certificate found on Hauptmann's person when he was arrested. The official documents do not support the previous archivist's assertions.

In conclusion, while Fisher's book offers remarkable evidence and demonstrates significant time and effort in research, there are certain factual errors and created dialogue which take a great deal away from this book. I do recommend it though.

In the midst of revisionist books presenting improbable coverup and frameup accounts gullibly swallowed by a naive reading public and seized upon by anti-government types, Jim Fisher has taken us back to the essentials of the Lindbergh-Hauptmann affair and presented the evidence and the simple truth of the case. Bruno Richard Hauptmann, an illegal alien and a petty criminal in his homeland, kidnapped and murdered the Lindbergh baby for profit. Not a pretty story but in the real world it makes a whole lot more sense than massive conspiracies in which all the evidence is manufactured and all the witnesses are lying. Hauptmann did it and Hauptmann deserved to die for it. End of story. And Fisher tells like it was.

Given the facts revealed in this book,the obvious question is,how did Bettelheim dominate the field of Autism for so long?There was an army of people who defended Bettelheim and attacked his critics of the dimensions of Bush and Iraq.One of his critics,a fellow professor at the U of Chicago was assaulted with a baseball bat.
A separate book could be written on the media outlets that artificially inflated every book by Bettelheim.
One lead might be the Ford Foundation giving him almost half a million in the 1950's,at a time when Ford was a CIA conduit and the CIA was involved in mind control experiments that had their focus on sensory deprivation and sensory overload.

The Creation of Doctor B: A Biography of Bruno Bettelheim
I read Bruno Bettelheim books when he was the guru of child psychiatry in the 50's and 60's and thought they were excellent. Now this book exposes the truth about him. It is quite interesting and anyone who still believes in his methods should really read it.
Jane Gaschke

Pollak's book is a long-needed, well-written, thoroughly researched document that should be required reading for every psychology and psychiatry student.

Bruno Bettelheim did not blight just one generation of families of autistic people. He hurt, and continues to hurt, hundreds of thousands of people through his misbegotten, arrogantly upheld, cruel, baseless theories that were far more widely publicized than the current scientific research. His book The Empty Fortress (published in 1962 with all the Freudian nonsense) is still in print, which means that there are even today, 2007, many people out there who believe or even revere him.

Rare, indeed, is the family member of an autistic person who has not been assured by a confident Bettelheim reader that the child's mother caused his disease. Can you imagine the harm and heartbreak this causes? Even Bettelheim's own wife quarreled with him because he was so hard on mothers.

Personally I believe that Bettelheim killed himself in part because it was more and more difficult for him to uphold his theories, his life work, in the face of mounting scientific evidence that autism has physical causes.

The Bettelheim defenders have no facts to back them up. They fall back on "he was a brilliant man" or "follow-up studies would have gone against his method" or "he was a distinguished scholar." The facts are that Bettelheim's whole career as a "scholar" was based on lies and misrepresentations; that he hurt dozens of children directly and hundreds of thousands of families indirectly; and that Pollak's book is finally getting people to take a hard look at a very bad man.

The University of Chicago should publicly apologize that it supported him for so long.

Mr. Pollak has done families on the autism spectrum and, especially, mothers an enormous service by writing this book. The Bettelheim theory on autism -- that refrigerator moms caused autism in their children by unconsciously rejecting them -- ruled the medical and psychological community for decades. Based on little more than his own unresearched ideas, Bettelheim not only generated this theory, he made it his business to preach it from the popular media pulpit. Due to this, for decades worried mothers who turned to the medical community for help with their children who were slipping away into autism were blamed as being the cause of the disorder, shunned by doctors and nurses, and advised to institutionalize their autistic children so that they could not contaminate them further.

With three children on the autism spectrum in my extended family, I know firsthand the difficulties, guilt, shame, and fear that parent's feel when figuring out how to help their kids with autism. I cannot and do not want to even imagine how destructive and cruel it must have been for mothers of autistic children to be told by the very people they went to for help -- in the medical and psychiatric community -- that they themselves were the cause of their kid's autism. Mr. Pollak has righted some very pervasive and poinsonous wrongs by exposing Bettelheim for the fraud that he was. It is also a cautionary tale that pat, unsubstantiated claims about any psychological theory should be viewed with caution.

Now, could we look at Mr. Freud and all his many theories based on the psyches of middle-class Viennese ladies?

Thanks, Mr. Pollak!

this is not biography, but libel with a good motive. For an unbiased overview of the polemic about dr. B. see the review "The Strange Case of Dr. B." in the New York Review of Books, Volume 50, Number 3 ? February 27, 2003. (i found it online)

This is one of the best books to show others how to begin the process of sculpting heads in clay. The book is very well designed and organized. The format includes plenty of black and white, clear close up photos of the artist's clay works in stages of progression. All the pages have useful, visual details of an art lesson in modeling the head. I recommend art teachers to buy this book to help students, including beginners or advanced art students, who have never done an modeling of the human head with clay. The artist is also one of the finest clay sculptors I have seen. All the figures and heads are classical and realistic.

I have read both Peter Rubino's book and Bruno Lucchesi's book. Both are similar in nature with a large amount of spaced black and white photographs showing the sculpting process. In my opinion I think Rubino's book gives the reader more insight into how the author's mind is working when he is setting up the sculpture. Rubino divides the face into various planes and shows how he delineates them step by step while Lucchesi does not. Rubino also has a section in back of his book where he shows you how to make patinas. This section unlike the rest of his book and Lucchesi's book is in color. Probably a student of clay portraits would want to learn something from both books, but if money is the issue stick with Rubino.

An excellent learning tool for the amatuer or professional. Illustrated with many photographs of the processess, as well as finished work, this book is both instructional and motivational.

A step by step tutorial showing how the artists creates the most life like head in clay. Another great sculpture technique book . Highly recommended.

This book is helpful in some ways. If you like to learn by watching, you will probably get a lot out of this book. It is basically a series of photos of the author sculpting a head from start to finish, with very little written instruction or insights. However, the photos are informative and the iterations are reasonably well spaced. This is really the kind of book that you will want to flip through before you buy it. Amazon has a great price, but you may want to flip through it in a library or store before you purchase it, as it may or may not fit your learning style.

I must say, you will want to take the 5 star reviews with a grain of salt. I've always thought that just liking something isn't a good enough reason to give it a perfect review. I like this book, but it certainly isn't God's Gift to the student of sculpture. If you buy it just based on all the 5 star reviews, you may be disappointed.

With the coming of the American Civil War many families found themselves torn apart by conflicting ideologies and loyalties. Fathers and sons, uncles and nephews, brothers and cousins sometimes faced each other on opposite sides across a field of battle. Often times, and certainly with more frequency the families most severely divided came from the border states of Missouri, Kentucky and Maryland. The Crittenden and the Todd families are but two examples on a lengthy list one might compile of families that were split apart by the war. The Prentiss family of Baltimore, Maryland is a family that could also be enumerated on just such a list.

In his novel, "Two Brothers: One North, One South," David H. Jones tells the story of the Prentiss family. Clifton, the older brother, fought for the Union cause and rose to the rank of major in the 6th Maryland Infantry, while his younger brother, William served in the Confederate Army with 2nd Maryland Battalion. Both were mortally wounded minutes and yards apart at Petersburg, Virginia in the closing days of the Civil War.

After the battle the brothers were taken to Armory Square Hospital in Washington, D.C. where they are cared for in separate wards. One of the volunteers in the hospital was Walt Whitman who frequently visited William, and upon William's passing located Clifton to inform him of his brother's death. Two other Prentiss brothers, John & Melville, arrive soon after, and Whitman tells the three siblings what he has learned about William's service with the Confederate Army.

Unfortunately Mr. Jones' novel has a few serious flaws. The title of the book, "Two Brothers," is somewhat misleading, as Clifton's storyline is often overshadowed by that of his younger brother. The story is told from the opposing viewpoints of Clifton and William; however William's story is filtered through Walt Whitman, which brings me to the narration.

There is not a central narrator in Jones' novel. Clifton Prentiss tells his part of the story and Whitman is left to relate William's. There are several times throughout the book, especially at the beginning of chapters where it is not all together clear as to who exactly is narrating, Clifton, Whitman, or a literary 3rd person narrator. Whitman's narration is particularly flawed as he relates details that he did not have first person knowledge of and most certainly could not remember with such clarity. This is problem when the novel wanders off with the secondary characters of sisters Hetty and Jenny Cary and their cousin Constance Cary, in which Whitman is giving third hand information to the surviving Prentiss brothers. Whitman was not present for any of the events related, and for some of them neither was William. How did Whitman come to know of such things? Many of the episodes involving the Cary's are tangential in reference to William's story and should have been judiciously pruned from the novel.

There is far too much exposition in the book. There is a writer's axiom that states: "Show, don't tell." Jones spends too much time telling the story, and instead of showing it through the eyes and actions of his characters. I got the impression that Mr. Jones, knows a lot about the Civil War, and just couldn't help inserting his knowledge into the story... for one example, the book is set in June of 1865, at one point the author makes a reference to Lew Wallace and notes that he would later gain fame as the author of "Ben Hur" which would not be published for another fifteen years.

The dialogue does not ring true, especially when it is weighted down, as it often is, with exposition relating details to the reader that would have been common knowledge to anyone during the war.

The characters are two dimensional, there is no character development. The war years were years of turmoil and angst for any and all who lived through them. There is plenty of room for Mr. Jones to have taken literary license and given motive to his characters actions, or gone into their heads, to see the story through their eyes, to show us what their motivations and how they felt about things. It was an opportunity missed, and therefore the reader is left not caring about the characters. As for John and Melville Prentiss, they serve absolutely no function in the book at all. The character of Walt Whitman is used solely as a literary device to tell the story, and is also never fully fleshed out as a character.

There is much to like about Jones' novel, negating its structural and narrative problems, it is a great story, and I enjoyed reading about the Prentiss brothers and the Cary Sisters. But unfortunately even the most beautiful house cannot remain standing when it is placed upon a weak foundation.

I simply do not understand the audience for this book. It seemed that the author was using big words just for the sake of using them, yet the dialog was almost insulting in its assumption of the reader's intelligence. Minus the unnecessary vocabulary, which made the dialog in particular stilted and wooden, the writing seemed more appropriate for a book geared towards middle school audience as a way to teach them the basics of the Civil War. I didn't get as far as I wanted, but I couldn't stand to continue reading a book that was so silly and yet insulting to my intelligence when I have so many good books to read. I would not recommend this book, you could do so much better in the genre. For GOOD historical fiction on the Civil War, check out Michael Shaara's "Killer Angels" instead. The Killer Angels

I hesitate with the three stars thinking it may be a bit generous, but let me begin with what I did like about this book:
I liked the premise of Whitman getting close to these two brothers. He became the objective mediator between all of the brothers allowing them to heal their differences as they grieved over the wounded and dying brothers; while sharing stories of lost years Whitman was able to fill in.

I liked the added story of Hetty Cary and her smuggling efforts.

I enjoy historical novels based on true tales, which this one is based.

The setting of Maryland's conflict is one not often written about and was refreshing.

The author was very good with action sequences which allowed them to flow rather well.

Ok, now I have to reveal the elements of dislike:

The dialogue was painful. Especially through the first third of the book. In lieu of a narrator, the author uses the characters to fill in background historical information through their conversations. At times, one character would break out into a history lesson as though the person listening had extreme amnesia and didn't remember the events of the last several years. Luckily, this practice fades away as the story progresses and the author mercifully switches to narration at the beginning of chapters...much better!

The character development was almost non-existent. He was fine with describing what happened to the characters, but their internal struggles were glossed over. And don't get me started about how the women were portrayed: no depth of thought...just pretty faces running blockades and charming officers. The only true depth of feeling that was uttered out of the women was near the end when one woman learned of the death of her husband.

I also felt this story was very onesided. I understand that Whitman knew more about William's story, but the cover and synopsis leads the reader to expect the real struggles of both the north and south. Instead, we are treated with William's story with just a salting of his northern brothers' experiences, and he had several brothers in the north which presented plenty of opportunity.

It also seemed this story was a thinly veiled attempt at romanticizing the Confederate cause. True, the characters would have experienced the levels of patriotism described, but they were not balanced with the northern view of patriotism.

The storyline was linear, but many times disjointed and not cohesive. Some major events and characters seemed present for very brief times to simply act as filler, and did not serve any purpose.

In conclusion:
I am a big fan of historical fiction and it was apparent that this author has a wealth of historical knowledge about the Civil War....but the characters, dialogue and flow made this a book difficult to enjoy. Once finished reading it, I had absolutely no connection to the characters which meant I had no reader remorse generally felt when saying goodbye to fond characters. I was relieved when it was over. I think the main audience for this book would include Civil War buffs, mainly men who are interested in troop movements and battle descriptions. It might also be a good introduction for high-schoolers as it gives a spotty overview of war events while presenting the patriotic attitude of the southern cause. The violence is a bit graphic, but nothing too realistic to cause parental concern.

Reviewed by Bethany L. Canfield for Reader Views (6/08)

The question of war is always the same: is what is gained through it worth the loss that it causes? "Two Brothers: One North, One South" by David H Jones is not the typical history book that conveys only the gruesome dates and facts of the Civil War, but the war is brought to a more intimate level. Two brothers, who love each other, brought up in the same family, both in the same house, who grew up as friends yet a wedge is developed as the war cries out to each of them and their loyalties lie firmly on opposing sides. Deep from within each brother there is a call to be loyal, true and never wavering, but this loyalty will threaten their family, bring division and cause hurt. That is a high price to pay, but it does not seem to get a second thought by either of them, who are both bent on serving their country, and protecting their rights, while challenging and bringing change.

"Two Brothers" informs the reader of the nature behind the war and the people who sustained it. Jones perfects the task of displaying the confusion, the chaos, the misunderstanding of what the war was going to be, and especially how long it would take and what it would cost (in lives especially). Citizens became soldiers overnight, and left their families. The emphasis is put that no one really knew what was going on' almost all of the men in uniform were not soldiers, but regular men -- farmers, plantation owners, scholars. Many of them were young men, some were only fifteen-years of age, and did not know the price, but knew they were being beckoned. Their adrenaline was rushing; they believed in the cause and therefore off the boys, men and soldiers headed to a war which was too hungry for human flesh. When over, it was more a feeling of chaos and loss, because so much of what was accomplished was hidden beneath the dirty, tired surface.

I enjoyed the humanness attached the Civil War, that Jones was able to put faces and feelings while not neglecting the dates and facts. I was captured by the families involved and the outcome and affect of the war on their lives as individuals, as families. However, to me the way it was written was too predictable. I know that we all know the outcome but, I am talking about a dullness in the writing, or more a lack of details and development. The art was left out of the prose and conversations. I am not sure if this was intentional, but I would have enjoyed a more artistic portrayal. As I said, it could have been intentionally full of very practical speech, and descriptions because of the time which the author is intending to portray. But I could tell the author was more of a historian than a writer, since his dates and battles were described with such care, yet he seemed to struggle through some of deepness and development of characters, causing me to not feel as deeply connected as I could have to each of them. I would recommend "Two Brothers: One North, One South," especially if you are a history buff, or if you enjoy historical novels from the civil war era. It was good, just not as touching as I think it could have been.

The Civil War tore families apart like no other war in American history has ever done. It was not uncommon for brothers, or fathers and sons, to fight the war from opposing armies, a fact that serves as the central theme of the David H. Jones novel, Two Brothers - One North, One South.

Maryland, as a border state, saw its families suffer greatly from the divided loyalties of its citizens and Jones focuses on the Prentiss family, an actual Baltimore family of the time, to tell his story. William Prentiss, the family's youngest son, fought with the Confederacy's 2nd Maryland Battalion but his older brother, Clifford, remained loyal to the Union and was an officer in the 6th Maryland Volunteers. The brothers experienced numerous battles and much personal danger but survived to the end of the war when both were severely wounded in one of the war's last battles, the breaking of the siege at Petersburg.

Sadly, the brothers who had not seen each other in four years only met again because of those battlefield wounds suffered only a few yards from each other. They were carried off the field together, treated by the same doctors, and transferred to the same Washington D.C. hospital. In this fictionalized version of their story, Walt Whitman, who spent countless hours in Washington D.C. hospitals visiting and nursing wounded soldiers from both armies, became well-acquainted with William before he died while the two discussed William's war experiences. And when the other two Prentiss brothers arrived to visit Clifton, Whitman was able to describe their brother's war experiences in detail as the four discussed those years.

Much of Two Brothers is told in dialogue between the Prentiss brothers and Whitman but the dialogue does not consistently ring true. In order to inform his readers of historical facts, Jones at times has the brothers exchange war details that would have been all too obvious to those who lived those events. The reader might also begin to wonder how it was possible that Walt Whitman could recall one young soldier's history in such great detail considering the hundreds and hundreds of soldiers he came to know during the war.

Two Brothers will serve as a good Civil War history primer for those not already familiar with the war and how it ultimately played out but, as a novel, it would have been stronger had it focused more on the tragedy of brother-against-brother and less on battle details. It does not quite reach the emotional level needed to turn the Prentiss brothers into the real human beings that they were in the 1860s. That said, the novel is an interesting one and it will be welcomed into the personal libraries of many a Civil War buff.

As I always say -- you can not go wrong with a Howard Roffman book... THEY ARE GREAT

As usual, Howard Roffman does a wonderful job of capturing not just the physical beauty of his models, but also their individual personalities and "souls", for lack of a better word. Even in this early photo-book (I believe it is his third or fourth), Roffman's style is excellent; I do not think there is a bad photograph in the book. My only complaint is that I cannot figure out what the title "Jagged Youth" means, but for new-comers to Howard Roffman, it is certainly a fine introduction to his work.

"Howard Roffman has a unique ability to capture the magical attractive power of young men. Jagged Youth is a love declaration to the natural erotic aura of his models. An erotic masterpiece! Hard cover, 112 PAGES, 8" X 8", Duotone"--? zebraz

This is another example of Roffman's genius. The men, and they are in the early bloom of manhood, are stunning and erotically charged. The there a slight edge to the photography that humanized the models and makes them reachable. WONDERFUL WORK.

I suppose you are not looking for any hot stuff and that you are already familiar with Roffman's black-and-white photography art, so that I don't need to insist on the fact that what you have here is very, very soft gay porn. In fact I wouldn't call it porn at all because no sexual activity, neither solo nor in couple, is shown in this thin album.

"Jagged Youth" is in my view the least interesting and rewarding of all albums by Roffman. The reasons are simple: the models are more than just ordinary and the album is just too short. If I am not mistaken, there are no more than five models in this collection. All of them are in their early twenties, some may be even younger. They are just plain boys you could meet anywhere. Not that I like supermodels who look perfect, but this time not even Roffman's technique could enhance their features.

I recommend Roffman's album on Johan Paulik and "Perfect Boys" instead of "Jagged Youth". "Peter and Petr" is quite repetitive and not really worth the money even though the two models are beautiful. My favorite is "Sebastian and Friends", by the same publisher, a thick album packed with really erotic pictures in color of Sebastian Bonnet and other Bel Ami models.

at lest u get some yummy pictures of him in this instead od a bunch of horrible music. Well actualy u get a remix cd but nobody wants that when there are hot pics of ari

Great dance songs..Super Mixes...self absorbed book....Ari fancies himself a GQ model..perhaps better suited to International Male?

"Bruno Gmunder presents ARI GOLD, a gift to be cherished. With full pages of the exquisite beauty of Ari, his sky-blue eyes, toasted, creamy complexion, full-bloom, pale-rose lips and the voice of golden honey. This singer, writer, model and musician is a gift to be cherished. Art by Aaron Cobbett, John Falocco, James Houston and Boy George, including a remix CD. Don't Miss this 2006 Collector's Edition! FULL COLOR!"--© zebraz

Let's face it: Ari is a pretty boy. He knows it & so do we! He's so sexy it's a sin but dude can't sing. He knows it & so do we! I've never heard him live but listening to some of his music, I can imagine what he'd sound like. Not being mean (after all, I did say he was sexy), just keepin' it real. Everyone can't sing but apparently that isn't stopping Ari, God love him. I don't know where he finds the nerve but hey.....

Now Billy Porter (I hear he's Ari's boyfriend) is very talented, great voice on cd & in person. Like I said, very talented. I know this is supposed to be all about Ari but I just thought I'd give Billy a well deserved plug.

I have been following Ari Golds career and seen him perform at Fez, Joes Pub,and other venues and even a private party out in East Hampton where he blew away the normally sedate crowd!

I love the Space Under Sun CD and have given it to numerous friends here and in other countries as well. Always well received.

I am so impressed with the quality of the new Book. It is a really well done hard cover book with exceptional quality photos on high quality paper. Of course Ari is gorgeous, sweet and sexy in all of them, but that was a given folks!

It is suggestive, sexy, creative and yet stays away from being too graffic. Here a little less is more.

The remix CD is killer. I have been playing it nonstop. Recreating your favorite songs in new and different ways.

I can't be more excited about the new book and CD (comes with it). Just bring it with you next time you see Ari perform and he will sign it for you. ( I did!)

The Uses of Enchantment (Penguin Psychology)

First, it is good to get all evidence and opinion out and above board. This should be true of everyone no matter if one is an ethnical or religious person Jew or Christian. Then, there is a matter of how this should be done? Where it should be done? When it should be done? Why? For instance, if persons or person passionate few agrieved against a group or political body they should attack prudently but immediately. Strike when the iron is hot as the old adage goes. No time to waste! Whistle blowing on companies are best done by individual(s) when their is enough information and evidence to find guilty in a court of law. And so should it be with doctors and hospitals, persons and people of positions of extra-ordinary trust and power over others. Not only for the patient-personal reasons but so the rest of us can be aware of malpratice and the knowledge that all that is white and professional fascade is NOT okay. Put on guard by those who are insiders. However, and this is how the case of trying to destroy the reputation and thereby Dr. Bettelheim was done, it was done long after the fact, after the doctor was dead(and as it handily happened for his detractors by his own hand) and in such a dramatic concerted media trial like ganging

I simply wish to say that there would no controversy if thoughtful, sensitive people were in control of their own emotions and were objective enough to put Bruno Bettelheim and his times in perspecitve. This is one of the implicit themes of the book.The author, a journalist, has study the facts and has the intuition to understand as much as any biographer can at this time a complex suffering personality. I hope only that the time will come when such a understanding can be objectively drawn. But meanwhile the biographer has made at least this attentive and by no means unskeptical reader understand the controversy and the facts of the case are not always one and the same...

As a former student at Dr. Bettelheim's school in Chicago, I found this book to be very inadaquate in its description of Dr. Bettelheim. This man did a great deal of harm to the students attending this school and was not the savior which Ms. Sutten would like him to be potrayed as. His methods of treatment can be compared with how the German Nazis treated their concentration camp victims. He did beat the students a great deal and fear was a common, shared, feeling which most of the kids felt towards him. His use of imtimadation towards the children, as well as the staff, was complete. Since Ms. Sutton was not a student at the Orthogenic School, of course she would not know the things that went on there. If Bettelheim was alive today, he would be arrested for child abuse, and this is a fact that Ms. Sutton doesn't want to admit.

The reviewers who praised this book didn't check the facts and neither did the author. In fact, the book is highly inaccurate both in its facts and conclusions. The book merely applies the same pseudopsychoanalysis as the subject applied to his "patients," including me.

I was a source for the book and nearly everything in it about me is totally wrong. I shared considerable information with the author following a 1990 article in the Washington Post I wrote detailing Bettelheim's unsupported claims and physical and psychological abuse of his wards. The author promised that I could control anything that appeared in the book about me. But the book came out with all sorts of unsourced untruths about me that the author never bothered to check with me. From the looks of them, I suspect some she made up and some she heard from Bettelheim's defenders who worked at the school and broke their professional code of silence to reveal "information" about a "patient." It evidently never occured to the author that these people may have wanted to smear me to save their own reputations. The author even had the nerve to state as fact how I was feeling, which is amazing because she never asked me. In fact, I never felt the way she said I felt.

The book just amounted to the same type of Freudian nonsense I was subject to at Bettleheim's school -- someone else telling you that you don't feel what you feel -- you really feel what I tell you you feel. The book even managed to completely misrepresent what I wrote in the Washington Post. I have been quoted in many publiciations on this and other matters but I have never seen anything so far from the truth. The author didn't like my thesis and couldn't get me on the facts, so she apparently made up her own.

Immediately upon the book's publication, I notified the publisher by letter of the book's errors, but the publisher never corrected them in subsequent printings. And no one even had the decency to answer my letter. To this very day, the company continues to sell a book it knows is inaccurate.

This book moved me deeply. Not only did it tell me a fascinating story about a man whose life span the century, but it moved me deeply. It's not a funny book, but it is a riveting one. Rather than pretending to know it all, the author takes her reader on an investigative journey: Who was the true Bettelheim? She shares her doubts as well as her discoveries some of which I shall never forget. And in the end, everything seems to fall into place - the good, the bad, everything human, I guess.

I have read 2 books about the Ice Man and enjoyed them both.
One by Anthony Bruno another by Philip Carlo..
Two of the best written books with different out looks
which I enjoyed..
I can't say enough about these 2 books..
IF you enjoy true crime you will love these books
and the CD..
Judy

This is the story of another undercover police "sting" this time removing Richard Kuklinski and his car theft/murder crew.The book is similar to "Murder Machine" which describes the police "sting" of the DeMeo crew.Kuklinski's own greed finally brings him down.On the numerous murders described graphically in the book,the majority are "crew enforcement" type where Kuklinski kills crew members or other "players" who represent a real or imagined threat to the Iceman.Members of his crew turn on him,which is the same plot as "Murder Machine",and become police witnesses against Kuklinski and this is how he is finally "brought down".There is alot of tension between the Iceman and the undercover cop in the book.You realize that the cop involved is in extreme danger because Kuklinski is batting 1000 in regard to his deals with other criminals.That is all,kills!

This is a chilling account of a methodical, cold-blooded killer and con man told by a skillful writer. The characters ring true and the story, though real, is as imaginable as fiction. The Iceman should never walk the streets again. Read the book and you'll know why.

I thought this author covered a lot of ground in this book but I do not his writing style is the best. This is a middle of the ground book covering a vicious criminal. I would have liked to have had more detail with his intereaction with teh Roy Demeo crew but instead this is skimmed thru. maybe the author was not privy to that info and another author needs to detail that.

I have read both the Philip Carlo book about the Ice Man and Bruno's book. I also read Bruno's comments on CrimeLibrary regarding Philip Carlo's book. I know for a fact that Carlo spent over 200 hours interviewing Kuklinski at Trenton State Prison; I know for a fact that Bruno ONLY interviewed the Iceman once. Carlo's book on the IceMan is a deep profound look at every aspect of the Iceman's life, detailing his tortured childhood, the many murders he committed, the love he felt for his wife Barbara, daughters Merrick and Chris... and his son Dwayne. I was so emotionally moved by Carlo's book that I cried at the end. Carlo not only captures the essence of the IceMan, but the nuts and bolts that drove him. Conversely, Bruno's portrayal is woefully inadequate-- centers more on Dominick Polifrone than on the IceMan. I know for a fact that Lt Pat Kane pursued Kuklinski for five years before Polifrone even heard the name Richard Kuklinski. Bruno attacks Carlo's book because he wrote what IceMan told him regarding the murder of Jimmy Hoffa, Roy DeMeo and the Iceman's involvement in the killing of Castellano. To my knowledge,and I've researched this thoroughly, there is no definitive audio or video proof about any of those three murders, to indicate that the Iceman lied about anything. When one looks at the HBO specials on the IceMan I think you see a sincere honest, very rare killer-- the same thing Carlo saw during his interviews with Kuklinski at Trenton State. Carlo's book was a New York Times best seller for a reason.

Ozick creates a wonderful piece of literature here. She writes a work of terrific narration, with extraordinary language as is her specialty, yet it has a very different feel to it than most of her work. It has a spiritual feel, where she does not give us the same level of clarity and conciseness of description. Instead, she rather allows events to unfold almost by chance. The style is reminiscent of that of Philip Roth and in fact, it was interesting to find on the dedication page the simple words, "To Philip Roth."

Ozick's protagonist, Lars, is a book reviewer for a Stockholm newspaper. He has a penchant for old European literature, particularly Czech, Polish and Serbo-Croatian authors. He lives in a spiritual world of existentialism and extremis of the human condition. Yet, the obsession if you will, is much more, because Lars, an orphan, has decided or convinced himself that he is the son of a famous and dead Polish author.

The plot and concepts swirl around the reader as Lars seeks to find a lost manuscript and any other information that he can about the author. Lars is a creature of the night. He does not like the hustle and bustle of the office during daytime hours. He is a completely private person, and keeps his secret very close to his vest, except for his disclosure to the proprietor of a small but esoteric book shop. With her, he tells all. And she is fully drawn into it. At least, that is what it clearly seems to Lars.

But Lars is too personally caught up in his own thing to really detect the deceit. Lars is blinded by a vision of what he believes is his own father's eye, which comes to him in dreams. So he continues to work with the lady at the bookstore to get all that he can about his `father.' Until, one day a person shows up, with the lost manuscript, claiming to be the daughter of the famous Polish author. At some point in that occurrence, Lars realizes, his confidence has been preyed on by others.

Lars' reviews do not carry a lot of stock with the public. The old and gone literature that he tries constantly to "resurrect" is of little interest to the Stockholm public. Yet Lars is fixated on all that is written around and about the time of his father's existence. In the end, Lars finds prominence and success, by giving up his obsession and writing well received reviews of current Swedish and American authors. All of a sudden he has his own cubicle. Then Lars gets a newspaper column on Tuesday as well as Monday. And finally, he has totally conformed to the daytime world of the wild "stewpot" that constitutes the daylight work world. But still, Lars is left with the questions of his past. These are never fully resolved.

The book is recommended to all lovers of great current literature. The writing is phenomenal. And the story is highly interesting and engaging.

While I can appreciate, from a distance, the aspects of this book others could use to cite it as a great piece of writing, I found myself frustrated by the narrative balance that Ozick used to tell its story. I didn't feel like there was any spot where i could truly jump into the text and hold on. The characters outside of the main character were all very apathetic and one-dimensional, and i felt like the actions Lars (the main character) took towards them, and which were supposedly the driving points of the novel, were not satisfying emotionally due to the simple fact that I had no place from which to appreciate them. For a 140 page book, i think it was a task Ozick shouldn't have sought out to take by striving to cram so many esoteric and subjective aspects of text at the expense of character or plot development. A dissapointing and unsatisfying read.

I have read many works of Cynthia Ozick and highly esteem her writing. This work which comes highly touted by both Michiko Kakutani and Harold Bloom in NY Times Reviews I just could not get into. The beginning idea of having the main character a refugee who believes his father is Bruno Schultz never really got me. The character himself Lars Andemining a mediocre book- reviewer twice- married twice divorced father of one small girl makes the obsession with Schultz the center of his life. Somehow the characters he meets including the book- store owner Mrs. Ekland and the woman who claims to be Schultz's daughter, and shows up with an alleged manuscript of Schultz's lost masterpiece " The Messiah" are not fleshed out in a strong way.
Many readers have spoken about the pleasure of reading of Ozick's complex language.
Again I just could not get into the work, feel, sympathize, identity in any way with the characters.
It may just be my fault that I was not such a good reader on this one.

This is the story of Lars Andemening, a Stockholm reviewer of obscure literary works who believes he is the orphaned son of Bruno Schulz, a renowned Jewish writer murdered in Nazi-occupied Poland. Lars believes that his father's missing manuscript, The Messiah, is awaiting his discovery; he has built his solitary and eccentric life around all-things-Schulz with the help of an equally eccentric ally/opponent bookseller, Mrs. Eklund. When a young woman surfaces claiming to be the daughter of Schulz and the holder of The Messiah, Lars carefully constructed reality falls apart.

This is the first work of Cynthia Ozick's that I have ever read, so place my zeal within the context of the newly converted if you like. For true literary lovers -- for whom the point of reading is not to be swept by plot to some dubiously satisfying conclusion, but to be strummed, teased, taunted and caressed by words -- Cynthia Ozick is a blessing. She is a true wordsmith: as confident in her ability to raise even the lives of mice within office walls to a place of poetic beauty as she is to document the affect of violent social change on individuals and communities. Her characterization of Lars as captive in a history that may or may not be truly his painfully encapsulates the orphan-refugee experience. And her depiction of the literary world -- with its authors, publishers, reviewers, and sellers -- is both so charming and biting that you can't help but reexamine your role as a reader within it.

I recommend this work for readers who enjoy being swept along in beautiful prose and who seek out literature that begs to be read again and again and again.

Ozick's sentences are so wonderfully crafted that I feel like I am in the Louvre of writing when I read her. This is just the second book by her that I have read and I am just delighted. It is true, as one reviewer stated, that she maintains a certain distance from her characters, but that allows them to be less predictable, and a greater level of irony can also then by limned. This small novel about an alienated, sad "Monday reviewer" of books in Stockholm, orphaned, who believes he is the son of a murdered Jewish Pole who wrote surrealistic material is a lovely (but sad) story of self definition, inspiration, success/failure, trust. I recommend it strongly to anyone who loves good writing.