Burke Books

"The thirty creatures shown in this book of postcards represent a broad spectrum of pre-Columbian imagery. Many depictions are layered with political and religious meaning--admired for its ferocity, stealth, and cunning, the jaguar symbolized the authority of the ruling elite in Mesoamerica and the Andes. Perhaps the world's first domesticated animal, dogs were companions in antiquity as they are today. Bizarre composite creatures--dwellers in a supernatural realm--and many wild beasts defy interpretation, their true meaning known only to their original creators in the previous millennium. But they certainly do stir the imagination. 30 full-color reproductions. From the Mint Museum of Art.

"Pomegranate's books of postcards contain thirty top-quality reproductions bound together in a handy, artful collection. Easy to remove and produced on heavy card stock, these stunning postcards are a delight to the sender and receiver. Note: postcards are oversized and may require additional postage. ISBN: 0-7649-0935-5; size: 4 3/4 x 6 7/8"."--© Pomegranate

If Barrack Obama is elected President, the whole issue of majority minority districts that this book focuses on may seem to be very quaint, but right now the question of the legal controversies surrounding the creation of majority minority is one of the legal topics legislative redistricters and their lawyers must master. Reading this book is like attending a long seminar at a highly ranked law school on this subject.

The simple fact underlying this book is that in many areas of our country it is very difficult if not impossible for a candidate who is the choice of minority communities--often but not always a minority himself or herself--to get the votes of enough white voters to win an election. The author of this book repeatedly agrees with this truism, but also expresses concerns about the effects of grouping minority voters together to maximize their political clout.

I first read this book in 2001, when I was navigating my way through the political and legal landmines of redistricting state house seats for the majority minority city of Philadelphia. I found author Christopher M. Burke's interweaving of Supreme Court cases, law journal articles, and numerous books to be an extrememly valuable guide to understanding the somewhat conflicting case law, being able to explain it to others, and being able to act both legally and effectively to serve public interests.

Rereading this book recently, I am struck at the depth of the author's research and passsion for this rather obscure subject. This is not the book to read for an in-depth political look at majority minority districts, and it is not the book to read to gain insights into their changing nature, the changing nature of the Black Caucus in the U.S. Congress and other legislative bodies. Nor is it the book to read if one wants to compare the growth of black and Latino representation in Congress--both covered by the Voting Rights Act--with the growth in Congress and other legislative bodies of Asians, Jews, Americans of Italian descent, and women, none of whom are covered by the Voting Rights Act.

What this book does far better than any other that I have come across is to give the reader a well-sourced, well-researched sense of the debate over majority-minority districts. The politics of this issue are confused, because the ideological sympathies of the Democratic Party and the national political interests of the Republican Party on one side are engaged in battle with the ideological sympathies of the Republican Party and the national political interests of the Democratic Party on the other side.

To make sense of this confusion, the author wisely reframes this question as a contest between philosophical liberals--who may be politically liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican--and philopsophical communitarians, who also may be politically liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican. Philosophical liberals are those focused on individual rights, while communitarians are those focused on group rights.
Justices and other actors have demonstrated an ability to strike both liberal and communitarian chords, the author makes clear.

The key case in majority minority jurisprudence, the author accurately states, is Shaw vs. Reno, 125 L.Ed 2nd 511,113 S.Ct.2816 (1993)(Shaw I). In this case, Justice O'Connor, writing for a divided Court, declined to ban the creation of majority-minority districts where alternatives existed, but banned redistricters from allowing a concern for the creation of majority minority districts to overshadow all other concerns. Majority minority districts could be created as part of drawing districts for incumbents, or as part of another general approach, but not as a goal in and of itself.

Districting, O'Connor said, "seeks to represent a plurality of values...."
She attacked geographically distant majority minority districts, warning of "an uncomfortable resemblance to political apartheid."

Half of this book focuses on Shaw vs. Reno and the subsequent cases that it controlled. Before reading Shaw vs. Reno and its progeny, it is good to read this book to gain a heightened awareness of the issues at stake.

Although the author has the law professor's habit of continually stating opposition views to whatever case he is discussing, he makes clear his symphathy is with the Shaw Court's views. But those read this book for the purpose of gaining a full understanding of the issues will benefit from his thorough treatment of the case law and the philosophies behind it, even if they disagree with his ultimate conclusions.

It is a short book that could have been shortened even more by more thorough editing. But the repetitions do serve the purpose of drilling in the author's key conclusions.

There are no natural redistricting plans waiting to found, he says. There is no redistricting plan than will be universally seen as fair, with all winners and no losers, he says.

Communities are created by redistricters and not discovered, he says. There are legitimate pros and cons for the creation of more majority districts, and pros and cons for not creating more minority districts, he says. The lawyers on all sides, he warns, are political actors. Those involved in the redistricting process, he says, have no choice but to fully study the issues and make and defend political decisions that are as wise as possible.

Each election, he warns, will bring new facts and new court decisions to the table. The process of creating political districts--majority minority or not--is an inherently temporary one. The issues will with be us for a long time.

One thing he does not consider in this 1999 book is what happens if the political dynamic changes so radically that African-American candidates start repeatedly carrying predominantly or overwhelmingly white districts.
He undoubtedly did not consider that because he did not consider it possible, although he notes that African American incumbents in Georgia, forced by the Supreme Court to run in predominantly white districts, were re-elected.

But he makes clear that the perceived need for majority minority districts is based on the peceived permanency of racially polarized voting patterns. The death of these racially polarized voting patterns--if it occurs under Obama or someone else and subsequent candidates--would obviously throw this whole issue into confusion and marginal significance.

With nearly 50 pages of footnotes, citations of 63 Law Review articles, 96 books, and 72 cases, the author cannot be faulted for laziness. His calls for intelligent and informed political involvement, and thinking through the elements of the issues that have deeply divided both political parties and the and federal courts, are well worth following.

He could have shorter paragraphs, and less philosophical jargon. But he offers a valuable guide to the uncertainties of a contested area of the law, and does it by a thorough study of the the public record and scholarly sources. Those interested in navigating through contradictions, questions, temporary fixes, rhetorical strategies, philosphical debates along with normal case law will find this book to be highly useful and informative.

This book helps you become a competent practicing ergonomist in a real setting, not an ergonomics theorist, researcher, or teacher (well, maybe a teacher). The author clearly has a lot of real world experience in the job of corporate ergonomist, and has worked at creating detailed but not overwhelming processes, procedures, and content matter. This is an unassuming little grey book but it was the most helpful book I ever used when learning to "do" ergonomics. Base your approach to your work on it, and gradually add detail on the tools and circumstances of the industry you're working in.

I have this 1967 book that I found many years ago in a thrift store. I also have Varieties of Visual Expression (1992) that is essentially the same book. The chapter headings are the same & both books are organized alike. The only difference I see when comparing the first chapter is that a 1974 Frankenthaler and a 1983 Keifer (which weren't yet created in 1967)are added and the writing is improved here and there. In Varieties he adds sections on Photography and TV/Motion Pictures to the realm of art criticism. So I strongly reccomend that you order "Varieties of Visual Expression" instead simply because it is an updated version. I also highly reccomend Feldman's "Thinking About Art" written in 1985. As far as choosing one over the other - between Thinking About Art and Varieties of Visual Expression, they are both so outstanding that you need both of them! But if you can only have one - "Varieties of Visual Expression" is your best bet.

Now, about the book(s) - Feldman is so highly regarded in Art Criticism that his concepts of the Personal, Social, and Physical Functions of Art - etc, are the general terms used in Art Appreciation and Art Criticism Courses.

The Testing Excercises for the National Boards for Art Teachers are based upon Feldman's ideas so you need to read these books if you are a candidate! My Art History and Theory/Criticism Graduate courses were based upon "The Feldman Model" But it all began in 1967 with "Art as Image and Idea" by Edmund Burke Feldman.

"The National Museum of Women in the Arts was founded in 1987 to celebrate the diverse artistic achievements of women, challenging traditional histories of art and uncovering the works of women artists who have been overlooked and unacknowledged. The images collected here are a brief but striking introduction to art created by women, ranging over nearly three hundred years, from the eighteenth through the twentieth century. Included are works by Mary Cassatt, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe and Berthe Morisot.

"Pomegranate's books of postcards contain thirty top-quality reproductions bound together in a handy, artful collection. Easy to remove and produced on heavy card stock, these stunning postcards are a delight to the sender and receiver. ISBN: 0-7649-1365-4; size: 4 3/4 x 6 7/8"."--© Pomegranate

Touring the Oklahoma capitol building was a revelation to me. The paintings and sculptures at the capitol are sublime, often breathtaking. Murals, portraits, lunettes, rondelles, sculptures and statues are mesmerizing -- meaningful, stirring, beautifully executed. Wilson Hurley, Enoch Kelly Haney, Mike Wimmer and many other Oklahoma artists have done an outstanding job.

Here now is a handsome book of reproductions of these, with stories of what the art represents, how each artist executed the piece, and how the artist and piece were chosen or commissioned for the capitol by the Oklahoma Arts and Humanities Council.

This is a quality art book and a comprehensive history! I am enjoying my copy immensely.

This is a bitter-sweet book that should go far in convincing people of all races of the existence of a cadre of educated and capable progressive Black people in South Carolina during reconstruction. The sadness is that the white power structure extinguished this at the end of Reconstuction with a segregated Jim Crow society unseen before in South Carolina. This book will go far to extinguish the myth of crude unschooled Blacks manipulated by northern carpetbaggers to "rule" the state after the Civil War. The African-Americans who were able to gain a foothold on the American Dream during this period were to become the nucleus of the civil rights movemement in the US. Given a less pig headed white power structure, racial tensions of the past century might have been avoided.

When you start trying to understand Montessori, it can be overwhelming to navigate the countless resources "out there". I found this book and when I bought it online, I had no idea how brief it was (but then understood the low price!). THANK GOODNESS! It was an incredibly easy read that changed life in our home immediately. The ideas were so simple and the explanations for why you should implement them were brief, to the point, understandable and very logical.

I read the whole book in one night with two children and much sleep deprivation. It took my a week of stealing time here and there to implement the ideas. My son's behavior changed DRASTICALLY for the better within two weeks. I can't say enough for the simplicity of this book for arranging your home life to encourage your child's development.

I loved the christian emphasis put on a very good fictional story that has alot of historical facts intertwined. In this novel you will find a very lovely romance, adventure, and witness a wonderful relationship between father and son. This book is great for all reading age levels. There is nothing but good wholesome values found in this novel.

This pioneering medical text on backache provides an excellent backgound to the complex problem of backache. The complexities are due to backache being a painful and debilitating condition without the usual signs of inflamation, heat, or swelling. The pain is there, but the rest of the usual suspects are missing! This leads to suspicion of malingering - yet the pain is real and sometimes crippling. Although written more than 40 years ago, this is a useful and fascinating read for the medical practitioner and the patient, too.