Butler Books

This book is a fascinating and skillfully written story set in the American Southwest from the 1860's to the 1890's. It is told from a variety of viewpoints--native American tribes, settlers, and cattle trail hands--that bring to life their triumphs and tragedies while fighting for survival on the frontier. The author vividly portrays an array of historical and fictional characters in a unique geographical and historical setting and manages to weave into the story a mystery that is only revealed as forces converge through the characters over thirty years.

The North Fork is an example of great historical fiction. Lively characters and unpredictable plot twists make this book a real page turner. All southwestern history buffs should enjoy this book immensely.

The Odyssey by Homer is about a warrior from the Trojan War and is trying to return home, but he faces deadly obsticles, for the Ocean God, Poseidon seeks revenge on him, for defying the gods! He gets trapped on an island with the sea nimph, Callypso. Please read this book. I know that once you get reading it, you will feel the salt water of the ocean blaring in your face as Odysseus journeys on his ship. It is a true classic! Now An NBC Major Television Event! Starring Armand Assante, Vanessa Williams, Greta Schacchi, and Isabella Rosillani. 5 Stars!

After fighting courageously in the Trojan War, Odysseus has been trying to get home for the past 20 years. Telemachus, the son of Odysseus can only watch as his father's estate is ruined by the evil suitors of his mother, who think Odysseuss in long dead. Hoping to learn of his father Telemachus sets on a journey guided by the goddess Athena, unaware that the wicked suitors plan to kill him. Meanwhile Odysseus has been held captive on the island of the cunning goddess, Calypso for the last seven yeaers. After the gods convince Calypso to free Odysseus, he builds a raft only to be shipwrecked on theh land of the Phaecians. Here he tells them what befell him after Troy this includes his narrow escape from the cyclops Polyhemus, the crafty goddess Circe, the land of the Lotus-eaters, Aeolus keeper of the winds, his voyage to the underworld and many other adventures. Will Odysseus and his son come home alive to punish the suitors, or will they die far from home? This book is for anyone who loves adventre and excitement, even if you never read Greek Mythology before you will love the adventures of Odysseus.The Odyssey is filled with betrayal, magic, myghical beasts, the wrath of the gods and the foolishness of human nature.

This book is one of the best sports reference books ever written. Byron Butler has assembled a season-by-season analysis of the Football Association Challenge Cup, dating right from the start(1871). Every final(and replay) gets covered with team-listings, attendance figures, photographs, and statistics. There are also lots of photogarphs and advertisements from down the years, lots of interesting related material(info on star playes, the men who founded the competition, the giant killers etc. etc.) This, added to the fact that Mr Butler is obviously a devout fan, passionate about the game, make this a must buy for any fan of football("soccer" to Americams).

This book is one of the best sports reference books ever written. Byron Butler has assembled a season-by-season analysis of the Football Association Challenge Cup, dating right from the start(1871). Every final(and replay) gets covered with team-listings, attendance figures, photographs, and statistics. There are also lots of photogarphs and advertisements from down the years, lots of interesting related material(info on star playes, the men who founded the competition, the giant killers etc. etc.) This, added to the fact that Mr Butler is obviously a devout fan, passionate about the game, make this a must buy for any fan of football("soccer" to Americams).

one of the most incredible "pointer books" i've come across. if you're looking for a text that isn't about intellectual accumulation (or at least in no way emphasizes it) but is more of an opportunity to let words point you in the direction of the immediate silence from which this man speaks, don't miss this one. very non-linear, divided up into different categories by the editor for easy referrencing, it's like a sutra, and a clear-pointing one at that. do you like to use reading as a practice to draw you into awareness of your own silent presence? then get it.

I suppose any serious student of Ramana Maharshi will have slowly worked himself or herself through all the books on him and his teachings. Until I read this book I thought that no more original material would ever appear about him. Ramana has, after all, been dead for more than fifty years. So far as I was concerned, the teaching material was a 'closed canon' since I believed that all the people who had written down his words had already published their own recollections of them. It was with some astonishment, therefore, that I picked up this book, having read the blurb on the back which claimed that here was a huge new collection of Ramana's teachings that had never been published in English before. Apparently, this material hadn't even been published in Tamil, the language in which it was originally written, until the mid-90s. The interior contents lived up to the promise on the cover: page after page after page of new material, all arranged by subject and annotated with supplementary quotations from other Ramana sources.

The original recorder of this material was Muruganar, a close disciple of Ramana Maharshi who was responsible for Ramana writing some of his most important philosophical works. And he was no mere scholar. It is clear from statements in this book that Muruganar realised the Self through the grace of Ramana Maharshi, and that Ramana himself accepted his enlightment. So what we have here is an enlightened direct disciple of Ramana recording the wisdom and words of his master. Amazing!

I cannot comment on the accuracy of the translation since I don't know Tamil, but the editing and general presentation is superb, leading me to believe that the words in this book are an accurate rendition of what Ramana had to say. It is a book to be savoured slowly since this may well be the last teaching material of Sri Ramana ever to appear. Maybe, though, someone will prove me wrong on this. Somebody already did with this book.

Expertly co-authored by corporate strategy consultants V. Randolph Brown and Janet B. Reid The Phoenix Principles is a diverse collection of in-depth analysis of the most effective and prosperous strategies for proper and intelligible investing for corporate and dominant businesses and companies. Exploring innovative cost reduction, employee turnover, community relations, market share and productivity and profits, The Phoenix Principles offers a plethora of useful and empowering information designed from and attributable to years of involvement and experience with subject particular operation. The Phoenix Principles is very highly recommended to all executives, management consultants, and entrepreneurs seeking to maximize the effectiveness and profitability of their companies regardless of the products or services they provide.

An easy and entertaining read. Strictly business but reads like a novel. Very inspiring and gives those of us with a passion for the topic a fun way to learn more.

THE ENGLISH NOVEL IN THE MAGAZINES, 1740-1815. WITH A CATALOGUE OF 1375 MAGAZINE NOVELS AND NOVELETTES.
In my novel, Red Heifer, I follow the life of Paul to understand why he condemned homosexuals. The scholarly yet very readable novel, explores various aspects of Paul's life to find where his hatred springs from. Beginning in pagan Tarsus the journey leads to Jerusalem where finding a red heifer for the sacrificial offering leads Saul of Tarsus to the change of his name to the Apostle Paul. Whether you agree or not this novel will lead you to new insights about the dangerous times of Paul.

White Crane: A Journal of Gay Men's Spirituality

Last Update: 12/15/2000
http://www.whitecranejournal.com/wc01128.htm#51lavigne3

Red Heifer
by Luther Butler
to Excel Press, 320 pages.
Reviewed by Steven LaVigne
When I was a little boy, I loved Sunday morning television. Not for cartoons, but because of "The Lutheran Hour." Weekly, they would produce stories from the New Testament in tacky, overindulgent productions. One weekend, my Grandmother got upset, because, being a staunch Catholic, she didn't want me to watch this, but my Grandfather calmed her and told her it was okay. He even sat down and watched it with me.
Reading Luther Butler's epic novel, Red Heifer is a lot like watching those old TV productions. Butler has recreated the life of St. Paul, with fascinating detail, using the strong visual sense of a Cecil B. DeMille movie, as he determines to uncover Paul's bigotry and hatred of gays and lesbians. The book opens with Paul's observances of the stoning of St. Stephen, cousin to Paul and nephew of Jesus' father, Joseph of Aramethia. Paul has betrayed Stephen because he knows Paul's sexual secret. And what is that secret? I dare not reveal it here.
The saga flashes back and forth in time. At the start, Paul meets God, presented, as it is in scripture, as a light, being told that "God never shows a man the path until he's on it." This meeting affects his brain, and he's able to see clearer into his past. Paul's father, a merchant, was a lusty, passionate and sexual creature. After Paul's mother dies in childbirth, father and son are estranged. Constantly seeking his father's approval, Paul's athleticism is applauded, although he's embarrassed because he's been circumcised. Both nudity and attraction to his friend Antoine frighten and confuse Paul. When romance and courtship with the beautiful Rebekah lead to tragic circumstances, further upsets by his father's actions, Paul encounters a mountain seer who predicts for him a life of sadness.
Further conflicted by the rules of his Jewish faith and the teachings in the ancient, Wiccan faiths, when Paul pledges to serve the goddess, Cybele, at which time, his sexual secret takes shape. Now planning to dedicate himself to the religious life, Paul earns a living by working for a traveling merchant. He encounters a red heifer, a rare animal used as a burnt offering to cleanse a Rabbi who works with the dead. Because Paul has red hair, and is like that Red Heifer in many ways, the book takes its title from this aspect of his life.
Upon his arrival in Galilee, where Paul is reacquainted with his friend, Antoine, we learn that, ironically, in his carpenter's shop, Joseph makes a fine living building Roman Crosses to be used for crucifixion. As Jesus has begun preaching, one night Paul encounters him in a dark alley, and is told that someday, "You will follow me." When Antoine spends the night with a prostitute named Mary Magdelene, she entices Paul, then, when she's rejected, humiliates him, so he flees. He's then asked by the henchmen of Pontius Pilate to spy on Jesus.
Put on trial because of his part in Jesus' crucifixion, Paul is told to escape, and the sequence in which he's lowered over the walls of Damascus in a wicker basket is exciting reading. It is shortly after this, while Paul is alone in the desert that a voice inside him criticizes his conflicting thought on gays and lesbians, as well as his substantial sexism. Because he's chosen not to be accepting, the voice tells him he's a hypocrite. The voice questions Paul's decision, telling him that the choice will require "reexamination for centuries," and calls into question just how enlightened we really are. Even Joseph tells Paul he should be silent on these issues. Butler offers a Paul who's multifaceted, and even has conflicts with the risen Christ. He also restored Joseph to his rightful place as Jesus' wise, Earth father. He's created very realistic, contradictory characters.
Red Heifer is an astounding book. Butler has an impressive sense of revisionary storytelling, and this enormous saga is great reading!
Steven LaVigne lives in Minneapolis with his partner, Douglas Dally. Presently on a renewed spiritual journey, he's an elementary teacher. His book, film and theatre reviews and essays have been published frequently. He's at work on a biography of actress Sylvia Sidney. He can be reached at stevenlavigne@hotmail.com.

If you are into music and the artists that are legends today then this is the book for you. I was especially fascinated with what "Fats" Domino had to say. As is mentioned in the book blurb there are a number of photos that I had never seen before.

Overall if your into music legends then this is a book to buy. Five stars and a hearty recommendation. I'm looking forward to the next volume!

This is a very good and intertaining book of interviews with Rock N Roll artists. Everyone that has read it has loved it.

Matthew Quigley longs for a life he once had in Ireland. Unsettled with his job and love life that is an in and out affair. His escape in the car he dubs the "Green Monster" away from his harried life. His journey for his search begins. He longs for his Inish home and the memories of his grandfather. At the same time struggles with his new home in Boston.

It is a beautiful fiction of longing for a life of peace and the heart that remembers and longs for between the home of his childhood and his second far away home. These things as they were and the way they are reflected in the lives of those of Matthew comes to terms with. One, his mother, who he reconciles with and his girlfriend who he helps in her tragedy of a dying father.

The story draws you to Matthew, following him on his journeys through the New England crossways and to the misty Enchanted Green Isle. You become part of his struggle and yearning to piece together his life. Coming to term with his beloved memories and the lessons of family endures. Well worth to take the plunge and follow the main character on a journey for love and living. An absolute recommendation!

I consider myself somewhat of an expert in contemporary Irish fiction and I found this obscure book to be one of the finest stories I have ever read. In writing style and setting, it reminded me a lot of Niall Williams' "Four Letters of Love". Set between the Inish in Ireland and Boston this is the story of Matthew Quigley's struggle to make a home for himself in Boston after a troubling childhood on the Inish. On the Inish, Matthew struggled mightily living and caring for his grandfather while tring to deal with his distant mother. The lessons learned there resurface when in Boston helping his girlfriend care for her dying father. The writing is so good you can almost feel the misty rain of the Inish and the warmth of Matthew's grandfather's cottage near the sea. Highly Recommended!!

I'm a japanese and a lover of photograph . I amazed the reality and beauty of the images in this book. Now many of these images are hard to find in Japan. But I think you can comprehend one of the best aspects of japanese culture and tradition.

This book is written in a style that takes you to Japan from your own living room. Each page teaches history and/or contemporary living. The text and photography of Japan teaches a deeper understanding of their lifestyle. Linda's "eye" brings depth, meaning and a unique visual experience of Japan. You will want to read and/or study her book over and over.

Television: Critical Methods and Applications encourages readers to think critically about TV.

Videography, editing, acting, set design, lighting and sound are analyzed and explained in terms of how they are used to tell stories, present news, and sell products to TV viewers.

This student-friendly text provides critical and historical contexts, discussing how critical methods have been applied to the medium and highlighting the evolution of television style through the decades.

Television is illustrated with hundreds of frame grabs from TV programs. Its companion Website presents color versions of these black-and-white figures and augments them with video clips, sample student papers, syllabi, and other material.

Reviews of the first edition:

"This is, quite simply, the best book out there for teaching introductory TV courses. The text is well-conceived and engaging, and Butler does a superb job of illustrating the formal and aesthetic structures of television in a clear and readable manner."

--Tara McPherson (USC School of Cinema-TV)

"An ideal text for courses introducing television to undergraduates."
--David Bordwell (U Wisconsin; Author, Film Art)

"The best textbook on television available today."
--Ellen Seiter (UCSD)

I was required to buy "Television: Critical Methods and Applications" for my Film and Television class, and it is by far the most interesting text book i've read so far in my college career. It addresses advanced concepts in language that is easy to follow and understand.