Gaines Books

The photos and topos have been upgraded in the 3rd edition and they make it easier to find your way around. Many of the new photos are aerial shots and give excellent perspective. Much of the rest of the book is better too, with more background and better photos of climbers on the routes.

I began reading Bob Woodward a couple years ago with "Bush at War", and last fall read "All the President's Men". I very much enjoyed the impartial, objective view presented in these works, and especially enjoyed the insight into the process of journalism. When I decided to begin listening to audiobooks in my daily commute, found "The Secret Man".

The book is essentially a retelling of "All the President's Men" (and perhaps "The Final Days", which I have not yet read) but with more direct focus on Woodward, Mark Felt (now known as informant "Deep Throat"), and their long-term relationship which began even before the Watergate scandal. It gives a much deeper insight into the character and motivation of Felt, the frustration and interference he encountered from the Nixon administration (beginning with the ITT/Dita Beard investigation, which Woodward describes as "a dress rehearsal for Watergate"), and the effect that Felt's role as Deep Throat may have played in his later years.

While I very much enjoyed the authorship of Woodward, I disliked the narration by Boyd Gaines. His delivery is dry, slow and deliberate, almost monotone, which very little intonation. I often found myself inadvertantly "tuning out" for a few seconds or almost a minute, which caused me to have to rewind in order to pick up on important points. This was in stark contrast to "My Life" by Bill Clinton, whose narration I found very engaging, or Tom Wolfe's "A man in Full", narrated by David Ogden Stiers, whose vivid narration makes each word and character come alive before me.

In short, regarding "The Secret Man" - Get the text version, but pass on the audiobook (or indeed, ANY audiobook narrated by Boyd Gaines, including "State of War" by James Risen).

Gertrud Koch's book, accurately if at times awkwardly translated by Jeremy Gaines, is the only work of its kind available in English. It offers a comprehensive though idiosyncratic introduction to the life and major works of Siegfried Kracauer, an original and insufficiently appreciated thinker in his own right, as well as a significant influence on better known theorists such as Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin (both of whom were his friends)--and a precursor to the social philosophies of French authors such as Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and Michel de Certeau. Indeed, Kracauer can be considered the father of Cultural Studies as a discrete discipline, and his work combines sociology and Marxist philosophy with popular journalism to offer groundbreaking insights into the historical genealogy of the modern workplace, the cultural roots of fascism, and perhaps most importantly the social and aesthetic significance of film.

All of this is justification enough for a book-length discussion of his complex and heterogenous writings. Koch, a respected German scholar of Kracauer and his milieu, does a mostly excellent job of summarizing the highlights of Kracauer's career and analyzing his contributions to the vocabulary and methodology of Critical Theory. At times, however, it is unclear as to whether she is offering an introduction to Kracauer's work or an in-depth discussion for specialists, and she occasionally veers between overstating the obvious and weighing her argument down with arcane subtleties. For a specialist or aspiring-specialist audience, perhaps the most noticable weakness of this book is its overly apologetic tone, both in providing uniform attention to all his work--thereby diluting the strength of his best work by equating it with his lesser efforts--and in short-changing a candid discussion of Kracauer's ambiguous sexuality.

Nonetheless, as the only work of its kind this book makes a valuable contribution to the scholarship on Critical Theory and the intellectual legacies of Weimar Germany. It is encouraging that Koch offers such sustained and serious attention to Kracauer's fascinating body of work, and one can only hope that this book will stimulate other readers and scholars to continue the discussion that she initiates.

Charles Gaines brings the reader into a world mostly unknown, the seemy underworld of body building in the sixties. This was before Arnold made body building popular in the culture. In fact, Arnold played Joe Santo in the excellent movie made from this novel. The novel is beautifully written. Gaines approaches this truly unique world with a proper sense of wonder and amazement. The characters are strong and rich. Gaines has a unique ability to make us care about this world that most folks barely knew existed. He is a wonderfully talented writer. We really wonder why he has not been much heard since the original publication of this excellent novel. In any case, this novel is hugely entertaining and well worth the time. The message itself, "Stay Hungry - - for life!" is well worth the price.

I bought this bundled with the textbook, and found it to be helpful prior to taking tests. Read the textbook chapter carefully, then review the questions in this study guide to see how much you need to re-read. Has a good combination of Multiple Choice, T/F and Fill-in questions for each chapter. Be cautious though, nearly every chapter's questions has at least one error. These guys could have done a better job of proof reading.

Part of the famous Murphy NASCAR family, Kim became a highly regarded research scientist working at Booth Labs. However, her doctor tells her she has kidney problems that she must not ignore.. Feeling healthier than the horse that won the Derby, she plans to do nothing until she finds her list of 10 things to do before she dies in her family's Charlotte home.

Kim decides to complete the list which includes dating and dumping a jock. She chooses NASCAR Crew chief Wade Abraham to help her complete those items. He is more than willing to accommodate her. As they fall in love, he remains in the dark as does her family as to why she implemented her dying list of ten.

In spite of her family and his job, NASCAR plays a minor support role in this angst laden contemporary romance as Kim facing death decides to complete her list with Wade being her chosen one. The story line is driven totally around the oval by Kim as she engages the audience who pray that a compatible kidney is found in time. Abby Gaines provides a deep tale starring a young brilliant woman living her life to the fullest as she begins counting down her life and her list.

Harriet Klausner

The Our Presidents series is different from most devoted to juvenile biographies of the Presidents in that it does not give an opportunity for the author to begin with a pivotal moment in the President's life that defines their political career. Ann Graham Gaines has to begin with Theodore Roosevelt's childhood, when the young boy who suffered from asthma kept himself busy studying nature. The first chapter ends with T.R. attending Harvard, having turned himself into strong and healthy young man. The second chapter looks at T.R.'s early political career and his life as a cattle rancher in South Dakota. The third chapter looks at Roosevelt the War Hero, starting with his work as assistant secretary of the Navy, his military service as a Colonel of the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War, and after the war his election as first Governor of New York and then Vice President. This chapter shows the limitations of this format because Gaines has to cover all of that in four pages (over half of which is devoted to pictures). Consequently, she is able to provide the basics of T.R.'s life but not much beyond that. The final chapter looks at the Roosevelt presidency and what he did after leaving office. Again, Gaines has a lot to cover and not enough pages to do anything approaching an adequate job.

Overall this is an excellent series, but the strenuous life of Theodore Roosevelt proves to be too much to be covered in this particular format. The final chapter barely touches on two terms in the White House, time spent hunting in Africa and exploring in South America, the most successful third party campaign for the President in American history, and what T.R. did before an during the First World War. Young readers get little sense of T.R. as a progressive reformer or what where the major accomplishments of his administration, which was one of the more significant ones. The book is illustrated with historical personal and political photographs from Roosevelt's life and career (including a photograph of T.R. as a young man with his brother, sister, and a family friend, Edith Carow, who would become his second wife). There are informative sidebars on T.R. as cowboy, Rough Rider, and conservationist, and the margins are crammed with Interesting Facts (e.g., how he was the youngest person ever elected to the New York State Assembly and what T.R. was doing when he received news of McKinley's death).

Kevin Gaines does a remarkable job in identify the problems that face many African Americans living in the Twentieth Century. His studies is focused around the Civil Right Era where you have powerful leaders involved with the "Black Freedom Movement." Noted key players are Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey. His arguements are based around the problems in the South and the violation of civil and human rights. The Federal and local (Southern) governments are the key institutions that supported the unjust treatment of African Americans for over many centuries. Gaines seem to argue that if there is a change in the way politics are incorporated in the poor black communities to help build a middle/working class society then the poverty rate would decrease and race would not be a barrier.

WHOSE LIE IS IT ANYWAY? by Abby Gaines
January 21, 2007


Amazon rating 4/5

WHOSE LIE IS IT ANYWAY was a very lighthearted and humorous story, featuring an obsessive-compulsive accountant, Holly Stephens, and Jared Harding, a successful businessman that seems to have a shady side to his character. When Holly's business partner disappears (she was told he was going on vacation) and she is accused of fraud, she loses access to her home and her job while the investigation continues. Desperate, she turns to Jared, willing to work with this man until she can get her life back.

Jared is up to something, but he makes sure she doesn't figure it out until it's too late. His plan is to use Holly so he can take revenge on someone who wronged his brother many years ago, but she's told something totally different by Jared, as she goes through the paperwork to make sure this company that Jared plans on acquiring is sound. The two clash but there is a definite chemistry between them. WHOSE LIE IS IT ANYWAY was a refreshing romantic comedy that kept a smile on my face as I read to the last page. The main character, Holly, and her obsessive-compulsive habits were enough to keep me from putting the book down. A very entertaining story with a twist, readers will enjoy WHOSE LIE IS IT ANYWAY?

"The Invisible MAD" gets off to a strong start with the "No Longer Working for Peanuts Dept." and the magazine's answer to the big question, "Will Success Spoil Charlie Brown?" Drawn by Jack Rickard and written by Larry Siegel this is a nice look at what happened when Charles M. Schulz's "Peanuts" became big business in the 1960s (the collection was originally published in 1967). The idea is that Shermy comes back to visit the old gang and discovers Schroeder has a rock band, Pigpen is using imported dust, and Charlie Brown is playing polo. This a classic example of "MAD" satire and while there might not be anything else as good here, it is still an enjoyable walk down memory lane for a comic look at the 1960s.

That is why we get a look at "The MAD Library of Extremely Thin Books" (e.g., "Germans Who Admit they Backed the Nazis"), "Advantages of the Suburbs for Kids," and "MAD's Medical Mother Goose" written by Siegel and illustrated by Al Jaffee. You also get a chance to join in on the fun in "MAD's Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions" where they provide several examples to stupid questions (e.g., a dentist asking "Did that hurt?") and then provide you space to come up with your own riposte. Who knows, you could do better than Jaffee.

What you really want to know is what parodies do you get to see in "The Invisible MAD." Artist Mort Drucker and writer Dick De Bartolo do "Mission: Ridiculous" for the television one and ending the book is Drucker joining with Stan Hart to do "In the Out Exit" for the movie one (and I bet most of your have no idea the movie being parodied is "Up the Down Staircase," which starred Sandy Dennis and is one of those movies that teachers still watch periodically to remember why they bother to teach). There are other familiar faces here, such as Spy vs. Spy, a quartet of Don Martin offerings, and Dave Berg's look at the "Lighter Side" of friendship and fear. The result is a solid offering of the warped humor from the usual gang of idiots that some of us grew up on way back when.