Meyer Books

Roger Drake Meyers and Virginia Rae Hensler were married in California in June 1977, against the advice and perhaps the wishes of many people. Both are mildly developmentally disabled, and at the time, such marriages were actually illegal in some states. However, Roger and Virginia had convinced their families of their sincere desire to marry, and so they had blessings on both sides. Both were employed and contributing members of their community at the time they married -- Virginia worked in a hotel and Roger in a restaurant.

Roger's brother Robert, a noted journalist, wrote their story, calling attention to many of the horrific abuses that had been commonplace in the treatment of the mentally retarded over the course of the twentieth century.

Before writing this review, I googled Roger's and Virginia's names and was pleased to find a link to this article from the PhillyBurbs website, June 1, 2005:(...) Roger and Virginia are still married, still together, and still happy -- while proving the 'conventional wisdom' regarding the advisability of marriage for people like them, not so wise after all.

Miichael J. Meyer's anthology, _Literature and Ethnic Discrimination_, contains a superb essay by Eric Sterling entitled "Loss and Growth of Identity in Shimon Wincelberg's Resort 76." Sterling discusses how Wincelberg's drama portrays a convinced Nazi during World War II who is discovered to be the grandson of a Jew and who is forced to live in the Lodz Ghetto. The onetime Nazi's prejudices against Jews evaporate and he rejects his convictions in Nazi ideology. The topic of the Holocaust is also discussed by Peter R. Erspamer in his essay, "Women Before Hell's Gate: Survivors of the Holocaust and their Memoirs." He discusses German-language Holocaust reminiscenses by Jewish authors who are as-yet relatively unknown to English-speaking readers and makes a strong case for their importance and relevance. The African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston is discussed by the Spanish scholar, Anna Maria Fraile-Marcos. Fraile-Marcos challenges the view that Hurston was an apolitical writer and examines the development of ethnic identity in Hurston's folkloric writings. One of the most informative essays in this collection is Obodimma Oha's "What God Has Put Asunder." He discusses how the Niger river has divided the people of Nigeria into two ethnicities and how inter-ethnic cooperation is low despite subversive pressures from Christianity, urbanization, and Western education.

This is a readable narrative on the life of Meyer Lansky (1902-1983), the "brains" of the mob. Author Robert Lacey traces Lansky's life from his immigrant Jewish roots, to his New York City heyday with Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Ben "Bugsy" Siegel, to his later years as a sort of Florida-based elder statesman. The author makes it seem as if Lansky was primarily about the gambling and casino business (which he was), but does not excuse his ties to the "muscle" side of the underworld. Illegal gambling enterprises, including supposedly legal ones in pre-Castro Cuba, did and do have their seedy and muscle side. The author also looks at Lansky's somewhat un-tranquil family life, and his later years in South Florida until he passed away from cancer. This highly intelligent casino purveyor had simple advice for many people he met. "Don't Gamble," he wisely told them.

Excellent book for anyone who is interested in researching psychiatric rehabilitation

Diving and Snorkeling in Belize is for divers - as a pictured cookbook is for hungry people... A very good source for divers, novice through advanced. The Book starts by covering some basics for every tourist to Belize, then moves on to an overview of Belize as a scuba-diver's wonder-world. Following, all sites are described explicitly. The site descriptions include easy-to-follow rankings of expertise required and characteristics, as depth, currents, visibility, etc., and directions to unique attractions in each site. Throughout, beautiful pictures enhance this coverage. The book definitely played a part in the decision to visit Belize, and for divers - is a recommended addition to the Lonely Planet reference to this region.

This is a fascinating companion book to the previous Arcadia book by Stephen L. Meyers, which covered the long gone streetcars of Manhattan. This new publication covers the trolley lines of New York's borough of Queens which were gone by 1939, as well as the obscure traction properties on Long Island that disappeared during the 1920s. Like other Arcadia books, it is primarily a photo book with sufficient text to accompany the photos and provide historical information. Although some Queens trolley lines were operated into the 1950's by the New York City Transit System, the private companies, such as the New York & Queens County and the Steinway lines, met their demise during the depression years of the 1930s. It is these properties, along with the aforementioned Long Island operations, that Mr. Meyers concentrates on in his book. The photographs are top quality and beautifully reproduced and the well organized text fully complements the many photos.I highly recommend this book to those interested in a fascinating look at these interesting trolley lines. There are few people around these days who remember them and Lost Trolleys of Queens and Long Island will provide an excellent time travel experience into the past.

In the '60s & '70s, "absurdist" theatre was both the in-thing and a catch-all phrase for any plays that didn't use reality as a crutch. All too often the plays of the era were simple nonsense pieces that simply replaced coherency with non-sequitur. The truly fine absurdist pieces, those that both had something to say and said it with wit, humor, and point, were few and far between. Two of those plays, written by one of the unsung heroes of the genre, are contained in this slim volume. Rosen, probably best known for "Ned & Jack" (another woefully under-rated, overlooked, piece)wrote these exercises in "absurdity" with all the fun, and not a little poignancy, that makes any play a great theatrical experience. If anything, they read at least as well as they play. Any serious student of the theatre should read them. Any ambitious theatre company worth its salt, should stage them.

The German aircraft designers were ahead of the rest of the world during World War II. Advances in power plants including turbojets (ME-262), ramjets, rockets (ME-163) and pulse jets (V-1), allowed the airframe manufacturers to expand their thinking from the traditional single seat, single engine fighters that were really used throught the war.

In this book the author has collected the proposals from German aircraft manufacturers and shows just how far that thinking had expanded. Here are the forefathers of the MIG-15, the British Scorpion, deltas like the F-102 and many more. This book, the first volume in the series contans fighter aircraft from the companies Arado through Junkers. The next volume will finish the manufacturers from Lippisch to Zeppelin. After that I shouldn't be surprized to see a book on bombers.

The aircraft are shown with a summary of information agout them, a three view line draw line drawing, and a painting of what it would have looked like in action. I don't know just how many planes are described, perhaps a hundred and fifty.

It's fascinating to see what they might have done given a few more years,

Luna Nueva es el segundo libro de la saga por Stephenie Meyer y sin duda una buena y emocionante continuación para todos los amantes de estos libros.
La novela comienza en donde nos quedamos en Crepúsculo, con el noviazgo de Bella Swan y Edward Cullen, sin embargo, parece que las cosas entre ellos no van a funcionar tan bien como antes: un accidente en el cumpleaños de Bella hace que Edward se de cuenta que su presencia y la de su familia, es peligrosa e innecesaria en la vida de Bella. No les voy a decir qué resulta de esto, pero basta mencionar que el peligro sigue latente en la vida de nuestra protagonista y esta vez se van a unir a ella nuevos y viejos personajes que vienen a cambiar su destino de forma radical.
Verdaderamente, les recomiendo este segundo libro porque contiene la dinámica de Crepúsculo y ahora Stephenie nos añade sentimientos nuevos que nos hacen desbordarnos de tristeza, alegría, desesperación, terror y amor por el destino de nuestros personajes favoritos.

this book approaches death of a child in a family and how the family deals with not only the death but the stress associated with this life event