Powell Books

Niall Rudd's edition of Cicero's two works The Republic and The Laws is the ideal handbook for the aspiring statesman; the accomplished politician should also be referred to use these two dialogues as a sort of political guide to draw from. In these two texts, the reader will find Cicero in all his eloquence artfully dicating the principles of what it means to be a good man and what it takes to create and consolidate states. This book will leave a lasting impression upon anyone who pans through the pages of these two very important works of the great Marcus Tullius Cicero. Also found here are the always insightful explanatory notes contained in the excellent series of Oxford World Classics; and the concise, scholarly introductions will without a doubt throw significant light upon the principles addressed throughout these timeless texts.

From Plato's Republic or before, people have written their ideas of what the ideal state would look like, and especially how it would be governed. Cicero, a citizen of classical Rome adds his thoughts in the first half of this volume. To him, the philosophically ideal state would be very much like Rome itself.

Cicero establishes early on (p.16) that, regarding the marvels of the physical world, "that kind of knowledge will not make us better or happier people." Only statecraft is worthy of serious study. That ideal state would be populated by "We Romans, paragons of justice as we are" (p.63-64), who forbid many industries in their outlying states "in order to enhance the value of our own products." He reinforces this idea of the predatory state by saying "No state is so stupid as not to prefer wicked domination to virtuous subjection" (p.67), as if domination and subjection are the only two roles that states may hold with respect to each other.

Cicero presents his thoughts in the form of Platonic dialogs, but without the clear direction of Plato's works. Instead, these little plays express Cicero's unfailingly high opinion of himself and of Rome, dismissing all others (both people and states) as unworthy of interest. His "Lasw" follow the same pattern, exploring the ideal by reciting the rules that Rome had in place, with only minor revisions.

Mixed in with his smug sense of superiority regarding self and state, Cicero makes a few points of interest. He compares monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy as forms of government. He notes that each has flaws, and each holds the seeds of its own collapse. Instead of any one, Cicero proposes an ideal government - i.e., Rome's own - that combines all three. I found it interesting that the US constitution creates much the same structure. We have the mono-archic presidency, oligarchic supreme court, and democratic Senate and Congress. Unfortunatley, I found Cicero's discussion too diffuse and too broken by losses through the centuries to get any clear idea of how he would have divided responsibility between the three, so I can not contrast his ideal to our current situation.

The translation is lively and modern. Profuse end notes fill in cultural background and ambiguities in translation, adding nicely to the main text. I could only ask for uniform numbering in the references - end notes are numbered by the page to which they refer, but cross reference by section numbers in the text. That, combined with numbers that apparently identify leaves of the original, creating an indexing scheme that fell short in clarity. Those minor problems seem not to interfere with Cicero's presentation, or with Cicero's sense of his own importance and Rome's.

//wiredweird

Ricky Powll is most recognizable for his journalistic photography. He has worked mostly in taking photos of famous rappers, this work can be found in his other book "Oh Snap". The photography style shown here is Powell's attempt to show the city and people of New York in the eighties. Powell worked as a bike messenger and nightclub busboy in the eighties. The material presentes in this book is mostly photos taken of people as Powell bumps into them in his travels through New York City. There are no glamorous shots, or composed photos with zoom ins, but art at random. Powell found a bunch of people back in the day. You may recognize the people on the cover of the book, rapper Method Man, artists Basquiat and Andy Warhol, and actor Lawrence Fishburn. There are many pictures of everyday people too. Each picture has a caption of how, and where, it was taken. Powell states in the intro that his home town "feels like a theme park now", this is his attempt to capture how it was back in the day.

Diversity= acknowledging my brother Dondi in your dedication. Old,young,poor, rich, great book to remind us that many different experiences go into life. Ricky, Dondi(r.i.p.) is eyeballing from above.....Peace

Before the 'New Age' there was the "Rosicrucian Enlightenment". At the beginning of the 17th century, a new awakening was heralded throughout Europe, announcing the universal reform of all known areas of human activity - religion, science, art, and society were to become one being. The chief proponents of this great awakening were the mysterious "Rosicrucians". Nearly 400 years after the first seeds of this movement were planted, over 100 students, authors, and scholars of traditional Western esotericism, of which Rosicrucianism is the foremost exponent, gathered in the medieval town of Czesky Krumolv in the Czech Republic, to discuss, explore, and in someway, reopen the 'Vault of Christian Rosencreutz' once again.

"The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited" contains nine essays on the early Rosicrucian movement presented at this landmark conference sponsored in part by The New York Open Center, and copies of the first two Rosicrucian Manifestoes, the "Fama" and the "Confessio". It is a great read and ideal for anyone interested in what is truly the heart and soul of Western esotericism - the Rosicrucian Enlightenment.

In light of recent documentary discoveries in a number of European archives, I had high hopes that this volume would further the body of research into the Rosicrucian movement. Ultimately, it did, but in ways I did not anticipate.

There are some essential works here (Joscelyn Godwin's excellent meditation on Michael Maier and Rafael T. Prinke's article on Michael Sendivogius immediately spring to mind: both of which demonstrate the varities of meaning Rosicrucianism took on to those who sought to perpetuate the movement in different contexts) but also much filler. Too many of the contributions collected in this volume re-state a body of knowledge familiar to all students of the subject. Due to the original format of these contributions (i.e., speeches) this knowledge is -understandably- not communicated in a particularly useful fashion.

Having said that, this volume is worth its price of entry. However the content is certainly a mixed bag.
Lastly, the translations of the Rosicrucian manifestos contained in this volume are those of Thomas Vaughan's mid 17th century edition of the Fama and Confessio .

If you're looking for an architectural book that includes drawings such as floor plans, sections and elevations then you're in the right place.

This book offers a lot of pictures for 18 different stadiums including the Wembley Stadium in London.. i would have given it five stars but unfortunately most of the drawings are too small to be read or understood professionally.. i think they should have added a CD just like most architectural books now a days with full size images to help you view it in details.

Very good book on some spectacular sports stadiums. The text is very informative and the images are first rate. It is such a relief that stadiums are back to having style and not just totally utilitarian, like my beloved Astrodome. It is so sad to me that the Astrodome ushered in the multisport stadium, that type of stadium is almost extinct and the few that still stand like Houston's so called "Eighth Wonder of the World", linger like some sort of bad experiment that went horribly wrong. To appreciate how far stadium architecture has come, just look at Relient Stadium, which is profiled in this book, and compare it to the old grey lady next to her...the afore mentioned Astrodome....sic transic gloria.

Nominated stories:
2007 Pushcart Prize XXXI Best of the Small Presses (special mention):
Don Fredd - Jimmie Fitz, Bette Davis and a Christy Mathewson Episode

storySouth Million Writer's Award notable stories:
Steven J. Dines - Unzipped
Harris Bloom - Confessions of a Serial Dater

Underground Voices is a collection of thirty-three stories edited by Cetywa Powell, a Los Angeles-based writer who also edits the online magazine of the same name. Most are fairly short, lasting just a few pages, but all stories touch on some powerful subjects, ranging from memories of war combat to stalking to abortion to torture to alcoholism to generally-frowned-upon sexual practices. Only pick this one up if you have an open mind and enjoy living vicariously through alternative lifestyles. That being said, if you do enjoy taking a break from mainstream (aboveground) fiction, look no further.

The collection provides a who's-who guide to some underground talents in the world of short fiction, online fiction, and novels. Nearly every story has a detailed author bio, providing background, contact information, and further reading. Some of the biographies are as rewarding as the stories themselves! For example, Gregg W. Boita [p. 64]: "Intelligent and subdued, he quietly mulls the fate of humanity once control is wrested from the powers that be into his own hands. It will not be pretty."

Bravo to Powell for assembling this winning collection. Powell clearly has an eye for talent, and provides a benefit to the reader by selecting these thirty-plus stories to muck with your mind.

For anyone who has participated in youth football to any degree, this book will bring back a lot of memories (good and bad). I am a Floridian living in Texas. I cannot begin to count the number of arguments I have had with Texans concerning Texas vs. Florida football. I was really hoping this book would show up Friday Night Lights and prove that FLA reigns supreme. Sadly for me, it did not do the trick. This is a quick read and will entertain, but it lacks some of the emotional depth of F.N.L. This may be more of a regional favorite describing South Florida very well, but I'm not sure New Englanders or those in the Midwest would find much of the cultural and geographical references all that interesting. I did like it, but just not enough to recommend buying it.

This well-written book gives the reader a fascinating glimpse at a place where youth football is treated entirely differently than how you and I are used to. The author does a great job of providing the required political background and the social dynamics of Miami. I could not put the book down. This book is highly recommended.

Michael Powell gives us a condensed history of 101 of some of the most vile people ever to have lived. Each entry is broken into a mini-biography containing Name; Title (aka), Birth, Death, Influences, What they did wrong, Body Count, and Quotes regarding them and most of them have accompanying photos. It's a listing of murderers and rapists that are truly repulsive. Included are 39 political/military personalities (Idi Amin, Osama, Ayatollah, Saddam, Attila the Hun, Queen 'Bloody' Mary, Vlad the Impaler, etc), 6 Nazi (Hitler, Mengele, Ilse Koch, etc), and then others like Timothy McVeigh, Iceman Kuklinski, Dahmer, Manson, Ramirez, Jim Jones, Bundy. As well as some you probably don't know about like Gertrude Baniszewski, Bobby Joe Long, Leonard Lake & Charles Ng, and Pedro Alonso Lopez. The book is really tremendously informative but there are inaccuracies that I have found regarding the likes of Albert Fish, Ed Gein, Jack the Ripper (the suspect list is poorly done).

I would have like to have seen less political figures and there are exclusions that could have been put on the list instead of some of them. Missing are Gary 'Green River Killer' Ridgeway, Ben 'BTK' Rehder, Aileen Wournos, David 'Son of Sam' Berkowits, Albert 'Boston Strangler' DeSalvo. Lesser knowns are Randall "The I-5 Killer" Woodfield, Jerry Brudos, Harvey Louis Carignan "The Want-Ad Killer", and Ivan Milat "the Outback Killer" (of Wolf Creek fame). Also if he includes Jack the Ripper, then he should include Zodiac. And then theres George Chapman who not only is a top Jack the Ripper suspect but also a serial poisoner to boot.

Overall, the book gives brief histories on the people that may inspire you to look further into some cases (why isn't there a movie on Robert 'Swede' Hanson?) and is pretty interesting for a quick insight to some depraved people throughout history. Recommended for true crime afficiandos and easy references to serial killers for a reasearch paper. Could easily have a sequal of '101 More People You Won't Meet in Heaven' to include those forgotten ones and less focus on the politic/military people. It's worth the money and you'll read it quickly. There's also Harold Schechter's "Encyclopedia of Serial Killers" for an even bigger list.

I'm a student at a Canadian High School. I really wanted to go to school in the US, so I got this book. I was really going into it not knowing what to expect. This product really helped. I went into the test confident. This is a great product for people not knowing what to expect going into the test.

This book talked about how to save time. It also coaches you how to pay attention to detail (A problem I have)ie: Words to watch for in the question. Great book!

This book really helped me with my report. I learned so much that i did not know about AIDS and HIV releated diseases. Thanks to Josh and Amy i got an A!

Great view on alcoholism and hot it demolishes the penis. Don't be fooled by drunk teenagers and the lures of alcohol because you might end up without the use of your penis. Great information that reveals exactly how much damage alcohol does to sexual performance, but if alcohol isn't the cause of your dysfunction read
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