Stanley Books

I have two daughters, ages 12 & 7. Their brother has enjoyed the classic Marvel comic book reprints for years. But have you ever looked for comics for young girls that are worth their reading? Slim pickings! Happily, it's Little Lulu to the rescue!

Both of my girls have had a ball reading and rereading these paperback volumes collecting the classic strip of a bygone era. Even my little one, whose reading skills are just emerging, has her nose in these books constantly (sometimes reading them out loud to me).

They're clever, clean, and genuinely entertaining. My only wish is that they were reproduced in color, instead of b&w. (That would probably triple the price of each installment, though). There is one special color issue, so be sure to snag that one.

I have all the Little Lulu books. I grew up reading Little Lulu comic books and now my children are reading them. Besides being great fun, they tell stories usually involving morals and have great storylines. Why don't they make comics like this anymore?

I recently finished plowing through the collected paperback editions of the classic 1950s "Little Lulu" comics, and wanted to put in my vote... yes! yes! yes! True, it's a little disappointing that the strips are reprinted in black-&-white and not in the original color versions, but the real genius of these works is in the draftsmanship of artists John Stanley and Irving Tripp, and once you get onto their wavelength, even these half-size B&W reprints are a pure delight. They can say so much with such economy -- a single panel of Lulu's unbridled mischief can have you laughing your head off, and here, in this multi-volume collection, you've got a real treasure trove of some of the best graphic-art humor produced in the 20th Century. Great stuff, highly recommended, and major kudos to Dark Horse for making this artwork both available and affordable.

The numbering and publishing order of Dark Horse's "Little Lulu" series is rather confusing. Although "My Dinner with Lulu" was their third release, it is labeled Volume #1 in the series. This is because it reprints the first comic "books" featuring the character; Dell Four Color #74, #97, #110, #115, #120 (published over a two year period, 1945-1946). All 52 pages of content from these five books is included, unfortunately the covers and advertisements are not. And the reprints are black and white, which makes the volumes very affordable if poor substitutes for the original four-color pages.

John Stanley did all the pencils and some of the inking for these five books, in partnership with Irving Tripp. Cartoonist Marge Buell created the characters in 1935 for the Saturday Evening Post and the early comic books had to secure her approval before publication. Judging from the obvious style differences, it is likely that several of Buell's multi-panel one-page SEP stories were included in the comic books and reprinted in this volume.

The 1945-46 drawings are more faithful to Buell's style than later Lulu issues. Note that the characters' mouths are only shown when they are speaking and they have only a single eyebrow line going across their foreheads. Despite this both Buell and Stanley are able to convey an amazing number expressions and emotions.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

While this is 'volume 3' of Dark Horse Comics' reprint series of Little Lulu, it actual reprints the first 5 of the 10 "Four Color" Little Lulu comics (#74, 97, 110, 115, 120) which were published before Little Lulu got her own title. Hopefully volume 4 of the series will reprint the last 5 of the Four Color issues.

I recently finished plowing through the collected paperback editions of the classic 1940s/1950s "Little Lulu" comics, and wanted to put in my vote... yes! yes! yes! True, it's a little disappointing that the strips are reprinted in black-&-white and not in the original color versions, but the real genius of these works is in the draftsmanship of artists John Stanley and Irving Tripp, and once you get onto their wavelength, even these half-size B&W reprints are a pure delight. They can say so much with such economy -- a single panel of Lulu's unbridled mischief can have you laughing your head off, and here, in this multi-volume collection, you've got a real treasure trove of some of the best graphic-art humor produced in the 20th Century. Great stuff, highly recommended, and major kudos to Dark Horse for making this artwork both available and affordable.

This is classic. You'll laugh and laugh. Especially when Tubby takes Little Lulu treasure hunting in the lake.

I was very pleased to see that Dark Horse Books have taken on the task of reprinting the Little Lulu comics. Much like the Peanuts serial reissues this book (Vol 1) gives you all the LuLu comics from issues #6 - #12. Vol 2 & 3 are soon on their way. These comics (besides the originals) were only previously available in very expensive reprint bindings that cost well over one hundred dollars and are long out of print. The price on these books is well affordable.
The comics are printed in Black & White Ink (but so were the earlier expensive reissues)but they are very crisp. If you have ever seen the "Little Lulu Show" with Tracy Ullman voicing Lulu, you will recall many of these comics.
I am still giving this collection 5 stars and my only suggestion is that I wish they had included the original cover art at the start of each # issue. I also am wondering if issues #1 through #5 will see the light of day.I hope they keep churning these delightful books out, until they covered them all. I've waited a long time for Little Lulu Comic Reprint Books and I know she, Tubby, Alvin, Iggy and Annie have many fans who will be pleased as punch to have them back.

I've brought home a great many different books in an attempt to get my seven-year old boy enthusiastic about reading.
Of all the books and comics he's examined, Little Lulu is the one that keeps him coming back for more. These are books he will pick up and read without prompting, and they can hold his attention for hours at a time.
At first I was surprised, thinking he would prefer some swashbuckling action hero, but then I read the stories more closely in an attempt to understand their appeal.
It turns out that my kid is a pretty good critic. These are solid, amusing stories with memorable, amusing characters. They beat the pants off 99% of the pre-packaged film/video game tie-ins that pass for kid's reading these days.
So hats off to Little Lulu, Dark Horse Publishing, and the simple appeal of a good, funny story well told.

In the early '90s, Another Rainbow Publishing embarked on a gargantuan task: to publish the entire run of Marge's Little Lulu comic books in an oversized, slipcased, hardback collector's edition. That beautiful series is now collectible and rare, the holy graal of Little Lulu collectors, but Dark Horse, with these new, affordable editions, has brought Marge's unsinkable moppet within reach of everyone. How do the series compare?

Amazon calls "Lulu Goes Shopping" volume one, but the Dark Horse edition is labeled #4, and contains seven comics that were originally published between November 1948 and June 1949 as "Marge's Little Lulu" issues six through twelve. This roughly corresponds to volume four, set two of the first series of the Another Rainbow set, which contained comics 6-11. The comics in "Lulu Goes Shopping" are in black and white, as were the Another Rainbow sets, with a full color cover featuring Irving Tripp's original art from issue number six. The AR set included color plates of all the covers, and a short feature in the comic, "Lulu's Diry," left out of the DH collections.

All of which is to say that Lulu lovers may still want to track down the AR sets which are far easier to find than the original comics, but at about ten bucks a book, Dark Horse has done a great job with Marge's Little Lulu, which is sure to win new fans and readers as it has every time it's been republished since Marge's first single panel comic in the Saturday Evening Post in 1935.

The genius of the comics is writer par excellence, John Stanley (Melvin Monster, Thirteen Going on Eighteen), but the back cover depicts the latest Lulu incarnation, CINAR's delightful cartoon series, seen on HBO, The Little Lulu Show, collected on DVD as "The Best of Little Lulu" (see my Amazon guide, "Cartoons Without Cable" for more information). "Dark Horse is really galloping" is how The HoLLywood Eclectern, the newsletter of all things Lulu, described the new Dark Horse series. The best kept secret in comic collecting, Ed Buchman publishes the journal as a labor of love and sends it out free to Lulu fans young and old. Write: "The HoLLywood Eclectern", PO Box 4215, Fullerton, California 92834.

wonderful photos', informative narrative, the new guy can't go wrong. And the speed of shipping can't be matched. Thanks all around.

Marble Mania will prove to be the standard to which other marble related books will be compared to. A thorough, comprehensive view of all aspects of marble collecting. Graphically superior with detail that will be utilized by not only the beginning collector but the advanced collector also. Mr. Block has taken the time, performed the research and compiled this vast amount of information into an enjoyable, eye and mind satisfying beautiful book. Mr. Block is clear in his intentions to continue to be the leader in an area of great challenge, I can't wait for Mr. Block's next marble book. The bar has been raised!

Marble Mania has fine photographs of every imaginable marble from pebbles found alongside streams to the Industrial Revolution in Germany & Austria. Here the cutting of agate cubes & polishing them into marbles for export all over the world became a huge cottage industry. You have to see the beauty of all the clay, pottery, crockery, china & porcelain globes. It was fun to read this big book. Found myself chatting at the local recycle shop about the blue canning jars in their windows filled with marbles. Eyeing them eagerly, with a little more knowledge & a few more names.

I bought this book for my husband (from Amazon) for Xmas. Not only is the book very beautiful, but he has become an expert in his own right. With a year-2000 interest in things retro, marbles are enjoying a boom. We now have jars of them everywhere, looking great and, according to this great book, appreciating in value as we watch. With the help of the pricing guides we discovered that we already owned some very valuable marbles, and have since acquired more. In fact, the book paid for itself about 10 minutes after we got it, with the discovery of an unrecognized treasure.

i loved this book because it gave you funny expample of how to play i also loved it because it gave you marbles that you can play with.
from,
caroline

I had the priviledge of attending a class taught by Anne Trip on the entitled book. I had never heard a marriage book taught in the way she writes. It is straight from Christ how we are to treat each other. This should be a pre-requisite to marriage. I reading this book for the 2nd time, but I know i will be reading it again and again to re-enforce and strenghthen my own marriage. This is truly a wonderful book and the best book on marriage out there.

I am a Licensed Professional Counselor and I believe this book to be the best book on Christian marriage. So many books are written on marriage, but this book is the answer to healing in a marriage. The book takes you through 4 couples that are being counseled and shows you the journey they took through marriage counseling. It also offers exercises and other supplements that help you determine the state of your own marriage and how you can be complete in life by following the truths in this book. It is a must have for all marriages; ones that are hurting as well as those that just need some enrichment.

Over the 37 years we have been married, we have read a LOT of books on marriage and attended a lot of conferences.........but this book is clearly the best one we have ever read! So many of the other books we had read seemed to be about about trying harder and changing behaviors, which only left us increasingly frustrated that we couldn't get it right. In this book, however, Anne leads her readers on a journey of understanding that it is only dependency on the indwelling life of Christ which will lead to the intimacy and vitality that God intends for every marriage. Our marriage has been transformed!

One of the best books on marriage I have read. It has benefited me professionally as a clinician and personally. Must read for those who want to grow in their marriage.

If your marriage needs help(and whose doesn't), this book can be used alone or in conjunction with counseling. This book would also be an excellent study used in a small group or Sunday School class. It is easy to follow and puts the emphasis on all the right issues. Nobody would feel intimated reading this book.

for those of you who want a picture of life on an oar boat on the Great Lakes in the 1950's, this book is for you. Very enjoyable and accurate portrayal of that life.

I sailed on a number of Great Lakes oar boats in the 1950's. Reading this book, I had a vivid re-experience of my life as a Great Lakes sailor, both positive and negative. For anyone interested in an accurate and compelling account of life on oar boats back then, this book will give you a good read as well as a historical account of that time.

I was a Great Lakes sailor in the 1950's and worked on a number of ore boats. I view Meditations of a Great Lakes Sailor as a highly accurate, albeit fictional, account of what it was like to work on the Great Lakes at that time. Reading this account, I was enabled to vividly relive some of my own experiences, both positive and negative. This book, I believe, has historical significance in recreating an important time in our history.

This portraiture of a young college student, Rick, earning money at sea as a deckhand and porter, delves into the meaning of life experienced by him and his sailor friends, some crude; the constant search for understanding of the way other men and women think, and what makes them tick. Are sailors beasts or soul searchers? In the end, does it matter which man wins?
In discovering an appreciation of the worthiness and intelligence of the average working man who might be unschooled and semi-illiterate, Rick decides to learn about the mysteries of the human mind by studying psychology and psychiatry.
A well written novel.

I was sorry to reach the end of Meditations of a Great Lakes Sailor. I wanted to spend more time with this unruly rag-tag band of men bonding and brawling on an ore freighter. Rick Stevens, the main character, grows up a la Catcher in the Rye on the lakes. Aboard the B.F. Steadfast, which aptly describes both the boat and his own constitution, Rick observes the lives of his shipmates with a blend of curiosity, naïveté and aloofness. In a hidden diary, he records conversations and antics without judgment. Mr. Graham's descriptions create three-dimensional characters, some larger than life, others rather repulsive, yet all enjoyable and interesting. Some even deserve their own book. At any rate, Meditations is a tribute to those living on the lakes.

With popular culture grabbing my daughter's attention so powerfully, it was nice to have some high brow material that could compete with the Disney genre. My favorite part was when my girl asked, "Why doesn't God just stretch his finger a little more like this [stretched her finger] to touch Adam?" The whole book is a single bed time reading for a parent to a child. It reads a bit like a cliff hanger with the reader along for the ride through Michaelangelo's challenges and accomplishments.

Born March 6, 1475 in the little stonecutter's village of Caprese, about fifty miles east of Florence, and left in the care of a nurse, Michelangelo "fell asleep to the odd lullaby of chisel striking stone. Years later he remarked that his love of sculpture must have come to him along with his foster mother's milk." From an early age, Michelangelo wanted to become an artist. His father, ashamed that his son wanted to enter such a lowly profession, tried to literally beat the idea out of him, but the headstrong and determined child would not give in, and in 1488 was apprenticed to the famous painter, Domenico Ghirlandaio. After only one year his unrivaled talent was noticed by Lorenzo de'Medici, a great and generous art lover and patron. He brought Michelangelo into his palace and treated him as one of his sons, encouraging his art. But upon Lorenzo's untimely death, Michelangelo was sent back to his father's house, and cast in the role of family breadwinner, "a role he would play for the rest of his life." And so it was that the difficult and disagreeable, perfectionist Michelangelo's greatest masterpieces, The Pieta, David, and the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, were commissioned works by patrons and popes..... Diane Stanley's intriguing biography takes the reader on a compelling and suspenseful journey as she details the life and times of the greatest artist of the Renaissance. Her easy to read and engaging text is rich in history, art, drama, and anecdotes, and complemented by her ingeniously creative and innovative illustrations. Together word and art captures the essence of the arrogant and tormented artist, and brings Michelangelo and the Renaissance to life on the page. Perfect for youngsters 9-12, Michelangelo is a well researched and spellbinding introductory biography, and another marvelous addition to Ms Stanley's superb series.

Award-winning author Stanley presents a stunning picture book biography of true Renaissance man Michelangelo Buonarroti, who came to master the arts of sculpting, painting and architecture in fifteenth and sixteenth century Italy. Stanley blends information about Michelangelo and his life as an artist with historical detail to set the scene, and then introduces a fascinating cast of personalities that include his first master Domenico Ghirlandodaio, the Warrior Pope he offended, and his contemporary Leonardo Da Vinci, who was Michelangelo's envy and rival.
Stanley reproduces and discusses Michelangelo's greatest works (David, the Sistine Chapel, the Pieta) then adds details such as fresco painting techniques and the gruesome necessity of dissecting cadavers to study anatomy. Quotes from Michelangelo's own letters enrich the text; it is a tragedy that he destroyed many of his personal papers before his death.
A full-page illustration to exemplify the narrative compliments each page of text; the text pages are decorated with period coins, coats of arms, stonecutting tools, portraits, sketches and reproductions. The illustrations are an unusual mix of paintings which feature scanned images of Michelangelo's works of art, including drawings and sketches, sculpture and paintings.
Stanley's paintings (which show the housing, dress and goods of the poverty stricken as well as the palace-dwellers) seem flat when paired with Michelangelo's dimensional artwork, and the contrast is a bit awkward. Her paintings imitate the style of the times in color, layout and subject, while still following the narrative. A richly-hued historical map of Italy explains the government of the time as well as the layout of the country, while the author's note opposite gives a defines the Renaissance. Bibliography & permissions are provided; the absence of a timeline and glossary may disappoint teachers.

While browsing through a local bookstore I chanced upon Michelangelo by Diane Stanley. What a beautiful book! Not only were the pictures captivating, but the information was excellent. Michelangelo's famous picture of the creation of the moon and stars that graces the Sistene chapel is on the cover. My children were enthralled as I read how Michelangelo spent many hours dissecting human cadavers at a local morgue, becoming so familiar with the human body that he was able to make his works come alive with breathtaking detail. I will look for more books by this same author. Children(and adults)will read this book over and over. A great addition to your home library!

Michelangelo is an interesting look into the life of Renaissance superstar artist, Michelangelo Buonarroti from birth to death. Born in Italy March 6, 1475, Michelangelo was destined to become an artist and knew this is what he wanted from a young age. He was raised in various homes, by a nurse in the village of stonecutters and later in the home of the ruler of Venice, Lorenzo Medici who recognized his talent and brought him to live with him as his own sons. At the age of thirteen he begged his father to become a lowly artist's apprentice working in fresco for the time of three years. His true love was though not painting, but sculpture. Michelangelo eventually created some of the worlds' most famous art artworks including the sculpture of David and the painting inside the Sistine Chapel and worked on countless commissions for several popes and rulers trough out Italy. Many interesting facts that children will be sure to pick up on, including Michelangelo's work with corpses to study the human form and his feud with another Renaissance superstar Leonardo Da Vinci, keep this book interesting and exciting.
Stanley's interesting illustrations are unique. She combines photographs of true artwork (it is hard to copy a master!) with her own paintings to create a visually stimulating illustration. This book would be good for any adult that is wanting a "more than basic" but easy reading book about the life of Michelangelo.

This book is outstanding! The author describes his journey in almost mile by mile detail, with the local histories of various locations thrown in. A most fascinating book an excellent read.
Regards,
Malcolm.

Everything the first three Amazon reviewers say is right on. Train ride across the country, in a Pullman, seen by a youth in the era of great railroads; great! Check out another item, that complements this book wonderfully: video (DVD) from the Milwaukee Road Historical Association, The Milwaukee Road: Chicago to Tacoma. These films (many in color) cover the same route taken by author Johnson, in this case from the 1950s and 60s. Together - book and this video - you get an even greater trip.

Any devotee of the Milwaukee Road will want to own this book, which manages to combine in an extraordinary way a narrative of the route, the train and the people of the Milwaukee Road. This is a task to which Johnson brings both knowledge and love. It comes together as a unique, and deeply moving, memorial to the Milwaukee.

This is truley an amazing book. The true story of a cross country journey from Chicago to Tacoma on the fabled Milwaukee Road's Olympian in 1941 told thought the eyes of a 13 year old! The book is extensively illustrated and covers each mile of the journey arranged in the order of the journey. What is nice is the freshness, innocence and wonder of the journey - just what you would expect from a boy in love with the Milwaukee Road. As an additional treat we get the interactions of the railroad employees with the author Stan Johnson. Particularly memorable is Clarence Williams the sleeping car porter. Filled with detail and railroadiana - it just like being on the journey yourself. A must read for anyone who would like to enjoy travel as it used to be.

Back when railroads were king, a boy's first trip alone on a train was a big step to manhood: symbolic of great trust by parents, not only in the boy, but in the railroad. Those days are gone. Stan Johnson, however, relives his own first journey on the Milwaukee Road's crack passenger train, the Olympian, on its transcontinental journey from Chicago to Seattle. This book nicely combines Johnson's detailed recollections with the adult author's appreciation for the history of the land through which the train passed. Each historical or geological vignette, though, quickly passes and the trip resumes through the wide eyes of a boy on his first trip alone, recalling each station, each dinner, the porters, the observation cars, Milwaukee steam power, the Milwaukee's mighty Quill drive electrics, the sleeping compartments, myriad details of trains and places.

Johnson is an excellent writer, this was a great train, and this is a terrific story with outstanding illustrations and photographs recalling the history of the Milwaukee. The Olympian is gone. The Milwaukee Road is gone. Johnson's book is a fond rememberance of a magnificent time in this railroad's, and this young boy's, life.

Steven, I have been looking for you for years, it looks like you published your book! I feel honored to have been one of the first to read it back in 1976. I loved it then, I would love to read it again now, in its updated version. I wonder how I could contact you. You look fabulous in your pix, would love to catch up with you. Rena

An absolutely great read. Great twists and turns and great characters. It was easy to visualize every scene. I certainly hope the author intends to publish more writing.

A previous review of Stanley debut novel, "Moroccan Roll", compared it to Maupin's "Tales of the City", if it were set in a small city in Morocco. I'd update that to being more of an incredibly diverse (in gender, sexual orientation and nationality) Moroccan version of "Sex and The City."

This ambitiously-detailed (417 pages) story centers primarily on a small group of American and French twenty-something singles teaching in Äin El Qamar, at a government school presided over by a dishonest, overbearing tyrant of an administrator. The teachers, a few of whom took the foreign assignment in order to forget past lovers, cope with less-than-luxurious living conditions, while trying to assimilate into a culture that seems very strange, judgmental and often unfriendly to them. There's Janna, a second year teacher who is still obsessed with a young Moroccan she had an affair with the first year, but seems to have moved on. Kevin is a gay man who is trying to forget the tragic loss of his lover, who shares a modest home with Dave, another gay teacher who left an incompatibly closeted lover and is developing a crush on one of his seemingly straight students. Marcie left the USA behind for the exotic charm of Morocco, and quickly falls love with a local who is known as a shallow playboy. Last but not least, we have Claudette, a slightly older French veteran who functions as a social director for her fellow teachers, when she is not entertaining local gentlemen callers who are likely just after her money. Other supporting characters include a man who has returned to teach in his hometown, a Frenchman who is the life of any party but always seems to go home alone, a French married couple with an apparent "open" relationship, a hunky tennis pro whom Claudette is infatuated with, and a young Moroccan student who stalks one of the American teachers.

It's a very well-written and entertaining book, which I initially thought was a bit overly long and detailed, but I now see that this is part of its charm, in that it engrosses you totally in the lives of these individuals. At its very core, it is a story about looking for happiness and love, and of learning to be open-minded enough in order to achieve those goals. I give it five stars out of five.

Frothy, intelligent, satirical, lyrical,diabolical, tragically and hillariously comedic gay lit/chic lit book brings to mind Armistead Maupin's tales of 1970's San Francisco.

Steven Stanley successfully evokes a very specific time and place (1970's Morocco) and interweaves multiple storylines. This book is recommended for all, especially those that are looking for an engrossing book to read on a lazy afternoon.

Stanley, Steven. "Moroccan Roll", iUniverse, 2007.

Morocco in the 70's

Amos Lassen

Every once in a while I come across a book that I know will not satisfy me with just one reading for whatever reason. Steven Stanley's "Morocco Roll" is one such book and because I enjoyed it so much, I want to add it to my list of books that I read over and over again. Stanley himself lives in Morocco for four years so he knows the backdrop well--so well, in fact, that I felt I was right there with him.
It is written in "Tales of the City style--there are many characters and they are not only involved in their own storylines but with each other. The cast is international in flavor--there are Americans, French and Moroccans and they are both gay and straight.
Morocco has always been a land of mystery to the West. It intrigues us with its eroticism and with its romance. It is the customs, traditions, and people that this novel is about and the people are weave tales.
There are five major characters and a plethora of minor ones. Their interaction and their lives give this novel its life. Claudette is a glamour girl who is full of adventure. A public love affair very nearly destroys her. Dave came to Morocco to get away from his boyfriend who could not accept himself as gay and chose to live in the closet. But he jumped from the frying pan into the fire when he fell in love with a Moroccan boy who happened to be straight. Kevin came to Morocco to have a second change at love as a tragedy took the man he loved from him. Janna succumbs to drugs so she could forget the Moroccan who broke her heart and Marcie who ran from Wisconsin so she could be free fell in love with a playboy. Each of these characters has to deal with his own demons and whether they succeed or not is left to the reader to find out.
Stanley manages to pull the reader because of his storyline and because of the way he writes. There is not a needless or redundant word in the book.
Steven Stanley is a man to watch and I do hope that he will not become a one book author. For a good and enjoyable real, it is also a way to meet new friends.

I feel like this book, with its collection of oral histories, would make great supplementary reading for high school A.P. U.S. History classes or for American Studies curricula at the undergraduate and graduate level.

It's got a nice blend of academic approach and non-academic narrative style.

This stimulating collection is a veritable trip to a past American era, an inclusive picture of our nation at a time of crisis and rediscovery. The essays range from the sentimental to the dramatic to the humorous, but above all they are informative. It's a book to keep on your night table to browse at will. (Disclosure: A piece of mine is included.)

every so often a book appears that epitomizes an era and manages to encapsulate shared experience from many unique points of view. "a nation lost and found" belongs in that rarified pantheon of memoirs. if only history were taught routinely this way. at approaching age 72 i can clearly remember listening to norman corwin's broadcast after v.e. day "on a note of triumph" and the chills of recognition, hope, and caution his words produced. an american giant of his time, still. all the essays are memorable. required reading for anyone in the least interested in the events of the 20th century and what they tell us of human folly and hope. norman d. levine, md

According to the LA Times Book Review (9/22/02) this book is, "a delightful, cinematic, even musical way to understand the daily lives of Americans at a particularly vulnerable, tottering moment in our history." I couldn't agree more. It chronicles what may be the seminal year in our nation's history when we pulled together with a strong sense of national identity. The LA Times goes on to say, "If more history were written this way, we'd have eager students, driven to the subject with a greater sense of diversity and possibility. We all might have a finer understanding of what freedom means." The reviewer did us all a service by bringing this book to our attention.

Consisting of vignettes contributed by people both famous and unknown, A Nation Lost and Found describes life in America in 1936. Some contributions are taken from WPA interviews (from the 30s) and reflect the speakers' then current lives and concerns; most are remembrances produced for this book. The vignettes are loosely organized in sections such as, "Politics," " The Holocaust," "Daily Life," and "The Olympics." In their Introduction the authors place the book in the context of 9/11, saying the terrorist attack was not the first time there has been a major catastrophe in this country,
Most of us were not alive in 1936. This book, then, is about a time our parents and/or grandparents experienced. Thus, the book is of interest not only from a disinterested historical perspective, but also from a more personal, familial perspective, because it speaks of the experiences and attitudes of some of our family members and members of their communities.
The vignettes reflect many viewpoints. Some of the contributors seem to have been unaware of the suffering and turmoil in the world. In the words of one man, "Depression is a state of mind. There was no depression in 1936." Others were well aware of the difficult circumstances many experienced. To quote another, "It was a great year if you didn't care about eating."
Those who were poor had various strategies for coping. Some went to Canada for work. Others scrimped, wearing second-hand clothes and skipping trips to the doctor or dentist. A number rented rooms. A few women became prostitutes.
The authors do not attempt to draw lessons from what they present or to analyze the material. They present it as a book to be "browsed at random." In this they have succeeded admirably. All of the vignettes are interesting. Many are gems.

Stanley Plumly's poems could be described as quietly magnificent. There is an amplitude and gracefulness to the work that hearkens strongly back strongly to the nineteenth-century Romantics, in particular Keats: "Like some dreams, they appear, then reappear, / cloistered in the space of their own wounding, / their public mourning, their gravity's gray coat. / Even at a distance, as if drawn by being seen, / they come straight at you, the almost elegant woman / in the aisle, the tall young birdlike silent / weeping man . . ." (from "Grievers").
Yet Plumly never sounds antique. Reading the poems in this new, retrospective collection is an experience in following a thought process that is physically embodied in phrases, complex sentences and vivid images embedded in articulate lines. Doubters who question whether any of today's poets have schooled themselves sufficiently in the hard apprenticeship of Yeats and other poetic forbears should listen and take heart: "Sound of the breath blown over the bottle, / sound of the reveler home at down, light of / the sun a warbler yellow, the sun in / song-flight, lopsided-pose. Be of good cheer, // my father says, lifting his glass to greet / a morning in which he's awake to be / with the birds . . ." (from "Cheer").
Plumly's poems are muted in manner yet never tentative; sonorous and fluent while refusing to be merely beautiful. He persists by searching out new ways to see, new ways of grasping what it means to be alive in these drastically fragile bodies. His book's title alludes to a strangely ambiguous evocation of parent and child lying beside one another - perhaps a small boy and his father, but more likely a diminished and failing father whose still vital son is recognizing in their unaccustomed intimacy a rare bridge across distance.
One of the wonders of this selection of Plumly's work drawn from thirty years is the way the book is arranged as a continuous sequence "in reverse chronological order," with only a brief author's note to indicate the original book titles. It is uncanny to see how comparable in acuity and eloquence the early and later poems really are in this fresh reading. The book lingers in its look back, filled to the brimming point with birds, trees, and people that are gone, all gone, residing now only here. Truly, a life's work.
Plumly has never been prolific - three slender books in the 1970s, two in the 1980s, and only one in the 1990s. Yet his ode-like soundings of mortality have accumulated in power and resonance. His voice is; the care with which these poems were made is evident in every line. This, then, from "Doves in January": "Long o's, long o's, long o's, and then a pause, / a whistle more like someone's voice than song, / as if in a moment a day could pass // from nothing's grief to some becoming grace.

Jim Schley, who lives in Vermont, is the author of a poetry chapbook, One Another (Chapiteau, 1999).

This New & Selected by one of our finest poets, is a must-buy. Lyrical, tender, profound--his images will linger with you, and you will find yourself rereading and later quoting his lines.

Stanley Plumly isn't just a great poet. He is possibly the greatest American poet writing today and this compilation is a journey through some of the best poetry of the past thirty years. The depth of thought present in this work and the manner in which that depth is conveyed hold ground by even the most demanding poetic standards. Having interviewed him in the past, I can vouch for Plumly's genius. One look at his writing is all that the reader needs to vouch for his talent. A talented writer when he began, he has honed his skills over the past thirty years to a level that borders perfect. This books belongs on the bookshelf of anyone whose tastes include good poetry. You won't find a better volume of modern American poetry around.

I attended Plumly's reading here at Grinnell College two days ago. His voice was intoxicating-- sort of an articulate growl. I had to buy the book (and get it signed, of course). One of the most striking pieces, I believe, is "Wrong Side of the River," an excellent demonstration of his simple prose and resonating imagery. Beautiful.

Plumly's newest book brings together some of the best poems of his career...some of the best poems written in America in the last 30 years. I've read over ten volumes from April's "National Poetry Month" and nothing makes me wince more than those poets who feel the need to end each poem with that cryptic/cute/"stunning" last line that veers away from the poem's topic and story in an attempt to be wise. Plumly is in control of his material; even when he sums up a poem in a final line, it fits, it flows, it adds to the sum of the poem rather than leaving the reader wondering.

Family, images of the natural world informing and reflecting the subjective human world, words and form often perfectly wedded: Plumly, nominated for the Natl Book Award in the past surely must be recognized alongside of Merwin, Pastan, Gluck, J Graham, Levine, Kinnell as one due further recognition and awards.