Stanley Books

Kobena Mercer has long been an important figure in the world of cultural theory and identity politics. He has more recently turned his attention to the fine art object itself. In this groundbreaking book Mercer and a range of other art historians and scholars examine the place of the black artist in the fine art arena. Contrary to art history artists of the African diaspora have played an ongoing and important role in advancing the high art paradigm of painting. Abstraction does not only mean Jackson Pollock! Here Mercer and his critical cohorts examine the role that black artists have played and continue to play in making painting and abstraction an engaging and meaningful conceptual practice.

This is a wonderful way to become acquainted with the thought of Stanley Cavell--one of the most important living philosophers in America. The essays on Shakespeare are stunning, and one can feel the force of a restless, moral, rigorous mind at work in every turn of the arguments. Some of these essays are collected from earlier publications, but the reprinting of all his essays on Shakespeare, plus some new work, make it very worth owning!

Stanley Hauerwas belongs to that minority,{along with Will D. Campbell, Clarence Jordan, Daniel Berrigan, S.J., William Stringfellow, and a few others} who shake the rafters of conventional christianity. The literal,fundementalist's who have dominated the media for the past 20 years would be sent into shivers by much of what Hauerwas writes. Essays such as Why Gays{as a group} are morally superior to Christians{as a group} are brilliant, though I'm certain would disturb many{which ,is one of the reasons Mr Hauerwas writes.} Mr. Hauerwas has been on a crusade about the mentally handicapped, and how we can LEARN FROM THEM,and how we can better serve them and become better ourselves{much of this has been covered by henri Nouwen and the living saint, J`ean vanier]Still, with essay's on Karl Barth and William Stringfellow, My Hauerwas once again is challenging in his views of what it means to be a christian in America. Challenging, thought provoking. What better compliment to afford a theologian?

I love this book because it is a rare opportunity for a thinker to let his guard down. This book is a collection of sermons, interviews, prayers, and reflections. Because of this, there is no theological argument to be won and no position to be defended. Rather, a man who is attempting to be faithful can speak openly.

This book contains many of the themes Hauerwas has addressed over the years. If there is an emphasis, it is on the nature of time as God's gift. The world was changed at Passover, 33 A.D. Because of that change, we understand that time is God's gift to the world and to us.

Although they are great, don't buy this book for the theological arguments. Hauerwas more fully articulates his positions elsewhere. Buy this book to read the words of a passionate man speaking passionately.

There are many people who believe that America is now facing the greatest enemy in its history. I am one of the them; the difference is that I don't think that enemy is some vague dark cloud called "terror" enveloping everything outside the borders of the United States. The greatest enemy we faces is ourselves. The events of September 11 should have incited an awakening. Americans should have begun to realize how the United States, in its relentless pursuit of its own happiness, has trampled on all of the people of the rest of the world. In America's blind selfishness, American has inflicted unbelievable pain. In the wake of September 11, the American public should have begun to see its own pride, assumed responsibility for the atrocities it has caused, and made changes. Instead, America managed to become even more supercilious, enveloping itself in self-serving lies (most propagated by the Bush administration and the media), lies that America is "good" and "they" are "evil," lies encouraging Americans to thrash out against the world blindly and violently.

Thank God, there are still some people who can see and who can hear. Thank God, they have the courage to say the truth even when the masses don't want to hear it. In Dissent from the Homeland, religious scholars and theologians have analyzed America's abhorrent response to September 11 and are fighting back with words against the forces of lovelessness and lawlessness threatening America.

Dissent from the Homeland is the most eye-opening book I have read in a longtime. These essays approach the response to September 11 from historical, aesthetic, sociological, and ethical perspectives, and the insights they offer are really astounding (my favorite essays are those by Wendell Berry and Stanley Hauerwas). American life is certainly in peril, and if the United States wants to save itself, it should begin here.

The author uses her prolific style to paint a picture of what is. Your attention is drawn away from the Utopia that becomes many literary works and focuses on the reality and significant obstacles that we ALL must face. Prepare yourself for the gaunlet of real issues that "Diversity in Families" presents...A+

"Doing What Comes Naturally" is perhaps one of the best recent expressions of a certain type of American literature. That type can be found in the writings of such persons as Mencken and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Philosophically, the expression for it is "pragmatism," but what it really is is probably best expressed by a phrase written by Fish for another book. The book is called "Professional Correctness," and the phrase is "how stupid can you be?" That, in a line, pretty much sums up the thought of Fish's predecessors, and sums up the book Fish has written here. Fish's book is a fairly good one to read if one needs to have one's stupidities pointed out; a better source, however, of this sort of thing is still Mencken's "Chrestomathy." Nevertheless, Fish has the advantage over Mencken of being alive, and is thus in a better position to call our own most recent stupidities by name. So from that point of view Fish is worth reading.

Donald Lam was down-and-out. He'd been a lawyer, but disbarred for his claim htat a client could commit a murder and escape prosecution. So when he applied for a job with Berhta Cool's detective agency, he didn't expect much. He argued that he was smart, and found ways to make those that teased him were made to regret it. He got the job.

It seemed to be a simple job of serving papers, but it mushroomed into a murder case. Worse yet, a woman he fell for was destined as the fall person for the crime. Instead of allowing that, he puts into operation the very plan he had devised to commit a murder and escape punishment.

This is a well written book that contains numerous interesting topics pertaining to physiology, anatomy, neurology, and physical medicine. It is a very good resource for clinicians who need to review some of the basic concepts in rehab. medicine such as "autonomic nervous system", "receptors in muscle", "excitation-contraction coupling", etc. The topics were carefully chosen, pertient to rehab. specialists and neurologists, presented in a detailed, but easy-to-read fashion. Some of the chapters were better written than what you would find in some "heavy" physiology or neurologist test books. I find it quite useful in helping preparing for my Board Certification Exam in Neuromuscular Medicine.

A Man of Vision is the biography and entrepreneurial success story of Dr. Stanley Pearle, who skillfully combined quality eye care with canny marketing to become the first optical retailer in America to sell eyewear coast to coast. Furthermore, he witnessed and helped engender the entrance of eyewear into the modern fashion era. A Man of Vision reveals all sides of Pearle - the innovator, the community leader, the family man, the consumer advocate, the philanthropist (he has been involved in the United Way, the Jewish Welfare Federation and the Pearle Vision Foundation) and the visionary businessman. A cover-to-cover inspirational success story.