Wagner Books

This book is very informative and provides lots of useful tips and infromation for the reader. It will really help with ideas for our middle school peer mentoring program.

Di Gaetani has finally followed up his famously well-loved 'Penetrating Wagner's Ring' with this charming book which delves EVEN DEEPER into the subject than before. While in 'Penetrating Wagner's Ring' we were led through the dark passages and mystical barriers to a glimpse of what lay behind Wagner's Ring, now we are brought 'inside' the work as it were, and shown some of the ugliness as well as the surprising beauty which lies scattered throughout the insides of this work of intense psychological character. It is a virtual endocsopy into the whole reeking fabulousness of it all. And yet there remains a mystery after it all - a sense of limitless possibilities and frightening beauty all combined together in a splendid glistening cavern of primordial ecstasy.

What a great book. The software is excellent, with the option of transfering the output to an excel spreadsheet. I have relied upon this book and software for my polynomial approximations.

First off, Treadwell is sole author, not editor of this readable and fascinating study of what's happening within Wagner's operas and his writings about them. As one of the many thousands of persons hooked on "The Ring" operas and puzzled by their peculiar power, I wanted to find a study of this which did not require specialized musical training, and was written without jargon. Treadwell does a fine job of discerning themes he calls: romance, revolution, exile and religion. I recommend the book for its thoughtful examination of this topic, at a very different level than a book written for musicologists and also very different than internet chat discussions of "Why does Kundry die at the end?"

Full disclosure: I am a former student of Roy and a Ph.D.

I think the first three chapters of this book are some of the most important writings on the theory of culture in anthropology, or any other discipline. It presents the proper starting-point for developing an understanding of how people live and how people think about themselves and other people, the way they live and just _are_. This is not an easy book, even for advanced students of anthropology. It is not for those looking for a quick intro to anthropology, either.

However, if you have read some introductions to anthropology and find their thinking about people and cultures simplistic, then you shoud read this book.

Reviewed by Tyler R. Tichelaar for Reader Views (3/07)

Don't let this thin book fool you. It is packed with stories, facts, and resources about the Underground Railroad. Primarily, it is written as a series of short episodes about the different experiences of slaves as they escaped from slavery. Each story runs about five pages, which makes for fast and easy reading. Each story is also well-written with the intent to keep the reader interested by the tension of the slave escape. For example, the very first story is about a man who must steal a baby slave out of the master's room without waking the master and his wife. This is only the first of two dozen suspenseful and fascinating tales.

Among the book's highlights is the tale of Margaret Garner, which may have inspired Toni Morrison's novel "Beloved." While trying to escape, Margaret finds herself and her family trapped by slave catchers. Rather than allow her children to die in slavery, she attempts to kill them, successfully slitting one child's throat before she and her children are captured and returned to their owners. It is not easy to forget the story of a mother who loves her children so much she would, in her own words: "much rather kill them at once, and thus end their sufferings, than have them taken back to slavery and be murdered by piecemeal." Another story is the true-life tale behind the character of Eliza in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" who ran across the frozen Ohio River to escape to freedom. The real life Eliza's story is even more fascinating because she later helped other slaves escape.

Wagner includes many interesting escapes in her stories. Many slaves escaped in boxes; one even mailed himself to the North, while others, male and female, donned the other sex's clothing as a disguise. Wagner notes that most research on the Underground Railroad has concentrated on the role of white abolitionists, but she gives example after example of African-Americans, most of them former slaves, who worked to free others. Arnold Gragston, for example, lived in Kentucky near the Ohio River. While remaining in slavery himself, he helped nearly three hundred slaves by rowing them over the river to freedom.

This book, "It Happened on the Underground Railroad," focuses primarily on the stories of the escapees. The book is well-researched and includes several pages of interesting facts at the end, including that between 40,000-100,000 slaves actually escaped from slavery, and that the Underground Railroad had approximately 3,200 people involved in its efforts. Wagner details historical information about slavery in several states, and mentions that most experts on the movement deny that patterns on quilts were useful to slaves in escaping. The book concludes with a list of over one hundred books, articles, and web sites for additional research.

Wagner has clearly done her research, and she has mastered the art of storytelling to keep the reader interested. Wagner is an elementary school teacher and reading specialist, who also teaches creative writing to children. This background clearly has made her able to write a book that all ages will enjoy. I cannot imagine anyone reading these stories and not wanting to learn more about the Underground Railroad. I highly recommend "It Happened on the Underground Railroad" to everyone with an interest in American History.

One of the best love stories I've ever read. I have read all othe rbooks by this author, and have never been disapointed yet. It's a must for the avid reader.

Jim Wagner is the ultimate folk artist. This coffee table book is packed with useable information on folk art and its origins. His whimsical artwork will make one smile and laugh out loud. Has anyone ever seen Santa's sleigh being pulled by fish! . The way he sees the world is beyond most people's imagination. This is a book that can be picked up again and again and each time see a different aspect of his artwork.

Not many characters are tougher then Judge Dredd. He enforces the Law in Mega-City One. But there is a new Cheif Justice, and he treat the law as a joke. He passes insane laws that can not be followed. There is a lot of humor, the best of which involves Cal's selection of Deputy. There are great battles and great characters. The only one I did not like was Fergie. It is a crime to not buy this book, and you don't want Judge Dredd to think you are a criminal!

Although listed as unavailable direct from Amazon.com, this title should still be available through third party vendors.

America is the ultimate Dredd tale. The true heart and soul of Dredd and his world is contained in this story. Dredd is never portrayed as brilliantly as he's shown here, and that's odd considering that this is one of the only times that the action is seen from a different perspective than that with which we're usually presented. Dredd's monologue at the beginning of the story shows Dredd's (and the Justic Department's) uncompromising position better than anything ever written about Dredd. It shows the fascism of Dredd's world, and Dredd embraces it without question while knowing full well the inherent flaws and inhumanity of it. Then, with unflinching honesty, the tale shows how brutally Mega City justice is brought to bear when the system is threatened.

The story is forceful not merely because it gives perspective on Dredd's world, but also because of what it says about our own reality - 'America' is a warning to us all to beware the systems of power that we allow to hold sway over our lives. As Dredd says: "Justice has a price. The price is freedom." Those words were written over 15 years ago, but they are perhaps more relevant today, as more and more freedoms are being sacrificed in the name of security. So Dredd's world comes closer to us, and that is a chilling thought.