Wang Books

I have only just caught up with this book 14 years after it was published. Kisor is very good on how he managed a life as a deaf person who operates orally in a hearing world, and manages to be quite tactful in dealing with the subject of the Deaf -- people who use sign language. He is perhaps more tactful than he really should be in discussing the ignorance of a lot of educators of the severely hearing-impaired and the rather patronizing "poor-you" attitude they often take.

I can say this because I have only a little more hearing than Kisor -- and for the same reason, meningitis at the age of 3. I am ten years older than he but remember well some of the stages he describes so accurately and honestly. Like him, I was lucky in my early teachers and in being kept away from schools for the deaf.

It does need to be said that cognitive psychologists and students of child language have learned a great deal about child language development since Kisor and I were children and even since his book was published in 1991. Their progress dates from Noam Chomsky's destruction of behaviorist notions of language almost 50 years ago. I hope very much that things have changed significantly in the education of the deaf and severely hearing-impaired.

With luck, students will recognize that Kisor is describing a bygone era. But it is an era that was and is still well worth describing.

I read this book for an ASL class in college and wow. This book is great. An amazing autobiography written by a deaf man, Henry Kisor who has managed to exist in a hearing world as a deaf man strictly by lip reading. He has been a journalist and this is amazing to me. A wonderful story written in the point of view of a deaf man and his lifelong journey to success and living in the hearing world. Reading this book has made me take a look at my life and made me feel as if I could do anything.

I read this book back in 93 when I had just lost my hearing. I was 14 and dealing with suddenly becoming deaf. Most books about Deafness are written by physicians, or parents of the deaf, or children of the deaf, and not by the deaf themselves. Kisor's stories about lipreading and growing up and just being Deaf were wonderful for me to read. It gave me hope... if he is totally Deaf and can accomplish that much, then I, with a little bit of hearing left, certainly should be able to. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone deaf who is oral, anyone late deaffened, or anyone just interested in reading about the trials and joys of a hearing loss.

What should our attitude be towards the deaf? Kisor gives us good insight with his memoir which is beautifully, sensitively and humorouly written. Some would term him an outcast to both the deaf culture and the hearing culture, since he lipreads and doesn't sign. Can't possibly be happy because he can't fully participate in hearing world, he's missing so much. But Kisor disagrees.

He achieved more than most hearing, having accumulated great English language skills. He demonstrates with the rare book written about deafness from a deaf author. His title is fascinating, since it is from story regarding his five-year old son and the nuances lipreading has trouble discerning.

Yes, improvements have happened and will continue with behavioral psychology and deafness, but here the spirit of the human inside is spoken of, something that no program can really guarantee success, but determination, help and support will aid.

This marvelous memoir contributes much to this cause. It is a most wonderful read for all interested in what a deaf person in a hearing world might be going through, especially the emotional strains deafness brings with it. Much to be gleaned here.

I read this book back in 93 when I had just lost my hearing. I was 14 and dealing with suddenly becoming deaf. Most books about Deafness are written by physicians, or parents of the deaf, or children of the deaf, and not by the deaf themselves. Kisor's stories about lipreading and growing up and just being Deaf were wonderful for me to read. It gave me hope... if he is totally Deaf and can accomplish that much, then I, with a little bit of hearing left, certainly should be able to. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone deaf who is oral, anyone late deaffened, or anyone just interested in reading about the trials and joys of a hearing loss.

Derek Bickerton's Bastard Tongues full title, Bastard Tongues: A Trail-Blazing Linguist Finds Clues to Our Common Humanity in the World's Lowliest Languages, really is the thesis of this magnificent work.

The book is not a general introduction to linguistics, thank God, nor is it a primer on Creole languages. I took away 3 very important things from this book, and I bet I have missed a few more.

First, Creoles are full fledged languages formed in the awful context of sugar plantation colonial era slavery. They are not dialects of either the colonizer's language, be it Dutch, English, Portugese, etc, nor are they a masked over grammar of the slave's various African native languages. They are languages that are developed by the young children in a given region, whose innate language acquistion brain circuits, found in all normal children, regardless of economic circumstance, add a grammar to a pidgin that developes when adults speaking a polyglot of languages are forced into dire circumstances where they have to communicate and quickly.

On his own point of reference, Derek Bickerton somewhere in the book partially describes himself with this phrase: "...the Populist in me...", and this book is a tribute to that point of view. Bickerton goes out and interviews real speakers, does first-hand research into court transcripts of now lost dialects, and uses his common sense to see for himself, hear for himself, and think for himself, only to discover that what ideas get formed in an academic setting usually miss the mark and underestimate the innate abilities of every man, woman and child. By having the courage to trust the humble speakers of Creole languages, above his own theoretical musings and that of other experts, Bickerton arrives at one of the great world views: we are, in fact, perfectly designed to thrive in this world, on our own, thank you.

Third, The book is a tribute to the wonderful mystery of our own existence and capabilities as humans. For if slaves and their children, facing hardship, violence, starvation and a terribly shortened life-span and life opportunities, in a foriegn place, far from their homes and families, can, in a short amount of time, produce a full blown language, than is it really so hard for the rest of us to just observe with our eyes and listen with our ears to what other wonders are out there in this world?

And the author and his family carry on a blast of a lifestyle we can all envy, too!

We all love a mystery, especially a big one, and the mystery of the origins of language is still a big one. Language is our most human invention. We start to talk before we start to walk. It seems so natural within the human experience that we look for it in other species and build it into our machines. Language allows us, not only to communicate but, to refine our thoughts before we even speak and in the process change the way we think. We see language as another indicator of how intelligent we really are; but is language our own clever invention or is it the result of a biological template we all possess that makes talking trash as natural as walking tall?

"Bastard Tongues" by Derek Bickerton proposes an answer to this provocative question in a charming and funny memoir of his studies abroad. That rare academic with a preference for field work, Bickerton, with his trusty tape recorder by his side, has parked himself in the middle of things all over the world to hear those "funny" languages spoken by the people who use them every day. In the process he makes you regret whatever career choice you may have made and wish that you had been smart enough to have chosen linguistics. Bickerton has spent his life answering opportunity's knock to study creole languages everywhere and the consequence of this lifetime of research is a fascinating theory that changes the way we view ourselves and the tool we use so often that we rarely give it any thought at all.

In "Bastard Tongues", Bickerton uses creole to illustrate how fundamental language really is. Children invent it. Creole languages exist all over the world using different root languages but essentially all recognizably creole and related by grammar and structure, not the language of the individual words used. Creole languages evolved wherever two or more different cultures were forced to agree on a pidgin form of their languages, simply to communicate, and their children took that skeleton and fleshed it out with all the richness and complexity of creole in just one generation. According to Bickerton's theory, the worldwide existence of creole languages demonstrates clearly that humans possess a bio-program for language. He presents all of this in a delightfully entertaining new book.

Bickerton shares with us this fascinating journey of discovery as it takes him from the jungles of South America to the halls of academia, providing all of the humor and historical perspective necessary to thoroughly enjoy his astounding adventure. We all love a mystery and the mystery of language and what it can tell us about mankind is only now being revealed by talented people like Derek Bickerton. "Bastard Tongues" is a true story that convincingly argues the importance of the study of linguistics. Bickerton's gift is to leave you wanting more.

The word "creole" carries many connotations. Along the US Gulf Coast, it's a language, a people and a music form - not to mention a cuisine. To Derek Bickerton, the first category is the important one, even if this is the one place he failed to investigate in his research. A fascinating account of personal history and intense research, this book examines the roots and meaning of Creole languages. The Oxford Dictionary offers four definitions, but language is the last one: a mother tongue formed from the contact of a European language with another language, especially an African language. In this account it is this "mother tongue" that Bickerton wishes to trace and define. He does so in a manner that would leave most academic linguists shuddering, visiting bars, poverty-stricken communities and remote villages in the bush.

The places are where the forces of empire have trod, bringing in imported labour to work plantations, mostly sugar. The names evoke exotic locales - Guyana, Suriname, Caribbean Islands and Hawaii. The imported workforces were from many points of origin - many of them African where separation of a few kilometres meant "neighbours" were unintelligible to each other. All the newcomers had to communicate with each other and with the masters. This is a key point in Bickerton's account. "Pidgin" is the first language arising from two people of a single language each attempting to communicate. It has no particular form nor vocabulary. "Creole", on the other hand evolves from pidgin to emerge as a fully-fledged operating language. Form and structure are essential aspects carrying the language through time, and sometimes space. The "space" element has led to some confusion, according to the author, who examines closely the theory of "diffusion" of Creole, chiefly from the Atlantic into the Pacific regions. His analysis explains why diffusion could not be the basis for the continuity of Creoles. Instead, his research in Hawaii demonstrates why he thinks Creoles are a children's invention.

It's common knowledge now that adults have a far more difficult time learning a new language than do children. Canada's schools' "immersion" programmes are a prime example of this situation. In the societies Bickerton examined, "immersion" means sending "Creole" speakers to English-language schools. Where they spoke Creole among themselves - even in class. The Creole spoken had grammar and vocabulary that proved common in many places. The author, who must be the world's best-travelled linguist, visited places as distant as the Seychelles to learn just how this situation unfolded. His conclusion, which still confounds many desk-bound academics, is that the human brain contains a "bioprogramme" [read "genetically-based" ] capacity. This is, of course, means an evolutionary heritage, which will prompt a moue of displeasure to those still denying our roots. It also dismisses the idea of children being born as "blank slates" - which has been dealt with elsewhere. It also gives greater substance to Noam Chomsky's "language module" in the brain. Bickerton notes that the recent studies in cognitive neuroscience have not identified such a region in the brain. However, something in the child's neuronal network gives children a highly flexible and creative capacity to cope with the challenges of learning language - at least in the earlier years.

It is that ability in the very young that Bickerton wishes to investigate. His conclusion is a proposal to test his theories on young orphan children. In a sense, this has already taken place in Nicaragua where long-ignored and isolated deaf children were finally given schooling and communication opportunities with the overthrow of the Somoza regime. Bickerton understands the limitations in such a situation. He wishes to experiment on children who have speaking capacity, but have yet to possess skills in a particular language. The idea is bound to raise a storm of controversy - indeed, it already has in some reviewers. But Bickerton has anticipated most objections in his presentation. Not only will the staff be monitored - and they will have to be very well trained - but his proposal will offer provision for the subjects for many years. He doesn't mention long-term follow-up studies which would necessarily become part of the programme. That would enlarge his estimated costs, but would certainly enlarge the accumulated data substantially. Given the normal course of orphans' lives, there's more than a little merit in the idea. More importantly, it would help resolve many of the questions about human language capacity and how it develops. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

When I picked up Derek Bickerton's latest book, "Bastard Tongues", I expected to find a scholarly treatise on the origins and journeys of the so-called low languages, and I wasn't disappointed. What I had not expected was to be entertained, intrigued and delighted to be taken on a magical journey, with a master story-teller as my guide.

Bickerton does a masterly job of tracing the roots (and routes) of pidgin languages from such diverse origins as West Africa and Northern South America, the Seychelles and Hawaii, and asking the question - why they produce so many words and phrases in common, without any known previous contact.

But it's Derek Bickerton's own fact-finding journey that provides the entertainment in this book. Part scholarly tome, part travelogue, part autobiography, "Bastard Tongues" is a plain-spoken and frequently disrepectful memoir, replete with hilarious tales of the tribulations of a language detective. Whether slogging through the bush in Guyana, carousing with the creoles in Columbian bars, or careening across deserts in the most precarious forms of transportation in search of a thread to link the most basic forms of communication, Bickerton keeps one entertained and delighted from beginning to end. I couldn't put it down.

This book was reviewed in the NY Times, LA times and Washington Post all on the same day. For some reason, Amazon only posts the Washington Post review and not the other ones, which I think were much more accurate.

The last sentence of the Washington Post review leaves the impression that the book may be a slog for non-linguists - but I have to say the opposite is true. I know next to nothing about linguistics, but found the linguistic parts to be very understandable and informative. Most of the book is about characters, situations and little known bits of intriguing history, woven together in a compelling way. It's not often that you want to read a non-fiction book all in one go, but this book was impossible to put down.

The writer's love of travel and ideas and his genuine interest in the people and world he encounters is positively infectious. Reading the book made me want to dump my job and go back to school to start a new vocation - something Derek Bickerton himself did. Just take a look at the LookInside pages and see for yourself.

This the best book on the subject of data and information quality! The authors have provided us we the means to implement a practical and simple way to achieve data and information quality with the notion that data are products. The emphasis of IT is shifted towards supporting the production of data and information products. Data and information as products, also encourages interactions with consumers of these products. The authors illustrate the importance of this with long chapters devoted to consumers surveys about information timeliness, packaging, content, meaning, and packaging. My organization was fortunate enough to have Dr. Wang offer a seminar based on his book. In the seminar, Dr. Wang emphasised the importance of data and information as products whose quality ia judged by access, interpretation, content, and timeliness. The depth of knowledge and pratical use of basic quality principles to achieve consumenr satisfaction is well demonstrated by Dr. Wang and his co-authors. As all of us must live in a world where data, information and knowledge are commodities of trade, this book is a necessary guide for success.

Deming's TQC(Total Quality Control) and Kanban method were the key for Miracle Japan economy growth after World War Two. Japanese economy were struggling during 1990's decade, one of the reason is to ignore the power of the information structure, and depend upon the old paper information system, which speed cannot catch up with the society change speed. This book will help Japanese Society to enter New Era. Last month, Daiwa Bank's ex-board 11 members were ordered 830 million USD indemnity, because of Daiwa Bank New York officer's fraud. Snow Brand, Mitusbishi Moter, Bridgestone/Firestone, many companies are facing trouble by lacking Total data Quality Management. This book is really help for 21 centure enterprize direction.

This book presents the readers with an objective and scientific description of IQ (information quality) and a systematic way of measuring, analyzing and improving IQ. It is valuable for enterprise IQ personnels to read this book before fulfiling DQM (Data Quality Management) tasks.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

This book will help Japanese Society to enter New Era, October 24, 2000 Reviewer: teruo miyagawa (see more about me) from hiratsuka, kanagawa Japan Deming's TQC(Total Quality Control) and Kanban method were the key for Miracle Japan economy growth after World War Two. Japanese economy were struggling during 1990's decade, one of the reason is to ignore the power of the information structure, and depend upon the old paper information system, which speed cannot catch up with the society change speed. This book will help Japanese Society to enter New Era. Last month, Daiwa Bank's ex-board 11 members were ordered 830 million USD indemnity, because of Daiwa Bank New York officer's fraud. Snow Brand, Mitusbishi Moter, Bridgestone/Firestone, many companies are facing trouble by lacking Total data Quality Management. This book is really help for 21 centure enterprize direction.

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IT has often had it backwards, such as when companies seek to automate what already adds little value. If the data are degraded in the process, you fall back instead of forward. The downside risk is real, as is the upside opportunity. While many books talk in abstraction about knowledge management, this book provides a practical process that will vastly improve IT effectiveness. IT managers should read this first, as should their clients. I hope that this book will be but the beginning of an emphasis on first dealing with the problem, then looking for the right way to deliver and use the data while protecting them, then look at the software and hardware choices. I look forward to future books that provide even more examples of what can go right and wrong with the knowledge and data. This is the way that best practices should be spelled out. I also look forward to seeing how best practices will evolve in this field into future best practices. There is a lot of room for improvement.

I first read David Young's amazing translations of these great T'ang poets seventeen years ago, when I was one of his students at Oberlin College in Ohio, and they started me on a lifetime of reading and loving these astonishingly ancient and contemporary sounding poets. There is something vibrantly alive, immediate, and inspiring about these 8th century words and the personalities of their wise, striking authors. In reading many translations, you won't find many as clear and right.

My best friend in this world (outside of my wonderful family) is a guy that I only get to see every few years. He's like the wind. He blows in and out of my life. But he's always in my heart. We are poets.

Being a poet is not a choice. It is a life sentence.

My friend and I are dissimilar in so many ways that it is remarkable that we don't break out in a fight the instant we come into each other's presence. Yet...and yet...

Hearts touched by the flame always find warmth in good company.

Imagine my joy then, at finding a new brother (one from over a thousand years ago) when I picked up this book and met Li Po.

I won't bother you much longer with my words. Instead, let me introduce you to Li Po himself:

Drinking in Moonlight




I sit with my wine jar
among flowers
blossoming trees

no one to drink with

well, there's the moon

I raise my cup
and ask him to join me
bringing my shadow
making us three

but the moon doesn't seem to be drinking
and my shadow creeps around behind me

still, we're companions tonight
me, the moon, and the shadow
we're observing the rites of spring

I sing
and the moon rocks back and forth

I dance
and my shadow tumbles with me

We celebrate for awhile
then go our own ways, drunk

may we meet again someday
in the white river of stars
overhead!

This is THE book of translated Chinese poems which opened my eyes to the art of poetry. I've since searched for and read many others, but this remains the best. The translations are masterful - lucid, transparent, simple, and, in English, stand as wonderful poems in their own right.

"Verses, however masterly, cannot be translated literally from one language into another without losing much of their beauty and dignity." (Bede, English writer and historian, AD 673-735)

For the translator of poetry, and Chinese poetry in particular, the question is: shall I be true to the letter or to the spirit? Usually the answer lies somewhere in the middle. The best translations aim to be true to the spirit without violating the letter more than necessary.

David Young, a poet himself, hopes to be true to the spirit of the five poets from the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-906) while at the same time trying to create poetry in a different language and period. The impulse that lies behind his book is to rescue the poets "from the often wooden and dogged versions of the scholars" and to recreate the beauty and dignity of the poetry in a language used by an American poet at the end of the 20th century. The results are marvelously readable, beautiful translations that I enjoyed more than any other translations of Chinese poetry I have read before or since.

Preceding the translations, Young has written a short introduction to each of the poets. These include a discussion of the special qualities of the poets' works and a selection of recommended translations by other English authors.

The five poets represented in this book are (1) Wang Wei, a devout Buddhist and the Chinese poet of landscape par excellence who wrote poems of a deeply religious sensibility; (2) Li Po, the Chinese archetype of the "bohemian artist and puckish wanderer," a poet beloved for his Taoist unconventionality; (3) Tu Fu, China's greatest poet according to a widely held view because of his technical brilliance and "vigorous poetry that manages to transcend unhappiness and melancholy by its enormous range and immense humanity"; (4) Li Ho, a poet usually not ranked with the Big Three because he is too innovative and defies classification; and (5) Li Shang-yin, who has a reputation as a decadent versifier but, as Young shows, is a "human and humane artist who feels deeply and sees deeply into mysteries of our common existence."

One of my favorite poems in this collection is "Returning to my cottage." It is a good example of Wang Wei's ability to capture stillness and movement in a landscape, to balance observations of things distant and close by, and to create from these images an atmosphere of serenity tinged with sadness. It is a good example for David Young's style of translation, too:

A bell in the distance
the sound floats
down the valley

one by one
woodcutters and fishermen
stop work, start home

the mountains move off
into darkness

alone, I turn home
as great clouds beckon
from the horizon

the wind stirs delicate vines
and water chestnut shoots
catkin fluff sails past

in the marsh to the east
new growth
vibrates with color

it's sad
to walk in the house
and shut the door.

Bottom line: This is one of the few anthologies of classical Chinese poetry in which the English versions of the poems really sound like poetry. There is nothing of the stiff formality and awkwardness of most other translations that disable the lyric voice of the verses. These translations are full of the beauty and dignity of the Chinese originals.

The Five Tang Poets covered in this book are wonderful.

Wang Wei excellent landscape poems take you to places which are wonderous while not over iydllic. Tu Fu is sad and poinant, talking about the scenes of war. Li Po talks of drinking and intoxication in a way that seems that it is a way of life

Young translates in a free verse form using simple words and goes for the feeling of the poem. The poems are not 100 % literal translations but they are jems. I feel like I am having some of my chinese friends translating a poem for me and they say this is the best I can do you will have to read Chinese to fully understand the poem completely. Young takes us as far as one can go in our language. He took on a difficult task to bring these poems so simple in language and so complex in context and emotion to life, Young has done an excellent job with the tool of the English language

Parts of this review were used in a review of Algren's classic Man With The Golden Arm. These short stories reflect the same milieu that Algren worked in that novel. Algren throughout his literary career was working that same small vein- but what a mother lode he produced.

Growing up in a post World War II built housing project this reviewer knew first hand the so-called `romance' of drugs, the gun and the ne'er do well hustler. And also the mechanisms one needed to develop to survive at that place where the urban working poor meet and mix with the lumpen proletariat- the con men, dopesters, grifters drifters and gamblers who feed on the downtrodden. This is definitely not the mix that Damon Runyon celebrated in his Guys and Dolls-type stories. Far from it. Just read "A Bottle of Milk For Mother".

Nelson Algren has gotten, through hanging around Chicago police stations and the sheer ability to observe, that sense of foreboding, despair and of the abyss of America's mean streets down pat in a number of works, including this collection of his better stories. Along the way we meet an array of stoolies, cranks, crackpots and nasty brutish people who are more than willing to put obstacles in the way of anyone who gets in their way. Read "A Face On The Barroom Floor"- that will put you straight. But to what end. They lose in the end, and drag others down with them.

We, of late, have become rather inured to lumpen stories either of the death and destruction type or of the rehabilitative kind but at the time that these stories were put together in the late 1940's and early 1950's this was something of an eye-opener for those who were not familiar with the seamy side of urban life. The dead end jobs, the constant run-ins with the `authorities' in the person of the police, many times corrupt as well. The dread of going to work, the dread of not going to work, the fear of being victimized and the glee of victimizing. The whole jumbled mix of people with few prospects and fewer dreams.

Algren has put it down in writing for all that care to read. These are not pretty stories. And he has centered his stories on the trials and tribulations of gimps, prostitutes and other hustlers. Damn, as much as I knew about the kind of things that Algren was describing these are still gripping stories. And, if the truth were told, you know as well as I do that unfortunately these stories could still be written today. Read Algren if you want to walk on the wild side.

I haven't read any Algren before The Neon Wilderness & was moved to do so by my recent visit to Chicago. I've been told that his stories are the place to begin. I have to confess that before this I mostly knew Algren as de Beauvoir's Lewis Brogan in The Mandarins.

It took me a little while to warm up to the stories. That's at least a little bit because he led with the story which, in my opinion, is the weakest in the book: "the captain has bad dreams". The stories do get better from there, so persevere.

All of the stories are gritty. There is not a lot of hope in his world. Life is mean, and times are hard. It sounds like a cliche, but not the way Algren writes it. He is deservedly considered a master of the short story form. I particularly liked "poor man's pennies" and "the brothers' house". I was less enchanted with the boxing stories. But, honestly, that's probably me and not Algren-- still too much of a girl to be fascinated with fighting.

Recommended, particularly if you are interested in the short story.

If you only have time to read one Algren book and want to know what he is all about, then 'Neon Wilderness' is the tome to get.
It acts as a template for all Algrens repartee; life on Division street, the pimps, the hustlers, the corruption, the prostitutes. Life for the people whom the American dream is pure illusion. They survive in a world of crime by crime, yet they're always the ones who get punished;always the games biggest losers.
Many of the stories in 'Neon Wilderness' have appeared either slightly altered or in elongated form in Algrens other works. The line ups in the jail feature everywhere in Algrens novels.'Face on the Barroom Floor' 'Bottle of milk for Mother' in 'Walk on the Wild Side' and 'Never come Morning'
Algren just basically wrote the same novels over and over with slightly different takes;sometimes humouress, sometimes bleak. He wrote about the people and life he knew in his Chicago.
Read this and you will have Algren in a nutshell. BUt its well worth catching his other works-despite the feeling of deja-vu they give you!

Algren's writing in this collection of short stories has very lyrical and often nightmarish quality. It is both beautiful and brutally frank. Algren paints a unapologetic picture of Chicago and it's people with his wonderful sense of humor and irony. Read this book if you want an unblinking look at people at their best and worst.

A true marvel. Not many writers come close. Nelson Algren is at the very top of the heap: original, compassionate, funny, insightful. You know, we read many books, and once we have finished with the book we toss it aside and forget about it. With Algren it's different. You read his stuff and can't help feeling cheated at not having known the man, not having ever had a chance to meet the guy. Wish there was a way to sit down and have a beer with the man, light up a stogie and have a good chat with the genius who created this masterful story collection. The writing is gritty and true, heartfelt. Brings to mind several other writers who had this knack of writing in this kind of honest, unflinching style: John O'Brien (Leaving Las Vegas), B. Traven (take your pick: Treasure of Sierra Madre, Cottonpickers, etc.) Knut Hamsun (Hunger), Eugene O'Neill (Long Day's Journey Into Night), Celine (Journey to the End of the Night), Kirk Alex (Working the Hard Side of the Street), Chester Himes (If He Hollers Let Him Go).
All of the above had their own style, of course, but the thing they had in common was in the balls they showed by not flinching away from the gritty, life lived by so many who weren't born with deep pockets, who didn't have it easy.

Writing from the gut. Algren lives. Read THE NEON WILDERNESS, and give some of the others a try as well.
This is writing for people who love books and love to read. Shut your TV sets off and pick up a good book--and you can start right here, with Algren's story collectiion.

This book was very appropriate for our family. My daughter is 7 years old, and I adopted her from China when she was 10 months. She is very curious about her origins, including her birth mom. This book directly addresses the fact that in addition to a Chinese name and, in many cases, a newly given name when adopted, you also have a third name which was "whispered" by your birth mom. So my only caveat would be to read this book before reading it with your child to be sure that you are both ready to deal with the questions and emotions that are surely to follow.

We purchased this book along with several others that address Asian adoption. We have kept this one back to give to our daughter when she is a bit older and can grasp the concept of adoption better. Until then, we are using books geared more toward toddlers and early elementary school aged children.

Ada has three names: one given her at the Chinese orphanage, one by her American parents, and a third name whispered by her Chinese mother which is unknown to her. An easy first-person story of Ada's world is provided in a series of lovely full-page color drawings by Lin Wang and a scrapbook memoir format inviting kids to gather their own memories.

My daughter, age 7, was completely entranced by this book and then suddenly she said, "Mom! This girl is just like me! Except I don't play soccer. "Three Names of Me is a gorgeous book that fills us with a sense of China-home and instills such hope and love for the future. It would be quite impossible to convince my daughter this book wasn't intended solely for her. Especially after reading Ada's symbol for her first name; the one beyond "her remembering" - Ada chose a beautiful red star. My daughter's middle name is Mei-Xing, which means beautiful star. Mei-Xing is certain Three Names of Me was written just for her. It is her new prized possession.

This book is lyrical in its beauty - telling the story of a young Chinese adoptee in powerful but spare words and beautiful artwork. Might be best for the 9 and up group - my eight-year-old is not emotionally mature enough for this book yet, but I can tell it will be important later on.

Draper writes an extremely detailed case study of the events surrounding the two controversial decisions that led to Congressional hearings and tarnished Reagan's image as a leader of the country. The desire to fund the Sandinista rebellion in Nicaragua ultimately has been combined with the need to rescue American hostages in Iran. Draper follows the events leading to the decisions, introducing the reader to the multitude of players that had a hand in the actions taken by the US Government.

Evidence of Draper's in depth investigative skills comes to bear quickly and is clear throughout the book. Upon starting his research, he discovered a mountain of information in the form of records, interviews, hearing transcripts, letters, and many more articles. He states in his introduction that he was surprised by the amount of info and decided then to allow it to speak for itself. He presents his work matter-of-factly, without too much interpretation. It's a good choice, as the events speak for themselves, the lack of political bias is refreshing in a work written as recently as this.
Draper includes photographs, allowing the readers to visualize the men involved with the scandals. He doesn't, however, include maps or charts which would have illuminated some of the numerous facts and figures he gives. One of the most beneficial elements he adds is a chronology in the appendices. It gives a step by step overview of the events that can eliminate some of the over-worked detail he includes in the text.
This book is excellent for Graduates researching the period. It includes too much detail for the undergraduate student in a survey or limited study course. The reference material alone would be a benefit for research in the topics.

This great book tells how a group of rightwing White House ideologues hijacked foreign policy from the State Department and the Pentagon, with disastrous results: terrorists were empowered and America's image was left in tatters. It might sound like "A Very Thin Line" is about the Bush Administration and Iraq -- but it is actually about the Reagan Administration and Iran/Contra. Aided by the documentary record compiled during Congressional investigations and criminal prosecutions, Draper recreates this sordid and hilarious episode from the 1980s in painstaking detail. His book is smart and readable. Anyone who was surprised by the intelligence and policy failures in Iraq should read this book for a reminder of how Washington really works. (I'm a State Department official.)

I read this book in college and gave my copy to my history prof when I left school. If I had known how difficult it would be to try and get another copy, I might not have left it. (just kidding Proffessor Gill) This is perhaps the best book I have read since Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich as far as bringing a dense and complicated seiries of events together in an easily understandable, fascinating read. I followed the Iran-Contra "affair" very closely as it happened, and read many books on it before this; but only after reading this book did I feel as if I actually understood what went on. A keeper for anyone's non-fiction library.

The information contained in this book will keep your jaw dropping from page to page. If anyone is wondering why George W. Bush isn't being impeached, after reading this book, you'll know why. Why wasn't Reagan ipmeached? Or Bush Sr.? The abuse of power, the parsing and skirting of law has been going on since the early '80s. Nothing is new - even the people.

In a nutshell the author has reviewed the voluminous data, (transcripts, interviews, personal logs and diaries, etc.) and has written a coherent and engaging book documenting an extremely convoluted and complicated foreign policy initiative, (actually several initiatives) during the Reagan presidency. Aid to the contras, weapons sold to Iran and the diversion of funds from those weapons sales are tracked from inception to implementation to the exposure of these "affairs". This includes all the high hopes and noble causes, the "zeal" of the Americans involved, the greed and corruption of the middlemen used for the transactions, and at times the sheer incompetence which led to the inevitable exposure of what was really happening behind the scenes. This last item being the crux of the book - the hijacking of US foreign policy in the Middle East and Central America by a handful of men, (at times overworked, completely over their heads and out of their league), outside of any purview, oversight or review by the White House, Cabinet or Congress. As for who knew what and when, from President Reagan on down, the author also does a very good job documenting this time line and each of the major players involved. (As an aside, Sec. of State Schultz's involvement, or really conscious lack thereof, was an eye opener for me.) As for the timeliness of re-visiting this affair 20 years later and any lessons to be learned, if any, .... All I know is I found this book both fascinating and a little scary.

This is such a sweet and simple story. It's a touch and feel book with flaps so my 13 month old daughter loves to be involved in the reading. It's a great book before a nap or bed. I did get the bigger edition and wish I had gotten the "normal" size book since the bigger one is a bit bulky.

I bought this for my son who was turning 2. He's not real interested in books, but I thought this touch and feel type might peak his interest. I'm trying everything I can think of to get him interested in being read to. He does like it, although I wish I'd bought it for him sooner.

This is one of the books in my daycare they want me to read over and over again. Mom feels soft, but grandma is softer, since it's a touch and feel book also. It's a sweet book, little ones never tire of. Great for any library or birthday present for babies as well as toddlers. Their faces light up they love it and so do I!

My 9 month old loves this book. I have been reading to her since she was born. This has been her favorite book and still is. We read it at least once a day. The second I start reading she smiles and gets so excited.

This story is good for young children who have short attention spans. Each page is interactive in that the children have something to touch. My little boy, who is 16 monthes old, enjoys it.

The book encourages one to approach maritial arts as a series of linked interactions between you and your opponent rather than simply a set of techniques. Many books simply present techniques, Mr. Maier's book encourages one to think about how techniques, especially in combination, "work" rather simply explaining "how they are done".

Sifu Maier's book delves deep into a very effective martial art and details out the theory and thinking behind the art. This book will help anyone who studies a martial art view what they know through a different lense. Exercises will no longer be about what to do but why to do it and why it is effective.

This book is a revolution (and revelation) in the martial arts literature. Dr. Maier combines a concise and lucid description of the bai sao drills with a deep, thought-provoking exposition of the rich theory of Wing Chun. As the preface explains, the goal of the Yum Cha series is to provide a start point for the exploration of the ideas underlying the art. This book succeeds in that goal.

Well, here's the first book about my (our) sifu Wang Kiu.

This book by Herbert Maier shows in a sometimes very nice mathematical way the wing chun that has been taught by sifu Wang Kiu. Sifu Wang Kiu is one of the core students of Yip Man who traint with him for years in the 50's together with many great other people (Wong Shun Leung, Leung Sheung, Lok Yiu, Bruce Lee etc.).

Sifu can be proud on the book since it's not showing Wing Chun in the way that many others did. This book shows the concepts, the logical way of thinking and with this book you can understand the principles of Wing Chun much better. You can not learn fighting from a book, but you CAN understand it, and this book definitely helps you with that. I also hope people will see the difference because there's a lot of rubbish on this subject available.

Sifu Wang Kiu always kept a rather low profile on purpose. He never intended to write books and he never called himself a master. People who really know him know he's a true Taoist. But Sifu Wang Kiu can be proud that his knowledge will be passed on, even when he won't be with us anymore.

Thanks Herbert for this great piece of work!

This is the first book I have seen on the market that deals with the technical theory of Wing Chun, and still ties back to martial combat. This book shows that Wing Chun is a Martial Science as well as art. A neccessary investment for all Wing Chun practioners.

David Walker Appeal


"Some of my bretheren don't know who Pharoah and Egyptians were. I know it to be a fact that some of them take the Egyptians to have been a gang of devils, not knowing any better, and that they (Egyptians) having got possession of the Lord's people treated them nearly as cruel as Christian Americans do us, at the present day. For the information of such, I would only mention that the Egyptians, were Africans or coloured people, such as we are - some of them yellow and others dark - a mixture of Ethiopian and natives of Egypt - about the same as you see the coloured people of the United States at the present day."

"The English are the best friends the coloured people have upon earth though they have oppressed us a little and have colonies now in the West Indies, which oppress us sorely. Yet notwithstanding they (the English) have done one hundred more for the melioration of our condition, than all other nations of these earth put together. The Blacks cannot but respect the English as a nation, not withstanding they have treated us a little cruel."

When I read this passage, I was like "what in the hell is he talking about!" I must remind myself of the world in which he lived, and he probably had to kiss a little butt, though he did let the truth be known by saying "a little cruel." What is a little cruel?

I would encourage everyone to read, though I did not appreciate Sean Wilentz's introduction. I found his words to be annoying, laced with subtle racism. I would suggest ignoring his writing completely and go to the real text of David Walker.

I give Mr. Walkers Appeal 5 star. It took incredible courage as a black man in 1829 to write these words, though he died suddenly and mysteriously. I am sure he was poisoned.

David Walker was born in the late 1700s, in the newly-formed nation of the United States, shortly after ratification of the Constitution, into a society which on the one hand was celebrating a victory for freedom from oppression, but which also was still oppressive of a significant number of its own people.

Walker grew impatient with the pace and tone of the Abolitionist movement, of which he was a part, beginning in New England. Slave rebellions such as that of Denmark Vesey seemed to be an answer to the slowness. Injustice was being committed at this very moment -- action was therefore required immediately. This was the tone with which Walker's 'Appeal' was infused. His message was rather shocking to white Americans, and Walker found ways to reach his own people in the South with this message. Vesey and others had used religious meetings as a means of gathering and organising; likewise, they found the Bible rich in material to support their cause. Walker did likewise, seizing upon biblical ideas of deliverance and justice.

Walker found himself becoming unpopular for his outspoken views. Many in the Abolitionist movement purposefully discouraged talk of rebellion, lawbreaking and violence. However, Walker was not convinced that this kind of change was the best in the situation -- he felt strongly that the Black people had to unite and fight, with the full support of God.

Walker further was mistrustful of white people's effort on the behalf of blacks, and doubtful that Southern white men would ever be willing to give up their position of power. Walker noted that even men like Jefferson believed in the racial idea of white superiority. Even in those placed where African-Americans would live as 'free' persons, they seemed forever destined to be in the eyes of the white majority second-class citizens. This to Walker clearly was not right. 'Are we men!! - I ask you, O my brethren! are we men? Did our Creator make us to be slaves to dust and ashes like ourselves?'

Walker began to view whites as the only Americans. He felt the sins of racism and slavery were so intrinsically American that it would be a contradiction for any black person to be an American. This racist sin permeated even through to the churches, which Walker held in contempt for their seeming complacency in the face of on-going injustice.

And yet, one of the key elements throughout Walker's 'Appeal', for all its radical viewpoints, which no other Abolitionists seemed to have picked up after Walker's death in 1830, is hope. 'I verily believe that God has something in reserve for us, which, when he shall have poured it out upon us, will repay us for all our suffering and miseries.' Walker had no qualms about allowing that he wanted to destroy the status quo in society; however, he was not an advocate of wanton violence and bloodshed. He said that is was incorrect to assume that he was asking for civil war of any kind, but that he was simply asking for basic human rights to be enforced for all people.

This calls for rights and justice, the very basic call to recognise the humanity in all people, is a primary element of Walker's 'Appeal'. The time to rise up and take back humanity which had been stripped away by the white slave traders was, to Walker, clearly at hand.

Like the biblical prophets, Walker understood that what he was doing was dangerous. However, Walker saw his writing as a call from God, a call that could not be put away. The call to justice, the call to right the wrongs in society, the call to action against an evil oppressor, are reminiscent of the Hebrew prophets.

Although Walker's call and prophecy never took the shape he himself might have imagined it, his words inspired many and discomfited more. Some forms of injustice take many voices, many martyrs, before they are addressed. Walker was one of these.

An early and powerful indictment of racism. One can feel the anger of the author as he relates what white men committed in the name of greed, patriarchy, and race hatred. As a feminist who is also a white woman, I side completely with African Americans who are combatting the continuous tide of racism in this country, which the author singles out in his discourse. An absolutely extraordinary book, one that needs to be read.

"David Walker's Appeal" was one of the most extraordinary documents of the 19th century United States. The author, David Walker, was a free black man who used this tract to expose and denounce racism. Walker published 3 editions of the pamphlet from 1829 to 1830, the year he was found dead--possibly the victim of a political assassination. The Black Classics Press edition contains an informative introduction by James Turner.

The "Appeal" contains a preamble and four "Articles." Each of the Articles targets a phenomenon that contributes to the oppression of African Americans: slavery, ignorance, the "Preachers of the Religion of Jesus Christ," and the "Colonizing Plan."

Walker's tone is bold, but at times he sounds frenzied, even maniacal. In his more outraged moments, he sounds like a 19th century religious fanatic. Consider this statement from Article III: "O Americans! Americans!! I call God--I call angels--I call men, to witness, that your DESTRUCTION is at hand, and will be speedily consummated unless you REPENT." But if you can read such outbursts in context, you will find the book as a whole to be an incisive, intelligent analysis of a racist societal superstructure.

Particularly important is Walker's harsh condemnation of white Christian preachers and institutions who promoted the oppression of black people. Walker reminds us that the "status quo" forces in American Christianity were key pillars of white supremacy. Overall, "David Walker's Appeal" is a crucial document which deserves a wide contemporary audience.

Intelligent, honest, straightforward, this book actually came close to bringing tears to my eyes on several occasions. Mr. Walker, while a religious man, confirmed a lot of the things I prepondered were true about america. There is nothing "MILITANT" about this book- He candidly points out the EVIL he was exposed to in this country and some of the horrors he witnessed himself. Here are a few quotes

"America is more our country, than it is the whites-we have enriched it with our blood and tears. The greatest riches in all America have arisen from our blood and tears: -- and will they drive us from our property and homes, which we have earned with our blood? They must look sharp or this very thing will bring swift destruction upon them. The Americans have got so fat on our blood and groans, that they have almost forgotten the God of armies. But let the go on."

"Do they think to drive us from our country and homes, after having enriched it with our blood and tears, and keep back millions of our dear brethren, sunk in the most barbarous wretchedness, to dig up gold and silver for them and their children? Surely, the Americans must think that we are brutes, as some of them have represented us to be."

He goes on with ACTUAL MURDERS in Boston- one in the Boston Street Church where an African-american male was murdered. YEs, inside of a Church. To all African-americans, you MUST read this book. He cared. He witnesses the horrible murder and crimes of those people, right around the time of their "great forefathers" LOL. Published 1829.