Wang Books

In my opinion Israel's short but extremely violent campaign in Lebanon in 1982 is a subject that must be studied with great attention since it can teach us many political and operational lessons in order to evaluate the current situation in the Middle East and the way that Israel responds to periodic violence from Hezbollah. Mr Gabriel gives the background of that conflict and the subsquent military operations in great detail, accompanied by numerous black and white maps which show the situation on the ground every day.

Once Egypt signed a treaty with Israel in 1979 and Sinai became a buffer zone, Israel became safe from a full peripheral war. Jordan was not going to launch an attack and Syria by itself could not strike. The danger to Israel became Palestinian operations inside Israel and the occupied territories and the threat posed from Lebanon by the Syrian-sponsored group Hezbollah. In 1982, Israel responded to this threat by invading Lebanon, It moved as far north as Beirut and the mountains east and northeast of it, cutting in the process the Beirut - Damascus highway. Israel did not invade Beirut proper, since Israeli forces traditionaly do not like urban warfare as it imposes too high a rate of attrition. But what the Israelis found was low-rate attrition. Throughout their occupation of Lebanon, they were constantly experiencing guerilla attacks, particularly from Hezbollah, until the were forced to withdraw their troops from Lebanon in 2000.

Although the overall analysis is good, my complain is that the author does not devote enough pages to the terrific air battle of Bekaa Valley or the slaughter of the Syrian Air Force (the Israeli pilots achieved a score in the region of 81:0) and he makes some mistakes regarding the total number of weapons available to the IDF, like number of tanks, self propelled artillery etc. Despite this, the book is a very good introduction to the Lebanon War and the author does not avoid the hot issue of the Sabra / Shatila massacre, even though he does not blame Sharon openly. The book can be read together with Zeev Schiff's excellent "Israel's Lebanon War" and Martin van Creveld's "The Sword and the Olive" which is very critical of the Israeli choices but expertly written.

Books that portray an objective, fair and unbiased assessment of Israel's `Operation Peace For Galilee' are very difficult to find..

In my experience most books on this subject appear to have a hidden agenda of vilifying Israeli military involvement in Lebanon whilst casting aside the wholesale, indiscriminate cross-border terrorism of Palestinian terrorist entities that caused such an involvement in the first place. Other books appear to be dedicated to the de-humanisation of then Defence Minister, Ariel Sharon, for an alleged connection to the horrific massacres of Palestinians at the Sabra/Shatila refugee camps by Lebanese `Christian' Phalange militia.

This book is refreshing and perhaps unique in that it seeks to provide as balanced an analysis as is possible.

Richard Gabriel, Professor of Politics, only proceeded with this book on the understanding that he was able to avoid any involvement with the Israeli censors and that he was permitted to obtain a neutral publisher. The final results of Professor Gabriel's study only being seen upon publication by any interested parties at the very same time as everyone else.

Professor Gabriel was able to draw upon interviews with many journalists - Lebanese, European, British, American and Israeli. The author was also able to spend unsupervised time with `PLO suspects' detained in Israeli and Lebanon to gather the personal impressions and opinions of these prisoners in relation to their treatment and the conflict itself.

Access was also provided to numerous Palestinian Doctors and Nurses in Lebanese camps and also to many high officials in the Lebanese Government and combatants/members of the `Christian' militias, the Druse militia and the Amal Moslem milita, thus providing some `enlightening' information on the nature of the ethnic and religious hatreds prevalent within Beirut and Lebanon.

Similar access was provided to the Israeli side which also included interviews with the battalion & company commanders in the field together with the `common' soldiers who bore the brunt of the combat.

The author was provided with his own transport and able to travel throughout the Lebanese battle zones, retracing by car or on foot, all the major routes of advance taken by the major Israeli units. This included the Bekaa Valley, Damour, the outskirts of Beirut itself and the region overlooking Damascus.

The author, having access to the actual terrain of the battle sites and with some eighteen years as a former Army & Intelligence officer, was able to comment in knowledgeable context about the operations at first hand.

One is left in no doubt about the horrors of this conflict and the traumas of having to frequently fight against an enemy hiding in civilian areas, with the harrowing experience which unavoidably ensued, of seeing civilians die as a result of military actions.

The author analyses the Sabra & Shatila massacres in some detail and credits the Israeli Government for not following the path of the debatable US Government reactions in relation to the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and instead proceeding to condemn the action outright, whilst also convening an immediate tribunal of investigation.

(Might I respectfully direct those interested in Ariel Sharon & the Sabra/Shatila incident to the excellent work by Uri Dan entitled "Blood Libel". This book covers in depth the trial/court-case against Time Magazine for it's allegations against Sharon in relation to the episode. Oft ignored information is aplenty in this particular work.)

As is the nature of this book by Professor Gabriel, the main features involve the immediate context surrounding Israeli operations in Lebanon. Of necessity therefore, I suppose many aspects of the Lebanese conflict are unable to be included in any detail.

For example, the massacres at Tel az-Zataar and the Lebanese Christian towns of Damour, Aishiye, Beit Mallat and Tall Abbas. Massacres committed at these places by Palestinian militia under the control of Yasser Arafat, where it is estimated that about 100,000 Lebanese civilians were killed. I was disappointed that attention could not have been paid to important issues such as these, and also indeed to the Syrian massacre of civilians at Hama where some estimate that 30,000 or more Lebanese civilians were killed. These innocent victims still needing a voice to speak out for their plight.

All in all this is a splendid book which portrays a human aspect to both sides of the conflict sadly lacking in other books on the Lebanese conflict.

If you are looking for a politically-skewed analysis of the Arab-Israeli conflict or an overly biased account of the war, this is not your book. I say overly biased because all author have an opinion that is expressed overtly or covertly in their writing.

Richard A. Gabriel, a well-respected professor of politics at St. Anselm College, former US Army intelligence officer, and consultant to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees as well as the Pentagon, has written what is probable the most objective and well-written account of the 1982 War in Lebanon between Israeli, Syrian, Lebanese, PLO, and other forces. He has written numerous books about military actions including several books that constructively criticized the American actions in Vietnam. Several of his books have since become requred reading for courses at military academies.

Prof. Gabriel went out of his way to write an objective analysis of the combat, going so far as to interview PLO officials, IDF soldiers, and others. He also toured the battefields as they occurred as a guest of the IDF. Even more to his credit, he made a stipulation of his touring the front with the IDF that IDF miltary censors not be able to review his transcripts at all until after publishing. This means that he was able to effectively write whatever he wanted.

The book itself is brilliant. Within its' 242 pages are numerous analyses of various tactical and strategic conflicts of the 1982 War. He lists grievances and events of all sides into the war and yet hesitates to make value judgements about any of them short of miltary stance. While avoidings making the book a massive judgement of the political stance of any of the fighters, he doesn't hesitate to list political factors that the combatants considered at the time of the war.

One of the greatest treasures of having toured Lebanon and the conditions there is that he was able to disprove many of the false accounts that the media of the time forwarded to the public. Being a meticulous researcher also means that he always quotes sources and provides appropriate background. For instance, the PLO (through the Lebanese newspaper "An Nahar")claimed that Israeli forces killed 17,825 civilian noncombatants killed and wounded 30,103 civilians. Mr. Gabriel analyzed all of the data available from various sources (including interviews with village mayors and other on-the-site witnesses) and came up with a more likely figure of 4,000 to 5,000 killed and 12,000 to 14,000 wounded.

If you are looking for an account of the 1982 war that objectively evaluates military actions of the combatants then Prof. Richard A. Gabriel's "Operation Peace for Galilee - The Israeli-PLO War in Lebanon" is unparallelled. I highly recommend reading this book whether you are looking for more background on the Arab-Israeli conflict, are a military historian, a wargamer, or just someone interested in knowing more about the Middle-East.

If you are looking for a politically-skewed analysis of the Arab-Israeli conflict or an overly biased account of the war, this is not your book. I say overly biased because all author have an opinion that is expressed overtly or covertly in their writing.

Richard A. Gabriel, a well-respected professor of politics at St. Anselm College, former US Army intelligence officer, and consultant to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees as well as the Pentagon, has written what is probable the most objective and well-written account of the 1982 War in Lebanon between Israeli, Syrian, Lebanese, PLO, and other forces. He has written numerous books about military actions including several books that constructively criticized the American actions in Vietnam. Several of his books have since become requred reading for courses at military academies.

Prof. Gabriel went out of his way to write an objective analysis of the combat, going so far as to interview PLO officials, IDF soldiers, and others. He also toured the battefields as they occurred as a guest of the IDF. Even more to his credit, he made a stipulation of his touring the front with the IDF that IDF miltary censors not be able to review his transcripts at all until after publishing. This means that he was able to effectively write whatever he wanted.

The book itself is brilliant. Within its' 242 pages are numerous analyses of various tactical and strategic conflicts of the 1982 War. He lists grievances and events of all sides into the war and yet hesitates to make value judgements about any of them short of miltary stance. While avoidings making the book a massive judgement of the political stance of any of the fighters, he doesn't hesitate to list political factors that the combatants considered at the time of the war.

One of the greatest treasures of having toured Lebanon and the conditions there is that he was able to disprove many of the false accounts that the media of the time forwarded to the public. Being a meticulous researcher also means that he always quotes sources and provides appropriate background. For instance, the PLO (through the Lebanese newspaper "An Nahar")claimed that Israeli forces killed 17,825 civilian noncombatants killed and wounded 30,103 civilians. Mr. Gabriel analyzed all of the data available from various sources (including interviews with village mayors and other on-the-site witnesses) and came up with a more likely figure of 4,000 to 5,000 killed and 12,000 to 14,000 wounded.

If you are looking for an account of the 1982 war that objectively evaluates military actions of the combatants then Prof. Richard A. Gabriel's "Operation Peace for Galilee - The Israeli-PLO War in Lebanon" is unparallelled. I highly recommend reading this book whether you are looking for more background on the Arab-Israeli conflict, are a military historian, a wargamer, or just someone interested in knowing more about the Middle-East.

Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan

This thin volume of English translations of selected poems by Wang Wei is a real treasure. It is long out of print, so it will be necessary to look for used copies. The translations are lean and sharp, reflecting to some degree the sparse and allusive nature of the poems in the original language. I come back to this book again and again for sheer aesthetic pleasure. Some mention is made of Wang Wei as a "Buddhist poet." Personally, as a Buddhist, I do not find his poems to be "Buddhistic" but rather naturalistic. One can read Buddhism into Wang Wei's poetry, but only with some effort.

The only drawback to the volume is a physical one: like so many Penguin books, it is printed on non-archival paper which yellows quickly over time. So handle it with care. Other than that it is a lovely collection and is an excellent companion to the Barnstones' more recent collection of Wang Wei.

Of the Chinese poets, Wang Wei has a special quality of painting with words. This collection is representative of his writing and will delight those who have read Wang Wei's poems and will provide a good introduction to those searching for a remarkable poet.

This book qualifies as the best medicine against stereotypes, of which the infection is so great.. College professors cannot be fired (a lifeteime paycheck) when they do not have the knowledge, or the passion, or the desire to learn... attorneys will say that the story of their ignorance is simply defamatio... the proof? They have degrees in some other field!!! Benjamin Franklin did not even attend High School, yet, among his many pionering endeavors, there is the railroad..yes, Franklin, a railroad pioneer. George Washington did not attend West Point. Etc. So, where does Academia get its airs?

POEMS OF WANG WEI : Translated with an Introduction by G. W. Robinson. 144 pp. (Penguin Classics). Penguin Books 1973, and Reissued.

Wang Wei (+ 699-761) is one of the greatest poets in Chinese literature. During his life he experienced a number of political upheavals, and divided his time between the court and his country estate, where he drew inspiration from his beautiful natural surroundings and solitude. His poems, though deceptively simple, can conceal real depths, and, since he was a Buddhist, some exposure to Buddhist thought may be necessary to fully appreciate some of them.

The present book, after a brief 12-page Introduction, gives us over one hundred of Wang Wei's poems, lightly annotated and in adequate translations which are of varying degrees of success. Here is an example of Cooper's style at his best (with my obliques added to indicate line breaks), a short poem entitled 'Return to the Wang River' :

"Distant bell sounding at the mouth of the valley / Fewer and fewer the fishermen and woodmen / Away in the far mountains it is evening / And I am going alone towards the white clouds home / Water-chestnut flowers so delicate so hardly still / Willow catkins so light so easily fly / Colours of spring on the banks of the marsh to the east / And I am melancholy as I shut my door" (p.63).

The book, which also includes a brief Bibliography and finding numbers for all the poems, would make a useful introduction for anyone new to Wang Wei. But if, after reading it, you'd really like to discover what lies behind Wang Wei's seeming simplicity, and learn something of how his poetry works, you might take a look at the excellent bilingual anthology by Wai-lim Yip which contains a detailed treatment of a number of his poems. Details are as follows :

CHINESE POETRY : An Anthology of Major Modes and Genres. Edited and translated by Wai-lim Yip. 358 pp. Durham NC and London : Duke University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-8223-1951-9 (pbk.)

This book is the most balanced view of the role of the woman in the family that I have ever seen. I had the privilege of helping with the Spanish translation, which is being published right now. It was a blessing to spend so much time poring over the wisdom found here! So many of her little phrases and anecdotes come into my mind when I'm faced with all life's little situations.

Unfortunately there is no publisher's information listed here, but it's interesting to note that Amy is the wife of Dr. Hong Sit and her father was the well-known evangelist Dr. Leland Wang. Dr. Wang was the mentor of Nee Tuo Sheng, better known as Watchman Nee. Amy and Dr. Sit have had many incredible adventures of their own and the practical wisdom and humor in this book are a delight.

Give it a read, you'll be glad you did.

This book has affected my life in the most amazing way. Extremely enlightning...I'll never be the same. Don't pass this one up....You'll never be the same! Totally, Positively Life Changing!

This book was a best-seller in Taiwan and has been translated into Chinese and Spanish. It is based on the principles in Proverbs 14:1: "Every wise woman builds her house but the foolish plucks it down with her own hands."

The Rib is an absolutely incredible book! Reading the book is a life-changing experience. This is a book to be read by all women, married or not. The book is a blueprint for a peaceful marriage, which is what all women desire, not to mention how the husbands benefit! My husband is not even a Christian (yet) and he has seen such positive changes in me after I read The Rib. I am really looking forward to reading it again and again.

I bought this book used, but when I received it, it was in perfect condition. My child needed it for a class that she was joining mid-semester. The book is no longer being printed. However, while other students were still waiting on the arrival of their books ordered from another bookstore, she was in class with her copy in a little over a week with standard shipping.

This is a biography of Sam Patch, the famous jumper from high places into swirling chasms. Yet it's more than a biography; it's also a social history of the times (1820s) and the places where Sam made his daring leaps (Paterson, NJ, Niagara Falls, and Rochester, NY). Sam's early life was spent working in the cotton mills of first, Pawtucket, RI, and then Paterson, NJ. He learned the "art" (Sam's word, and an important one in defining how Patch saw himself) of jumping while a boy performing daredevil stunts in the Blackstone River of Pawtucket. Later, in Paterson, he leaped into the Passaic Falls more as a "rebel-victim" - Timothy Crane had erected a bridge across the falls, which was considered a social good; but when he bought land adjacent to the falls that was popular as a recreational retreat for the working people of Paterson and turned it into a private park for the wealthy, Crane became a villain to the many factory workers of Paterson. Sam timed a number of his jumps there to coincide with events designed to honor Crane, to humiliate him or at least take away some of his thunder. In these instances, Sam Patch was a jumper for Democracy.

After Paterson, Sam leaped off the mast of a sloop anchored off Hoboken, NJ into the Hudson River, which was reported widely in the press, and Sam became a celebrity. Now his leaps would be for fame and fortune. He jumped twice at Niagara Falls to great success, and then went to Rochester to leap the Genesee Falls. His leap was successful, but a second jump on a cold November day proved to be his undoing; his body wasn't found until the following spring.

Then of course, Sam Patch the legend took off. The real Sam Patch was a drunkard and millworker, raised in poverty, who discovered he had a talent for surviving high leaps into dangerous waters, and decided that exploiting this talent brought a big improvement to his otherwise futile existence. (It's the classic American story: think of all the ballplayers, actors, singers, etc. who saw even the worst of times in their chosen endeavors as better than "going back" to the mines, or the mills, or the empty windswept towns on the bleak prairie.) But for the decade or two after his death Sam was transformed into a gentleman's son who overcame timidity and learned to face danger and be "a man." Then, of course, even this made-up image of Sam disappeared from the scene - until 1945 when folklorist Richard Dorson rediscovered him and grouped him with such legendary characters as Davy Crocket and Mike Fink.

Johnson does a superb job in rescuing Patch from the annals of folklore and presenting him as a real historical figure. This is not an easy task since very little in the historical record is known about Sam, and much of that is contradictory. He devotes much space to what life in the cotton mills was like, how Niagara Falls was perceived in the American imagination at the time, and what the young and bustling cities of Paterson and Rochester were going through when Sam visited them. Johnson is an interesting writer - detailed and learned, but not dry and scholarly. It's a fascinating book. Highly recommended.

Sam Patch was an American original who escaped my attention for forty-eight years. Professor Johnson's study of this mostly forgotten, irreverant showman has piqued this reader's thirst for more of the bold, eccentric and sometimes ambivalent personalities that have shaped this nation in often subtle ways.
Not long after completing the author's chronology of the Patch family's slide from the respectability of the rural New England landholder and the influence of Calvinism, it becomes apparent
that a documented record of just what manner of man Sam Patch really was is not to be had. From the standpoint of social status, Patch was a non-entity, a skilled textile laborer his sole identifying trait; that is, until he made public his hobby.
Just what spurred Patch to leap the Passaic Falls at Paterson,NJ on July 4, 1828, effectively upstarting the elaborate holiday ceremonies planned by one of the city's wealthy and genteel manufacturing elite is uncertain. One effect of the feat was the galvanizing of the local labor force into an awareness of their potential to force reform in mill working conditions. No sooner had Patch had dried himself off when a consortium of mill owners issued an edict altering the daily work schedules of its employees, needlessly disrupting the domestic routines of thousands. Patch then betrays a political motive in answer to management with an encore jump during work hours just one week after the new schedule had taken effect. Patch's exploit was followed by a strike, arbitration and comprimise. The Paterson jumps gave birth to Patch's intriguing motto "Some things can be done as well as others."
The cynical critic questions the depth and genuineness of Patch's social altruism based upon his lack of education, predilection to alcohol, and the complete absence of any concern, stated or implied, other than self-promotion during the remainder of his career. In fact, Patch, at the age of twenty-seven, having worked in the mills for twenty years, resigned his vocation permanently upon departing Paterson shortly after the second jump. After a brief exploit from atop a ship's mast in Hoboken,NJ, Patch emigrated to Niagara Falls for bigger game.
Now an avowed professional jumper, backed by resort developers and sporting gentlemen, Patch thrilled crowds of commoners and elicited enmity from the Whig sophisticates and press. After a few successful performances, the venue shifted to Rochester,NY and Genesee Falls where class distinctions and responses to such behavior were at a premium. After an initial jump, a plan was hatched to erect a platform some forty feet above the millrace which paralleled the falls, raising his leap to an uprecedented one hundred-thirty feet. Unfortunately for our hero, he met his ultimate fate that day in 1829 when, unable to contain his passion for the bottle, he endeavored to jump while in a well-lubricated state, lost his form early in the air, hit the water on his side, and disappeared for four months before his body was hauled from under the ice of the Genesee River some seven miles downstream.
On reconsideration, it is perhaps the case that Patch had an angle along reformist lines. Though unsophisticated in its method, the very inanity of Patch's nonconformist act served as a slap in the face to the righteous, overbred conceit of the upper classes and their proclivity for circumscribing the limits of self-determination for those less fortunate. In appropriating a mere mill-boy's pastime Patch defied the ruling gentry and diletantes of morality to prevent his freedom of expression. Although his jumps lacked the ingenuity, utility or permanence of the engineering marvels which buoyed the emerging industrial revolution, they gave notice that democracy entitles a man to make his mark after his own fashion and, notwithstanding limited means, proof that "Some things can be done as well as others."
Despite the absence of source material Professor Johnson has done a comendable job of resurrecting Patch's story from the confines of legend. Johnson's tedious labor is evidenced by his notes--drawn almost entirely from periodical literature.
While it is not possible to forge an intimate acquaintance with Sam Patch, Johnson has provided the detailed social, political and religious mileau needed to understand his role in history.
Johnson is also to be credited for the modesty of his prose, which makes this book smooth and entertaining.

If you have never heard of Sam Patch, it is because you are not living in the nineteenth century. Sam Patch was America's first celebrity daredevil, someone who made his fortune and his fame by spectacularly endangering his life, jumping from waterfalls. Paul E. Johnson, in _Sam Patch, The Famous Jumper (Hill and Wang), has not exactly brought Patch back to life. As Johnson explains, people like Patch did not have linear careers that lent their lives to being told as stories; they had episodes, not biographies. Patch only lived thirty years, and jumped professionally only for the last two of those, but he did have a wonderful career, and even some meaning within American history and sociology. Johnson has, though Patch's story, examined some details of Jacksonian America, industrialization, philosophies of art, and aspects of fame from self-endangerment and self-promotion rather than self-improvement and civic involvement. Patch was, after all, a lout and a drunkard, but it must mean something that he achieved such a level of fame that his feats could be cited by Melville, Hawthorne and Poe. Even Andrew Jackson's favorite steed was named Sam Patch.

Sam was around seven years old when he took up work in a mill; families in the early eighteenth century were being drawn to mill towns since mothers and children could easily get work. He was good at the work, and fiercely independent in the craft of "mule spinner". The independence manifested itself in his jumping as well. He learned the craft of jumping as other boys did, but when he moved to another mill town, his jumping acquired a social and political aspect that endeared him to the populace. He jumped to spite a rising industrialist in Paterson, New Jersey, and then in support of his own class when there was a dispute over how the town should celebrate the Fourth of July, and jumped again during the first labor walkout. People loved the jumps, and newspapers reported them. Patch became a working-class hero. He went on to jump into Niagara Falls twice, and finally in Rochester. On 13 November 1829, he took a plunge into the Genesee Falls, into which he had jumped successfully a week before. He was drunk, and hit the water out of control. It was months before the body was found, but respectable Americans had found a new cause to rail against; one preacher spoke of the "strange and savage curiosity" of the crowds who came to see the jumps, and another told his Sunday school class "... that any of them who had witnessed Patch's last leap would be judged guilty of murder by God."

Sam Patch could have been an emblem against the masses, but it did not work out that way. He became the subject of poetry, comic stories, and stage plays. "What the Sam Patch!" became a common way of swearing. There was a Sam Patch cigar. He has even recently been the subject of a novel. Rochester has welcomed his memory as if it were that of a favorite son, and you can buy souvenirs at Sam's Gift Patch. There are those who insist that any American Dream must be built on hard work, domestic harmony, and sobriety. Johnson's able and well-researched portrait, with its many digressions into aspects of our fledgling democracy, shows a different sort of dream and a new sort of celebrity. Americans, bless their hearts, had from the beginning a delight in one who tweaked the nose of his betters and got fame for lots of wrong reasons.

An amazing book that I couldn't put down. The Shuberts have compiled a great tribute to Broadway theater. It's worth the money if you are a theater history buff!

Any theatre buff will think he or she has died and gone to hog heaven. It is virtually impossible to put this gorgeous book down. Put together by the archivists who work for the Shubert Organization, this book covers Broadway with the Shuberts for the past 100 years. Currently the Organization owns 17 Broadway houses. A history of each theatre and what has played there is covered on these pages. The photography and beautiful design make this one of the best coffee table size books I have ever seen. And I have quite a collection. You won't regret your purchase!

As far as I know, no Shubert family members contributed or added to the writing of this book. As a result, I disagree with the title, The SHUBERTS Present: 100 Years of American Theater. It should read: The Shubert Foundation Presents:

With a little research the author could have located our small family around the country to interview or get a thumbs up to fly.

Also, I don't think the Shubert Foundation "IS A GOOD THING", as mentioned in the end of the book. Consider the dark,sinister,devious and backstabbing individuals within the organization, taking over The Shubert Theaters after the very untimely and questionable death of J.J. Shubert.

The lawyers that once worked for the Shuberts now represented the "Foundation" garanteed the family would never have anything financially to do with the theaters again.

Think about it, what family would merrily walk away from Three Quarter's of a Billion dollars...Unless they were scared or frightened?

I believe the young Grandchildren of J.J. have a right to know the tragic truth regarding the takeover of their rightful dynasty. Someday soon I will tell them the story of their Grandpa and Great Grandpa and theaters they built. The most spectacular art forums in this country.

After the Curtan Closed...

Life continues along a much different path.

I purchased this book shortly after its publication and it has fast become a treasured element in my collection.

The publication (yes, I know it's a bit pricey) covers all of the theatres currently owned and operated by the Shubert Organization in New York City (and a few across the country).

The beautiful, full-colour spreads give details that the average theatre-goer would not be able to see in a visit. History abounds in the richly detailed text that encompasses 100 years of American theatrical history.

There are many production photos that add to the story that each individual house holds in its history. Many of these shots are previously unpublished or are quite rare to say the least.

I can fully recommend this book to any person who holds a love of the theatre and/or the unique architecture that composes this luxurious world.

Note: The Winter Garden Theatre does not have a large spread of, shall we say, post Cats-era photographs (the way it would look today). I wish that the publishers could have waited a few months to get the new shots, it is a beautiful house.

All in all, I'm sure many will agree that the 5 star rating I gave the book is well merited. Don't let the price scare you, the endless hours of great reading and history will make the cost seem minimal.

I read this book for a media class I took, and I enjoyed it very much. Minow has been an advocate for quality television since he was Kennedy's FCC chairman, and he obviously continues to champion for what should be a simple thing. Minow and LaMay have a great chapter in this book about the history of television that beats everything I've previously read. I particularly liked the way they talked about a stranger in the house, and how our society allows violence and bloodshed into our homes everyday without a care for what our children are seeing, or how they are reacting to it. Their discussion of the talk shows that are on TV during after-school hours was a shock to me. There must be something we can do as a society to give our children the gift of quality TV without violence.I think Minow and LaMay should be commended for their insights and willingness to tackle such a huge problem.

Newton Minnow is a former chairman of the FCC. Minnow is also an excellent writer who argues in this book that television is most probably unsuitable for children. Why?

Television is focused on profit alone; sells young viewers to advertisers; wastes 23 hours a week of the average child; brings about violence and obesity, low grades, irresponsibility and poor social patterns in some children; is controlled by advertising agencies and not by people who serve the real needs of children; probably leads children away from reflective thinking and toward information-processing; gives some children negative impressions that will last a lifetime; hunts for children viewers like sharpshooters; is the subject of over three thousand sociological studies; has a history of calling "an intrusion" that which is a reasonable limit; is in the business of making a profit alone; has six and a half hours of program-length commercials on Saturday mornings; is motivated by a compulsion and not sound reasons based on studies in child psychology; and tends to trigger prejudice, fear and despair. The above is unsuitable for children.

Minnow writes on page 12, "Broadcasting and television industries quickly drew their own map of the United States. Communities became markets, citizens became customers, and children became fair game."

In the 1960's, one of the things requested by the leaders of the Black Movement was the more frequent appearance on television of Black performers. Specifically, these performers were to be in programs where they portrayed competent, contributing people. Such programs as Amos n' Andy, under pressure from Black leaders and Civil Rights advocates, were removed from television. Their demands were guided by the belief that the way in which Black people were portrayed on television would have a marked effect upon society's evaluation of the Black race.

In the Sep 2003 U.S. News and World Report magazine article regarding the 100 documents which affected our country's history, it is stated that the words we use to communicate our ideas to one another have the power to provoke images and emotions which can revolutionize our society.

The ability of literature, whether written or performed, to transform people's values and thus society is not a radical or new notion. It is the principle upon which our American education system is based. We do not believe that human beings are locked into a set of values which they either inherited or which were formed strictly from association with close relatives. We believe that education and environment can alter our principles.

I agree with all the previously stated ideas, so it always amazes me how so many of the people who are proponents of the power of education, proponents of the power of literature to shape our values, are often the most vehement in denying that television, music and movies have had a profound effect upon our society's values. The only way that I can reconcile these blatantly contradictory notions is that perhaps what these people are meaning to say is that, books, television, movies, and music do have the power to modify our ethics, to modify our stereotypical perceptions of a race or a gender, and do have the power to affect our notions of equity, but with regards to the sex and violence that saturate these mediums, these are just things that temporarily excite us and have little affect upon our values.

This belief is not supported by either logic or experience. The reason that our entertainment is saturated with sex and violence is because there are few things which have a greater capacity to affect us, to arouse us, to absorb our attention. For better, for worse we are chained to one another for our most intense emotions. The egocentric sweetness of self-fulfillment pales in comparison to the emotions generated by the adulation or domination of our fellow human being. Logically, you do not repeatedly arouse human beings' most intense emotions without creating an even greater appetite for more stimulation. However, although we might have a longing for this stimulation, most people will subordinate these desires to society's expectations of socially acceptable behavior. Thus few of us become sexual addicts or sadists or serial killers. Hence, the assertion by the media and others that this steady dose of sex and violence has little affect upon us. But it has. We have allowed ourselves to enjoy the reduction of a human being to a sexual object. We have allowed ourselves to enjoy seeing another human being physically harmed. This enjoyment reduces our aversion to these emotions and when a significant percentage of society finds pleasure in these emotions, its eventuates in the altering of socially acceptable behavior. And we are seeing the results of these changes, children killing children, a drug-infested youths, schools patrolled like prisons, babies having babies, a plethora of families without fathers.

However, many people feel that even if this type of entertainment does have deleterious effects, our freedom is more endangered by censorship than it is by these aforementioned negative consequences. First, let me state that we already have censorship. We do not allow nudity or acts of fornication in public or on commercial broadcast stations. We do not allow cigarette or alcohol advertisements in elementary or high schools. We do not allow teachers in these schools to teach hatred of a religion or race or gender. We do not allow the advertisement or sale or consumption of narcotics. In most states, prostitution is illegal. Censorship already exists. Second, the notion that censorship of literature or entertainment is a threat to the freedom of being able to criticize the policies of our government is a relatively new concept in the United States. Up until the 1960's censorship of entertainment was considered a given in the United States. The fact that this country, the most free society that the world has ever known, was able to not only survive but thrive for over 150 years while at the same time having a censorship of entertainment policy negates the notion that freedom is threatened by such a situation. England is another example where freedom to criticize the government was considered to be very different from the freedom to make one's living by appealing to the prurient interests of the public. Victorian England allowed Karl Marx to promote his ideas whereas libidinous France banished him from their country. There are a multitude of other examples where the government was a dictatorship but there existed no censorship of entertainment. It is to a dictator's advantage for the populace to be a slave to their passions, rather than a people working together to determine what literature and entertainment will promote within their children respect for the dignity of people.

I am very thankful for such books as "Abandoned in the Wasteland". Mr. Minow recognizes and is trying to combat the crisis which this steady dose of sex and violence and consumerism is breeding in our youth.

This is a very cute book. I love how it has so many different animals and even my daughter's favorite-penguins. She likes this book a lot but she is a few months from being 2 years old and she has ripped off the penguins wings, the baby cubs head and separated the giraffee from the book. I try not to buy pop-ups for this reason but it is still a great book. A great way to say I Love You!

We love this book. We started reading this book to our son when he was a very young infant and he has continued to love it into his toddler years. The illustrations are great and he loves the pop up animals. He is constantly bringing the book to me to read it to him. The stories are simple and easy to understand.

This book has beautiful pop up pictures of animal parents and babies (giraffes, lions, penguins, owls, polar bears) and a lulling rhyming text. Not too many words so little hands can get to the next picture! We started this at 6 mos., & my daughter has loved it since (turning 2 now). My only complaint is that almost all the parents are mothers (except the penguins, appropriately) and all the babies are boys (except the owl whose sex isn't mentioned). I just change the pronouns for my daughter.

Quite simply, this book is an underrated classic. One gets the best of both worlds in that it is a true collaborative work between a seasoned and experienced Chinese doctor and his American counterpart. I most appreciate the usage of Mr. Robertson of chinese character analysis in order to dissect the deeper meanings of the concepts being studied.

A treasure.

This is a great textbook in easy to understand language---not Chinglish! Not traditional TCM language! But easy for all to read and understand!
The explanation is well written and described and the info is given in depth and detail. A must have for all students interested in TCM and channel theory. The best reading on TCM (textbook) ever!!!

This is the book I wish I had written!!

It is simply one of the most fascinating and pracitical books on Traditional Chinese medicine to heve emerged in recent years. As Dr Wang himself said to his student and collaborator Jason D Robertson, you should not write "just another boring text book..." And that wish has certainly been fulfilled. This book is an exciting read, that draws together both the wisdom of the classics with current clinical practice. The text is very much alive, written as a conversational dialectic between Dr Wang and Jason D, in the time-honoured tradition of Huang Di and his physician Qi Bo, in the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine. It addresses and repairs many of holes that the Cultural Revolution blew in Chinese Medicine and firmly 're-embodies' acupuncture energetics within the reality of the channel networks. Well done! Bravo! Gong Xi!

This extraordinary book, at once scholarly and a good read, not only delights and informs its readers, but links them with the century of Burlingham's life and the people who made it what it was. Its author's careful research, wide sympathies, and grasp of what makes people and societies act the way they do illuminates the history of the man, the city, and the times.

Mr. Burlingham deserves the serious and engaging review of his contributions to American society so adroitly recounted by George Martin. This book is absolutely terrific. And the question we must ask is are there any CCB's to be found in the future of America? We need them.

I began reading this long political biography because the author is a personal friend. At first, I thought I would skim the book but by page 200 it had become a real page-turner. It was so well-written and researched and dealt with such fascinating subjects--including the downfall of Tammany Hall and the rise of Fiorello Laguardia. Burlingham was influential in both events and his long (101-year!) life overlapped with those of many other historical figures whom he influenced and whose influence, like his, continues to be felt today. A great feast for the mind!

I loved this read because it contains a very comprehensive picture of chinese medicine theory. It covers in a simple and easy to understand manner the Law of the Five Elements, the Five Devils, and The Five Destructive Emotions. After establishing the theory it teaches you how to make an assesment of a person's particular condition and which techniques can be used to help him/her. The photos are great and the diagrams are very useful.

I used this book to help me study for the non-western portion of the National Certification Examination for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. It provided me with a lot of information and interesting knowledge on the subject. However, I also used the following which is on amazon.com:
The Ultimate Study Guide for the National Certification Examination for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork: Key Review Questions and Answers Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3
Author: Patrick Leonardi
The last three books was so on target with the type of questions asked on the National certification examination. I passed the first time with the help of these four books.

I am a practitioner and teacher of Tui Na massage, and Qi Gong exercise enthusiast. Having read most of the popular books on the subject of Tui Na, and studying from various masters, I can say that Sarah Pritchard's "Chinese Massage Manual" is a very well-written and clearly organized introduction to any beginning student or casual reader. I use this book as a textbook for classes I teach at two San Diego massage schools.