White Books

You'd expect the director of Kanakuk Kamps to know a little something about kids, and this book by Joe White doesn't disappoint. White shares the lessons he's learned from years of interaction with tens of thousands of other kids as well as raising four of his own, and some lessons he's had to learn the hard way. The book is solidly founded on Scripture as the foundation upon which to build a family and Joe clearly communicates that his number one goal as a father is to pass a legacy of faith in Christ to his children. The practical steps to accomplish this goal make up the various chapters in the book and over half the book is just practical resources and material for parents to use with their own children. Nothing earth-shattering in this book, but you won't be unaffected either. Joe White is serious about training young people and serious about grounding them in God's Word - your parenting will be challenged by Joe's commitment to this great cause of being a father.

My wife and i have read this book and tried to apply it to the raising of our five kids. It was a great guide for us and we have bought numerous copies to give to friends. Buy it, read it, apply it, give it away. Great job Joe.

This book is amazing! I've been using it for 7 years now and it is chalked with fantastic relational tips, as well as incredibly practical ways to train your child and give them a firm faith based on the Bible. Very easy to use. Joe White has done all the hard work of creating devotions, and choosing age appropriate passages of the Bible for your children to memorize. Our three year old memorized Psalm 23 in it's entirety, and we were shocked. I never would have even attempted to teach her had it not been for this book! Don't go on without it!

I am now buying several more copies of this book to give away. I was so excited when I finished reading this book that I wanted everyone else I knew to have it too! It is so down-to-earth and practical that I feel like I may actually be able to integrate some of the ideas into our busy lives with our two young sons.

I picked up this book because I've had the pleasure of knowing the author and his family. I've recommended it to every parent I know because it proved to be such a invaluable resource.

Having seen first hand the success that the Whites have had raising thier family, I was dying to see how much advice he could get into a practical form in this book. I was so thrilled to see that Joe was incredibly successful in putting together a priceless tool for parents of kids of all ages.

As a full time youth worker, I talk to tons of parents that have, for the most part, given up on their dream of raising Godly kids in the world that we live in. It is possible, we are called by God to do it, and you can never start too early!

This book gives you practical advice on how to accomplish this seemingly impossible task from a man who has done it! Whether you have teenagers or toddlers, there is practical advice for you that you can begin to put into practice today.

Buy it, today, read it, tomorrow, and be prepared to reap the rewards for years to come!

My kindergartner and I love to read books, especially about animals. This is a great story about dogs, love and protection by a mother, and kids.

Paul M. Howey's Freckles: The Mystery Of The Little White Dog In The Desert is a heartwarming true story about the love and comradeship offered by a dog and her puppies. The black-and-white illustrations of Judy Mehn Zabriskie adds an especially endearing touch of charm to the text story, which is sophisticated enough to appeal to young readers who are almost ready to move on from picturebooks to more complicated reading material. Freckles is highly recommended - especially for young animal lovers.

What a beautiful story about man's love and appreciation for one of our true friends. A touching story to read children of all ages. Proof that dogs like humans care deeply for their young and will nuture and protect them. When given the chance these beautiful creatures will give back in many rewarding ways. Kudos to Mr. Howey for his ability to put this on paper with such style and grace. The illustrations by MS. Judy Zabriskie could not have completed this book any better. If you did not fall in love with the words, you would with the illustrations.

I think that Paul Howey's message can be heard not only by children, but adults too. Freckles teaches us that all animals deeply love and show love in their own wonderful way, and that respect towards our animals on this planet should be of utmost importance in our lives and our childrens lives. What a great inspiration Mr. Howey is to all people on the planet to remember what loving creatures animals truly are. Bless you Mr. Howey.

I was able to meet Freckles before the book came out. At that time she was somewhat withdrawn. As time went by and with love and care by Paul and his wife Trish, she has become a warm and loving creature. Now, with the popularity of her (or Paul's) book, she is a shining star. She brings this life to the children she visits.
I am biased, but this is truly a magical story of being found, being loved and giving all the love back. It's a story for all children of any age.

This book is easy to read and very practical. It helped me a lot with one of my data charting projects. Highly recommended.

It delivers what it promises. You will be able to write printing code, make your own controls, etc., after reading this book.

GREAT BOOK! The book was by far the easiest to follow book for GDI+ and Custom Controls using C#. I am very pleased and highly recommend this to all who wish to learn GDI+.

If you are moving up from GDI, you will find that GDI+ is about 50 times slower, but 50 times easier to program.

This is the kind of book you want to read when you want to get started with GDI+ development, and custom controls in particular. Yes, there are a lot of things that are not explained, but they, GDI+ and custom control development is a huge topic and couldn't possibly be covered in one book! The information provided in this book is excellent. It covers the basics of GDI+, custom control development, printing, and even web related stuff you may not think of at first. What's missing is how to build input-oriented controls, such as as fancy grids or spreadsheets and other advanced topics. But then again, I wouldn't expect a book like this to cover these topics.

One of my first .NET ah-hah experiences back in 2001 was creating an .aspx file that I could reference as a graphic (!). The .aspx file received two query parameters which informed it of the file name of the jpg and the width that the returned image was supposed to be. So then in an IMG tag, I would simply put src="ShowPicture.aspx?file=product1343.jpg&width=100" and it would display a thumbnail of that picture 100 pixels wide and proportionally high. This is an excellent way to produce dynamic pictures as well as protect your online photographs (show thumbnails to visitors, full sized pictures to members), and the .NET GDI+ classes are straight-forward and easy to use. Ever since then I have been looking for a book which goes into deeper detail of creating graphics in .NET with the GDI+ classes. Wrox has finally produced this book! In chapters 1 through 10 you get the basics: pens, brushes, texts, fonts, image manipulation, paths, regions and printing. Then in the rest of the book you learn how to make custom controls which create custom graphics (I love books that teach two things at a time -- great for developers who do four things at a time). If you read this book, you will think about graphics differently, namely, as dynamic objects which your application, the user and the environment can manipulate at run time. Very exciting.

Goblin Market, a verse fairy tale that was first published in 1862, is a rather fascinating piece of masterful poetry. It tells a wonderfully sensuous tale that has inspired a myriad of interpretations. I've spent more time reading about Goblin Market than I did actually reading it - savoring it, rather, for it really calls for a much more personal treatment than a mere reading. This pre-Raphaelite work harbors latent eroticism that echoes with both renunciation and desire. Thus, some term it a work of repressed Victorian eroticism and grin knowingly (and leeringly) as they recount the fact that Goblin Market was quite a popular children's fairy tale in its day. Christine Rossetti was herself a recluse along the lines of Emily Dickinson, allowing her heart to sing freely even as she kept herself separated from any possible objects of her latent desires.

In the poem, one sister gives in to the temptation of the forbidden fruit offered by the dark goblins forever lurking in the twilight to seduce their victims to a first taste of their exotic wares. The desire to obtain more of the passion fruit overtakes her young life, yet the goblins appear to her no more; as a result, she begins to waste away near to death. At this point, her sister, who sensibly avoided temptation, willingly seeks to bargain with the goblins, only to have them force their juicy wares upon her. The fruity residue is enough, however, to revive her sister. The act of salvation is obviously the juiciest part of the story on a number of levels - such a sensual act between sisters, with lines such as "Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices" and "Eat me, drink me, love me," cries out for interpretation of all kinds - and those quick to criticize the hypocritical prudishness of Victorian society have a veritable field day with it.

Some say this is not a poem for children's ears? Balderdash. Like any masterful work of poetry, Goblin Market can be read and interpreted on many levels. Children will delight in its lyrical rhyming patterns, its allusions to wee goblins hawking the most delicious of fruits, and interpret the salvation of the tempted sister in comparatively innocent terms. I say leave the interpretations to the adults. And what interpretations there are of this lengthy poem. Some see in it a recreation of the genesis story, a story of sacrifice and redemption, a tale of lesbian yearning, a declaration of the power of sisterhood, a commentary on women as commodities in market society, evidence of sexual molestation by Rossetti's father, etc. There's no limit to the interpretations put forth about what is, on the surface, an engaging fairy tale set to verse.

This is a fascinating work of lyrical poetry that can be read fairly quickly yet will sustain your interest through multiple readings, all sorts of fascinating research into analysis and interpretation, and just plain wonderment. As sensual as it is beautiful, Goblin Market is probably one of the most fascinating and insightful products of Victorian literature.

I wonder if the good folk at the end of the 19th century when this poem was originally published were just too obtuse to understand the gist of Rossetti's work; if so, we have an innocent artifact that has evolved into something erotic because of our twentieth century sensibilities (we have dirtier minds than our compatriots from the past).

Don't let the word "erotica" scare you away. This is not a blatantly sexual work in its language; it is not a "dirty" book. Just understand that despite what anyone else says or writes, this is about as unambiguously EROTIC as you can get. With phrasing like "Eat me, drink me, love me; Laura, make much of me; For your sake I have braved the glen; And had to do with goblin merchant men."

Since the original work is now in the public domain, if you want to read the full text online just do a search using most standard search engines with the terms "Christina Rossetti Goblin Market" and you should turn up a number of links to the actual poems, go read it, and decide for yourself about it.

This makes a wonderful gift for people you are very close too. However, it is also a very personal poem, and if given inappropriately could actually scare someone away!

Noted Italian/English poetess of the 1800's Christina Rossetti's imagination catching poetry has stood the test of time, being still loved and studied today. Because of its title, Goblin Market sometimes gets put into a juvenile category, but this is a poem for mature readers. This moral tale depicts the epic struggle between bad and good. The goblin's onslaught on virtue immediately engages the reader's inner ear and heart. This poem is really gripping reading. Goblin Market is often considered Christina Rossetti's best poem. This re-issue, replete with noted illustrator Arthor Rackham's beautifully eerie drawings, is a book worth owning.

A children tale for adults. It's a light and thoughtful reading. The story of two sisters and lewd goblin men. Innocence, temptation and emotions all together. This inspiring story has wonderful work of Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

This tale is not about sexuality but about redemption and the need to help others. Read deep into the story to find the meaning that Rossetti intended.

A superb book for kids. Tackles subject of nightmares in such a wonderful, sensitive and creative way. There's music to the words and an escape to...dreams...beautiful illustrations! The perfect marriage of writing and art...My 4 year old was fascinated by this book: both words and pictures. A must for every child's library!

This short poetic children's story, beautifully coupled with visually stunning illustrations, is a wonderful book that every child will love. Torrel's cast of characters, (the horse and rabbitt), is perfect and clever. Disney should contact the author and consider making a animated movie. A must-have classic.

It has been a long time since I have picked up a book written for children and after having read it, wanted a copy of my very own. Guardian of Dreams is that book! Ms. Torrel's story about a rabbit overcoming his fear and concern about nightmares is beautifully written and a must for young readers. I am starting a family of my own, and am happy to have begun my collection of classic children's book with this new masterpiece.

Guardian of dreams is an excellently written book all children, but especially for children who may have from time to time experienced or who are experiencing the frightful spectre of nightmares. It expresses in beautiful yet simple terms how a child can deal with nightmares. The illustrations beautifully bring the words to life, yet leaving room for the child's imagination. I highly recommend this book for children, parents, and teachers.
Gonzalo Quintana, teacher.

Guardian of Dreams is a charmingly illustrated poem which introduces young readers to the concepts of coping mechanisms. Through lighthearted rhyme and delightful characters, this book empowers any child to view their bad dreams in a more constructive manner. It explains that he/she can manipulate what happens and can improve the outcome.

Through routines that include visualization as well as easily-memorized steps, "Guardian" shows children how to make the "monsters" to go away, thus putting control into their hands. Whether your child is presently having issues with sleep or you want to build a foundation that will empower them against nightmares in the future, this book is a must-have for any library.

I never could find an EKG book that presented a stepwise comprehensive approach to reading EKGs until my senior resident lent this to me during my intern year. The only drawback about this book is that it's only available on the internet!

Dr. Brose's book is an amazing tool for mastering the EKG. I have personally used this text each and every day on rounds and seeing patients in clinic. It is easy to read and contains what every student/intern/resident needs to know. I implore all of you out there that haven't conquered the EKG, to purchase this book and learn how to become a master at interpretation.

Dr. Brose's "Guide to EKG Interpretation" is a resource that all physicians in training should seriously consider acquiring. It is an extremely thorough book, and its size is deceptive. You wouldn't think a small pocket-size book could pack this much information! As an illustration, I had a question on my Part II board exam about a "J wave", something I had never heard of, even after my EKG rotation and delivering a few EKG lectures. As it turns out, Dr. Brose's book addresses the J wave, while many other resources make no mention of it. Also, the material is presented in a way that is clear and very easy to follow. Full of cross-references, you can quickly gain a solid understanding of virtually any issue you'll encounter when interpreting an EKG. I believe that medical students, interns, residents, and attending physicians alike will benefit from owning this book. Certainly, it is something that medical students and interns should have in their pockets (it is not cumbersome...it's a perfect size).

This book has good illustrations and is written in some color. It breaks-down all of the common disrhythmias and explains much of what you need to know. Also illustrates the areas of the heart that is effected with certain types of disrhythmias. One of the better books I have found at this point. I think they should print a bigger textbook size of this book, it would be even more useful.

Great Ekg pocket!!. Very straight, not boring and easy understanding of the Ekg. Really helpful and time saving. Not a headache anymore on reading Ekg. From simple explanation to more complicated but easy to understand. Great for interns and residents.You should have it!.

This book is amazing. As an avid Cosmo reader, I thought that this would be sort of a rewording of most articles. I was happily mistaken! I enjoyed this book (so did my husband I might add). This book gives you that extra umph of self confidance. I cant wait for a sequel!!

If you are looking for a book about how to improve your inner beauty (as in personality, relationship stuff). I definitely recommend this. I was looking for a book about how to improve me to improve my relationship. I found what I was looking for. For me personally, chapter 64 really opened my eyes. It's not that I didn't know this information before but, seeing it in print helped me realize my actions.

I have to comment on how accurate the work-related chapters really hit on the money! I recommend it for women of all ages in the workforce. However, it does apply how women are outside of work also. So, if you're a stay at home mom, like me, even though you don't work, you still associate with these women.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I admit most of it is common sense knowledge. However, sometimes we need to be reminded of common sense things.

This book includes: Table of Contents (of course) and at the back an Index by Subject(Life, Men and Love, Sex, Style, Work). Which is really good for easy re-reading!! A must-have for your bookself! And, if you get a little tired, finish that chapter for that moment, do something else, pick it up later and continue on! It gets better!!

Quite a bit was "been there, read that" -- but it was a worthy pep talk!

Who penned the title for this book? It should have been titled something else but hey I still bought it and I don't even read Cosmopolitan Magazine. This is another book of life lessons or at least How to's for women. 86 lessons in all. Of course, not every lesson is associated with sex and men but rather a woman's life and pursuit of style and self. I'm a big advocate of finding self and I think Kate White is too.

There are endless magazines on the market about anything under the sun for women. You'll find all subjects from fitness, style, health, and hobbies but no magazine delivers the message of self confidence laced with sex appeal as much as Cosmopolitan. Kate White has put together this book of 86 lessons she's acquired in her years as Editor and Chief of Cosmopolitan that will make you think, experiment, nod in agreement, and laugh.

It was a good read that offers advice on sex, men, life, self-confidence, and work. It's somewhat of a mentor book that covers all those topics that you eventually end up asking your mentor with some sex advice that you'd normally ask your most experienced girlfriend about. Each topic is to the point and fairly short so you can read at your leisure with out having to get sucked into a plot you can't put down so this is a great book for reading while waiting in line or a few pages before bed. Most of the chapters are two pages with a few that need more pages to cover the topic but all fairly short.

I loved the different topics. My favorite was lesson forty-two: Guys Like Women Naked, Period. I got a chuckle out of quote in the book: "Want to know how to look hot naked? Answer: Take Your Clothes Off! Also there are a number of other great lessons in the book dealing with work and personal appearance that I really liked. Anyway it's worth a read even if the title kind of misrepresents the contents of the book.

girldiver:)

While I understand the marketing thinking behind calling this book HOW TO SET HIS THIGHS ON FIRE, truthfully the book would have been better named How to Set Your World on Fire. Sure, there are the requisite sex tips (and I'm not even too embarrassed to admit that I learned a thing or two in this category), but what I really liked about this book were the sections dealing with life and career.

Two chapters that really resonated for me were TOSS OUT YOUR FIVE YEAR PLAN and HOW TO COME UP WITH A KILLER IDEA. Great sex advice as well as career tips, what more could a girl ask for?

There truly are a number of thought-provoking pearls of wisdom in this book beyond the naughtiness we've come to expect of Cosmo. More importantly, the book is fun and easy to read. And while you may learn a few things about setting his thighs on fire, don't be surprised if you learn other life lessons along the way.

I am a public health nurse working with victims of violence in Oakland. I found this book extremely helpful both professionally and personally! Jerry White outlines actions and attitudes which assist people in recovering from life's unexpected events. His stories about his personal experience coupled with those of others are an inspirational and practical guiding light. What a rare treat. I recommend this book highly.

Nobel Prize winner Jerry White is the co-founder of Survivor Corps and the author of I Will Not Be Broken. The inspirational book shares his story of how he dealt with being injured by a landmine and his journey in leading his own life and others to help those like himself in countries all over the world. You will find some inspiration here, for sure. In the book, five steps are laid out by White.

There is not on overtly Christian message in what White writes. I need to say this for my readers since my blog here has reviewed explicitly Christian books for the most part. (I must also disclose that I was given a book after correspondence from the Survivor Corps people--which is one customary perk bloggers can claim at times).

What I think I can glean from all of this is that this cause is one that as a Christian I want to share with you. So, I am. Click over to Survivor Corps for more information on this amazing charitable organization.

This book by Jerry White is very uplifting and provides practical steps to overcoming tragedy. It is extremely remarkable in it's approach to reaching deep inside a person to reveal hidden strengths and the power to overcome.

Mr. White does an amazing job of bringing together the stories of many people who could have chosen to fall victim to their circumstances yet instead chose to thrive and beyond that, be full of joy. His own story of losing a leg in Israel at a young age is uplifting and challenging to the reader. I appreciate how he reminds us to make self-assessments and to choose how we will feel instead of falling victim to situations. This five steps to freedom are also practical and very helpful in the process of overcoming tragedy.

Overall, this is an encouraging and uplifting book and it is definitely worth reading for anyone who has suffered a tragedy in their life.

I Will Not Be Broken: Five Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis

Just finished reading I Will Not Be Broken by Jerry White and this is an amazingly uplifting and hope-filled book.

In 1984, Jerry White lost his leg in a landmine accident while on vacation in Israel. He later became a co-founder of the Landmine Survivors Network, which has recently changed it's name and broadened it's mission to become Survivor Corps

The book is a compilation of Jerry's own experiences and the lessons learned in surviving by many other people he's met, and it's subtitled "5 Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis".

The book breaks down the keys to surviving and Thriving during that survival, into the 5 steps,which you can find listed on the website for the book, and for me, that was part of why I felt the book would be such an invaluable tool for anyone recovering from a cataclysmic loss in their life. Because of my volunteer work with Soldiers Angels , I was particularly thinking of wounded soldiers while I was reading this book.

Many wounded soldiers refer to the day they almost lost their life in combat as their "Alive Day", and although Jerry doesn't use that term in his book, I found this sentence on page 7 that seems to epitomize what "Alive Day" means...." I want to encourage all of us to honor our toughest dates - the tragedies that bind us - in an effort to transform victimhood into survivorship."

The book does a wonderful job, in my opinion, of giving practical advice for How to "transform victimhood into survivorship",and is also filled with the stories of How so many Other survivors of tragedies have done exactly that.

It's an easy read, and I would recommend it highly to anyone who is currently facing a life-altering tragedy in their life, or the life of someone close to them.

"I Will Not Be Broken" succeeds brilliantly at being what it sets out to be: a thoughtful, sensitive, and useful guide along the path of survivorship. I found it inspiring in all the right places, well-reasoned, and down-to-earth. Being able to discover more about White's own journey and where he looks for guiding lights is also a valuable aspect of the book. We have much we can learn from him.

White intersperses his very accessible philosophizing with his own personal stories as well as those of the people he's met in his work and travels. The result is a very readable book filled with useful tools and reflections on their practical applications by real people.

Legendary journalist Theodore H. White (1915-1986) always wrote with great eloquence, but never more so than in this superbly moving autobiography. White begins by describing his impoverished boyhood in Boston's Jewish ghetto and his undergrad days (on scholarship) at Harvard in the 1930's. He then writes with great passion about his years as a correspondent in war-torn China (1938-1945), which included working for Time Magazine, reporting on China's leaders, and helping to curb a famine. The author's attachment to the Middle Kingdom has doubtless inspired several readers (including myself) to visit that enchanting yet tragic nation. White also describes his career in post-war Europe, and his days as a returned U.S. journalist during the prosperous 1950's and beyond. Readers get a first-hand look such notables as Dwight Eisenhower, Mao Zedong, Chou En Lai, Douglas McArthur, Chiang Kai-Shek, Joe Stillwell, Konrad Adenauer, etc. We also get an intimate look at John F. Kennedy's bid for the Presidency, and his brief tenure in office. White concludes with a bittersweet account of returning to his once-tranquil boyhood home in the 1970's - now encircled by ghetto blight and violence.

Theodore H. White was one of the top journalists of the 20th Century, and perhaps best known for his MAKING OF THE PRESIDENT series (1960-1972). Very few writers have ever matched his eloquent prose, which is abundant in this superbly moving 1978 memoir.

.......how a young man's decision to add Chinese to his college curriculum changed forever his life, placing him at all the pivotal points of history in his time....meeting the men with the visionary ideas........and writing of this journey so exceptionally we all experience the intimacies of every moment.

I really LOVE this book, have read it several times! I can't believe one person was able to do all of these fascinating things and tell about it in such an engaging manner. The material in China in WWII is probably the most fascinating and tells stories about the Chinese leadership that most westerners don't know. The McCarthy era and the Kennedy campaign and assasinations also were riveting.

This is one of those rare authors that can make an exciting history jump off the pages at you. And White was lucky: he saw some of the most interesting events of the 20th century, up close and with access to the principal players. The latter part of the book, where he describes the inner circle of the Kennedy camp on election night, 1960, is one of the best passages I have ever read.

Theodore H. White (1915-1986) is widely regarded as one of the greatest journalists of the World War Two "G.I." generation. TIME magazine once called him the "godfather of modern political reporting", and he is best known for his classic "Making of the President" series of books. From 1960 to 1980 White covered every presidential campaign and observed the political leaders who participated in them. He became so well-known that candidates from John Kennedy to Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan gave him unprecedented access to the inner workings of their campaigns. White's first book in the series - the bestselling "Making of the President 1960" (which covered the Kennedy-Nixon contest) earned him the pulitzer prize. Yet White was far more than just a political reporter, as this marvelous memoir proves. By 1976 White had grown both tired and bored of covering presidential politics, and so instead of doing another book on the '76 campaign, he decided to write his autobiography. In "In Search of History" White offers a superb chronicle of his remarkable life and career. Born and raised in a poor Jewish slum in Boston, White came from a family of intellectual Jewish immigrants who nonetheless experienced grinding poverty. In his youth White was in many ways a child prodigy - he was both brilliant and energetic. He sold newspapers to help his family pay the bills, attended Harvard University on a scholarship and became fluent in Chinese. In 1938 White, only 23, flew to China to cover that nation's heroic resistance to the Japanese invasion. He was soon hired by Henry Luce's powerful TIME-LIFE magazines to be their Asia correspondent, and for awhile he was Luce's star reporter. White vividly describes his experiences in China and Asia during World War Two, from a devastating famine to his meetings with legendary Chinese leaders such as General Chiang Kai-shek (whom he despised) and Communist leaders Chou En-lai and Mao Tse-tung (with whom he formed a wary respect). He also met the great American generals of the Asian theater of the war, such as Douglas MacArthur and Joseph Stilwell. White seems to have been present at a vast number of great historic events, and among his best descriptions is that of the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri in 1945. After the war White moved to Europe, where he covered that continent's attempts to rebuild and unite and America's efforts to help. In the fifties White began covering American politics, and then in the sixties he both covered and became a close friend of the Kennedy family - thus becoming (as he reluctantly admits) emotionally closer to his subject than he should have been. White's closeness to the Kennedys was dramatically revealed in late November 1963, when Jackie Kennedy personally chose him to discuss the intimate details of the assassination in Dallas and to write a "final word" about JFK. It was White's "Epilogue" (published in LIFE), that created the legend that Kennedy's Presidency was "Camelot" - a word which Jacqueline Kennedy insisted be used in describing her husband's administration. It is apparent from "In Search of History" that White led an extraordinary life and had many adventures (and misadventures) along the way. He is an engrossing writer, and despite the book's length I never grew bored or restless. Among the thousands of journalists of the twentieth century, White almost certainly belongs among the top ten, and this autobiography proves why. Highly recommended!

this is the best book i've ever read. amazing primer on the movie business. BUY IT!

I just finished this book, and Cliff Robertson is actually a very minor character. In fact, the subject of him being "blackballed" is barely mentioned. (It receives one paragraph in the Epilogue.) Robertson was the first person to suspect something was amiss at Columbia, but the book is actually about the power struggle between the President of Columbia, Alan Hirschfield, and the controlling interests of the shareholders, led primarily by Herbert Allen Jr. This is a long book, but it was so riveting that I found it difficult to put down. It is really well written, even if it does not paint any of the characters in a terribly sympathetic light. I can't help but think that if Hirschfield had shown more backbone in the beginning and stuck by his decision to fire the check-forger Begelman instead of caving in to Allen's demands, none of this epic battle would have happened.

This is not really a tale of embezzlement and disgrace - it is the store of power struggles between the Board of Directors for Columbia Studios, who were clearly had personal loyalty in their underlings as their top priority, and the CEO, Alan Hirschfield, trying to do what he needed to do to save the studio.

I don't have access to people at this level, so I appreciate the peeping-Tom aspect of viewing the thought processes and actions of people who normally hide behind lawyers, secretaries, and call-screeners.

The author obviously interviewed many many people to put this book together, and I appreciate how he reported on the media coverage, as well. I never really thought of how people manipulate the news as part of the story, but course it is.

The book is like a newspaper story in that it is filled with information, but the narrative reads like a novel - very easy to read. The author does a good job of developing story-lines, so we have a sense of completeness, and a sense of an overview, while also sprinkling the famous names and the glamour that makes Hollywood so compelling to people.

I've never understood why Hollywood turns out bad movies month after month, year after year, when it is so easy to tell from the beginning that a movie is going to be awful. Why make awful movies?

This book doesn't directly address that issue, but it shows how irresponsible and irrational the leading powers that control Hollywood on both coasts are, and how corrupt the whole system is. It's obvious that normal things like making a good product become irrelevent to their attention span.

I guess it's not really corruption, if everyone knows it's happening, and it's just a way of getting things done.

My only complaint is that I wish I had more of a reality on the Board Directors. Their actions seem so irrational, but I'm sure it's because they were not forthcoming in their interviews, and did not take the opportunity to express their points of view. People at that level are notorious for avoiding the press, so it is not surprising.

I bought this book when it first came out and have reread it every year or so. Tends to be a bit long and sometimes slow, but it's great. Buy a used copy, or check at the library.

Being from the Washington D.C. area I kept constantly asking why someone didn't leak this to the press and blow the whole compiristy.

The only comparable book is "The Great Salad Oil Swindle"

David Begelman, powerful head of a studio thinks he is above the law, until an actor by the name of Cliff Robertson exposes him. This book is a well written tale of immorality in a town known for it's lack of scruples. Hollywood insiders should not be surprised at this tale, but I was. The check Begelman forged was for a small amount. The man made more than that in a month. The book exposes the reasons why a man who had it all, would choose to commit such a crime and fall from grace. I was quite disappointed by Robertson's treatment by Hollywood's hierarchy when he was the victim, not Begelman. But it proves just how far studios will go to protect the bottom line. I read this book when it was first published years ago and I'm reading it again. The list of books I will read more than once is a short one. I highly recommend it.