Wilson Books

From the Back of the Bus to the Front of a Movement explains why Rosa Parks is considered the mother of the civil rights movement. The book gives an excellent review for a young audience of the history of race relations in the South. It details the events of the day Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus to a white man and the cascade of changes that resulted. Parks's many other contributions to the civil rights movement are also brought to light. The portrait of life in rural Pine Level, Ala., where Parks spent her early years will be an eye-opener for young people who are more familiar with urban and suburban settings. This is an informative, revealing account of an important era that makes valuable reading for young and not-so-young audiences alike.

From the Back of the Bus to the Front of a Movement explains why Rosa Parks is considered the mother of the civil rights movement. The book gives an excellent review for a young audience of the history of race relations in the South. It details the events of the day Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus to a white man and the cascade of changes that resulted. Parks's many other contributions to the civil rights movement are also brought to light. The portrait of life in rural Pine Level, Ala., where Parks spent her early years will be an eye-opener for young people who are more familiar with urban and suburban settings. This is an informative, revealing account of an important era that makes valuable reading for young and not-so-young audiences alike.

The best week's vacation of my life was spent right here in Berkeley attending a master class with Rostropovich.

You may have attended Rostropovich's concerts and he was, God knows, a great cellist. Certainly the best in my lifetime if not the 20th century. There are six cello concertos that a concert-goer will hear on a regular basis. Three of them are dedicated to Rostropovich.

If you have not had the great good fortune to sit in a room and listen to him talk to students, you really should buy this book.

The author really captures the force of his personality, his sensitivity to the individual needs of students, and his incredible ability to explain what he wanted from a student through stories.

The auttor's other book on Shostokovich is equally good and highly recommended.

Rostropovich died this year in Moscow at age eighty, having built his reputation as a cellist and conductor who also was an proponent of artistic freedom during the cold war. ROSTROPOVICH: THE MUSICAL LIFE OF THE GREAT CELLIST, TEACHER, AND LEGEND celebrates his life, both musical and political, and provides both an overview of the musician and memories of the many students he taught. Elizabeth Wilson was herself a former student of 'Slava' and provides here a definitive and in-depth biography which should be a 'must' for any music library covering classical music - and many a public lending library.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This book is a most impressive account of the 18th century Royal Navy I have read. Althought it was written at the end of the 19th century it is written in a modern style which is surprisingly easy to read. This book is a must for any serious Naval Historian and will capture the imagination of all with any interest in Naval history. The authors commentries are based on an obvious extensive research and his opinions are based on facts not speculation. I consider this book to be a authorative tome which provides detailed accounts of all fleet and single ship actions of the period.

This book was originally published in 1900. Clowes was the naval correspondent for The Times. While he wrote much of the book, other sections were written by Sir Clements Markham, a retired admiral and President of the Royal Geographical Society; Alfred Thayer Mahan, author of the seminal "Influence of Seapower Upon History"; and Theodore Roosevelt, who wrote what is still considered one of the best histories of the War of 1812; among others.

Unusually for military histories, the book looks at other aspects of the Royal Navy besides naval operations. There are several long discussions of naval administration, shipbuilding, and even social life and customs of the sea. Markham's sections are concerned with exploration, which involved more than James Cook's voyages.

Written in modern English, this hundred-plus year old book is readable and still relevant. My only regret upon finishing it was that Clowes didn't live in the present time, so he could have brought the book up to date.

BOOK IS ALL I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE! WELL-WRITTEN, COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE MAN AND HIS COMPANY, HIS DREAMS AND IDEAS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS. IT'S INTRIGUING TO READ THE BACKGROUND OF A PERSON WHO HAS CREATED SO MUCH AND BEEN A PIONEER IN THE AMERICAN FIREARMS INDUSTRY AND, JUST AS INTERESTING, TO UNDERSTAND THE MINDSET AND DETERMINATION AND SACRIFICE IT TOOK TO REACH HIS PLACE IN HISTORY. AND, THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE TECHNOLOGY AND ART OF STURM RUGER FIREARMS IS FASCINATING. REALLY GLAD I BOUGHT THE BOOK.

In 1949, just after World War II, all of the gun manufacturing companies faced a problem of selling guns in the commercial market. The Government had extensive stocks of guns like Endfields, Springfields, Colt .45's and of course any number of foreign guns and were beginning to sell these guns on the commercial market. It was obviously a stupid time to go into the gun manufacturing business.

In 1949 Bill Ruger entered the gun business with one gun being manufactured by a very small company. The gun was the Ruger.22 Standard Pistol which was an instant hit and is still in production as the Mark III. Every few years since then there has been a new gun from the folk at Ruger, each of which has pioneered new design principles that has made nearly all of the guns a success.

In this book, R.L. Wilson has produced a masterpiece of a book that describes all of the guns produced by the company as well as a history of the company and the man. It's an excellent addition to any gun lovers library.

This book called Just wanna have fun is the best book! It's about Tommy Pickels and his friends with mean gym teacher. The mean gym teacher made them do olimpics but the babies just wanna have fun.

This book is excellent. My seven year old son only like to read funny books. He completetd this book in one day. The Rugrats go on vacation and allowed my son to go too. They had several contests, but he was the winner. At the end everyone is allowed to cool off from the fun with a great splash in the pool. Great summer reading.

I agree very much with Mr. Linders. I recently worked with Bob Wilson at the Watermill Center, although it was undergone many changes since the beautiful photographs were taken. The book is indeed no documentary--it presents more the very spirit of Watermill--the creativity, the inspiration of being in the presence of such a master as Bob Wilson. It's repetative images of ceiling tiles, concrete walls, though at first questionable, quote the very atmosphere of Watermill and it's industrial air--and for one who has experienced it, the beauty of the building's simple architecture, and its history as the birthplace of the telefax machine.

This is a must for all art book lovers. This is a must for all theatre buffs. This is a must for all Hamptonites. RWWM is an extremely beautiful collaboration of two artists - the world famous avant-garde theatre director Robert Wilson and the young emerging photographer Vittorio Santoro. In 1992, Wilson has begun to create Watermill Center in Eastern Long Island, a summer home for his manifold activities. Each summer, he gathers a mixed group of young and exeprienced artists from all over the world to initiate theatre, art, music, and architecture projects. RWWM is the first book to document this exciting process. But it does not give a documentary account, rather it is an artist's reflection on the work of artists. The extremely creative atmosphere can be felt through the collage of photos, sketches, texts, copies of source materials, beautifully designed pages and a few explanatory notes.

This book is adorable - my niece has had me read it to her over and over. We love the gentle lesson and the clever illustrations. Sassafras is our "it" dog!

Sassafras Goes to Hollywood is a wondefully written tale that parents will enjoy reading to their children. Heartfelt and compelling, it stands on its own or serves as a wonderful companion piece to the first book in the series.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in dinosaurs, fossils and evolution. This book gives you all the information you would ever want about the Sauropod dinosaurs. The price of this book on Amazon.com may seem high, but you will never find this book anywhere else at a better price.

For palaeontologists with an interest in sauropods, this volume is simply and unequivocally indispensible. Matt Wedel's chapter on postcranial skeletal pneumaticity is a particular highlight, but most of the papers are very valuable. The contributions are on the whole more substantial than those in the recent Carpenter and Tidwell volume on the same subject, "Thunder Lizards", being mostly written by sauropod specialists.

Be careful, though! This is not a book for the casual dinosaur enthusiast: the chapters are academic papers that are heavy going for those without the necessary background.

The Comstock mines financed the American Civil War, a subject that has been written on ad nauseum. But finding information about the vast timber operations that fed & shored up those mines is far more difficult.

This book offers good background information & photographs of both the pre- & post-rail eras in & around Lake Tahoe in the Truckee River basin.

If you still can't get a new copy here on Amazon, go to the Truckee-Donner Historical Society website.

This an excellent book on logging and lumber operations in the Truckee River basin. It also includes some coverage of the flume operations in the Carson Range. Also, I highly recommend E.B. Scott's Saga of Lake Tahoe Series 1 and 2 books. The combination of these three books should be on every logging fan's bookshelf. Great material for the Comstock Lode history buff too.

Search For The Native American Purebloods appears in its third edition, blending the author's pencil portraits of pureblood American Indians drawn from life with his narratives of his visits with each subject. Search For The Native American Purebloods is highly recommended for any collection strong in Native American studies will want to include this very fine presentation.

Not only is this book a great treasury of Wilson's sketches, it is a piece of American history. Wilson sets out to draw portraits of remaining pureblood Indians--ones who have only the blood of one tribe coursing through their veins. Sadly, the number of purebloods diminshes rapidly every day, a fact which Wilson laments in his wonderful narrative that accompanies the drawings. This is a great book for lovers of Native Americans, American history, art, and almost anyone else! Highly recommended!