Colleges and Universities Books

Lauded as one of the greatest African American playwrights, August Wilson, born in 1945, has earned numerous Tony nominations and awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes for "Fences" and "The Piano Lesson".

Who He Is:
He is known for his "poetic poetry" in language while the blues music plays a significant role in his work. In this book is a thorough understanding called, "August Wilson's Blues Poetic" by Paul Carter Harrison. Meanwhile, a lengthy preface by Wilson provides insight into his experience as a playwright.

Ten of Wilson's plays, chronicle decades of African American heritage and experience. In this book, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" covers the twenties, "Fences", the fifties; and "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" explores the turn of the century.

The only thing better than reading Wilson's plays is to SEE them performed, complete with the vernacular - the spoken language of an area. If you have ever believed that you have had no interest in theatre plays, rethink that notion and see the work of August Wilson.

Ma Rainey:
The scene for "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", takes place in a recording studio in 1927 where two white music executives are making a record of blues singer, Ma Rainey and a group of musicians.

Because the focus is on four male band members. It may take a while to try to put a face with each character, but within a short time, you grasp who the characters are - their values, beliefs and fears.

Ma Rainey's tone of voice is profound and nobody can push her around. Some critics report that Ma Rainey was exploitive and abusive to her band members, but I certainly did not get that impression. She was just tough and she knew how important her role was in blues music!

During rehearsal, the members share their experience in racist America and where they are now with racist treatment. A dramatic ending caps when the most bitter player reacts violently when another member steps on his shoes.

Prize Winning "Fences":
The Pulitzer Prize, "Fences" takes place at the home of Troy Maxson, a garbage collector who felt cheated of fame as a baseball player by a white system. Troy is set to build a fence around his property and symbolically, the fence stands for his protection from the outside. He contains what he earned and seeks to keep out any evil. Troy's conflict is with his younger son who is about to be recruited with a football scholarship. Troy dissuades the boy by instilling the value and certainty of life is only with hard labor.

Joe Turner:
The setting for "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" takes place in a boarding house where owners Seth and his wife operate with strict rules for the many transients. Joe Turner is not a character in the play, but a man who enslaved Harold Loomis, the main character, for years. Now Loomis tries to find his wife. This is a wonderful story with folklore, blues, spirituality and identity, which is metaphorically referred to as a "song".

These plays are wonderful and it's difficult to say which is best, because they are so different. ...MzRizz

August Wilson is the greatest American playwright. Not the greatest living American playwright, but the greatest, period. His best plays stand comparison with the best work of Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller, and Tennessee Williams. No American playwright has produced such a consistent body of work, and no American playwright has attempted a cycle with the scope and ambition of his series of plays. Wilson's subject is the Great Migration, the story of the African-Americans who emigrated from the southern states to the cities of the industrial North and their slow construction of satisfactory lives in the difficult and changing world of 20th century America. Wilson has written 10 plays on this subject, one for each decade of the 20th century, amounting to a fictional history of African-Americans in the urban North. This is, however, history from below. Wilson's heroes are garbagemen, short-order cooks, day laborers, self-taught musicians, and street vendors. One of his great gifts is his ability to use common speech in a way that is consistently interesting, frequently eloquent, and often powerful. He gives poetic voice to people usually regarded as inarticulate and invests ordinary struggles with real but not exaggerated significance. The African-Americans of Wilson's plays are a doubly uprooted people. Uprooted initially by the grievous trauma of slavery that sundered their connection with their native traditions, the emigrants fleeing the Jim Crow south and its brutal racism are uprooted also from their homes, families, and the traditions developed in the aftermath of slavery.
Wilson's overall story is the reconstruction of African-American identity and family life in the cities of the North over the course of the 20th century. Wilson's plays often feature protagonists whose sense of identity and families have been damaged greatly by the oppressions of racism and the atomizing effects of the industrial economy of the North. Over the course of the cycle, Wilson shows characters re-establishing a sense of connection with their ancestors, even back to Africa, and gradually developing the family ties to sustain them. Wilson repeatedly uses supernatural elements in his work, particularly as a device to advance his theme of the importance of developing a sense of historic connection with ancestors, including those originally abducted from Africa. This could easily be hokey, but his matter of fact use of these elements is very effective. Another recurring theme is the importance of music, particularly the Blues tradition developed by African-American musicians, which he sees as a vital and creative force in African-American life, often carrying truths across generations. Some of the most affecting parts of Wilson's work are his demonstrations of the direct and indirect destructive effects of American racism on family life. Even more powerful are those scenes in which his characters overcome these obstacles to reaffirm family connections.
Not all of Wilson's plays are outstanding, but all are at least very good. Readers will differ on their favorites. In my opinion, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Fences, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom are outstanding. The rest vary from excellent (The Piano Lession) to the very good. Cumulatively, they are a really impressive achievement. Mention must be made of the fact that Wilson has been aided by outstanding collaborators. Wilson's plays usually go through a series of versions before the final version emerges. Wilson has had the benefit of working with unusually talented directors, notably the gifted Lloyd Richards, who was responsible in large measure for recognizing Wilson's talent. Wilson has benefited also from the existence of a whole generation of remarkably talented African-American actors. These people made it possible for Wilson to realize his vision. We have all been the beneficiaries of the work of Wilson and his collaborators.

Michael Bakunin was born landed Russian nobility but he gave all that up to fight for a more just social order. This book is a fascinating read for any student of Politcal Science or Sociology. As Marx's arch rival at the International Working Man's Association Bakunin believed that revolution would come from the rabble of society not the well organized industrual workers as Marx beleived. This book takes you to exile in Siberia to the politically charged streets of Paris. One of the best books I have ever read.

You who are viewing this page should congratulate yourself for being willing enough to explore what Anarchism is all about. I commend you once again but reward yourself by obtaining this book. Any of Bakunin's writings are well worth it, it is a travesty that Anarchism has been dismissed awaken yourself to the possiblity and don't be afraid to ask why not.

I am surprised there are no other reviews for this book. My daughter is a senior and we have been using this book for over a year now. All but one of the colleges she has looked at is in the book. Its best feature? It describes colleges that cost a little less than the biggies - most in the range of 20-25 k including room/board. That is very important for me since we have three kids to send to college. I don't expect much financial aid so we will be on our own except for some merit money. My daughter wants a small school, not in the city. She does very well in school but is not very competitive. So this range of colleges is perfect for her. I recommend it even if you are looking at some of the more prestigious schools (some of those are in here too). The other great thing is that the description of each college is very lengthy, some are 4 pages long.

This book is very helpful. My granddaughter must be very cost conscious about where she attends college. This definitely helped her narrow her choices. It also made me aware that college costs in our state schools are much more than most other places. If you have several children to send to college, it could be a wise move to relocate! This book could help you make that kind of decision.

To be honest I want nothing to do with the SATs. But I know it's gotta be done.
But this book makes it easy to concentrate on studying.
I would recommend this to anyone who has a hard time focusing on studying.

This book really is what the title suggests. It gives you everything you need to know to prepare for the SATs, except the shortened version..which is equally as good as the full version. Plus, it's cheap!

This book should be on every university library shelf, just for starters. Written by a psychologist, who was also founder and former director of a joint two university doctoral program in Education, it is written in a warm, easy style and yet spells out in clear detail the unwritten rules of doctoral study. She states that her experience with hundreds of doctoral students as well as professors provided the inspiration for this valuable guide which is designed to help pave the way for doctoral students in any discipline. She makes explicit, in a knowing and straightforward way, the kinds of information that can make the difference in the feelings of confidence with which students can make their way through their doctoral experience. It deals with many of the 'nuts and bolts' of graduate study that many books present. However, it is her insightful knowledge about the role of personal relationships and how they effect student progression that puts the book in a special class.

This book includes more than technical assistance. It describes pursuit of a doctorate in the social sciences as an emotional journey. Most students fail, not for lack of intellectual ability, but for psychological reasons. This book describes relationships that help or hurt the student's quest. It is invaluable.

I received the books in great condition and in a reasonable time.

This is an excellent book for the Georgia Fan! I purchased one for a birthday gift, and ended up ordering another one for myself! The picures are clear and so exciting. A coffee table book lovers dream!

Interspersed with immigration tables, maps and personal vignettes, statistics models and modernist poetry, Between Two Nations is more than an exploration of immigration, marginality and political identity in the City; it approaches sociopolitical art. Capturing trial and tribulation, the melee of irrationality, self-interest and calculation in our polity, the faces and the thrum of humanity, one cannot help but wonder: who is Michael Jones-Correa?

Really lets us know how Latino immigrants think about citizenship, and how they act politically. Given the way that immigration is changing America, a must read.

Any reader who ever observed an institution become ridiculous, be it university, church, political party or office committee, will laugh out loud at Paul Levitt's humorous story about Bogus U. As a mafia gang member accidentally becomes president of a university and changes the policies for the better, we laugh (knowingly?) at the subterfuge involving a champion football team (if only...) and a question of tenure for an incompetent but potentially influential professor. We enjoy the intigue among administators--for power and sexual conquests. We laugh at parallels between University politics and the mafia. This book offers a bawdy, funny read about all of us who are compromised, all of us who ever served on a faculty or even a committee. It is a funny and scathing look at hypocrisies, rationalizations and absurdities. You are invited to read it--and smile.

To University of Colorado Professor Emeritus Peter Michelson's characterization of this work as 'a delightful romp through the sins of everyone's alma mater,' I wish to add that only insofar as the main institutional target of this trenchant satire is representative can it be thus generalized. The cover art, settings, and scathing indictments of the faculty and administration compel the conclusion that this work is a trenchant and effective satire on the university where its author has taught and serially chaired the English and Writing departments for the past 45 years or so, not counting sabbaticals -- namely, the Univerity of Colorado. During those years, the makeup of the student body has changed from two-thirds out-of-staters to at least 80% Colorado residents, but the nature of the school seems little changed from 1968, when it was featured as a playboy institution by the magazine of that name, which cited the Drama department's production of Shakespeare's Macbeth that featured totally nude witches. Graduating students invited to faculty parties are known to have commented on the lack of intellectual conversation. Anyone jogging at six in the morning is likely to see the adulterers returning home. Its passion but lightly disguised, this novel is a damning but highly readable and enjoyable indictment of American higher education as embodied in one thoroughly portrayed institution.

This book really helps in boosting you G.P.A.You don't really need to be in college or highschool to use it. The best thing about it is that it helps you learn without the "boring" stuff.

A straightforward and effective guide to studying and study skills that will save students time and get solid results. The best thing about this book, in addition to the way it is clearly and sensibly organized is that it really isn't a "quick and dirty" guide to better grades. It actually teaches deep values and habit changes that can help for life.

This was a wonderful book, its a wonder how Dr. Mays overcame all the things that was holding him back. This is one you should read.

Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays (1894-1984) was one of the most prominent educators, social reformists and civil rights and religious leaders of his time. This book magnificently captures a time in American history that is far too scarcely documented: the Post-Civil War segregation era, leading up to 1970. This book gives a very personal description of Dr. Mays's struggles for dignity, respect and integrity, while simultaneously touching upon the collective struggle of African-Americans. I recommend this book for anyone seeking a greater understanding of African-American and American history. Mr. Mays was a pioneer in social reform and civil rights, was the President of Morehouse College from 1940-67, was a mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and held the honor of being the "First" to hold several important and powerful positions in private and public organizations. He was a giant among men. I assure you that this is one of the best autobiographies that you will read.