Southern University System Books

Mr. Shelton's book looks beyond the technical aspects of good media production and provides thoughtful and practical guidance on how to plan, shape and organize media presentations that will surprise, charm, inform and influence audiences. His emphasis is on informational rather than narrative media. At a time when we tend to be bedazzled and distracted by the remarkable technology now within easy reach we need frequent reminding that the idea is everything and that all that follows must be designed to deliver that idea to our intended audience forcefully, memorably and persuasively. This book will show producers of documentary, sponsored and informational films and other motion-media (Mr. Shelton's term) exactly how to proceed. Particularly valuable are the many examples, format samples, check lists and illustrations he includes. The Communication Analysis Plan is the best and most complete I have seen. This book can teach and encourage informational filmmakers who of late tend to be over-shadowed by our Hollywood brothers/sisters. The fact is, however, our productions can be equally creative, well-crafted and moving if we remember that most of the work needs doing long before we pick up a camera as we ponder and analyze exactly what is to be done, for what audiences, in what way, with what result. Shelton's book will certainly help. I recommend it highly for those who want to become better and more efficient information media producers and as a text book.

Whether you're a motion media professional or a student of visual communications, this book is a "must read" for you. The author - drawing on some forty years of experience as a successful information motion-media professional - writes with clarity and authority about both the theory and practice of communicating ideas through film, video, and multi-media. Shelton argues persuasively that the main objective of all information motion media is to influence the thought and behavior of the target audience, and that all the resources - creative and technical - that a motion media specialist has at his or her disposal must be directed toward that end. But he cautions that creativity used for its own sake may result in failed communications and a waste of the client's money. Building on this theme, the author elucidates an array of time-tested principles that he strongly advocates should be applied in the design and production of effective motion media. Not to be missed is an appendix featuring some fascinating "quotable quotes" that the author has collected over the years (though perhaps some individuals might consider having been quoted a dubious honor). In sum, there is no better book available on this topic, and I recommend it without reservations.

I strongly recommend S. Martin Shelton's book to practitioners of any profession seeking to influence the actions or thoughts of others through the power of media, be it through the written word or the transmission of images. As a Foreign Service officer I should have had this book 30 years ago. Though the focus of his book is film and video, his explanation and exploration of the principles of the communication process has application in all facets of interpersonal dealings. To cite but one example, this is especially true in the field of advertising--print, video, or radio. Much too often, media fails to motivate audiences to do what the sponsor has in mind, from the prosaic act of choosing between competing brands of toothpaste to such altruistic goals as inculcating healthful life choices. Such failure, as clearly expounded by Mr. Shelton, is in large part attributable to a growing lack of understanding of the underlying tenants of the art of communications. For one, the seductive explosion of technology's rapidly expanding capabilities has led to a shift in focus from communicating a message to enthralling with pixel glitz. Incorporating Shelton's ideas garnered and developed over years of practical experience and a background rich in theoretical knowledge, will improve significantly what we see and hear in our daily lives-bringing clarity to much of the "noise" surrounding us. Kenneth Albright, US Foreign Service (Retired)

This book is the distillation and compilation of the knowledge Shelton has gained from many years of experience in tehse fields. It is well written and his comprehensive knowledge of the field is evident. He is sometimes acerbic but his advice is heartfelt and should be of great value to beginnners as well as professionals in these areas. His "FUNDAMENTAL VERITIES OF INFORMATION MOTION-MEDIA" will be of particular usefulness as it is pithy and to the point. The book could well be used as a text in a college-level course. I recommend it unreservedly.

Dr. E. V. Ruhnke, Sr., Professor Emeritus, Texas A&M University-Kingsville

Mr. Shelton's book on filmic communication is an important breakthrough in the understanding of how and why films work with audiences. For the first time in the many years I've been in the profession I've found a book that tells me how motion media works and how to make it work. With masterful insight he analyzes the very foundation of my profession-how to use film and video to motivate our audiences, how to get them involved. To anyone in our profession or to any aspiring students, Shelton's book may well be the key to your success.

The changes that have taken place in ordinary life - especially in medicine - from the middle of the 20th Century up to the present leave most Americans ignorant of what it was like to live in a time before antibiotice, anesthetics and even a good working knowledge of the human body. This little book brings home to anyone interested in life during the 19th century what it was like for both doctor and patient.

This is a book for specialized interests rather than a broad view of the period but that very fact insures that it provides details and ephemera that would ordinarily not be covered in more generalized works. I am very happy to add it to my library of the period.

Ecodevelopment on the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border area takes on social, political and cultural challenges - and David Hughes argues here that European colonization in Southern Africa has attempted to reshape the area into another Western entity, changing culture and politics in its efforts, which continue to modern day. Using a natural experiment in the region as an example, Hughes chronicles evolving politics in the region in an area where tourism firms were allowed to claim peasant farmlands: chapters delve into anthropology, development policy and cultural challenges in the course of exploring causes and effects.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Did you know Coco Chanel designed costumes for three films? Do you know the difference between a first, second, and third AD? Do you know what a key light is? Can you tell the difference between a Paramount film and an MGM film? This book addresses them all beautifully and entertainingly. It is immensely readable and is based on oral histories kept in the collections of SMU -- all the Hollywood greats are quoted extensively. The book is broken down into logical chapters (actors, costumes, music, the set, etc) and you'll have trouble putting it down. Good for any film buff's collection.

I use this excellent documentary source with success in a storytelling class I've taught periodically over the past 10 years. Jack tales are a rarified regional tradition as well as a type of folk hero tale with many connections to other North American and global oral traditions. Their geneology is here traced and illustrated by phonetic transcriptions of a number of performances by different generations of Jack tale tellers from the central Appalachians, each accompanied by an introductory essay. It's a useful case study of how a particular tale type entered the country and spread among a small localized and often related group of tellers, migrated into text form and then out again, and became in one sense the archtypal tale type of the American storytelling revival, thanks to the late Ray Hicks of Beech Mountain, who leads off the bunch and headlined the first decade or so of national festivals in Jonesborough, Tennessee.

Last fall after the festival I had the good fortune to visit my uncle's church in Banner Elk, at the foot of Beech Mountain, where I met a couple of Marshall Ward's former students, who remembered him telling Jack tales to assembled students every Friday after school.

Available elsewhere are audio versions of these Jack tales by at least some of the tellers included in this book: Ray Hicks, Marshall Ward, and Donald Davis.

Escott has written a well-research, scholarly study of how ordinary people in North Carolina, white and black, interacted with the political and social institutions of the day. This is an important social history worth the time of anyone interested in Southern history after the Civil War. Escott focuses in particular on five counties but his study is more broad-based than this indictes. He uses statistics but the human story predominates.

This is an wonderfully warm and funny book. Mr. Claiborne went from a childhood spent in the family kitchens in Sunflower, Mississippi to the most famous restaurants and meals in the world. In his role at the New York Times, he virtually created restaurant criticism in its modern form, nd his reviews still stand up. His power to make or break a restaurant with his reviews was at the time a wholly new phenomenon. 25+ years as the Food Editor of the New York Times, a lifelong friendship with Pierre Franey, the (in)famous episode of the world's most expensive meal won at auction, from start to finish this is a revelation, and a highly enjoyable one. Plus, as a bonus, you get the actual recipes that go with the stories.

When I bought this book I had no background in Law whatsoever. This book was excellent for me because it is very easy to understand and it provides the reader with examples so that on learns how to apply the concepts being taught. Keep in mind that this is a public health law book, but it provides one with the basic concepts and vocabulary one needs to understand it (make sure to read the preface and introduction first).

I did not have any problems getting this book on time and it was brand new, like promised.

Irish Love is a family story about the love and growth of Nuala Anne McGrail, Dermot Coyne and their children Nellie-Coyne and Micheal Dermod. It also uses Nuala's psychic abilities to investigate two "situations", one current and one from 1882. I, however, will only comment about two loving themes I especially enjoyed.

In this novel, Nuala and Dermot take an extended vacation in Ireland to immerse their children with the culture of their ancestors. Nuala has been experiencing post partum depression since the birth of their second child.
Dermot hopes that this vacation will help restore Nuala's spirits. Dermot's willing attempts to understand and relate to Nuala's struggle are inspiring. He is aware that he does not really understand. Often he is a bit frustrated by her behavior. But Dermot simply continues to show patience and tolerance. He clearly communicates his love for her.

In the historical sub plot, Ned Fitzpatrick's diary reveals that he falls in love with Nora Joyce the wife of Irish folk hero Miles Joyce. Ned's love leads him to seek to protect Nora and her baby when Miles is accused of involvement in the Maamtrasna murders. They are very poor and sick. Ned secretly arranges for her medical needs and supports her financially. He helps Nora heal physically and emotionally. Ned's selfless love and patience are impressive.

The descriptions of the Irish countryside are vivid and inviting.
The love stories of both Dermot and Ned are refreshing tales of unconditional love. I recommend the book.

A bit to formula for my taste, no big surprises. Certainly not the best of the Nuala Anne McGrail series. Beach reading but doesn't hold your attention.

I have loved every other Nuala Anne McGrail novel that Andrew M. Greeley has written, so it was somewhat of a disappointment to me that I did not love this book as much. Although I enjoyed it to a degree, I felt myself predicting future events and had nearly figured out the entire plot by halfway through. After I read the author's note at the end where he explains his formula, I realized the problem. The Nuala Anne McGrail books have become too obviously formulaic, and it's making otherwise delightful characters go just a little bit stale. Nevertheless, if you're looking for a quick read, you might want to try this one. Just don't expect anything terribly different from the others.

Andrew Greeley has lost his sense of identity as a priest, otherwise he would not have published something so close to romance (code word for print-a-porn). As an alledged catholic, he is a heretic (at least in that novel). As for the rest of the book, it is a lot of sentimentalistic Irish-American superstition and drivel; taking place in an Ireland which the real Irish cannot recognize. terribly dissapointing!

Nuala Anne is suffering from post natal depression and in keeping with her character she has a pretty severe case. She gives up singing and doubts herself in everything. Her doctor prescribes Prozac and a trip home. Of course, they can't have a quiet trip. Fiona the wolfhound is pregnant, and the TD next doot has his house blown up. More disturbing, while on a walk through some ruins nearby, both Nuala Anne and Nelliecoyne see a scene of murder from the distant past. Apparently, a man was wrongfully accused of the murders and hanged for the crime. The local priest, Jack Lane, finds part of a journal, written by an American reporter who was there at the time, that tells the whole story as it happened. Nuala, Jack Lane, and Dermot have to find the rest of the journal and the fate of the murdered man's family.

This is pretty typical of the series. Nuala has a crisis of some kind, she finds a mystery in the past, she solves the mystery and her problems at the same time. Each one of the mysteries, however is very well done, with just a little bit of Irish history thrown in.