Washington University Books

This is a large, beautifully-done publication. It is loaded with very high-quality pictures of some wonderful examples of Pacific Northwest Coast artwork, especially masks. It is done is a style similar to museum "catalogs," with each picture having information about the item pictured.

I would say that roughly 75% of the items pictured in this book are masks, with the remainder being pictures of carved bowls, woven hats, small carved figures, etc. There are a couple of pictures of a decorated shirt and some boxes.

If you're looking for books that cover Pacific Northwest Coast native artwork in more general terms, or how to do it, or about totem poles, then there are better books.

If, however, you want a high-production-values book loaded with very high-quality pictures of some outstanding examples of Pacific Northwest Coast artwork, especially masks, then this is a fabulous book and you should not hesitate to buy it.

Great book for anyone interested in basket making. Covers all facets of Haida and Tlingit spruce root baskets, including their origins, uses, how they are made and even their care and appreciation of them. Numerous excellent pictures and illustrations compliment the text.

Spy Satellites and Other Intelligence Technologies That Changed History
Back in the deepest depths of the Cold War and the "bomber gap", and the infamous "missile gap", President Eisenhower proposed to to the Soviet Union after the death of Stalin the "open skies". But since the US is an open society it was easy for USSR attaches and agents to procure all the maps and guides, they wanted, while in the Soviet Union, in which its own citizens are subject to internal passport control of their movements, all foreigners were constantly tailed and subjected to movement restriction.
Afte his proposal was summarily rejected by the paranoid Soviet leaders, Eisenhower authorized the construction of the U2 by the famous "Skunk Works" (c.f.)for the CIA. As a military commander he had made much good use of "all source" materials including the highest security ULTRA sigint. (The Bulge offensive had surprised everyone because the Germans used landlines for communication and the bad weather prevented recon aircraft from flying missions.)
During the early 50s,there were peripheral flights for sigint and some brief penetration missions from the Baltic and weather and atmospheric sampling in the Far East which revealed the soviet atomic bomb tests.
The U2 was successful but when Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union and survived, the world knew the truth. Though the U2 never overflew the USSR again it had a long and useful career, participating in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The principal agency for foreign mapping in 1963 for US forces was the Army Map Service, a sub-command of the Army Corps of Engineers. A late sixties issue of the National Geographic magazine discussed the Engineer's Discoverer program in detail. This eventually was absorbed into the "Deep Black" (c.f.) program and nothing more was heard of it until the existence of the National Reconnaissance Office and the Corona program were revealed in the 1970s. All that photo based material has long since lost any military value especially the Soviet Union collapsed.
Today after the end of the Cold War, the space programs at Tyuratam, now in Kazakhistan, were opened to the market place, and vast stocks of once classified maps and charts and the imagery as well have been available for many years now on the open market.
Ike though, bided his time, even though the German expatriate group headed by Wernher von Braun (c.f) could have launched a satelite earlier the US Navy program, untainted by any historical allegations, sat poised to launch. Kruschev made the first move and since the Sputnik was an orbital vehicle which passed over most of the globe in each day, Ike now saw the way clear to openly begin launches, and did not protest but stated the obvious, that the free passage of Sputnik was an acceptable fait de accompli.
As it was the first Soviet space vehicles were litle more than stunts, useful pay loads and heavy lifts of reconnaissance and sigint sensors were lacking. Instead one carried an unfortunate monkey who died before he could be retrieved. So with the launch Kruschev had outfoxed himself.
Other nations have since entered the imagery and sensor market, notably France and India (c.f.)Though geographers refer to all this material as remote sensing the public still thinks in terms of spying.
Where the term "Green Door" comes in, is when I first came to work at the Army Map Service in 1963, there were two parts to the building complex where the analysis was done; the "open side" which was open to tours and visitors and was publicized in a routine matter. This work required only a secret clearance for most as most of the analysts (area specialists) were DPs from the WWII era and many had relatives in the soviet controlled portion of Europe and we had a few ex Nationalist Chinese as well.
The Green Door was a Top Secret facility with special accesses needed. At first, the clearances were so severe, that even those with Canadian and other Commonwealth origin spouses were summarily refused just because of the expense involved in investigating them.
One day I came to work and in the lobby was a model of the new building. Coming back it was no longer to be seen. In any case, the whole building was a photographic processing facility where the raw imagery from the U2 and then Corona was processed. It is no longer used for that at all. There in the basement was the famous "slab" a vibration and motion dampened chamber where stellar navigation techniques were used to locate the images' exact geographic position after the film had been processed, the entire upper story was labled on the elevator PH which I thought for many a year meant penthouse, on the other hand it contained huge vats of photographic chemicals for mass processing of the imagery to distribution to our and other agencies.
the whole first floor and basement were clean rooms with the occupants wearing whites and the floors and walls tiled with rounded corners so to facilitate mopping. Remember the sensivitivy of the slab could be thrown off by miles by a spec of dust or soot. The building even had its own generators and central vacuum system. Plus a positive air pressure refrigeration air conditioning and no windows.
The entry the green door at first required one to conceal one's AMS ID an wear a seperate one. By the mid 70s many of the foreign born analysts had retired and it was it was demed time to extend the clearances to all who could be within reason, issue one badge with color coded access flashes, and eliminate the polygraph( A poor system, only the un-guilty get nervous. A pro can suppress thir reactions.)
So a glimpse into the past and fifty years on new innovation in digital remore sensing still to come.

This book is very well put together. If you like Spencer you will refer to it constantly above all other works about him (except a full length biography). There's a lot of writing about his life, and there are many, many color plates of his paintings that provide real depth of viewing what this person was about. All of this is in a pleasing font and design. The best art book I've ever seen.

I RECENTLY READED: THE STAR CREEK PAPERS AND WAS NOT SURPRISE OF THINGS THAT WENT ON BACK IN THE DAY, FROM READING HISTORY, I'M 47 YEARS YOUNG AND ALSO THE GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER OF ISOM WILSON, MY FATHER MOTHER WAS OPHELIA WILSON, ONE OF ISOM DAUGHTER, I STAY WITH HER FAR ABOUT TEN YEARS AND SHE WAS A STRONG BLACK WOMAN, THAT I LOVED AND I WISH THAT SHE WAS STILL HERE IN MY LIFE, I OFTEN WONDER OF HER. BUT WHO GIVE PEOPLE THE RIGHT TO DO SUCH THINGS TO OTHERS, THERE IS ONLY ONE MAN THAT JUDGES ONES PATH.I RATE THIS BOOK A 10 AND SHOULD BE IN SCHOOLS ACROSS THE USA, BECAUSE THIS IS WHERE HATE START. SANDRA MANNING BOLTON

The reflections of Paul John reflect a life well lived in the spirit of the traditional life of the past. Paul's words have value to everyone especially to those living in the constantly changing modern world. I have heard Paul orate in Yupik, and while my Yupik is limited, his speaking style commands the attention of all who hear him. His daughter Theresa translate for him. Five of Paul's children have University degrees and several including Theresa have master degrees. The child rearing methods of he and his wife are very successful and they are admired my all of their peers. He is my wife's relative and his language skills left a lasting impression on her. He helped to understand that it was possible to live in the modern world and still remain a Yupik. She discovered that she had goals and that alcohol was blocking those goals. The gentle words of Paul John and other elders helped her to understand that being Yupik was not a barrier but a bridge. Taking this in mind she achieved a BA om psychology and teacher herself how to write in both English and Yupik. She would use these skills until crippled by Brain Cancer to bring successful communication between Yupik patients and their doctors. The work of Marie Meade and Ann Fienup-Riordan to keep his words alive in Yupik and English will have profound effect on young people many genertions into the future. He is a living example of how the elders of a traditional generation can transmit a successful belief structure from his generation all those that follow. Our family share his beliefs and Paul's words show us the direction which we most move to survive in the 21st century. Thank you Paul. Richard E. Wisecarver

This collection of 40 stories, as translated into English, is based on a famous two-volume Chinese publication. KU CHIN CHI KUAN - the Chinese title, meaning Startling Stories Old and New. The entire collection was compiled and edited by Master Feng Meng Long during the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644). The stories reflected on the Chinese society at the grassroots' level in which the people would often hear them being told and retold at the teahouses and wayside gatherings in the summer evenings by their favourite storytellers. And Feng Meng Long gathered and edited them and then had them published which were being preserved to this day. The English translation had been attempted in the past years first by the Foreign Language Press at Beijing under The Courtesan's Jewel Box with about 20 selection out of the original 40 stories. Another attempt was rendered by Cyril Birch under the title of Stories From A Ming Collection - The Art of the Chines Storyteller. However, he only attempted to select a mere selection of only 8 stories. The present collection is the combined efforts of both Yunqin Yang (freelance interpeter at the United Nations) and Prof. Shuhui Yang of Washington University in St. Louis to which they faithfully translated the entire 40 stories from Chinese to English.
Their translation is very readable, concise and expertly done. The stories in this amazing collection are populated with scholars and courteans, spirits and ghosts, Buddhist monks and nuns, Eastern pirates (or the Japanese Wokous) and emperors and officials who were both virtuous and corrupt. This superb English translation is unabridged and with also a selection of woodcut drawings from the original Ming Dynasty collection. Let's hope that this collection would soon be restocked and made available to customers of Amazon.com. Highly recommended and extremely interesting collection of ancient Chinese short stories...worthy to read and grace your library collection. Thank you.

Jason Wordie is already well-known to people interested in the history of Hong Kong. His book Streets: Exploring Hong Kong Island is the only cultural and historical guidebook to the city available in English. It is leagues ahead of any of the glib mass-produced travel books for the trendy rich or the parsimonious backpacker. Mr. Wordie brings to life the overlooked stories of Hong Kong island that can be found on every street corner. He writes with a passion for the city's history that simply cannot be found elsewhere. I highly recommend the book and eagerly look forward to the publication of his guide book for Kowloon.

In his book, Calvin Goldscheider does an excellent job of exploring the central issues associated with studying the Jewish future. Goldschider acknowledges standard concerns (such as intermarriage and the fading Jewish majority in Israel) and uses extremely compelling, yet easy to follow, arguments to reevaluate their actual importance. Goldscheider's methods are both diverse and interesting: he expertly combines general discussions with individual biographies. This book may have been written by a demographer, but it can be read by anyone.

Susan Bennerstrom's work is deceptively simple and pleasing, but as you peel away the gorgeous colors and ubiquitous lines, you'll find a rich, complex emotional life. Could it be that Ms.Bennerstrom has wrapped her glorious vision of the world in seductive shapes and colors so that we'll come inside and experience it with her?

This book is just as inviting as Bennerstrom's paintings and contains rare insight into her work. For example, I would not have guessed at Bennerstrom's influences--Italian painters of the 20's and 30's. The writers of this book have made me curious them, too.

It is rare to be given a perspective on a painter who is in the midst of producing her best work. Hopefully, there will be future editions of this book that will keep up updated on Ms. Bennerstrom's world view.