Washington University Books

A tremendous amount of study involved; Beal received help from National Park services, College officials, archivists, and historical societies. There is an extensive bibliography for further study. Keep a dictionary close. Through eye witness reports we observe the details of the battles, the strategies used, the men who fought, the traversing of the land, the heartache, the despair, and the sadness. Descriptions of the chiefs and officers are also detailed. Misconceptions will be laid to rest.

Joseph was considered the leader of the Nez Perce, but there were many chiefs. It is not till towards the end of the book where we hear most of his words. He was a man of great wisdom; a diplomat, and a man of faith. He blames his men and the white man for the war; he tried to avoid it. "Hear me, my chiefs, I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."

The officers were amazed by the outstanding leadership, the resiliency and the exceptional fighting ability of the Nez Perce. By miscellaneous observers we understand their way of life: they were prosperous, welcoming, good natured, thoughtful, and forgiving; comparably more than other tribes. We get a good description of their physical appearance, early history, character, and home land.

The war began because of Indian retaliation against local minors. The military had difficulties tracking the bands down. The Nez Perce fought well and were able to allude the military throughout the northwest. The battle of the "Big Hole": some say one of the most bitterly fought in the annals of warfare. Indian Woman and children were killed, but some woman engaged in the fight. The story ends of course with their eventual surrender, for the purpose of saving his (Joseph) people. We follow their journey by land and river too the reservation (see "Trail Of Tears"). How they survived so weakened is a true testament to the will to survive. Some honored the treaty some did not. When will white man learn tell truth.

The white man has been called wicked for his actions, but this may not be justified. Settlers were quite sincere to treaty terms. Indians lacked unity, some committed murders and there was fighting between tribes. Although there were atrocities committed on both sides, there were few. It was destined to happen, although sad the way it went down.

Wish you well
Scott

This book is gut-wrenching and difficult to read at times. It is packed with so much emotion. The book also helped me in understanding more about the Indian Wars and how they were fought on the Western Frontier. Good Book!

I Will Fight No More Forever is an excellent telling of the Nez Perce and their flight to escape destruction. The story shows the real maening of the Indian wars,and the real people behind the legends. A must-read for anyone interested in American history.

Written in a vivid way which allows you to follow the flight of the Nez Perce as they struggled to survive, Mr. Beal keeps you reading until the heartbreaking end. This story of how a people were forced into battle, chased by the army and eventually shipped away, shows the errors of our past and adds perspective to the present. Mr. Beal's writing not only presents history, but helps to identify a culture that america tried to destroy within our own boundaries. A must read for anyone interested in the history of the American West.

a good history of the nez pierce
this work could have been stronger if the author would had defined the nez pierce relationships with the other indian tribes better and whether or not the nez pierce became indian scouts themselves.

this is a remarkable book--it is a must for anyone curious about the architecture of our nation's capitol (and even the briefest walk around town will make one curious). the selections are interesting and very well written; the reviews are largely objective and that was a relief. one major flaw in this book is the lack of good or appropriate photography to support the descriptions--i found myself confused when reading descriptions of buildings i wasn't standing right in front of and trying to decipher what i was supposed to see in the photo provided. for such an exceptional architectural guide, the author should really consider splurging on better and more descriptive photos! i thought setting up the guide along suggested walking routes was helpful as well.

one more thing--why no comment or information on that odd and misplaced structure stuck on to the side of the washington monument?

Of course, Washington DC is known for immense neo-classicism, designed by the country's (and the world's) most important Beaux-Arts architects. This guide does a nice job of presenting the impressive array of neo-classical structures to the reader. The book is really quite good. The essays are well written, for the most part. Editorializing is kept to a minimum, which is nice considering the stark emotions Washington DC is able to inspire. The building selection is also good, with a nice balance between neo-classicism and modernism. I wish the authors had spent a little less time on the neo-classical theme and fleshed out federal Georgetown more. An excursion to Alexandria would have been nice too. I know, you can't have it all.

Most of the photography is off-the-shelf and is characteristically mundane, though practical.

I have the previous guide, which was good, but not as good as many of these AIA guides, but alas this one is a real improvement. The images are better and the guide itself is of better quality, frankly Washington should have a great AIA guide, the city of full of intesting buildings. This guide is still not up there with the AIA guide to Houston or the one for Detroit, but it's better and i do recommend it if you have any interest in the architecture of the nations capitol.

This guide is a tremendous improvement. The attention to detail is impressive, the guide is timely and VERY informative. I particularly liked the images with each entry. A basic concept and a welcome addition to this edition.

This guide is a must for MD/DC/VA natives, particularly to share with visitors so they can customize their own walking tours.

A confession: I'm not a big architecture afficionado and had never heard of the AIA or its guides before my in-laws gave me this book, but I do live in Washington and am always looking for new sources of info about the city. This is a great overall guide to DC, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone ranging from locals to tourists.

Why? This book is great for three main reasons.

First, it's a great source of history about the big picture of DC and its most prominent areas as well as the nooks and crannies of the city. At the same time, that history isn't presented in an overwhelming way that makes the reader feel as if s/he is preparing for a high school history test. And even the minutiae that it contains are really pretty interesting, partly due to the high quality of the writing (more on this below.)

Second, it does a great job of organizing the city and guiding the reader through the different areas. All guide books break down the city into areas to some extent, but I often wonder if the writers have actually spent much time in DC. One can always quibble about where certain neighborhoods begin and end, but this book is far better than most and gives a good feel for what the actual areas are really like and how they got that way.

Finally, it's a great source of architectural info about tons of buildings throughout the city. Although I live here, it turns out that I've often walked past many notable buildings without a second glance. Now, not all of these buildings are notable for their strengths (which is one of the fun features of the book - it includes some dogs along with the highlights), but what I've found having read through much of this book is that I now notice some of the more subtle features of the buildings that the book points out.

Best of all, the book is eminently readable, so much so that I have actually used it as bedtime reading to get some entertaining history and insight into my neighborhood - what other guidebook have you done that with? And many of the descriptions are really fun (e.g. the Kennedy Center is what would happen if a "Las Vegas developer were to open a casino under the theme of 'Palace of the Soviets'" since it exhibits a "hefty dose of Stalinist bombast") or at least interesting (e.g. the Eccles Building of the Federal Reserve is "uncomfortably reminiscent of the...work of Albert Speer.")

Now, the book isn't an ideal guidebook since it naturally doesn't include (many) hotels, restaurants or detailed descriptions of the contents of, for example, the National Gallery. But for the first, you only need one rather than a long list, so find it online and skip the rest (assuming you're a tourist since locals don't need that info at all - unless you need someplace to put up your in-laws.) For the second, use Fodor's CityGuide Washington. The last is best available at a place like the National Gallery itself.

Get the Fodor's CityGuide and this book, and you've got a ton of things to explore whether you live here or are just visiting. For visitors, that combination would be more interesting, informative and entertaining than almost any other guidebook on the market for DC (and this book would be great reading if you've got a long trip to DC from, for example, the west coast or Europe.)

This impressive volume has much to recommend it; well written the very readable text is both illuminating and interesting and the high quality reproduction of the paintings is a delight. The author divides the text into four sections: Prelude, to 1886; Rising Perceptions 1886-1893; The Years of Truth 1893-1898; and The Impressionist Establishment 1889-1915.
It concludes with an extensive general and artist specific bibliography.

The illustrations run with the text, and as is often the cases in such publications the text and the illustration to which it refers rarely appear on the same page. A large number, but by no means all, of the images are reproduced in colour; and they vary in size from little more than thumb-nail to the impressive full page. In some cases the photography is superb, and the reproduction vividly conveys the richness of the original along with the brush work and texture of the paint, but the standard here is not consistent and some reproductions appear flat by comparison, and the black and white images are not inspiring. It is a well laid out book with good typography, and it certainly has a feel of quality.

American Impressionism is a fine most valuable volume, but put alongside the recently revised Soviet Impressionist Painting by Vern G Swanson, ISBN 0789207370, the quality and consistency of the reproductions is shown to be lacking.

All too often when we think of "The Impressionists," or "Impressionism," we immediately think of the French Impressionists, awesome as they are, and perhaps simply leave it at that. Yet what about the American Impressionists? Hold onto your hats, folks! I am here to tell you about a group of artists as every bit as awesome as their fellow French artists, and they are all lavishly presented in this huge, incredible book. If you have a passion for art in general, or for Impressionism, and history too, you will cherish this book. There are over 400 paintings beautifully reproduced within the pages by 125 artists, along with the very fascinating text Dr. Gerdts has written about them all. Don't think this book can only be grasped by art scholars and is for them. The well written text is easy to grasp, and certainly will be enjoyed. The book begins by focusing on painting as it was in the mid-1800's, the very roots of Impressionism. Now then, for those who have never really thought about exactly WHAT Impressionism is, the name comes from a painting exhibited by Claude Monet in 1874, entitled "Impression Sunrise," and the rest is history, however, the meaning has to do with the play of light upon a scene at that VERY moment, while the artist is painting it. In Monet's own words: "a spontaneous work rather than a calculated one." Anyway, Dr. Gerdts then presents the relationship between the American and French Impressionists, and gives wonderful anecdotes about the American artists' adventures as they flocked to Giverny to study with Monet. From here, we learn how the critics attacked the artists here, as they did the French artists abroad. But they soon triumphed during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. From there, we follow their progress, until eventually, Impressionism was replaced by Cubism and Surrealism. Some of the most well known American Impressionists are Childe Hassam, J. Alden Weir, Philip Hale, John Twachtman, Willard Metcalf, Edmund Tarbell, William Merritt Chase, and Frank Benson, to name a few. The book focuses upon more though, oh, so much more. This is a splendid book, and well worth having. I highly recommend "American Impressionism."

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts has some of the best works of American Impressionism. The Americans are, I think, underappreciated compared to the more popular French artists like Monet, Manet and Degas. (Well, except for John Singer Sargent, I guess. He's well-known and his work Madame X is the subject of novels.) But if you aren't familiar with the Americans, this little book is packed with information on ten artists included my favorite, Childe Hassam and also Twachtman, Frieske, Tarbell, and others. The writing is informative for so short a work, and this slips nicely into a bag or briefcase for that trip to the museum.

Whether you're a collector of miniature books or not, this 4" by 4" palm-size volume is both unique and fun. It's well constructed and offers a wealth of pictorial pleasures that can be appreciated again and again.

Beginning with a prelude to Impressionism in our country in 1886, American Impressionism charts a vivid history of that genre with wonderful reproductions of works by Edmund Tarbell, Childe Hassam, Frank Benson and others.

The text by Dr. William H. Gerdts offers a well balanced chronological study of the movement.

This large volume may have the broadest coverage of the American impressionists of any book in print. So, if this topic interests you, I would heartily recommend this book. Gerdts attempts the ambitious job of presenting works, many in color, of hundreds of artists. He covers the major American impressionists pretty thoroughly. Cassatt, Robinson, Metcalf, Hassam, Bunker, Sargent, Twachtman, Chase, Weir, etc. are described in reasonable depth and the examples selected to illustrate their bodies of work are well chosen. Second and third tier artists, however, are usually covered in a very cursory fashion and with greater variability in the quality of the works selected for illustration. J. J. Enneking, for example, gets a few sentences of text and, although there are reproductions of two of his paintings, the one titled "The Brook, North Newry, Maine" could hardly be considered one of his best works. On the other hand, several very mediochre artists are covered too thoroughly. Some fairly significant artists, like Charles Hawthorne are left out entirely. In summary, I do like the book and I am glad to own it, but for all but the most famous twenty or so artists in the book, it can not be relied upon for significant information or for depicting the best examples of their work.

This book was a required text for a film class I took. It is good and interesting, but not very long--I read the whole thing in one sitting. A good choice for those interested in critiquing films.

It may not be the definitive guide to movies and/or reviews but this readable book is fun! Any movie buff will relish the opportunity to check his/her own favorites against the authors; to bemoan the absence of a personal favorite; or cheer the mention of a forgotten oldie. A good addition to our shelves so thumbs up (pardon the reference to other critics)

I've been doing a lot of reading about film in the last year and I have to say that Glatzer's guide was not as helpful as the other books I've read. When I compare Glatzer's guide to Jim Piper's guide, "Get the Picture?: The Movie Lover's Guide to Watching to Films," I fnd that while Glatzer may be a good movie critic, he, unlike Piper, is not a very good teacher of the subject.

Much of Glatzer reads like moive review of films instead of a guide for reading films critically. His first few chapters provide some basic insight on the differences between movies and theatre productions and the role of the camera in flims, but the rest of book is not as helpful as it could be.

The chapter on laughter in film, for example, is not useful. He tries to explain humor by focusing on the work of Buster Keaton, but many of us contemporary film goers might not find Keaton all that funny. The same goes for his chapters on musicals, foriegn films, and movie credits--each of them are not very helpful for understanding contemporary films.

Perhaps it's his last chapters that save this book. Glatzer provides a list of "must see films" and a list of guide questions you should ask yourself about a movie. I wish Glatzer had used those questions to develop his guide.

Finally, I was also disappointed that neither Glatzer or Piper provide a multicultural examination of films. There are so many films by directors of color that don't get examined in either of the guides. The contributions of Spike Lee, Wayne Wang, Charles Burnett, John Singleton, Melvin Van Peeples, Julie Dash, and Camille Billops (documentary film maker), should have been include in their guide.

I guess if you're coming from more of classical film tradition, Glatzer guide might be helpful, but if you're looking for guide to more contemporary, as well as classic and foreign films, check out Piper's book.

Mr. Glatzer has a wonderful readable style which reminds me of his popular NPR movie reviews. No, I don't agree with all his conclusions --I happen to think THE ENGLISH PATIENT is a virtuoso film --but it is a treat to imagine arguing film with this gentleman. If every non-fiction author had his easy-going and intelligent style, I might be tempted to supplement my fiction diet with a few books the likes of BEYOND POPCORN. It is a triumph.

This book was just what I needed. I love to watch movies, and I know what I like, but I never really knew why I liked them. It is the perfect book for someone like me who has never studied film but would like to know more.

It covers how movies are made, the roles of all the folks involved, and what separates good writing, directing, or acting from the bad.

Also his "all time best" lists, agree or disagree, are fun to discuss.

Finally, it is written in a fun, fast-paced style.

Enjoy.

Thank you, Jim Kershner, for writing down the life of Carl Maxey while some of us who remember him are still around. This book is a nostalgic read for old liberals like me who knew and loved him during the Civil Rights and Anti-War movements of the sixties and seventies. It is the story of a man of the highest principles. Young people have too few heroes like Carl to serve as inspiration. He overcame incredible odds as a child and spent his life working to protect the weakest and most vulnerable among us.
Much more could be written about Maxey. Kershner has only tapped the surface as far as interviewing the people who knew Carl Maxey, but I am grateful that he has provided this written account of a remarkable life. It is an important and accurate glimpse into an important time in our nation's history.

If this review were about the man in the story, it would be five stars. Mr. Maxey did more from nowhere than any other person to fight social injustice. The book, however, is flawed because it saves Mr. Maxey's famous temper until later in the book, making it sound like Mr. Maxey was a calm person until later in his career.

Mr. Maxey's death points out that social injustice and degradation can haunt a very significantly successful person, even to the end of their life. His death should be a reminder to all of us that hateful words inflict pain for a lifetime.

Carl Maxey: A Fighting Life (V Ethel Willis White Books)

Carl Maxey grew up as an essential orphan. He was at one point kicked out of an orphanage for being black. Despite his Dickensian upbringing, Maxey went on to graduate from the Gonzaga Law School and become Eastern Washington's first black lawyer. In his second to last year in school, he was also the national NCAA boxing champion. This man single-handedly integrated much of Spokane and is one of the most dynamic, interesting figures of Washington state.

Even if Carl Maxey had not become a local hero, Jim Kershner's book would still be worth reading. Kershner shows, through Maxey's example, that one person can make a difference. Sadly, it seems Maxey was his own worst critic--he believed that he had not done enough.

Jim Kershner has used his considerable skills as a reporter to write a fascinating biography of Carl Maxey, one of the most charismatic personalities to come out of Washington State and Spokane. But the book should be of interest to readers well beyond the borders of the state of Washington. I would be very surprised if a copy of this book does not end up in many personal libraries and just about every law office in Washington State if not the entire nation. It reads much like a front-page story that just keeps getting more and more absorbing as the text continues on for almost 250 pages.

Carl Maxey, having been born to an unwed mother, and having been placed in an orphanage in Spokane eventually worked his way up to becoming a competitive athlete, a national collegiate boxing champion, a college graduate, and the first black lawyer in Spokane. His practice led him to appear in some of the most high-profile murder, anti-Vietnam War, and civil rights cases in Washington state. In 1970 he challenged Henry "Scoop" Jackson for the Democratic Party nomination for the U.S. Senate. In 1976 he was on the Washington State ballot for president as Senator Eugene McCarthy's stand in vice presidential candidate. He remained a fighter for civil rights and social justice until his death in 1997.

Kershner, in doing research for the book, utilized numerous newspaper sources, library records, personal papers and interviews with thirty Maxey family members and people who worked with him. Still, because he was so well known and came into contact with so many people, there are undoubtedly hundreds of people in Spokane and elsewhere who, when they read the book, feel, "Oh man, I wish Kershner had interviewed me I would have told him about ..."

Having read several books about Chaos Theory, and having been promised a user-friendly and yet academic book on the subject, this book fell a little short. Certainly academic, not so easy for someone who does not have a solid background in the sciences and mathematics fields. The various sections cover much of the recent research, and if you can get past the equations, you get a more complete sense of the progression in the subject.

Lorenz has done it again. This is a terrific inside look at chaos by the man who made Gleick's book possible. And it had a few interesting new ideas too--who would have thought there was a different way to present fourth-order Runge-Kutta? Who would have thought Runge-Kutta could convert a phase-space circle to a nice-looking fractal attractor? A good book for the air plane.

Lorenz did a great job when he wrote this book!
The very first time when I heard of chaos theory was year ago while watching some old documentary about Nostadamus. In film was mentioned chaos theory and said that acceptance of it by many people could change whole look to life and so on. Movie left to me questions - what is that theory, what it's standing for.
Finaly my interest lead me to this book and it clearly showed me what kind of staff is that chaos theory! That was and is really intriguing!
Book is well written. There was of course some places that wasn't easy to understand. I myself have studied high math,encountered differential equations but anyway had some difficulties. That's why not 5 stars to book - it's really not for absolutely everyone although almost close to it. I couldn't stop it reading, I was done in two days.
This book encouraged me for further reading.

Edward Lorenz takes a complicated topic and makes it accessible for all people, regardless of prior knowledge of chaos theory. He provides interesting and easy to follow examples of chaos, fractals and complexity. The illustrations are helpful and he includes a glossary of terms to aid the beginning chaos enthusiasts to quickly become familiar with the terminology. Mr. Lorenz gives a brief history of chaos and explains how it is used in the study of mathematics, meteorology, economics, music, and other fields. The book is very interesting and is highly recommended for those who would like to acquaint themselves with the exciting world of chaos.

My first intro to chaos was Gleick's book *Chaos: Making a New Science* which focused on the history of the discovery of chaos. Although this was fascinating - and a good read for those just learning about dynamical systems, strange attractors, and the like - Lorenz's *Essence of Chaos* was much more satisfying. Lorenz analyzes specific chaotic functions, gives you the math (equations are in the appendix) and generally accomplishes what the title suggests - that is, exploring the essence of chaos. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in this deeply fascinating subject.

The Booknotes discussion some years ago was unforgettable. Later, after reading the book, I found the author's focus on details of segregated Washington in the 1930's... (Black v. White) (Employer v. Employee) (Rich v. Broke)... to be a powerful lens, useful for looking at today's urban messiness. DC back then was a disturbing mix of bizarre skin-color rules, hatreds, affections and above all: -intimacies.
The boss (US Supreme Court Justice McReynolds) employs 'servants' & he takes the job description VERY seriously. A well-off guy from Jim Crow Kentucky is shown to have gruesome personal limitations. After all, HE DECIDES to what extent this is a Republic "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal..."
What is the measure of a man who poisons nearly ALL interactions with his peers at work and with those of his own household? What indeed. This a great book, from the tragic, desolate pen of Mr. Knox.

This book is a delight to read, and throws light on the Supreme Court in the momentous court year of 1936-37 when the Court was saved by Justice Roberts breaking away from the conservative wing of the Court and upholding New Deal laws which, if they had been held unconstitutional, might well have resulted in changes to the Supreme Court such as FDR had requested. The account by John Knox of how he came to be Justice McReynolds' law clerk and the odd life had to lead as such clerk is of much interest. I have seldom read a memoir of greater interest than is this one. Knox himself is a most unusual person, having a effrontery which amazes one looking at it from the viewpoint of history. The book is magnificently edited, with citations which enable one in this computer age to look up the cases mentioned and live the time with Knox. Knox's subsequent career is also of interest, and poignant. This book is a winner, and anyone interested in Supreme Court history will find reading this book extremely rewarding

This book is a gem for anyone interested in the Supreme Court or in this era in particular. It is unlike anything else I have read about the Justices who were part of the Constitutional Revolution of 1937. John Knox's memoir provides a glimpse of people rather than historical figures, and that glimpse explains a lot. His style is conversational and easy to read. And the book is hard to put down.

From the dying days of Russia's Tsarist courts in which the young Kafka sharpened his perception of the absurd, here, similarly is the prophetic voice of a clerk in the blossoming federal judiciary.

Watch carefully over the next decade or so for a similar glimpse behind the curtain of our Oz-esque federal judiciary. The federal bench is a well hidden bastion of intellectual dishonesty and privelege. Coming works of this nature will owe Knox a certain debt. You will read them with a sharper eye for having shared a year with Knox.

After a clerkship ghostwriting for a fat/lazy/corrupt federal district court judge as a "law clerk", this account helped me understand my own mis-steps once I escaped to the saner world of rural criminal defense work.

Our federal courts especially remain a bastion of royalist arrogance. Knox's glimpse should be treasured by anyone encountering the federal courts whether as barrister, litigant or citizen. He speaks a timeless truth against which we are not well armed.

If you're the ultimate policy wonk on 2nd Amendment law, you'll want to read this book just for John Knox's insights into the character of Justice McReynolds who wrote the decision in U.S. v. Miller, 1939. Unfortunately, Knox was no longer clerking for McReynolds in 1939, so we miss the inside story on that landmark decision, but after you've read this book you'll better understand why Miller makes so little sense.

A wonderful book on a fascinating subject. Russian architecture is so varied, I really had no idea and this book is exhaustingly thorough. I especially enjoyed the section on Imperial Russian Architecture and the later Soviet Architecture. It is obvious how Speer influenced Soviet architecture, his Third Reich Berlin may have never been realized, but his spirit it is alive and well in Soviet buildings. If you have any interest in Russia or architecture or just well researched, scholarly books, then i cant imagine you being disappointed.

Russian architecture is not well known to Western readers. Prof. Brumfield is a prolific and systematical writer about Russian architecture. Reviewing book is the best modern book in English about a history of Russian architecture. The book covers whole periods of a long history of the glorious Russian architecture. Author have visited Russia several times and most of pictures made by author and that also makes his approach more unique and personal. Text, pictures and references are very impressive and higly professional. As a systematical desription of history of Russian architecture (data base) it is close to classical Grabar's work History of Russian Culture (in Russian). The book creates a solid basement for building a theory of Russian architecture with discussion its origin, its unique stylistic features and factors which influence the development of Russian architecture. Prof. Brumfield's book established a golden standard for any other attempt to write a book about a history of Russian architecture (in Russian or in English). I have this book and I am treating it as a my national treasure. Everybody who are interested in the architecture and/or Russian architecture must buy this excellent, beautiful, well written, highly informative and richly illustrated book.

THIS BOOK IS PHAT. IT'S FAT TOO. IT'S A HUGE FAT BOOK FULL OF WONDERFUL COLOR AND B&W PHOTOS OF ALL KINDS OF CHURCHES, MONASTARIES, AND ALL THAT JAZZ. I'M STILL KIND OF INTIMIDATED BY IT THOUGH, JUST BECAUSE OF IT'S SIZE. I THINK IT'LL TAKE ME A COUPLE YEARS TO 'REALLY' GET THROUGH IT. MANY OF THE PICTURES, AT LEAST THE COLOR ONES, ARE FULL PAGE SIZED. THE PICTURE QUALITIES ARE VERY GOOD AND THE SUBJECT MATTER OF COURSE IS AWESOME. I LOVE HOW THESE ARCHITECTS WERE THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX. SOME OF THESE CHURCHES MAKE NOTRE DAME LOOK BORING.

I suppose I was set up for disappointment by the four 5-star reviews, so this is to balance those out - Actually, I'd give this a three and a half, mainly because I am used to books where at least the majority of the reproductions are in colour. This is the pitfall of buying unseen off the internet, and I think that disappointment for me is the main reaction for many art books purchased this way. In this volume, everthing is in black and white with the exception of five or six inserts each with maybe fifteen or twenty buildings featured in colour. That said, the text is readable, and from the little I know of Russian architecture, comprehensive. Just be aware of the pictures being mainly in black and white.

I studied under Brumfield at Tulane, with this book as the main text for study. He employs strong, fluid writing to encompass a millenium of russian expression and turmoil. The book does not lose its sense of history. A decisive book for any interested.

I wanted to buy a book for my daughter's birthday. Few of my friends told me that the Disney books are very good. Hence I visited Amazon.com. The site gave me good array of Disney books to choose from. Looking at the reviews and prices I choose this particular book. Finally when it arrived my daughter was very happy. The book was in pretty good quality and I'm glad that my daughter loves it very much.

Our daughter absolutely loves this book! The pictures are so bright and clear and fun! We are giving it as gifts this year! The price is outstanding for a big book! Amazon has a great price on this, everywhere else is like $5 more. If you want a great book for your kids or thinking of giving this as a gift, this is an outstanding book!

I purchased this book for my daughter several months but she wasn't overly interested. She just turned three and has recently developed an interest in books with stories (vs. picture books). Now she LOVES this book. We have read a couple stories from this collection before naptime and bedtime for the last week. She likes selecting a couple stickers after each story, too.

Pros: Many stories that are a reasonal length (5-10 min to read), good pics, fun stickers, variety of characters/princesses

Cons: The pacing of these abbreviated stories is irratic. Most of these versions seem like they describe 50% of the real story in the last few paragraphs

Disney puts out new versions of these every couple years. I still have a set from 30+ years ago, and a couple from the previous edition, and three so far in this set. My three year old son loves it. The table of contents has pictures of all the stories so he can easily pick what he wants to read. The artwork throughout is more polished and cleaner than in the previous edition. An finally, the stickers are a hit. Not exactly ideal for around his 1yr old little brother, but he's growing out of putting everything in his mouth, so a bunch of teeny-tiny stickers isn't much of a problem. And I do mean teeny-tiny. There are a few stickers as big as an inch, but most are about 1cm diameter dots.
And a thing about the stories. The princess book re-tells many of the same stories as in the other books, but from the perspective of the female heroine character (mostly very well done), so they aren't exactly the same, but few stories are original, and of those few rate high on the creativity scale. Least favorite example (but unfortunately one of my son's favorites), Little Mermaid plays hide and seek with her fish friend. The story goes though all the underwater 'sets' from the movies, and they ask someone there if they've seen flounder, but always get a variation of the same answer 'I won't tell, but he went that way'. It ends fortunately with 'now it's my turn to hide', I don't think I could take the other half of that adventure, the excitement is just too intense.

My daughter is an avid Disney Princess fan. The book is really heavy for a little girl though. The writing is too complex for her to follow or sit still very long. There should be more pictures to keep the interest of younger readers. If you have a preschooler or early elementary, I would recommend you purchase the bigger (taller and thinner) individual volumes. There are more pictures and the reading goes faster. I have a few and they have the Mouseworks logo on them.

Okay, I bought the book for 50 cents at the local library.

So? I believe this book, combined with the book One Page Business Plan will allow you to lead and manage any size business from 0 to 30,000 people.

Notice how I used the word "Treatment" in the title of this review? Well a treatment is a one to two page document for explaining the plot and timing of a screenplay/tv show--it's peaks/valleys/growth and development. This is a common thing to do in the entertainment industry for a show that's from 30 minutes to 2 1/2 hours long.

How long do you want your business to run? Buy both books. Build a better business. Live more life. ;)

I bought this book many years ago while I was a sales engineer in a small company.. at first I thought this would be helpful when I someday would be part of a major corp.

Now that I do belong to a corp I realice that the principles set here can help you in your personal goals as well.. fun and practical book in the style of a story

A mythical Brian Scott was selected as president and CEO of a struggling company for his unique ability to get to the heart of the problem and implement effective solutions, being given two years of freedom to implement change. As he took up the challenge he planned a short-term strategy of cost controls, inventory reductions, cash flow and firing key people while seeking a long-term solution to ensure the future growth of the company. But he also knew that "If you don't know what's wrong, you can't fix it." Scott was aware that financial statements could not tell him the whole story; he also needed opinions from top management. So he asked everybody open-ended questions such as " Why do you think the company is in trouble?" He found that almost everyone blamed someone else or a different department and it was clear that coordination and cooperation fell well short of the optimum. Lack of communication, finger pointing, refusal to accept responsibility, information overload, and lack of concise relevant data were among the symptoms plaguing the company. Scott was unable to get answers to his basic questions and the fact that he was ten levels removed from his first-line supervisors did not help.

He realized that he had to find the truth for himself and that relying solely on the impressions of others might give him a view that could be far from reality. Scott had two problems - getting to know a new, large company quickly and then keeping abreast of what is going on. The reporting process did not give him the real problems nor did it give him the opportunities being missed. He had a pile of information that had to be screened - a process he did not have time for. He decided to put all key information on three one-page reports:
- Report #1: Focus Report giving key information on what you do
- Report #2: Feedback Report giving the good news and bad news about what you do
- Report #3: Manager Report giving the good news and bad news about what your people do

He then had to answer the question "How do you define success?" This leads to defining success factors such as profitability, market share, debt ratio or a motivated, productive and unified work force and then putting a number to each factor to show where he was now and where he wanted to be within a specified time frame. He finished up with too many factors which required culling to determine the Critical Success Factors. Then he had to relate the Critical Success Factors to the departments providing the information.

The information above was culled from Part I of the book which continues with Part II: One Page Management, Part III: Linking the One Page Reports, Part IV: The Power of One Page Management. In today's competitive environment many companies will go out of business in the next few years or will at least face a tough struggle. The approach in this book is very helpful as it focuses attention on getting key information. It is difficult to see how this book could not make a difference to most people. Few of us have the perfect system in place. When was the last time we asked "Am I getting the information I need to be successful in my job in a speedy, concise and useful form?" The fact that Dennis Scholl, President of Signal Capital Corporation could write "I was so excited by One Page Management that I spent the bulk of my vacation reading it three times. We have now implemented the system for our sales force and it has already made a noticeable difference", suggests that the authors have pinpointed a problem experienced by many companies and that the authors have presented a solution in a readable and readily applicable manner. dwillis@afs.edu.gr

In this informaiton age, how information is collected, managed and used will determine the success of modern organizations. From a slow paper based information system to high speed digital information system the modern business came a long way and now the quantum of information that flows in has been increased multifold. Though informaiton is a must for modern organizations, not all the information is relevant to all the people. For managing modern organizations in this complex boarderless world, one needs greater focus. One page management helps in solving the problem of processing of high volume information and creating focus for managers of all levels to run the business in the right directions. Written in the style of "One Minute" books of Dr. Kenneth Blanchard, this book helps managers of all levels in setting key success areas suitable for their level of responbility and allign their goals with the organization's goals. A must read for all those who is managing in today's complex business and prefer clarity and focus.

This book shows the nowadays problem that most managers have: too much information to review with too little time to do it. The book shows you an effective way to sumarize the key information of your organization into three one page reports. Each report focuses on specific aspects of the organization: the focus report, the feedback report and management report.