York College Books

Mr Bonnabeau captures the essence of one of America's (make that the world's) most innovative and unique institutions of higher learning.

Conceived during the turbulent early seventies when bell bottoms were in, Empire State College took the unique energy of that time and turned it into college credit for you and me.

Today, institutions of all kinds have mimicked ESC's innovations and special brand of individual education such as credit for prior learning, learning contracts and one-on-one mentoring.

After thousands of educational reforms put forth based on anecdotal
accounts, etc., we have recommendations for restructuring schools that used the best statistical data available to support their arguments. Moreover, they show the intellectual honesty of pointing out results that do not support their argument. The National Education Longitudinal Study, compares students over time so that schools can be evaluated on educational gain rather than family advantage. This study identifies a number of school qualities that enhance gains. Most important is a communal rather than bureaucratic mode of organization and school size under 900.

This author relied on strong writing skills............. you will want to cherish this book on your bookshelf!

This book is not only an important piece of research but also a great story of gifted teachers and unique learners. This book is beyond throught-provoking...it is ground-breaking. Those who read it will learn much about possibilities for people with disabilities and their teachers and for schooling itself.

If you attended Oneonta, you will enjoy this book. It contains photos with captions. Tons of info! Now you can find out who Milne, Curtis and Schumacher were! Photos from every generation. I especially enjoyed the photos of Old Main which was demolished in '77 when I was there.

I tried to buy this book originally a couple of weeks ago and the other seller couldn't find the book and I never heard back about when it was going to come. Finally, I cancelled that order and got it from these guys because I needed the book for a class I'm taking. It only took about 2 days and it was here. Very pleased. And I even got it cheaper through this seller than the first one.

The positive interaction between student and teacher begins with a caring spirit on the part of the educator. Vito Perrone inspires the reader with reflections by Covello who stresses the importance of community in any educational system. If you have the heart, you are well on your way to inspiring excellence in your students. This book gives some good illustrations that will tug at your own heart and give you much food for thought.

After picking up a few of these College Prowler books, I can definitely say that they're a great resource for college searching. They're written by students at the schools, and the bulk is made up of survey style quotes from students, so they give you a real, unbiased, inside look at each college. If you're just interested in academic rankings and stats, there are probably better places to look, but if you want to know stuff like how good the dining halls are, or what the nightlife/local scene is like, then these books are your ultimate source. Highly recommended.

America and Europe of the 1800s were stiff, gilded, formal place, full of "old" families, rigid customs and social transgressions.

And nobody chronicled them better than Edith Wharton, who spun exquisitely barbed novels out of the social clashes of the late nineteenth century. This collection brings together four of her best books, exploring the nature of infidelity, passion, social-climbing and a woman's place in an unfriendly world.

"Age of Innocence" is a pretty ironic title. Newland Archer, of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May. But during his engagement, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Olenska -- and after his marriage, his attraction to the mysterious Countess and her unconventional ways becomes even stronger. Will he become an outcast and leave with her, or stick with a life of conformity and safety?

"The Custom of the Country" takes whatever is biting about "Age of Innocence" and magnifies it. Undine Spragg is a mesmerizing beauty from a tiny town, who wants the best of everything, more than her family can afford. She begins marrying "old money", leaving divorce, death and broken hearts in her wake -- and hiding a then-shameful secret. The only way to succeed lies in the one man who sees her for what she is.

But the mockery in "House of Mirth" is not meant to be funny, but saddening and eye-opening. Lily Bart is on the prowl for a marriage to keep her in luxury and affluent circles. But her schemes and plans start to collapse, as she rejects all her adoring suitors, and a nasty society matron decides to deflect attention from her adultery by accusing Lily falsely. Her life rapidly descends into a spiral of wretched unemployment and poverty.

"Ethan Frome" is far more tragic in nature than any of the others. The titular character is the male half of a loveless marriage, with the fretful, fussy Zeena. Then Zeena's lovely cousin Mattie Silver comes to live with them, and she brings out a happier, more passionate side of Ethan. But when Mattie is sent away, Ethan must make a decision. He knows he can't stay in his horrible marriage, so will he run away with Mattie? The choice they make will affect all three lives.

Wharton tended to pay attention to three things: human nature, society, and how the two often clashed. These four books are, in fact, crammed with the societal clashes of the time: infidelity, divorce, the impact of "new money," and what it took for a person to break out of the bounds of society -- and the cost it had.

Her writing is striking even now -- it has the formal, detailed quality of nineteenth-century prose, but it isn't nearly as stuffy. Instead, her writing is lush, perfumed languid and shimmering with repressed emotion -- even "Custom of the Country," with its nasty shallow anti-heroine, has moments of pure lyrical beauty, although they usually come from someone else.

And her characters come to life with startling reality. Wharton never resorts to sentimentality or cheap tricks to make us react to them -- stuffy "aristocrats" of the New World, tormented farmers, and bright bohemians. The more brilliant, appealing characters like the tragic Lily and the free-spirited Countess are easy to feel liking for, but Wharton even makes the less appealing characters -- like the wishy-washy Newland -- realistically complex.

These four novels are among the best that Edith Wharton ever penned -- intricate looks at society and human nature, wrapped up in beautiful writing. Utterly exquisite.

ATGIB is a great classic novel full of memorable characters and touching emotion. I have and will continure to reread this book often.

I just finished reading this book a few minutes ago. I am not trying to be against the grain here at all but I don't understand how this book is so reputably powerful and a classic. It's not terrible reading because this story was by far very well written and my vocabulary has increased by atleast 13 new words. Overall though, this book felt like a auto biography, too close to reality to really wow me. As the reader, I was experiencing poverty, hunger, bulleying, chronic rejection and loss of innocence through Francie's eyes and yet, she progressed beautifully by independently finding ways to be educated and learning about the world and the people in it. I did find myself physically reacting to certain parts like when this young woman whom had a baby but was unwed was bedeviled by the neighbors and having rocks thrown at her and her child. Also, an important character in my mind passed on which changed my mood from then on. For the record, I feel the need to defend Francies Father Johnny. Yes, he did drink but I don't feel like he deserved to be treated like an acute alcoholic. He was never biligerent or hurtful to his family. Johnny wasn't the type to pour whiskey in his morning cereal and he was always singing and being chipper. But because every night when he performed he had gotten inebriated this is how he was remembered. Luckily, Francie saw past it because he was the only one that truely understood her and supported her ideas and dreams. Katie, Francie's mother lacked a sense of humor, obviously favored Francie's younger brother Neely, and could not let go of her control issues. It was her way or the highway. I don't want to give away the entire story but I must say that although I did enjoy reading this book, it did not satisfy my hunger from what I expected based on all the reviews I read about it. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is an adventure and will more than likely relate to you in some way, this book just illustrated what we all must go through... Life.

I just bought this for a young lady I know who is graduating High School. I read it at that age as well, and it is the perfect tale for a young woman on the verge of adulthood as it moves from the children to the young, and eventually middle-aged adults as it tells the multi-generational tale of the Nolan family. Heartbreaking and heartwarming without ever delving into sentimentality and highly, highly reccomended.

To all the one star reviewers out there complaining about the tedious details in the book. Betty Smiths gift for detail is what makes the book so wonderful. I was fascinated with this book as a kid. I even tried to recreate the stale bread cutlets with ketchup sauce that Mama Nolan made!To this day, if I find a book about turn of the century NY tenements I will stop everything to read it. I've had a copy of ATGIB for 30 years now and I don't think I've ever gone a year without rereading it. Now I need to buy a new copy as my treasured copy (with illustrations!) has become lost. I hope whoever finds it enjoys it as much as I did.

This book was very popular when I was in eighth grade (1968.) Lot's of the girls were reading it. While I read books that were considered "girl" books then for some reason I avoided A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Thirty years later I picked it up in the bookstore and couldn't put it down. I avoided rereading it for a few years because I didn't think I could enjoy it as much the second time around but I did.