Florida Books

"China Teacher - An Intimate Journal" took me back to an era that's both remote and real. Life in Beijing in1980 as described by J.R.LeMaster shows like yellowed pictures in an antique photo album, but the accurate account of daily routines, news, and names of people I actually have met assert that this life was once reality.

The journal urged me to re-live that life and at the same time observe it through multiple perspectives concurrently: an American educator trying to navigate a foreign land with no frame of reference, wide-eyed young men and women who had been frequently reminded growing up that an individual was only a screw on the Party machine, a graduate student in Baylor living on her $600 per month pay working as a research assistant for Dr. LeMaster in the late 80s, and a high-tech professional who left China 20 years ago and who calls US home. I remember thinking our American teachers over-reacted to "trivial" things and now I understand that what was the "norm" then in China was shocking, and rightfully so, to a westerner. I remember the thrill I felt when I read Byron and Keats the first time and now I lament that my literature books are unpacked in a cardboard box in the garage. I remember seeing Dr. LeMaster as a teacher and a "boss" and now I feel that I know him as a person.

One of the most touching details in the book for me is when the author and his fellow western teachers realized that first time in their life that they were "minority" and felt isolated and helpless. It takes the same blind faith for an American to go to China 25 years ago as for a Chinese young man or young woman to come to US. It's a point of no return whether you physically returned to your homeland or not. I can understand that the LeMasters kept going back to China after the initial visit because China is the place that they can remake themselves and reconnect to humanity. I recommend this book to everyone who has or will put his/her feet on the part of planet called China. This book will help you experience China as an intimate journey in life.

American professor and poet J. R. LeMaster has written a powerful treatise of his impressions of his year-long visit to China as a guest professor. His fortuitous visit occurred in the 1980-81 academic year just as China was beginning to open its doors to foreign visitors, allowing him first hand to witness young people just beginning to awaken to new possibilities. The easy-to-read journal format allows the author to include actual detailed descriptions of daily life in China as well as many poignant classroom vignettes. The reader feels his frustrations, his empathy with his students, his appreciation of the Asian culture even though bewildering at times, and his personal battle with cold and sparse living conditions. Through the teaching of American literature, he guides his students, not to memorize in the ancient tradition of Chinese schooling, but to think and integrate ideas of philosophy, psychology, theology, and world history, emphasizing the general inner connectedness of all people of the world. His students, unaccustomed to self expression, gradually begin to respond to his personal warmth, compassion, and gentility. His love of teaching and his students is quite evident as he attempts to break through the centuries of learned stoicism. The author, while presenting in prose, reveals his poetic gifts in the beauty and vividness of detail. Several characters, many reappearing throughout the journal, are so compellingly presented that the reader is left to wonder what may have become of them in the ensuing years. While the book will have appeal to a wide array of readers, I personally recommend this book to all teachers and future teachers who view their profession as a higher calling to reach the highest potential of each student, no matter what culture. Reviewed by Ann Williamson Karaffa, Ph.D.

Without a peer for an encyclopediac reference of psychoanalytic theory as it existed at the close of World War Two, Fenichels' Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis is an absolute necessity for any student of, researcher in or practitioner of psychoanalysis or analytic therapy. Unlike other reference works in the subject, which present analytic thinkers as competing "systems," Fenichel sets psychoanalytic theory up as a broad framework, with each theorist adding a novel perspective or elucidating finer points in the broad theory.

Fenichel has done the impossible with this sublime work: he has made a canon of psychoanalysis, uniting almost imperceptibly theories and research from over 1500 journal articles upto 1945;
he corrects Freud when wrong---as in his critique of the Death Instinct---yet he presents, extends, and applies Freud's science in a comprehensiveness and accuracy which no other psychoanalyst has since done. Fenichel not only summarizes and clearly explains theory, but also provides case-histories. He also decribes the most basic concepts of psychoanalysis such that any
intelligent layman/woman could use this book as a starting point, though the book does reach a very sophiscated level after the introduction and early chapters. Very significant is Fenichel's presentation of how mere neuroses can advance to psychoses, and that solely mentalistic causes can force such an advance; this etiology ruptures the current fashion of
emphasizing brain-biochemical causes, or, holding biochemicals to be the ONLY cause of mental illness; Fenichel's work here shows why the biochemical/physicalist-theory is at best half-true (despite the best marketing tactics of American pharmaceutical companies, and the outright bombast of the psychiatric community).

Fenichel is truly Freud's heir, and anyone interested in what psychoanalyisis is should read this book, as well as Feni's Collected Papers. Pompous and asinine critics of psychoanalysis,
from femininists to diluters like Lacan, to petty, small-minded
"philosophers," like Adolph Grundbaum, could have no rejoinder to this work, and they rarely if ever refer to it: its scope is so vast, and its ordering of theory and fact so powerful, its sources so numerous that critics would prefer to ignore it.

This is the most important work outside Freud's own that anyone could read.

Florida politicians seem to branch off into two different camps. The first are the bland reassuring centrists who do little to rock the boat. Charlie Crist, Bill Nelson, James McNair Baker, Bob Graham, Reubin Askew, Collins, and even Jeb Bush seem to fit into this camp. Then there are those politicans who seem to thrive on getting into public spats and often have larger than life personalities like Pepper, Broward, Robert Hilton, John Milton, Harrison Reed, Catts, Katherine Harris. While some try to straddle the two sides (George Smathers comes to mind), most of Florida's leading figures are in camp or the other.

Claude Kirk, the flamboyant businessman who was the first Republican governor of Florida since Reconstruction, fits into the camp that needed battles. In this breezy but excellent look at the Kirk years, Edmund Kallina offers great insight into the many high profile battles that the pugnacious governor launched. Some of them were successful (war on crime, taking on Rap Brown and black radicals, even, suprisingly, reforming government and preserving the enviroment) while others were failures (civil rights issues, especially those dealing with education). Kirk was not a conservative by any means, as his endorsement of Nelson Rockefeller in 1968 proved (and that would come back and haunt him). Despite losing to Askew in 1970 and the constant battles with his fellow Republicans, Kirk set the stage for subsequent Republican triumphs in Florida.

Kallina provides an excellent narrative of this pivotal governorship. Kirk's larger than life personality leaps off the pages. While most academic biographies are some of the best cures for insomina known to man, this one is very entertaining, namely through Kirk's constant battles and his often funny (if also sometimes wildly off the mark) attacks on his opponents. While Kallina's argument that Kirk was as succesful as Askew and Graham in office may be open for debate (though certainly Kallina is at least not out the ballpark), one suspects that Florida will remember Kirk's antics and comments long after the bland centrists are forgotten by all save the archivists and Sunshine State history buffs.

The book "Claude Kirk and the Politics of Confrontation" is an extremely interesting view of an interesting man, warts and all. A conservative Florida Governor who was honest and extremely blunt, he was probably the last politician in recent history to leave office less financially affluent than when he entered political life. He shot from the hip and didn't watch to see a windsock of read the latest opinion poll. Sometimes he was right and sometimes he was wrong, but he always took responsibility for his actions.

His sense of humor sometimes bordered on the bizarre. He once showed up for a campaign speech on horseback and loved to play jokes on the press that were not always well taken. Once he baited the press and had them hang around all day for an important announcement. After hours of wading through mundane business that did not interest them, he announced: 'And now for the important announcement, our astronauts will now carry real Florida orange juice into space instead of Tang!'

The book is insightful and illustrates the never-dull life of a colorful politician.

I have known Clyde Butcher for over 13 years. This second printing of Clyde's first book shows Butcher at his best. The images are stunning and seemingly leap right off the page. The book is beautifully printed and bound. You will love having it in your collection.

Mr.Butcher is a local artist here in Miami, and his work is stunning in its scale and detail. His use of large format cameras allows him to create an image that literally engulfs the viewer. If you have the chance to see a show of his, absolutely go and stand in front of his images. You'll swear you are in the everglades! His work is reasonably priced as well. He is truely a credit to his art and to the community,as he has a sincere desire to raise awareness of the environmental issues of the everglades. In short, buy the book.

Finally, an accurate account of the drug situation that took place around Miami, Bahamas and originating in Columbia. Interesting to read of the stand the Bahamian government played in all the dealings. An excellent read!

While reading the book you feel like you are there. Excellent book

This is a most worthy men-at-arms series; like the book's description says, it shows the much more colorful side to the uniforms of the Confederate Army. One man depicted in the color plates for Volume One that I found particularly interesting was a soldier in the Union Light Infantry, a SC unit based on the British Black Watch (42nd Royal Highlanders).
The plates are pretty much the highlight of this series, and show realistic looking soldiers surrounded by beautiful women and scenery, and baring all their various weapons. The text, nonetheless, reveals numerous interesting details. This is an excellent source on the uniforms and appearances of the soldiers of the Confederacy.

Osprey Publishing has issued Volume 5 of their popular book, The Confederate Army 1861-65. A part of their sprawling Men-at-Arms series (this is book #441 in that series), this one covers the uniforms and arms of troops from Tennessee and North Carolina. Written by Ron Field and lavishly illustrated with Richard Hook's watercolors, this book is a worthy addition to the Osprey family. Retailing for $15.95 here in the USA ($21 in Canada), the book has 48 pages, nearly all of them with period photographs or full color drawings.

The new book focuses on each state's antebellum militia and the hastily organized volunteer regiments that were pressed into Confederate service in the initial stages of the war. Using contemporary newspaper accounts, letters, state and local records, and early photographs, Ron Field presents an extensive array of early war military units, their uniforms and accoutrements, drawing heavily upon primary descriptions. He also takes a cursory, but interesting look at how the transition occurred from locally supplied clothing and equipment (which often varied widely from company to company) to state-issued regulation Confederate uniforms, particularly in North Carolina, where, by the end of the war, the term "ragged Rebel" would be made obsolete from the vast stores of supplies held by the state.



Field starts with Tennessee, looking at the outfitting of the militia and early volunteers in 1861, and examines the role various ladies aid societies played in clothing the soldiers of the Volunteer State. He then discusses the role of the state's Military and Financial Board in taking over the administration and logistics of supplying the troops. Field then shifts his focus to North Carolina, again discussing and characterizing the antebellum militia and contrasting them to how the state later took charge and made its forces appear more uniform in appearance. He also briefly compares winter clothing to summer issue for troops from both states.



The book includes a select bibliography for readers wanting to dive a little deeper into the outfitting of Confederate troops from Tennessee and North Carolina. The index is comprehensive, as is the discussion that accompanies the Richard Hook's illustrations. All in all, The Confederate Army 1861-85 (5) Tennessee and North Carolina (ISBN: 9781846031878) maintains the tradition of excellence we have come to expect from Osprey, and is well worth the modest investment.

I had such a good time reading this book. The tales remind me so very much of a former pastor of mine. It was a delight!

Very easy to read short stories from an ordained pastor, who has experience of many years of teaching as well as out in the field missionary work. His story telling is unparalleled, funny but always with a solid Christian based message.

I have personally known Dr. Gordy for a number of years and have had the blessing of receiving his powerful preaching and seeing his positive witness in Christian service. You can be sure,the stories he tells in this book, as humerous and unbelieveable as they sound, are true.

Salem's work is the first of its kind, and will be the one everybody is responding to for years. It is, quite simply, brilliant. How does the idea of Lebanon emerge in literary texts? What different concepts of Lebanon contest with each other in art and literature? What is Lebanon, and what is a "nation," anyway? The book treats literature, history, and politics together in one lucid, intelligent narrative. Salem's breadth of knowledge about the subject, and her ease and familiarity with the cultural landscape, are impressive. The argument contains a strong critique of power and of business interests that make capital out of war and suffering.

Many of the works of literature, drama, and music Salem discusses are analyzed here for the first time in English-an invaluable resource. Kahlil Gibran, something of a founding father of Lebanese culture, is treated unsentimentally and taken seriously, something that doesn't usually happen at the same time where he is concerned. The musical theater of the Rahbani brothers, the singing voice and iconic figure of Fayruz as well as the music of Marcel Khalife, Majida al-Roumi, Julia Boutros and others, Aql's poetry, the novels of Elias Khoury, Rachid al-Daif, Hanan al-Shaykh, Hoda Barakat, and many more, all get sophisticated critical attention here. Literature of the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), of the Reconstruction period following the war, and right up to "the elusive present" are evaluated. Gender is always present as a thread of analysis. I am excited by the critique of Lebanese television programming in the satellite age and other aspects of mass media and pop culture-Salem is on the cutting edge of cultural studies.

_Constructing Lebanon_ is an ambitious, original, outstanding work. It is also an accessible, interesting book-not just for the specialist in literature or the Middle East, but for any intelligent reader.

Political histories of a nation usually ignore its literature or, at most, compress it into an ancillary chapter. For Elise Salem, however, the writings of Lebanese authors are inseparable from the origins of their country and the record of its recent turmoil. A Lebanese native now living in the United States, but frequently returning to the land of her origin, Salem possesses a unique perspective to write such an analysis. She knows the country's brief history and its political complexities intimately. A literary scholar, she demonstrates extensive and perceptive reading of a wide range of fiction, poetry, and drama, as well as awareness of musical theater productions. Her achievement in this book lies in her ability to demonstrate interrelationships, the ways in which literature has been a source of national identity and serves as an ongoing commentary on unsettling events.

Although the book's subject is Lebanon, Salem also hopes that it will be considered a representative study, with a methodology and a manner of understanding that can be applied to other nations. She notes that those who govern rarely consult their nation's body of writing, and she considers that a mistake: "Artists and intellectuals, often historically in a dubious relationship with the state, not only continue to imagine and hence extend the discourse of the nation but, in more palpable way, participate in remembering, recording, and transforming it."

Salem's eloquent Afterword reiterates, frames, and adds a rich dimension of commentary. It concludes with this possibility: "[These] provocative narratives suggest a new language, vocabulary, style, approach, and thematics that expand the possibilities for Lebanon. They are, after all, the nation's stories and, through fictions, the most telling." Literature was central to Lebanon's origin. Salem's hope is that it will be equally important in helping it face its present crises.

This book was superbly written by Seth Bramson. It is a five star book which I highly recommend. This book captures valuable historic photographs with precise detailed information educating us about the history, architecture, and important people of Coral Gables years ago.

this book also shows me a lot of old photos of the miami areas around old coral gables.

I've had this book for about 20 years and loved it. It's not for the inexperienced cook, but it is well written and it is easy to follow. It challenges even the experienced cook. Great illustrations of final presentation makes deciding what to serve easy. Wonderful book and now I have to replace mine, because mine was destroyed while overseas.

I have had this cook book for about 12 years now and am always pulling it out for new ideas and yummy recipies. Even though I'm no longer a novice and can cook without a recipe now, this book has been one of my favorites since I purchased it. It has color photos and detailed instructions to help anyone prepare successful, mouthwatering recipes. I like the fact that The Creative Cooking Course book not only covers all areas of the culinary arts, but general information on tools, kitchen arrangement, equipment, as well. I highly recommend it! D. Wood - Atlanta, GA