Michigan Books

This book is more than a pictorial record. It tells a story. It nicely documents the creation and evolution of the New Center area of downtown Detroit. Its provides insight into the forces driving urban planning in the Motor City. It chronicals the city's arrival on the scene as an industrial powerhouse, through the effects of the industry's maturation on urban development, all the way up to current efforts to continue developing the area post-the maturation of its major corporate sponsors (and without a range of other sponsors of that scale filling in the gap).

Full of well researched historical photos (some, I believe, which ever never been available outside of archives). The text below the photos are more than captions explaining the photos. They actually tell the story, succintly but effectively. The photos highlight the narrative. And they are a lot of fun to look it.

If this is your scene, and your area of interest, I definitely recommend this book.

Being a person of limited intellect when it comes to fuel cell technology and its' applications, I found Ms. Koval's issue paper to be not only informative, but at the same time I was able to follow the complex issues that this 21st century technology brings to the fore. Ms. Koval seems to have command of the subject matter and has exhaustively researched this topic so as to write a fair and accurate analysis of fuel cell technology.

Dialogues On Cultural Studies: Interviews With Contemporary Critics is an essential dialogue which poses a set of questions to a panel of North America' leading cultural critics, resulting in interviews which survey a range of modern issues, from gender and political conflicts to sources of modernity and globalization issues. Virtually anything having to do with modern cultural issues and studies is debated by scholars who know their stuff. Highly recommended for a college-level readership.

This book written by Karl Kautsky in the summer of 1918 was the opening shot in a duel of articles between Kautsky and Lenin and Trotsky which went on until 1921.

Although Kautsky had not followed Bernstein and the Second International all the way down the path of the Marxist revisionism, he was disturbed by what he saw as the violent excesses of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the formation of the dictatorship of the proletariat by Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

This book was written to set forth his criticsims in print. Lenin responded to this book with an article of his own--the famous "Proletraian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky" written in October 1918. Kautsky then replied with "Terrorism and Communism" in June of 1919. Leon Traosky then answered this book with an article of the same name in 1920--to which Kautsky once again replied in an article called "From Democracy to Statism" which has yet to be translated into English. This series of books relates much about early Soviet ideology and their relations with Marxist parties of rest of Europe.

For anyone who has ever been fascinated with Diego Rivera and his works, this is a wonderfully detailed guide to the Detroit Industry Murals. Readible either from cover-to-cover or in chapters, this book is filled throughout with photos, historic background, interviews and amazingly interesting details to all that went into the Detroit Industry Murals. Starting with other Rivera murals located across the United States, Downs leads into the situation of Henry Ford wanting a depiction of Detroit and the auto industry for a neglected garden gallery. A chapter details the fresco process used by Rivera during this immense project, and is skippable for those not interested in art technique. Another chapter details how Rivera and his wife, artist Fridah Kahlo, spend their time in the Motor City. The especially amazing introduction tells the story of how in 1979 Detroit Institute of Art staff found in a dusty closet the original "cartoons" (full size pencil sketches) that Diego Rivera had made during the planning and layout of the murals. Downs ends the book with reactions to the finished project, which ranged from churches outrage to extreme pride for the city's auto workers, which the work most positively depicted. Because of the artist's political convictions (Mexican communist) the murals were almost destroyed during the Cold War and had to be protected under armed guard. Detroit is the last place you would expect to find the masterpiece of the Mexican muralist movement's greatest son. Just like it's topic, this book is an amazing and unexpected masterpiece.

Jackson is a real find, and this is where to start. These novels, mostly police procedurals, are concisely and wittily written, and as the books continue, we really get to know Fang Mulheisen and his city, Detroit. Later, in books like "Hit on the House" and "Deadman," we meet recurring characters such as likeable assassin Joe Service and his on-again off-again love interest (and Mafia princess) Helen Sedlacek. These are "real" people with foibles and weaknesses-- some are unapologetic killers, but we get to know them and, yes, like them. Fang tracks them down, and sometimes even catches them. If you like Elmore Leonard, if you like Carl Hiaasen, if you like Thomas Perry-- read these too. You'll become a fan, I guarantee it.

DISCIPLINE is Volume 14 in the DIMENSIONS series. The DIMENSIONS Series of journals is an excellent find. It contains theoretical projects and articles, student and professional work and interviews from star architects as well as up-and-coming designers. The series is edited very nicely with a very clean graphical quality. As one of the designers for Volume 15, I must say that this issue is an excellent find. Contact the school for more copies of past journals as well as the newly published Volume 15 entitled: LIMITS.

Designer editor Dimensions V15: LIMITS

I have really found it super. No problem and I would like to go on purchasing from you.

It is a shame this book is out of print. The photography is breath taking. The diverse subject matter spotlights each little piece of the region and offers a comprehensive glimpse of life on Great Lakes Michigan and Superior. First introduced to the Upper Penninsula as a child, I was thrilled to receive this book as a gift from my husband. Each time I look through it is a like a little vacation, whether I am in the mood for summer beaches, wild life, the awe-inspiring force of the lakes, or autumn's first snow fall. Mr. Olsenius has a real gift in capturing peoples' personalities and nature's majesty on film. A beautiful book.

Janis Scalone's book, DISTANT THUNDER: An Integrated Skills Approach to Learning Language Through Literature (Pitt Series in Esl) is compiled in such a way as to make it both informative and entertaining. Not only are the stories and poems Scalone has chosen entertaining and enriching, but the exercises for the students are likewise informative and enlightening, presented in a way that helps them experience the many and varied cultures represented in the literature chosen for inclusion in the text. I found it a delight to read for any audience.