United States Books

A most comprehensive source of information on this tragedy. Well written and well organized. Nicely stocked with period photographs.

A must have for any library on this subject.

This is the most outstanding book I have ever read. The pictures, the information, it could not have been written better. Anyone would love this book. Those who are in search of unique pictures would find this book invaluable, likewise those who are in search of information, facts, nowhere else seen loss of property claims would too find this book invaluable. Upon seeing this book in the book shop (I did not buy it here) I gave it absolutely no second thought and regardless of price bought it. I am a Titanic historian and I'm picky about the books I buy, and this book is just about the best book in my collection. Don't hesitate, buy it, you will not regret it.

I found this book in my local library and took it out to read. However as soon as I got it home and looked through it I was enthralled by the pictures. The text was fairly standard fare although some of the earlier chapters had interesting info concerning the planning and construction of Titanic. The pictures steal the show and they made up my mind to buy this book for myself as such pictures need to be looked at and digested over months and years rather than the few weeks one has with a library book. If you have any interest in Titanic - BUY IT.

John P. Eaton and Charles A. Haas already known for their very involved Titanic research and dives in Nautile (IFREMER's Titanic submersible} have done a beautiful Titanic book describing stateroom's the voyage building and sinking in a beautiful 352 pages have put together a book which in itself is as good as Titanic: An Illustrated History. Gives insurance claims Philadelphia first class passenger mrs. Cardeza filed for 18 suitcaces , 3 trunks and a medicine kit . A book which many experts (Myself included ) Love . Excellent for any Titanic Buff!

I must say this is the most comprehensive book on the Titanic I have yet seen. Every facet of the liner's history from its origins to the wreck exploration is covered. Each chapter includes pictures of everything connected to the ship. Anyone with any interest in Titanic at all should have a copy.

I did think the authors could have done better with their chapter on the sinking itself though. As it is they wrote little text and tell the story through picture captions! It is as if a book on the Kennedy assassination covered details of the flight to Dallas and then said little about the shooting itself. I also feel the authors were a bit too soft on Lord of the Californian.

My twelve year old daughter and I listened to this book together, and in a rare instance of complete agreement, we both pronounced it EXCELLENT. We repeatedly found ourselves engaged painlessly in converation about what should have been difficult themes, such as all the different "wars" in Holling's life, the Shakespearean notion that conflict and humor can exist in the same time and place, lost opportunities, etc. Whether this book is a "winner" in literary circles is an issue I will leave to the experts. What I can say without reservation is that the book is truly a "winner" in terms of young person enjoyment and in terms of potential for readily sparking important conversation.

This is the first book I've read by Schmidt and I stayed up late just to finish it. There are many things I loved about this book. For one, Holling seems just like any ordinary 7th grade kid but then through his periods with Mrs Baker, he develops into a remarkable young man. Family life during the 1960s to early 1970s was also vastly different. Children were not as spoiled and usually listened to their parents even though they may have felt some resentment. I also liked the way Schmidt allowed the humour of so many situations in the book to surface so much so that I believe that most kids, boys especially would enjoy this book. I am now going to try and find a copy of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy!

Wonderful, refreshing, silly, plausible...I loved this book and highly recommend it for children and adults. It's a quick read with clean verbage. How unusual!

Wow! If I could give this book 6 stars-I would. I have read lots of middle school books, and yes a few have been excellent. This one was nearly impossible for me to put down. The book was so funny in parts, that I had a difficult time trying to stop laughing. Other parts were exciting, touching, a bit sad, and very thought provoking. Yes, this book is easy to read, but not at all shallow by any stretch of the imagination. It really has a lot to say, but does it in a subtle non-preachy way.

I think anyone grades 5 or up would love this book. The book is told through the eyes of a 7th grade boy, and it is comes across so real it is impossible not to have a connection with this character. You don't have to be a middle school teacher or an avid reader to love this book. It is one of those very few books that knocks down all walls and invites all readers to enter.

On the suggestion of a friend who has excellent taste in books, I bought this book for my eleven year old son, who's appetite for books exceeds what I can keep up with! It was so gripping that he sat up until two in the morning to finish the book. (I can sympathize; I've done that!) His review (five stars) for the library book club was so enthusiastic that the next night I sat up until two in the morning to read it! This is probably the best recent children's book I've found! I loved it! And it gently introduces topics such as racism, the Vietnam war, bullying, determination and self-sacrifice that parents can discuss with their children. Kids love the book because it's witty and has a great story. Then again, I loved it for that too! So four thumbs up, two from me and two from my son!

This is quite a good book that really allows the reader to get behind the author and penetrate the subject matter in a slow, moving way. There are quite a few elements of humor in it, one of which lead to a friend of mine who was walking the streets of NY fall into a manhole while I was reading it on the phone to him (he was o.k.). The book ends with quite an explosive passage that might make many gag, but, for this reader, I swallowed it up.

I highly recommend this book.

I enjoyed reading the book. It was very enlightening and I learned a lot.

"What Color Is Your Scarf?" is by a man who came out late in life, has recognized his frailties and is attempting to make himself better. In the book, Brown tells you how he is attempting to overcome his imperfections. He has a plan and he makes the telling of it interesting.

I see no reason why the wisdom Brown inculcates wouldn't be useful to anyone as a coming-out guidebook. I would recommend it, especially to people just going through the coming-out process, regardless of their age.

I related to a lot of things that you mentioned. Thanks for the words.

Your book and web page are a delight. I'm a 60 year old man, came out 15 years ago and am as happy as can be.

This is a book people might shy away from since it deals with the 1988 campaign, and those candidates are basically ancient history (except for Biden). However, what the book really describes it literally 'what it takes' for any man or woman to believe they can be President.

We look at the people running today, and we see them as TV characters and sometimes buffoons, but forget that in their youth they were probably the smartest, most popular, most driven people we would have known. Just to get to a place where one can entertain the idea of running for President takes a life of very, very few wasted opportunities.

So, while this book doesn't talk about Obama or Clinton or Huckabee, etc., you can read it and at least get sort of a sense of what the candidates are like behind the masks they put on.

The best thing that can be said about "What It Takes" is that you will read it and you will appreciate that Presidential candidates actually are qualified, and while they might make terrible decisions, they really are the best we have.

"What It Takes" is an antidote for cynicism.

It's a great insight into the psyche of candidates, the jargon of campaigns -- and a demonstration of just how tough campaings are. (The author of this book is also a frequent contributer to Rolling Stone and Esquire. Some of the language in this book certainly isn't appropriate for younger readers).

Ben Cramer follows the major candidates in their races to become president in 1988. He reproduces their speaking and thinking styles in such an incredible way that you will never be able to think of any of these people (Bob Dole, GHW Bush, Jesse Jackson) in quite the same way you did before.

His intense focus on how the candidates act differently when in private than they do when they're out giving their stump speech makes for fascinating reading. If you're tired of dry books that are "nothing but the facts, ma'am," you'll love this well-written story.

No study of modern American politics is complete without reading this book. At the center of the political universe is the presidency. What kind of people seek this office, and all of the attendant scrutiny and hardship that even the most fortunate candidates endure? What personal attributes set one candidate above the rest?

Essentially, one of these men will be the most powerful man in the world, and have a chance at shaping history. This book answers the questions "why" and "how."

Cramer understands his subjects, and the profiles of each candidate would be excellent stand-alone biographies. Extremely readable and well written, without sacrificing substance.

A truly unique and indespensible work. To find out what it takes, read this book.

As a lifetime Democrat, I was horrified to read this book and feel not only sympathetic towards Bob Dole, but also admiration.

Of course, the author goes on to confirm my worst fears about George H.W., Reagan and some of the Democratic party's candidates from the era.

A stunning work. It is inspring and depressing at the same time.

Whether you have an opinion or not about prostitution , I think it's a good idea to read this book. By reading Dolores' book I can tell she is intelligent and well educated and she tells a very interesting story about her life as a prostitute without trying to convince the reader of what is *right* or *wrong*. She eventually became one of the most recognized prostitutes in America at one point. She fought for women's rights and appeared on television shows. It's interesting to learn of the different types of *clients* she came across in different countries, as well as other hookers, and how she handled certain dangerous situations. I've learned that prostitutes aren't that different from a lot of women, they aren't just dirty, AIDS infected low life people. Many of them really do like their jobs and feel they are helping people. This is a great book, I think every woman should read it.

This book is all about the use of (sexual) power in the struggle for survival: 'Women choose to go into prostitution because they need money'; or, 'because it is the best way to make a living.'
As the author says: 'There should be laws forbidding poverty, but no laws forbidding a woman to accept money from a man for her company.'

The numbers are staggering: alone in the US, there are approximatively 1300000 prostitutes.

A main theme in this book is hypocrisy.
Of the people arrested in the sex trade only 10 % are clients.
Sexual 'entertainment' is written off as a business expense.
Condoms are distributed freely to the military.
In the Philippines doctors blamed prostitutes for introducing AIDS into the country ... not the American servicemen.

This book is a worth-while documentary about an important aspect of human behaviour. It shows that human beings are not primarily rational.

This is a great book. I met Dolores at a Mensa convention we were both speaking at. I am a member of Mensa; Dolores is not. I attended her lecture out of curiosity and then stopped for a chat afterwards. That chat turned into a friendship that lasted for most of the 12 years that I lived in Atlanta. I read this book: Working: My Life as a Prostitute, about 4 months after having met her and it is genuine. Dolores is also genuine. Don't ask her a question unless you want the straight truth as your reply. Dolores is a smart businesswoman who has led quite an interesting life. My many talks with her gave me insight into differing perspectives; many of which I wouldn't have had, had I not known her. I can honestly say that reading her book opened my eyes about many aspects of life as a woman. How men see us; even if we don't want to think that it is true. It is a MUST read for all women past the age of 16.

Dolores French is warm-hearted, wise and has much to say. This book should not be out of print, and it should be in stock... I hate it when a good book take 4 weeks to obtain! I hope it will be reprinted soon.

I fully agree with the author. I know best about prostitution as my mother was prostitute from age 15 to 61, my sister,wife,2 daughters are also in same business.We all are very happy & proud of this business.We have never cheated any customer. We donate for charity too.I hope that our future generation will continue this business with same honesty & dedication.We never refused aged or bad looking clients.

Naylor's style of writing is much like Judy Blume, in which it draws you in and you ache, laugh and sympthasize with the character. With every "Alice" book, it feels like you get to know a friend. I'm sure every girl can relate to the everyday things she has to go to. Because the Alice series is so realistic, each time a new installment is realeased, you get the feeling that you're just learning new stuff about an old friend.

This insallment of the series is a little less chirpy, like past might have been. Gone are the silly 6th grade "what will I wear?!" chrisis that everyone can probably relate to. Now, it's about becoming woman of the house, and dealing with deeper problems. For example, Alice encounters a loner. She invites her to her dad's party and they start a bond. Well, just a few days later [I haven't read the book in 2+ years so forgive me!], the friend commits suicide, and in comes the feelings of "I could've done this...It's my fault".

A solid book for kids of most ages.

This book is about how Alice gets used to being the woman of the house. When she finds out that a man docter is going to examin her she starts to freak out but then reilizes that it isn't so bad. The boys are naming girls after states according to how big their breasts are.

About to turn 13, Alice McKinley is preoccupied with her aunt's statement about needing to be the "Woman of the House" for her widowed father and older brother Lester. Her best efforts, however, usually turn to disaster...

To make matters worse, the seventh-grade boys are naming the girls after various states...depending on the size of their chests! Alice lives in terror, uncertain which would be worse: getting dubbed the name of a flat state, or being overlooked altogether.

Readers will enjoy hearing about Alice, who is just an ordinary girl going through ordinary things, but in such a humorous and interesting way, they can't help wanting things to turn out okay...

Alice in April is about a girl who is having trouble with boys giving the girls at school nicknames of a state by it's geography, in other words ,"hills or no hills". If you like books that are funny, maybe even true life, Alice in April is the book for you.

I just read this a few days ago, and I started reading it at 9:30 p.m. that night and it was done the next day at about 1:30 p.m.!! I love this book, it is so believeable I think Alice IS ME!!(except for my mom didn't die). I love this book and all the other books in the series!!

Outstanding description of Freemasonry by the former curator of the American History Museum in Lexington, MA.

This book was an excellent read and was difficult to put down. Intriguing view of history of the organization as well as many other organizations such as Rotary, Elks, etc. It definitely answered many questions I had regarding Freemasonry and is written in layman terms so those without knowledge of Freemasonry going in can grasp the subject matter fairly easily.

As mentioned by at least one other reviewer I did detect a slight bit of bias, but then again every author has some bias based upon experience and beliefs. However, the book provides so many references that I would have difficulty doubting the credibility. The book also provides beautiful illustrations that accent the points in the text.

My recommendation is to purchase the hardcover as this book is a beautiful bookshelf reference. Whether you are interested in the organization or just a history buff I highly recommend this work.

National Heritage Museum curator Mark A. Tabbert has written an informative, easy-to-read study of the history of Freemasonry in the United States and how Freemasonry inspired the creation of several fraternal, civic, and service organizations. To show that rich history, the book contains several photographs of Masonic and other fraternal artifacts from the National Heritage Museum.

Tabbert cover many Masonic topics including Freemasonry's influence on the Founding Fathers, the anti-Masonic hysteria that followed the Morgan scandal, Masonry during the Civil War, the Golden Age of Fraternalism in the late 19th Century, the founding of service organizations during the early 20th Century, Freemasonry's boom years following WWII, the state of Freemasonry today, the York and Scottish Rites, the Order of the Eastern Star, the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, the youth orders, Prince Hall Freemasonry.

American Freemasons is a superb work that was written for both the Mason and non-Mason alike. It would be an excellent addition to your lodge library, your home library, and your public library. Would make a great gift for a new Mason or a prospective candidate. You will enjoy this book!

I wish I had this volume years ago. It tells more truths about Freemasonry than most masons get in a life time. Mark A. Tabbert Is well qualified to write the History of Masonic good work. He has done a superb job.

This book is a bit repetitive in the things it says. The information is good.

I purchased this much heralded photo collection book after reading the review in Newsweek. Maybe I'm not artsy-sophisticated enough to understand the supposed power and humanness or whatever behind these photos. I just don't get them. For a much better look at people in general, look at the book The Life of Man, or even a book of Norman Rockwell paintings. Those books will give you a better idea of life from the 1920's to the 1970's, and the people. The only photo that did stand out to me was the cover photo of the bus. It's painful.

Captured moments of Amercian Life, often shown here with an American flag in the photo. These images in this book portray a visual artist who is creating photos by shifting angles, waiting for the right moment, using light in a different way. Its tough to describe this book other than to say that it was edited pretty well.

I am a photographer and one of my projects (google "LA MACHINE À HABITER Emir" in if you're curious) is directly related to street photography.
Robert Frank is one of my favorite photographers and it is a shame I did not have his "The Americans" in my posession till this very moment. It is a bible for me.
The book is printed very well, paper is exellent, no color shift on B&W images, solid binding. Great quality.
And the images, of course. If you like photography, you have to check it out. Highly recommended.

Quite simply this is one of the most influential photography books I have ever seen. For years purchasing this had eluded me and it's price had become quite high as well.
Am so glad to have this book out where I can open the plates and refresh myself with Robert Frank's seminal work. As Ed Ruscha quotes, The man has done it all and gone home.....

America through the eyes of another, and in plain black & white. "The Americans" is photographer Robert Frank's look at 1950s America, from the very pictures he took almost fifty years ago. In this new edition, Frank has enlisted the help of the newest and most cutting edge modern photo technology to bring his photos into the highest quality he could get them, a massive improvement in quality from the printing quality of the 50s. The poignant, thought provoking photos comprise what some call the most famous book of photography ever published. "The Americans" is enhanced with a forward by Jack Kerouac and is highly recommended for community library photography collections and for anyone who wants a solid coffee table book.

"The space program's grip on the public imagination had begun to fade even before the first moon landing," write Charles Murray and Catherine Cox in their can't-put-it-down history of the engineering side of the American manned space program.
They add, "Whether this was inevitable or an unlucky juxtaposition of Apollo with Vietnam and domestic upheaval will never be known." Or maybe the main reason was NASA's insistence on two phony images: one, squeaky clean (and boring) personalities for all hands; and, two, the no-sweat attitude to crises.
Had NASA told the stories Murray and Cox tell, the public would have been thrilled and appalled.
We have long known that the astronauts were not squeaky clean. Astro Walt Cunningham let that cat out of the bag in the mid-'70s in "The All-American Boys." In "Apollo" we learn that the engineers were humans, too. One is described as "Butch Cassidy born 100 years too late," which is probably overstating it, but you don't operate the most complicated mechanical system in history by being timid.
"Apollo" also reveals that the "no-sweat" attitude was false. There was plenty of sweating, although NASA's engineering culture required everyone to remain composed at all times.
The really terrible crises were known to the public, if poorly understood: the testing fire that killed three astronauts and the fuel system failure that nearly stranded Apollo 13 in orbit.
Other problems that were potentially just as serious were successfully covered up by NASA, a bad habit that cost it its reputation later on.
But the unraveling of the causes of these engineering dustups reads like a mystery novel, or, a closer comparison for those who have read it, the epidemiological reporting of Berton Rouche.
What, for example, would make a rocket lift two or three inches off the pad, then shut its engines off and settle back? The answer: A technician had filed a tiny bit off one prong of an electrical plug.
Anyway, the people who designed and built spaceships were emphatically not computer nerds -- once you understand what they were up to, scientists and engineers are always interesting. This is certainly the case with the launcher specialist Werner von Braun, a mass murderer.
Murray and Cox say, "no such charges were substantiated" against Hitler's rocket scientist. They are wrong.
Von Braun's V-weapons were built by 30,000 slaves at an underground factory camp called Dora. Thousands of these slaves were worked to death, starved or slaughtered. This factory was not run by Braun's team but it could not have functioned without the intimate advice of the rocket scientists. With complicity goes guilt.

This story will pull you in and make you feel part of the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century.

This book vividly demonstrates and proves just how incredibly creative and focused AMERICANS can be when focused on a single goal of beating someone(Thank God for the Russians back then)when we didn't care about being so"POLITICALLY CORRECT". We as a nation could really use these people's dedecation and hard word as an example and work to fix this "POLITICALLY CORRECT" country now.

We used some parts of this book in our Systems Engineering lecture, at Turkish Military Academy Defense Sciences Institute (I was a student at the lecture). Later I purchased the book and read the whole book.

Of course I am not in a position to state the correctness and completeness of the contents. I rely on other people's comments on these criteria. But accepting the contents as correct and complete, the book clearly describes how a huge R&D project can be run (or can not be run), from every point of view. It is the next best thing after participation in a such project.

I believe every engineer and technical administrator has many things to learn from the book.

I highly recommend the book. I do not know whether it is also used as a lecture aid in other academies. If it is not so, another recommendation the the lecturers: The book contains one of the best case studies.

This is an excellent book covering the inner workings of the Apollo program. It does not focus on the astronauts or the missions themselves, but more about the people on the ground in Mission Control, the engineering challenges of Apollo, the management of the program, and NASA / Washington politics about space exploration at that time. Some chapters are so well done, they read like a thriller and you can't stop turning the pages. It also covers well the most important personalities of Apollo.

After reading this book, I realized how much we have lost the memories of what is probably the most incredible achievement in humankind's history. Shockingly enough, most people think about Apollo about being a thing of the past, while it is in fact our future.

Reflecting back on the sad end of the Apollo program (the plug was simply pulled in the mid-70s without any kind of follow up), it is a shame that we have lost all these years. Just imagine if we would have persevered with more missions, the eventual setup of a moon base in the 80s, moon exploration of resources, etc... Who knows where we would be now in 2007 ? Perhaps on the verge of a Mars mission, or Jupiter ? We would have impressed new generations with the same sense of awe-inspiring achievements and exploration that Apollo did 40 years ago. These emotionally inspiring achievements are the ones that elevates humankind to new heights, and this is probably the strongest feeling I felt about Apollo after reading this book.

This is a very informative book. It certainly shed light on a shameful slice of American history.

This is history book in the purest sense of what a history book should be yet this book is much more than a history of American Violence against African Americans, it's a history of how civilization can be repressive and savage despite it's seemingly enlightened ideology. Philip Dray doesn't hold back in painful details of lynching, the dynamics and psychology behind the mob mentality, and how people actively seek to uphold an illusion of law and order from the bigoted vigilantes to the unsympathetic courts. Collectively we have tried and still continue to try to supress the history of slavery and the bloody history subsequent racial violence. This book needs to be required reading in our schools as a counter to other so-called history texts admonishing certain fathers of the nation.

Dray's account, while often disturbing reading, is an essential for anyone who seeks to understand the lynching phenomenon in the United States. Scholarly, but accessible, the history's gruesome recountings of lynchings are balanced by the tales of those individuals and organizations that fought, often at great personal peril, to bring an end to this national disgrace. This meticulously researched volume is recommended for the professional as well as the lay historian. It is a cautionary tale, but ultimately one not without hope.

This book was not only shipped within 2 days but in new condition. The book itself is very informative about other things than lynching. It talks about various people related to the anti-lynching movement tons of other things. I'm currently using this as a text book for a college class. This is a great teaching resource! Buy the book, you won't forget it!

Quite possibly the best, most well-researched book I've ever read. A smooth read, impeccable use of historical sources, and a clear narrative account of the most tragic era in American history. For scholars who research or teach in the area of social control, legal, and extra-legal punishment, you *cannot* have a full grasp of the topic unless you read Dray's work. A fine work of history...the author is to be commended.