California Books

May is American Studies Prof. at U. of MN,& wrote: "Screening Out-the-Past" He dislikes Bob Hope-Bing Crosby's.."mindless' Road pictures,also Ronald Reagan,(head, Screen Actors Guild)for stifling emerging "left-wing",independent producers,& all those who were not 100% anti-communist. Hopefully, he'll prove his points by updating with coverage of post 60's Hollywood....

This book is a well researched account of Hollywood during the Depression, World War II and at the beginning of the Cold War. It is a must for everyone interested in the history of Hollywood.

"The Big Tomorrow" depicts Hollywood as a 'populist and progressive world that offered a vision of an egalitarian and humanitarian world in film' before the 1950s. The author demonstrates this on the example of actor Will Rogers, a Cherokee Indian, director Frank Capra, and others. May shows that not only film content had changed but the theatres as well. The central themes were gangsters, fallen women and ribald comics while the language and dialects of the folk were used. The theatres underwent a change from lavish, sumptuous ones, where seating was divided between the high-paying and low-paying, to democratic movie houses. The author uses several photographs to illustrate the changes. Inside Hollywood actors, directors etc. formed unions that supported New Deal reforms. The second part of the book explains why World War II and the Cold War reshaped politics and moviemaking in Hollywood. May discusses censorship and the role of CIA agents in Hollywood. Films presented a 'new' woman now. Female characters focused ultimately on a home life that preserved traditional gender roles, symbolized in the rise of 'patriotic domesticity' while during the Depression female characters of 'empowered women' fulfilled themselves. May also points out the change in the portrayal of African Americans and Asians. The rise of anti-communism and its effects are dealt with. Those who wouldn't or couldn't prove their belonging to the communists were suspended. However, they found a new market for a dark 'film noir' that challenged the consensus and set the stage for a youthful counterculture in the 1950s and 1960s.

This is one of those books that is difficult to over praise. Over and over while reading this book, May helped me gain new insight into aspects of Hollywood cinema from the thirties, forties, and fifties, and continually suggested to me new areas of research to undertake. In the long run, I believe that his book is going to have a profound effect on the way that I view movies from those decades.

Before I move on to the considerable praise I want to heap on this book, let me dwell briefly on a couple of negatives. I think this book has a much broader appeal than the author might believe. The book takes an essentially popular subject, and couches it in an overly academic style. As someone with a strong graduate school background (albeit in philosopher rather than cultural studies), I managed to always make sense of his argument, but sometimes only with difficulty. There was also a too-heavy reliance on statistical data for my taste. Clearly he feels that the data gives greater force to and to a degree validates many of his arguments. But I feel that it also caused the book to drag at points.

But overall, this book is a stunner. The thesis of the book is a complex one, and any attempt to state it briefly will distort it to a degree. I will try to minimize my distortion. May begins by arguing that there was a radical shift in social and political outlook in Hollywood in the 1940s. The effort in Hollywood to eliminate political dissent and to promulgate a monolithic vision of America is well known. May argues that this was a break with the legacy of the thirties, in which the Hollywood talking film had developed as a mode of expressing an egalitarian, anticapitalist, and multicultural affirmation of the New Deal. Thirties films were highly critical of big business, with representatives of big business frequently appearing as villains in films. As America entered WW II, however, and began to unify in order to oppose first Hitler and Japan and then the Red Menace, movies reflected a different order, which was nonegalitarian, pro-big business (with big business disappearing as a villain in films), and nondissenting.

May attempts to tell this story in several ways. His brilliant first chapter dwells at length on the movie career of Will Rogers, who articulated a vision of America that varied greatly from the Anglo-Saxon dream that looked to Europe for models of success and social ordering. As May quotes on several occasions, in response to the New England social elite, Rogers, who identified with his Cherokee heritage, wrote, "My ancestors didn't come over on the Mayflower--they met the boat." The second chapter of the book continues this to display many example of multicultural republicanism that permeated 1930s filmmaking. He then proceeds, in perhaps my favorite chapter in the book, to demonstrate how this egalitarian vision of America profoundly influenced American movie theater design. Rejecting the theater palaces that dominated 1920s theater design and which represented an affirmation of the social layering of the European model--with different prices of admission for various areas and separate entrances--American designers moved to a conception where all viewers paid a uniform price and seating was not restricted, with all viewers entering through the same entrance.

The second half of the book deals with the undermining of the egalitarianism of the thirties by a new vision of Americanism in the forties. The first of two chapters devoted to this displays this by articulating the vision of a white consumer culture, where individuals look for freedom in a private realm emphasizing family and material comfort. The second chapter deals with the politics in Hollywood to help eliminate all those who dissented from this vision or who had a political history that did not conform to this vision. These were painful chapters to read, with the ruthless suppression of political dissent. May deals in some degree with the history of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), which in the 1930s strongly affirmed the ideals of the New Deal and egalitarian ideals. In particular, the career of the first appointed president of the SAG (in the 1930s, the president of the SAG was elected by the membership), Ronald Reagan (i.e., he was not elected by the membership at all) is dealt with at length. May ends his book with a discussion of film noir and its attempt to express dissent from the accepted and sanctioned cultural norm.

Anyone interested in cultural studies, the political climate and culture of the US in the thirties and forties, or the history of Hollywood should read this book. Easily one of the more compelling books I have read on film in the past two or three years.

If you have ever dreamed or wondered about what it must have been like to travel cross-country to California in the days of the gold-rush, you will enjoy - and learn from this book. The story is filled with bits of history, some of the heartbreaks and lessons of life, and the challenges and dangers of travel in a covered wagon - with a feel of the huge achievement of crossing the vast west. The story is flowing with human interest, offering young readers the opportunity to identify with Billy's experiences.

A good yarn about the old West
Reviewed by: Pearl Nancarrow (9/21/2005)
History comes alive in this well-researched tale of a young man heading West. Billy becomes part of the vanguard of all that is western when he signs on to help lead a wagon train from Missouri to the gold fields of California. This gem of a story is historically accurate from the wagons and their contents, the place names along the way, to the names of some of the people involved. The story wends its way from adventure to hardship, from pride of achievement, the thrill of new life and to the heartbreak of death along the trail. Billy not only grows up on this trek, he gains wisdom and matures into responsible adulthood. Walter Wood spins a "good yarn", in that a young reader can also learn a great deal about the movement west,and the 1870s in general. As a former teacher, I'd recommend this book for children from grade 3 on up through middle school.

A "must read" adventure story

This was a wonderful book to read,it was very entertaining. It held my attention and I coldn't put it down until I finished!! I live in Wisconsin and love reading about the west. I have lived in Wisconsin my whole life and have never been out west so this book made me feel like I was there. I live in Amery Wisconsin and I'm in the 8th grade. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone.

This book is very informative and is a great book on Gila Monsters and Beaded Lizads. This book was so good I could hardly put it down. This book gave me a greater understanding of Gila monsters and Beaded Lizards. This book is for anyone who wants to learn all aspects of Heloderma Lizards. I Recommend this to anybody who is Interested in them.

An Excellent book. If you want to know anything about Heloderms then this is the book for you. it covers just about every aspect of Gila Monsters and Beaded Lizards that you could hope to know. it has great pictures that that help you understand even better what he's speaking about in the book.

As a member of the Tucson Herpetological Society, I have been hearing of the genesis of this book for years. I wondered, "How could a scientist in cold, wet, Washington write about Gilas and Beadeds?"
The answer was simple. Dan Beck spent many long, hot months in the Deserts of Arizona and surrounding states as well as in the Tropical Dry Forests of Mexico and Guatemala.
The result is a book that has been sorely needed for about a half-century. I picked it up and read it straight through in a few days as if it were a novel or a Harry Potter Book. I actually bought the book as a birthday present for my biologist son but after presenting him the first one, found I really needed to get one for myself as an easy reference to keep on my bookshelf.
I do not pretend to understand all the graphs and charts but I know they are necessary. Maybe someday I shall.
What I did like was the easy flow of the words as Dan Beck told the story of two of the most mysterious animals in the world. So little is known about these two species that often, writers are content to say, "They spend 95% of their time underground" or similar. Dan Beck fleshes out the story of why Heloderma spend so much time out of view and, presumably, underground. I also liked the manner in which the author introduced the next chapter in the last few words of the preceding chapter.For example, the last words of Chapter 4 on Physiological Ecology are,"we must consider their use of habitat and patterns of activity." Chapter 5 is appropriately titled, " Habitat Use and Activity Patterns." This is done a number of times but it took me several chapters to catch on.
One thing that greatly impressed me was the author's use of anecdotal information as well as research driven data from trusted sources. Many "stories" would have been dismissed years ago but are now considered as valuable information due to his own research.
Maybe this will be the beginning of a true understanding of these mysterious reptiles.

This is one of those books every serious herpetologist interested in Heloderms should have. As a former zookeeper, this book would have been very helpful in solving some of the smaller problems with breeding the several subspecies of H. suspectum such as charlesbogerti and alvarezi. Anyone who wants to learn more should own this book for their reference collection.

This scholarly work on the teachings of Bodhidharma sets a new standard. Not only does Broughton provide clear translations, but the volume of informative commentary has made this text my number one Bodhidharma resource. Broughton provides quality with quantity here, explaining unusual phrases from the ancient texts at page bottoms, and endnoting items requiring more thorough treatment. (The endnotes are generally both useful and quite insightful. My only "wish" is that the endnotes could be footnotes instead. This way, the reader could have simultaneous access to both the root text and Broughton's research. As it is, you have to flip back and forth a bit. This is a really minor quibble though, as footnoting everything would have the drawback of making the root text harder to read on its own - mostly by making the pages too "busy.")

This is not a book on "pop Zen"; it is a resource for those seeking to contextualize Tamo's teachings both historically and philosophically. Broughton makes a very good case that the "Two Entrances" commonly attributed to Tamo is actually the work of T'an-lin, an early Sanskritist. He points out that the character of the "Method for Quieting Mind," what he calls "Record I," is more consistent with what we know of Tamo's teaching. Broughton also discusses other members of Bodhidharma's circle, the supporting roles played by other sutras in these texts, and much more.

I believe that I can state objectively that this book represents a superb piece of research, and that Broughton has made Tamo's early teachings very accessible. It is my sincere hope that the author will continue working in this field. For anyone interested in the early development of Zen, this text is a fascinating read.

I live in the Buddhist hell of Too Many Zen Books. This nicely accompanies all my other ones, and clearly stands out in its own right.

Thorough and enlightening. Brilliant insights! Where has Prof. Broughton been all of these years?

Reader's intertested in Bodie's whole history have been ovewhelmed by books claiming to tell its "true" story. The difficult part is knowing which ones are closest to the truth. Two carefully researched books are essential. This is one of them. Piatt's attention to detail and years of research allowed him to tell Bodie's story from beginning to end. This is Bodie's definitive history from which all other books will be judged. Piatt's writing has the ability to describe with ease the complex technical and financial aspects of mining. He also does not neglect the social history of the town and writes about it's entire 100+ year history.
His style is frank and matter o' fact, as one would expect from an engineer, yet once one starts to delve into the facts about Bodie, it's own story is facinating and truly an amaizing tale worth reading.

The other important work on Bodie is Roger D. McGrath's Gunfighters, Highwaymen,& Vigilantes: Violence on the Frontier, which corrects many of America's Wild West shoot-'em-up myths by studying actual crime in two western boomtowns: Aurora, Nevada, during the early 1860's and BODIE, California, around 1880.
Both Piatt and McGrath relied on Contemporary Records, making their books historically accurate as possible and bringing many little-known
facts to light.

Although heavily focused on the history of the Bodie mines rather than the history of the town and its occupants, this is an outstanding work on the most celebrated old west Gold Mine bonanza in the west. The author traces how the highs and lows of the mining camp drove investors in NYC and SF to invest in Bodie's mecurical history. The work is well researched, easy to read and shows the author's meticulous effort to craft an accurate history of the mines of fabled Bodie CA. Superb effort!

Bodie: "The Mines Are Looking Well . . ." is the first comprehensive, serious history of the famous old California ghost town. The author, Michael Piatt, spending two years of his life directly involved with Bodie as a California State Park Aide, leads the reader through a century of gold mining history beginning in 1859. The book, like no other, provides comprehensive details on the mining activity that took place in Bodie! Lavish photo captions, fascinating sidebars, and extensive endnotes are as interesting as the text. The book also contains many photos never before seen in print. Anyone interested in learning about Bodie and its principle industry should begin with this book. An amazing historical compilation of what took place in one of California's Old West ghost towns.

Bottle Houses tells the true story of Grandma Prisbey, artist, collector, and builder. Although not as famous as Simon Rhodia of Watts Tower fame, she similarly constructed edifices out of discarded glass and other objects. Her creative urge led to a whole complex of varied structures, united by the use of found objects. As Grandma Prisbey said, "What some people throw away, I believe I could wear to church." Unfortunately for her-and for us-some of the buildings were damaged by the 1994 quake in Simi Valley, California; however, much remains, and there is a "Preserve Bottle Village Committee" working to restore the Village.

Melissa Slaymaker does a superb job of drawing us into the story. Right away, she describes Prisbey's, nonconformity, and independence: "...she didn't have a house. She was too busy to have one." "Grandma Prisbrey had some land in California, but she didn't have enough money to build a house in a regular way. But Grandma Prisbey wasn't the sort of person who did things in a regular sort of way."

Prisbey went to the local dump, using "what some people throw away" including "furniture, stoves, refrigerators, dishes, clothes, batteries....even dolls. Hundreds of dolls."

The most important of these junked items were the colored bottles. Using everything but milk bottles (apparently against the law) she stacked bottles atop each other and held them in pace with cement. With these as her basic building materials, she built bottle houses for her collections of pencils and dolls, a bottle chapel, bottle birdbath, wishing well, rumpus room, and the round house ("everything in it was round. It had a round fireplace, a round bed, and a round dresser with a round mirror over it." Other creative projects include a house of shells and a "singing tree," hung with thousands of bottles that rang like chimes. She built a pyramid out to headlights and 150 gold lipstick cases, and dyed her three cats (vegetable dye is supposedly safe) pink, green, and blue! Slaymaker and Paschkis portray Grandma Prisbey as an artist without formal training or conventional drawing talent, who still created beautiful, original, works that delight the eye and express her individuality.

The bright illustrations and decorative "folkish" art designs by illustrator Julie Paschkis add greatly to Slaymaker's text. Paschkis captures the luminosity of the colored glass bottles, using shading and reflection in her gouache illustrations. Other illustrations are reminiscent of old stencil patterns and mid-20th century graphics. Paschkis scattered her drawings over the page, yet they retain a uniform style, echoing the feeling and look of Prisbey's Bottle Village. Colors have unusual and beautiful hues, and Paschkis conveys the vivid, multi-colored mosaics accurately and with flair. The back of the book shows photos of Grandma Prisbey, some of the structures and a link to the Preserve Bottle Village Committee website (http://echomatic.home.mindspring.com/by). I strongly suggest viewing the site, and I higly recommend this enjoyable, eye-pleasing book.

Since the days when Simon Rodia built the "Watts Towers" in Los Angeles, I have wanted to visit other projects that were "flights of Imagination" ..... and this story of Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Houses naturally claims my applause. Here's to COLOR, CREATIVITY & INDEPENDENT THINKING ! What fun for the illustrator, and for us all!

In 1956 Grandma P. left her open-road life to settle in Simi Valley,California. She needed room for her souvenir pencil collection first, and a bottle house was the result of salvaged bottles, a strong arm for mixing mortar and persistence. Her sons helped with roofing & hanging doors as her little 'compound' grew.

But this was no Hyannisport! Tressa Prisbrey's unstifled creative juices led to other structures, small & tall: a house for dolls, a bottle chapel, birdbath, wishing well and a bottle Rumpus Room. There is a round House of bottles, and a Singing Tree where more than a thousand bottles hang & sing like wind chimes! She 'branched out' and used other materials, even potted cactus, and she laid pathways for the many gawking visitors & picture-takers.

A "Preserve Bottle Village Committee" works now to protect the future of this imaginative artistry; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. REVIEWER mcHAIKU enthuses over the author & illustrator who bring us Grandma Prisbrey's colors bursting like Roman candles: a memorable legacy for all to share.

This beautifully illustrated children's book tells the story of charmingly quaint Grandma Prisbrey who builds herself a house made of empty bottles (and just a whee bit of mortar) -- making her feel as if she lived inside a rainbow or a diamond. A little glass shed for her pencil collection, a well (made of blue bottles, of course) and a glass chapel are added later on. The furniture -- if she does not build it herself, from bottles -- and all kinds of knick-knacks to make the houses even prettier come from the local dump.

Sounds like a beautiful story? Well, it's a true story. Grandma Prisbrey lived in California, where she built "Bottle Village," later placed on the National Register of Historic Places. 1994, six years after her death, Bottle Village was seriously damaged by an earthquake. This book shows her creations when they were all still sparkling ...

The spiral bounding of the book makes it easy to use in the field, plus the detailed maps and pictures makes finding the boulders easy. I recommend this book highly.

Wow! This is the book I've been waiting for! So. Cal. needed this updated bouldering guide. Great pictures, too!

Excellent new guide for southern CA bouldering. Detailed maps with GPS coordinates. Great photos as well.

My God, what can one say about Nanoi. Feet on the earth. eyes on the stars. The simplicity and wisdom of Lao Tzu, Chaung Tzu, Ryokwan, and the entire linage of the imps and sages come into focus for our age. This is the real deal. out of the ashes of war we have hope. as we hope for for our times, perhaps this song needs to be sung and re affirmed with lust and volume. I shall break my mirror, and I shall sing against the evil and greed of our government in these dark times.

Poems of simple truths that the soul craves, but the mind forgets.

A modern rendering of ancient wisdom gained through experience,not intellect. Touching, intelligent, empty, thorough, leaving nothing untouched butleaving no trace. One of my few personal treasures, a true touchstone. I only wish there was more of his work available.

I read the book looking for an introduction to Japanese feminism more interesting than your average textbook and I was not disappointed. The interviews explore the women's personal interests, projects, and views about feminism. Each interview is supplemented by the a brief biography of the interviewee and an exerpt from something she has written.

Dense and interesting, definitely worth it.

This book breaks the stereotype of the submissive Japanese woman by presenting interviews and written works by Japanese women who are considered to be leading feminists in their fields, surprisingly few of those academic. It shows that Japanese feminists have the same concerns as American feminists, but they continue to focus on the family and mother roles as the saving grace of society. It's a refreshing viewpoint away from radical feminism, and it made me rethink my definitions of feminism. There are extensive references to Japanese culture and language, which may be hard to follow for those not familiar with Japan, but a good chronology and glossary are provided. It covers such issues as abortion, pornography, fertility treatments, and environmentalism. It's a very interesting book without the heavy obscure jargon of most academic publications. I highly recommend it if your interest lies in Japan, feminism, or both!

this book was really useful for me while i was working on my senior thesis. but i think that it would be a good read for anyone who is interested in feminism and women's issues. japanese feminisms have many differences from american feminisms, but at the same time, there are quite a few parallel. one of the best parts of this book was the section on the translated version of our bodies ourselves.

If you enjoy historical books about Asian American or California history, this is a "must read." Lani Ah Tye Farkas tells the fascinating true story of her great grandfather, who arrived in California in the early 1850s and overcame racial oppression and other challenges to successfully settle in America. She then traces the fortunes of his progeny, and tells their stories through two generations. The resulting book accurately portrays the many struggles and challenges that early Chinese immigrants faced in California in the last century and a half. The book features wonderful family photographs, some tragic stories, and is fully footnoted.

If you enjoy historical books about Asian American or California history, this is a "must read." Lani Ah Tye Farkas tells the fascinating true story of her great grandfather, who arrived in California in the early 1850s and overcame racial oppression and other challenges to successfully settle in America. She then traces the fortunes of his progeny, and tells their stories through two generations. The resulting book accurately portrays the many struggles and challenges that early Chinese immigrants faced in California in the last century and a half. The book features wonderful family photographs, some tragic stories, and is fully footnoted.

This beautifully illustrated and written story of a Chinese immigrant is fascinating in its scope, detail, and in putting his experience in the context of our California history. As a fourth generation Chinese, there was much here that I did not know about my ancestors' struggles and triumphs, courage and tragedies. Enjoy this wonderful story and receive an education.