Event Planning : The Ultimate Guide to Successful Meetings, Corporate Events, Fundraising Galas, Conferences, Conventions, Incentives and Other Special Events

Book Description

For event planners, there's no such thing as a dress rehearsal!

Any event you plan and stage is a reflection of your company's image — from the initial invitation to onsite operations. Whether you're planning a product launch, conference, sales meeting, an incentive event, or a gala fund-raiser, remember that the magic of a truly memorable event is in the details, but so is the devil. Special events are fraught with thousands of details, and have to come off without a hitch. Whether your event is for 50 or 2,000 people, whether it has a budget of a few thousand dollars, or hundreds of thousands, planning and executing the project is like a high-wire act without the safety nets. Event Planning gives you a blueprint for planning and executing special events with flair and without any unexpected surprises and expenses. This unique book is loaded with practical advice on every aspect of organizing and managing special events:

Choosing the best venue
Preparing and managing the budget
Scheduling and staffing
Coordinating food and beverage, décor, entertainment, and themes
Working with professionals, such as public relations firms and creative directors.

What you don't know or know to ask can have a major effect on the success of your event and on your budget. Event Planning takes you through every aspect of organizing and executing a successful event: the planning stages, timing and logistics, budget preparation, operations, and on-site management. Event Planning:

Includes sample costing forms to help you generate a detailed project plan and budget.
Explains what you need to ask before you contract with suppliers.
Is loaded with practical tips and examples that will help you avoid expensive mistakes.
Features a companion website with forms from the book, additional forms, author Q&A, and more.

Event Planning takes you behind the scenes, and provides practical tools for anyone who has to plan and execute a truly special event:

Corporate in-house event planners
Public relations and communications companies, and their clients
Marketing and corporate communications professionals
Fundraisers and not-for-profit organizations
Professionals in the hospitality and entertainment industries

Customer Reviews:

Not for beginners and not for professionals.......2007-05-03

It is hard to tell who this book is geared towards. A novice should not take on any event that is as over their head; as most of the event situations that are listed in the book are. A professional would know from experience the answers to most of the questions or they would have the common sense to take care of any odd situation that arose. The book may be helpful to assistant managers or banquet captains, but most houses have their own way of doing things. Interesting read and a good refresher, buy used.

Very useful Hand Book.......2007-03-10

It was very useful to me as I used it to brak into the wedding/event business. It presents a very corporate approach, yet it seems to uncover all kinds of secrets of the event world that are hidden to the public eye.

This Book is Alright.......2006-08-09

Being an avid reader of Event Planning literature, I must say that this book is alright.

Packed with Knowledge!.......2005-10-14

Details, details, details. That's really what successful event planning is all about, and that's the key to this very successful event-planning manual. Author Judy Allen notes, lists, copes with and gives an example of virtually every detail in planning anything from a sedate corporate event in a major city to a huge celebration on a remote island. She provides examples galore plus tips, questions and answers, sample cost sheets and schedules. How much floor space does a person need to be comfortable in a tent? Answer: 20 square feet. How many bathrooms should be available for a party? Answer: One per 75 guests. And don't forget to ask about the stemware, adequate parking and even the photographer's back-up camera battery. This author seems to have thought every contingency, as the book's ambitious title promises. Her one glaring omission is that she does not include the party planner's fee - our guess is that she'd be worth it. We highly recommend this well-organized, very practical book to all event planners. Don't send out press releases for your party without consulting Judy Allen.

Great book.......2005-10-01

This is a great book for anyone interested in working in the event planning field.

Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy

Average customer rating:

Life minus dance equals zero
ecstasy is innate
A compelling read
SAVE THE WORLD......DANCE!
an invitation to think, not a history of dance

Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy
Barbara Ehrenreich
Manufacturer: Metropolitan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0805057234
Release Date: 2007-01-09

Book Description

From the bestselling social commentator and cultural historian, a fascinating exploration of one of humanity’s oldest traditions: the celebration of communal joy

In the acclaimed Blood Rites, Barbara Ehrenreich delved into the origins of our species’ attraction to war. Here, she explores the opposite impulse, one that has been so effectively suppressed that we lack even a term for it: the desire for collective joy, historically expressed in ecstatic revels of feasting, costuming, and dancing.

Ehrenreich uncovers the origins of communal celebration in human biology and culture. Although sixteenth-century Europeans viewed mass festivities as foreign and “savage,” Ehrenreich shows that they were indigenous to the West, from the ancient Greeks’ worship of Dionysus to the medieval practice of Christianity as a “danced religion.” Ultimately, church officials drove the festivities into the streets, the prelude to widespread reformation: Protestants criminalized carnival, Wahhabist Muslims battled ecstatic Sufism, European colonizers wiped out native dance rites. The elites’ fear that such gatherings would undermine social hierarchies was justified: the festive tradition inspired French revolutionary crowds and uprisings from the Caribbean to the American plains. Yet outbreaks of group revelry persist, as Ehrenreich shows, pointing to the 1960s rock-and-roll rebellion and the more recent “carnivalization” of sports.

Original, exhilarating, and deeply optimistic, Dancing in the Streets concludes that we are innately social beings, impelled to share our joy and therefore able to envision, even create, a more peaceable future.

Customer Reviews:

Life minus dance equals zero.......2007-09-29

What is it about the human psyche that almost demands that one take off the social mask, shed inhibition, and engage in behavior requiring sizable kinetic energy, behavior of which is sometimes totally beyond the pale of acceptable standards of conduct? Is this behavior an intrinsic human need, or maladjustment that requires tuning or even rescuing by those cultures that do not stoop to the writhing and bodily contortions of the primitive, backward cultures that do? Is stillness, is the sterile boardroom composure that appears settled and refined, an acid test for rationality? Can one indeed be rational and still indulge periodically in the drunken-Mount-of-Ephesus-like ecstasy of the ancient Greeks? Is dance a sign of social decadence or proof of social health, and if the former why do so many people throughout history risk reprisal by authorities by joining their friends, neighbors, and strangers to "dance in the streets?"

This book provides an excellent context to begin to answer these questions. Although the book is short, and frequently provides only anecdotal evidence for its assertions, both its statements and conclusions are plausible, and the author exhibits an intellectual honesty that is becoming rare in today's intellectual circles. She is very aware, and admits so throughout the book, that much more evidence is needed to conclude some of the claims that are made between its pages. It is a book that puts human movement on a pedestal, as an object or worship and as an activity that respects tradition as well as rebels against it. When one reaches its final pages, one becomes more convinced that dance, that is, dance with no inhibitions or restraints, or "dancing in the streets", is part of being human, a necessity like air, food, and water. A culture that has it is a vibrant and confident one. A culture where it is absent is a dysfunctional one.

But as the author details in the book, many attempts are made to suppress the out-of-equilibrium ethos of dance, sometimes by persuasion or intimidation, but most often by force. And most of the world's major religions have been all too happy to assist with this. They demand stillness in their subjects: movements resembling even in the slightest the ignorant savages of tribal cultures are an anathema. One must not be too elemental-to close to the jungle, if one is to have a higher, organized, rational culture. But even the most zealous of efforts fails to rid the world of the pestilence of dance. It reappears, as the author shows, in the sports stadiums throughout the civilized world, and in the high fidelity, high-decibel, trance-inducing rock concerts of the same.

The author ends the book lamenting the state of the planet and hoping for a revival of the translation of potential to kinetic energy that is the street dance. Her concerns are to be noted but there is really no cause for worry. There is plenty of energy, plenty of activity, plenty of innovation, plenty of action in this ruckus of scientific and technological advancement, in this incredible outpouring of creativity that is stirring up the conceptual dust. In this carnival called the twenty-first century.

ecstasy is innate.......2007-09-22

Dance Anthropologists, Dance Makers, Cultural Anthropologists, those seeking a community to call their own, and those who long to be invited to 'the dance' will all delight in this extraordinary tale, ehemm I mean history. Barbara invites us all back to the dance, our place of connectedness, ecstasy, and pure expression of life (and culture). Try to read this and not feel its truth in your neurological wiring. Read Anya Royce Peterson and then this, or this and then Anya, or Levi Strauss and then this, or this and then Strauss. But whatever you do, don't overlook this book. I haven't yet read Ehrenreich's Blood Rites: the origins and history of the passion of war, but she makes a strong argument that it is the other half of this story, and it will surely be my next read.

A compelling read.......2007-08-30

This is an interesting and compelling book to read. Although, I cannot comment on the accuracy of the historical information, the descriptions of rock concerts and sports events in today's world are consistent with my observations. I would add that political events that involve large numbers of people also share the same attributes: chanting, moving, and collective engagement.

SAVE THE WORLD......DANCE!.......2007-07-18

I totally connect with this book! Ehrenreich has done a brilliant job of:
1)Thinking of the subject in the first place; 2)Knowing how important it is to connect up the lack of Celebration and Joy with the history of Patriarchy; 3)Weaving the quotes of many authors through the historical sequence to demonstrate the vividness of Celebration/Ecstatic experiences. As well as demonstrating the suppression of such.
This book presents a wholy new perspective on the innards and basic instincts that are the invisible pulse of patriarchy. The "head' part of patriarchy, linear analytical thinking, suppressed the "heart" part, the
social/emotional feelings, that are natural to human being-ness.
This book gives much Hope for our ability, innate and alive, to blossom more fully into Joy as we continue our practical and political grassroots growth. We all want Community and, happily, Community and Celebration, work symbiotically to energize the natural pulse of humanity...Joy.
THERE'LL BE DANCIN'....DANCIN' IN THE STREETS!

an invitation to think, not a history of dance.......2007-06-30

Barbara Ehrrenreich is a writer and thinker involved in the exploration of social phenomenon. She is certainly a political thinker and definitely has a point of view about social phenomena as they impact modern life. She is not an historian or an anthropologist. I'm at a loss to understand the criticism of this book based on what it never pretends itself to be, a history of dance or an anthropological study of the ecstatic phenomenon.
Several people have found it necessary to point out that Barbara Ehrenreich is on the left politically and a product of the 1960s with an "ah hah" mentality that seems to indicate she has has somehow tried to hide this, or that it inherently shameful. Social thinkers who propose changes in the way we currently conduct our lives or our society ALWAYS have ideas which they promote (pejoratively described as biases) because they actively advocate for change. It would be dishonest to attempt to hide them behind a false "objectivity."
This kind of false "objectivity" has sapped the life, not only from much that passes for social commentary, but also from investigative journalism, in which the collection of a quote or two from "authorities" on each side of a conflict has replaced the search for the truth about a given situation. It has also lead to the false notion that the truth is always located in the middle of the road.
Bravo to Barbara Ehrenreich who never hides behind this sort of fakery in her search for the truth as she sees it. She invites readers to join the dance of two mindes, the writer's and the reader's, in thinking about topics that engage her own thoughts.
Some critics seem to be attacking the fact that her writing is interesting and fun to read. Never fear! I managed to read the book and enjoy it very much while maintaining my critical faculties and without agreeing with every one of Ehrenreich's conclusions. I did learn a lot AND my mind was engaged to think about dance and the human capacity for collective joy in ways that are new and exciting to me.

Castle: Medieval Days and Knights (A Sabuda & Reinhart Pop-up Book)

Average customer rating:

What a wonderful book it is!!!!!!
Another intricate and exciting adventure
Castle: Medieval Days and Knights
Buy 2, Use 1
Wonderful pop-up book!

Castle: Medieval Days and Knights (A Sabuda & Reinhart Pop-up Book)
Kyle Olmon
Manufacturer: Orchard Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Architecture | Arts & Music | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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Christmas Pop-up

ASIN: 043954324X

Book Description

Over fifteen intricate pop-ups accompany Sabuda and Reinhart's fascinating text, which guides readers through the different aspects of life in a medieval castle. Readers will learn about knighting ceremonies, battles, and feasts. The true majesty of castles is fully realized when this book is opened to reveal a stunning 3-dimensional medieval world.

Customer Reviews:

What a wonderful book it is!!!!!!.......2007-10-04

My boy is 6 and he's so interested of castles and knights.
and this pop up book is so amazing book for kids.
My kid had a shouting whenever i read the next page
i recommand this book for boy agess 6 to 12.

Another intricate and exciting adventure.......2007-10-03

My son received this book for his 4th birthday and has been enjoying it at different levels over the past year. At first, he loved looking for the knights, admiring the intricate pop-ups, and listening to parts of the text about knights and their castles.

Now that he is 5, he is enjoying the book at a different level, spending longer moments discovering the surprises each page has to offer, and listening to the text with a greater attention to detail.

Of course, many of our grown-up guests enjoy looking at all of our Sabuda and Reinhart books as well. They are great fun and a true wonder!

Castle: Medieval Days and Knights.......2007-08-16

I am simply amazed that you can buy a high quality Sabuda pop-up book for such a reasonable price. These books are too nice for children who simply cannot appreciate the work that must have gone into creating them. Each one is a piece of art -- I just love them. I am convinced that eventually they will be too expensive to produce.

Buy 2, Use 1.......2007-07-14

Fascinating Pop-up book will spark the imagination of children and adults alike. Fun facts provide a glimpse into Medieval lives and are never dry. Kyle Olman came to our school and gave our 5th graders a demonstration on creating their own pop up knight, and happens to be an extremely kind and patient teacher as well as an incredible new author/artist!

Wonderful pop-up book!.......2007-07-11

Although this is clearly a book for older children and my son is only 16 months old, he already LOVES this book! (although secretly, I think my husband possibly enjoys it even more!) We've had it for 2 months now, and he still oohs and aahs as each page is turned (the boy, not the man!). His favorite is the interactive page in the middle where pulling on the arrowed tabs bring "life" to all of the medieval workers doing their jobs. We keep the book on a high shelf out of his reach, to keep him from damaging it accidentally. He eagerly requests to see it several times a week. It's interesting to me how he's never treated the Sabuda & Reinhart pop-up books (we have 3 - "Sharks" and "Dinosaurs" are just as amazing, although very different, from this one) in the same rough manner as he does with his other "toddler" books. Somehow, he knew these books are not the same. Even at his young age, he knows he has to let Mommy or Daddy help him with the delicate pages, and he gets SO excited with all of the amazing "action"! Excellent! Wonderful gift for any child.

Average customer rating:

for the serious intermediate student
Excellent insight!

Les Francais (3rd Edition)
Laurence Wylie , and Jean-Francois Briere
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0130307742

Book Description

This book helps North Americans better understand the French by taking an in-depth look at French culture, and using history and cultural anthropology to illuminate the present. It offers an interpretation of some historical roots of French attitudes and institutions, as well as the changes in French society over the past three decades, to suggest and predict patterns of behavior. Offering a comparative outlook, this book provides a framework—for those with an advanced command of the French language—to describe France and the French in relation to others and to themselves. Chapter topics explore French points of view, family structures, the structure of society, religion, and more. For individuals with a good understanding of the French language—looking for a better understanding of everything else French.

Customer Reviews:

for the serious intermediate student.......2007-09-10

Les Francais by Laurence Wylie is worth its textbook price for the serious intermediate student of French. Meticulously edited so that its material is coherant, demanding and ultimately accessible, it offers intelligent and objective commentary on the history and current trends of contemporary French culture. As an adult student of French language (and hence to some degree an autodidact) I hesitated before buying the book, partly due to its price and partly due to my concern that a textbook might not be useful outside a classroom environment. Yet among all the useful books on French language and culture I've bought, it's probably the best value and the best use of my time I've encountered.

Excellent insight!.......2001-01-20

This book gives excellent insight into the differences between the French and the American. The authors do an excellent job of describing and explaining the influences on French children and young adults that form their societal views on the world. Each section gives excellent description of essential differences and similarities between the two on the various aspects of life, including body language, history, weather, etc. It also helps if you read French fluently.

The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries (P.S.)

Average customer rating:

Includes Some Spirited Obituaries
A Shining Star!
"I write about dead people!"
It's the stories, stupid
Short stories of the dead...

The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries (P.S.)
Marilyn Johnson
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Obituaries in American Culture

ASIN: 0060758767
Release Date: 2007-01-30

Amazon.com

Once upon a time, journalism profs duly instructed their greenhorn grads to seek out community papers and the obit pages as logical entrance points into the world of newspaper reporting. Working for cash-strapped local papers allowed novices to practice writing everything from hard news to lifestyle features. Obituaries, meanwhile, were a rung on the ladder of major publications, albeit the lowest. The musty, dusty obit pages also traditionally hosted aging reporters put out to pasture. Not any more, argues Marilyn Johnson in her unabashedly knock-kneed love letter to the obit pages, The Dead Beat. Today, august publications like The New York Times, England's Daily Telegraph, Independent, and The Economist, and Canada's Globe and Mail use exalted members of the fourth estate to turn out smart, hip tributes to widespread, almost cultish, acclaim. Why? Because, as Johnson persuasively demonstrates in her book, truth is almost always stranger than fiction and a well-written, deeply researched obit is not only a vital historical record but a damn fine read over coffee and toast. "God is my assignment editor," cracks Richard Pearson of the Washington Post and if that isn't more interesting than what's going on in your city council chambers, author Johnson and those working the so-called Dead Beat don't know what is.

As Johnson explains in free-wheeling prose, today's obit writers are virtual folk heroes with global Internet followings and their own conventions. With care and an ear for gentle humor, Johnson guides her readers through the surprisingly structured, labyrinthine obit scene, pausing to meet the writers while pondering both the essence of our being and why, in the right hands, the life of an average Joe can be just as riveting as the shenanigans of a high-flying playboy. And infinitely more resonant. Savvy J-school professors and their students are advised to take heed. --Kim Hughes

Book Description

Marilyn Johnson was enthralled by the remarkable lives that were marching out of this world—so she sought out the best obits in the English language and the people who spent their lives writing about the dead. She surveyed the darkest corners of Internet chat rooms, and made a pilgrimage to London to savor the most caustic and literate obits of all. Now she leads us on a compelling journey into the cult and culture behind the obituary page and the unusual lives we don't quite appreciate until they're gone.

Customer Reviews:

Includes Some Spirited Obituaries.......2007-10-01

This review focuses on just one obituary, that of Frank Zielony. First appearing in the OREGONIAN, it included the following: "Frank Zielony might have lived his entire life as a Polish farmer and brick maker like his father, in the plains of what is now the Ukraine. But in 1939, war came. Soviet troops showed up at 7 o'clock on a dark morning in early 1940 and told the entire village...that they had half an hour to prepare to leave the country. They were packed in cattle cars and deported to Siberia--among more than a million non-Jewish Poles forced into slave labor camps. That's how Frank...came to be cutting down trees and making railroad ties in sub-zero weather." (p. 122)

In commenting on the foregoing obituary, Johnson writes: "The story of Zielony's survival and immigration to the Pacific Northwest, and his life helping other Polish Catholics survive, was one of those great obituaries that are made to be reread. Dark and gritty, but suffused with spirit, it was written by someone inspired." (p. 123)

A Shining Star!.......2007-06-28

Brilliantly written, absorbing and full of incredible details, this book is one of the best non-fiction volumes I've ever read!

"I write about dead people!".......2007-03-26

It's difficult to imagine an entire book dedicated to telling the average reader about those folks who write obituaries for a living. This book, however, takes on that daunting task, and fully delivers, with information and humor. Those of us who don't do this kind of writing can't imagine that it is an intense experieance for the writer, especially those who sytrive to give the reader a close insight into the person who has died. We learn about the newspapers that contain the "best" obituaries, and also those writers who are considered at the top of this unusual pyramid. If you want to be informed, and entertained, about a very unusual subject, you can't go wrong with this book.

It's the stories, stupid.......2007-03-13

Marilyn Johnson proves that good stories are the product of good reporting. Her inquiry into the art of the obituary takes her to far-flung corners of the globe,and she gets the goods wherever she goes. Through her, we meet some of the finest obituarists on the planet, and we learn how they capture and tell the stories of lives great and small. This is a jewel of a book, joyfully free of typographical and grammatical errors. It has been written and edited with care, and it holds your attention from the first page to the last.

Short stories of the dead..........2007-02-19

Who could predict that the obituaries would become the most widely read portion of today's newspapers. Just as Mary Roach's "Stiff" explored what happens to your body after you're dead, Marilyn Johnson's "Dead Beat" opens our eyes to the written legacy that the obituarist leaves--essentially the short story of a life. There is an art to this, as revealed in some of the delightful excerpts in her book--the best obits don't just recite vital statistics, but rather spotlight the "specialness" (quirky habits, unusual talents, life-changing moments, etc) of the individual as gleaned from interviews with families and friends. I like the idea that the obit focuses the reader's attention on the life of one person, whether famous or not, and then demands an acknowledgement of the loss of that particular bundle of DNA, never to be duplicated. Full of wit and thoughtful exploration of a rarely discussed subject, this book is a real winner.

Average customer rating:

Was It Translated From French To Greek?
THE HEART OF THE MATTER OF TERRORISM
Enigmatic and enlightening
Incomparable style and scholarship
a book that changed the way I think

The Practice of Everyday Life
Michel de Certeau
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520236998

Book Description

Michel de Certeau considers the uses to which social representation and modes of social behavior are put by individuals and groups, describing the tactics available to the common man for reclaiming his own autonomy from the all-pervasive forces of commerce, politics, and culture. In exploring the public meaning of ingeniously defended private meanings, de Certeau draws brilliantly on an immense theoretical literature in analytic philosophy, linguistics, sociology, semiology, and anthropology--to speak of an apposite use of imaginative literature.

Customer Reviews:

Was It Translated From French To Greek?.......2006-05-31

I went to a reasonably good university, and got 580 on verbal SATs, but I can't seem to put the words of this translation together in a way that makes sense. So just to let you readers of average intelligence, like me, know before you spend your money, read the sample pages first. I can't give this book any stars because I don't know if it's any good.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER OF TERRORISM.......2004-04-30

This book - whose subject is the tactics employed by those at odds with institutions physical and intellectual - offers profound insights not only into terrorism and the tools available to terrorists but also the deep philosophical and psychological rift between the Western and Arab worlds. It fact after reading the book I am convinced that efforts to combat terrorism are doomed to failure until the issues in this book are both discussed and absorbed by people in charge of counter-terrorism (on the policy level and on the enforcement side) and the public at large. Though it's not an easy read (What philosophical discourse is an easy read?), it is illuminates the battleground between the institution which imposes order (democracy for instance) and it's improvising enemy, who operates within the dominant force's own field of vision and seizes opportunities as they arise. It would give me great feeling of reassurance if FBI and CIA counter-terrorism officials used it as a practical guide.

Enigmatic and enlightening.......2003-01-13

Sometimes I am simply proud that I have read a book. This slim volume falls into that category. The fourteen short chapters explode with new ideas, fresh perspectives, and tantalizing viewpoints. To summarize these riches is unlikely to do them justice, yet I will try.

De Certeau inverts social values and cultural hierarchies. His hero metaphor is not the exemplar, but rather the ant. Wisdom resides not in the pronouncement of expert or philosopher, but in the routine discourse between ordinary people. To De Certeau the definitional constraints imposed by the experts result in artificial distinctions. Only the discourse of ordinary people is firmly rooted in experience and embraces the varieties and logical complexities of living.

Among these complexities of life is the amazing adaptive capacity of the ordinary. Even the most oppressive and controlling of cultures cannot eradicate the subversive agency of the peasant. This subversive agency is expressed through mythic stories, common proverbs, and verbal tricks. De Certeau refers to the adaptive capacity of the ordinary as tactics of living, and these tactics may be best exemplified when the worker does the personal while on the clock.

The distinction between strategy and tactics is central to De Certeau's thought. Strategy refers to the top-down exercise of power to coerce compliance. Tactics refer to the opportunistic manipulations offered by circumstance. The conflict between strategies and tactics is ironic - as strategic forces expand to increase dominance, there is a corresponding increase in opportunity for tactical subversion.

De Certeau relates his ideas to the theoretical work of Foucault and Bourdieu, and continues his inverted perspective by looking anew at the concept of city, commuter travel by rail, story telling, writing, reading, and believing.

This book is more of a riddle than a narrative; de Certeau provides glimpses of his meaning from time to time, but deliberately avoids propositional clarity. This style requires that the reader take an unusual stance toward this book. Instead of expecting the author to communicate, the reader must content himself with hints and suggestions of meaning. I am convinced that these hints and suggestions are more than worth the reader's investment of time. Find a quiet place and enjoy!

Incomparable style and scholarship.......2002-08-15

Michel de Certeau's brilliant book is one of the primary nodes in the historical switchbox that eventually crossed the signals that led us through structuralism and practice theory to critical realism and Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things. His classic exploration of everyday life will send flashes of light and pleasure through the mind on a constant basis - his dense, absolutely masterful, and witty expository quasi-poetry on economy, power, and practice is essentially an extended series of aphorisms, upon any one of which an entire essay could be based. And a good one, at that.

What we have here is a celebration of the everyday, the common, the mundane, and the wonderful capacity of life to resist systematization and classification via its organic flexibility and espirit de corps. It is a wonderful wake-up call: "A few individuals, after having long considered themselves experts speaking a scientific language, have finally awoken from their slumbers and suddenly realized that for the last few moments they have been walking on air, like Felix the Cat in the old cartoons, far from the scientific ground. Though legitimized by scientific knowledge, their discourse is seen to have been no more than the ordinary language of tactical games between economic powers and symbolic authorities."

Writing in the tradition of Lefevbre (more so than anyone else who comes to mind at the moment), his work touches upon contemporary Foucault and Bourdieu only briefly and then moves on to do much more. For example, in the way of analyses of strategic and tactical behavior, resistances, spatial practices, sublatern hermeneutics, and state/scientific ideologies of secrecy and knowledge. In de Certeau, we see not just a clearing of the intellectual path for towering figures such as Baudrillard, Bourdieu, Giddens, Lash, Appadurai, and Taussig (to name only a handful) - enabling them to come whistling along with their variously insightful ideas from A to Z - but we see it done with a panache and "Ich weiss es nicht" that is memorable in the persona it invokes.

And as long as you're sitting on the Paris-Munchen ICE, scratching your chin and contemplating the axiological implications of beer or coffee at 9am, I can't think of anything better to read than de Certeau's comments on the rite of passage of Railway Incarceration and Navigation (Chapter VIII), in which a whole series of transformations is extracted from the mundane in a suprahumane and very-French manner. Bon voyage!

a book that changed the way I think.......2002-01-14

This is one of the great books of French post-structuralist thought. I realize that to some people that might be like saying "one of the nicest Nazis I know." But for those who don't immediately dismiss the entire genre, there is much to be gained from reading, and rereading, this book.

In essence, Certeau is challenging the rather despairing vision of Foucault's The Order of Things, with its image of the panopticon from which no one can escape. Certeau focuses on everyday practices to see how people do in fact escape the all-seeing gaze of the panopticon. In particular his distinction between "strategy" and "tactics" is useful and intriguing.

The language is highly poetic and at times difficult going, but *how* Certeau says what he says is in some ways as important as *what* he says. He wants to write in a way that at the same time uses and escapes the constraints of ordinary language. It takes some getting used to, but it is worth it.

The Knot Guide to Wedding Vows and Traditions: Readings, Rituals, Music, Dances, and Toasts
Average customer rating:

GREAT!!! Do yourself a favor and just get it!

Unique readings for weddings

weddings

Spotlight on Ceremony

A Great Beginning

The Knot Guide to Wedding Vows and Traditions: Readings, Rituals, Music, Dances, and Toasts
Carley Roney , and Editors Of The Knot
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Knot Complete Guide to Weddings in the Real World: The Ultimate Source of Ideas, Advice, and Relief for the Bride and Groom and Those Who Love Them.

Weddings from the Heart: Contemporary and Traditional Ceremonies for an Unforgettable Wedding

Wedding Readings: Centuries of Writing and Rituals on Love and Marriage

ASIN: 0767902483
Release Date: 2000-12-26

Amazon.com

When planning for the big day, it's very easy to get caught up in beaded white dresses, boutonnieres, and how many platters of mini crab cakes to order, but the most important part of the wedding is the most-often overlooked--the ceremony itself. A wedding ceremony can vary hugely depending on the religious (or not) beliefs of the couple, their cultural backgrounds, and their personal preferences. The Knot Guide to Wedding Vows and Traditions can help you sort through all the choices and come up with just the right vows and music for you and your intended.

Do you want the traditional "I, so and so, take thee, so and so, to be my lawfully wedding husband/wife before God" or do you want a looser style: "I love you. And I look forward to being your friend and companion, your wife/husband and lover for life"? Carley Roney, author and editor-in-chief of The Knot (www.theknot.com), strongly suggests taking a stab at writing your own vows, but if that's just too much, cull what you like from the many different styles--from Buddhist to Quaker--offered. Readings can be from the Bible or other spiritual writings, from poetry or even song lyrics. A diverse selection of writings and excerpts are included as are a lengthy lists of songs and music for before the ceremony, the processional, the recessional, and the first dance (everything from Bach's "Brandenberg Concerto No. 4" to Martina McBride's "I Love You").

Also included here are chapters on the wedding program, ring exchanges, and speeches and toasts. Interspersed are stories and pictures of real couples and how they arranged their wedding day. Meant as a jolt to your imagination, The Knot Guide to Wedding Vows and Traditions helps you to put a very personal touch on an age-old ceremony. --Dana Van Nest

Book Description

From the #1 wedding Web site and the author of The Knot Complete Guide To Weddings In The Real World, a comprehensive guide to choosing the perfect words and music for your wedding.

In her third book in The Knot series, Carley Roney has created a complete guide to wedding vows, toasts, and readings that is the perfect resource for wedding couples, bridesmaids, best men, and parents alike. Drawing on wedding traditions and customs from around the world, The Knot Complete Guide To Wedding Vows And Traditionsincludes real-world information on:

—Vows, from the traditional "to have and to hold" to creating your own
—Rituals from a variety of traditions–breaking the glass, cutting the cake–and their history and significance
—Toasts, from the classics to advice on writing your own, as well as toasting etiquette and tips on choosing your toastmaster
—Readings, spanning various customs and heritages, poetry and prose, plus sources for finding your own selections
—Music–complete lists of popular options to help you chose the perfect songs from the processional to the last dance

Customer Reviews:

GREAT!!! Do yourself a favor and just get it!.......2007-09-14

I'm planning a wedding and looking for different ideas for vows and readings - and this book was awesome! Great book with TONS of ideas - i earmarked a TON of pages. I was reluctant to get it at first just b/c it was "the knot" - even though they are the so called "wedding guru's"...you know....I just thought others might have other insightful advice....well, not so...trust me - just go buy the knot's guide - it was the best! (at least for me!)

Unique readings for weddings.......2006-11-10

The Knot Guide to Wedding Vows and Traditions has some unique passages that are not commonly used, as well as traditional readings. If you are planning an unique ceremony, this book is worth the purchase.

weddings.......2006-11-10

The knot guide to weddings was a wonderful purchase. We have used this book so much for the wedding.

Spotlight on Ceremony.......2006-11-06

It's great to see a book that focuses on what's clearly the most important part of a wedding - the ceremony itself. Ironically this is the part of wedding planning that's often missing from wedding magazines so a book like this can be useful. It takes you back to basics with a look at how you can personalise the pivotal part of your day with readings, vows and rituals to make your wedding as unique as your relationship.

A Great Beginning.......2006-11-06

This book provides a wide variety of traditions to look at when you are just beginning your wedding plans. It is great to focus on the choices you have in the ceremony amid all the choices you have to make for the reception.

The Church Visible: The Ceremonial Life and Protocol of the Roman Catholic Church

Average customer rating:

Very good, but not great
Roman Tradition, Lite
Window into the world of the Princes of the Catholic Church.
A fascinating look at the pomp and protocol of the Vatican
A primer for all

The Church Visible: The Ceremonial Life and Protocol of the Roman Catholic Church
James-Charles Noonan
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0670867454

Customer Reviews:

Very good, but not great.......2006-04-20

For starters, this isn't a general interest book. Only people who have personal interest in protocol, vestments, precedence, ceremony, etc. If you're looking for something lighter, this isn't the way to go, especially with almost no copies around being sold for less than $100.

If you're like me and you're into these things, this book is a pretty good investment. It's also a must-have reference books if you're, say, an organizer for a party that will have Catholic clerics as guests. The book even gives proper seating plans and the proper order for processions.

It offers more than what you can find by simply looking on the internet. Like, the most authoritative source on the net is probably the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia, but the problem with the Catholic Encyclopedia is that their articles are ridiculously ancient, having been written before 1920. Remember that after Vatican II, a lot of the rules, procedures and vestments changed, so a lot of what the Catholic Encyclopedia has is just irrelevant today. The Church Visible has more current info.

It has a few flaws. Even with the ridiculously-high market price that's out for this book these days, it's still rather lacking. The author tells us about the vestments and clothes, including their histories. However, he fails to tell us why the vestments are the way they are, what symbolism was put into why they look that way. If the vestments had no reason for being the way they are, then they're useless. There is great symbolism in them and we must not forget that.

It would have been nice if the author could have included info about the Eastern Catholic vestments, rites, protocol, precedence, etc.

A couple extra bonuses in the book, in the back they have the names and addresses of various Roman tailors where you can buy the goods, and the beginning section of the book has some stuff to do with Conclaves. In the case of the latter, however, the info on Conclaves isn't as in-depth as you'd probably like. For books that give a deeper study into Conclaves and current events with the Church, look for books by John Allen, which are far more in-depth than The Church Visible.

This book came out ten years ago. I think it's a good idea for them to make a new edition of it, not only to keep everything updated, but also so that the high prices for the book can be lowered.

Roman Tradition, Lite.......2001-07-19

This book is a disappointment to the serious scholar of the ceremonial traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. While the sections on current etiquette and papal knighthoods are rather handy (at least if you're planning to have dinner with an Archbishop anytime soon), the large section on clerical dress is inaccurate beyond belief, particularly when it is realized that the author had been a seminarian who studied in Rome. Besides a lack of knowledge of pre-Vatican II usages, there is a certain tone of disdain or impatience taken toward them that this reviewer, an experienced Master of Ceremonies at two churches that offer the traditional Latin Mass with full approval from Rome, does not consider to be a very "catholic" attitude in any sense. Much more useful, fully accurate information on Catholic clerical dress, insignia, and ceremonial will be found in the classic and easily-found (though out-of-print) manuals of Nainfa and McCloud, and the rare (but well worth it) "Ius Pontificalium" of Mgr Nabuco. To sum up, this item will be an expensive, pretentious, mostly misinformative waste of money for the average reader who wants to know more about the externals of Catholic worship and protocol.

Window into the world of the Princes of the Catholic Church........2000-07-15

Fascinating work detailing the sometimes bewildering and archaic sights, sounds and ceremonies of the upper echelons of the Roman Church. A "must-read" for Vatican watchers and liturgists. This book describes the proper forms and protocols of upper-Church functions and rites and relates the history and proper usage of the emblems and insignia. This book is decidedly traditional... if you're looking for expressions of post Vatican II liturgical experimentalism, you will not find it here.

A fascinating look at the pomp and protocol of the Vatican.......2000-05-04

"The Church Visible" is not about Catholic theology or doctrine, but it does concern an area of no less fascination and interest: the ceremonial life, protocol, and ritual of the Roman Catholic Church. Although late 20th century Catholics might tend to think of the Church as a purely spiritual entity, for nearly 1500 years it was also a political powerhouse and the source of almost all of the culture and customs of Western Europe. "The Church Visible" examines the present-day incarnation of the Church in her external life: ceremonies, traditions, vestments, insignia, protocol, and temporal and spiritual governance.

The book is divided into five sections: the Vatican itself, papal honors including orders of knighthood, Church protocol, vestments and insignia, and a brief history of the papacy. A glossary, a name and subject index, and a variety of appendices including several Church documents are included. Several impressive Catholic figures also have brief forewords including John Cardinal Krol, John Cardinal O'Connor, and Archbishop John P. Foley.

Noonan has done a wonderful job of answering those niggling questions that never seem to be answered in the standard Catholic Q and A books, such as the reason why cardinals have their title placed in the middle of their name and how exactly a papal election is performed. For the latter, the author leads the reader step by step through the protocol that follows the death of a pope, citing examples from recent history, and then to the election process and then enthronement of a new pope. He even includes sample liturgies and ceremony programs that have been used in the past. The chapter on the College of Cardinals is especially a gem.

Moving on, he examines the different papal honors, who may receive them, how they should be worn, and their relative precedence to other honors. He then studies the two major equestrian orders, the Knights of Malta and the nights of the Holy Sepulcher. For any readers entranced by the idea of knighthood and chivalry from the time they were children, as this reviewer was, these chapters are a joy to read as they reveal that true knighthood, that which begins with Christ, still exists in the world today, and that chivalry does have a place in the 20th century.

The section on protocol is very interesting and especially helpful for Americans who are not used to matters of rank, protocol, and etiquette. Here Noonan even provides sample dinner menus and invitations from past functions. The chapter on forms of address is also a practical guide for anyone who may have an opportunity to write to any clergyman. Overall, this section will be mainly interesting for those who are curious about orders of precedence and etiquette, even if most will never have the chance to be part of formal pomp and circumstance.

The final section that will be of general interest is the coverage of vesture and insignia. Do you know what a zuchetto is? Do you know when it is worn? Now you will know. A nice addition to this section, and the whole book, is a series of color plate pages on heavy stock that illustrate the various vestments, insignia, awards, historical occasions, and other illustrations that bring to life the written descriptions.

Bottom Line: "The Church Visible" is a fun, interesting, and educational experience that any Catholic interested in the temporal life of the Church should pick up and peruse. It is a fascinating introduction to what might otherwise be an intricate web of inscrutable customs, but are now clearly illuminated as the logical product of the Church's long history as the centerpiece of Western civilization.

A primer for all.......1999-10-08

A primer for all that are either Catholic or not! Catholicism 101

Wedding Planning For Dummies, Second Edition

Average customer rating:

What a Great Wedding Planning Book
Wonderful Tool
Excellent wedding source
words to the wise
Wedding planning made easy!!!

Wedding Planning For Dummies, Second Edition
Marcy Blum
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0764556851

Amazon.com

It's hard to imagine any wedding detail that could have escaped inclusion in the pages of Weddings for Dummies. How to build a chuppah, how to anchor a comb in the bride's hair, who dances with whom and when--everything you ever wanted to know about getting hitched is right here. Fortunately, Marcy Blum and Laura Fisher Kaiser aren't afraid to give an opinion or two (there's a list of "Ten Tacky Temptations We Beg You to Resist"), but most of the information is entirely nonjudgmental. It's best to have a much-married older sister plan your wedding, but if you have to do it yourself, this is the perfect book to tell you how.

Book Description

Congratulations, you’re planning a wedding! Besides obtaining a fancy tuxedo and a stunning gown, organizing a wedding ceremony takes creativity, planning, diplomacy, and nerve. The whole ordeal can seem overwhelming at first, but with a little guidance, you’ll pull off a wedding people will remember for ages.

Wedding Planning For Dummies, 2 ^nd Edition demystifies and simplifies all the details that go into the Big Day, providing inspiration and innovative ideas to personalize your wedding celebration and, of course, make it fun for everyone—especially you! This one-stop guide is all you need to:

Design a comprehensive schedule for a snag-free wedding day
Keep track of expenses with a wedding budget
Negotiate contracts and surf online for deals
Get those pesky financial technicalities out of the way
Plan a weekend wedding, a themed wedding, and other celebrations
Select a suitable wedding party
Plan for various customs and rites
Get the decorative effect you want
Throw a great reception with music, food, drink, and cake!
Handle gifts, registries, rings, photos, and the honeymoon

Packed with tips for saving money and common kitsch you should avoid, this is the ultimate guide to satisfying everyone on the Big Day. You’ll discover the confidence you need to make the wedding of your dreams come true with Wedding Planning For Dummies, 2 ^nd Edition!

Customer Reviews:

What a Great Wedding Planning Book.......2007-08-06

This book was a life saver to me as I planned my wedding . It covers everything that you can think of from invitation etiquette, to wedding ceremony set up, to how plan your reception. I found this guide to be indispensable! It offers loads of sound advice, direction, and suggestions--it gets down to the specifics like what the difference is between a Pomander bouquet versus a Nosegay bouquet, or how to set up a Chuppah etc.. The authors give fantastic advice on how to handle all kinds of tough wedding situations and dilemmas. For those that have no clue and not the foggiest idea of where to begin to those that have a good amount of wedding know how-- this book will be an enourmous amount of help!

Wonderful Tool.......2007-03-20

I love this book! I purchased this book back when I first got engaged because I have never even participated in a wedding before and had no idea where to begin. Every time I go somewhere that we'll be talking about wedding stuff (which tends to be everywhere even though I don't always feel like talking about the wedding), I take it with me. Someone will ask me a question, and I'll just look it up. This book is wonderful if you need a place to begin or if you just need a reference book for all the crazy etiquette that weddings entail.

Excellent wedding source.......2006-09-04

This book was the number one resource for us while we were planning our wedding. We had many wedding magazines and books, but this was the by far the best. Eventually the others were pushed aside and we relied on this as our only source. There are many great tips for weddings of all types and sizes. The authors gave great advice and tips while offering humor (which is well-needed during the stressful times such as narrowing down the guest list). I highly recommend this book to couples looking to purchase one source to cover it all! Thanks Laura!

words to the wise .......2006-03-17

It certainly covers a lot of ground, evenly and fairly concisely.I am an older male and I read a lot, but knew absolutely nothing about weddings.My partner suggested I buy the book,wise woman .If you are a man and feel trepidation around this largely female undertaking, read this book, and read it well.It is up to date and as a core virtue is not attached to selling you something you do not want or cannot afford.It only asks that you be satisfied and happy with your informed choice.Besides covering the rather effete items such as dress,and who goes where when, the nitty gritty on prenups, how to handle the caterers and who gets paid when, are also included. Read it again as the wedding details and decisions start to fall into place and you will be of some help to yourself as well as her.Occasionally you will be asked what you think.Occasionally you will have to weigh in to save your sanity.These things do need planning input by guys,and its a life learning experience -for most of us pleasantly, I hope!If you put yourself out of the loop, you really are a dummy. Together you actually can do it, and this is a good exercise.

Wedding planning made easy!!!.......2005-10-09

It is a very handy reference even for a small wedding. Gave a lot of great ideas for the wedding and reception. The wedding etiquite advice included in this book was also very helpful!

Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War

Average customer rating:

Confederate in the Attic
"Stonewall" Jackson's arm and other Civil War minutia
yet another batch of anti-southern stereotypes rehashed
New South and Old South
Well, the Civil War/War of Northern Aggression/War for State's Rights/Whatever Is Still Being Fought!

Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War
Tony Horwitz
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 067975833X
Release Date: 1999-02-22

Amazon.com

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tony Horwitz returned from years of traipsing through war zones as a foreign correspondent only to find that his childhood obsession with the Civil War had caught up with him. Near his house in Virginia, he happened to encounter people who reenact the Civil War--men who dress up in period costumes and live as Johnny Rebs and Billy Yanks. Intrigued, he wound up having some odd adventures with the "hardcores," the fellows who try to immerse themselves in the war, hoping to get what they lovingly term a "period rush." Horwitz spent two years reporting on why Americans are still so obsessed with the war, and the ways in which it resonates today. In the course of his work, he made a sobering side trip to cover a murder that was provoked by the display of the Confederate flag, and he spoke to a number of people seeking to honor their ancestors who fought for the Confederacy. Horwitz has a flair for odd details that spark insights, and Confederates in the Attic is a thoughtful and entertaining book that does much to explain America's continuing obsession with the Civil War.

Book Description

When prize-winning war correspondent Tony Horwitz leaves the battlefields of Bosnia and the Middle East for a peaceful corner of the Blue Ridge Mountains, he thinks he's put war zones behind him. But awakened one morning by the crackle of musket fire, Horwitz starts filing front-line dispatches again this time from a war close to home, and to his own heart.

Propelled by his boyhood passion for the Civil War, Horwitz embarks on a search for places and people still held in thrall by America's greatest conflict. The result is an adventure into the soul of the unvanquished South, where the ghosts of the Lost Cause are resurrected through ritual and remembrance.

In Virginia, Horwitz joins a band of 'hardcore' reenactors who crash-diet to achieve the hollow-eyed look of starved Confederates; in Kentucky, he witnesses Klan rallies and calls for race war sparked by the killing of a white man who brandishes a rebel flag; at Andersonville, he finds that the prison's commander, executed as a war criminal, is now exalted as a martyr and hero; and in the book's climax, Horwitz takes a marathon trek from Antietam to Gettysburg to Appomattox in the company of Robert Lee Hodge, an eccentric pilgrim who dubs their odyssey the 'Civil Wargasm.'

Written with Horwitz's signature blend of humor, history, and hard-nosed journalism, Confederates in the Attic brings alive old battlefields and new ones 'classrooms, courts, country bars' where the past and the present collide, often in explosive ways. Poignant and picaresque, haunting and hilarious, it speaks to anyone who has ever felt drawn to the mythic South and to the dark romance of the Civil War.

Customer Reviews:

Confederate in the Attic.......2007-10-15

Just started reading the book thus far it is entertaining and delightful. I look forward to my quiet evening reading time everyday. It amazes me how
we continue to get Civil War info. from these wonderful writers.

"Stonewall" Jackson's arm and other Civil War minutia.......2007-09-21

Simply a fun read. If you are a civil war buff like me you will enjoy reading this John Stosselesque investigative book of Civil War facts, minutia, and why Confederate esprit de corps lives on 142 years after Lee's surrender at Appomattox. Mr. Horwitz writes his book as a travelogue through the Civil War South. He recounts his travels as he meets new and interesting people and places, and how they still view the War between the States, as the Civil War is known in the South, as an ongoing struggle. He breaks down the book in chapters pertaining to the Southern states he visited.
The book is full of funny, sad, and informative facts like where and when was the first shot of the Civil War actually fired? And No, it was NOT Fort Sumter. But most important was his analysis of the continuing, living spirit of the Civil War South of 1861-1865. It lives today in a variety of ways that Mr. Horowitz points out and discusses.
All in all a must book for Civil War buffs of all kind. A good solid read, well written and factual. Not a tactics or war strategy manual of unit names and engagements, but rather a human interest book of who and what modern day Dixie is and why it lives on today in Southern people, places and things. I recommend it highly.

yet another batch of anti-southern stereotypes rehashed.......2007-07-17

I bought this book on the reccomendation of a fellow civil war buff. I was hoping for some fresh insights on the subject of the lost cause and it's continued effect on our (southern) lives. Instead it is a collection of overblown, trite, highly condescending, negative, hateful fiction. I have lived in the south/southwest my entire life (44 yrs) and I have never encountered anyone remotely resembling the ignorant, racist, borderline psychopaths that the author claims to have found on almost every street corner south of Mason-Dixon. This book is not what I expected. I will avoid further works of fiction by Mr. Horwitz.

New South and Old South.......2007-07-08

Tony Horwitz inadvertently sees Confederate Civil War reenactors near his Virginia home which launches him into an adventure across the South, attending reenactments but also comparing the New South to the Old South. He found out that some things have really changed, and some things have hardly changed at all. He looks into race relations, modern Confederate sympathizers, the Confederate flag controversy, and also gives a great history lesson on many parts of the Civil War, throwing in a lot of trivia that I had not read before. The Civil War continues to be a part of a lot of people's daily lives in the Deep Deep South and Horwitz writes with depth, understanding, and a welcome sense of humor. Recommended.

Well, the Civil War/War of Northern Aggression/War for State's Rights/Whatever Is Still Being Fought!.......2007-03-27

As a Southerner and lifelong American Civil War buff, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Tony Horwitz' account of traveling the various Southern states and to get an account of the war from mainly the Southern view. While not an advocate of the South's position, he did seem to be respectful of how some Southerners viewed the war over 140 years later after the war ended.

Horwitz traveled Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and parts of Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas to various Civil War sites and to talk with people on their thoughts of what the war meant to them. While he finds pockets of people who still fight the war, he is appalled that most people do not know or really care to know what happened during 1861-1865.

Among the highlights:

1. How he became interested in the war.
2. His trip to Montgomery, Alabama and the irony of the exhibits on the Civil Rights and the First Capital of the Confederacy.
3. His "Wargasm" trip with Robert Hodge (the character in the absolutely hilarious photo on the book's cover) through several Virginia sites in a matter of a few days.
4. Watching Civil War reenactments at Gettysburg and other battlefields.
5. Touring the Civil War prison in Salisbury NC.

The narrative is smooth, interesting, and flows freely from chapter to chapter. As mentioned earlier, I am a lifelong Civil War buff and was able to visualize several of the battlefields I had visited that Horwitz mentioned in his book. I also enjoyed his insights as a Jew.

A great book to read about how some people still fight and view the war. My only complaint was some of the saucy language. Still, a great read.

Highly recommended. Read and enjoy!

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