Amazon.com
Gossipier than any tabloid, as scholarly as Vasari, luminously illustrated and illuminating as a lightning bolt, Stevens' and Swan's landmark biography is one of the most stunning art books I've seen in seven years of Amazon.com reviewing--a masterpiece that explains how the Dutchman de Kooning became the master painter of the American century. It's a page-turning tale: raised by a mom who beat him with wooden shoes, de Kooning escaped Rotterdam as a stowaway on a freighter and found a second family in New York's rampageous art bohemia. He subsisted on ketchup and booze, and broke through around 1950 with dazzling abstract expressionist canvases inspired by what was in the air: cubism, surrealism, jazz, and film noir. The careerist thing to do would've been to ride the Ab Ex tsunami, but de Kooning stubbornly defied purist abstraction with the startlingly quasi-figurative Woman paintings. Stevens and Swan artfully show how much went into these notorious works. De Kooning's Woman is "part vamp, part tramp," a Hollywood pinup girl with push-up bazooms, a dirty joke and a scary goddess based on a Mexican deity to whom hearts were sacrificed. She is also part Mom and part Elaine de Kooning, his artist/muse wife, and the numberless women he juggled. He called himself a "slipping glimpser," and this book helps us see what he saw. Nobody has ever made de Kooning's slippery meanings and painstaking techniques clearer, in every phase, even the mysterious late paintings evincing the artist's advancing Alzheimer's-like illness. Now I finally get what essentially distinguished de Kooning from his rivalrous pals Gorky and Pollock, and more. I also know what de Kooning was like in bed (loud), how he managed to cheat on five steady lovers at a time(different doorbell codes), why he slept drunk in gutters even after he got rich, and how deeply he loved and how coldly he used women. Stevens and Swan manage to do what no dame ever did: they pin down his oblique soul. --Tim Appelo
Book Description
Willem de Kooning is one of the most important artists of the twentieth century, a true “painter’s painter” whose protean work continues to inspire many artists. In the thirties and forties, along with Arshile Gorky and Jackson Pollock, he became a key figure in the revolutionary American movement of abstract expressionism. Of all the painters in that group, he worked the longest and was the most prolific, creating powerful, startling images well into the 1980s.
The first major biography of de Kooning captures both the life and work of this complex, romantic figure in American culture. Ten years in the making, and based on previously unseen letters and documents as well as on hundreds of interviews, this is a fresh, richly detailed, and masterful portrait. The young de Kooning overcame an unstable, impoverished, and often violent early family life to enter the Academie in Rotterdam, where he learned both classic art and guild techniques. Arriving in New York as a stowaway from Holland in 1926, he underwent a long struggle to become a painter and an American, developing a passionate friendship with his fellow immigrant Arshile Gorky, who was both a mentor and an inspiration. During the Depression, de Kooning emerged as a central figure in the bohemian world of downtown New York, surviving by doing commercial work and painting murals for the WPA. His first show at the Egan Gallery in 1948 was a revelation. Soon, the critics Harold Rosenberg and Thomas Hess were championing his work, and de Kooning took his place as the charismatic leader of the New York school—just as American art began to dominate the international scene.
Dashingly handsome and treated like a movie star on the streets of downtown New York, de Kooning had a tumultuous marriage to Elaine de Kooning, herself a fascinating character of the period. At the height of his fame, he spent his days painting powerful abstractions and intense, disturbing pictures of the female figure—and his nights living on the edge, drinking, womanizing, and talking at the Cedar bar with such friends as Franz Kline and Frank O’Hara. By the 1960s, exhausted by the feverish art world, he retreated to the Springs on Long Island, where he painted an extraordinary series of lush pastorals. In the 1980s, as he slowly declined into what was almost certainly Alzheimer’s, he created a vast body of haunting and ethereal late work.
This is an authoritative and brilliant exploration of the art, life, and world of an American master.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
A Flawed Hero.......2007-10-07
This is the best biography of Willem de Kooning that I have come across.
Eloquently written and well illustrated, it balances nicely the personal with the artistic. It shows how the deprivations and violence of his early life in postwar Rotterdam contributed to the characteristic independence of his subsequent artistic career. In parralel, it shows how the fraught early relationship with his his parents, especially his mother, resulted in his inability to achieve a sustained sexual relationship in his adult life.
It is also a fascinating depiction of the genesis and emergence of American Art- specifically, New York Art- as a dominant force in the mid Twentieth Century.
Creating the World.......2007-03-14
This volume, "de Kooning:an American Master" by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan is a masterpiece itself. The couple took ten long years to research and write this hefty biography of Willem de Kooning and along the way give us an inside look at the creation of the world of American contemporary art from the post World War II New York period forward. Before that revealling section of the book we begin in Rotterdam following de Kooning through his difficult childhood and adolescence, his leaving of Holland (as a stowaway) his life as an immigrant in the U.S. and his slow evolvement as a painter in the new York scene (which was only evolving itself). This is a New York without contemporary galleries, agents, dealers and reps. It's artists on the loose: de Kooning, Rothko, Gorky, Kline and Pollack all making their way as artists and on the way creating the world of American contemporary art. I marvelled how long it took de Kooning to actually produce a body of work. He was already quite famous before he accomplished any of his break through paintings. Then there was his wife, the irrepressible Elaine and the tumult of their life together. Stevens and Swan delve into all of the cracks and crevices of De Koonings life and yet by the end I felt there was still something inscrutible and unknown about him. This book, which is telling a much larger story than just the life of Bill de Kooning, is a stunning accomplishment. Highly recommended!
Excavating de Kooning.......2006-09-19
The masterpiece `Excavation' (1950) was trumpeted as de Kooning's first major work to be recognized by a wide audience and win critical acceptance. The authors Stevens and Swan mine this metaphor effectively throughout the biography providing the foundation for understanding the artist. After all, aren't all biographies an excavation of a past life lived?
Although de Kooning's work is not autobiographical by nature, the artist's values, temperament and creative process are made apparent here. The idea of `creative destruction' as proposed by the economist Schempeter (1942) with philosophical roots going back to Nietzsche and Marx came to my mind throughout the book. De Kooning's creative process as well as his life had strong elements of 'creating by destroying' what had existed before. De Kooning destroyed artistic traditions, personal relationships and especially is own work - either completely or partially by scraping away the painted layers laid down in a previous day's work - in a search for a yet unseen truth.
The book for me was rather consuming and at times it left me bewilder at the extent of de Kooning's self-destructive episodes. There is little artistic romance during the bohemian years in Greenwich Village or little humor in his life or work. What is portrayed is a template of how an artist's lives.
My own motivation for reading this biography are my interests in art and drawing, my half-Dutch background and the memories of the powerful image of de Kooning's `Woman I' print we had hanging in our bathroom. `Woman I' seemed to be suffering from some kind of gastro-intestinal upheaval which I attribute to that cultural trait of Flemish lowland humor. :)
Excavating de Kooning.......2006-09-17
Writing the first customer book review on Amazon is a bit like confronting a `blank canvas'. - where to begin? The masterpiece `Excavation' (1950) was trumpeted as de Kooning's first major work to be recognized by a wide audience and win critical acceptance. The authors Stevens and Swan mine this metaphor effectively throughout the biography providing the foundation for understanding the artist. After all, aren't all biographies an excavation of a past life lived?
Although de Kooning's work is not autobiographical by nature, the artist's values, temperament and creative process are made apparent here. The idea of `creative destruction' as proposed by the economist Schempeter (1942) with philosophical roots going back to Nietzsche and Marx came to my mind throughout the book. De Kooning's creative process as well as his life had strong elements of 'creating by destroying' what had existed before. De Kooning destroyed artistic traditions, personal relationships and especially is own work - either completely or partially by scraping away the painted layers laid down in a previous day's work - in a search for a yet unseen truth.
The book for me was rather consuming and at times it left me bewilder at the extent of de Kooning's self-destructive episodes. There is little artistic romance during the bohemian years in Greenwich Village or little humor in his life or work. What is portrayed is a template of how an artist's lives.
My own motivation for reading this biography are my interests in art and drawing, my half-Dutch background and the memories of the powerful image of de Kooning's `Woman I' print we had hanging in our bathroom. `Woman I' seemed to be suffering from some kind of gastro-intestinal upheaval which I attribute to that cultural trait of Flemish lowland humor.
A job well done! .......2006-08-29
As a teacher and scholar of literature, I find it difficult to read many novels in my personal leisure time, and for purposes of escape and relaxation in the sense that some people prefer. For typically, I get into the literary analyst mode, or begin to think too much about the text's formal features and how I might take it to the classroom at some point. I have a lot of love and respect for autobiography and biography as genres, but rarely teach them, and so they educate me while offering a bit of escape. I am always happy to come across ones that are well written. I tend to read a lot of literary biography, though I read many other kinds. As someone who is also an artist, I enjoy reading biographies of artists. The Stevens/Swan biography of de Kooning is beautifully written, thoroughly captivating, and ranks among the very best biographies of all the ones that I have ever read, across various categories. I had a false start with it last year during a busier time, and got caught up in other things and so lost and stopped reading the story. I went back to it again this past spring. It was so clearly written, and I particularly admired this seamlessness and clarity given that it was a collaborative project. It was a work that made me sorry that I hadn't followed de Kooning more closely, and a true fan of his art and legacy. The authors draw us in, for instance, so that in one powerful scene, one can just hear all the verbal cadences of de Kooning telling a dealer asking for one too many paintings to just "take it," and the tone that thorougly registers all that was wrong with having been asked for it in the first place. This biography comes to life and lets his story gracefully unfold, page after elegantly written page. It was the kind of book that I was sorry to see end, that I didn't want to let go of. Of the biographies that I've read in recent years, I've particularly enjoyed and found most endearing the ones that have created characters to complement their main subjects. Often, they are charismatic ones that either shadow or centrally shape their main subject. While we get clear and engaging portraits of people like de Kooning's mother and Elaine de Kooning (an artist with her own story and talented and necessary to study in her own right), what is interesting in the Stevens/Swan biography is that de Kooning alone ultimately emerges as a character in the sense that I am describing. I am also inspired by how these two art critics/editors have used their amazing talents to produce such an admirable work of scholarship, too. In general, above and beyond its value for the story related to art that it tells so effectively, it's also a great immigrant story, even an exemplary and classic one. That is to say, it reveals how de Kooning came to America earlier in the twentieth century, built a home, adapted and contributed to an increasingly modernizing society, and in effect, became American, giving this term new meaning.
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National Electrical Safety Code 1997 (National Electrical Safety Code)
Manufacturer: Institute of Electrical & Electronics Enginee
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1559377151 |
Book Description
An extraordinarily vivid look inside post-revolutionary Iran, Camelia is the memoir of Iranian journalist Camelia Entekhabi-Fard, who was sent to prison because of her bold coverage of current affairs for reformist newspapers.
Brandishing her unique gift as a storyteller and a wealth of fascinating detail about Iranian society and culture, she narrates her surreal experience growing up in the turmoil of the revolution and the Iran/Iraq war, punctuated by her comic disposition as a mischievous child and by the tragic losses of family members who fall victim to the political climate of fear, revenge, and extremism.
As a teenager, she is drawn to writing and poetry and awakens to a desire to play an active role in the intellectual life of her country. This path ultimately leads to her violent arrest. Faced with a harsh, violent daily existence and the uncertainty of survival, she is struck by the realization that only by convincing herself that she is in love with the chief interrogator does she have any hope of escape.
Thus unfolds a harrowing account of a morally and emotionally troubling relationship, during the course of which she is forced to betray her friends and family, to serve the Iranian government, and to give herself unconditionally to this powerful older man. Once out of prison, she must now escape from the clutches of this dangerous and demeaning relationship.
It is only after she successfully flees Iran that she can confront within herself what she has been through with her interrogator.
Customer Reviews:
all self glorifications by an ambitious girl who wanted to get out of iran.......2007-09-22
I knew this lady back home ,the only ambiyious she had was to get out of iran ,and she did not care how .most of her writings are nothing new ,but again average americans like to read this self glorifiying fantasy .she was not known for her self piety ,and was not a poet at the age of 16 ,she used to teach bally dncing at her home ,and had a terrible reputation for using her .....to get to different places .
A top pick for any general-interest or college-level collection.......2007-06-17
Camelia was six years old when the Shah of Iran was overthrown in her country: her family chose to stay in Tehran and saw two decades of violent change which affected their family. CAMELIA is for any who would understand the culture and politics of Iran: its autobiography recounts the author's life in the country, where she was a nationally celebrated poet as a teen, one of the youngest reformist journalists in Tehran by eighteen, and imprisoned eight years later. Her relationship with brutal interrogators, her ultimate survival and her struggle coping with freedom makes for a haunting document of repression which is a top pick for any general-interest or college-level collection strong in Middle East culture and history.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
A brutally honest and vivid account.......2007-03-25
"Camelia" is the vivid, moving, and candid memoir of Camelia Entekhabi-fard, a young Iranian journalist intimately familiar with the social and political turmoil of Iran under the Islamic Republic. Ms Entekhabi-fard's story takes us from her childhood and adolescence, to her career as a journalist and active participant in the Iranian reform movement, through encounters with famous and infamous personalities, to her imprisonment, release, and exile. Her keen observations and deep sympathy illuminate the complex cultural and political problems of Iran, particularly its young women, and bring to life some of the key events of the past thirty years. But what makes "Camelia" stand out among contemporary Middle East memoirs is Ms Entekhabi-fard's brutal honesty, particularly towards the moral dilemmas and personal choices she made in her struggle to succeed and survive. Her fierce candor will undoubtedly shock some readers, but it makes "Camelia" a refreshingly frank, lively, and moving memoir.
Average customer rating:
- The Hobo Philosopher
- A good but not great book
- "He looked up at a towering tree,and dared to think small."
- Kuralt a Genius
- Third age vagabond
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Charles Kuralt's America
Charles Kuralt
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
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Binding: Hardcover
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On the Road with Charles Kuralt
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A Life on the Road
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Remembering Charles Kuralt
ASIN: 0399140832 |
Book Description
All New Journeys From The New York Times Bestselling Author Of A Life On The Road
I keep thinking I will find something wonderful just around the bend.
Ever since October 1967, when he set off in a battered motor home to explore America and talk to its people, Charles Kuralt has been one of our premier chroniclers -- a man who has helped us see and celebrate our country in a way we never had before.
After retiring from CBS News in 1994, he set out to spend a perfect year in America -- traveling to his twelve favorite American places, in just the right month for a visit to each. With his well-known warmth, humor and insight, he shows them to us now in Charles Kuralt's America.
From Montana in September and Alaska in June to winter in Cajun country and the North Carolina mountains in spring, Kuralt's accounts are filled with people, stories and experiences. Suffused by a poet's love of language and rich in the spirit and flavor of this infinite and varied land, Charles Kuralt's America is, like its author, a national treasure.
Customer Reviews:
The Hobo Philosopher .......2007-09-12
I'm easy on this one. I like Charles Kuralt and I like travel books. I wrote my own travel Book "Hobo-ing America". When I compare my book to his it is easy to see the difference in personalities and "class". Charles Kuralt really writes middle class travel books. He is really not "Route 66", blue collar or working class material. But I understand. You really have to write books for those who can afford to buy them - though Jack Kerouac did pretty well. Charles made a commercial success of his love to travel and he always does it with style, good prose and I would even say poetry. I will always read Charles Kuralt. This book is in the latter part of his career when he was older and even wiser - if that is possible.
A good but not great book.......2005-10-14
I did enjoy this book, but there were parts where I lost interest. Kuralt gives a lot of detail about the people he meets, but sometimes I didn't get as many details as I would have liked about the actual place he visited. In all, it is a book worth reading-- especially if you like to hear stories about individual characters.
"He looked up at a towering tree,and dared to think small.".......2005-09-10
If you've enjoyed Charles Kuralt over the years ,you'll love this book.In 255 pages we are treated to 120 stories about interesting,famous,familiar,personal,human intrest stories and just about anything you might come across if you travelled America as Kuralt did and told us about for so many years.What you should really get from this book is that there is this type of thing all around us,no matter where you go or where you live.One doesn't have to spend their coin,or line up with crowds to see interesting things or meet interesting people.Everyone has a story to tell and every place has it's unusual or interesting points of interest.I have been a long time follower of Ripley's Believe It or Not! ;and that is what Ripley did as he travelled the world to find the unbelievable,unusual,strange or otherwise interesting.
The book will provide a great read for anyone interested in people or things,whether they are young,middle-aged or in their senior years.
Kuralt a Genius.......2004-12-11
Charles Osgood called Kuralt "The only genius that television news ever produced." I'll go with that. People were surprised when Kuralt retired abruptly. We later learned that he was in the process of succumbing to a fatal disease. So Kuralt was not just touring America, he was saying good bye to it. It is a brilliant work.
Third age vagabond.......2004-10-25
Charles Kuralt reads his own work on the audiobook. It seems like he had a lot of fun traveling around the country. People knew him, and then offered to show him around, for example, fly over a glacier in Alaska or have a special interview with a noted saddle maker in New Mexico.
It's nice that he had the money and means to do these things, a kind of third age "On the Road" adventure, but of course without the drugs and revels of Kerouac. And no Cody.
Maybe this was more like Steinbeck's "Travels with Charley."
In fact, Charles is so discreet, he even rebuffs a woman of possible ill repute in Key West. Oh ye of great faith!
But he hardly ever mentions his wife, maybe once or twice at the end. Was she happy just sitting at home? Or maybe she was traveling elsewhere? Anyway, I think it's too bad they could not have traveled together.
It was sad, though, when his father died, even though his father was pretty old (late 80s I think).
Of all the places he visited, I think I did like Key West best, because that was really the place that was furthest away from the American mainstream, except maybe Alaska, and I would prefer to travel outside of the country than in. From Key West, of course, you can get to the Caribbean countries pretty easily. What if he had done that? Diximus.
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- First rate thriller
- GREAT story, and it's true!
- Best book in over 30 years, except of course for The Bible which has no equal
- Why Ross Perot Couldn't Get Elected Dog Catcher
- Narrative Non-Fiction At Its Best
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On Wings of Eagles
Ken Follett
Manufacturer: NAL Trade
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0451213092
Release Date: 2004-12-07 |
Book Description
Number-one bestselling author Ken Follett tells the inspiring, true story of the Middle East hostage crisis that began in 1979, and of the unconventional means Ross Perot used to save his countrymen.
Customer Reviews:
First rate thriller.......2007-03-07
A very exciting and well-wriiten book. I couldn't put it down till I have finished the last line.
While it is true that two EDS employees were rescued and smuggled out of Iran, the details were obtained from EDS men and Poss Perot. Whether they were completely true and authentic is an open question. Thus far, I have not heard from anyone challenging the facts.
Mr Follett, you did an excellent job.
GREAT story, and it's true!.......2006-12-24
Ken Follett captures in his unique, exciting style the true life story of Ross Perot's refusal to let the Iranian government hold two of his employees in captivity when they had done nothing wrong. The book follows the actual events through the capture of the the two employees, the ineffectual US government attempts to release them through diplomatic channels, and the assembly and training of the recovery team. Follett does an excellent job of profiling the team, detailing their military and professional backgrounds, as well as their personal situations and motivations for volunteering for the rescue mission. The author also gives an excellent profile of Ross Perot, the friendly, seemingly soft-spoken millionaire with a will of steel. This book is easy to read, with plenty of adventure and the occassional humorous story to keep it personal and human. An absolutely outstanding story, it not only tells a true story but teaches important lessons about leadership and loyalty.
Best book in over 30 years, except of course for The Bible which has no equal.......2006-09-30
Book Review: "On Wings of Eagles" by Ken Follett; published by William Morrow, New York in 1983; Non Fiction.
I read quite a few books, usually one or two per week on average, and my selection varies widely from the latest murder mystery fiction novels to the more mundane non fiction biographies of ordinary people that lived through extraordinary situations hundreds or even thousands of years ago. I am a firm believer that almost every book is worth reading especially if the alternative is not to read at all. I like reading so much that when left alone in an environment with no other suitable distraction I will often read the labels on product cartons including tissue boxes, furniture cushions, and even the tiny shampoo bottles found in hotels. Reading is educational, entertaining, and therapeutic while also being quite inexpensive, flexible, and completely portable. Like most readers I have developed a preference for a number of topics and acquired an addiction for a few select authors yet one book stands out among all others as by far the best book I have read in over 30 years of persistent study.
The book currently at the top of my list is "On Wings of Eagles" by Ken Follett. This book reads like a non-stop action thriller and it competes with the finest of the wild and dramatic novels out there yet the most incredible aspect of the story is that it is 100% true as recounted to the author first hand by many of the original subjects. I know this for fact as I have researched the story several times, at first in disbelief and then later out of admiration and a passion to find out even more about the origins of this unique situation and the amazing people that were involved. My research included querying numerous news archives, reviewing public profiles of several large corporations, communicating with a few veteran book collectors, and eventually to direct contact with the author who was kind enough to correspond with me on several occasions.
The story takes place in that late 1970s. It starts innocently enough when EDS, a large computer processing company based in Dallas, wins a contract from the Iranian government to provide computer hardware and software that will administer the Iranian social security system including taxes, finances, and payouts to the citizens of Iran. The company assigns hundreds of employees to the project and many of them are relocated to Iran where they setup a typical corporate office complete with cubicles, meeting rooms, typewriters, secretaries, etc. They install and maintain a massive mainframe computer system and live relatively normal lives including a Monday-Friday work week with shopping, social events, and errands on the weekends. A number of the main executives even brought their families with them to eliminate the burden of long term separation that often accompanies massive out of town projects. The wives furnish and decorate their houses and apartments, they buy cars and appliances, and the kids go to school just like they would back home in Dallas. Several families even have pets including dogs, cats, and birds.
For a while everything seems to be going well and the contract is worth many millions in revenue so the company is looking forward to a substantial profit as the deliverables are completed and payment is made. This is where the trouble starts. The Iranian government becomes unstable and they withhold payment on all invoices due to the company despite the significant work that has already been completed. Various fanatical groups emerge to stir up trouble in their desire to take over from the local government. Demonstrations are held in the streets, protests and vandalism become common, and civil order begins to erode. Eventually it becomes unsafe for the Americans to travel after dark and a curfew is imposed. The EDS workers and their families are concerned but they assume this is a temporary situation that will blow over in time once the political arguments are resolved. They are initially confident of their safety since they are providing a critical service to the Iranian government which in turn provides a valuable service to the Iranian citizens, so of course it would be unwise for Iran to turn on the service providers that are supporting them.
Unfortunately the opposite happens and in just a few short months the entire country is thrown into a full scale revolution which includes severe restrictions on travel. Violence, gunfire, and civil unrest are common place and there is now a much greater threat to Americans in particular. At this point the US government issues orders to evacuate all non-essential US embassy staff and American citizens living in Iran, so of course the company decides to evacuate the employees and temporarily shut down the project. Most of the employees put their belongings in storage or hire Iranian friends to look after their homes and possessions in anticipation of returning once order has been restored. A small skeleton crew of top executives and core employees volunteer to remain behind and maintain the system in hopes that the Iranian government will be restored, pay the outstanding invoices, and welcome the Americans back to resume their work on the lucrative contract.
Unbeknownst to EDS, the Iranian government was running out of money thus they were not able to pay the invoices however they also needed to keep the system running to maintain critical services if they were to eventually recover. To solve their dilemma one of the government officials decides to have two of the top executives arrested, interrogated, and jailed on false charges of corruption. The official refuses to pay the invoices and insists that the remaining crew continue to maintain the system. The executives are found guilty without a trial and bail is set at $13 million dollars. The entire process is quite unusual given the normal laws and legal processes in Iran so EDS immediately engages a team of top lawyers and US government officials to get their employees released from prison and returned to the US.
A long battle ensues driven primarily by Ross Perot, the EDS President, and his extensive network of powerful corporate and political allies. All options are considered including payment of the outrageous bail however nothing works. The US government is not willing to risk creating an international incident since the employees initially appear to be safe in jail, the legal advisors recommend against paying the bail since there is no assurance that the employees would be released and it could encourage further arrests or increased demands, and all attempts to reason or bargain with the Iranian government end in total failure. At this point Ross makes a bold move which would have been viewed as completely insane by many and actively thwarted by all government officials had they known about it at the time.
Ross decided to form a small team of his top executives by selecting those that were closest and most loyal to him. By coincidence they also just happened to be ex-military soldiers formerly assigned to Special Forces duty for the US Army. Ross then hired an old friend of his, a legendary retired military colonel and former Green Beret known as Col. Bull Simmons, to lead the newly formed commando team. He gathered the group in his Dallas headquarters, swore them to secrecy which included cover stories for their families, and charged them with doing whatever it took to rescue the imprisoned employees and bring them back to the US. He provided unlimited funds, transportation, and valuable connections to certain influential parties that could get things done. Then he stepped out of the way and let the team get to work.
Col. Simmons trained the team, conducted reconnaissance, obtained the proper gear, and arranged for the team to be smuggled into Iran. The remainder of the story is quite exciting and will keep you turning page after page well into the early morning hours as you fight off sleep and struggle to keep your eyes open for just one more paragraph. I won't ruin the surprise by relating the outcome but suffice to say it is quite an adventure that serves as a reminder of how strong the bonds can become between team members when they are led and motivated by the best and then made dependent on each other for survival against all odds.
In closing I recommend that you buy not one but several copies of this book. You will want one to read, one to keep in safe storage with your permanent collection, and several to give to your family and friends. In the past several years I have purchased more than a dozen copies and given them all away except for one which is an original first edition hardback that was signed by Ken Follett, Ross Perot, and 7 of the top executives that were involved in the rescue operation. That copy is safely stored away with my most treasured possessions where it remains for many months at a time until I get the urge to pull it out and read it again or show it to friends as I highly recommend an item for their shopping list on their next trip to the bookstore.
Why Ross Perot Couldn't Get Elected Dog Catcher.......2006-09-15
This is an enjoyable book. Follett is a great writer. Read it, you'll enjoy it.
What I found most interesting is that even though Perot hired Follett to write this book, it still makes Perot look like the most paranoid, wannabe, egomaniac out there.
Read this book with that in mind and you'll love it.
Narrative Non-Fiction At Its Best.......2006-08-19
I picked this book up to read after visiting Mr. Perot's office. The book is a testimony to the commitment of a boss and fellow workers to risk it all to take care of your people and your friends. Whatever the debate within the State Department about Perot not giving diplomatic measures time to work, Perot realized time was of the essence and decisions could not wait.
A side lesson, apropos for today, was the rescue teams requirement to negotiate with government officials, tribal leaders, mullah's, and anyone toting a gun to achieve objectives or make progress.
This is a book about men who were selfless, placing their lives in great danger, adapting on the fly, and then returning to America to work in their buisness suits. A rare group indeed.
Book Description
A collaborative labor of love by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the New York Transit Museum, Gene Sansone's Evolution of New York City Subways: An Illustrated History of New York City's Transit Cars, 1867-1997 -- now available from the Johns Hopkins University Press with a new foreword by Clifton Hood -- offers an extensive array of photographs, line drawings, and stories about the city's most treasured railcars. Subway buffs, railfans, students of New York City history, and specialists in the history of technology will appreciate this authoritative account. MTA New York City Transit and Sansone provide a record of the rolling stock that helped make New York City one of the great cities of the world.
Customer Reviews:
NYC Subway Fan's Delight!!!.......2003-04-03
I'm a native New Yorker, born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, so the NYC subway system means a great deal to me. I'm also a railfan, so my interests in the inner workings of the IND, BMT, and IRT run very deep as well. That's why I can say that Evolution of New York City Subways truly is a subway fan's delight. Gene Sansone has written an incredibly fact-filled, engaging chronicle of the rolling stock of the MTA and its predecessors, as only an insider can. The comprehensive text is accompanied by excellent interior and exterior photos, plus detailed diagrams and specifications. I predict that this book will soon become the reference standard on this subject. I sincerely urge all subway fans to get a copy immediately: they won't be able to put it down!
Customer Reviews:
Contractor's Guide to the Building Code: Based on the 1997 Uniform Building Code (5th ed).......2005-08-31
Thank you Jack. I got what I want.
Missing key information.......2003-12-06
There is a very important section of the UBC titled Conventional Light Frame construction (ch23 Div IV), which allows a designer/builder to build a house without requiring expensive engineering. This book virtually ignores it, which I feel does a great disservice to readers. Many (most?) magazine house plans do not include braced wall requirments, which are part of the above building code. It would be nice if this book addressed this important section of the UBC. Also, it seems every time I have a building question and go to this book as a reference, it leaves me dissapointed. For example, requirements regarding grading and setbacks from slopes, etc., which can be pretty cryptic in the UBC. OK for general reading, but not a great reference book.
It works for me.......2002-12-06
I needed a book which would give me some ideas for designing my house, this one did it. It doesn't have descriptions for every nail, every stud, but it did what I needed in a clear, concise manner.
Insight into the building code bureaucracy.......1999-12-12
Well, that should've been the name of the book. If you're looking for advice on working within the building code bureaucracy, this book might be for you. If you're looking for advice on building according to code, you need to look elsewhere. It does give insight into the mind of the inspector, admitting permits are for taxing and taking glee on setting the attorney general on a citizen who was trying to prevent the inspector from trespassing on his land. I bought the book hoping to get a concise guide to the code, but was mistaken.
Book Description
Jimmy Stewart’s all-American good looks, boyish charm, and deceptively easygoing style of acting made him one of Hollywood’s greatest and most enduring stars. Despite the indelible image he projected of innocence and quiet self-assurance, Stewart’s life was more complex and sophisticated than most of the characters he played. With fresh insight and unprecedented access, bestselling biographer Marc Eliot finally tells the previously untold story of one of our greatest screen and real-life heroes.
Born into a family of high military honor and economic success dominated by a powerful father, Stewart developed an interest in theater while attending Princeton University. Upon graduation, he roomed with the then-unknown Henry Fonda, and the two began a friendship that lasted a lifetime. While he harbored a secret unrequited love for Margaret Sullavan, Stewart was paired with many of Hollywood’s most famous, most beautiful, and most alluring leading ladies during his extended bachelorhood, among them Ginger Rogers, Olivia de Havilland, Loretta Young, and the notorious Marlene Dietrich.
After becoming a star playing a hero in Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in 1939 and winning an Academy Award the following year for his performance in George Cukor’s The Philadelphia Story, Stewart was drafted into the Armed Forces and became a hero in real life. When he returned to Hollywood, he discovered that not only the town had changed, but so had he. Stewart’s combat experiences left him emotionally scarred, and his deepening darkness perfectly positioned him for the ’50s, in which he made his greatest films, for Anthony Mann (Winchester ’73 and Bend of the River) and, most spectacularly, Alfred Hitchcock, in his triple meditation on marriage, Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo, which many film critics regard as the best American movie ever made.
While Stewart's career thrived, so did his personal life. A marriage in his forties, the adoption of his wife’s two sons from a previous marriage, and the birth of his twin daughters laid the foundation for a happy life, until an unexpected tragedy had a shocking effect on his final years.
Intimate and richly detailed, Jimmy Stewart is a fascinating portrait of a multi-faceted and much-admired actor as well as an extraordinary slice of Hollywood history.
“Probably the best actor who’s ever hit the screen.” —Frank Capra
“He taught me that it was possible to remain who you are and not be tainted by your environment. He was not an actor . . . he was the real thing.” —Kim Novak
“He was uniquely talented and a good friend.” —Frank Sinatra
“He was a shy, modest man who belonged to cinema nobility.” —Jack Valenti
“There is nobody like him today.” —June Allyson
“He was one of the nicest, most unassuming persons I have known in my life. His career speaks for itself.” —Johnny Carson
Customer Reviews:
Not so accurate book.......2007-10-12
This book has so many errors it isn't even funny. One example is the author said that the film So Red the Rose was a take-off on Gone With the Wind. So Red the Rose came out in 1935. Gone With the Wind was not published until 1936 and the film came out in 1939. The Cary Grant book was just as full of errors. Doesn't the author or his editor ever check anything?
Sucker Punched.......2007-10-08
What a disappointment! I should have read these reviews before I tracked down my copy of Eliot's latest piece of garbage. I would have given it zero stars if it had been possible. Nothing new, no continuity, poorly researched, long dissertations on what the author thought about the plot lines of certain Stewart films. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY!! This book is a loser.
Waste of Time, Waste of Money.......2007-08-22
(Amazon should allow us to give NO stars, or a NEGATIVE rating!!)
I'm glad to see other folks are sharp-eyed when it comes to spelling and syntax errors -- I'd thought I was the only one who considered editing the book and mailing it back to the publisher! ("Lindbergh was SITED off the Irish coast"???) The book's fact checker should be fired, too -- a 5-second search of IMDB would have told him that Stewart did NOT do the voice of the mouse in "Fievel Goes West!"
Harumph! That being said, the psychobabble which "explained" Stewart's life and/or characterization choices seemed mean-spirited.
I'd say more, but I'd just be echoing previous reviewers. This book is a waste of time and money. If you're really interested in Stewart, warts and all, try Donald Dewey's "James Stewart," or Gary Fishgall's "Pieces of Time."
Stewart Hater?.......2007-07-12
Let me begin by saying I am a huge Jimmy Stewart fan. I was most excited to read a biography about such a film legend. I just finished this book and was completely disappointed. I am wondering if Mr Eliot is even a Jimmy Stewart fan or just wanted to make a buck? As others have mentioned, there is little more than surface information on Jimmy Stewart. This book is not a biography, but a grade school report of the people and movies that surrounded Jimmy Stewart. There is a much better "biography" of Jimmy in the book, "Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot" Though that book focuses mostly on his war years, there is better information about Jimmy's pre and postwar life in that book than there is in this one that claims to be a biography.
Already mentioned, but echoed here- the grammar errors and rough text make it hard to read and follow. He is very hung-up on assumed infatuations and sexual innuendo relating to Oedipal fantasy and so on that it becomes a distraction more than it provides information, especially since there is no factual basis but conjecture on the authors part.
I have a terrible habit of not being able to stop reading a book I begin-out of pride or some weird finish-what-I-begin personality, so I read this book cover to cover, however, I wanted to put it down after a few chapters. I agree with the couple of positives already mentioned by other reviewers, so I won't re-echo those, but overall this book was poor at best. The few morsels of interest scattered within did not make reading all the junk worthwhile by any means.
If you want a book on Jimmy Stewart look elsewhere. If you want a book about everything that surrounded Jimmy Stewart and detailed summaries of movies he starred in, maybe this is your book of interest.
I detest this book so much!.......2007-07-02
This pretentious arty trash is written with no respect of James Stewart's memory. It is also disrespectful of James Stewart's fans. The author clearly has nothing exciting to share. Instead, he comes up with some cheap and nasty rumour about Mr. Stewart's intimate life and hopes to attract attention. Okay, the book attracted some attention but the majority of us won't read it again, won't keep it, won't treasure it. In fact, most of us won't read anything else written by the author. Congratulations Marc Eliot!
I can imagine how difficult it is to write about Jimmy Stewart because he is colossal! There are many great actors and actresses, but what sets Jimmy Stewart above the rest is his fine upbringing, his ideals and his ability to deliver significant messages without trickery and manipulation. This is why there is no need of special explanation and interpretation of his films. These films inspire, nurture and enhance the best of us. Violence is toned down and Jimmy Stewart portrays love as passionate, intense and eternal. There are no sexual overtones, no nudity or any other tricks. The message is clear: love is SACRED!
If you are disturbed by Eliot's gossip about Mr. Stewart's intimate life some 70 years ago and you're looking for the truth, watch "Seventh Heaven" (1937) and "The Cheyenne Social Club" (1970). In "Seventh Heaven" Jimmy Stewart is Chico, poor sewer man, who saves Dianne (Simone Simon) from her cruel sister Nana. Nana forces Dianne, a beautiful, young girl, to become prostitute. Nana would try anything- manipulation, humiliation, beatings. Dianne is so lost, she doesn't know herself. She believes what she's been told- she isn't worthy of love and kindness. Chico saves her life and her soul. He teaches her not to be afraid of anyone or anything. He helps her find her true self and to become a brave, fine woman. He tells her: "I'm a sewer man, next to nothing, but I never feel down. I'm a remarkable fellow!" "Seventh Heaven" is an important film and I believe that everyone, who suffers low self-esteem should see it. In this film Jimmy Stewart states clearly his position on prostitution, love and marriage. He does it again later through his character John O'Hanlan in "Cheyenne Social Club". Isn't that enough?
James Stewart died on 2nd July 1997. Back then president Clinton said: "America lost a national treasure today. Jimmy Stewart was a great actor, a gentleman and a patriot ". In fact, on 2nd July 1997 the whole world lost a treasure!
Ten years ago "USA Today" wrote: "It's hard to believe that anyone as famous as Stewart could get by so scandal-free! Just try to scrape off any dust, let alone dirt, from this devout Presbyterian and ultra-conservative republican grandfather." Sadly, ten years after Mr. Stewart died, we have someone, who is trying to cook up a scandal and to throw dirt on him. What a disgrace, what a SHAME!
A final word to all would-be Jimmy Stewart's biographers: be responsible! Keep in mind that James Maitland Stewart earned his countless fan's love with his outstanding cinematic achievements, his heroic WWII service and his exemplarily private life. HIS MEMORY IS ENSHRINED IN OUR HEARTS FOREVER! No one will change this!
Book Description
John Boyd was the greatest fighter pilot in American history. From the proving ground of the Korean War, he went on to win renown as the instructor who defeated-in less than forty seconds-every pilot who took him on. But what made Boyd a man for the ages was what happened after he left the cockpit. Boyd made a career of challenging the intractable Pentagon bureaucracy, making enemies and a few devoted disciples who would become known as "The Acolytes." Boyd transformed the way military aircraft-in particular the F-15 and F-16-were designed with his revolutionary "Energy-Maneuverability Theory," fighting the Air Force's entrenched ideas every step of the way. He then dedicated lonely years to a radical theory of conflict that at the time was mostly ignored, but now is acclaimed as the most influential thinking about conflict since Sun Tzu. A man of daring, ferocious passion, and remarkable stubbornness, John Boyd was that most American of heroes-a rebel who cared not for his reputation or fortune, but for his country. And in BOYD, Robert Coram finally tells his incredible story. Until now, John Boyd has been the great secret hero of the American military. No longer.
Customer Reviews:
Still waiting for decent Boyd bio.......2007-03-02
I'm not sure how Robert Coram's book justified all the gushing praise printed on its cover and front matter. It's a serviceable biography if one wants to learn about John Boyd's relationship with his mother but don't expect to learn a lot about his theories: potentially Boyd's "real" impact on the US military.
The reader will learn that Boyd was a rebel, a potty mouth, he flipped the bird to superior officers, evidently enjoyed prodigious Schadenfreude when a competitor failed, etc. Anecdotes demonstrating these character flaws of Boyd's come at the reader ad nauseam. If I had a dime for every time Coram writes words to the effect that "Boyd's behavior would have ended the career of a lesser officer" I'd be a wealthy man. Boyd basically banged his head against a concrete wall most of his career. However, I wonder how much, if at all, Boyd's legacy survived the ten years since his death (he died in March, 1997, I'm writing this in March, 2007).
Boyd demonstrated that as an old colonel once told me "Those who think also serve." His first theories concerned air-to-air combat as the world's air forces transitioned to jet planes and evidently were successfully implemented by the USAF late in the Vietnam War. Due largely to Boyd's self-destructive tendencies he was not allowed to fly fighters during that conflict. In the 1970s-80s he kept thinking while serving, among other places, at the Pentagon. Here his main mission in life seemed to be the vain attempt to keep the F-15s and F-16s "pure fighters" against the efforts of USAF generals to load them down with avionics and ordnance.
I first became aware of Boyd in the early `80s when a friend turned me on to the Boyd- or OODA Loop. Clearly this concept had universal applicability to just about any military situation plus those in the political, commercial, diplomatic, etc. realms as well. From then on I kept my eyes open for anything about Boyd (hence my initial high-hopes for Coram's book when I saw it reviewed in "Air & Space" magazine) but in the pre-internet age that was difficult. Ten years later I stumbled across "A Discourse on Winning and Losing" at the Ft. Leavenworth library. Its simplicity and elegance were obvious. Unfortunately, the other 99% of the US military was as tradition-bound (and I don't mean that in a good way) and entrenched as those USAF fighter generals, Boyd's thinking didn't fit into American doctrine so found few adherents.
Regrettably, the reader of Coram's book will learn little about these theories. As a journalist he's competent to discuss Boyd the teen-age life guard or USAF workaholic but only knows the very basics about the military (a couple of airplane rides notwithstanding) so Coram has to rely on others to tell him about Boyd's philosophy and here he falls way short. Therefore, after a few paragraphs or a couple of pages superficially describing the OODA Loop, etc. it's back to anecdotes concerning Boyd the curmudgeon telling yet another general to pound sand.
Coram's book is a bibliography only in the most limited sense. I'd wager 99% of his readership are left wondering "OK, so this guy Boyd made full colonel and was a great thinker but his personality and modus operandi were so strident and off-putting that his potentially great message was squandered due to his personal baggage. Therefore where's his greatness in this?"
Then there's the remaining 1% of us who are still waiting for a serious treatment of Boyd's thinking that would fulfill the implied promise of Coram's subtitle and explain how Boyd "changed the art of war." I have little doubt Boyd contributed to the military arts and sciences in exactly this manner but one's not going to learn that from the admiring Coram.
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War.......2006-06-26
An excellent read. As a former Naval aviator and now an employe for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics where the F-16 is built, I can attest to Boyd's drive to build the best lightwight fighter in the world. He was certainly correct in his methodolgy to build somethng that the rest of the world did not have. Sales prove that. But the information in the behind the scenes tactics that Boyd employed are exceptional reading. Highly recommended - everyone that I have suggested that they read this book has agreed
BOYD: An overworked 'David vs. Goliath' story that misses the mark........2005-12-13
Overall, this book has more merit as the basis for someone interested in producing a 'Made for T.V. movie', then it does for anyone seriously interested in COL Boyd's career and his contribution to the art or war.
In 'BOYD', Coram attempts to portray COL Boyd's career (1952-1975) as a single faceted, 'fighter pilot's crusade' against the inept and corupt Defense bureaucracy.
This portrayal ignores the significant influence that 'Nuclear Brinkmanship' had on defense policy and military thinking at the time of the Cold War (1947-1991) and results in a substantially biased and diminished work that all too often relies upon innuendo, conjecture and exagerations in order to preserve the author's story line over any form of historical objectivity.
During the Cold War, the major threat and focus of the senior military and civilian leadership of this country was on the 'nuclear triad' (i.e. Strategic Bombers, ICBMs & Nuke Subs), not on tactical fighter combat. Against this backdrop, Coram's antithesis, "Bigger-Higher-Faster-Farther" while making for a very poor fighter, does describe the performance parameters that could lead to an exceptional 'bomber interceptor', that would address one of these three threats to our national security. A part of the story that Coram gives no attention too and a fine example of the lack of objectivity that permeates this book.
Finally, two of COL Boyd's most important contributions to the art of war, 'The OODA Loop' and 'Destruction and Creation' (the former of which had a significant influence on the development of the Land Warfare Doctrine that defeated Iraq twice in the last two decades), only get cursory coverage in this book at best.
As important as Coram makes Boyd's E-M theory (i.e. a technical measurement of aircraft performance) out to be , its influence and impact on aerial warfare and the art of war is mostly technical, of which the benefits it will provide, can only be temporary at best.
Even now, technical improvements in 'air to air' and 'missile engagement' technology (i.e. Radar, AIM-7s, AIM-9s and even pilotless aircraft,...etc.) are such that it is possible to forsee the day when these advances will succeed in eliminating most, if not all of the area of the fighter engagement envelope that E-M was created to address.
When that happens, Robert Coram's book which is mainly aimed at the controversial aspect of COL Boyd's E-M contribution, will have missed the mark of how it could have told the story about "The 'Man' That Did Change the Art of War".
A Must Read For All Military Officers!.......2005-06-26
This is easily one of the most impactful books I have ever read on military theory. Boyd and the work of his acolytes should be on the Chief of Staff's reading list. I am also embarrassed at the behavior of senior officers during Boyd's time. It's revolting. There are still clearly military politicians and military warriors.
This book and the work of others who have followed Boyd will be required reading for all of my officers.
He's Right.......2004-09-26
I have just, a few minutes ago, finished a book called "BOYD: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War", by Robert Coram.
It is truly one of the most amazing books I've ever read. And it applies to everything I am working on in my business now. It is about fighting a war by thinking way, way outside the dots. Though I related to this book because I, like Col. Boyd, am an Air Force guy, it was the Marines who best adapted his philosophy of war. It was because Marines are by their nature purely tactical, yet highly disciplined and adaptive.
Having worked in the Pentagon, having seen the way the military worked (or didn't), having been at the top of big business and seen the very beginnings of fantastic small business success - this book is amazing and applies to them all. You feel from reading it that you're now in on some secret.
He was truly a hero, one who made so any generals mad that he and virtually everyone who ever believed in him were punished severely, their careers ruined, their lives changed for the worse, their beliefs labeled heretical. And yet in the end, they turned out to be right not, in the Pentagon or most of big business, that matters. When the soldiers die because of useless equipment it is never the fault of those in power at the time, but of those years before.
Anyway, if Lean Manufacturing is compared to his theories and Tom Peters gives him credit for his original "Thriving on Chaos" radical management theory book, there's something to this guy, something we all could apply right now, this day, this minute to flanking the enemy and to thinking, once and for all, about absolutely nothing else day and night.
This was one of those books where, when I turned the page and realized the end was coming, I simply could not breath.
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New Art City
