Pretty Things: The Last Generation of American Burlesque Queens

Book Description

Liz Goldwyn's lifelong fascination with the inimitable glamour of classic burlesque inspired her to spend the past eight years corresponding with, visiting, interviewing, receiving striptease lessons from, and forming close relationships with the last generation of the great American burlesque queeens. Goldwyn invites us to step back into an era when the hourglass figure was in vogue and striptease was a true art form.

Meet Betty "Ball of Fire" Rowland, who was known for her flaming red hair and bump–and–grind routines. (It turns out she once sued the author's grandfather, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., for using her stage name and costume in his Hollywood picture, Ball of Fire.)

Meet Sherry Britton, who, with her long black hair and curvy, trim physique, was among the most stunning of the burlesque stars before Mayor LaGuardia outlawed burlesque in New York.

Meet Zorita, whose sexually explicit "Consummation of the Wedding of the Snake" dance (performed with a live snake) and other daring performances earned her legendary status.

Goldwyn draws back the curtain to reveal the personal journeys of yesteryear's icons of female sexuality and power, restoring their legacy to an age that has all but forgotten them–despite today's resurgence of burlesque.

Customer Reviews:

ture love.......2007-03-15

the book is very dazzling ,and it would be my ture love for the passed Age.

A Fine Tribute.......2007-02-28

An artistic design layout provides the reader with lots of photos and scrapbook pages of original costume sketches, fabric swatches, letters, postcards, and lots more. This visual collage is a wonderful piece of film toward understanding the life these women lived. Their attitude and sex appeal as we know it only disguised the reality of their life, tough working conditions and a career contingent of youth and beauty eventually leading these women to fall on hard times and in the end forgotten.

A 'must' for any holding strong in American arts history.......2007-02-03

If the book title sounds familiar, it's because Liz Goldwyn's HBO documentary of the same name aired in July 2005 to much acclaim, covering the history of American burlesque. If you think you've seen it all in the show, think again: the book holds much more! Here are personal stories, career overviews, and biographies of some of the most talented genre stars. Burlesque history comes alive here as in no other collection, making PRETTY THINGS a 'must' for any holding strong in American arts history, from general-interest to college-level libraries.

Highly recommended!.......2007-01-11

An enlightening look at a largely misunderstood/misinterpreted art form, this book combines rigorous scholarship, engaging narrative, rare photos, and well-executed design. Liz Goldwyn's love of the subject matter is clear and infectious. Highly recommended, as is the author's HBO special of the same name.

Proving there's no 'burly' in burlesque.......2007-01-10

"Pretty Things" will make any modernist long for this by-gone era of subtle seduction and skill. The text and incorporated research are as beguiling as the photographs and innovative mix of graphics. A piece to swoon over and share with all.

Average customer rating:

Interesting facts, but ...
The Last Christian Generation
This is my vision for my youth group... and church!
Publishers comments

The Last Christian Generation
Josh McDowell , and David H. Bellis
Manufacturer: Green Key Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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The Disconnected Generation
The New Tolerance: How a cultural movement threatens to destroy you..
Evidence for Christianity (Mcdowell, Josh)
The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict Fully Updated To Answer The Questions Challenging Christians Today
Right From Wrong

ASIN: 1932587667

Customer Reviews:

Interesting facts, but ..........2007-02-24

This book had some interesting statistics, and I'm glad I read it for those, but McDowell's writing style isn't great and I think his editor was asleep at the wheel (subject/verb agreement!). The last half was basically an advertisement for McDowell's teen devo curriculum. McDowell does a good job of laying out the crisis, but the only solution he offers is his own curriculum.

He also repeated himself as if trying to make a certain word count.

I expected a lot from this book, and I was disappointed.

The Last Christian Generation.......2007-01-12

Very good book, full of statistics & good ideas on how to communicate with the younger generation.

This is my vision for my youth group... and church!.......2006-07-18

I am a youth pastor in Wichita, KS. My church hired me for several reasons, one of them being an expectation that I might help them solve the problem with their youth; the problem that after they graduate high school they tend to leave the church for good. Through prayer and a year of getting to know my students and their families, I determined that what they needed the most was not me but the role modeling, wisdom, and acceptance, of old saints. My next problem was that many of the old saints in my church seem to think they have retired from Christian service (where's that in the Bible?) and are not approving of our teens; in fact, they seem to even fear/resent the teens. On top of that, I am up against an American, traditional expectation that this type of role modeling is to be accomplished by the youth pastor and no one else: a misnomer. How could I recruit my old people to be role models of solid faith under these conditions?

Attempting to inspire a traditional group of people 2 and 3 times my age has been tricky. My problem here was that none of the ways I came up with was striking a nerve. I discovered that the authors or authorities I would cite in my presentations were either unknown to the elderly people or untrusted, producing less than desirable reaction from among my audiences... not to mention I'm relatively young and from a California surf town... what do I know? So I began looking for a known, trusted author who was addressing my issue. When I found this book, I discovered a way to introduce the concept of inter-generational ministry to our old folks that would be trusted, accepted, listened to, and hopefully acted upon. The elders of my church (4 of 6 have well grayed hair :-D) have responded very well so far and have given me the green light to present this concept to the older congregants a little at a time. This is tremendous because it has the potential to completely change the culture of our church. I have my first meeting with about a dozen folks aged 60 to 90 tomorrow evening.

Josh McDowell is well trusted among Middle American churches, understands teens, and can relate to his own peer group (older folks) quite well. His book clearly communicates the urgent need to rethink church as we know it, and to start setting aside some of the traditional ideas about education and authoritative roles in conservative, American churches. There is no better representative, of teens to elderly, that is writing on this topic. This book has already begun to catalyze the paradigm shift I have been praying for in my church; praise Jesus! I hope you find it as useful to you.

Publishers comments.......2006-06-27

I have not read this book yet, but was looking for some information on it and found nothing here. I did find the comments below, made by the publisher on their website, and thought I would post them here. The 4 star rating was selected just to get this information posted.

The Last Christian Generation addresses a larger, overarching issue of how today's distorted cultural view of Christianity, truth, and reality has changed the way our nation's young people define faith and what it means to be a Christian.

"The problem is," states McDowell, "Dan Brown's book and the movie simply makes a bad situation even worse. The Christian faith has been under attack in this culture for decades and because most believers haven't been equipped to know why they believe, the very foundation of Christianity within the Church has eroded. If trends continue, the next generation of the Church will not even be rightfully called Christian."

In The Last Christian Generation, McDowell challenges church leaders, educators and parents to understand why the very foundations of the Christian faith have eroded and what must be done long-term to rebuild them.

In his research, McDowell has uncovered some startling statistics. For example, among churched youth:
* 63% don't believe that Jesus is the Son of the one true God.
* 51% don't believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
* 68% don't believe that the Holy Spirit is a real entity.
* It has been estimated that between 69% and 94% of churched youth are leaving the traditional church after high school, and very few are returning.
* Only 33% of churched youth have said that the church will play a part in their lives when they leave home.

Also in The Last Christian Generation, McDowell examines what it will take to correct these distorted views of God while offering ways to help the church and families rebuild the true foundations of the faith. The book provides a clear, urgent and balanced blueprint that can help reclaim an entire generation of young people. It identifies a very real crisis that Christians must take seriously before it's too late.

In the book, McDowell outlines specifically how the church and Christian families can ground their young people in the true faith. It provides a tool to enable churches to do more than merely weather a temporary challenge brought on by The Da Vinci Code book and movie. It offers a long-term strategy to rebuild the foundations of the faith about Christ as God's Son and the Bible as the reliable revelation of God.

"What compelled me to get involved and the reason I released two books lies in the answers to two questions. How is it that a fictional novel can have such a mass influence in spreading seeds of doubt? And what must be done to equip a generation to discern fact from fiction?" states McDowell. "While I embrace the challenge and opportunity for clarifying distortions of the faith, Christian leaders want more than a Da Vinci Code question and answer sheet. They want to know how to rebuild the very foundations of our faith among our families, lest we become....the last Christian generation."

Another section of comments from publishers website...

The research on the current generation of young people reveals an alarming fact: they have redefined what it means to be Christian. The majority of our churched young people do not believe Christ is the Son of God, do not believe the Holy Spirit is a real entity, and think `doing good' earns them a place in heaven. And just as disturbing is the fact that their attitudes and behavior are virtually no different than those of non-Christians.

In this defining message of his 40 years of ministry, Josh McDowell strikes at the heart of the problem and offers a clear solution. "We must bring this new generation face to face with who Christ really is," Josh explains. "They know the facts, but they don't know Him. They are believing distorted views of Christianity. This means we must first model Christlikeness to them and then continually lead them through a basic spiritual formation process that sets them on a solid foundation for building a life that is authentically Christian."

The Last Christian Generation documents the urgency of the crisis but also provides a fresh revelation of the heart of God through seven lifelong responses of a true follower of Christ - a definitive "Christianity 101." Josh makes a ground-breaking case for the need to move from program-driven to process-driven ministry. Reintroduce the real and relevant Christ to your young people, lead them through the process of Christlikeness and you may very well ignite a spiritual revolution for an entire generation.

Strategic Fund Development, 2nd Edition: Building Profitable Relationships That Last (Aspen's Fund Raising Series for the 21st Century)

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Necessary for Success
Building the Relationship Edge
A Must Have Resource
Groundbreaking

Strategic Fund Development, 2nd Edition: Building Profitable Relationships That Last (Aspen's Fund Raising Series for the 21st Century)
Joyaux Simone
Manufacturer: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Nonprofit Organizations & Charities | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0834218984

Book Description

This groundbreaking book--now in its second edition--offers important insights, critical strategies, and useful tools to enhance your organization's performance and raise more charitable contributions.

Customer Reviews:

Necessary for Success.......2005-11-21

I have been building my professional library and count Simone's book as a "must have" and "most often consulted" on a wide range of topics. This book is in my top 5 list and on any reading list that I prepare as an adjunct to presentations. The theoretical concepts supported by practical examples makes this book a most useful resource for the new and seasoned development professional. As the number of fundraising resources grow there are numerous books on special topics. For this reason and due to the caliber of this book, I hope that it remains widely available. Pearl Veenema (Toronto, Canada)

Building the Relationship Edge.......2005-11-18

As someone who has been a subscriber to Simone Joyaux's newsletter over the last two years, I knew that her book would offer me many valuable insights into how to do my job as the Chairman of a non-profit cultural institution better. Indeed, Ms. Joyaux's book took the goal of building long term, profitable relationships-the lifeline for any non-profit-and broke it down into a step-by-step road map that our instituion was able to put into effective use immediately. All that non-profits need to know to become more financially sound is contained in this straightforward, comprehensive guide. The real life illustrations make the advice and guidance extremely compelling. An indespensible tool for serious fund-raisers!

A Must Have Resource.......2005-11-03

If you are a development director, a board member, or an Executive Director of a nonprofit organization (or someone just interested in learning more about development), you should waste no time and purchase this book. It is very comprehensive and has lots of practical tools you can use. I find myself grabbing for this book over and over. It is a wonderful, must have resource!

Groundbreaking.......1999-12-07

An important work if we are to be serious about positioning our institutions for the future. Joyaux has captured the essence of what we as development professionals should understand and be prepared to address as we look to the 21st century.

The Last Generation of the Roman Republic

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Last Generation of the Roman Republic
An impressive work
Another Exemplary Work from an Eminent Scholar
A Clarifying Retrospective Of The Late Republic
Sweeping revisionism

The Last Generation of the Roman Republic
Erich S. Gruen
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Roman Revolution
The Constitution of the Roman Republic
Sulla: The Last Republican
The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic (Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World)
The Beginnings of Rome: Italy From the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (Circa 1,000 to 264 B.C.) (Routledge History of the Ancient World)

ASIN: 0520201531

Book Description

Available for the first time in paperback, with a new introduction that reviews related scholarship of the past twenty years, Erich Gruen's classic study of the late Republic examines institutions as well as personalities, social tensions as well as politics, the plebs and the army as well as the aristocracy.

Customer Reviews:

Last Generation of the Roman Republic.......2007-02-17

Incisive, excellently researched work, acessible to amateur and specialist alike that punctures many popular myths surrounding the Age of Cicero. Original, provocative and a good read.

An impressive work.......2007-01-03

An impressive work. At times it is dry and it contains long and rather dull descriptions of senatorial membership and trials. But its length and thoroughness also serves to reinforce its conclusions.

It covers the period from Sulla's reforms (80 BC) to Caesar crossing the Rubicon in 49 BC.

Gruen asserts that the wisdom of hindsight causes most scholars to project backwards from the fall of the republic to some imagined period of decline. Instead, he argues that the republic was thriving. Politics was still dominated by the old nobility. But there was increased access to the senate for equestrians and Italians. Politics consisted of complex shifting factions, with most participants looking for their own interests, not for some fixed party. But the senate was active and was willing to address important reforms, including passing many well thought out laws.

There was strife and turmoil. There was fighting in the streets between the gangs of Milo and Clodius. Many trials were overtly political with politicians attempting to convict their personal enemies. Some trials were disrupted by gang violence, with magistrates fleeing, and the proceedings permanently abandoned. Elections were the subject of bribery and coercion. But Gruen argues that (a) Open turmoil was the exception rather than the rule. It was focused in a few years. (b) The senate acted decisively to restore order and to pass new laws to prevent abuses. (c) None of this was new to the Ciceronian age. Such problems had long been part of Roman politics. They did not threaten the Republic itself.

Gruen portrays the Republic as in reasonably good shape in 50 BC. Then some ill-considered politicking forced a growing gap between Pompey and Caesar. Neither was willing to back down and each wished to preserve their dignitas. Over a few months, this escalated into Pompey mobilizing legions in Italy and Caesar bringing his legions across the Rubicon. But even then, neither side was overtly attacking the Republic. The fall of the Republic was the consequence, not the cause, of the twenty years of civil war that followed.

Another Exemplary Work from an Eminent Scholar.......2006-11-27

Mommsen, Syme, Gruen, and yes, even Tom Holland all wrote from a perspective that reflected their own time in their treatments of Roman Republican History. Mommsen, a German social progressive, was widely influenced by the 1848 upsets in Europe. Syme, a great British gentleman scholar, was facing the looming prospect of World War Two and the dictatorship of Hitler in Germany when he wrote. Tom Holland celebrates the ascendancy of the democratic ideal in Britain and the United States at the dawn of the twenty-first century in his retelling of the fall of the Roman Republic. Gruen in his lengthy introduction to the paperback edition of this work published in 1994, sets it in the framework of the tumult of the Vietnam war era in the United States. Specifically Gruen was in the eye of that storm on the University of California campus at Berkley where he is a classicist and historian. As he suggests, so much changed, but what was striking was how much more did not. It is often been posited with merit that any writing of history mirrors its own time as well as the period written about.

With continuity in mind, Gruen forges forth with his project, the LGRR. And yes, this is a revision of Syme's work, however, for all its majesty Syme's, "Roman Revolution," is flawed. It is a work informed by Syme's own prejudices. Stiff British upper class Victorian morals tend to infect all work associated with the school of British gentleman scholars. Gruen's choice to start his work at the conclusion of the Sullan restoration bifurcates what most scholars see as a much longer process. A detailed picture of the Roman Republic from 125 BCE to 40 BCE would make Gruen's "business as usual" perspective less persuasive. And yes, it was "business as usual" in large measure. That business was the continuity of the domination of the Republic by the consular families of the Nobility. This is persuasively argued by Gruen. But where he sees continuity and reform, others find intractability and co-option to preserve a reactionary status quo. And yes, I will accept his premise that almost all the persons who counted in the last generation of the Roman Republic had no idea a civil war was on the way. Statesmen and politicians rarely intend to burn their own houses down. They just do so with enormous regularity throughout history based on miscalculation and myopia. A lively and exhaustive presentation of the political events of the period under discussion is provided. Nuance and detail combine with painstaking research leading to a fully fleshed out picture of the events and personalities of the "last generation" of the Republic. Unfortunately, more light is shed on the motives of small players rather than the larger figures. This is hardly Gruen's fault as the major players tended to choose opacity as an operational tool.

However exhaustive Gruen's treatment of this period may be, he still finds continuity where others have found "revolution and crisis." Unfortunately, I would suggest that his stress on continuity also obsurces as well as informs. Informative and gripping this book is a relatively easy read. However, it should be read by a reader with a relatively advanced knowledge of Roman Republican history. There is much to be learned here, although, one must be very careful in what they take out of this book. Greun's reliance on shifting familial alliances of the Nobility to explain much of Roman Republican politics has largely been modified by later work. As I see it, David Shotter's short and concise, "Fall of the Roman Republic," second edition, is the current state of the art in late Roman Republican history. Written thirty years after this book, it covers even more ground. Using works from Syme through Gruen and later scholarly materials, Shotter presents a far more volatile picture of the period. Reading both in succession I suggest will make it possible for the reader to weigh the ultimate value of this book. And, in spite of all my caveats, this is an indispensable work of great and enduring value to the discussion of the fall of the Roman Republic.

A Clarifying Retrospective Of The Late Republic.......2005-03-01

The Roman Republic was strangely a very dynamic as well as rigid institution in which the causes of its demise have baffled scholars until the present day. Erich S. Gruen's scholarly work is one of the most concise studies on the politics and society of the Late Roman Republic. Throughout the book, Gruen exhaustively reviews the socio-political spectrum of Rome from Marius to Caesar and points to certain issues that collectively led it to its downfall. The book is also a challenge to previous works, particulary Syme's, claiming that the Romans clearly knew that the Civil War was coming.

Having no written charter or constitution to guide it, the Roman Republic relied on tradition and ad hoc enactments as precedent. Unlike the democracies of today, Roman suffrage was collectively manifested by two voting assemblies representing either 35 geographical classes (tribes) or votes by defined classes organized on the basis of wealth (i.e. the less money your class had, the less its vote counted.) Each assembly voted on certain ranges of legislation and were further segregated by a caste structure distinguishing commoners and the elite patrician nobility whose family clans originated from the earliest days of the Republic or the Monarchy. When the time to vote did come, suffrage was limited to the physical confines of Rome in the Forum or the Campus Martius: if you were poor and lived over 50 miles away from Rome, you probably voted little.

This system worked well in Rome for so long because, until about 90 B.C., the Roman citizenry was limited to those who lived in Rome and its colonies in Italy and overseas: other cities in Italy were treated merely as allies (socii) who had limited privileges in Roman society and no voting rights. The Roman aristocratic oligarchy thus had few problems in manipulating the needs and sentiments of these voting blocks. Those dynamics changed after Rome was forced to enfranchise all of Italy to settle a bitter insurrection by its Italian allies around 90 B.C. This resulted in a sudden surge in the size and power of the traditional voting blocks which, despite their attempts to organize them to their advantage, began eroding the traditional allegiances and methods of Rome's ruling families. The changing political dynamics gave populists and demagogues such as Clodius and Caesar much greater flexibility in projecting mass popular will on given agendas. Although corruption, plebicites, political trials, and outright violence to pass legislation was not new to Romans, these changes along with more subtle ones made them evermore common occurrences near the end of the Republic and, to a great degree, made the leadership of charismatic populists like Caesar to many an appealing solution to the woes of a failing republican system.

Through statistical analysis and references to classical texts, Gruen shows that Rome's elite seemed quite unaware of the big picture that Syme claims was so evident and, that these major changes were seen more as business as usual. Gruen shows how all of the important political offices such as the Consulship continued to be filled by either plebeian nobles or patricians as usual and that there were no major changes or concessions made during that time. By accurately and concisely reviewing the composition of magistracies, senatorial rolls, and tribunes from the time of Sulla to the Civil War, Gruen offers a compelling insight as to how the optimate and patrician oligarchy was continuing to do business as usual until the Republic's final years. Gruen covers every aspect of Roman politics involving each class composing Roman society from patricians to plebeans, foreigners, and slaves. He studies all conceivable social institutions, how they were used by such classes and what their implications were in the broad context.

As with any study of this period, Gruen covers much detail on the development of the First Triumvirate and its principal actors: Crassus, Pompey, and Caesar. He shows how each continued their political aims in methods that were a common staple to Roman republican politics such as strong-arming, bribery, nepotism, and patronage. Gruen's argument focuses on how the consequences of enfranchising all of Italy into the Roman citizenry after the Social Wars may have overextended the traditional stability of the nobilitas' oligarchy and yet not altered their perception of the new political reality. Gruen suggests that these new political dynamics may have fragmented traditional family alliances and their systems of rival clientelae to such a degree that it made their effective administration of the Republic impossible. Gruen also doesn't ignore the adverse effects of Rome failing to address the dangers of its professional legions whose allegiances were only to their commanders and not its political institutions.

Altogether a brilliant scholarly work that is indispensible to the study of this most important period of not only Roman History, but of our present history as well. In addition Gruen's work, Fergus Millar's "The Crowd in Rome in the Late Republic" parallels the dilligent research and analysis on this subject with a stronger sociological emphasis on the location of the Forum as a political institution. This book is a study in erudition and I wouldn't recommend it as an introductory text on Roman history as its depth and scope would already require some advanced knowledge of the subject. I would strongly recommend both books to anyone who has more than a fleeting interest on this subject.

Sweeping revisionism.......2004-07-10

This impressive history isn't for everyone. In fact, it is targeted to a rather select audience: those with a deep understanding of the Age of Cicero. If you are not intimately familiar with the chronology and the "conventional wisdom" explaining the demise of the Roman Republic much of Gruen's work will be impenetrable and the gravity of his conclusions will be lost.

The author's thesis is simple: all previous secondary histories of the era are contaminated by a heavy reliance on the overblown rhetoric of a few ancient authors and a strong tendency to view the events of the period from the enlightened vantage point of the future. Gruen claims that an objective and dispassionate review of the period with no attempt to divine patterns of demise will show that the 70s, 60s, and 50s BC were largely business as usual. Whereas modern authors have described the last decades of the Republic as leading inexorably to civil war and revolution, Gruen claims that a Roman of that period would not have seen things that way.

Gruen doesn't limit his challenge to the traditional orthodoxy to a few examples. Rather, his revisionism is sweeping in scope. For instance, Gruen argues: 1) what has generally been construed as the moral rot of the last few decades was actually a common theme in Greek and Roman literature not confined to the Age of Cicero; 2) the ruling oligarchy did desperately cling to power as is often argued, but that didn't prevent a robust although non-interconnected string of reform legislation from being introduced throughout the period; 3) Republican Rome was dominated by individuals and small groups from its inception and a close review of the electoral returns at all levels show that the last years of the Republic show no major departure from precedent; 4) there is no evidence to suggest that the evaporation of the middle class led to a large and unified disgruntled constituency of urban poor bent on social revolution; 5) the armies of the Late Republic were no more "professional" or beholden to individuals than was usually the case (it should be noted that I found Gruen's evidence in this particular case to be exiguous and far from convincing); 6) Rome's system of imperial administration may have been undeveloped and exploitative, but that does nothing to explain the collapse of the Republic as the provinces stayed loyal to Rome before, during and after the Civil War; and 7) there has been far too much focus on the explanations proffered by Cicero and Sallust, whose work was largely the result of personal gripes and set forth for propaganda purposes. In other words, Gruen addresses and attempts to refute every commonly held belief on the decline and fall of the Republic. In some cases he makes a convincing case (challenging the notion that the Triumvirate utterly dominated the Republic from the 59 BC forward is one good example), while others appear to be more of a stretch (the aforementioned argument of the changing nature of the army is most notable is that regard).

In closing, "The Last Generation of the Roman Republic" is one of the most important and influential scholarly works on the period to appear in the past half-century. However, the book is not without its credible critics. One prime example would be the highly critical review by Michael Crawford ("Hamlet without the Prince" The Journal of Roman Studies Vol. 66 (1976) pp. 214-217), which this reviewer would suggest that all prospective readers consult.

The Last September
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The pangs of independence

"The façade of the house was like cardboard, without weight"

The end of an era

The Aching Self

"The façade of the house was like cardboard, without weight"

The Last September
Elizabeth Bowen
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0385720149
Release Date: 2000-03-14

Book Description

The Last September is Elizabeth Bowen's portrait of a young woman's coming of age in a brutalized time and place, where the ordinariness of life floats like music over the impending doom of history.

In 1920, at their country home in County Cork, Sir Richard Naylor and his wife, Lady Myra, and their friends maintain a skeptical attitude toward the events going on around them, but behind the facade of tennis parties and army camp dances, all know that the end is approaching—the end of British rule in the south of Ireland and the demise of a way of life that had survived for centuries. Their niece, Lois Farquar, attempts to live her own life and gain her own freedoms from the very class that her elders are vainly defending. The Last September depicts the tensions between love and the longing for freedom, between tradition and the terrifying prospect of independence, both political and spiritual.

"Brilliant.... A successful combination of social comedy and private tragedy."—The Times Literary Supplement (London)

Customer Reviews:

The pangs of independence.......2006-11-05

One of Elizabeth Bowen's finest novels, THE LAST SEPTEMBER has grown in popularity in recent years thanks to the overtly political nature of its topic (the demise of the Anglo-Irish "county" life by means of the Irish War of Independence) and the recent 1999 film adaptation with Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith and Fiona Shaw. Most of the novel's action takes place in Danielstown, the Leinster country manor of Sir Richard and Myra Naylor and their wards Lois and Laurence. At the summer season, the estate plays host to all manner of guests, including the ill-matched and unhappy Montmorencys, the highly independent Marda Nolan, and some of the local garrisoned British officers and their wives whom Lois has befriended. As they play tennis and devour raspberries, their discussion is turned primarily towards gossip and flirtation--not to the escalating violence that surrounds and dooms their isled privilege.

Like most of Bowen's earlier fiction, THE LAST SEPTEMBER is difficult reading and demands close attention: the Naylors and their set rarely say either to themselves or to one another clearly what they mean, and express themselves via euphemism, overexaggeration, understatement, and/or indirection. Only when the change of independence, either sexual or political, threatens does language become more direct and urgent: this is one of the great themes of this important modern novel. Although its outcome is tragic, the book is ultimately quite funny (as are all of Bowen's novels), and its peculiar tension between these two modes captures well the odd tensions of the cloistered and privileged world of the Anglo-Irish.

"The façade of the house was like cardboard, without weight".......2005-09-19

Danielstown, the Irish estate belonging to Sir Richard and Lady Naylor, is the closed environment which allows Elizabeth Bowen to explore the Anglo-Irish lifestyle, values, and allegiances in 1921, a time when The Troubles are about to sweep the country and change it forever. The Naylors' niece Lois is nineteen, a bored young woman without goals, impatient to get on with the job of finding a husband so that she can fulfill her apparent destiny. Her cousin Laurence, an Oxford student who would rather be in Italy or France, also has little to do, a condition he shares with a married couple, Francie and Hugo Montmorency, who visit friends like the Naylors regularly, having no home of their own.

A British army unit is garrisoned nearby to protect their loyal subjects-and, not incidentally, provide a ready source of young men for garden parties and tennis matches. With an acute eye for detail, ironic detachment, and a sometimes caustic wit, Bowen reconstructs the lives of these aristocrats. One comments that it would be "the greatest pity if we were to become a republic and all these lovely troops taken away." Laurence remarks cynically that he would like to be present when "this house burns and we should all be so careful not to notice."

Throughout the novel, Bowen's prose remains formal and detached. When Lois and a young soldier begin to think they are in love, there are no passionate scenes--both are a product of their time and upbringing, and kisses are reserved for the engagement. When nearby estates are attacked, the Naylors simply change their schedules and limit their travel. Bowen's book has the ring of truth--she herself was part of the Ango-Irish tradition in County Cork, and she wrote the book in 1929, when the revolution was still fresh. Though she puts an iconoclastic spin on attitudes and values, she offers no apologies, preferring to present the facts, create the scenes, and allow the reader to judge for himself/herself whether Ireland was better off before or after The Troubles. Mary Whipple

The end of an era.......2005-08-27

An account of coming-of-age on a great estate in Ireland just before independence. Totally brilliant (though often knowingly vapid) as a portrait of upper-class life, with its tennis parties, discreet servants, and do-nothing guests. The "Troubles" remain mostly in the background, though they are not forgotten. The writing is evocative and perceptive ("The ladies were in the drawing-room laughing intimately, putting across the open door a barrier of exclusion") though at times rather overwrought in a Hopkinslike manner. Unfortunately, Bowen's stylistic self-consiousness rather veils the all-too-real tragedy taking place in and around her young heroine, but it is there all the same.

The Aching Self.......2004-01-28

Elizabeth Bowen's _The Last September_ is really a novel about internal self-talk and how that internal dialogue with the self is full of unarticulated desires, willful self-deceptions, and social anxieties of all sorts. Bowen has an incredibly penetrating knowledge of how people try to flatter themselves, read the world as revolving around themselves, and focus intently on an inner life that is completely wrong in many of its assumptions about what others think and feel. The way that ideology blinds people to reality of life and other's feelings is a continual subtle conflict running throughout the novel: two main ideological struggles occur. First, there is a constant tension between what "society" wants women to be and the reality of being a woman. There is a strong lesbian subtext in the novel although it is seems that the heroine has no conception of lesbianism or that frustrated lesbianism could be a reason for her problems in life. Yet at times the heroine makes such grossly inappropriate--yet spontaneous or seemingly irrelevant--remarks for a heterosexual woman that it is debatable if we are to see her as truly unaware of the potential for lesbian love. At any rate, the novel is so full of obsessive concern with gossip and what will people think of this or that to be blind to such desire seems absolutely mandatory.

Blindness is a major metaphor in the novel, one that Bowen specifically relates to the political situation in Ireland in 1918. The second major conflict in the novel is that between the Anglo-Irish and the English--despite the conflict between the pro-republic Irish and the English that is part of the plot. The real focus of the book is on the plight of these Anglo-Irish who feel such a huge gap between their worldview and that of the English. The English people's absolute failure to see this gap and assumption that of course these Anglo-Irish value all that is English and desire that is a major theme.

This book is achingly realistic in its depiction of the self-doubts that erode the joy of life with anxieties and confusion and its clear depiction of how the really important "rules of society" are the unwritten ones that determine who is able to communicate and share feelings and who is left feeling "unreal" and lonely. Ultimately the book is about the difficulty of finding happiness when people cannot understand themselves, their mental needs or desires, or the very different needs and desires of others. Bowen's best passages (to some they will be funny, to others heartbreaking) are the conversations between characters that are complete failures of communication. Bowen gives us glimpses of the self-talk of the characters and reveals their complete misunderstandings as well as their few powerful insights into each other's natures. The fate of the Anglo-Irish living in 1819 in today's Irish Republic is the most direct illustration of the theme of how difficult it is to communicate and find happiness, but I would argue it is meant to be symbolic of larger social problems that do not get enacted in violence.

"The façade of the house was like cardboard, without weight".......2003-12-12

A British army unit is garrisoned nearby to protect their loyal subjects-and, not incidentally, provide a ready source of young men for garden parties and tennis matches. With an acute eye for detail, ironic detachment, and a sometimes caustic wit, Bowen reconstructs the lives of these aristocrats. One comments that it would be "the greatest pity if we were to become a republic and all these lovely troops taken away." Laurence remarks cynically that he would like to be present when "this house burns and we should all be so careful not to notice." When an informer tells the family that guns have been buried on their property, they are blasé about it-they don't want to tell the soldiers because it might result in the trampling of some new trees.

Throughout the novel, Bowen's prose remains formal and detached. When Lois and a young soldier begin to think they are in love, there are no passionate scenes-both are a product of their time and upbringing, and kisses are reserved for the engagement. When nearby estates are attacked, the Naylors simply change their schedules and limit their travel. Bowen's book has the ring of truth-she herself was part of the Ango-Irish tradition in County Cork, and she wrote the book in 1929, when the revolution was still fresh. Though she puts an iconoclastic spin on attitudes and values, she offers no apologies, preferring to present the facts, create the scenes, and allow the reader to judge for himself/herself whether Ireland was better off before or after The Troubles. Mary Whipple

Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation (In-formation)
Average customer rating:

Performing admiration

A remarkable book

Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation (In-formation)
Alexei Yurchak
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Tear Off the Masks!: Identity and Imposture in Twentieth-Century Russia

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ASIN: 0691121176

Book Description

Soviet socialism was based on paradoxes that were revealed by the peculiar experience of its collapse. To the people who lived in that system the collapse seemed both completely unexpected and completely unsurprising. At the moment of collapse it suddenly became obvious that Soviet life had always seemed simultaneously eternal and stagnating, vigorous and ailing, bleak and full of promise. Although these characteristics may appear mutually exclusive, in fact they were mutually constitutive. This book explores the paradoxes of Soviet life during the period of "late socialism" (1960s-1980s) through the eyes of the last Soviet generation.

Focusing on the major transformation of the 1950s at the level of discourse, ideology, language, and ritual, Alexei Yurchak traces the emergence of multiple unanticipated meanings, communities, relations, ideals, and pursuits that this transformation subsequently enabled. His historical, anthropological, and linguistic analysis draws on rich ethnographic material from Late Socialism and the post-Soviet period.

The model of Soviet socialism that emerges provides an alternative to binary accounts that describe that system as a dichotomy of official culture and unofficial culture, the state and the people, public self and private self, truth and lie--and ignore the crucial fact that, for many Soviet citizens, the fundamental values, ideals, and realities of socialism were genuinely important, although they routinely transgressed and reinterpreted the norms and rules of the socialist state.

Customer Reviews:

Performing admiration .......2006-03-21

The anthropological account of post-modern society offered in this book is certainly one of the best I encountered in recent years. By brilliantly and engagingly analyzing the late soviet society, the author provides us with original analytical insights into the peoples' relations with ideology, discourse and ritual. A perennial social laboratory for all kinds of cultural experiments, Russia in its soviet phase served A. Yurchak as an empirical field whereby to conceptualize the paradoxical, non-dichotomous and multi-layered post-modern social condition. Moreover, Yurchak joins the exclusive club of genial authors who succeeded in touching the intangible uniqueness of the "soviet experience" - i.e. everyday life, way of thinking, forms of language and power, performance of dream and fake. Thus, this reading is necessary for both the favorites of lively intellectual reading and for everyone who pretends to understand something about "Russians", even if they are already post-Soviet and therefore similar and close on the one hand, but different and inconceivable on the other.
As anthropologist and Russian by origin, I try, in my everyday experience, to explain to my colleagues and friends the world I came from and to show how relevant this world is to any cultural and intellectual account of contemporary life. Yurchak's book is a great contribution to this challenge.

A remarkable book.......2006-02-03

This is a very good ethnographic account of some important aspects of everyday life in the later years of Soviet Union. It is interesting, well written, the quality of the research is high, and the account is truly enlightening. As a researcher actively interested in East European ethnography I woud very much like to recommend it to readers looking for interesting and non-banal accounts.

Suddenly Last Summer: Degrassi Extra Credit #2 (Degrassi: The Next Generation)

Average customer rating:

amazing
Degrassi

Suddenly Last Summer: Degrassi Extra Credit #2 (Degrassi: The Next Generation)
J. Torres , and Ramon Perez
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1416530770

Customer Reviews:

amazing.......2007-02-22

i wasn't sure about how the characters would be protrayed in graphic novels but, turns out that some of the storylines are right in the book. amazing art work by both author and artist. great book. definitely recommend for any degrassi fan.

Degrassi.......2006-12-25

It is the world famous TV show in a book...how could it get any better? With over 100 pages of never before heard story, this is a must buy for any Degrassi fan!

The Last Stand (Star Trek The Next Generation, No 37)

Average customer rating:

Excellent story if a bit lacking in action.
One of the best Star Trek: TNG novels
STNG #37 The Last Stand - A great numbered novel!
ST-TNG: The Last Stand
This is the first Star Trek book I've ever read......

The Last Stand (Star Trek The Next Generation, No 37)
Brad Ferguson
Manufacturer: Star Trek
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0671501054

Book Description

THE LAST STAND

In the middle of a routine mapping mission, Captain Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise ™ encounter a culture just on the edge of developing warp drive technology. When they survey the planet, they are startled by the sudden approach of thousands of spacecraft from an aggressive alien race bent on destroying this emerging culture. Now Picard has only days to resolve a conflict that has been going on for millennia. If he fails, billions will die, yet if he succeeds, he will unleash a powerful new threat to the Federation.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent story if a bit lacking in action........2007-04-28

Well-thought out, well-written, well-paced story for those who like a plot with high drama but not too much action; there's a lot of diplomatic manuevering and political chess-games here, and the stakes are the lives of roughly 5 billion or so people, so the drama is certainly not lacking. Also, the situation is set up quite well, with the aggressors having every reason for being hostile and even the "victims" admitting it, so it avoids falling into the stereotypical "aggressors are evil, aggressees innocent" pattern, and the ending was much more believable than it might have been, as well. On the other hand, I'm fairly thoroughly convinced that the Enterprise's actions here CLEARLY disobey the prime directive, which Picard has always been much stricter about obeying than certain other Captains of the Enterprise were, so I'm more than a bit dubious that he'd have behaved that way, even to stop a bloody and completely unnecessary war, and certainly not without a lot more soul-searching than we saw.

One of the best Star Trek: TNG novels.......2007-02-06

This is without question one of the better Star Trek: TNG novels. The Enterprise is on a routine survey mission when they discover a planet where thousands of years ago the surface was utterly destroyed by nuclear weapons. Only now have primitive forms of life begun to make a comeback. Another planet is teeming with life and there is evidence that a large albeit primitive civilization has once existed there. However, there is no intelligent life and it appears that it was wiped out by some form of biological weapon. They detect a transient warp signature emanating from a distant star so they proceed to investigate.
When they arrive, they encounter the Lethanta, a civilization that has been awaiting the arrival of their enemies the Krann. Thousands of years before, the Lethanta had conquered and enslaved the Krann, until they finally revolted and the war unleashed the cycle of devastation that the Enterprise encountered. The rulers of Lethanta have prepared for the attack by the Krann, who travel in large world-like ships, taking decades to go from star system to star system. The Krann are now only a few days away, so the Lethanta welcome the assistance of Picard and the Enterprise.
When Picard makes it clear that the Prime Directive prevents him from taking sides, the leader of the Krann tries to manipulate the Enterprise crew. He invites them to his ship and even allows Ryker and Troi to explore it in Krann disguise. This is all to hide his attempt to kill the people on the Enterprise by infecting them with a deadly virus. That plan fails and when the war begins, the Lethanta launch Blue Ultimate, where they will cause their sun to go nova and destroy both sides in the conflict. Picard takes advantage of a loophole in the Prime Directive and prevents the total destruction. At the end, he manages to bring a shaky peace to the area, although both sides hedge their bets.
What makes the book interesting is the interplay between the Enterprise crew and the leadership of the Krann. Picard knows that the Krann are spying and allowing the Enterprise crew to see things and the Krann know that he knows. In many ways it is a spy thriller subplot and both know that the other sides knows what they know, yet has to determine why they don't care that they know it

STNG #37 The Last Stand - A great numbered novel!.......2003-11-10

Of the three Star Trek titles that this outstanding author has written, unfortunately "The Last Stand" is the only of his I've read so far and something that I should correct soon. I found his writing style to be very fast paced and his characterizations to be quite accurate. Where so many Star Trek authors have attempted to go and failed, Brad Ferguson deftly ingrained a healthy amount of mystery, suspense, intrigue and humor into this novel which begs the question as to why this was his last novel in the Star Trek universe.

Although the cover art is quite the standard bland imagery that was normal for the time in which this novel was published, the caricatures are accurate.

The premise:

While on a routine mapping mission, Captain Picard and crew discover a culture that is just on the verge of developing warp technology, which piques everybody's interest. Just as they begin to survey the planet and its culture, an armada approaches the planet, bent on destroying this burgeoning race. With limited time, Captain Picard must resolve this conflict which has gone on for a millennia or face the loss of billions on the planet, yet at the same time, should he succeed he may unleash a new threat upon the Federation.

I highly recommend this numbered Star Trek The Next Generation novel as it is extraordinarily well written and a true pleasure to read. {ssintrepid}

ST-TNG: The Last Stand.......2003-03-11

Star Trek-The Next Generation: The Last Stand written by Brad Ferguson is a Picard stops a war book between two warring parties the Lethanta am emerging warp culture and a prewarp culture the Krann.

This book has suspense, mystery, intrigue, and humor all rolled up into an engaging action-adventure. On a routine mission to map out a section of space, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the U.S.S. Enterpise crew encounter a culture on the edge of developing warp drive technology, the Lethanta. Picard sends Data and Ro down to the planet as observers.

While mapping the planet, the Enterprise and her crew come into contact with thousand of prewarp vessils... the Krann and Picard sends Riker and Troi as observers to the space faring fleet.

Picard has only days to resolve a conflict that has been ongoing for millennia, otherwise billions of beings will die. If Picard succeeds a powerful new threat to the Federation will be released. This book moves right along as the action-adventure increases to a fever pitch... and the resolution that Picard seeks seems to be just out of his reach.

There are plot twists and turns that will keep you busy reading as the book works toward a resolution. You'll start reading this book and you will not want to put it down as the writing is well thought out and Picard's dilemma reachs a fever pitch. This is one of the better-written ST-TNG books with a storyline that is believeable and the resolution will surprise you.

This is the first Star Trek book I've ever read.............2003-01-01

I have just finished reading The Last Stand, and it is the first time I've ever read a Star Trek book. To be honest, I don't even know much about Star Trek, and the only Star Trek TV show I've seen is a handful of The Next Generation episodes. I have read over 300 fantasy novels, and wanted to try something different. In the end, I give this book 5 out of 5 stars, and would give it 6 out of 5 if I could. The fact that I don't even read books of this genre, and I don't even know anything about Star Trek and gave this book 5 out of 5 stars means it is obviously an awesome book. I took it on a vacation with me to read while traveling, and ended up finishing the entire book on my flight before I even got to my destination, that is how good this book is.

The Last Stand has an awesome plot, and is written in a very smooth and appropriate flowing writing style that anybody can appreciate. The storyline in this book is amazing, and captivates you immensely. The book starts with an amazing story that captivates you through the entire book because not only do you want to know what happens in the crisis, but you also want to find out more about how the crisis began. I've been dissapointed with alot of books that started out with a great storyline, and then fizzled with a poor ending. However, this book was definately not one of them. The start, middle, and ending of this book were all amazing. The book had a touch of mystery, technological wonder, battle, plot twisting, humor, the whole nine yards. A salute to Brad Ferguson in providing a great reading experience on my first Star Trek novel adventure.

I am not a professional reviewer, and to be honest this is the first time I even bothered to review a book, but I was so impressed with it it motivated me to write a review and even order two more Star Trek books. Great job Mr. Ferguson!

Customer Reviews:

A Complex and Problematic Exposition.......2000-09-04

Moraga's second anthology of essays, poems, and prose has its moments, especially in the fictional entries, which are humorous, generous, and touching. Ten years have passed between Moraga's groundbreaking (and breathtaking) debut, 1983's Loving in the War Years. During that time, she became arguably the most preeminent Chicana feminist writer outside of the academy. The Last Generation, while eagerly awaited, ultimately disappoints, primarily through Moraga's struggled reconstitution of Chicana/o cultural nationalism with a queer bent. The anthology's most touted essay, "Queer Aztlan," is a dangerously authoritarian return of the repressed. Moraga, who challenged the essential Chicano of the sixties, has dressed up that old bugaboo, the essential subject, in queer cloth and calls it une nouveaute. Mais, c'est pas ca. Moraga's Queer Aztlan, with its calls to blood and land, is chillingly reminiscent of mid-twentieth century fascism, a fact that has been overlooked by her historically myopic acolytes. Last Generation is the sepulchre under which a promising talent lies: the promise of Moraga's early visions of a radically transformed Chicanismo. In this volume, she offers us a different image of the transformed writer/activist. From outsider to insider, Moraga can now make the leap into the essentialism she once criticized. At many points polemic, always self-indulgent, Moraga's collection serves as an interesting barometer of the acceptance and mainstreaming of Chicana feminist discourse within the cultural nationalist frame, with a subsequent loss both of rhetorical power and political progressiveness. In light of this, and above all, this work needs to be read critically.

The First Line: Starfleet Intelligence Manual (Stra Trek, the Next Generation)

Average customer rating:

Secrets revealed
Top Secret !!

The First Line: Starfleet Intelligence Manual (Stra Trek, the Next Generation)
Last Unicorn Games , and Isaacs
Manufacturer: Last Unicorn
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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The Price of Freedom: The United Federation of Planets Sourcebook (Star Trek Next Generation RPG)

ASIN: 0671040057

Customer Reviews:

Secrets revealed.......2001-02-06

This book offers an in depth look at the life of an SFI character. It offers enough information for an entire intelligence campaign to be played. The book breaks SFI into two branches: Administration and Operations. Both branches are explained well. The structure of the Mission Team is given, and a section describing what a SFI officers does is included. The technology section offers many "James Bond" type toys. Intelligence Dossiers are given for many spies throughout the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, these descriptions are in depth and offer the narrator a wealth of ready to go NPC's. More traits and skills are offered, but few templates and no species templates. I was dissapointed that there were no complete adventures offered, but there are enough adventure seeds for the narrator to develop into full blown adventures and enough intelligence "hot spots" are offered in the "Locations" chapter to inspire the narrator's imagination. I was hoping for more information on Section 31, and I found the sections on the Obsidian Order and Tal Shiar to be somewhat lacking. This book receives a common complaint about the LUG products: black and white art work. It isn't bad artwork, but compared to the stills found in the core rulebooks and The Price of Freedom, it is lacking. Overall, a good solid book.

Top Secret !!.......1999-06-15

This book contains all the information you ever wanted to know about Starfleet Intelligence, and even discusses the infamous Section 31 briefly. Included in the back of the book are several ideas of Campaigns that might be run using Starfleet Intelligence characters, though there are no complete campaigns within the book. The primary drawbacks to this supplement are the same failings that Last Unicorn's "A Fragile Peace: The Neutral Zone Campaign" possessed, this book too is printed in black and white, and contains little by way of new character overlays or species templates. Although there are examples of characters who are members of the Cardassian Obsidian Order, and the Romulan Tal Shiar, it might have been helpful to have actual Species Templates for these kinds of characters included in the sourcebook.

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