Manchild in the Promised Land

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Manchild In the Promised Land

Will definitely reread...

Hyper-detailed looked into Harlem decades ago

Through the eyes of a ghetto child circa 50's Harlem

captivating

Manchild in the Promised Land
Claude Brown
Manufacturer: Touchstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0684864185

Book Description

Manchild in the Promised Land is indeed one of the most remarkable autobiographies of our time. This thinly fictionalized account of Claude Brown's childhood as a hardened, streetwise criminal trying to survive the toughest streets of Harlem has been heralded as the definitive account of everyday life for the first generation of African Americans raised in the Northern ghettos of the 1940s and 1950s. When the book was first published in 1965, it was praised for its realistic portrayal of Harlem -- the children, young people, hardworking parents; the hustlers, drug dealers, prostitutes, and numbers runners; the police; the violence, sex, and humor. The book continues to resonate generations later, not only because of its fierce and dignified anger, not only because the struggles of urban youth are as deeply felt today as they were in Brown's time, but also because the book is affirmative and inspiring. Here is the story about the one who "made it," the boy who kept landing on his feet and became a man.

Customer Reviews:

Manchild In the Promised Land.......2007-08-26

I was able to find this book relatively easy, based on a few keywords. My boyfriend started reading it several years ago and was unable to complete it. The storyline stuck in his memory and I bought it as a surprise for him, because over the years he mentioned it occasionally. Thanks for making the lookup so easy!

Will definitely reread..........2007-07-05

This book made such an impact on me when I read it the first time. I was in high school in New Jersey in the early '70's and had friends in Harlem so I visited often. To read such a vivid portrait of a young life at that time in New York City felt real for me. Claude Brown's writing influenced me at an early age. This work is a masterpiece and will stand the test of time.

Hyper-detailed looked into Harlem decades ago.......2007-04-03

Brown leaves no stone unturned when it comes to his life in New York. The Howard University graduate covers the story of the first generation of Southerners (his parents) that left to New York-the "promised land" where they expected to enjoy equality and prosperity. Instead, they were forced to deal with overcrowded living spaces and violent ghettos. He paints a picture of his rugged coming of age with vivid recollections of how he gained his rep as a brawler, the friendships gained and lost due to drugs and violence, as well as his fight to escape the seemingly hopeless condition that Harlem was trapped in at the time. After surviving run-ins with the law, brutal fights and the ravages of drug abuse, one can only hope to have half the mental toughness that Brown had to rise above his circumstances.

Through the eyes of a ghetto child circa 50's Harlem.......2007-03-04

Claude Brown quite literally puts his life time between the paper's line[just to quote Mobb Deep] exposing us to the world of Harlem circa the early 1950's. The story definately has universal appeal to all children that have been spawned from the depths of ghetto despair. What Claude reveals to the general reader is that even a ghetto child destined to either a prison block or pine box can rise above and accomplish what they will.

The book functions as a autobigraphical novel,socilogical story,and psychological observation. All the following can be gleaned from Claude's Manchild in the Promised Land. Every other view we get of the ghetto comes from exagerated gangsta rap lyrics or second hand suburban reserchers. Clude provides us with a realistic depiction from single parent households down to street hustlers that flood the block with heroin.

The Harlem of the 50's-60's definately sounds alot like the inner city realities of today even at 2007. While Claude was able to escape the trap, you have to wonder how many ghetto youth today are just simply a victim of their own enviroment. How many Claude Browns are there in every inner city that don't live to tell their story or do so behind iron bars? The sadness is that such conditions have only became worse since Manchild in the Promised Land was published in the 60's.

Before Brown's death he planned a sequel to his previous work detailing experiances of the 80's generation and how crack cocaine devistated Harlem much like heroin did in the 50's-70's.

captivating.......2006-03-08

this book changed my life in a way... not that i have similar experiences or grew up in that time because i'm only 24. This was an excellent book all the way but it did a little more for me. This is one of those books that touched me and will always get praise. My mother was an addict and up until i read this book i held a grudge because she left me at the age of 5. This book made me understand the mind of an addict and that she would have probably the best mother in the world if it were not for the drugs. I understood the control drugs had over people and my mom. The book wasnt just about drugs but you can overcome and rise from the evils of the world. But for me this book made me forgive my mother.

The Wise and Witty Quote Book: More than 2000 Quotes to Enlighten, Encourage, and Enjoy

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The Wise and Witty Quote Book
Inspiring Funny Thought-provoking
Inspirational
Humorous & Inspiring

The Wise and Witty Quote Book: More than 2000 Quotes to Enlighten, Encourage, and Enjoy
Allen Klein
Manufacturer: Gramercy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Quotations | Reference | Subjects | Books

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The Change-Your-Life Quote Book
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Lift-Your-Spirits Quote Book

ASIN: 0517226154
Release Date: 2005-08-02

Customer Reviews:

The Wise and Witty Quote Book.......2007-03-08

Since I love to work crossword puzzles, and quite a few have some interesting quotes in them, I thought it would be interesting to see what else was out there. So when I saw this book and another book of quotes, I couldn't resist. This book fits the bill! Some of the quotes are thought provoking, and others are just plain funny. If you like to laugh, or just looking for a good line to share with others, this is the book for you.

Inspiring Funny Thought-provoking.......2007-02-17

Book is well broken down so you can focus on a specific topic and inspire you in a particular area to make you smile. Many very funny quotes will catch you off guard in the middle of great authors thought-provoking quotes. Good to share with a friend.

Inspirational.......2006-11-06

A fun, well-organized, uplifting book of quotations. If you enjoy quotations, this is a good little book.

Humorous & Inspiring.......2006-02-01

This book is a real deal for the money because it's three of the authors quote books all compiled into one - "Up Words for Down Days," "The Change Your Life Quote Book," and "The Lift Your Spirits Quote Book". They are inspiring and funny and categorized by stress, success, failure, love, etc.. And these aren't miscellaneous boring stupid quotes these are brilliant quotes by an incredible range of mostly famous people including Frank Lloyd Wright, Kahil Gibran, Helen Keller, Norman Vincent Peale, Douglas MacArthur, Oprah Winfrey, Bette Davis, George Burns, Pearl Buck, Dale Carnegie, Albert Schweitzer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bette Midler, Joan Baez, Anne Frank, Margaret Mead, Oral Roberts, Pablo Picasso - the list is phenomenal and seemingly eternal. And by the way, this isn't one of those mostly paper quote books with one quote per page, it's well laid out with an average of 6 quotes per page, 441 pages. Perfect gift for the person who has everything (and I bought one for myself too!)

Write Source 2000: A Guide to Writing, Thinking and Learning

Average customer rating:

I never received this book! I just want the book or my money!
Gramma steals kids' book!
An excellent book for school and for fun
Great Book for Teachers and Students!
The Best Book Ever

Write Source 2000: A Guide to Writing, Thinking and Learning
Pat Sebranek
Manufacturer: HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Write Source 2000: Skillsbook (Write Source Language Series)
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ASIN: 066946774X

Customer Reviews:

I never received this book! I just want the book or my money!.......2007-01-13

I never got this book and I have tried numerous time to get my money back and I have only gotten the runaround. Why wont you respond to the fact that I never got this book and is anything going to be done about it.

Gramma steals kids' book!.......2006-03-18

How fortunate the younger generation is to have such an amazing resource! I ordered my own copy when my grandson needed his back, and learn something new every time I open it. Great for crossword puzzles, writing for genealogy class, my office job, and just plain letter writitng.

An excellent book for school and for fun.......2004-06-02

This book has a wealth of knowledge about a variety of subjects. First of all, it's a great writing source back. It has lots of great tips and suggestions. There's a section on grammar, and it actually uses humor to make it more entertaining. The book is easy to read and the layout is very attractive. This book is useful for both kids and adults, and there's always something you can use in this book. There's a reference section also with lots of useful information.

Great Book for Teachers and Students!.......2002-07-10

If you've ever had a problem defining preposition, or needed a way to explain ellipses, then you should buy this book. I teach an English class for refugee children, and this book has proved an invaluable teaching tool. My kids find the explanations clear, while I grin when I see higher scores on my grammar quizs. And for a textbook, this is CHEAP!
I highly recomend this book. I myself used in in middle school, refered to it in high school, cleared up obscure grammar points with it in college, and now laud it as a teaching tool. You will not be sorry you purchased this book!

The Best Book Ever.......2000-07-30

I am a seventh grader. I am a reference-aholic. Just in the past few months, I have been trying to renew my reference library. I already have titles like:

1. The World Almanac of 2000, 2. A dictiony, 3. A geographical reference, and many more

A couple of my friends have Write Source 2000. They say its wouderful. Write Source is the type of book I'm looking for because I'm bad at writing. I do not yet have Write Source but I'm going to get it. I say everyone should have it. In my book, it needs five stars. Content in Write Source includes:

Amazon.com

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror annuals are always a treat; read this one and The Year's Best Science Fiction Sixteenth Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois and you'll have a fairly complete overview of speculative fiction from 1998 as well as hours of great reading.

Datlow and Windling, renowned for crossing genre boundaries, gather stories and poems from mainstream magazines, literary journals, and Internet zines. There are vampires, a Lovecraft homage, enchanted birds and animals, shapeshifters, adult fairy tales, ghosts, and even a hunted muse. The best are Byatt's sensuous, enchanting "Cold"--about an ice princess who marries a glass-blowing desert prince--and Straub's novella, "Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff" (which won the Stoker award for Best Long Fiction in 1999), a black comedy of revenge gone awry. The reference material includes each editor's review of the year's best novels, collections and anthologies, magazines, related nonfiction, children's books, and art. There's also a roundup of 1998's film, television, and dramatic offerings by Ed Bryant, a brief essay on comics by Seth Johnson, and obituaries by James Frenkel.

It's an invaluable source of introductions to authors you might not otherwise try, plus thought-provoking observations on fantasy in all its guises. You may not get to a convention this year, but if you've read Datlow and Windling, you'll know what a good one is like. --Nona Vero

Book Description

Over 250,000 words of the finest fantasy and horrorA. S. ByattCharles de LintKaren Joy FowlerNeil GaimanLisa GoldsteinStephen KingEllen KushnerPatricia A. McKillipSteven MillhauserMichael Marshall SmithPeter StraubJane YolenFor more than a decade, readers have looked to The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror to showcase the highest achievements of fantastic fiction. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling continue their critically acclaimed and award-winning tradition with another stunning collection of stories. The fiction and poetry here is culled from an exhaustive survey of the field, nearly four dozen stories ranging from fairy tales to gothic horror, from magical realism to dark tales in the Grand Guignol style. Rounding out the volume are the editors' invaluable overviews of the year in fantastic fiction, and a long list of Honorable Mentions, making this volume a valubale reference source as well as the best reading available in fantasy and horror

Customer Reviews:

A mix of diamonds and duds.......2003-07-07

I was really impressed with some of the fiction in this book. I really loved the stories Travels with the Snow Queen and Quiting Loup. I also loved Twa Corbies. But some were a little bit to be desired. I really thought that the whole feminist fairy tale theme was a little bit hard to swallow and a tad annoying but overall a good read.

Some Great Stories Make Up For the MANY Duds...........2003-01-17

This is actually one of the better "Years Best" that I've read so far. Again, I skimmed right past Windling & Datlow's Summations- They go on waaayyyy too long, as usual. Also as usual, Fantasy Editor Terri Windling monopolizes the bulk of the book with her choices. Horror Editor Ellen Datlow does get some payback, though: One of her choices, Peter Straub's "Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff", runs in excess of 50 pages. The titular duo is memorable, but the story goes on too long, and the style it's written in is difficult to stick with. The end is worth it, though.

The book opens with Kelly Link's "Travels With the Snow Queen" which I couldn't even finish; I hated it. Link appears again towards the end of the book with "The Specialist's Hat", an absolutely chilling ghost story with a drop-dead scary ending. I couldn't move on to the next story until the next day, because I was turning Link's story over in my mind all night. It was absolutely one of the spookiest stories I've ever read. Sara Douglass offers up the REAL secret behind those Gargoyles on Church roofs in "The Evil Within", a far-fetched but fun Horror tale, and Lisa Goldstein's "The Fantasma of Q____" is an interesting victorian tale with an neat twist at the end. Stephen King's contribution is pretty good; Not his best, but the end makes it worthwhile. One of the book's better tales is Terry Lamsley's "Suburban Blight", where an abandoned building hides a terrifying secret. "Inside the Cackle Factory", by Dennis Etchison, tells us just what happens to all of those washed-up stars we never see on TV anymore. John Kessel's "Every Angel is Terrifying" is a realistic story of escaped killers that takes a mildly fantastic twist at the end; It's extremely well-written, and creepy as hell. As always, there's a Dracula story (Sort of)- It's Mark W. Tiedmann's "Psyche", and it's a keeper. Drac himself is only peripherally involved, but his influence permeates the entire story. Jane Yolen, Norman Partridge, and Michael Blumlein all contribute interesting stories as well. I couldn't get through Christopher Harman's "Jackdaw Jack"- It was just awful. There's another Charles De Lint Newford story, which is excellent as usual, and Terry Dowling's story, "Jenny Come To Play" is just a nasty read; Although they're nothing alike, it has the same feel as "The Silence of the Lambs". And as usual, Terri Windling monopolizes the end of the book with dud stories that I can't get through. Windling tends to favor feminist fantasy stories that are all too much alike; I was actually offended by Carol Ann Duffy's ode to man-hating, "Mrs. Beast"; The less I say about this trash the better. If a man had written such an anti-female story, he'd be finished.

As I said, there are some GREAT stories here, but they're outweighed by the duds, and when one of these stories are bad, they're BAD. I'll read the other two volumes of "Year's Best" that I own, but I'll pass on buying new ones. Windling & Datlow's selections leave a lot to be desired, and I wish they would get a little more daring.....

The current pulse of nonrealistic fiction........2002-06-28

In their twelfth annual survey, Datlow and Windling have assembled a rewarding collection of genre (and extra-genre) fiction from English language sources of all kinds from 1998, with a little poetry thrown in as well. In a format based on Dozois's science fiction anthologies, Datlow and Windling's series has become an annual "event" for lovers of nonrealistic short fiction. The editors are open to just about anything and everything, as long as it has significant fantasy or horror elements, but they are more likely to reprint material by women writers, or about female characters. As far as biases go, that's not a bad one to have: some of the best fantasists working today are women.

The editors look at mainstream magazines like "The New Yorker" and "Ms." -- both of which had strong stories chosen for this book. From "The New Yorker" they selected Stephen King's "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French," which in 20 tightly-written pages gives the reader the entire life of a woman who may be getting precognitive flashes about the crash of the plane she and her husband are on, or who may simply be fantasizing the crash as a death wish. I knew this woman completely by the end of the story (whose title refers to déjà vu). The "Ms." story was Lisa Goldstein's "The Phantasma of Q-----," with a moment of magic realism passing so quickly it's hard to catch. It is a strength of this series that it covers work in mainstream, genre and academic/small press sources.

A number of British and Australian magazines, anthologies and collections provide selections, with two superior tales well worth reading. The best thing in the book (and saved for last) is the superb modern fairy tale by A. S. Byatt, "Cold" -- sitting in a warm library, I was shivering at the frozen world depicted. A beautifully textured story, the best I've read in several years. It came from Byatt's collection, "Fire and Ice." Christopher Harman's "Jackdaw Jack" (from Ghosts and Scholars, a UK little magazine) is the best shocker in the anthology. Its pieces fall into place like a well-wrought jigsaw, and the end left me numb.

Among the other stories is an unclassifiable gem by Ray Vukcevich, "By the Time We Get to Uranus" (from the anthology, Imagination Fully Dilated). In the story's surreal world, a person's body slowly develops an astronaut's suit from the feet up, and eventually the person floats off into space. When this happens to a man's wife, he's concerned that his suit isn't developing as fast as hers, as they can't leave together. A metaphor for what separates the sexes these days, the story works and then some.

The stories I detailed here are my favorites, but others will find others they like as much or better. Some motifs of the book are hispanic magic realism, foreign fantasy in translation, and stories that are just very strange. I'm not a fast reader, and this long book took me a year and a half to finish. The extensive prefaces (in roman numerals) run over 100 pages before you even get to "page 1." Windling first documents fantasy for 1998; Datlow then does the same for horror, after which we get essays on the media, comics and obituaries for 1998. The prefaces are meant to be references more than essays, and I do use them as a reference, but they are slow going just to read (and some of the info is duplicated by approaching the genres separately). The shortlist of "honorable mention" stories at the end is also useful as a reference.

All in all, a class act by two dedicated anthologists who deeply care about the state of the contemporary nonrealistic story.

Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, Fifth Annual.......2001-12-12

Standout stories here are Holdstock and Kilworth's chilling "The Ragthorn", Cherryh's "Gwydion and the Dragon" and McGrath's gruesome "The Smell". Also worth mentioning are stories by Koja and Kushner, among others. There's the usual useful overview of the industry, and the usual stock of cutesy (De Lint) and nonsensical stories and bad free verse, but this edition contains more truly good work than many of the others.

An outstanding entry in an excellent series.......2000-11-20

I am working my way back through all of the Datlow/Windling annuals, and although I love all of them, this collection is definitely outshines some of its colleagues (such as the third edition, which is the least thrilling of the ones I have read so far). Many of the stories will cling to your memory, and the scope of genres is commendable. The editors have found works form many different countries and languages and brought them all together into a very good volume. My favorite entries include "The Ragthorn" a truly frightening story about scholarship, information and resurrection; "Our Lady of the Harbour" Charles de Lint's Newford version of the little Mermaid; "Call Home" a truly scary story about a little girl and the man who doesn't molest her; "At the End of the Day" a disturbing and surreal narrative about endings; "The Poisoned Story" an upside down retelling of Cinderella in Puerto Rico by my compatriot Rosario Ferre; "The Peony Lantern" a Japanese ghost story and "The Witch of Wilton Falls" about human monsters and adapting to unusual circumstances. If you have read other Datlow/Windling anthologies and you want to buy other ones, get this one first. If you have never read these anthologies, this is a great place to start.

The War Against Cliche: Essays and Reviews, 1971-2000

Average customer rating:

Our Secret Weapon in the Culture Wars
First Rate Lit Crit
Brilliant, funny, wonderful
Another 5-star Brainstormer by Martin Amis...
Brandishing the sword of talent against cliche

The War Against Cliche: Essays and Reviews, 1971-2000
Martin Amis
Manufacturer: Miramax Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Experience: A Memoir
The Moronic Inferno and Other Visits to America
The Rachel Papers
Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million
Money

ASIN: 0786866748

Amazon.com

In Martin Amis's War Against Cliché, a selection of critical essays and reviews published between 1971 and 2000, he establishes himself as one of the fiercest critics and commentators on the literature and culture of the late 20th century. (He has already established himself as one of the most controversial and original novelists writing in English with novels such as Money and Time's Arrow.) In his foreword to the book Amis ruefully admits that his earlier reviews reveal a rather humorless attitude towards the "Literature and Society" debate of the time. Yet this only adds to the fascination of the collection, as Amis gradually finds his critical voice in the 1980s, confirming his passionate belief that "all writing is a campaign against cliché."

In the subsequent sections of the book, this war leads to some wonderfully cutting and amusing responses to whatever crosses his path, from books on chess and nuclear proliferation to Cervantes' Don Quixote and the novels of his hero Vladimir Nabokov. Praise for his literary heroes is often fulsome: J.G. Ballard's High-Rise "is an intense and vivid bestiary, which lingers in the mind and chronically disquiets it." But his literary wrath is also devastating in its incisiveness: Thomas Harris's Hannibal is dismissed as "a novel of such profound and virtuoso vulgarity," while John Fowles is attacked because "he sweetens the pill: but the pill was saccharine all along." Often frank in its reappraisals (Amis concedes to being too hard on Ballard's Crash when reviewing the film many years later), some of the best writing is reserved for his journalism on sex manuals, chess, and his beloved football. The War Against Cliché will provoke strong reactions, but that only seems to confirm, rather than deny, the value of Amis's writing. --Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk

Book Description

In this collection of essays and reviews spanning twenty-five years of criticism, Martin Amis asserts the writer's obligation to battle "not just cliches of the pen but cliches of the mind and cliches of the heart." He marshals the forces of his infamous arsenal: his language, his wit, and his intolerance for suffering fools to review, consider, and in some cases, condemn. He takes to task the best and the brightest, including Cervantes and Milton, Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, and Norman Mailer and Elmore Leonard. From "Great Books" to "Some American Prose," from "Popularity Contest" to the "Ultramundane," Amis parses the classics and the unconventional with the subversive brilliance he brings to everything he touches.

He also skewers myths about masculinity, with great skepticism and more than a dash of nose-thumbing humor. Unflinchingly, he lambastes the "supercharged banality" of Elvis, the monumentally self-absorption of Andy Warhol, and American squeamishness about movie violence. Evaluating the present participle, casting a cold eye on the Guinness Book of Records, and the sacrosanct image of Abraham Lincoln, Amis astutely surveys our cultural landscape and fluctuates between celebration and castigation, with the precision of a hypodermic.

Customer Reviews:

Our Secret Weapon in the Culture Wars.......2007-08-02

These bits and pieces do not say all that much alone; together they work as a lethal brew strong enough to kill crawling insects, academics, and other vermin. Amis loves literature. He celebrates authorship and despises the campaign led by theorists against creativity and genius. He joins Waugh and Orwell and others who had an instinctive loathing for propaganda. In every review he takes on what he sees as the tenured onslaught against that fine thing known as the English language. He's marvelous at dismissing the pointed-headed bigots who despise refinement and elegance of expression. He is a kind of Spiro Agnew of literature. He has a take-no-prisoners attitude and shoos away the nonsense with one hand while drafting his essays with the other. He knows how to have fun and is having fun. He has his favorites: Angus Wilson, Iris Murdoch, Nabokov, Roth and Bellow. He is indifferent to the structuralists, post-colonialists, and Soviet-style enemies of frivolity. Amis celebrates the kinds of talent that embrace all of life, most especially the unexceptional. He likes Updike's Rabbit novels because Angstrom is deliciously ordinary. Amis himself is not; his genius lies in his knowing a good thing when he reads it.

First Rate Lit Crit.......2006-09-06

Martin Amis has long since established himself as one of Britain's leading novelists. It does not follow that he is necessarily a great critic of literature or even a great essayist. And he is not; but he is damned good all the same.

This collection gathers a wide variety of literary reviews from 1977-2000 (though the majority of them were composed during the 70's and 80's while Amis was writing for the New Statesman) which provide curious readers with a marvelous resource in the realm of contemporary fiction. Amis makes no apologies for his overt reverence for Nabokov, Bellow, Roth, Joyce, and Kafka. He calls Bellow's `The Adventures of Augie March' the great American novel of the 20th century (next to Gatsby), and maintains that Bellow's late period was not characterized by intellectual nor artistic diminishment (a view I have not shared). Amis' criticism is heavily indebted to the style and philosophy of Nabokov's literary lectures at Cornell, insisting that a true reader of literature reads with `the spine' and ought to reject all theory.

There is an excellent and broad array of literature reviewed in this collection, including established greats like Updike, Capote, and Murdoch, but also lesser known but exciting writers like Ballard, but he includes reviews of indubitably bad writers merely for the sake of covering the whole spectrum. Not as compelling as Amis' own literature, but very worthwhile all the same.

Brilliant, funny, wonderful.......2006-03-14

All in a British sort of way.

Amis is a reminder of why there are critics in the world and why most of us, including yours truly, who write reviews are simply hacks. Though we can lend a common man (or woman)'s view of a piece and why we like it or do not, few of us have the skill, eye, education, and training to truly critique something.

Amis has all of these amply and is able to relay his view of the world the reader, without being condescending or trite.

His review of Nabokov is worth the price of admission.

Another 5-star Brainstormer by Martin Amis..........2005-10-13

One thing about this author: he can be amusing, wicked, and pedagogic at the same time, and he spouts forth words almost like a non-extinct volcano. How does he do it?! Here he mildly critiques such academic, rambling authors like Iris Murdoch, while writing in awe of the legendary literary busyness of John Updike. His appreciation of Bellow for his non stop exuberance, and Nabokov for his extreme wordplay may be overdone, but nonetheless well worth the read. The best pieces may be of Anthony Burgess, the rollicking, phantasmagorical Brit, especially his review of the Burgess autobiography. He admits Joyce's ULYSSES is not a "straight thru" read, a comment which perfectly matches my thoughts, but plows thru this hefty tome with great style and aplomb! In fact, the fun and amusement prac tically never cease here, as in most of Mr. Amis's now hefy oeuvre. So reading through this book bit by bit is an enjoyable romp, a fun and stimulating way to make it through the night!

Brandishing the sword of talent against cliche.......2005-03-15

Martin Amis is one of those rare writers who found his voice staggeringly early in life (one of his greatest novels, the Rachel Papers came out when he was only 23) and has remained on a largely mercurial track to become one of Britain's most celebrated author-critics.

The Introduction to 'The War Against Cliche' is a retrospective commentary on the decline of literary criticism from its 60s and 70s heyday: 'In the 60s you could live on ten shillings a week: you slept on people's floors and sponged off your friends and sang for your supper - about literary criticism'. Then the oil crises hiked up prices, democracy unleashed its dynamic forces against elite forms of culture and criticism became a dispensible frippery of the educated middle classes. Now, in the era of the internet, everyone in a sense has become a literary critic - witness the tens of thousands of reviews posted on this website. Amis ultimately isn't adverse to this. He likens Literature to a 'great garden', trampled extensively by public participation. But this is Eden, it is unfallen, therefore the ignorant and the illiterate cannot undermine what lies at the root of great literature: talent.

The essays in this book can be linked by a desire on the part of the writer to pinpoint and appreciate talented writing amongst the millions of words that have been scribed in English Literature. Amis ultimately finds it in the writings of the great American authors of the late 20th Century - Bellow, Updike and, most notably, Nabokov. But the journey to uncover these deities of the literary scene is laden with wrong turns and amusing digressions. Thus Amis presents us with an amusing consideration of a Hillary Clinton book on childrearing: ''Village' is a portrait of a First Lady who deserves a second change. And a second term. This is not the unsmiling feminist, the ballbreaking ambulance-chaser who came to Washington a few years ago', witty send ups of the likes of Thomas Harris - Amis considers 'Hannibal' to be a 'harpoon of unqualified kitsch'. Essays on subjects as diverse as chess, nuclear weapons and football are included amongst other things. Longer, more quintissentially literary essays focus on interesting themes such as the nihilistic perversity of J.G. Ballard, why Cyril Connolly only managed to produce one novel, and a mediocre one at that - he was corrupted by too much reviewing apparently, and why novels such as Don Quixote and Ulyssees can be considered to be undisputed masterpieces and, at the same time, unreadable.

Amis is no fawning, simpering reviewer, willing to massage the fragile egos of writers and publishers alike. His prose is characteristically juicy, acerbic, witty and, at times, viciously damning. He has little time for writers who can't even master the nuts and bolts of English prose - see, for instance, his comments on the fallacy of the Elegant Variation in a biography of Lincoln. Some books he patently finds the very notion of rediculous, such as a Who's Who in Twentieth Century Literature giving everyone, no matter how esoteric, a spot in the anthology. It is evident reading through these essays that Amis is a serious reader who likes his prose to be original, well crafted and, above all, the product of a talented pen.

Because the War Against Cliche incorporates essays from almost a thirty year timescale, it is interesting to note the maturity of Amis's reviewing style as he ages. His early reviews, penned whilst he was in his twenties are brash and cocky. His 1971 review of the Guinnes Book of Records displays several of the hallmarks of a youthful critic- the smirking cynicism, the sneering sarcasm and the inclusion of jokes because they are clever and funny, not necessarily because they are incisive or relevant. By the 1990s, Amis's voice has matured into that of the statesmanlike purveyor of literary outlooks - mature, authoratitive and crackling with the opinions of a writer who really knows what he is talking about when it comes to literature.

This collection of essays by Amis serves as a fine reminder of why we read books and what we should look for when we do so - namely talent and originality. Pretty much synonyms as his beloved Nabokov pointed out. An invitation to us all to find our own literary role models who strive to create something along these lines. Salman Rushdie described this quest as a writers attempt to 'stretch the universe' of the reader's mind a little. Amis calls it the war on cliche. Whatever it's title, this pursuit is an important one, and this is some of the very best reviewing you will find articulating this viewpoint.

MCSA/MCSE: Windows 2000 Network Security Administration Study Guide (70-214)

Average customer rating:

Wow! Great book!
Wow! Great book!
I could have used this to pass the exam.

MCSA/MCSE: Windows 2000 Network Security Administration Study Guide (70-214)
Bill English , and Russ Kaufmann
Manufacturer: Sybex
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Certification Central | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

MCSA/MCSE: Windows 2000 Network Management Study Guide with CD-ROM
MCSA/MCSE Implementing and Administering Security in a Windows 2000 Network Exam Cram 2 (Exam Cram 70-214)
MCSE: Windows 2000 Network Security Design Study Guide Exam 70-220 (With CD-ROM)
MCSA/MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit: Implementing and Managing Security in a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure, Exam 70-214
MCSE: Windows Directory Services Administration Study Guide (with CD-ROM)

ASIN: 0782142060

Book Description

Here's the book you need to prepare for Exam 70-214, Implementing and Administering Security in a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network. This Study Guide provides:

In-depth coverage of every exam objective
Practical information on managing a secure Windows 2000 network
Hundreds of challenging practice questions, in the book and on the CD
Leading-edge exam preparation software, including a testing engine and electronic flashcards

Authoritative coverage of all exam objectives, including:

Implementing, Managing, and Troubleshooting Baseline Security
Implementing, Managing, and Troubleshooting Service Packs and Security Updates
Implementing, Managing, and Troubleshooting Secure Communication Channels
Configuring, Managing, and Troubleshooting Authentication and Remote Access Security
Implementing and Managing a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and Encrypting File System (EFS)
Monitoring and Responding to Security Incidents

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Customer Reviews:

Wow! Great book!.......2003-10-25

I loved this book, it does prepare you for the exam.

Wow! Great book!.......2003-10-25

Excellent primer for the exam. I would recommend it.

I could have used this to pass the exam........2003-05-30

In my quest to pass the 70-214 exam I had very little material to work with and even less to practice with. Sybex has released a book with over 80 exercises and 200 practice questions that will certainly making taking the 214 exam a little easier.

First let me say that the 70-214 exam is by far the toughest exam I have passed or taken, this book is written by 2 people who certainly have an in depth understanding of the world of Windows 2000 Security.

Taking you on a path that starts of with the basic of group policy configuration and works you all the way through the updating and management of the security system, including auditing, you have a very complete study guide to work with.

The coverage of the certain areas like the MBSA is great and the exercises make it easier to understand the use and purpose of the utility. I found the question to be very close to the actual exam, but I think more case study type of questions should be included as a separate test prep section.

The cd include also has a great number of questions and practice test. What I found missing was the MBSA utility, which means you have to find and download it from Microsoft's website. Also they could have included other security type of utilities for help in the real world, but that can be included in any updates.

Overall, having passed the exam in January, this book certainly does what it's designed for.

The Four Loves (The C.)
Average customer rating:

Not my most favorite Lewis book

We need this today, more than ever before.

like being one of his students at Cambridge

Three kinds of love and how to sanctify them with a Fourth

Listen to Lewis

The Four Loves (The C.)
C. S. Lewis
Manufacturer: Fount
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Faith | Christian Living | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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Similar Items:

The Problem of Pain

The Great Divorce

Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life

Mere Christianity

Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold

ASIN: 0006280897

Amazon.com

The Four Loves summarizes four kinds of human love--affection, friendship, erotic love, and the love of God. Masterful without being magisterial, this book's wise, gentle, candid reflections on the virtues and dangers of love draw on sources from Jane Austen to St. Augustine. The chapter on charity (love of God) may be the best thing Lewis ever wrote about Christianity. Consider his reflection on Augustine's teaching that one must love only God, because only God is eternal, and all earthly love will someday pass away:

Who could conceivably begin to love God on such a prudential ground--because the security (so to speak) is better? Who could even include it among the grounds for loving? Would you choose a wife or a Friend--if it comes to that, would you choose a dog--in this spirit? One must be outside the world of love, of all loves, before one thus calculates.

His description of Christianity here is no less forceful and opinionated than in Mere Christianity or The Problem of Pain, but it is far less anxious about its reader's response--and therefore more persuasive than any of his apologetics. When he begins to describe the nature of faith, Lewis writes: "Take it as one man's reverie, almost one man's myth. If anything in it is useful to you, use it; if anything is not, never give it a second thought." --Michael Joseph Gross

Book Description

A candid, wise, and warmly personal book in which Lewis explores the possibilities and problems of the four basic kinds of human love- affection, friendship, erotic love, and the love of God. “Immensely worthwhile for its simplicity...a rare and memorable book” (Sydney J. Harris).

Customer Reviews:

Not my most favorite Lewis book.......2007-10-18

I think most of the people who purchase Lewis' non-fiction do so because they are interested in his take on Christianity. One of the odd things about this book is that Lewis doesn't make it clear how he decided on these four Greek words. It turns out that the New Testament doesn't use the word eros or storge. This means that the New Testament usage is actually closer to colloquial English usage that you might guess from this book. I assume he chose these words because classical Greek philosophers classified love in this four-fold way.

When Lewis discusses friendship in this book, he gives it a rather odd definition that no longer seems appropriate in today's world, and probably even in his time almost no one except a university professor have. Lewis' concept is that a friend is someone with whom you share an arcane interest. It is an interest so rare that when you meet someone with a similar interest, your reaction is "What? You too?" Now that most people live in large cities and many have access to the internet, finding someone with an interest in say Wagnerian Opera isn't nearly so hard as it might have been for Lewis, who hated London and large cities. I think for most urban dwellers today, the people whom we consider friends are not so much those with whom we share a rare hobby, but people whose company we like and whose lives we are interested in hearing about.

If you are a hard core Lewis fan, you will probably enjoy this book, but if you are new to Lewis, you might have more fun reading something else like Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, or The Great Divorce.

We need this today, more than ever before........2007-08-23

Supposedly this is the only existing audio of the voice of C.S. Lewis. Originally, I was hoping to find audio of his famous radio talks which later became his book "Mere Christianity". Even though this wasn't exactly what I was looking for, it is phenomenal to hear the voice of C.S. Lewis. The Four Loves should be recommended reading/listening for every engaged couple. For those of us who have been married for some time, his book sheds beautiful light on what our relationships should look like.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

like being one of his students at Cambridge.......2007-07-22

One of the things I like most about college are the lectures of a really erudite professor. It's such a joy to hear someone with a dazzling array of experiences and insights speak on his subject of expertise. These 4 talks are the closest most of us will ever come to sitting in a Cambridge classroom and hearing the one and only C.S. Lewis talk and talk about a subject of intense and intimate interest to just about all of us: love. While perhaps of lesser aesthetic quality than Plato's "Symposium", it is, nonetheless, far more insightful and USEFUL (That's not to say Plato is not useful; far from it! It is precisely BECAUSE Plato is so eminently insightful and useful that I consider this to be just about the highest compliment one could pay Lewis's work, and a compliment which is richly deserved!). Lewis's unparalleled understanding of human nature; his ability to illustrate the true significance of often overlooked, seemingly trivial things; his use of disparate and always apt illustrations from literature, history, psychology, life, philosophy, and religion; the way in which the highest and the lowest are always placed in right relation in his account of things; all these hallmarks of Lewis's genius are on full display in these lectures on the four types of love: domestic affection, friendship, erotic love, and Christian charity.
In fact, Lewis's understanding that these various types of love differ not only in degree but in kind enable him to avoid many of the apparent problems of Plato's account. I would recommend that Lewis's "Four Loves" and Plato's "Symposium" be read back-to-back and then criticized in light of each other, and then reread back-to-back again. Listening to them both (there is an excellent line of dramatic readings of Plato's works by Naxos audio-books) is very helpful, for one gets something different from hearing a lecture than from just reading notes (even if they are an exact transcript of the lecture). Also, Lewis's talks differ slightly in content from the book, and the differences, while slight, are somewhat instructive.
One can truly listen with rapt interest and amazement to these talks over, and over, and over, and over, and...

Three kinds of love and how to sanctify them with a Fourth.......2007-06-24

In the introduction, Lewis discusses the differences between Gift-love and Need-love. He explains that although our Need-loves may be demanding and greedy, they are good and necessary because there is little danger that they can be made into gods. They are not near enough to God, by likeness, to be twisted like that. The highest does not exist without the lowest and a plant has roots below as well as sunlight above.

Chapter 2: Likings And Loves For The Sub-Human, is a discussion of Pleasures of Need versus Pleasures of Appreciation. The types of love explored here include patriotism and love of nature. The next chapter: Affection, deals with the humblest love as Lewis calls it. He refers to literary works like The Wind In The Willows, Tristram Shandy, Emma and others to demonstrate the good and the bad manifestations of this kind of love.

Friendship is explored in Chapter 4, again with reference to literature, including inter alia Ralph Waldo Emerson. This section includes an interesting discussion of the word "spiritual" - which is nowadays often used as substitute for "religious". Lewis reminds us that there is spiritual evil as well as spiritual good. The next chapter deals with Eros and he points out its aspects of glory and its playfullness, with reference to books like Anna Karenina and 1984, and certain passages from scripture.

The final chapter is titled Charity and includes an interesting view of a passage from the Confessions by St Augustine. Lewis notes that the Gift-loves are natural images of God whilst the Need-loves are correlatives (not opposites) of the love that God is. When God is admitted to the human heart, He transforms our Gift-love and our Need-love. Conversion is necessary for our natural loves to enter the heavenly life.

The main lesson of the book is the importance of Charity. Without it, all three of the aforementioned types of love may become distorted and even dangerous. Although this little book provides great insight, I have not found it to be as accessible as his masterpiece Mere Christianity or his comforting book titled The Problem of Pain.

Sometimes his arguments are hard to follow and his views and examples of certain types of love are coloured by the English culture of the period in which he lived, thus not always universally applicable. The book would also have been a better reference source if an index had been provided. Besides these minor comlaints, The Four Loves is still a great read that provides valuable insight into the human condition.

Listen to Lewis.......2007-06-06

If you have only read "The Four Loves," you haven't heard all that Lewis had to say on the subject. The audio version, read by Lewis himself is shorter than the print version of this book, but it includes material not in print. It takes a few minutes to get used to Lewis' voice, but soon you feel that you are sitting in a room with him as he tells stories and talks about what he has learned from his experiences of the four loves.

Contemporary Native American Architecture

Average customer rating:

Contemporary Native American Architecture
Carol Herselle Krinsky
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

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General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Native American Architecture

ASIN: 0195097408

Amazon.com

Contemporary Native American Architecture is an essential reference for architects concerned with the complex cultural and aesthetic issues involved in creating new buildings for Native American populations. Carol Herselle Krinsky, author of Synagogues of Europe, drove more than 13,000 miles in the contiguous 48 states to see and document new meeting lodges, casinos, healing centers, homes, and museums. She writes with infectious passion about large themes: how cultures determine the forms of their monuments, how a minority chooses to present itself within majority culture, how new spaces can be endowed with meanings inherent in traditional structures. Of fairly modest house plans approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, she writes, "To be sure, the buildings discussed here do not intend to be traditional. They are evocative responses to cultural evaporation, pouring at least a few old resources into new vessels. They reinforce a sense of identity. And if they can help to build or rebuild Native nations, the best examples will have fulfilled an essential mission."

This book's design is workmanlike, with only black-and-white photographs, but its detailed contents will be pored over long after most coffee-table books have lost their luster.

Book Description

Why, during the past thirty years, has there been a dramatic change in architecture by and for American Indians? How does it reflect the revival of language and the renewal and invention of dance, music, and other performance, and the remarkable burst of creativity in Native American novels and poetry? And since architecture requires technical expertise and money, how does this change reflect alterations in the economic, legal, and political situation of American Indians in the past decades? At no other time since the European invasions have the Native nations been as determined to set their own agendas for building or been as successful in reaching their architectural goals. They now claim authority in planning what they need for modern life--office buildings, schools, clinics, religious and community structures, urban cultural centers, houses, and museums, even commercial buildings and casinos. Those agendas often include strategies for making sure that the buildings are culturally appropriate or focus on collective decisions that embody community values brought from the past to the present. In Contemporary Native American Architecture, Carol Herselle Krinsky examines the historical and legal background of this movement of cultural regeneration through the medium of architecture, and records responses of Native American's to ever-changing cultural situations. While some artistic aspects of the new drive for self-determination are familiar, the architecture is not. That may be because finding and photographing examples--most never before published--required about 13,000 miles of travel on tribal lands and in cities from Connecticut to California. Her travels enabled her to conduct many interviews with people closely connected to the architectural works. Krinsky clearly describes many examples of invention on the basis of tradition--the creation of architecture as a form of "medicine" or cultural healing--and addresses issues of authenticity and group renewal in the present age of ethnic consciousness. The building types presented here are not traditional, but the individual examples reflect Native American culture all the same. It is no longer permissible to think of Native Americans as remote from Americans in general. Through education and training, movement back and forth from reservation to city, exposure to film and television, intermarriage, the mobility granted by airplanes and automobiles, and especially the impact of the Federal government, Native Americans can join the mainstream when they wish and withdraw when traditional concerns are more pressing. Lively, informative, and lavishly illustrated, this unique work offers a clear and visually engaging way to understand new cultural movements among Native Americans.

George W. Bushisms : The Slate Book of The Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President

Average customer rating:

Nobody Could Dream This Stuff Up
The Joke is On Us
Great Gift!
Having a few laughs on the worst president ever
Someone please kill me!!!

George W. Bushisms : The Slate Book of The Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President
Jacob Weisberg
Manufacturer: Fireside
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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Still More George W. Bushisms: Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican
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Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot

ASIN: 0743222229

Book Description

"They misunderestimated me."

Or did they?

Judge for yourself. Here are over 100 memorable misstatements by our syntactically challenged president, collected, annotated, and introduced by Slate magazine's Jacob Weisberg.

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."

"We'll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers."

"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family."

"I do know I'm ready for the job [the presidency].

And if not, that's just the way it goes."

Download Description

Judge for yourself. Here are over 100 memorable misstatements by our syntactically challenged president, collected, annotated, and introduced by Slate magazine's Jacob Weisberg. "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." "We'll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers." "It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it." "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." "I do know I'm ready for the job [the presidency]. And if not, that's just the way it goes."

Customer Reviews:

Nobody Could Dream This Stuff Up.......2007-03-22

This book could not have been dreamed up as a work of fiction unless...well, it just couldn't have been! I have owned this book for quite a while, and pull it out whenever I need a reality check on what is happening in Washington DC. The quotes are amazing, and what is even more amazing is that someone who speaks so poorly could have ever been elected as President of the US.

There may also be a little bit of sad commentary here, as this reflects on the Bush Family tradition of not reading. It also is somewhat of a commentary on the "excellent schools" that Bush went to. How could they let someone with such poor grammar graduate?

Need a laugh...get this book...unless your a diehard W supporter!

The Joke is On Us.......2007-03-13

This book makes me think of the classic, "Everybody Plays the Fool" because "there's no exception to the rule." The line "don't you think the joker laughs at you" from the Beatles' 1967 classic, "I Am the Walrus" is also startlingly a propos. Dumbya is a genuine fool.

This trenchant, very funny book underscores just how subliterate, inarticulate and lacking in intelligence Dumbya really is. While Dumbya's malapropisms are funny, it is also scary to think of somebody of such limited ability as president. Dumbya's administration is of the emperor's new clothing genre and I am glad to see more people coming out and publicly admitting that the emperor is naked.

Dumbya has proven yet again his overall incompetence by causing a federal deficit and his gross bungling the most senseless, needless and useless war involving America. Although much of this book covers 2000, it heralds what is yet to come from the worst president in history. For those who voted for him, I apologize if any offense was taken as none was meant. I do think that the joke ended up on everybody as we have been saddled with this incompetent person since the bungled election of 2000. Oh, and the election mess in Florida? No surprise there - Dumbya's brother Jeb's political state! Haven't they heard of the Voters' Rights Act of 1965? Apparently not, as many people were denied access to voting in the 2000 election.

There are many, myself included who feel the 2000 election was stolen. Had the fouled up election not taken place, we would not have ended up with this sad excuse of a president. I am very glad I didn't vote for him either time. Still, if you want some comic relief during these tense times, this book is for you. It is trenchant, cleverly written and well worth the read.

Great Gift!.......2007-02-13

To the anti-bush family or friend. Will bring a spark of humor to the otherwise angered person! heh

Having a few laughs on the worst president ever.......2007-01-02

I'll make this review short and to the point. Reading the quotes in this book shows what a moron George W. Bush essentially is. It's very funny but it's not at all funny to realize that such a cretin is the most powerful man in the world. Although he tries hard to not make such glaring mistakes in his public speaking these days, he has proven his inborn stupidity by racking up an astronomical federal deficit and mismanaging the most useless war America has ever been involved in. Most of the content of this short book is from 2000 but it was certainly a warning of things to come if enough people were stupid enough to vote for this stupid man. Of course, the 2000 election was stolen but if it hadn't been so close, the hijacking of the presidency couldn't have happened. However, stupidity reigns in America so just read this book and have a good laugh. The joke's on us all.

Someone please kill me!!!.......2006-06-21

Try this one on for size

I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what's moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves." --Washington, D.C., Sept. 21, 2003

That says it all there. I really can't explian how this guy got elected but his quotes make for some hilarious reading.

Overall-If you ever need to laugh make sure you have this book handy.

Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology

Average customer rating:

Note - this review is for the Classroom Guide only
this book rates 6 stars
Existentialist/postmodern intellectual's heaven
Inspirational
enlightening, uplifting

Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology

Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Literature & Fiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Postmodern American Fiction: A Norton Anthology (Open Market Edition)
The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry
Poems for the Millennium: The University of California Book of Modern and Postmodern Poetry, Vol. 1: From Fin-de-Siecle to Negritude
Sleeping with the Dictionary (New California Poetry, 4)
The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry

ASIN: 0393310906

Customer Reviews:

Note - this review is for the Classroom Guide only.......2007-02-15

For some reason, the reviews for the anthology itself are posted here, instead of reviews of just the Classroom Guide. Maybe this review will also end up with the reviews of the anthology, but it doesn't belong there.

As many observe, the anthology itself is great. However, I don't think much of the Classroom Guide, and I was disappointed by its content. I'm not an instructor, and I didn't buy this book to help me teach the subject. I had hoped it would provide additional insight into the separate poems and poets, and actually provide some "inside" information or ideas that would help me go deeper into the poems, but it really is just a bunch of questions that an instructor could have students answer, think about, or write about, related to each poet's work that appears in the anthology. Call me a dummy, but I want to read a question, think about it, and then see an informed answer or discussion of it.

But questions do not a guide make. Unless the guide itself is the author's contribution to the canon of postmodern poetry. Then I would have to reconsider. Or would I?

this book rates 6 stars.......2005-04-01

If you're serious about poetry - you need this book.
If you stopped reading before the Postmoderns - you need this book.
If you want to get serious about poetry - you need this book.
If you think you've read it all on the Postmoderns - you need this book.

Existentialist/postmodern intellectual's heaven.......2004-12-01

Wow! If you're well read, this book is for you. It makes me wish I actually were alive when these people wrote. It is somewhat culturally biased, but I could easily excuse it as just being specific. There is a lot of name droppings in these artful poems, so if you're not used to it, beware! A lot of the poems are spaced out (physically) thoughtfully. This is a book for the thinkers and aspiring poets. Most of these poems were written in the 1950s, as the editors say. Gregory Corso is a highlight, as well as Ginsberg and some of the female writers. This book is long and well worth the price (or a visit to your local library). I am a struggling working class college student, but I'd easily pay $100 for this underrated gem. These are highly personal in nature, but people who like to imagine things would love this book. These inspiring personal reflections are artfully defiant, it will for sure paint a picture in your mind.

Happy reading!

Your all-American community college Vale-D.

Inspirational.......2002-08-24

As a writter this book opens up many diffrent forms of writting styles to experiment with. This is my favortie poetry book and it is filled with poems for what ever mood you may be in. Anyone that loves poetry or loves to read should own a copy of this book.

enlightening, uplifting.......2002-02-25

A deeply informative and devoted anthology, containing some of the best poetry written in America. The detailed author biographies and extensive sections on poetics are a delight, such a rarity! The rich and powerful voices of postmodern American poets -- be they from any cultural background -- can be found here. An anthology that has become my inspiration in many ways -- to read it is to feel inspired to write, as well. Paul Hoover's selection is impeccable, and uplifting.

To date the best anthology I have on the subject.

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