Finding Freedom: Writings from Death Row

Book Description

Finding Freedom is a collection of prison stories - sometimes shocking, sometimes sad, often funny, always immediate-told against a background of extreme violence and aggression, written by a prisoner on death row who has become a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism.

Customer Reviews:

Very Moving.......2007-09-10

I first spotted this book when I had half an hour up my sleeve on the way to a visit at Bunbury Prison. It moved me big time.

In my working capacity over the years as a teacher and facilitator within the Western Australian Prison system I have often used chapters of this book as a pivotal point in my classes.

I am sure Jarvis would be pleased to know that this book has moved the lives of many - including that of many prisoners. To demonstrate how freedom can be found under circumstances of incarceration until death with stories that prisoners can truly relate to is an awesome feat.

The story about the 4th of July really provoked much deep and meaningful discussion.

'Scars', and 'My Sisters' really got them thinking too.

But this book is not only of great benefit to prisoners; it's messages are universal to us all.

Interesting peek into San Quentin.......2007-01-12

This book was an easy read, and gave me a good sense of what it was like for Masters to go from angry to peaceful in prison. It's not professionally written, but one wouldn't expect it to be. I think it would be interesting to people who study prison psychology, violence, Buddhism and meditation, and/or personal growth and transformation.

Escaping from our own prisons.......2006-09-18

This book was deeply moving on many levels, but I was especially struck by how Jarvis Masters was able to find freedom possibly the worst situation one could be in, while many of us, with relatively good lives, never question our own imprisionment. We're all in one sort of prison or another. Jarvis was shown a path to his own freedom, and in the true Boddhisatva tradition, he makes that path clear to the rest of us. Jarvis is an inspiration and one hopes that his message will be read by all.

Changes lives of my students every year.......2005-05-10

Since I began using this book in my 11th grade American Literature/Contemporary Composition classes a few years ago, students have consistently remarked that it has changed the way they view life, the world, and themselves. They consistently say that it is the most meaningful literature we read all year. From Jarvis, they learn life lessons and how to go beyond self-pity and anger. Jarvis is a beautful man and I recomend this book heartily to anyone wishing to open their heart.

Spirituality At Its Best.......2004-01-30

I recommend that anyone who is seeking to be spiritual read this book. Jarvis Masters provides a shining example of compassion in action in cirumstances where it is very difficult to be a holy human being.

The Photographic Essay: William Albert Allard (American Photographer Master Series)

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Honest photos that inspire photographers to go an extra mile

The Photographic Essay: William Albert Allard (American Photographer Master Series)
Erla Zwingle , and Russell Hart
Manufacturer: Bulfinch Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0821217356

Customer Reviews:

Honest photos that inspire photographers to go an extra mile.......1998-03-21

The great thing about this photo book is that Allard provides you with a continous dialogue along with the photos about how he got the shots, what was going on, etc. As an amateur photographer, I was extremely inspired by "The Photographic Essay" to continue my photographic exploits with renewed vigor.

The pages of "The Photographic Essay" come alive with photos from Mississippi, the Basques, Out West, Oaxaca, Mexico, Peru, and Australia. Allard focuses on human emotion and tends to go for photos that other photographers wouldn't attempt--ones where lighting conditions are poor and in situations that others wouldn't get into like Allard does. The result is a rich, vibrant, honest mood.

Amazon.com

Henri Cartier-Bresson's amazing feat as a photographer is the ability to follow his heart and the keen vision of his mind and eye in each photograph. His subjects are only part of the image in the viewfinder, whose composition he sometimes arranges with geometric precision. Many of his best photographs also have startlingly broad political and sociological connotations, which gives the ordinary subjects extraordinary dignity, even grandeur. Europeans is filled with these images, which are often visually complex as well: a 1952 picture depicts a poor immigrant tilling hard ground while in the distance the prosperity-propelled factories of industry belch smoke into already smoggy skies. This is not just a picture of a poor man, or industrial power, or the contrast between the two. It's an open question about the meaning of life, with an anonymous no one--just another human being--at its center. Another wonderful image in this collection is a 1954 shot of a handsome soldier ogling two pretty women. It shows that even at the bleakest moments in their social history, Muscovites were not immune to pheromonal persuasion.

Book Description

Henri Cartier-Bresson reveals--as only a few great artists have done consistently--the richness, the sensibilities, and the varieties of the human experience in the twentieth century. This volume of Aperture's Masters of Photography series confirms the genius of the photographer whose pictures with the new, smaller hand-held cameras and faster films defined the idea of "the decisive moment" in photography.

Cartier-Bresson's imagery is intimate, but it is also utterly respectful of his subjects. In his wide travels throughout the world, he has captured universal meanings through the glimpses into the lives of individuals in scores of countries. Each photograph is in itself a masterpiece of dramatic form; taken together, Cartier-Bresson's works constitute a personal history of epic scope.

Henri Cartier-Bresson presents forty-two of the artist's photographs, each recognized a a masterpiece of the medium. In addition, Cartier-Bresson offers a brief statement of his own artistic ethos, his striving for the spontaneity through intuition that imbues his work.

Customer Reviews:

Best of Bresson.......2006-06-25

A lovely little book showing the most famous pictures of Henri Cartier-Bresson on 95 pages only. A must-have for the Cartier-Bresson fans or a great first book to have on this fabulous photographer.

A True Master.......2005-10-06

If Cartier-Bresson did not invent the art of 35mm street photography, he certainly brought it to the attention of other serious photographers and the public. Trained as a painter, his eye for composition was unerring, but it was his instinct for the defining human gesture--that he termed "the decisive moment"--that made him one of the immortals of photographic history. As one of the founding members of Magnum, he changed the way we think of photographs and the way we see the world. This book is an introduction to his work. As such, it's all too short, but the economical format make it possible to see a few decent examples of his work and perhaps to inspire further study. He was a true master of the art.

Nice little collection.......2005-01-08

This collection is a nice, compact, and inexpensive sample of Cartier-Bresson's photographs. I would have prefered the book to be a little larger to allow for bigger pictures. The print quality is decent. I was disappointed that my favorite photograph by him, the one of the bicyclist going by the staircase entitled "Hyères, France", was absent.

the best.......2001-12-30

Cartier-Bresson is a God of Photography. This is his best album that I know.

Visualizing the Common Qualities!.......2001-07-02

Review Summary: This book is a brilliant expansion of M. Cartier-Bresson's 1955 show designed to emphasize the similarities that exist from country to country throughout Europe in the way people live together. M. Jean Clair has done a marvelous job of adding earlier and more recent images to extend and magnify this theme. As a result you will see an "unquestionable family likeness" for the Europeans that emerges from "the obstinate reworking of a chosen subject." The book contains 200 duotone images to make that point.

Reader Caution: While there is relatively little nudity in this book, there is one final image of two female models resting on a couch that would probably cost this material an R rating if it were a motion picture. If you skip that photograph, you will probably not find the other partial female nudity offensive. This one work is actually asexual, in portraying posing nude as hard work from which one needs a totally relaxing break.

Review: Since World War II, Europeans have been struggling with their common heritage and how to balance it with the national, religious, and cultural ones. Gradually, the differences are being homogenized. Brilliantly, Henri Cartier-Bresson understood early on that the connections were stronger than most other people probably realized. By showing the similarities across countries and cultures, he creates an awareness of potential for friendship that would escape those who had never visited all of these countries.

The work revolves around unnamed themes. But any casual viewer will spot children playing, men and women enjoying a relaxed moment together, public observances of religion and politics, how humans are dominated by nature, the contrasts between rich and poor, and the artificial nature of much modern life. His work also explores the subtle ways that natural and human-made objects display the same forms and outlines.

Here are my favorite images in the book: Guilvines, Brittany, France, 1956; On the banks of the Seine, France, 1936; Palais-Royal, Paris, France, 1959: Amarante, Alto Douro, Portugal, 1955; Lamego, Beira Alta, Portugal, 1955; Madrid, Spain, 1932; Ariza, Aragon, Spain, 1953; Aquila, the Abruzzi, Italy, 1951; Torcello, Italy, 1953; Zurich, Switzerland, 1953; Ridnik, Serbia, Yugoslavia, 1965; Gyor, Hungary, 1964; Near Linz, Upper Austria, 1953; Tug-boat pilots on the Rhine, Germany, 1952; Warsaw, Poland, 1931; Moscow, USSR, 1954; Fishermen, near Suzdal, USSR, 1972; George VI's Coronation, London, England, 1937; Queen Charlotte's Ball, London, England, 1959; and Break between drawing poses, Paris, France, 1989.

You will also be intrigued by how much of the political content of what is portrayed here has changed since it was photographed. The scenes of celebrating Soviet Communism and its founders are gone. The Berlin Wall is gone. The positive identification with everything royal in England is diminished.

Naturally, there's a less pleasant side of this convergence that M. Cartier-Bresson did not choose to portray -- the dominance of mass culture with world brands and forms of entertainment, often from outside Europe. In fact, some have argued that the gravity pulling Europe together is that people like to have more choices when they shop. Isn't it interesting that this dimension was ignored?

M. Cartier-Bresson has a masterly touch for composition that is seen again and again in these photographs. The large two-page landscapes with small people in them show the kind of sophistication that only the most successful painters achieve in the oversized paintings you see in the Paris museums. M. Cartier-Bresson also shows his love for people by portraying them in attractive, positive ways . . . even when they come from different ends of the religious and political spectrum. How wonderful it must have been for him to see people so positively!

Those who are long-time Cartier-Bresson fans will be disappointed a little in the images here. You are probably used to seeing them reproduced in somewhat larger sizes. The sizes used here work, but bigger in this case would have been better.

After you read this book and enjoy its wonderful images, I suggest that you think about how people can make connections with one another that move from a deep spiritual commitment to helping one another, regardless of the basis for that commitment. Otherwise, all we may find we have in common in the future is that it will look like we all shopped in the same mall.

Stand taller by assisting those who want to receive a willing heart!

Book Description

From the travel writer whom Jan Morris has called "the much-loved master of the genre, often imitated but never matched." H. V. Morton peerlessly evokes the sights, the splendors, and the drama of history for tourists and armchair travelers alike.

Here, in the spirit of Bruce Feiler's recent bestseller Walking the Bible, is a portrait of the Holy Land as a physical embodiment of faith. Dramatically conjuring the beauty of Israel's countryside, In the Steps of the Master also evokes the all-consuming passions and deep-rooted mysteries of Jerusalem-and while much has changed, as Morton says, the essential nature of the sites he visits has not.

Customer Reviews:

The more things change?.......2007-06-06

H.V. Morton joined the list of my favorite authors after just one reading of his "In Search of London." "In the Steps of the Master," Morton's 1934 record of "the thoughts and the experiences which come the way of a man as he travels through Palestine with the New Testament in his hands," has cemented his place on that list. "In the Steps..." is a wonderful piece of travel literature, and certainly repays reading, even given all that has changed in the nearly three-quarters of a century since it was first published.

I was fortunate to be able to make my first-ever trip to Israel last month, and so made a point to find and read "In the Steps..." before I left. I'm tempted to say now that things in the Holy Land may have changed more in the 73 years since this book was published than they had in the nearly two millennia since the time of Christ. Twenty-first century Jerusalem, in particular, is a very different place from the dusty settlement Morton describes. No one, I think would mistake "In the Steps..." as a particularly relevant guidebook today. And yet...

There are elements of the Holy Land that maybe never change, and most of the holy sites Morton visits -- certainly the more significant ones -- are still accessible to the modern pilgrim or curious tourist, and the shape of the land and the setting of Jerusalem or the Sea of Galilee remain as Morton describes them.

That, I think, is the real value of this book. Morton is an excellent travel writer, and anyone who appreciates well-crafted descriptive prose is in for a treat with (I'd venture, based on the two volumes of his I've read so far) most anything he's done. As I noted in my review of "In Search of London," Morton seems equally at home describing both the modern condition and the history of a place. Add to that, in this case, his facility with Scripture and his skill in pulling relevant details out of the Biblical narrative, and this becomes a great way to prepare for a trip and/or to assess what you've seen.

The several modern guidebooks about Jerusalem and Israel I read were good for details. But "In the Steps of the Master" was second only to the Bible itself in helping me prepare for the sense -- the spiritual impact -- of being in the land where Jesus walked.

Throwing some light on the Holy Land.......2000-04-17

This is the only one of H. V. Morton's books I've read, although I own one or two others. I suppose I must be slow on the uptake or too busy reading other things, not to have read further. This book was five stars all the way. I've still got the taste of the dust in my mouth.

Being something of a neophyte in matters pertaining to modern day Israel or ancient Palestine, or vice versa, I was thrilled to find myself in the hands of a gifted travel writer on this first armchair journey to the Holy Land. Morton knows how to, how shall I say it, maintain a religious sense in his work without allowing the reader to detect just how religious (or irreligious) he is. It's quite clever. Anyway, there is much biblical reference, almost always referring to the geography through which we pass, or the local architecture. For instance, his description of the Temple fascinated me. I must say it gave me a hankering to go to that part of the world, which is partly what a good travel book ought to do, methinks. Otherwise, I just enjoyed the writing. Very rhythmic, fluid text which is easy to read and tends to sweep one along, almost inexorably. I really shall have to dig out my other Mortons (on the British Isles) and have a go at them. Great read if you can find it, which shouldn't be too hard: he was a very popular and widely published author in his day.

The Rising Gorge: America's Master Humorist Takes on Everything from Monomania to Ernest Hemingway
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The Rising Gorge: America's Master Humorist Takes on Everything from Monomania to Ernest Hemingway
S. J. Perelman
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1585741728

Book Description

The thirty-six undeniably hilarious stories that comprise THE RISING GORGE, culled from such magazines as The New Yorker, Holiday, and Redbook, represent the writings of S. J. Perelman during the 1940s and 1950s, regarded by many critics and fans as the author's most productive and noteworthy period. Complete with travelogues, essays, satirical “open letters,” and two short one-act plays, THE

Book Description

"I do not photograph nature, I photograph my fantasy," Man Ray proclaimed, and he found in the camera's eye and in light's magical chemistry the mechanisms for dreaming. Schooled as a painter and designer in New York, Man Ray turned to photography after discovering the 291 Gallery and its charismatic founder, Alfred Stieglitz. As a young expatriate in Paris during the twenties and thirties, Man Ray embraced surrealism and dadaism, creeds that emphasized chance effects, disjunction, and surprise. Tireless experimentation with technique led him to employ solarization, grain enlargement, mixed media, and cameraless prints (photograms)-- which he called "Rayographs"-- made by placing objects directly on photographic paper and exposing them to light. These successful manipulations, for which he was dubbed "the poet of the darkroom" by fellow surrealist Jean Cocteau, were a major contribution to twentieth-century photography.

Man Ray was no less adept at commercial and portrait photography, and he earned a good living both in Paris and later in Hollywood. His portraits of Joyce, Eliot, Matisse, Artaud, Hemingway, and Brancusi, among others, testify to his compelling insight. Renowned for his exotic wit and elegance, Man Ray was one of the most popular figures of his time and his work continues to hold wide appeal.

Man Ray presents forty-three of the greatest images from throughout the artist's career. The essay by Jed Perl describes the influences behind Man Ray's abundant career and his enduring contribution to photography.

Customer Reviews:

kind of disappointing.......2000-12-27

I bought this book expecting it to be a basic guide on Man Ray's work. The problem is it happens to be a little too basic. You can't find Man Ray's most expressive work, except for "Tears" (only on the cover), "Le Violin d'Ingres", "Mask of Woman", "Le Priere" and a few Rayographs. It seems to be a biographic record instead of an art book, although it doesn't blur the genius of Man Ray's photographs.

A Good Portal Into the Work of Man Ray.......2000-04-19

Aperture's "Master of Photography" collections are economical, well put together samplers of some of this century's best known photographers, and are a good starting point for those relatively unfamiliar with an artist's work. The emphasis is on providing a representative image from all stages in the photographer's career (a long, diverse one in the case of Man Ray)so depth in the era the photographer did his most important work is sacrificed to chronological breadth.

The reproductions are good, but not exceptional. Some of the images lacked the glow - the sense of captured light - seen in higher-end reproductions of the images. This slight deadening of the images was most apparent in Man Ray's wonderful solarized photos - images with a which when reproduced well seem to be lit from within.

Art and photography books are perhaps the least suited for e-commerce as we know it today. Some of my favorite images were not in the Aperture books, and I would have been able to see this before buying by thumbing through the book at a traditional bookstore. Hopefully, as technology advances, Amazon will allow us to "thumb through" these books of images on-line, by being able to view all the images electronically before buying.

All in all, this Aperture series is a good, inexpensive place to get started for someone who would like to see representative images of an artist with whom he or she is unfamiliar. They are not by any means comprehensive works, nor do they have the most beautiful reproductions of some of the mostmemorable images of this century. These books are, however, much less expensive than museum catalogs, have intelligent introductory essays, and are printed passably - they serve a valuable purpose in making the work of these photographers more accessible, and encouraging further exploration into an artist's work.

Chicano Art Inside/Outside the Master's House: Cultural Politics and the CARA Exhibition
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Chicano Art Inside/Outside the Master's House: Cultural Politics and the CARA Exhibition
Alicia Gaspar de Alba
Manufacturer: University of Texas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0292728050

Book Description

"Alicia Gaspar de Alba has written an incisive, provocative, thoughtful, and opinionated book.... I have no doubt that it will become a central text in the fields of Chicano/a studies, feminist studies, ethnic studies, and cultural theory."

—Bryan J. Wolf, Professor of American Studies and English, Yale University

In the early 1990s, a major exhibition Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985 toured major museums around the United States. As a first attempt to define and represent Chicano/a art for a national audience, the exhibit attracted both praise and controversy, while raising fundamental questions about the nature of multiculturalism in the U.S.

This book presents the first interdisciplinary cultural study of the CARA exhibit. Alicia Gaspar de Alba looks at the exhibit as a cultural text in which the Chicano/a community affirmed itself not as a "subculture" within the U.S. but as an "alter-Native" culture in opposition to the exclusionary and homogenizing practices of mainstream institutions. She also shows how the exhibit reflected the cultural and sexual politics of the Chicano Movement and how it serves as a model of Chicano/a popular culture more generally.

Drawing insights from cultural studies, feminist theory, anthropology, and semiotics, this book constitutes a wide-ranging analysis of Chicano/a art, popular culture, and mainstream cultural politics. It will appeal to a diverse audience in all of these fields.

Alfred Stieglitz (Aperture Masters of Photography)

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Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz

Alfred Stieglitz (Aperture Masters of Photography)

Manufacturer: Aperture
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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Henri Cartier-Bresson (Aperture Masters of Photography)
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Manuel Alvarez Bravo (Aperture Masters of Photography)

ASIN: 0893817457
Release Date: 2005-06-15

Book Description

Alfred Stieglitz was one of the most important cultural forces in twentieth-century America. He described himself in 1921 as "an American. Photography is my passion. The search for truth my obsession." As a photographer, editor, and gallery director, Stieglitz was a powerful--often domineering--influence on photography and art. As founder of the PhotoSecession movement and editor of the influential Camera Work, he eschewed the prevailing "artiness" of pictorialist photography, preferring a clarity of vision, a "crystallized awareness." In galleries such as "291" and An American Place which he directed, he introduced modern artists from this country and Europe.

His own work was a seminal force, inspiring clut-like devotion; the noted curator and scholar Ananda Coomoraswamy said of Stieglitz, "His art is absolute the way Bach's music is absolute." He is best known for his winter scenes in New York and Paris, his luminous landscapes at Lake George, his portraits of Georgia O'Keeffe and Dorothy Norman, and his elusive Equivalents. His study of the expressiveness of forms and the subtleties of light won him great acclaim.

Alfred Stieglitz presents forty-one of the artist's most significant photographs, spanning his career. Photographer Dorothy Norman, Stieglitz's close associate and working partner, has written an intimate and comprehensive text.

Customer Reviews:

Stieglitz.......2005-08-20

A small, but diverse representation of Stieglitz's work, well presented and of good quality. A good introduction.

Alfred Stieglitz.......2000-10-26

Alfred Stieglitz really had an eye for the art of photgraphy. he new what was needed in order to dreate good pictures, this book really captures the essence of that eye.

Eikoh Hosoe (Aperture Masters of Photography)

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A real Master

Eikoh Hosoe (Aperture Masters of Photography)

Manufacturer: Aperture
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Henri Cartier-Bresson (Aperture Masters of Photography)

ASIN: 0893818240
Release Date: 2005-06-15

Book Description

"To me photography can be simultaneously both a record and a 'mirror' or 'window' of self-expression. The camera is generally assumed to be unable to depict that which is not visible to the eye. And yet the photographer who wields it well can depict what lies unseen in his memory."--Eikoh Hosoe

Eikoh Hosoe is an integral part of the history of the modern Japanese photography. He remains a driving force in photography, not only for his own work, but also as a teacher and as an ambassadorial figure, fostering artistic exchange between Japan and the outside world. His influence has been felt not only in his native country, but throughout the international photographic community.

Aperture's newly expanded Masters of Photography book series presents an introduction to the seminal photographers of our time. Each book in the series presents more than 40 images spanning the artist's career, along with a chronology, exhibition history and selected bibliography.

Customer Reviews:

A real Master.......2001-05-14

It is said that an image is more than a thousand words. Althought I don't think it is exact, it is what I have to say about this excellent book. Not only the quality of the images (those like the "Embrace" series, the ones about Mishima, some of the "Man and Woman" series), but the text indeed, makes this book a must for those who search the spirit behind the photographs, and who think that photography is much more than only a matter of "being in the right place at the right time".

Book Description

A compilation of essays written by renowned singing teachers as their testament to their great singing instructor, whose research and interpretations have given birth to a new era of vocal pedagogy known as Functional Voice Training. The essays explain the four basic principles with which he works: the two-register theory, the necessity for pure vowels, the use of rhythm to encourage the muscles to react spontaneously, and the choice of dynamic.

Customer Reviews:

Pichardo's Review.......2003-03-04

Subject- BEL CANTO Principles and Practices- Author- Cornelius Reid
Mr.Reid, as difficult as it is to write down the Bel Canto Structure of Singing, has done an excellent job of attempting to get it on paper, as close to the real thing as I have ever read. The book is also very interesting in its writing and is enjoyable and fairly easy to read. I say this, being one of many who say they teach this method, and one of the very few, who actually knows and understands what Bel Canto is in singing. In his other, later writings on this subject, while there are truths in these works, Mr. Reid does somewhat stray from the purity of this method, perhaps in an attempt to not be so heartily disagreed with, as most singing/voice teachers, the majority as it were, have not a clue to what he was writing about. I strongly suggest that this book, for reference, be in everbody's musical library.

Thank you,

Luis Pichardo

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