Book Description
Understanding Partnership Accounting (Second Edition) is an investment partnership accounting guide written by Advent Software and the Financial Services Industry Group of American Express Tax and Business Services. The book covers the accounting and legal services that investment partnerships require. It also describes how investment partnerships allocate the results of their investments to the partners, including tax reallocations for performance fees, and other tax and reporting issues.
Customer Reviews:
A good book for one to understand partnership accounting.......2007-05-13
The book is well organized. Practical. A nice starter's book for accountant who wants to get in the door of private equity fund's accounting world.
it's OK as an introductory book.......2006-12-31
The book provides an introductory overview of partnership accounting. All the calculations and formulas cited in the book are from its own software. Those similar formulas are also provided in other softwares which are much more commonly used, e.g. MS Excel. Lots of time spent on the tax allocations rather than on the P&L allocations. There're also apparent errors in the formulas as well, such as the annualized return calculation on P. 246.
Average customer rating:
- Enjoyed the audiotape
- Decent
- Easy Entertaining Read
- Mediocre
- Is evidence really evidence? (3.75 *s)
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Sunset Express: An Elvis Cole Novel
Robert Crais
Manufacturer: Hyperion Books
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0786860960 |
Book Description
A New York Times Bestselling Author A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
“This hip, funny, and thought-provoking novel will delight Crais' growing legion of fans.” — Booklist
A wealthy restaurateur is accused of murdering his wife, and his hot-shot defense attorney hires Elvis Cole to find proof that police detective Angela Rossi fooled around with the evidence. Rossi had been cleared of an earlier charge of planting evidence, and she's rumored to be willing to do anything to get things back on track. Yet as Elvis investigates Rossi for the defense team, he begins to be more suspicious of the media-loving lawyers than the cops.
Customer Reviews:
Enjoyed the audiotape.......2007-05-19
Lots of the reviews here give this one 3 or 4 stars. Perhaps it was the format, perhaps it was the end of the school year rush for me and the welcome respite this book provided. Perhaps I just liked it better. Nevertheless, it was a good thriller, despite the fact that problems with Elvis and Joe's case are telegraphed from miles away.
My audio version was read by a narrator who has done multiple tours as a reader for Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels. So, the listener is naturally drawn to make comparisons between Elvis Cole/Joe Pike/Lucy and Spenser/Hawk/Susan. Readers familiar with them both can see the analogies already. "Sunset Express" is probably the most Spenser-like of the Cole novels I've read or listened to so far. Lots of relationship discussion (for Cole anyway, a little less than average for Spenser).
I give this one a grade of A-
Decent.......2007-05-01
I'm a big Robert Crais fan but I think he can do better than this one. While it was an exciting read, it was not very original because it draws too many comparisons to the OJ Simpson case. For example, you have a very wealthy man with lots of connections who hires a dream team of a defense counsel to represent him after getting charged with murdering his wife.
Again, there were some good dialog and action scenes but the storyline was not very original.
Easy Entertaining Read.......2007-03-05
Elvis Cole is hired by a famous Hollywood lawyer to investigate a police officer who found evidence that led to the arrest of the lawyer's client. The client is a wealthy restaurant owner. As it turns out Elvis is being used by the lawyer. There's lots of things going on and Elvis eventually discovers the truth. His girlfiend Lucy comes for a vist and Joe Pike gets on board the investigation. This is not one of the better Robert Crais's novels but it easy to read and entertaining. ( B).
Mediocre.......2006-10-30
This book is fast reading although it took about 150 pages to get going. The author balances the intertwined stories very well yet appears to do little to make the characters that he has created seem real. They are cardbord cutouts with little substance to them. Although not great, it certainly does qualify as a fast and easy read even though much of the story is quite predictable.
Is evidence really evidence? (3.75 *s).......2006-05-28
Being a Crais first-timer, one is immediately struck by the similarities to Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series: set in LA, the main character, Elvis Cole, lives in a house on a hill on stilts where coyotes and hawks are observed and heard, the geography of LA is amply described, and romantic pursuits seem to be difficult for one reason or the other. Both Harry Bosch and Elvis Cole are good guys that are not fully appreciated, though Bosch operates within the LAPD and Cole is a PI.
SUNSET EXPRESS is essentially a story of what money can buy a defendant: an expensive team of lawyers that is quite capable of manipulating public opinion, if not actually creating evidence, to favor the client. Cole is hired by high-priced lawyer Jonathan Green to track down leads/tips that could lead to the exoneration of well-to-do entrepreneur Teddy Martin accused of murdering his wife. Cole becomes a bit of celebrity as his findings make the local news in orchestrated press briefings. But Cole's uneasiness ratchets up when his conclusions are distorted by the Green team.
The book is well-paced with a sound plot, though some contend that it is not Crais' strongest. The character development is rather minimal but Cole's attempt at forming a relationship with Louisiana lawyer Lucy Chenier is appealing and revealing. Recommended - will read others.
Book Description
Award-winning author of Under the Feet of Jesus, Helena María Viramontes offers a profoundly gritty portrait of everyday life in L.A. in this lyrically muscular, artfully crafted novel.
In the barrio of East Los Angeles, a group of unbreakable young women struggle to find their way through the turbulent urban landscape of the 1960s. Androgynous Turtle is a homeless gang member. Ana devotes herself to a mentally ill brother. Ermila is a teenager poised between childhood and political
consciousness. And Tranquilina, the daughter of missionaries, finds hope in faith. In prose that is potent and street tough, Viramontes has choreographed a tragic dance of death and rebirth.
Julia Alvarez has called Viramontes "one of the important multicultural voices of American literature." Their Dogs Came with Them further proves the depth and talent of this essential author.
Helena María Viramontes is the acclaimed author of The Moths and Other Stories and Under the Feet of Jesus, a novel; and the coeditor, with María Herrera-Sobek, of two collections: Chicana (W)Rites: On Word and Film and Chicana Creativity and Criticism. She is the recipient of the 2006 Luis Leal Award and the John Dos Passos Award for Literature, and her short stories and essays have been widely anthologized and adopted for classroom use and university study. Viramontes lives in Ithaca, New York, where she is a professor in the Department of English at Cornell University.
Customer Reviews:
The Novel We've Been Waiting For.......2007-05-01
In her two previous books, Helena Maria Viramontes stuns readers with her precise language and uncompromising insights. Their Dogs Came With Them has been long in coming but worth the wait. With this novel Viramontes has certainly created something new and powerful. She offers up the talents and gifts of her first two books and adds a breathtaking use of structure, all of this in the service of a striking story. Many writers are defeated by Los Angeles when trying to write about the city because it suffers, for sure, from muliple-personality disorder. But Viramontes is a master, and in her hands, she turns L.A.'s kinetic energies into a tool for her own purposes. In this vision, the city and the characters are scarred, but not hopeless; battle weary, but resilient. Indeed, Viramontes has written a novel for each of us who have fallen to our knees, but knowing we would stand again, and taller.
Viramontes looks to roots for setting of her gritty novel.......2007-04-16
In 1985, Arte Público Press published Helena María Viramontes' first book, "The Moths and Other Stories," which has become a classic in Chicano literature. Since then, her short stories have appeared in more than 80 anthologies.
Viramontes published the novel "Under the Feet of Jesus" (Plume Books) in 1995, about a makeshift family of migrant workers. It was met with great critical acclaim and now graces many high-school and college reading lists.
Now, fans of Viramontes' writing can delight in the publication of her new novel, "Their Dogs Came With Them" (Atria Books, $23 hardcover). It possesses Viramontes' trademark poetic grittiness, with well-drawn characters who almost leap from the page.
The novel is a heart-rending but hopeful portrait of lives that are rocked by the turmoil and violence of East Los Angeles during the 1960s.
Asked whether she saw some form of redemption arising from her mostly female protagonists' struggles with poverty, bigotry and governmental abuses, Viramontes responded with characteristic candor:
"If I didn't want to recognize the redemption of their everyday ordeals, why write about them in the first place? I marvel, truly marvel, at the everyday, ordinary ordeals of human life, and I want to give justice to an existence that very few people or readers acknowledge."
In many ways, this sentiment is emblematic of Viramontes' perception of writers and their role in society. She asserts that "serious writers have the responsibility to try and disrupt patterns of thought and behavior that damage the integrity of life. That's why most writers do their best work while living on the fringes of a society."
With respect to writers of color such as herself, Viramontes provocatively adds: "Because our communities are constantly bombarded with inhumane violence and racism, I think we writers write with greater urgency." She takes this role seriously: "The greatest compliment to a writer is if a reader is disturbed enough to begin questioning his/her own beliefs."
In choosing the setting and era for her new novel, Viramontes did not need to stray far from her roots. She was born in East Los Angeles into a large family that always extended to relatives and friends who had crossed the border from Mexico to California.
While attending Immaculate Heart College, she worked part time at the bookstore and library to help pay for her education. Viramontes eventually earned her master of fine arts degree from the University of California at Irvine.
She has gone on to win many awards, including the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature, a Sundance Institute Fellowship, and the Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature.
Today, Viramontes is a teacher and mentor to many young writers. She is a professor of creative writing at Cornell University.
Despite well-deserved acclaim, Viramontes does not pretend that writing is easy. "Their Dogs Came With Them" was more than a decade in the making because teaching and life's other demands often devoured her attention.
When Viramontes could make time to return to her novel, she sometimes suffered from writer's block. But she did not give up:
"I just kept my fingers close to the keyboard, walking distance close, just in case something would happen. I had to pay close attention. I reminded myself that a novel begins by one word following another."
Viramontes also observes: "Writing novels is certainly not for the fainthearted, and writing them on a university schedule can be brutally challenging."
We can be grateful for her perseverance. "Their Dogs Came With Them" establishes that Viramontes is simply one of our finest chroniclers of the ordinary but heroic ordeals of human life.
[This review first appeared in the El Paso Times.]
Response to Publishers Weekly Review.......2007-03-08
As a graduate student at Harvard in literary studies, I was shocked and saddened to read such an ill-informed review of Viramontes' second and astoundingly luminous novel.
Not only was the review factually incorrect--for this is Viramontes' second novel (not her first, as the reviewer claims), but, far more gravely, utterly incapable of appreciating the artistic power of a truly original and monumental novel. American literary scholars have already heralded Viramontes' new work as the "Middlemarch of Los Angeles," justly comparing it in power and scope with the greatest works of nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature.
Viramontes stands out among the even most talented of contemporary writers, and her work (including her first novel, "Under the Feet of Jesus," and her many wonderful short stories, including the widely anthologized "The Moths") has already earned her an unforgettable place in the canons of American and world literature. Her work is regularly taught alongside that of Joyce, Steinbeck, and Cisneros, and she is legendary for her innovations in prose and poetic intensity. "Under the Feet of Jesus" has been cited as a "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman," and is now an indelible part of our literary heritage and one of the most groundbreaking novels in decades.
"Their Dogs Came With Them" is Viramontes' "Ulysses"--a contemporary, multi-lingual, prismatic epic that bears no resemblance to the flat, one-dimensional easy-read novels that Publishers Weekly review seems to favor. The Publishers Weekly review seems to have read the novel haphazardly or perhaps not at all, as it gives no sense of the Viramontes' careful construction and dynamic interweaving of multiple narratives and perspectives--the novel is not 'loosely constructed' (a complaint that was, incidentally, often leveled at Joyces' "Ulysses" when it first appeared), but rather innovative, unconventional, and poetic in the best sense of the word.
Viramontes' novel grows out of its characters and the brute materiality that affects them, and its style is as complex and materially present as the story of Los Angeles life that it tells. The alleged "difficulty" of the novel lies in its challenges to the traditional tropes and characters of American literature--in its original voice, unique form of storytelling, and in the brilliance of its form. Viramontes' rich language demands our attention and, like other great writers, challenges the conventional ways in which we have learned or become accustomed to read.
While Viramontes' first novel was a lyrical tour de force, this current work is of a darker and textually different tone. The depth of the novel lies in its ability to characterize and describe in ways that surprise and illuminate, to render without merely 'reporting.' Traditional tropes of American and Latino literature are displaced, meditated on, and reworked, while Viramontes' lucid and ever-metamorphosizing style evokes the unique subjectivity of each of her characters and the fractured temporality of their experience. Any serious reader seeking unconventional beauty and innovative form will appreciate the texture of "Their Dogs Came With Them," as well as its refusal to conform to conventional storytelling.
Yet Viramontes, like Joyce, never sacrifices content for form, or a powerful portrayal of characters for her ever-deepening linguistic artistry. In its texture and intricately imbricated layers of narrative, it is constructed with genius and care. The ethical and esthetic value of this novel lies in its refusal to sacrifice or to romanticize the baffling, 'frustrating' and incomprehensible violence of urban life in twentieth century. The novel's form demonstrates and reenacts the violence it describes, revealing and rehabilitating the difficulties and frustrations of trying to tell stories about the ignored and the oppressed.
To read and review this novel with no ear for artistry or innovation, and with utterly no appreciation for Viramontes' rich legacy in American literature, as Publishers Weekly has so unfortunately done, is not only to do a great disservice to Viramontes and potential readers, but also to miss what may be the first true masterpiece of twenty-first century literature.
Average customer rating:
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Poems About Myself by America's Children (Kids Express)
Manufacturer: Benchmark Books (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
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ASIN: 0761415041 |
Customer Reviews:
The Best.......2003-05-01
This is the best compilation of children's work I have seen in a long time. Very touching.
Sweet.......2003-05-01
Very innocent, heartfelt, poetic from the creative little people.
Book Description
The Domestic Goddess is back, and this time it's instant. Nigella and her style of cooking have earned a special place in our lives, symbolizing all that is best, most pleasurable, most hands-on, and least fussy about good food. But that doesn't mean she wants us to spend hours in the kitchen, slaving over a hot stove.
Featuring fabulous fast foods, ingenious shortcuts, terrific time-saving ideas, effortless entertaining tips, and simple, scrumptious meals, Nigella Express is her solution to eating well when time is short. Here are mouthwatering meals, quick to prepare and easy to follow, that you can conjure up after a day in the office or on a busy weekend, for family or unexpected guests. This is food you can make as you hit the kitchen running, with vital advice on how to keep your pantry stocked, and your freezer and fridge stacked. When time is precious, you canít spend hours shopping, so you need to make life easier by being prepared. Not that these recipes are basic, though they are always simple, but it's important to make every ingredient earn its place, minimizing effort by maximizing taste.
Here too is great food that can be prepared quickly but cooked slowly in the oven, leaving you time to have a bath, a drink, talk to friends, or help the children with their homework, minimum stress for maximum enjoyment.
Nigella Express features a new generation of fast food, never basic, never dull, always doable, quick, and delicious.
Featuring recipes seen on Food Networkís Nigella Express series.
Praise for Nigella Lawson and her cookbooks:
Book Description
In Boston Harbor a barge maneuvers a huge floating section of a steel tunnel into place, then sets it gently onto the harbor floor. High above the Charles River workers place ten lanes of roadway on what will be the widest cable-stayed bridge in the world. Boston will never look the same. Since 1991 Boston has been the scene of the largest public construction project in American history. The Central Artery/Tunnel Project-the "Big Dig"-is the solution to problems that for decades have caused major headaches for people driving in and out of this major American city. Peter Vanderwarker takes us behind the scenes of this complex, awe-inspiring project. Informative text accompanied by remarkable photographs, illustrations, and maps explain these concepts and introduce us to some of the people who have worked on this project.
Customer Reviews:
Big Dig Photography at it's best.......2001-12-04
Wonderful book for Children. Great Photography. A must for the Christmas Stocking from Santa Claus
Vanderwalker King of The Big Dig.......2001-11-10
This book is so much fun to read. The photography is wonderful. Vanderwalker has such a good "eye" for beauty, even in construction.
A must buy for the kids at Christmas
Bought it for a kid; kept it for myself.......2001-10-10
Living in Boston, you are constantly affected by Big Dig-related twists, turns, and upsets. One day the one-way street heads east; the next it has been re-routed west. Few of us venture into the heart of this truly amazing engineering feat, but this book shows us why we should pay more attention. Vanderwarker's spectacular photographs are thrilling to see and they give a glimpse of just why so much money has been poured into this project. We get to see things only the workers would normally see. But perhaps best of all is the glimpse it gives of cutting-edge engineering and technology. Seldom have I seen so clearly how yesterday's sci-fi has become today's "sci" and tomorrow's business as usual.
Book Description
With his acclaimed novels of World War II, David L. Robbins awakened a generation to the drama, tragedy, and heroism of some of history’s greatest battles. Now he delivers a gripping and authentic story set against one of our greatest wartime achievements: the Red Ball Express, six thousand trucks and twenty-three thousand men–most of them African-American–who forged a lifeline of supplies in the Allied struggle to liberate France.
June 1944. The Allies deliver a staggering blow to Hitler’s Atlantic fortress, leaving the beaches and bluffs of Normandy strewn with corpses. The Germans have only one chance to stop the immense invasion–by bottling up the Americans on the Cotentin Peninsula. There, in fields crisscrossed with dense hedgerows, many will meet their death while others will search for signs of life. Among the latter are two very different men, each with his own demons to fight and his own reasons to risk his life for his fellow man.
Joe Amos Biggs is an invisible “colored” driver in the Red Ball Express, the unheralded convoy of trucks that serves as a precious lifeline to the front. Delivering fuel and ammunition to men whose survival depends on the truckers, Joe Amos finds himself hungering to make his mark and propelled into battle among those who don’t see him as an equal–but will need him to be a hero.
A chaplain in the demoralized 90th Infantry, Rabbi Ben Kahn is a veteran of the first great war and old enough to be the father of the GIs he tends. Searching for the truth about his own son, a downed pilot missing in action, Kahn finds himself dueling with God, wading into combat without a gun, and becoming a leader among men in need of someone–anyone–to follow.
The prize: the liberation of Paris, where a ruthless American traitor known as Chien Blanc–White Dog–grows fat and rich in the black market. Whatever the occupied city’s destiny, destroyed or freed, he will win.
The fates of these three men will collide, hurtling toward an uncommon destiny in which people commit deeds they cannot foresee and can never truly explain.
From the screams of German .88 howitzers to the last whispers of dying young soldiers, Robbins captures war in all its awful fullness. And through the eyes of his unique characters, he leaves us with a mature, brilliant, and memorable vision of humanity in the face of inhumanity itself.
Customer Reviews:
An outstanding read - powerful and emotional.......2005-09-09
My name is Larry Gunsberg, from Farmington Hills, MI. I am a fan of historical fiction..as well as nonfiction, and have just finished reading Liberation Road.
I became emotionally involved with the story...I actually cried (I kid you not!), I got angry, I laughed out loud, shook my head in amazement over what people do to survive, and sighed with totally satisfaction at the end with the good Rabbi's redemption. I have NEVER read a WWII story from a Chaplains perspective, much less a working class Rabbi (and, even better, a WWI Vet)
I felt Robbins three perspective approach and its culmination in the stinking French garage and the battle torn fox hole with our heroic young black driver and our anti-hero Rabbi, was satisfying and believable. Robbins ability to capture the sick arrogance of the Nazi Major after reveling the truth of the camps, the stupid cracker mentality (I wanted to punch the sons of bitches out), the varying attitudes among the Black soldiers, involved and moving. It was readable, believable, and provided the feeling of being on the battle field, in the trucks and in their heads.
It is a great story...it just worked on so many levels. I'll be recommending it.
Powerful story, compellingly told, moving conclusion.......2005-06-04
I have to admit I was impressed with the erudition and the effort clearly on display in the review below. I normally don't write Amazon reviews, but I felt the opinion expressed prior to this should be countered. Mr. Robbins is a familiar author for many of us who love historical fiction; his prose is first quality and his research unquestioned and, I believe, on a par with no contemporary writer - you have to go back to a Leon Uris to find a writer who packs as much information and authenticity into his books as does Robbins. This being said, I disagree strongly with any contention that Liberation Road delivers less than a powerful punch. The reviewer who follows me seemed to feel cheated that Robbins spent time developing memorable and conflicted characters; apparently he wanted more blood and less heart. Robbins's books have always been a splendid combination of the two - action that resounds off the page combined with fine shavings of the human will to fight, survive, and, yes, even love. Liberation Road, after an exhilirating ride of grueling battles, swift heroism, deep historical context, and intense moral confusion, gave me a shattering ending to the novel. I did not see it coming and was moved to a real tear, something rare from a book or movie. This happened not because I was treated to just a cavalcade of action but because I was touched by the authenticity of the characters, their delimmas, and their pain. Throw in that Robbins deals with a tale of combat told from the postures of two non-combatants, that he exposes the history of the famous Red Ball Express, that he makes heroes out of a chaplain and a humble African American soldier, that he addresses issues of racism and anti-Semitism, and that his characters sacrifice themselves in the name of greed, or passion, or hatred, or bravery - then can you ask more from an author? Not me. Robbins has again upheld the very high expectations I have of him. If you have enjoyed his work before, trust this book to be more of the same, and perhaps his best yet. I'm a former Marine gunnery sergeant, and to be fair, I think I know a good war story when I see one. This is certainly one of the best this year. I recommend it to those who want more than smoke and explosions. Turn to other writers for that (Jeff Schaara, Pressfield). Robbins lays it all out, the human spirit, asd well as the machinery, of war. Highly recommended.
'Showboat' comes to Omaha Beach.......2005-06-03
Let me start off by saying I am very disappointed in David Robbins most recent effort. I found that it spent all of its time on the characters, who were stereotyped and who should be more irritated than the reader, that it pandered to issues both current and past in an effort to generate a 'lifetime channel' view of the simplicity of humans, and finally it nearly mocked the efforts of millions to target the flaws of a few.
OK. I recognize that to comment negatively on the enormously complex topics of racism and anti semitic behavior is foolish, certainly wrong, and insensitive. The WWII German treatment of its Jewish citizens is so horrific that it deserves solitary, focused treatment. Not third rate actors in a fourth rate story. I don't mean to do that here.
First of all, Mr. Robbins has written enormously popular novels. For what it's worth, I have given them 5 stars as have many others. To write historical fiction is a difficult task. If you stick to just the facts, you've just written another treatise, frequently aloof, often sacrificing the human pathos for statistics. On the other hand, you can change the facts and end up being accused of rewriting history. Also a blunder of mammoth proportions.
Here Mr. Robbins leaves the brilliance of his former trilogy about Stalingrad, Kursk and Berlin, and writes singularly of two characters, Joe Amos, an educated African American truck driver bringing supplies from the chaos of Omaha Beach to the front lines, and Rabbi Ben Kahn, struggling with his hatred of himself and the lives he took in the First World War and searching for his son, who unbeknownst to him has become a prominent black marketeer in occupied Paris. That's it. That's the story. Nothing more than that.
Was there racism in 1944? Yes. Hell. There's racism now. It's the most debilitating problem that this nation faces. But I thought that we applauded the universal effort of the battle of good over evil in 1942, 43, 44, and 45? I thought that when Brokaw wrote that 'this was the greatest generation ever' he was talking about everyone. Now I read Robbins and I find that the officers at Omaha in charge of the enormously complex supply train to ensure that the boys on the front line were never denied bullets, band aids, gasoline, mail and food, were for the most part racist, frequently willing to take bribes, and that the enlisted men Joe Amos and others were taking to St. Lo and beyond were overtly ignorant pigs, and that the Uniform Code of Military Justice had a set of white rules and a set of black rules. Frankly, I thought it pandered, trying to raise issues that had been addressed, were addressed, were still seeking resolution, that good men and women deal with every day, and that it was done just to get a reaction.
Chaplain Ben Kahn? Good man. But I wanted the history of how we supplied the war effort. That's what I thought Robbins promised me. That's what I thought the book was about. In the other trilogy, the most important character was the war, the hideous, immoral, evil effort of the two psychopaths, Hitler and Stalin. The human story was a distant second. Here we spend hundreds of pages dealing with Chaplain Kahn's post traumatic stress.
It took an effort to finish this book. Important issues? Most assuredly. Other authors frequently examine them in focused writing. "A Death in Vienna" for a fictional view. "Hitler's Willing Accomplices" for a non fiction view. But "Liberation Road" is misleading in the context of what Mr. Robbins told us he was going to write about. 2 stars. Larry Scantlebury
Humanity & War.......2005-01-26
Although ardent fans of his eastern front trilogy might disagree, David Robbins' latest book strikes me as his finest story yet. It is appropriate that a national periodical described him as the "Homer of World War II." The pathos of war is timeworn, as old as the western literary tradition itself, but Robbins has captured the profundity of this subject in a manner that is fresh even as it is familiar. On the one hand, his prose is magnificent, his turn of the phrase certain to capture and enthrall. On the other, he has crafted characters with whom the reader can identify. We are privy to the hopes and fears of Ben Kahn and Joe Amos. They are people we know. These men are our neighbors. They live and they breathe. This is no mean feat given that both men speak to us across time and race. Moreover, both men have to compete with the larger story unfolding around them for our attention. Nevertheless, Robbins successfully weaves their two tales into one account that conveys as well the enormity of the allied drive on Paris in the summer of 1944. Anyone reading this book will come away from it with a better understanding of that crucial campaign, Robbins' research, as always, is superlative. More immediately, however, readers will be reminded that this great crusade was the sum of millions of individual accounts, most of which are lost in the maelstrom of history. In this work of fiction, Robbins has provided two such imagined histories, and left us with a universal story of humanity striving to assert itself in the face of mortal carnage and moral confusion. This book is a study of war, but most particularly, of the American experience of war. As such, it is also a commentary on the American character, on our inimitable national optimism, and the shadows that have darkened our national experience. I cannot recommend enough that you read it yourself, that you encourage your friends to do so as well, and that you leave your thoughts on the book in this forum.
Moving, accurate, fast-paced historical fiction; marvelous!.......2005-01-23
Robbins has again cast light on a little-recognized corner of World War II. The Civil Rights movement in America had its beginnings in that war, and the desegreation of the military was the first great step forward for our integrated society. The black Red Ball drivers were really the pioneers, because of their intrepidness and courage in the face of not only combat but the inbred racism in the army. Add to that the power of the novel's story of a rabbi chaplain, gone to war to determine the fate of his pilot son, and you have a moving mix of characters, a fascinating backdrop, and Robbins' proven abilies with action, fact, place and people. Read this and learn while you enjoy a marvelous, fast-paced novel about a little known corner of WWII. Excellent and recommended.
Average customer rating:
- Can be bought new for $35 at National Motorists Assoc. Web
- A must have book for anyone concerned for auto safety
- American Autobahn
- If you drive on the interstate, you must read this book!
- An Intelligent Plan That Would Work if Implemented
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American Autobahn
Mark Rask
Manufacturer: Vanguard Non-Fiction Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0966913604 |
Book Description
The automotive enthusiast's "Bible" for fast-and-safe driving. A first-of-its-kind expose that shows how Germany, since 1970, has reduced the number of people killed on its roadways by almost 70 percent--while traffic moves on its Autobahn freeway system at 100 mph. The book also takes an in-depth look at America's failed attempts, since 1940, to slow down "speeders" and save lives. A fascinating comparison between two radically different philosophies of safety, and how Germany's high-speed approach could be adapted to American's interstate. Included are eight color illustrations of tomorrow's cars, trucks and motorcycles by world-famous automotive artist, Mark Stehrenberger. Many rare photos, ads and graphics. Fast-paced, informative and, yes, fun, this is the book the federal government and insurance industry don't want you to read! Hardbound, 61/4" X 91/4", 312 pages, 55 black & white photos, 8 color.
Customer Reviews:
Can be bought new for $35 at National Motorists Assoc. Web.......2004-02-15
Excellent reading for those who suffer on America's HWY systems.
How things could be if we didn't coddle the incompetent!
A must have book for anyone concerned for auto safety.......2002-11-17
This is a very well written book with prooving statistics - a very unbiased and credible book on the reasons behind America's irresponsibility and negligence for auto safety - and why we have failed in lowering death rates due to high-speed related accidents. This book explains in great detail the German philosophy of road safety and accident prevention that has gone to provide the world's safest automobiles and high speed auto networks. I'd recommend this book for a teenager beginning to drive so that he/she breaks the typical American-attitude towards auto safety.
American Autobahn.......2001-07-16
This book tracks the history of our interstate and the autobahn highways and presents compelling statistics that prove that our system of draconian speed enforcement plus artificially low speed limits is not working. There are numerous charts and graphs that show that Germany's fatality rate on the Autobahn has been consistently below ours for a number of years, while speeds have been rising on both systems. The author points out how and why we should be trying to generate support for upgrades to our highway system while conducting an experiment to increase and/or remove speed limits on our less crowded interstates.
If you drive on the interstate, you must read this book!.......2001-06-14
This book should be required reading for all current and future interstate drivers. Rask provides a compelling argument as to why our interstate system is failing us, and what we can do to change it. If I could afford it, I would send a copy to each of my Congressmen.
An Intelligent Plan That Would Work if Implemented.......2001-03-27
With excellent illustrations by Mark Stehrenberger, Mark Rask tells the history of the Interstate Highway system in the U.S. and our silly obsession of "Speed kills," despite all proof it's stupidity that kills. Then he gives the history of the German Autobahn system and how the Germans, rather than try to restrict speed everywhere, made the roads, the drivers, and the cars safer. All three are models. Their fatality rate went down 70% because of their combined efforts (and a cultural abhorrence to drinking and driving). He explains precisely how the autobahns are designed safer, their drivers are better trained, and how safe their cars are. Then he goes on to give a plan for taking the best of their system and Americanizing it. It's a good read. I recommend it. I enjoyed it. Several people to whom I've recommended it have told me they enjoyed it, and it reveals some truths you won't discover if you listen to the U.S. Safety Establishment.
Average customer rating:
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Three Novels: The Soft Machine, Nova Express, the Wild Boys
William S. Burroughs
Manufacturer: Grove Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Classics
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Literary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Burroughs, William S.
| ( B )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
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General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
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ASIN: 0802130844 |
Average customer rating:
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Poems About Family by America's Children (Kids Express)
Manufacturer: Benchmark Books (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
General
| Poetry
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
20th Century
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
United States
| Single Authors
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Poetry
| Writing
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0761415076 |
Books:
- What to Say When. . .You're Dying on the Platform: A Complete Resource for Speakers, Trainers, and Executives
- When Bad Things Happen to Good People
- When I Was Young in the Mountains (Reading Rainbow Books)
- Where Are They Buried? How Did They Die? Fitting Ends and Final Resting Places of the Famous, Infamous, and Noteworthy
- Where the Wild Things Are
- Why Didn't I Learn This in College?
- Will There Really Be a Morning?
- America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
- An Infinity of Little Hours: Five Young Men and Their Trial of Faith in the Western World's Most Austere Monastic Order
- Anesthesiologist's Manual of Surgical Procedures
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