Book Description
Jack Bauer is in Nicaragua to recover stolen military secrets and track down a CTU agent with Colombian assassins hot on his trail, but the killers are one step ahead of him and Jack's comrade is shot down in a hail of bullets right in front of his eyes.
Back stateside Jack must find the out who is leaking all the top–secret military technology, but to do it he must go under cover and wage war against an army of ruthless cartel killers out for revenge and a shadowy Chinese agent who can play the espionage game as well as anyone. To win he'll have to go undercover in Las Vegas, infiltrate Area 51, turn back an all out assault on the Groom Lake military facility and face his past life as a Delta Force assassin in Central America.
Each book in this new series will follow the show's trademark "24" hour format. Our goal is to make them such fast–paced, compelling reads, fans will be tempted to devour them in 24 hours or less!
As prequel novels they will be set in the early days of CTU where terrorist threats loomed large but were nevertheless fought without the kind of inter–agency cooperation the unit enjoys now, raising the stakes for Jack and showing us how he became such a lone wolf in the first place. We'll not only see how Jack's skilled were honed on these dangerous missions, we'll also encounter many of Jack's friends and enemies, providing fans with a history of how key players got to where they are in the elaborate hierarchy of 24. True to the show, Washington politics and policy serve as a background for the stories and intrigues with politicians, lobbyists, and powerful officials cross into the narrative.
This series will give the show's die–hard devotees an opportunity to enjoy 24 during the off–season. As a special added feature for fans, the back of each book will feature a chapter of Jack's 'training manual ' or documents from his briefing files containing accurate information about weapons, equipment, elite military units, and techniques used by special ops units and some of Jack's most effective, albeit unorthodox, tactics.
Customer Reviews:
Good 24 Story.......2007-08-09
A mole inside America's top-secret advanced military testing ground (Nevada's Groom Lake Air Force Base) has been leaking highly advanced killing technology to America's worst enemies . . . who intends to turn its destructive power on an unsuspecting nation before the day is out. Agent Jack Bauer must go undercover with his team in nearby Las Vegas in order to catch the mole and his associates, and stop the deadly endgame from coming to pass.
Curtis Manning: "There's only one road in or out of there. The bad guys are sure to be guarding it."
Jack Bauer: "Then it's simple, don't use the road."
Good read! Jack and Tony Together Again!.......2007-08-04
If you want to see Jack Bauer undercover, playing the role of a *bad dude* in order to catch *really* bad dudes, then don't miss this book. I thought it was a great read.
After an *explosive!* prologue (yes, this is a pun) set in Central America, Jack discovers that terrorists are buying up high-tech secrets that could help them do damage to America and its populace.
CTU plants Jack undercover in Las Vegas. He takes on the persona of an actual gangster (one who is now in custody). Jack builds up a plausible rep as a bad guy managing a casino. A high-tech device had been found on a gambler in this very casino. The dude was using it to cheat the machines--but after he was arrested and let out on bail, he was shot execution style before CTU could quesiton him. In other words, the guy had bought the technology from someone--someone who didn't want him alive to talk about it.
Now Jack and others on his CTU team are watching and waiting for more stolen technology to surface. Meanwhile, Tony is planted undercover, too, but not in Vegas. He's placed nearby in Groom Lake's Air Force Base (Area 51) as a "new member" of the civilian research team. He does his best to appear geeky and non-threatening as he tracks down who on the team has been selling secrets.
During the same time period, David Palmer arrives in Vegas for a splashy international conference, looking for supporters in his bid for the presidency. Hiw wife Sherry is with him and *Lady Mac* is as cunning and sly as ever, too. When David Palmer is brought to Groom Lake to observe the testing of new high-tech bio weapons, his wife makes what she thinks is an innocent deal for a campaign contribution with a diplomat from China. She's going to give him info about the testing that David is witnessing in exchange for big bucks. (Of course, David has no idea his wife is making this deal!)
And the deal is far from innocent. The Chinese diplomat has more on his mind than contributing to David Palmer's presidential run. He has his eye on that secret technology being tested.
By the end of the book, these subplots all come together. It's worthy of an entire 24 season--but in just one book. Vanishing Point also reminded me of the earlier, better-written 24 seasons. It makes Tony Almeida and other CTU members as important to the story as Jack Bauer (who plays a big role, too, don't get me wrong). But I appreciated reading Tony especially because when the TV show killed him, they killed a great character.
This Man Can Write.......2007-08-02
Putting Jack and his CTU co-stars undercover at a casino in Las Vegas was a risky choice for this 24 novel, but it paid off. Frankly, I applaud this writer for trying something different. Vanishing Point has lots of twists and turns, high-wire threats and violent action, and I enjoyed it.
As the number of 24 seasons and books mount up, repeat scenarios are a huge issue. The TV show is definitely getting repetitive, leaning into formula plotting and similar types of Jack Bauer scenes. An unimaginative or lazy novelist could've spewed out more of same. But Vanishing Point doesn't. It's not formula. It's not predictable. And it gives well-written storylines to an ensemble of 24 characters that we've become attached to over the years, not just Jack!
For instance, I appreciated seeing David Palmer again. In Vanishing Point, he's portrayed with the kind of strength and dignity that makes me miss him all the more now that he's been killed off the television show. Sherry's in this book, too, and up to her highly entertaining tricks. Tony and Curtis are also given important roles. Miles O'Brien, who we learned had been at CTU long ago before returning to the Unit in Season 6, is actually quite amusing in his Vanishing Point role.
I noticed one reviewer of this book had a problem with Jack's going undercover for a long period of time. But if you're a fan of the earlier "Days" of the series, then you know that Jack did exactly that in Latin America in order to bust the Salazars for bio-terrorism (that background is in Day 3, an excellent season to watch, either in syndication or on DVD 24 - Season Three)
Jack even carried on an affair during the course of that lengthy undercover work in Latin America, while still married to Teri Bauer. So some of the things that Jack does in Vanishing Point (his affair with Stella) are right in line with what Jack has done in his past on the TV show, and I found it very very entertaining to see Jack Bauer in this nefarious bad-a** undercover role in Vanishing Point.
All in all, I agree with the other positive reviews of this novel. It's a good, fresh 24 tale, and I recommend it for any fan of the TV series 24, especially the earlier "Days" of the series.
24 DECLASSIFIED: VANISHING POINT.......2007-07-13
AS A 24 HOUR TV SHOW FANACTIC IT'S GOOD TO HAVE THE BOOKS TO READ WHEN THE SHOW IS NOT ON. THE BOOK HOLDS YOUR INTEREST AND JACK IS TERRIFIC.
LOOKING FORWARD TO READING MORE 24 BOOKS.
Please... Spare Me.......2007-06-29
I love Jack Bauer, and I love most of the declassified novels. But this one really stunk to high heaven.
There were certain parts I liked... Sherry Palmer up to her usual dirty tricks and David Palmer standing up for his beliefs. But to buy this story you have to swallow Jack being undercover for 3 months away from Kim and Teri and having a dirty little affair as a part of it. It left a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, there is no way Morris O'Brien should have been part of the plot. It blew canon script out of the water. There are much better 24 Declassified Novels.
Book Description
In the latest installment in this critically acclaimed series, Sharon McCone is hired to investigate one of San Luis Obispo County's most puzzling cold cases. A generation ago, Laurel Greenwood, a housewife and artist, inexplicably vanished, leaving her young daughter alone. Now, new evidence suggests that the missing woman may have led a strange double life. But before McCone can penetrate the tangled mystery, she must first solve a second disappearance--that of her client, the now grown daughter of Laurel Greenwood. The case, which forces Sharon to explore the darker sides of two marriages, comes uncomfortably close on the heels of her own marriage to Hy Ripinsky, and she begins to doubt the wisdom of her impulsive trip to the Reno wedding chapel.
Customer Reviews:
Vanishing Point.......2007-09-24
"Vanishing Point" is the 24th Sharon McCone novel by Marcia Muller. Rae Kelleher, one of Sharon's former operatives who is also married to country music star Ricky Savage, asks her to take a case for Jennifer Aldin whose mother Laurel Greenwood disappeared 22 years ago. Laurel Greenwood is presumed dead although no body was ever found and Jennifer wants closure. Jennifer's younger sister Terry doesn't want her to find out what happened to Laurel. As Sharon investigates she uncovers some family secrets and an attempted murder. Did Laurel Greenwood die? Is she still living and if so where is she? Sharon with the help of Patrick, one of her newer operatives, gets to the bottom of the case. This novel kept me turning pages and long time readers of this series will enjoy this entry into the Sharon McCone series. This novel is highly recommended.
Muller never disappoints.......2007-09-15
I've read all the Sharon McCone books over the years. Muller's stories are terrific and I've enjoyed watching Sharon grow and develop. I always look forward to the next one.
Still the Best.......2007-07-06
All these years later, there's still no one who can hold a candle to Marcia Muller when it comes to writing mystery/suspense novels. Sharon is still the best P.I. out there, and the supporting cast is the best the genre has to offer.
I was dreading this book a little bit due to how the last one ended (I don't much care for the character Hy), so I was glad to see that it focused on the mystery and that Sharon hadn't changed due to marriage.
Now if we could just see the character Rae fade off into the sunset, I'd be very happy.
Mayra Calvani - Armchair Interviews.......2006-12-03
The Vanishing Point is the latest instalment in the Sharon McCone mystery series. This time, just as she agrees to marry her longtime love Ripinsky, McCone is asked to investigate the disappearance of Laurel Greenwood, a mother and artist who vanished from San Luis Obispo County two decades ago. Did the woman commit suicide? Was she murdered? Or worse yet--did she abandon her husband and two young daughters out of her own free will?
As McCone sets out to unravel one of the town's most mysterious, unsolved cases, a grim picture begins to emerge. Then things get more complicated when her client--Laurel Greenwood's daughter--also disappears. Is the story repeating itself all over again? Or is Greenwood's daughter searching for her own answers?
The Vanishing Point is a fine novel written by one of today's most popular mystery authors. Muller keeps an even suspense all the way to the end without too many overly commercial cliffhangers. The dialogue sparkles with authenticity. The best thing about the story, however, is how the author interweaves the mystery element with the psychological one. Sharon McCone is a very sympathetic private-eye--sharply intelligent and intrepid, yet with a soft spot for "kittens, puppies, children, [and] grieving widows." How can you not like a beautiful detective vulnerable enough to drool while sleeping in the back seat of a car during an investigation? Recommended for anyone who enjoys a good mystery with strong characterization.
Positive feedback.......2006-11-06
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I especially like the Sharon McCone character. I would recommend it to my friends.
Average customer rating:
- If only this manuscript would have vanished. . .
- An Escape From Reality Tale
- Alan Dean Foster is the man!
- Foster's best
- Excellant, what you expect from ADF- a rattling good yarn.
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To the Vanishing Point
Alan Dean Foster
Manufacturer: Wildside Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Foster, Alan Dean
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Lost and Found: A Novel
ASIN: 1587150468 |
Customer Reviews:
If only this manuscript would have vanished. . ........2002-06-30
In all honesty, I found this book to be badly written and less than compelling. The dialogue between the characters, particularly that between the adults and the children (a sixteen-year old girl and ten-year old boy), was forced and often painfully artificial. The family is traveling to Las Vegas in a motor home because the father thinks a trip through the desert will be educational for his kids. They naturally are bored out of their minds. Then they pick up a hitchhiker, a girl who calls herself Mouse, who tells them that she is a millennium-old singer who must find her way to the Spinner and sing to him in order to keep reality from falling apart. The minions of Evil and Chaos remain dangerously close behind them as they journey through a myriad of horrible reality threads on their way to the Vanishing Point where the Spinner resides. Along the way, they pick up the janitor from Hell (literally) and a dwarfish chef who wandered into a post-Apocalyptic Salt Lake City. Will the group survive and get Mouse to the Spinner before reality snaps? Does the reader even care?
When Foster is describing action and crisis events, he does a pretty good job. Unfortunately, there are far too many sections of dialogue which ruin the whole book. The communication between the parents and kids in particular is wooden; the author seems to be trying too hard to mimic real intergenerational communication. The adults, especially the father, behave irrationally at times. One minute the father is threatening to dump Mouse on the side of the road, and the next he is ogling her beauty and promising to stay with her until the end. Whenever the family escapes one crisis, everyone behaves as if everything is normal again; when their son disappears, they forget about him rather quickly and even manage to go to sleep that night. The father constantly tells us how brave he is for having started his own business, yet he bemoans his own rampant cowardice just as often. Foster even seems to forget or ignore important plot points--for example, the father grows four extra arms at one point, and then the topic is never addressed again.
The story itself is weak enough without being cursed with such bad characterization and dialogue. I was unable to like a single character, and I could not help but wince during several sections as I watched these puppetlike characters go about their mission. I know that Foster has written and sold many books, but bad is the only word I can use to describe To the Vanishing Point.
An Escape From Reality Tale.......2001-12-02
This is my second ADF book. In both cases it appears that Mr. Foster starts out with a great idea...then runs out of steam half way through and flounders about until he reaches his page quota for the publisher.
To The Vanishing Point is a book in the grand penny press tradition of "write 'em cheap & write 'em fast."
The books is a good escape from reality tale. The characters are interesting and the writing style is intriguing. Note...the book did not make it into the mass paperback. The work is a little short of compelling. But if you are in the mood to read a plotless book totally detached from the world, you will enjoy getting close to the vanishing point.
Don't buy the book, if you are looking for more. I would not put it in a recommendation list.
Alan Dean Foster is the man!.......2001-06-29
Mr. Foster has an incredible talent to mix sci-fi/ Fantasy with humor. Who else could write about taking a drive through hell!
Foster's best.......1999-11-23
I remember picking up this book on a whim in the grocery store one day. I tore through it in a couple of days, never failing to laugh all the way through. I have read about a dozen ADF novels (mostly his movie novelizations and his sci-fi comedies) and this is easily the best ever. Attempts to recapture the spirit of this novel (Glory Lane, Codgerspace, Cat-O-Lyst) have been readable, but if you liked those and haven't read To the Vanishing Point yet, are you in for a treat if you find it.
Excellant, what you expect from ADF- a rattling good yarn........1999-04-18
The interaction between the characters as they realise what is happening to them is facinating. the only weak point in the story I can find is the acceptance that Steven dissappeared and no one really mentioned it, if my child dissappeared with angels I would be a bit upset. If i ever drove to las vegas I would take it with me and be very careful NOT to pick up hitchikers.
Still having said that who wants reality to intrude too often. It is the reason to read the authors work.
My problem now is I now have lost my copy and cannot get a new one. Publishers should re release his work on a more regular basis.
Book Description
In the literary world, there is little that can match the excitement of opening a new book by David Markson. From Wittgenstein’s Mistress to Reader’s Block to Springer’s Progress to This Is Not a Novel, he has delighted and amazed readers for decades. And now comes his latest masterwork, Vanishing Point, wherein an elderly writer (identified only as “Author”) sets out to transform shoeboxes crammed with notecards into a novel — and in so doing will dazzle us with an astonishing parade of revelations about the trials and calamities and absurdities and often even tragedies of the creative life — all the while trying his best (he says) to keep himself out of the tale. Naturally he will fail to do the latter, frequently managing to stand aside and yet remaining undeniably central throughout — until he is swept inevitably into the narrative’s startling and shattering climax. A novel of death and laughter both — and of extraordinary intellectual richness.
Customer Reviews:
Best of the Bunch.......2007-07-11
David Markson has written this book 4 times, 5 if you include Wittgenstein's Mistress. They're all worth reading but this one is perfect. Markson uses quotations and literary anecdotes almost exclusively to paint a portrait of the author character. That may sound like a difficult read but it's not. It's actually a real page turner. In the ratio of wisdom extracted to reading time invested, this book is one of the highest (Gatsby maybe, Elizabeth Costello, Ficciones, around that level). What else do you want out of literature?
I can't believe this is out of print, I've bought 4 copies of this because I keep giving it away to friends in the midst of drunken literary discussions.
A quick, indulgent read.......2006-09-11
Cracking open VANISHING POINT, I was immediately reminded of my art school days... but not painfully so. While I rolled my eyes reading through the first 20 pages, I eventually gave in and allowed myself to enjoy the text.
"Author" is a writer-to-be, a procrastinator, with an extensive collection of quick notes and facts, loosely surrounding the comments, actions, works, criticisms, and deaths of largely Western Civilization's writers, musicians, painters, and philosophers. Too scattered notes for any single text, most likely, but reading them over and over and over again creates a very hypnotic and satisfying experience.
How someone can read Markson and not conjure up Thomas Bernhard, I don't know. WITTGENSTEIN'S NEPHEW vs. WITTGENSTEIN'S MISTRESS? Markson feels like counter-point to Berhard's insane genius. VANISHING POINT a response to CONCRETE.
Berhard's protagonist Rudolph has also done extensive research. For a biography on Mendelssohn. Only he's unable to begin, needing the perfect opening sentence. Markson's Author has a collection of index cards consisting solely of, albeit poor, opening sentences. Where each sentence for Author is almost its own paragraph, Rudoph's entire rant is one long paragraph for 200+ vociferous pages. Each man is ill, if only in mind, and each man's procrastination and self-indulgent obsession ultimately points to his mortality.
VANISHING POINT is a quick read. An entertaining, artful read. Perhaps not a must read, however.
I must say giving the shorter, inverted bits ("Haarlem, Frans Hals died in.") the voice of Yoda made the book a bit more entertaining.
An Entertaining Puzzle.......2005-07-18
I am not sure that I have the full measure of this, but it was an entertaining read. Highly allusive, I can imagine it could irritate anyone whose knowledge didn't match up with Markson's to any degree.
Great Book!.......2004-11-23
Interesting little tidbits of information all written in a novel. The author writes that" he finally put all of his notes into a manuscript" Notes that were taken from shoeboxes containing all different kinds of information.
Definately one of a kind!
Vanishing Point.......2004-06-01
David Markson's latest book, Vanishing Point, is unlike any novel I've ever read. Like Markson's other works, it is avante-garde, experimental and highly original. It has no narrative or plot to speak of, yet conveys its theme in a remarkably engaging fashion.
The novel begins by telling us that "Author has finally started to put his notes into manuscript form," that he has been scribbling notes onto 3x5 index cards and that the cards now fill two shoeboxes. With that, the novel launches into nearly 200 pages of the scribblings and notes themselves. The notes are a seemingly random reiteration of trivia and musings concerning art, literature, history, science and civilization. Sometimes the notes contain anecdotes or facts; at other times the notes consist of little more than a name or phrase. Gradually, we learn that Author is elderly, enervated and without motivation to do much more than rearrange the order of the cards. Here and there, we learn what Author has in mind --"a novel of intellectual reference and allusion...minus much of the novel." A sense of order begins to appear and the theme emerges that everything is sliding toward death.
This novel is never boring and, despite its formlessness, is actually quite difficult to put down. There is an almost addictive quality to the notes. Markson's protagonists are often isolated and almost hermetically sealed off from social contact and relationships. Yet these characters have genuine insight into the human condition and express humanist feelings. The protagonist in this novel is no exception. By the book's end, I found myself laughing with and shedding a tear over a sparsely-developed, unnamed character whose inner life I was only allowed to glimpse through a collection of jotted notes. In that sense, Vanishing Point is an amazing work.
Book Description
In the tradition of Philippa Gregory's smart, transporting fiction comes this tale of two independent, spirited sisters. Bright and inquisitive, Hannah Powers was raised by a father who treated her as if she were his son. While her beautiful and reckless sister, May, pushes the limits of propriety in their small English town, Hannah harbors her own secret: their father has trained her in the physician's art, an education forbidden to women. But Hannah's secret serves her well when she journeys to colonial Maryland to reunite with May, who has been married off to a distant cousin after a series of sexual misadventures had ruined her marriage prospects in England. As Hannah searches for May, who has disappeared, she finds herself falling in love with her brother-in-law, even as she struggles to believe his claim that her sister died in childbirth. Alone in a wild, uncultivated land where the old rules no longer apply, Hannah is freed from the constraints of the society that judged both her and May and found them dangeroustoo smart, too fearless, and too hungry for life. But Hannah is also plagued by doubt, as her quest for answers to May's fate grows ever more disturbing and tangled. The Vanishing Point is a marvelously assured period piece. Sharratt's ten years of research on everything from seventeenth-century pharmacology to pioneer cooking are evident on each page. In this gripping, evocative novel, rich in texture and authenticity, Sharratt brings to vivid life a distant world that feels as immediate and relevant as our own.
Customer Reviews:
compelling story, exquisite literary writing.......2007-06-23
I got very little sleep until I finished this compelling story of two sisters in colonial America. One is supposedly dead of childbirth, and the other who comes from England in search of her (and who is a brilliant young doctor who can't practice because of her sex) stumbles into the bleak homestead where her sister's handsome young widower is living alone with his terrible memories, and falls in love with him. Still, the ghost of what really may have happened to her sister haunts her.
The author is a truly literary historical novelist, a rare and wonderful thing.
Stephanie Cowell, author of MARRYING MOZART (Penguin)
Intrigued for days after........2007-06-10
I didn't want to put the book down. I continued thinking about the characters after I was done and even found myself angry with some of them. It was a well written historical fiction. In the beginning it flows nicely and fills you in on the characters, half way through the book I started to be more than connected to the characters I understood their feelings. The ending was stunning, not at all what I expected, there were so many turns and twists. The ending was the BEST part! I suggested it to a co worker she too was stunned by the ending and simply told me she didn't see it coming.
Good book, I would suggest it.
Delightful and sinister, it's a fun read! .......2007-06-05
Toss this one into your beach bag, but remember to bring along some sunscreen! You will not be able to pack up and leave until you finish this intriguing and delicious book. The mystery is good, the characters are interesting and likable, and the love story is tingly!
Heart-pounding and sexy historical fiction.......2007-04-10
From its early images of forbidden female sexuality to the torments of agrarian life in colonial Maryland, I found The Vanishing Point to be a gripping read. Beautifully textured, extraordinarily researched and deeply insightful of the constraints and ingenuity of young rebellious women of the era, both in the Old World and the New. Strongly recommended for young women readers, as well as those intrigued by conditions for women in early American history.
A So So Read.......2007-03-24
Recently having gotten into historical fiction, I picked up The Vanishing Point. While not bad (it was written well), it moved a little slow for me. There were points where I was interested to see what was going to happen and if in fact Hannah's suspicions were correct. For the most part, however, I read the book to finish and to move on to the next one. I didn't quite like the going back and forth between characters and time period. I'm not going to recommend or not. Other reviewers seem to love it. This was just my personal feeling about the book.
Average customer rating:
- I gave this as a gift
- We no longer need to wonder ; "where is Judge Crater"?
- Barely Mentions Judge Crater
- As much a history of "Tammany Hall" as a mystery
- Jimmy Hoffa Wasn't the only one.
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Vanishing Point: The Disappearance of Judge Crater, and the New York He Left Behind
Richard J. Tofel
Manufacturer: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
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The Secret City
ASIN: 1566636051 |
Book Description
The sudden disappearance of Judge Joseph Crater nearly 75 years ago led to perhaps the most famous missing persons case of the twentieth century. Crater, a justice of New York's state Supreme Court, vanished amid political scandal. A public frenzy about what happened to Crater provided impetus for scrutiny of New York's Tammany Hall political machine--and ultimately for the vanishing of Tammany Hall as well. Richard J. Tofel's Vanishing Point is a revealing look at New York as the Jazz Age gave way to the Depression, and at one of the most intriguing stories in the annals of urban America.
Customer Reviews:
I gave this as a gift.......2006-08-10
to my grandmother, a native New Yorker who knew Judge Crater's wife, Stella. She devoured it and can't stop talking about it.
We no longer need to wonder ; "where is Judge Crater"?.......2005-09-08
This was an intriguing story about a colorful character from one of the most interesting periods in our history.Forty pages from the end the New York Daily News ran an article possibly solving the mystery.That made the read all the more riveting.A must read (esp.when accom. by the updates to the story ) for all 20th century U.S. history buffs.
Barely Mentions Judge Crater.......2005-01-02
Judge Crater left a New York restaurant on the evening of August 6, 1930 and was never seen again. A female friend who was there with him disappeared several weeks later. He'd been a judge for just three months. The problem with the book is the author is not interested in this mystery; he really wants to write about Tammany Hall and that's what he devotes almost the entire book to, apparently citing Crater only to lure in readers. I felt ripped off.
As much a history of "Tammany Hall" as a mystery.......2004-11-23
Author Richard Tofel never claims to have all of the answers. But the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of New York Supreme Court Justice Joseph Crater in August 1930 certainly makes for fascinating reading. It is a curious tale, particularly given the strange reaction of not only his friends and associates, but also of his wife Stella. Yet there is much more to this book than merely the unsolved disappearance of a single individual.
"Vanishing Point" is yet another book chronicling the cast of charactors and the inner workings of New York's legendary political machine known as Tammany Hall. And as I have found in many of these books it can become a bit difficult to follow given the large number of officials involved and the sordid and crooked relationships they participated in. When a vacancy occured on the New York Supreme Court in the Spring of 1930 Joseph Crater, a man no one expected to get the nod, was tapped by then Governor Franklin Roosevelt for the seat. Why was he selected? Who recommnded him? And is it possible that Joseph Crater literally bought his way on to the New York Supreme Court? Why did he suddenly disappear without a trace in the summer of 1930 and just what became of him? Did he leave the country? Was he murdered? Who might have been involved? So many questions. Based on a substantial body of available evidence "Vanishing Point" considers a number of intriguing possibilities. And although this case was never solved, Tofel does make a very convincing argument that the disappearance of Judge Crater set into motion a series of events that would ultimately spell the end of machine politics in New York City.
Exactly what happened to Judge Crater will probably never be known. Nevertheless I found this book to be time well spent and a pretty good read. Recommended.
Jimmy Hoffa Wasn't the only one........2004-10-31
We all know of the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. But he was not the first. In 1930 Judge Joseph Crater cashed some checks for about $5,000 and went to dinner with some friends. Parting with the friends on the curb outside the restaurant he was never seen again. For fifty years the New York City Police Department tried to find him. Certainly dead by now (he's be 115 years old) there are no really good leads, no deathbed confessions, no real idea of what happened.
This appears to be the first book written on Judge Crater. It is extremely well researched, exceedingly detailed and gives a better feeling for the times than most others. As for what really happened ....
Average customer rating:
- ................
- The Vanishing Point
- A Must-read for both adults and YAs
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The Vanishing Point
Louise Hawes
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
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Brass Ankle Blues: A Novel
ASIN: 0618434232 |
Book Description
In lush, glowing prose, Louise Hawes's historical novel draws readers into the life and art of sixteenth-century Bologna with a compelling account of Lavinia Fontana, arguably the most famous female painter of the Italian Renaissance. Here readers will find a coming-of-age story filled with quest, complication, and catastrophe as well as miracles and hope. Although the novel is set four hundred years ago, the hard choices it involves speak to all times, all places, and are sure to tap into readers" own conflicts between head and heart, real life and dreams.
Customer Reviews:
.......................2005-06-25
This book is a wonderful cross between history and fantasy. I'm more of a fantasy type person, but I found this a wonderful story with just a touch of romance. I must warn you that it may seem strange at first due to the fact that it's in first person, but as the story goes on, it feels more welcome.
The Vanishing Point.......2004-12-17
Everyone takes feminism for granted. No one who reads this book will ever do so again. Young readers will learn what it was like to try to "follow your heart" if you were a woman in the days of the Renaissance. Lavinia Fontana, a genius and probably the most famous female painter of the Italian Renaissance, did not have an easy path. Forbidden to paint because of her gender, she has to convince a boy who works in her father's studio to pretend her paintings are his so that she can learn and get materials so she can paint--in secret.
Readers will want to rise up in rage against Lavinia's father, though, like Vini, they will eventually come to some tolerance of him.
A heartrending story with a great end, The Vanishing Point is a must-read.
A Must-read for both adults and YAs.......2004-12-02
This is a beautiful, richly-detailed portrait of a young girl in Renaissance Italy. Readers will laugh, cry, and experience Vini's hunger for the art she is forbidden to explore. We follow Vini as she grows to understand more about her parents and herself. Teens will identify with her as she learns more about the nature of life, love and longing. Adults and some perceptive teens will appreciate the symoblism of Vini's awakening adulthood as she "breaks the strings" that have controlled her young life, just as they control the puppets on the town square. Excellent historical detail enlightens without sounding pedantic. After I finished it, I handed the book to my 17-year-old daughter. She couldn't put it down, until she turned the last page. I have recommended this book to many adult friends, and so far, no one has been disappointed!
Book Description
Sounds blare and pictures flash frantically across the screen. This may seem to be an accurate description of every commercial aired on TV, but such commercials are actually symptomatic of a much more important cultural shift. Arthur Hunt argues that there is a conceptual transformation taking place today, as we move from an emphasis on the “word” to the predominance of the “image.”
Hunt focuses on the contrast between a Judeo-Christian heritage, characteristically word-dependent—and paganism, typically image-dependent. As people trust experience and visual representations to interpret their surroundings, they focus less on content and more on sensory appeal. Hunt argues that movements like the Protestant Reformation, Puritanism, and the beginnings of the American nation were all created and sustained in an environment that transmitted its ideas through words, while historical shifts to emphasize image have occurred during periods like the Dark Ages. As the word, both written and spoken, is devalued, there is a renewed descent into paganism.
A wide range of issues—education, politics, entertainment, postmodernism—are brought together in an incisive, illuminating way. This book examines trends in today’s culture and churches that lead away from a word-centered world and into an image-soaked world ripe for propaganda and a demagogue.
Customer Reviews:
Contrast with "Everything Bad is Good for You".......2006-06-15
As a fan of Gene Veith, Neil Postman and Allan Bloom, I noted this book as inspired by the dialogue between Postman and Camille Paglia. It is an excellent book and well worth the read but following the natural urge to find something to disagree with while we walk the same road in the same direction, I would like to engage a few issues that I find especially intriguing even though they are small potatoes in the whole stew.
When AWH critiques or contrasts the Egyptians with the Hebrews by referring to the Egyptians as image based and the Hebrews based, we certainly should agree, but the images of the Egyptians were their alphabet at least at some point. Hieroglyphs apparently came to represent sounds (didn't they?). The feather in a sense becomes a letter? The shift to a phonetic aleph bet was certainly significant but they are still images - images of the letters. Perhaps images of the shape of the mouth (at least symbolically) while making the sounds - think of Greek Theta or just the letter "o". So the contrast between the Egyptians and the Hebrews is certainly there but how sharp a contrast should we think it is? I wonder.... In any case, AWH even remarks that the "Egyptians thought Toth invented writing" (p. 37) so this is certainly a matter of degree. We might also wonder why "advanced civilizations cannot exist without writing" (as AWH quotes Gelb) if this might be because they need a recording system. Would video do? (I imagine reading a book presented as a DVD, for example.) Is video text as the postmodernists might say? In which case, the vanishing word is not vanished at all but more powerful than ever in digital form.
An interesting contrast to this book is Steven Johnson's "Everything Bad is Good for You."
A thoughtful Examination .......2006-06-08
In our technologically advanced age the value of the written word is being lost. The Author shows by giving a historical account how this is leading our society into Idolatry and Paganism. The devaluation of the written word is leaving people defenseless against counterfeits and leaves them open for whatever trend comes along. This book takes a close examination of our media saturated culture.
Stemming the Tide of the Image Culture.......2004-03-19
Arthur Hunt's "The Vanishing Word" is a helpful and insightful salvo in the battle to preserve the written word in an age enamored with images. Hunt is currently a professor of speech and communications at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Although he teaches speech and communications, his real expertise is in the fledgling discipline of Media Ecology. Media Ecology was a field pioneered by men like Neil Postman and Marshall McLuhan. "The Vanishing Word" is essentially a work of Media Ecology and in it Hunt examines our cultural environment and finds it polluted with pagan image idolatry.
Hunt's work is particularly helpful because it begins with an historical analysis of the rise of the written word. Hunt condenses the important events of Western history into readable and accessible chapters. He presents this historical information in a lively fashion by including helpful illustrations and examples. Hunt's Christian presuppositions are certainly not hidden in this book. His history of the word begins with God and Moses and not with Aristotle or Gutenburg.
Following the linear unfolding of history, Hunt notes that a major shift occurred in our culture with the rise of electronic mass media. He contends that this "new" development is bringing our culture back to "old" ideas, particularly pagan idolatry. He writes:
"The old system just keeps coming back. Not that long after the Flood's waters had receded, Nimrod stretched forth his hands to receive the astrological charts from atop Babel's tower. The sands of Egypt were still between the toes of Moses when he proceeded down the mountain of thunderings and lightnings, tablets in hand, only to find the Hebrews dancing around a golden calf. The people of God multiplied under the Roman knife, but then the pantheon strangely reappeared over the church altar. The fire of the Reformation pushed the gods back until the icon-making machines of the twentieth century ushered them back again in living color (155-156)."
Hunt's book also provides a helpful analysis of the shift from modernism to post-modernism. He also makes some penetrating comments about the impact of the image culture on the church, particularly in the area of worship.
I highly recommend this book to pastors, Christian educators and anyone interested in understanding and stemming the tide of the image culture.
A wake-up call for the church.......2004-03-17
The author sees the current cultural tendency to exalt visual imagery at the expense of language as a direct assault on Christianity. He warns Christians that the church is being cut off from its word-based heritage, to its great detriment. Superb socio-cultural analysis by a keen-minded Christian scholar, along with a much-needed affirmation that "the Word is everything." Although Professor Hunt builds upon the previous studies of Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, Camille Paglia, and others, his radically different spiritual perspective as a conservative evangelical makes this a highly original work with many entirely fresh insights. Required reading for all thoughtful Christians who would equip themselves better for the "spirit wars" of our time and halt the church's slippage into a mindless paganism.
The lost art of reading and thinking.......2004-01-09
This book was a fasinating history and exposition of how the image has led to the decline of civilization. Today's almost total reliance on visual communication may be a dark age greater that the olden dark ages. If you don't believe this last statement, you have not read this book or are blinded by images. This book should convince you to read more and cherish black and white print over the alluring visual medium. The trinity of violence, sex and celebrity accompanys the image. The dangers of technology and media in historical perspective awaits you in this book. Neil Postman would second the motions in this book. I'd like to see a college class on the topic.
Average customer rating:
- Gloria A. Gould-Loftin - ravens_warlock@yahoo.com
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Vanishing Point: Radio Dramas from the Fourth Dimension/Audio Cassette
Ray Bradbury ,
Arthur C. Clarke ,
Raymond Carver , and
Jorge Luis Borges
Manufacturer: Listening Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
General
| Nonfiction
| Books on Cassette
| Audiobooks
| Formats
| Books
Radio Shows
| Books on Cassette
| Audiobooks
| Formats
| Books
Bradbury, Ray
| ( B )
| Authors, A-Z
| Books on Cassette
| Audiobooks
| Formats
| Books
General
| Books on Cassette
| Audiobooks
| Formats
| Books
General
| Death & Grief
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0807235423 |
Customer Reviews:
Gloria A. Gould-Loftin - ravens_warlock@yahoo.com.......2000-03-27
Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Jorges Luis Borges and Raymond Carver at their best. Four timeless tales from the abstract minds of four of our greatest sci-fi authors. A thrill a minute..!
Average customer rating:
- Lots of cozy English village atmosphere
- Missing Persons, Jewel Thefts and Corporate Espionage
- A wicked aunt, a missing woman, and stolen secrets
- Miss Silver investigates
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Vanishing Point (A Miss Silver Mystery)
Patricia Wentworth
Manufacturer: New English Library Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0340689706 |
Customer Reviews:
Lots of cozy English village atmosphere .......2005-10-23
And Miss Silver's knitting. Rosamond is a young woman in distress, and the handsome publisher arrives at just the right time to fall in love with her and save her and her sister. I like the descriptions of the homes and the people of the village. Miss Silver figures out everything in time to prevent another murder, and Frank Abbott is there to help.
Missing Persons, Jewel Thefts and Corporate Espionage.......2005-04-26
I think this book suffers from too many plot lines, and as a result some of them get lost in the shuffle. For example, the coporate espionage line kind of fizzles out, and with that drop out an interesting line of enquiry is lost. As a matter of fact, Miss Silver is sent to Hazel Green to examine the extent of this espionage, and it doesn't appear that she even gives it a thought, let alone try to investigate the angle. But there are still some interesting characters, both bad and good, and Miss Silver is her usual unflappable self even under extreme stress. The book is OK, but not one of my favourites. And, I really didn't like the fair Rosamund. She's too meek mannered to be believed, and certainly doesn't make a very lasting impression on the book like a female heroine is supposed to. We need someone with a lot more spunk to even out the story, and in order to have a strong foil for the really bad person in this book.
A wicked aunt, a missing woman, and stolen secrets.......2002-04-28
Upon the death of her parents in the car accident that left her 10-year-old sister Jenny near death, Rosamund Maxwell had no choice but to ask their only relative, the formidable Lydia Crewe, to take them in. Two years later, that grudging haven has turned into a trap. Jenny's health is almost recovered, but she's been spoiled, and Rosamund's time has been completely absorbed between acting as unpaid secretary and gopher to Lydia as repayment for her help.
Rosamund is free to leave - but she has no money, no job experience and a sister to support. She's "free" to seek a job - when Lydia takes up all her time, in a small town where everyone fears Lydia's cold temper and long memory. If Lydia pays for Jenny's education - packing her off to the first convenient school she can find - life won't be any better; Rosamund will be in the same position, because Lydia won't hesitate to throw both sisters out without ceremony if they don't do her bidding. Jenny, for her part, wants to be a writer, and has sent a muddle of manuscript and photographs to Pemberton's, the publisher. Without prior notice, Craig Lester appears - not to offer publication, but advice to someone who may be promising (and because he took an interest in the photo of Rosamund).
Rosamund has very little private life, apart from neighbourly visits - including those of Nicholas, a young draftsman at a nearby Air Ministry project, whose interest isn't entirely neighbourly. He's got troubles of his own - there's been a leak on the project, and Scotland Yard has discreetly sent Frank Abbott (and through him, Miss Silver) down to Melshire to check things out. For one thing, the maid where Nicholas lives - in her forties and supporting her parents - went for a walk one night and never came back...
Frankly, the separate spy investigation doesn't have much play in this, but rather the disappearance of Maggie Bell (and soon after Miss Silver's arrival, that of a second woman); the Ministry is going crazy trying to find a connection. Even Miss Silver doesn't get much play - she isn't working for any of the protagonists' interests, and only becomes involved in their more personal affairs late in the game, although she does a great deal of good in the end. The resolution of the Rosamund/Lydia/Jenny problem is too pat, although I won't say what it is.
If one doesn't expect too much of Miss Silver, and instead tries to look on this as just another Wentworth novel, it's OK of its kind, except that the various characters in trouble have less control over their fates than usual, and accept it, which doesn't satisfy me. (A little too much deus ex machina, and not in the usual form of Miss Silver's hard work.) The character development is good, and the various puzzles are fairly presented, although they may not turn out to be those expected at first.
Miss Silver investigates.......2000-04-07
Two young girls yearn to be free of their evil and cruel aunt's stranglehold on them, but they feel helpless...until suddenly a handsome, kind-hearted stranger shows up, and with Miss Silver, lends a helping hand.
Liked this book because of the unexpected twist of plots and moving descriptions of characters and settings. Enjoyable read.
Books:
- 52, Vol. 1
- A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
- A Thousand Splendid Suns
- A to Z Mysteries: The White Wolf (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))
- Agents of Innocence
- American Skin: A Novel
- An Indian Summer: The 1957 Milwaukee Braves, Champions of Baseball
- Black Seraph
- Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone, 1861-1868 (Library of Southern Civilization)
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