Book Description
The success of the first edition of Sunset Western Ranch Houses led Sunset and Cliff May to bring out a second edition in 1958. Very different than the first edition, this too proved to be a best-seller. In addition being more thorough than the earlier work, the second edition also showed that May's architecture was going in new directions. He still preserved the rustic traditions and materials of the ranch house, but his designs were more open and flexible. The houses show that May had absorbed many of the modernist advances in domestic achitecture taking place in Southern California, while still maintaining his esthetic roots in the Spanish ranch house.
Customer Reviews:
Just A Home Design and Decoration Book - No House Plan Ideas.......2007-06-23
This book has a more design and decoration approach than its predecessor, Sunset Western Ranch Houses, which focused mostly on history of this house style. Honestly, I was expecting to see a more house-plan ideas oriented book than simply a picture book with some talking on it. This might be a useful book for those who are just looking to give their house (already a ranch-style) a more traditional look, or for those who simply like this subject. I'll give this a three-star rating because, sometime in the near future, when I get my ranch house built, it could be more interesting to me. I'll keep the book on my shelf.
Interesting book as I own a Cliff May home........2004-02-06
We live in a small neighborhood of Cliff May homes. Many have been remodeled, inside and out, but you can't change the bones of a May home. Unfortunately, we have had to make many improvements to ours as the May homes don't always translate well into the 21st century. X shaped framing makes finding a stud nearly impossible, and the numerous floor to ceiling windows are drafty and lack tempered glass and are extremely expensive to replace, so many of us replace with "normal" windows, walling up many altogether. This also deals with the lack of wall space for furniture or artwork, pictures, etc.
It is a spectacular compilation of his work...........2002-01-09
I adore his homes, and this book gives you the complete layout, including the floorplan---something I love in architecture books. If you can't visit the homes in person, this is the next best thing.
Book Description
During California's post-World War boom Sunset Magazine was a user's manual for the good life. The setting for this new life was the ranch house, and Sunset published some of the most interesting developments in this genre, the works of Cliff May. In 1946, Sunset published the first edition of Sunset Western Ranch Houses, and the book became a best-seller. This first edition has been unavailable for many years. It is a fascinating study of the roots of the ranch style, and it is also a compendium of ideas for today's home builders. The book is illustrated with evocative and useful drawings, two-color plans and photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Historic Approach on Ranch-Style Houses.......2007-06-23
This book basically covers how the ranch-style house came to be, the main features of it and how to recognize one in front of you. For those who are interested in knowing the historical and/or the architectural details involving this type of dwelling, plus some decoration and landscaping ideas, this should be an interesting reading, but don't expect to see too many house plan suggestions for building your own ranch-style home, because you simply won't find it; just some few examples to provide the reader an idea.
Average customer rating:
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Western Ranch Houses
Cliff May
Manufacturer: Lane Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OLSU8O |
Book Description
Master artist, teacher and scholar traces historical development of techniques and styles from 14th century BC to present; analyzes aesthetic concepts, criteria, and schools associated with specific aesthetic qualities; and provides comprehensive, in-depth guide to materials, technical principles, and major brush strokes.
Customer Reviews:
Discover Art in the Oriental Brush.......1999-09-11
Mr Kwo's book was my introduction into the use of the oriental brush and water based black ink. His book, read over time, brought me into my great appreciation for the skill of the brush. In this work the author describes the use of the brush from a historic point of view. He also shows how brush technique and written language developed and explains to his western readers how to "see with oriental style", with the use of the brush and ink as a tool, the oriental concept of space and lines. Though an artist using a simple brush and water-based ink creates a far different scene than considered typical by western standards, the oriental use of empty space, reserved for the viewers imagination to complete the scene, is very refreshing. It sparked my interest into this subject and from there I went to japanese sumi-e. Thank you for your excellent book Mr. Kwo!
Book Description
Provides the basic concepts necessary for designing and implementing lighting setups. Incorporates coverage of lighting, color control, texture, exposure technique, and elements that create image, look, and mood.
Customer Reviews:
THE BEST BOOK FOR CINEMATOGRAPHERS.......2007-09-10
This book is a definitely must have for anyone interested in cinematography. This book goes thru all the different aspects and things that a cinematographer must know to create beautiful images. It does go into detail about video as well. But the thing is, and it does state this in the book, if you use film techniques for video, you'll come out with much better images than those that you see on those bland tv sitcoms and such. If you know the film techniques you can't do anything but improve the quality of your video. And the lighting exercises in the back are good ways to practice what the books teaches...all books on lighting should come with exercises. The only true way to learn lighting is to engage in it. This is a great book but the price is a bit outlandish.
Excellent but pricey.......2005-11-21
I'm very new to lighting for any film stock. My goal is to become more aware of how to light for film, mainly digitial stock. This books does provide extremely detailed information on lighting, such as footcandles, gamma, lighting terms and much more, but mainly in one chapter. It did provide detail about digital film lighting and standard photography lighting. I wish it gave more insight about "moods" but I learned a great deal. Downside, it's expensive for the material you get.
Not for Novices.......2004-11-06
This book dishes out a lot of information in the small space between it's paperback covers. I read it looking for film lighting basics, and had a tough time grasping some of the more technical language involving exposure, T-stops, etc, even though I have a decent background in photography. The book does a poor job of addressing and explaining these key concepts. I gleaned a decent amount of information from the pictures and diagrams, but they were poorly aligned with the text, requiring lots of flipping back and forth. All in all, I would reccommend this book only to people with a fair amount of knowledge of the physics behind photography and/or film.
Must Have.......2000-03-29
Anyone interested in Ciinematography sholud have this book. It is full of practical examples, and the apendix is a very useful reference. Lots of information you will not find elsewhere
no better introduction to the craft.......1999-01-28
I have had this wonderful book since its first imprint. It demystifies the art of cinematography and lays a good foundation for the reader to understand both the craft and practice of cinematography. Those who have struggled to read American Cinematographer will have no problems after reading this excellent book. Highly recommended. But why the price increase? I paid only $30 in 1992.
Average customer rating:
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Lighting Techniques for Video Production: The Art of Casting Shadows
Tom Letourneau
Manufacturer: Butterworth-Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
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ASIN: 0240802489 |
Average customer rating:
- Not Advocacy, but History and Analysis
- As an Academic
- Narrowly Focused, Nice Addition to Comic Book Studies
- a bright study of a dark subject
- The Comics Code in the context of Popular American Culture
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Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code (Studies in Popular Culture)
Amy Kiste Nyberg
Manufacturer: University Press of Mississippi
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Similar Items:
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Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America
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Seduction of the Innocent
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Fredric Wertham And the Critique of Mass Culture
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Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society
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Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers (Studies in Popular Culture)
ASIN: 087805975X |
Book Description
For most of the past century the content of comic books has been governed by an industry self-regulatory code adopted by publishers in 1954 in response to public and governmental pressure.
This book examines why comic books were the subject of controversy, beginning with objections that surfaced shortly after the introduction of modern comic books in the mid-1930s, when parents and teachers accused comic books of contaminating children's culture and luring children away from more appropriate reading material.
The legacy of the comics code is that it continues to define the comic book medium as essentially juvenile literature. While the code offers protection against those who attack the media (and not just comic books), it also reaffirms the public perception of comic books as children's fare. As a result, the comic book has yet to achieve legitimation as a unique form of expression that blends words and pictures in a way that no other medium can duplicate.
In tracing the evolution of the controversy and the resulting code Seal of Approval examines important issues about children, media effects, and censorship. It is the first book-length scholarly study of this period of comic book history.
Customer Reviews:
Not Advocacy, but History and Analysis.......2006-07-06
Don't believe those one and two-star reviews!
Nyberg's SEAL OF APPROVAL is a responsible, deeply researched, well-documented scholarly history of the Comics Code. It's essential for anyone doing in-depth study of the history of American comic books after the early 1950s.
Contrary to what some other customer reviews have implied, Nyberg does not endorse the Comics Code. Nor does she condemn. SEAL is a work of media history and analysis, not of advocacy. Its treatment of the Code, its nature and its history, is subtle and avoids overstatement.
While Nyberg reaches certain conclusions that differ from my own, and unfortunately neglects the underground comix of the 60s as a response to the Code, SEAL is an excellent book, not to be judged solely on the basis of one's gut reaction to the Comics Code.
As an Academic.......2005-08-20
First off, I'll explain that I find the opinions put forth horrifying. I am always concerned when someone argues that the job of protecting children falls on the hands of anyone but the parents. I am much dismayed by the attitude of "It's not my fault--do it for me!" which has become more and more prevalent over the past years in America. It's always been a poorly reasoned arguement that essentially breaks down to "I don't want to, YOU HAVE to! Because -I- need, -YOU- must provide!" Since this is, essentially, the basis of her arguement, I have to give her a low rating. Her style, conviction, and (Ignoring the above) argumentation is strong, however. If you agree with her and hate the Objectivist/Rationalist mindset, you'll like this book. Just be prepared for those properly trained in rational, argumentative thought to shoot down nearly every word she says.
Narrowly Focused, Nice Addition to Comic Book Studies.......2001-12-23
In Seal of Approval (The History of the Comics Code), Amy Kiste Nyberg takes the reader through a narrowly focused but essential part of the history of comic books and, therefore, part of the greater history of popular culture in general. Much of the basic story will be familiar from other histories of comic books but this author provides new insights into the foundation for the movement to censor comic books as well as providing a run down of the evolution of the comics code after the mid-fifites Senate hearings, an evolution very rarely discussed. The author also makes valuable use of sources little used by other authors such as the minutes of the Comics Magazine Association of America. All in all, a nice piece of research and a valuable contribution to the history of pop culture.
a bright study of a dark subject.......2000-09-12
This is one brilliant book. She has taken a subject of much heated debate and passion among collectors and boiled it down to it's essence. I don't agree with everything she claims but it is thought-provoking nonetheless. If you collect comics and you want to gain a deeper understanding of how our hobby has been shpaed then buy this book.
The Comics Code in the context of Popular American Culture.......1998-08-26
This insightful and well-researched work carefully places the Comices Code Authority with in the context of American culture. Rather than taking the traditional view, that the code came a a result of the repressive attitudes of the 1950s and was the downfall of the industry, Amy Kiste Nyborg convincingly shows the Code to be a pioneering effort in industry self-regulation in response to public pressure -- a logical forerunner of motion picture ratings, recoard warning labels, TV advisories, and the V-chip. Parental and community outcry against commic books in the 1940s and 1950s virtually mirrors the "protect our kids from the Internet" efforts of 1998. The unexamined role of economic factors such as industry distribution patterns on the Code is examined here for the first time. The Comics code is shown to have made fundamental changes in how the comics industry has operated over time, and in SEAL OF APPROVAL, Amy Kiste Nyborg demonstrates that it is still very relevant today.
Average customer rating:
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Seal of approval: the history of the comics code.: An article from: Labour/Le Travail
Manufacturer: Canadian Committee on Labour History
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
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ASIN: B00098IU9Q
Release Date: 2005-07-28 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Labour/Le Travail, published by Canadian Committee on Labour History on September 22, 1999. The length of the article is 980 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Seal of approval: the history of the comics code.
Publication:
Labour/Le Travail (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 1999
Publisher: Canadian Committee on Labour History
Issue: 44
Page: 274-6
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Customer Reviews:
The journalist as hero .......2006-11-12
One of the themes of this book is White's belief that history has heroes, individuals who make a real difference, and change things for good. White does not speak or think of himself as a hero, but I believe that many readers of this book will come to the conclusion that White himself was a kind of hero, a hero in serving the American public through first- rate eye-witness imaginative Journalism.
In this fast- paced and often exciting recollection White tells of his boyhood on Erie Street in Boston. His father an unemployed lawyer dies when he is sixteen, and the family lives in great poverty. He works hard and goes from Boston Latin School to Harvard. He tells the story of remarkable people he meets along the way including his great mentor in Chinese Studies at Harvard John Fairbanks. White is a person who deeply appreciates other human beings, and one of the best features of this book is his portraits of many remarkable human beings. Among these are those he will meet in his first real journalistic assignment in the Far EAst , General Stillwell, Claire Chenault , General Douglas MacArthur.
White has great sympathy for the Chinese people and tells the story of the inept war conducted against the Japanese by Chiang- Kai-Shek, a villian in White's eyes. One of the stories within the stories, and one which alone justifies calling White as hero, relates to the great famine in Hunan province. Singlehandedly White went to investigate this , and it was his reports to Time Magazine and a chilling conversation he had with Chiang - Kai- Shek which led to massive supplies being sent to the province, and the famine ending. White also tells of his visits to Mao, and in retrospect it can be said that he treats him far too gently. Mao has emerged as one of the most evil mass- murderers in human history and White does not even begin to hint at anything wrong with him.
White's reporting on China, especially his criticism of the Nationalists leads him into conflict with his boss Henry Luce. White leaves off writing for 'Time' and eventually comes to write the four 'Making the President ' volumes which is what he will be most known for. Towards the close of the book he tells of his special relationship with President Kennedy who he deeply admired, and tells too of the famous interview the President's widow summoned White to , shortly after the President's death when she was deeply worried about his place in history.
There are many extraordinarily well- written and moving passages in the book. One of the best is White's description of the Japanese surrender to General MacArthur and how at the very moment of the surrender there suddenly appears in the sky squadrons and squadrons of American planes, a signal of the great American power that won the war.
White talks quite a bit about the craft of writing, and distinguishes the journalist limited in vision by being so involved in the factual realities as they are happening, and the historian who can through time and distance order and see things the journalist cannot. Clearly White himself combines both these capacities in this work.
Around The World In 30 Years.......2006-07-28
An incredibly broad overview of one man's very exciting career in journalism, Theodore White's "In Search Of History" puts us at his shoulder as he explores war-torn China and reconstructed Europe, does battle with leftist zealots and right-wing hoods, and apotheosizes the ephemerality of the world and the fleeting cast populating it. Any journalist, or one thinking of a career in journalism, owes it to him- or herself to read this.
One might subtitle this: "Enough About Those Presidents, Let's Talk About Me." By 1978, he had ceased producing his widely-read and respected "Making Of The President" books, deciding he needed to figure out what it had been all about. Such a scenario would bode ill except White lived an interesting life he shares here with passion and candor, focusing always on what it meant for him to be a journalist, lighting on telling moments in time and raising questions about his own possible shortcomings and oversights that help lift this above most journalist autobiographies.
Starting out a poor Jewish boy in Boston during World War I, White was a Horatio Alger story who made his way to Harvard with a gritty combination of hard work and belief in himself and the country that produced him. Though best-known today for "The Making Of" series, White had been a reporter for more than 20 years before that, cutting his teeth at Henry Luce's Time/Life, where the focus was always on individual "makers of history." Though he fell out with Luce, he held fast to that "compelling personality" concept throughout his career, latching on to various figures he met with a curiosity so immersive it bordered on idolatry.
"What frightened me then, and frightens me still, is how very few men it takes at the head of any state to give it its character of good or evil, of freedom, tyranny, torture, butchery or benevolence," he writes, reflecting on postwar Germany but taking in the world.
For those disposed to accept this viewpoint, White offers vivid profiles of such unique and complex characters as Luce, Chou En-Lai, Chaing K'ai-Chek, Averell Harriman, and especially John F. Kennedy, of whom White says: "Those who knew him well loved him too much...The man I followed wrapped me in such affection that I have never been able completely to escape." Those who note this was part of White's problem have to acknowledge the fact that they, like so many in the last 40 or so years, are drawing on White's own reportage in making their conclusions.
What makes White great to read is the apparent absence of anything else interesting going on in his life. He writes a little about women, his first sexual experience and an early wife who kept him working by spending his money. But you get the feeling he was more devoted to us his readers than anyone he knew in his own life. No detail is too small or too squalid for White to bore in on, and stick with long enough to make come alive in our hands, whether it is poverty-stricken children being worked to death in a Shanghai filature or the quality of napery on a French dinner table.
Reading him is like having a curtain pulled back on episodes that come off stiff and square in history books, discovering not only the pulsing, bleeding life behind them but something of the poverty of journalism today, at least where imaginative reconstruction and non-doctrinaire analysis are concerned.
He also gets into the stories behind the stories, of his fights to get Luce and other editors to publish his view of the world rather than theirs, of the logistical challenges of being at the scene of great events, of helping Jackie Kennedy craft the enduring myth of her husband's Camelot, and his lasting belief in the importance of his work. Jayson Blair and Jared Paul Stern, take note: "Contacts are the only bankable capital on which a journalist can ever draw."
I wish I could write this review with something other than a ponderous ministerial tone, give some hint of the joy and humor to be found, the marvelous turns of phrase sprinkled throughout this large book like sand on a beach, and properly credit "In Search Of History's" Dickens-like method of drawing you into the world he inhabits, until you feel like you know as well as he ever did his fellows and his surroundings.
Suffice to say this is White's most enjoyable and readable book despite its length, and next to "Making Of The President 1968," his best. Along with that other White's book, "The Elements Of Style," this is something no writer of worldly affairs can be without.
the spirit of a true reporter.......2005-09-06
This is a wonderful tour of the 20C, to about 1970, by a reporter who followed stories as they emerged in the most important places and with the most powerful people. White was entirely self-made, an energetic and talented man who had some luck but mostly worked very hard.
Although many journalists came to scorn White for his nostalgic style late in life - rightfully in my opinion - there is no doubt that early on he was a great reporter of courage and idealism. You see him begin reporting for Luce (and Time) while on a fellowship in China, fresh out of Harvard, when he got into the innermost circle of communist leaders after becoming disillusioned with Chiang Kai Shek. There he met Mao, Zhou EnLai, and scores of others who would go on to great power - the reader feels like he gets to know them personally. He then wrote a bestseller on the experience.
In a typical move that showed his nose for a great story and a pioneer of in-depth investigations, White then moved to Paris, where he chronicled the post-war reconstruction under the Marchall Plan. He then returned to the US and started his outstanding series on US elections, the Making of the President. After losing a job at Colliers, and at great financial risk, he made his living almost entirely from books.
This is a amazing and trailblazing career, thick with historical detail, but this book is also a memoir that lets you in on what made him tick: he witnessed his father beaten down by the Depression, but heard from him that China would have a revolution that would change the world. This was the source of his original inspiration for China. There are many asides that are both charming and fascinating, such as the time he lost his virginity in China, but also about how he works and what he remembers of certain scenes, such as the moment Zhou EnLai got him to eat pork.
Warmly recommended, in particular for aspiring writers (like myself when I read it!).
In Search of History: A Fascinating and New Perspective.......2001-10-10
In Search of History, by Theodore H. White is an excellent and well written book chronicling not only the life of this astounding reporter and writer, but also giving you an inside view into the U.S. from his birth in 1915 to the publishing of the book in 1963. In his early years (1915-1938) he details to a full extent the Boston in which he grew up, as well as going into a small extent about New England and the rest of the U.S. In these few fascinating chapters, he details the history of immigration to the U.S., and how the various ethnicities and neighborhoods functioned. For me in particular, who was only born in the last decade, this view of an America long gone and far removed was both fascinating and informative.
In the next section, after completion of his education and after receiving employment as a reporter from Harry Luce at Time, White travels to Asia (1938-1945) to detail the three way struggle between the Japanese, Chiang K'ai-Shek (and his Nationalist forces), and Mao Tse-tung (and his Communist forces), with the U.S. supporting K'ai-Shek. While this era in China is all common knowledge and part of history, to see it the way that White writes it is to see it in an entirely new light. An example of this is when White takes the reader into the party conference (Communist), and reveals many details of Communist thinking that are rather unknown in the West. Also, here, as in almost any situation, White managed to ease his way into the confidence of these men of power, and therefore many parts of what he reveals in this book are not well known, such as how close the U.S. actually came to acieving harmony between the Nationalist and Communist forces. However, White's views on the matter of China differed sharply from those of his employer, Harry Luce (then owner of the Time-Life conglomerate), and so shortly after he left Asia he quit.
He next found employment from a variety of small papers and went to Europe (1948-1953) to detail the demilitarization of Germany and the reconstruction of the occupied countries. This section provides an excellent look at an era in history that has been forgotten by the majority of Americans. Take, for example, the European Joint Defense Force. This was a proposal under which all of the armies of the European nations would be joined as one. Long forgotten, this book sheds some new light on this fascinating proposal.
Next, White returns home to America (1954-1963), where he publishes several books. He next follows Senator John F. Kennedy through his campaign for president up to his assassination. He was an intimate of Kennedy's, and this section of his book provides an excellent look at that era. He tells of the tear-filled meeting between himself and Jacqueline Kennedy shortly after President Kennedy's death in which he wrote the story that was to label the Kennedy years as the "Camelot" era of American history.
This book provides an excellent and in depth look at the world from 1915-1963, from White's (a liberal's) point of view. I recommend this book to the casual, interested, or scholarly reader.
Book Description
Immigrant writer Novakovich records his journeys to find his roots, some to his native Croatia, some no farther than Cleveland, where he searches for the grave of his grandmother, who refused to return to Croatia with the rest of her family. This moving collection reflects the joys and the difficulties in returning to a homeland left behind.
"Novakovich is a strong, original writer. His subtle prose makes me beam with pleasure, and break into an anxious sweat at the same time. He has mastered the tone of bearing witness as a principle of moral literature."-Philip Lopate, The Art of the Personal Essay
Josip Novakovich is the author of Yolk, Apricots from Chernobyl, and Salvation and Other Disasters.
Customer Reviews:
Plum brandy, plum dumplings!!!!.......2007-09-14
I agree with the prior reviews re: "Plum Brandy." For me, the final chapter on Josip searching for his grandmother's grave in Cleveland is worth the price on its own. Reminded me of my search (less complicated!) for the grave of my Slovenian great-aunt Marija in Saint Louis. The effect was very sentimental and uniquely personal. The memories of time spent and years since her death race through the mind. Glad to see another example of good relations between Slovenes and Croats. We are much more culturally and politically similar than different.
Heartbreakingly funny and sad.......2003-07-24
I laughed out loud at the wry and tender humour Novakovich brings to these intimate essays. Several of these essays belong alongside David Sedaris' writing about his misadventures in France--insightful, intimate, and heartbreakingly funny observations on our human predicament. Picking up this book is so much like sitting in a Balkan cafe with a long-lost friend telling exquiste funny / sad stories that leave you hanging on every word that later you swear you can smell the espresso, brandy and smoke. Reccomended!
Josip Novakovich is an extremely gifted writer.......2003-07-05
This is a collection of stories from an award-winning author who straddles two very different worlds. Born in Croatia when it was still part of Yugoslavia, he emigrated to the United States at age 20. He has traveled back to Croatia many times and spent some time there during the brake up of Yugoslavia. As both a native Croat and an American he was able to view the turbulent times of the 90s with the detachment of an outsider looking in and the insight of a native son. This book however is not about the war in former Yugoslavia but a collection of personal experiences that took place at that time.
In the following example he manages to tell us, in a personal way, something about the Serb rebellion in the Krajina region of Croatia. In the Guns of August essay, he writes: ýI took a train ride to Rijeka ý or rather I wanted to. The train was cancelled: the line passed along the Krajina region. I took the bus, and it went right to the Slovenian border. Krajina had squeezed the rest of Croatia all the way to Slovenia at one point.ý
In another essay, he describes in lyrical prose moments of his childhood in a Croatian village: ýMy sweating father interrupted carving wood and gave me leafy red bank notes to buy loaves. Yeasty smells drew the townspeople who were still fresh from rising in a cold dawn to the old bakery with its uneven walls and swelling mortar. Beyond the threshold, I saw naked and skinless white loaves slide into the metal oven above the random licks of flames. Soon a pale man sprinkled water from a crimson cup, glazing the emerging an tanning bread skins into polished crusts.ý
Josip Novakovich is an extremely gifted writer who offered me, the reader, genuine pleasure out of the simple act of reading. I recommend this book highly because I am certain it will have the same effect on you.
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