Fountains - Splash and Spectacle

Customer Reviews:

Fountain History, with a splash.......2000-08-16

This is an illustrated history book about fountains. The book is divided into chapters, each with a different attitude towards fountains and written in different ways, so the approach to the fountain is studied from several different angles. Many references and details are contained in the text. Illustrations or photographs are numbered and these numbers are used in the text, so finding the picture of what is being discussed is very easy.

The photography is excellent (except for the disappointment below) and many are large or full page size, also the illustrations are very clear and interesting.

I have two disappointments. One is that they made no reference or mention of the Giffian Fountain in Copenhagen Denmark, which is a very impressive Roman chariot, pulled by bulls with sprays out of their nostrils and spray from the wheels, and driven by an impressive Roman woman. I can forgive this, as surely there are many fountains that cannot be included due to limitations of size of the volume.

The other disappointment was the picture of the Centennial Fountain at West Palm Beach. The photograph was taken at dusk and everything is in shadow and it is therefor dull and lifeless and does not show the fountain in the glory that I know it can show in sunshine. Looks like the photographer had to catch a plane and this was the only shot he could take. I have better shots taken personally. I was a consultant to this fountain and wrote the programmed fountain 'dance' into the control computer. My name is also misspelt in the credits. Ah, well.

In total, these objections are minor and unnoticeable to the casual reader, the book is extremely interesting and perceptively written. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in fountains, either designing them, or just appreciating the subject of these beautiful and delightful creations.

Customer Reviews:

My Tom Waits of poetry/prose..........2005-02-03

I find it funny (truthfully, somewhat sad) when others give this piece anything less than five stars and dismiss it is as "not his best" work. On his worst day Buk could have typed one sentence better than a lifetime of the sewage spewed by such people. This collection is definitely a testament to that fact, as others below have astutely recognized.

If you've gotten ANY appreciation for Buk, do not hesitate to add this to your collection. It has some of the finest moments of Buk that I have ever come across, and that is definitely saying alot as I have read most of his work. There are moments contained within the corners of these pages, that are nothing less than inspiring. I certainly will be the first to admit that I cannot find words to desribe it, so I won't even try. Just rest assured that it is well worth your money to get this collection and do not believe the ramblings of others that this is somehow inferior Buk. Buk could simply do no wrong when it came to his craft.

Get this and cherish it.

Not his best work........2004-08-24

Charles Bukowski, Open All Night: New Poems (Black Sparrow, 2000)

I note the "new poems" in the title (I don't normally with Buk books) because it's not entirely true. There's at least one poem in here which was published at least fifteen years ago. I know this because I used a piece of it as an epigram to something I wrote in 1992. (It's one of Buk's series of "yes" poems, which started in War All the Time in the early eighties; I can't remember offhand the title of the one reprinted here, though.) But then, I guess one poem in three hundred fifty pages isn't that bad. After all, with the number of three-hundred-plus-page poetic epics that have come out since Buk's death, it's obvious Linda had a whole lot of stuff to go through.

Open All Night is not Buk's strongest work (but then, you have to figure much of the posthumous stuff, written over the fifteen or twenty years before his death, was unpublished for a reason), but every once in a while a piece shines. There are a few poems in here that sounds as if they were written in the late fifties, Buk's strongest period (viz. Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame), and a whole lot that sound as if they weren't. There are a number of unexpected surprises; I strongly suggest reading The Captain Is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship just before reading this to catch some of the parallels towards the end. This book has the tales in poetic form, Captain has the tales in prose, and the reader can decide which voice works better for him. In my case, the prose took the cake every time, because much of Buk's poetry, towards the end, felt somewhat flabby, at times incoherent.

But, as I said, there are gems, as there are in every book of Bukowski's, and a few of the gems here shine brighter than much of the posthumously-released work. They alone are worth the price of admission. ***

Truly poetic.......2004-05-19

Bukowski was the master of the personal detail. In these poems, released after his death, he examines his life with a drunken smile. He digs out the most significant moments of his life at the race track, among old friends, writing at night, listening to classical music, thinking about old girlfriends, and his childhood. He has a knack for mentioning the moments that matter, and leaving out the details that distract you from the point he's making. Every poem is good. This is one of his best books.

The poems are arranged in four sections. As you read, you realize that there's an underlying theme for each section. The first section, for example, is about burying the past. Each poem adds a thin layer to the theme until you feel it. It's quite an experience because it's so unpretentious --- he seems to be telling stories without any connection, but eventually you get the deeper story on your own.

I highly recommend this book. If you haven't read Bukowski's poetry before, this is a good place to start. Long-time fans will find this one a little flat, simply because it doesn't do anything new. They've heard all of these tales before. (But repetition was one of Bukowski's most endearing traits. He used it instead of a formal writing style.) So try Open All Night. You'll be pleased.

Maybe I'm just new to Buk, but its just ok.......2003-03-30

This book had some intersting stuff and it was better in the beginning than in the end. This is the first thing i've ever read by him and i know some people who are really into his poetry, so that's why I picked up one of them from the library. Most of it .... Every once in a while a good poem comes up but most of it is choppy and reptitive and boring. I should have started with a different one.

Dear publisher- a small effort please!.......2000-12-24

Since this is a posthumous volume of poems I would expect some explanations or introduction from the publisher or someone else, like was this book prepared by Bukowski at the time of his death, if not why were these poems put in and not the others, when were the poems written or published, it's not enough to say between 1970 and 1990... etc...

As for the poems, Bukowski is always great, but I wouldnt recommend this book to Buk's beginner's, they should start by "War All the time" or "The days run away ...", "Septuagenarian stew" and some others before buying this one. It's more for completists, and I guess there are a few of us out there in the wilderness.

Open All Night
Average customer rating:

Bold. Un-quaint. Superb.

Bold. Un-quaint. Superb.

Bold. Un-quaint. Superb.

Wonderful!

Open All Night
Ken Miller , and William Vollmann
Manufacturer: Overlook TP
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Bold. Un-quaint. Superb........2001-07-11

Miller knows his subjects (the people) and his subject (their desperation) with a clarity and fearlessness that most people would prefer to avoid. Viewing his photographs are no easier a task than living wholly and honestly. Skinheads, speedfreaks, friends and neighbors. Lucid, terrifying, and ultimately beautiful photographs from a man of the same qualities.

Bold. Un-quaint. Superb........2001-07-11

Miller knows his subjects (the people) and his subject (their desperation) with a clarity and fearlessness that most people would prefer to avoid. Viewing his photographs are no easier a task than living wholly and honestly. Skinheads, speedfreaks, Tenderloin whores, friends and neighbors. Lucid, terrifying, and ultimately beautiful photographs from a man of the same qualities.

Bold. Un-quaint. Superb........2001-07-11

Miller knows his subjects (the people) and his subject (their desperation) with a clarity and fearlessness that most people would prefer to avoid. Viewing his photographs are no easier a task than living wholly and honestly. Skinheads, speedfreaks, Tenderloin whores, friends and neighbors. Lucid, terrifying, and ultimately beautiful photographs from a man of the same qualities.

Wonderful!.......1999-01-07

The black and white photographs in this volume are strikingly beautiful, achingly poignant, and gritty at the same time. Unflinching, honest portraits of the darker side...

Fancy Goods ; Open All Night (A New Directions Book)

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Worth it for Pound, and Proust
beautiful, evocative vignettes
Not much going for it...

Fancy Goods ; Open All Night (A New Directions Book)
Paul Morand
Manufacturer: New Directions Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

Worth it for Pound, and Proust.......2000-07-23

Other reviewers have accurately described this: it's a relatively slight, though densely written, series of vignettes, each dedicated to a different idealized woman. It's tough, however, from the English translation to tell how much of this is the work of Morand. Ezra Pound took incredible liberties with his translation, sometimes to quite interesting and idiosyncratic effects, and Proust's introduction is a valuable essay on its own. This isn't the sort of book that will keep you wildly captivated; but it is an excellent piece for any library.

beautiful, evocative vignettes.......2000-02-26

the brief stories in this work, translated by ezra pound, are lovely and tender descriptions of individuals and nights of activities. i'm not sure if it's morand's work, or pound's translation, but they are exquisitely beautiful.

Not much going for it..........1999-05-19

I realize that Morand is considered one of the most brilliant French writers during the high modern period, but this is really pretty thin stuff. I don't know if Gide will ever be taken so seriously again (as he was a couple of decades ago), but his reputation will come to no harm when read alongside Morand. Oh well, there's still some Genet I haven't looked at yet

Average customer rating:

Fancy Goods Open All Night
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Fancy Goods; Open All Night - Stories
Paul; Preface by Oroust, Marcel; Translated from the French by Pound, Ezra Morand
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The Marina Street Girls / Open All Night (Classic Ace Double, D-35)

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The Marina Street Girls / Open All Night (Classic Ace Double, D-35)
Rae Loomis , and Jack Houston
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Average customer rating:

Open All Night
Ken and Vollmann, William T. Miller
Manufacturer: The Overlook Press, 1995
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Open All Night
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Open All Night
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Open all night
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With success rates exceeding 90 percent, entrepreneurs are quickly turning to the booming franchise world for business ideas. Having researched over 5,000 franchises, author Robert Spiegel highlights 150 of the best home-based franchises to help aspiring entrepreneurs prepare for the reality of running their own franchise operation. Each chapter in this comprehensive guidebook gives strategies for selecting the right franchise, as well as guidelines for setting up and running a business from home.You will find detailed descriptions on where to look to find franchise options; the most effective questions to ask; and how to determine what franchise will be just right for you.Plus, an extensive listing of the most recent contact information for franchise offices, home business publications, industry web sites and associations, and government agencies. All of this book's timely direction will help ensure that you pick a franchise that will bring you personal fulfillment as well as prosperity.

Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers: Industrialization of the Appalachian South, 1880-1930 (Twentieth-Century America Series)
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Why Appalachia industrialized, but failed to modernize.

Ellers monumental text

Eye opening information on the happenings of 1930's Appalach

Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers: Industrialization of the Appalachian South, 1880-1930 (Twentieth-Century America Series)
Ronald D. Eller
Manufacturer: University of Tennessee Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

Why Appalachia industrialized, but failed to modernize........2007-03-27

Mention "Appalachia" today and the idea of a "backward" people in an impoverished region left behind by progress comes to mind. When it was published in 1982, Ronald D. Eller's Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers: Industrialization of the Appalachian South, 1880-1930, was the first study to argue that, contrary to this common perception, modernization had not passed the region by. Until Eller's no other scholarly study had address the industrialization of Appalachia. What Eller discovered was that Appalachia had indeed passed through a dynamic period of transformation but that as a result "the mountaineers had lost the independence and self-determination of their ancestors, without becoming full participants in the benefits of the modern work." (242) What remained after the boom years was a society trying to cling to tradition but unable to afford the trappings of modern life. Profits generated from the extraction of timber and coal had flowed into the coffers of outside investors.

It is Eller's thesis that while Appalachia had undergone industrialization, the region failed to modernize. He argues that in order to understand the reasons, Southern Appalachia's industrialization should be viewed in a national context. Profits came from the extraction of mountain resources at the lowest possible cost for national markets. This view is buttressed by Gavin Wright's (1996) economic interpretation of the South as a low wage economy within a larger economy. Eller agrees with this interpretation. Like Wright, he argues industrialization was accomplished with cheap labor.

Eller's treatise spans the years 1880 to 1930. Prior to 1880 the area's remoteness and inaccessibility had delayed development. In chapter one, "On the Eve of a Remarkable Development," Eller paints an idyllic Jeffersonian agrarian scene of pre-industrial life in the mountains. Isolated by geography, "the mountain landscape favored the establishment of five forms of settlement - gap, cove, hollow, ridge, and meadow communities - but cove and hollow settlements predominated throughout the region."(8) The topography limited communication and transportation. Subsistence farming was the order and what agrarian economy existed was limited. "By 1880, Appalachia contained a greater concentration of noncommercial family farms than any other area of the nation."(16)

A distinct mountain culture shaped communities and people were self sufficient and independent. It was a patriarchal society where families depended on each other and kinship relationships determined social, religious and political order.(30) Urban centers were few and, except for the villages and towns, society was ordered according to status rather than class. Respectability was valued within the community. Unfortunately the idyllic life that Eller describes was on the threshold of destruction. Two forces were directed toward Appalachia. One, capitalistic, was aimed at the riches of the land, and the other, intellectual, targeted the people. "Businessmen emphasiz[ed] the need for economic development while most missionaries spoke of cultural change, education, and human concern - but ultimately both components were for the modernizing process."(43)

Two early Virginia promoters, General John Daniel Imboden and Major Jedidiah Hotchkiss promoted the region's coal and iron resources.(49) The earliest speculators were able to acquire expansive property rights for pennies. Virginia developers, Rufus A. Ayers and George L. Carter consolidated hundreds of thousands of acres. A Kentuckian, John C. Calhoun Mayo, bought options on thousands of acres.(61) Regional speculators like Ayers, Carter and Mayo, facilitated the influx of outside money. "By purchasing land and mineral resources from local residents for minimal amounts and transferring them to outside corporations for profit, they accumulated great personal wealth, but they handed the regions economy and its future to absentee control."(63) Absentee ownership and control of Appalachia's resources set the pattern for the future and is a major theme in Eller's study.

After timber and coal rights were acquired, railroads were constructed to extract the booty. Eller says "the coming of the railroads to the Appalachian South was almost as dramatic as the selling of the land itself."(65) The Chesapeake and Ohio was the first line constructed in the region after the Civil War. However its purpose was not local. Collis Porter Huntington, envisioned it as a critical, but ultimately unsuccessful, link in a coast-to-coast railroad.(67) When the company defaulted, Huntington sold out to the Drexel-Morgan-Vanderbilt interests which "under the management of the new president. Melville E. Ingalls, the C&O began a rebuilding and expansion program which would eventually make it one of the leading coal carriers on the East Coast."(69) When the railroads came new towns were built and existing ones expanded. For example "the population of Roanoke exploded from fewer that 400 to more than 25,000 people."(70) The changes were written about by John Fox Jr, a Harvard educated New York newspaperman, turned real estate speculator and author. His observations of the mountain people and their culture, taken from his travels and experiences in the mountains, provided him the background for his stories on mountain life. "His two most popular novels, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine and The little Shepard of the Kingdom Come, helped to confirm America's growing conception of Appalachia as a `strange land and a peculiar people.'"(78) Fox's writings highlighted the ongoing struggle between modernity and tradition in the mountains.

Selective logging had begun around 1880, but, Eller recounts that, "between 1890 and 1920 the lumber barons purchased and cut over huge tracts of mountain timberland, devastating the region's forest in one of the most frenzied timber booms in American history."(87) Railroads brought the logs to saw mills and carried the lumber out to national markets. Logging and mill locations were only temporarily situated and the transient nature of this industry and its labor did not promote settlements or local improvements. "National needs, whether they were those of the tourist, the scientist, or the industrialist, were given priority over local concerns."(114)

During the progressive era, the destruction of the forests did give rise to preservation movements. However even in the conservation movement, just like with timber and later coal, power and control emanated from outside the region. Under the Weeks Act of 1911 the federal government was authorized to purchase cut-over land to protect the flows in navigable streams and this began the expansion of government land holdings. Eller argues "this rapid growth of government-owned lands would bring the Forest Service and its sister agencies, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the National park Service, into increasing conflict with local mountain people."(119) Some critics accused the government of purposely fostering policies intending to move people out of the mountains and into cities and towns.(120) However logging had already begun the metamorphosis of farmers into wage laborers. Once the process had begun it was impossible to return to the old ways. With the timber gone, and now accustomed to wage-labor, family cohesiveness was lost. Even if they wanted to it was difficult to return to subsistence farming because the land had been altered. "In the 1920s, most of the lumber companies abandoned the mountains, leaving behind a land and a people deeply scarred by their operations."(127)

After logging, coal presented the next opportunity. Market conditions had delayed coal's exploitation, but "by 1900, coal production in the region tripled, and in the next three decades it multiplied again more than fivefold, coming to account for almost 80 percent of national production."(128) Costs were low because extraction was easier in Appalachia than other regions, bulk freight charges favored transportation over greater distances, and labor was cheap.(129) Wages were kept low by operator's resistance to labor's organizing. Nonetheless the intensity of coal production caused a concomitant rapid increase in population growth. Shortages of labor was a continuing problem. A wide net was cast to attract willing laborers to supplement mountain workers. Blacks were brought in from southern states and immigrants, primarily Italians, were recruited as well.(174)

The effect of coal extraction on mountain communities was profound. Where previously people had lived dispersed in the valleys, mining villages doted the landscape. Miners lived near the mines in company towns. "The problem of labor stability was a major concern for southern coal operators, and this contributed to the degree of social control they wielded over life in the company town."(193) Conditions varied from place to place, but housing and sanitation were generally substandard. "Completely owned and dominated by the coal companies, the mining towns also reflected the underlying transition in land ownership and social power which had swept the region with the coming of the industrial age."(162)

As the industry matured, under the influence of outside investors to promote greater efficiency in response to declining prices, companies consolidated. But with the advent of WWI demand increased which continued after the war.(156) But after 1927 demand declined forcing the region into a severe recession which proved to foretell the end of King Coal. Over production, cutthroat competition, and fluctuating demand weakened the industry. Rising freight rates, use of oil and gas, and new technologies contributed to the decline. (158-159) While timber and coal had integrated Appalachia into the national economy, earnings were withdrawn from the region along with its resources.(160)

Economic activity was restricted in the company towns and this limited development of ancillary businesses or industries.(198) Wealth, profits, power, and control all accrued to the benefit of coal operators and investors. While they did not completely ignore social conditions, their first priority was not one of benevolence. Coal barons placed a high priority on avoiding unionization. "Few American businessmen were more staunchly opposed to unionization than the southern coal barons."(209) Tight control of labor carried over into control and influence in local politics and government. Docile workers, cooperative local political leaders, and state influence combined to benefit business interests. "The pervasive influence of large corporations in state and local politics was a common problem throughout the United States at the turn of the century, but nowhere did absentee corporations have greater control over political destiny than in Appalachia."(216) When the baron's departed, "they left the region ill equipped to confront the social and economic problems of the industrial age."(224)

During the Great Depression, the department of Agriculture commissioned a comprehensive study "on the social and economic conditions of the southern Appalachians."(225) Lewis Cecil Gray's report contradicted commonly held assumptions. "The urban population had increased by over 300 percent and the rural nonfarm population more than 75 percent."(226) In effect the region had been forced into the national economy but the inhabitants had not reaped the social or monetary rewards. The here-today, gone-tomorrow logging industry and the company mining towns did not foster local business or a better society. Previously self-sufficient farmers had become dependant wage laborers.

Eller, in summarizing the effects of the modernization of Appalachia, notes that "the mountain middle class, unlike its counterparts in other American districts, never developed into a large component of the social structure."(234) Eller describes the modernization that had occurred as a "storm over the ridges."(242) When it passed "a deep and lasting depression had settled over the coves."(242)

Ellers monumental text.......2006-04-10

This text was one of the first books to explore the industrialization of Appalachia. It set the field for much of the current discouse that is being developed in Appalachian History. It is very well written and provides a good list of sources for additional study.

Eye opening information on the happenings of 1930's Appalach.......1999-10-18

Eller opens the eyes of the reader as he talks about the events that formed Appalachia as we know it today. He tends to romantacize somewhat but gives the reader the hard facts that have affected the Appalachian region and its people.

MINERS, MILLHANDS, AND MOUNTAINEERS: INDUSTRIALIZATION OF THE APPALACHIAN SOUTH, 1880-1930.

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MINERS, MILLHANDS, AND MOUNTAINEERS: INDUSTRIALIZATION OF THE APPALACHIAN SOUTH, 1880-1930.
Ronald D. Eller
Manufacturer: Univ. of Tennessee Press,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: B000N7G4MI

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