Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand: American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Not just a pretty book
  • Hero, Hawk
  • An Eye-Opening, Mind-Expanding Treasure
Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand: American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South

Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Native AmericanNative American | Regional | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
GeneralGeneral | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:
  1. Early Art of the Southeastern Indians: Feathered Serpents & Winged Beings Early Art of the Southeastern Indians: Feathered Serpents & Winged Beings
  2. The Moundbuilders: Ancient Peoples of Eastern North America (Ancient Peoples and Places) The Moundbuilders: Ancient Peoples of Eastern North America (Ancient Peoples and Places)
  3. Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians (Case Studies in Early Societies) Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians (Case Studies in Early Societies)
  4. Sun Circles and Human Hands : The Southeastern Indians Art and Industries Sun Circles and Human Hands : The Southeastern Indians Art and Industries
  5. Casas Grandes and the Ceramic Art of the Ancient Southwest (Published in Association with The Art Institute of Chicago) Casas Grandes and the Ceramic Art of the Ancient Southwest (Published in Association with The Art Institute of Chicago)

ASIN: 0300106017

Book Description

Along the Ohio, Tennessee, and Mississippi Rivers, the archaeological remains of earthen pyramids, plazas, large communities, and works of art and artifacts testify to Native American civilizations that thrived there between 3000 B.C. and A.D. 1500. This fascinating book presents exciting new information on the art and cultures of these ancient peoples and features hundreds of gorgeous photographs of important artworks, artifacts, and ritual objects excavated from Amerindian archaeological sites.

Drawing on excavation findings and extensive research, the contributors to the book document a succession of distinct ancient populations in the pre-Columbian world of the American Midwest and Southeast. A team of interdisciplinary scholars examines the connections between archaeological remains of different regions and the themes, forms, and rituals that continue in specific tribes of today. The book also includes the personal reflections of contemporary Native Americans who discuss their perspectives on the significance of the fascinating and beautiful prehistoric artifacts as well as their own cultural practices today.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Not just a pretty book .......2005-03-19

This is a spectacularly beautiful book. Hundreds of exquisite photographs of Indian pottery and other pre-historic artifacts, plus maps, drawings, and paintings illustrate the text.

The illustrations accompany about 20 essays on the Indians of southern and midwestern United States from archaic times until contact with Europeans. The essays vary in quality and interest, but most are well written in scholarly but accessible prose. The contributors include anthropologists, art historians, folklorists, and members of several Indian tribes. Footnotes and a substantial bibliography round out a scholarly and artistic book of real merit.

Throughout the book the continuity of ancient Indian cultures with those known to the Europeans is emphasized. One of the most interesting essays concerns the people of Cahokia, the largest Northamerican archaelogical site dating from about 1200 AD, in which the author speculates about the identity of the inhabitants, relating them to present day Indian tribes. Other essays concern the Bread Dance of the Shawnee Indians -- written by a Shawnee -- and the cultural continuity from pre-historic to present day Caddo Indians. Hopewell, Poverty Point, Moundville, and other important pre-historic Indian cultures are also given meticulous attention.

Smallchief

5 out of 5 stars Hero, Hawk.......2005-02-18

I saw the show in Chicago!!! Amazingly, the book, due to the excellent phothgraphy and printing comes close to the gallery experience. The text is insightful. A definite buy. I bought the book at the museum shop($60) and immediately purchased two copies for friends from my favorite bookseller - Mother Amazon!

5 out of 5 stars An Eye-Opening, Mind-Expanding Treasure.......2004-11-09

The sheer number of gorgeous images in this book is breathtaking. But for many readers I suspect the most astonishing image might be a fairly simple one on page 17: a rendering of a orderly semicircle of structures facing a river, it is a city in Louisiana----in 1500 B.C. This book reveals Native American civilizations rivaling what we know of the Maya and Inca, but in the heartland of North America.

In the south and Midwest a series of sophisticated cultures left behind artifacts and even structures that we are just now beginning to study and understand. For example, the Hopewell site in Ohio, where "the most dramatic" sacred structures were "geometric in form and combined circular, oval, square, octagonal, or other elements in compositions covering hundreds of acres."

The artistry of the artifacts presented here is amazing, and this book has a generous selection of large, excellent photographs. But the prose is equally good: intelligent but intelligible, often with an interesting narrative. Even the occasional semiotic language is used as vocabulary rather than jargon. Not only does this book explore so much about these next-to-unknown cultures, but it provides an exemplary context of explaining a worldview shared by many Native cultures and peoples. Although this is a scholarly presentation based on a traveling art exhibit, it is pretty graceful about integrating contemporary Native views and information. It's only in recent years that scholars have taken the testimony of contemporary Native Americans about their own culture as seriously as they take their own theories about old artifacts that survived.

For all of these reasons I count this book as instantly one of my most treasured.
Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand : American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand : American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South
    Richard F Townsend
    Manufacturer: Yale University Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback
    ASIN: B000OS8WS0
    Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand: American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand: American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South
      Ruthe Blalock Jones
      Manufacturer: Yale University Press
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback
      ASIN: B000OS1GOC

      The One-Hour Watercolourist
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        The One-Hour Watercolourist
        Patrick Seslar
        Manufacturer: David & Charles Publishers
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback

        GeneralGeneral | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
        Watercolor PaintingWatercolor Painting | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
        GeneralGeneral | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
        WatercolorWatercolor | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
        GeneralGeneral | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
        ASIN: 071531243X

        Arrested Rivers
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          Arrested Rivers
          Chuck Forsman , Helen Mayer Harrison , and Newton Harrison
          Manufacturer: Univ Pr of Colorado
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback

          HistoryHistory | Subjects | Books | Africa | Americas | Ancient | Arctic & Antarctica | Asia | Australia & Oceania | Books on CD | Books on Cassette | Europe | Gay & Lesbian | Historical Study | Large Print | Middle East | Military | Military Science | Russia | United States | World
          GeneralGeneral | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | Exhibition Catalogs | Museums | Museums & Collections | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
          ReferenceReference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
          Look Inside Outdoors & Nature BooksLook Inside Outdoors & Nature Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
          ASIN: 0870813234
          Development Arrested: Race, Power and the Blues in the Mississippi Delta
          Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
          • Unique, powerful story of Mississippi
          • "Blues Epistemology" is worth the book alone
          Development Arrested: Race, Power and the Blues in the Mississippi Delta
          Clyde Woods
          Manufacturer: Verso
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Hardcover

          Economic HistoryEconomic History | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
          BluesBlues | Musical Genres | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
          Folk & TraditionalFolk & Traditional | Musical Genres | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
          JazzJazz | Musical Genres | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
          RockRock | Musical Genres | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | 19th Century | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
          MississippiMississippi | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
          SouthSouth | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
          HistoryHistory | African Americans | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
          AmericaAmerica | Race Relations | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | Race Relations | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
          Discrimination & RacismDiscrimination & Racism | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
          African-American StudiesAfrican-American Studies | Special Groups | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
          History & TheoryHistory & Theory | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
          Human RightsHuman Rights | Constitutional Law | Law | Subjects | Books
          Similar Items:
          1. Between Law and Culture: Relocating Legal Studies Between Law and Culture: Relocating Legal Studies
          2. Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison
          3. Devil in a Blue Dress (Easy Rawlins Mysteries) Devil in a Blue Dress (Easy Rawlins Mysteries)
          4. Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California (American Crossroads) Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California (American Crossroads)

          ASIN: 1859848117

          Book Description

          "Development Arrested" is a major reinterpretation of the two-centuries-old conflict between the African Americans and planters in the Mississippi Delta. In a definitive study of the history and social structures of the plantation system, Clyde Woods examines both planter domination of politics and economy in the region and the continuing resistance of the African American working class to the system's depredations. "Development Arrested" traces the decline and resurrection of plantation ideology in national public policy discourse from Thomas Jefferson to Bill Clinton. Woods documents the unceasing attacks on the gains of the Civil Rights Movement and how, despite having suffered countless defeats at the hands of the planet regime, African Americans in the Delta have continued to push forward their agenda for social, economic, and cultural justice. He examines the role of the Blues in sustaining their efforts, surveying a musical tradition-including Jazz, Rock and Roll, Soul and Rap-that has embraced a radical vision of social change. This is an important contribution to the current political debates involving Mississippi politics, the presidency and Congress, and to our understanding of Black, US, and Southern history.

          Customer Reviews:

          5 out of 5 stars Unique, powerful story of Mississippi.......2006-03-05

          When I moved to the Mississippi Delta, where I lived for two years, I had no understanding of the rich history that confronted me from the start. The Delta is a magical place and because of Clyde Woods, I have perspective on the beauty and horror of this region. I lived near the small town of Drew (actually I lived on the grounds of Parchman) where evidence of early bluesmen and the modern civil rights movement still abound. The infamous Dockery Plantation (once home to some of the greatest blues musicians) is nearby and people who were part of the Movement are still alive and willing to talk about their experiences. Woods obviously spent much time in the Delta to craft his timely book. It is truly the best book I've read about Mississipi Delta history and it certainly gave me a much stronger understanding of where I had come to live.

          4 out of 5 stars "Blues Epistemology" is worth the book alone.......2004-10-12

          Music is a slippery thing to define. Many associate it with a sound object of some kind, but as many have pointed out, the perceptual filters and hermeneutic webs wound into the reception of sound objects have brought many, especially in the cultural studies tradition, to conclude that no separation between the two is possible, necessary, or even desirable. The most straightforward example of this conception of music among these authors can be found within "Development Arrested." While the word "blues" is often used to describe a genre of music historically originating in African-American communities, or a label applied to the collective identity of African-Americans ("Blues People") Woods instead contends that Blues is best understood as a way of understand the collective and accumulated historical consciousness and responses to continuing economic and political exploitation. Incorporating the optimistic aesthetic arguments of Albert Murray (Stomping the Blues), Woods finds a dialectic of both critique and affirmation in the blues. In doing so, Woods wishes to bridge the gap separating the blues as an aesthetic form and the blues as a theory of socio-economic development. Primarily Woods seeks this bridge in drawing new types of boundaries around blues discourse.


          This `Blues Epistemology' (B.E.) is a lens of viewing and understanding the world that can take the form of a deliberately constructed sound object, or a book on the legacy of plantation power in the Delta. This epistemology has, according to Woods, several major distinguishing features. It is oppositional, concerned with social relations, socially realistic in its analysis, and demystifying. In addition, cultural productions of this epistemology are affirmative, and confessional, class-based, and enact/maintain an imagined community among African-Americans. In Woods' specific case, he uses B.E. to write a history of power relations in the Delta from the Plantation Revolution from inception to present-day.

          `Sound objects' are powerful product and exemplars of this epistemology, but only one of its many modes of expression. For as ephemeral and marginalized groups come into and out of daily life, their ideas, once embedded in their lives, are now embedded in their cultural production, live on. For example, Woods specifically links the Delta Blues to a working-class consciousness that seeks genuine participatory democracy. This African-American working class then becomes a major factor in the creation of African-American studies, which should be seen as reproducing this structure of understanding. Overall, what is central to understanding Woods' conception of the "Blues" is that it seeks to uncover (or recover) the organic connection between the lived experience of African-Americans and their intellectual production. At the same time, it challenges and defies a Euro-American understanding of `history' and `hermeneutic' as separate entities, and argues forcefully for `re-membering' each as part of the other.


          This then becomes the basis for re-reading the history of slavery and underdevelopment. Using Marx's critique of chattel slavery and Eric Williams "Capitalism and Slavery," Woods finds that the blues (understood widely) develop their staunch oppositionality out of the need to resist the totalizing structures of white plantation owners after slave trade ended in the early 1800's. As local economic structures during reconstruction first failed to develop along different social patterns (the gang system was still used on some sharecropping areas) than before, this contributed to the ongoing concern with social realism. African-Americans took the situation into their own hands, with strikes, rights demanded, and attempts to reintroduce the Black Codes failed. For Woods, the Delta was the post-war center of African-American political thought, it became necessary for white institutions to, ove the next 100 years, portray its Black residents as "passive, criminal, and ignorant." When of course, nothing could be further from the truth.

          Still, massive violence and its symbolic equvalents, such as the Lost Cause, were deployed to disenfranchise black Americans, such as in the election of 1875, and during the subsequent years of Mississippi as a one-party Democratic state. At the same time, the blues (the name of which Woods traces to the Southern fear of black men in Union military garb--"The Black and Blues") gains its ascension. Even through planter-dominated Roosevelt's Agricultural Adjustment Act of the 1930's and the Enclosure movement, Big Bill Broonzy, Federal eugenics and sterilization, and Gunnar Myrdal's liberal racism of the 1940's. Woods includes excellent pictures and captions linking Blues epistemology with Black survival and resistance in the South. In addition, his analysis includes the role of the Blues music and Blues ideology in the 1950's and 1960's civil rights movement, with emphasis on Junior Wells and Muddy Waters, but noting the growth of such artists as Junior Kimbrough, and R.L. Burnside. Woods finishes by focusing on other moments of resistance and autonomy in the Delta, including the Tunica incident in 1985 and the Delta Pride strike of 1990, with a scathing point by point condemnation of the Lower Mississippi Delta Development Commission, and the work done under its then-chairman Bill Clinton.

          Woods' book is an ambitious work of regional history in American Studies--told through the interpretive framework of Blues epistemology. It is a detailed blow by blow account of the local history in terms of race and economic underdevelopment, valorizing indigenous wisdom from a left populist perspective, and making the case that racism is a *structure*--not a failure to dispel lower-class fear (as the liberals would have it) or a failure to adhere to indivdualist ethics (as conservatives would have it. Instead racism is exposed as the deep structure of a slavery that existed originally to make class (as in Eric William's "Capitalism and Slavery"), but ended up making race in the process (Berlin's "Many Thousands Gone"), and continues to this day through the systematic and planned reproduction of oppression and inequality, secured in part, "by ethnic warfare."
          The mystery of the Danube: Showing how through secret diplomacy that river has been closed, exportation from Turkey arrested, and the re-opening of the Isthmus of Suez prevented
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            The mystery of the Danube: Showing how through secret diplomacy that river has been closed, exportation from Turkey arrested, and the re-opening of the Isthmus of Suez prevented
            David Urquhart
            Manufacturer: Bradbury & Evans
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Unknown Binding

            GeneralGeneral | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
            ASIN: B0006EGXL0

            Dork Tower 31: Meet the New Boss (Dork Storm)
            Average customer rating: Not rated
              Dork Tower 31: Meet the New Boss (Dork Storm)
              John Kovalic
              Manufacturer: Dork Storm Press
              ProductGroup: Book
              Binding: Paperback

              GeneralGeneral | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Comics & Graphic Novels | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Humor | Entertainment | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
              All 4-for-3 DealsAll 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
              ASIN: 1930964838

              Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood's Golden Age: At the American Film Institue
              Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
              • Tales of the Golden Age
              • Surveys of their works and art provide invaluable insights by some of the biggest industry legends
              • Treasure Trove of Remembrances from the Mid-Century Cinema's Behind-the-Camera Elite
              • An essential book on film
              Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood's Golden Age: At the American Film Institue

              Manufacturer: Knopf
              ProductGroup: Book
              Binding: Hardcover

              EntertainersEntertainers | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
              BiographiesBiographies | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books | Actors & Actresses | Directors
              Direction & ProductionDirection & Production | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
              Look Inside Entertainment BooksLook Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
              Similar Items:
              1. Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops
              2. American Movie Critics: From the Silents Until Now American Movie Critics: From the Silents Until Now
              3. Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer
              4. Directors Close Up, 2nd Edition: Interviews with Directors Nominated for Best Film by the Directors Guild of America Directors Close Up, 2nd Edition: Interviews with Directors Nominated for Best Film by the Directors Guild of America
              5. Elia Kazan: A Biography Elia Kazan: A Biography

              ASIN: 140004054X
              Release Date: 2006-02-21

              Book Description

              The first book to bring together these interviews of master moviemakers from the American Film Institute’s renowned seminars—a series that has been in existence for almost forty years, since the founding of the Institute itself.

              Here are the legendary directors, producers, cinematographers and writers—the great pioneers, the great artists—whose work led the way in the early days of moviemaking and still survives from what was the twentieth century’s art form. The book is edited—with commentaries—by George Stevens, Jr., founder of the American Film Institute and the AFI Center for Advanced Film Studies’ Harold Lloyd Master Seminar series.

              Here talking about their work, their art—picture making in general—are directors from King Vidor, Howard Hawks and Fritz Lang (“I learned only from bad films”) to William Wyler, George Stevens and David Lean.

              Here, too, is Hal Wallis, one of Hollywood’s great motion picture producers; legendary cinematographers Stanley Cortez, who shot, among other pictures, The Magnificent Ambersons, Since You Went Away and Shock Corridor and George Folsey, who was the cameraman on more than 150 pictures, from Animal Crackers and Marie Antoinette to Meet Me in St. Louis and Adam’s Rib; and the equally celebrated James Wong Howe.

              Here is the screenwriter Ray Bradbury, who wrote the script for John Huston’s Moby Dick, Fahrenheit 451 and The Illustrated Man, and the admired Ernest Lehman, who wrote the screenplays for Sabrina, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and North by Northwest (“One day Hitchcock said, ‘I’ve always wanted to do a chase across the face of Mount Rushmore.’”).

              And here, too, are Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini (“Making a movie is a mathematical operation. It’s absolutely impossible to improvise”).

              These conversations gathered together—and published for the first time—are full of wisdom, movie history and ideas about picture making, about working with actors, about how to tell a story in words and movement.

              A sample of what the moviemakers have to teach us:

              Elia Kazan, on translating a play to the screen: “With A Streetcar Named Desire we worked hard to open it up and then went back to the play because we’d lost all the compression. In the play, these people were trapped in a room with each other. As the story progressed I took out little flats, and the set got smaller and smaller.”

              Ingmar Bergman on writing: “For half a year I had a picture inside my head of three women walking around in a red room with white clothes. I couldn’t understand why these damned women were there. I tried to throw it away . . . find out what they said to each other because they whispered. It came out that they were watching another woman dying. Then the screenplay started—but it took about a year. The script always starts with a picture . . . ”

              Jean Renoir on actors: “The truth is, if you discourage an actor you may never find him again. An actor is an animal, extremely fragile. You get a little expression, it is not exactly what you wanted, but it’s alive. It’s something human.”

              And Hitchcock—on Hitchcock: “Give [the audience] pleasure, the same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare.”

              Customer Reviews:

              4 out of 5 stars Tales of the Golden Age.......2006-08-27

              Would it have been so difficult to supply the names of the questioners? It wasn't like it wsa Joe Public asking the questions, but instead members of the Institute, presumably all of them directors in training. As another reviewer points out, Malick, Zwick, so many more were among the hot shots firing the questions--some of them a bit critical if you take the time to feel for the sense.

              But anyhow the book is pretty amazing, when you consider all these guys had done their work back in the day and were still pretty cogent in the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties. Stevens doesn't seem the least bit abashed to admit that all his top figures are male--only Dorothy Arzner and Ida Lupino directed movies for the top studios, among the directors of the opposite sex. An d yet Stevens glides right over them as soon as he's named them, without a word of explanation: was there a reason why the AFI failed to interview Arzner (who lived until 1979) or Lupino (who lived on and on until 1995)? I guess we'll never know. Or, if they were interviewing all these screenwriters, why they couldn't have asked some of the many prominent women screenwriters?

              Speaking of screenwriting, sweet old Ray Bradbury is Mr, Caustic when it comes to John Huston's writing ability! It used to be that people said, well, he wasn't a great director, but he sure could write! (As they have said about Francis Coppola.) But Bradbury burns the chrome off Huston's bumpers. "Is Huston a good screenwriter?" asks one of the unidentified young turks. "No, he's not," RB fires back. "John doesn't know how to write. It's s shame." More power to him for firing off this fusillade while Huston was still alive and liable to snipe back! I know most of us would just as soon wait till one's powerful target has passed on.

              5 out of 5 stars Surveys of their works and art provide invaluable insights by some of the biggest industry legends.......2006-06-23

              Plenty of books feature interviews with film directors and moviemakers: but what other offers interviews of master moviemakers from the American Film Institute's seminars, which have been in existence since the founding of the renowned Institute itself? Here are directors, producers, writers and early pioneers of the art who are featured along with commentaries by great modern Institute members. Surveys of their works and art provide invaluable insights by some of the biggest industry legends, from Hal Wallis to Ray Bradbury and Ingmar Bergman. These conversations vary widely: some offer industry and professional insights, others feature reflections and movie history; still others focus on details on working with actors and translating text to film.

              Diane C. Donovan
              California Bookwatch

              5 out of 5 stars Treasure Trove of Remembrances from the Mid-Century Cinema's Behind-the-Camera Elite.......2006-04-04

              As a founding director of the American Film Institute (AFI) and the son of one of the most legendary filmmakers, author George Stevens Jr. is well qualified to present this superb compilation of interviews that the AFI fellows conducted with thirty-two behind-the-camera luminaries from the classic mid-20th century era of cinema, both Hollywood-based and abroad. The fact that most of these interviews took place in the 1970's does not detract from the wealth of relevant insight provided here from not only leading directors and producers but also well-regarded screenwriters and cinematographers.

              For the most part, the tone is more celebratory than critical, and given that almost all the subjects were in the twilight of their careers at the time of the interviews, there is a pervasive nostalgia about the comments. That's not to say there are no heaping spoonfuls of vitriol, as the most famously acerbic filmmakers - Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder and Howard Hawks among them - show unsurprising candor when discussing famously problematic people both onscreen and in the front office. For example, Wilder hurls a sharp zinger at his "Some Like It Hot" and "The Seven Year Itch" star, Marilyn Monroe, when comparing the litany of books about her to those of WWII and then pointing out that the subjects are just about the same. Similarly, Elia Kazan calls James Dean "a twisted boy", and Stanley Kramer admits to choosing an aging Judy Garland for two high-profile films during her most insecure period. Yet none of these filmmakers regret their casting decisions.

              Most of the interviewees have little fondness for the Hollywood studio politics and interference that ran rampant during the production on many of their classic films. Probably as a counterpoint to what could have been, Stevens chooses to end the volume with four subjects completely outside the big studios and in fact, outside the country - Jean Renoir, Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman and Satyajit Ray. Their comments show how the business aspects do not necessarily have to impede the creative process. At the same time, stalwarts such as George Cukor, Mervyn LeRoy and Raoul Walsh unapologetically voice their support of the often reviled studio heads claiming that the family-like atmosphere allowed them the security to make their proudest work. Inevitably, Stevens includes his own father, who gives his famously terse responses to the questions volleyed to him.

              Among the more intriguing comments are made by cinematographers James Wong Howe, George Folsey and Stanley Cortez and writers Ray Bradbury and Ernest Lehman, all of whom had to deal with the often singular, sometimes monumentally ego-driven visions of the master directors. It's interesting to note that the interview questions are not coming from adoring fans but aspiring craftsmen in the industry, some of whom eventually reached their goals later, such as Terrence Malick, David Lynch, Paul Schrader, and Ed Zwick. With this type of Q&A format, there are inevitably instances of selective memory as recollections made of the same film vary from different people involved with the production, for example, director Hitchcock and writer Lehman on "North by Northwest" or producer Kramer and director Fred Zinnemann on "High Noon". Regardless, this tome is an invaluable read for anyone interested in the production aspects during Hollywood's golden age.

              4 out of 5 stars An essential book on film.......2006-02-15

              This is one of the best books on film; it is so by the nature of its intelligent concentration on the great directors of Hollywood. George Stevens, Jr. has collected the transcripts of a series at the AmericanFilm Insitute; the remarks, the illustrations, the discussions are as relevant today as they were then. This book is especially welcome at a time when unqualified writers are spewing out nonsense about film. Renoir, Felline, Bergman, these are among the directors whose work this excellent book illuminates.

              Rites of Rhythm: The Music of Cuba
              Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
              • Truth in Advertising
              • Entertaining and erudite!
              • Journalistic skimming of the surface
              • A Cuban Musical Tour from a Human Perspective
              • Fantastic
              Rites of Rhythm: The Music of Cuba
              Jory Farr
              Manufacturer: William Morrow
              ProductGroup: Book
              Binding: Hardcover

              GeneralGeneral | Ethnic & International | Musical Genres | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
              SalsaSalsa | Ethnic & International | Musical Genres | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
              CubaCuba | Caribbean & West Indies | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
              Similar Items:
              1. Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo
              2. Cuban Music from A to Z Cuban Music from A to Z

              ASIN: 0060090308
              Release Date: 2003-07-29

              Book Description

              In the weeks just before carnival, a kind of fevered delirium seizes Santiago. Massive papier-mâché figures known as muñecones must be readied, masks made, costumes and capes created with feathers, rabbit skins, beads, and glass. Songs have to be rehearsed, dances perfected, complex choreography synchronized, for carnival, an explosion of rhythm, song, and spirit meant to lure every sentient being into its swirling vortex, is a fierce competition as well as an unfolding of sensual dementia.

              -- from Rites of Rhythm

              The music of Cuba is primordial and poetic: steeped in sex, drenched in mysticism, and at once exotic and familiar. Jory Farr, whose articles about Cuban music earned him a Pulitzer Prize nomination in 1990, has carried on a love affair with the culture and the country for over a decade, returning again and again to research and experience firsthand Cuba's musical heritage as both a journalist and a musician in his own right.

              Part listener's guide, part memoir, Rites of Rhythm is a musical journey through Cuba and its cultural outposts in the United States.

              The Buena Vista Social Club phenomenon gave many listeners their first taste of Cuban music, but Farr takes us further, initiating the reader in the deeper mysteries of the music by interviewing the masters of Cuban music, from Chucho Valdés and Eliades Ochoa to Los Muñequitos de Matanzas and Papi Oviedo. Along the way, he profiles such legends as Benny Moré and Arsenio Rodríguez.

              Farr also takes us on a historical journey through Cuba, locating the roots of the music in the country's extraordinary confluence of religions, ethnicities, and cultures. Cuban music's influences include African drums and chants, gypsy melodies, Afro-Haitian rhythms, Andalusian folk songs, and the spiraling melodies from Moorish regions. Yet contemporary Cuban music often sounds familiar to American ears because it also contains the jazz and blues licks that we have grown up with.

              This is the first comprehensive exploration of Cuba's rich musical and mythological heritage and the extraordinary impact it has had on American popular culture. Jory Farr's travels to Cuba's Old Havana, Santiago, the Sierra Maestra mountains, and the Cuban music scenes in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles will give music aficionados everywhere the key to understanding the music they love.

              Customer Reviews:

              1 out of 5 stars Truth in Advertising.......2004-10-24

              This is a personal memoir and does not come close to being the "comprehensive exploration of Cuba's rich musical and mythological heritage," as claimed on the inside sleeve of the book's cover. If you like travel journals and interviews with selected artists, this has some value, but Farr's reluctance or disinterest in fully contextualizing the artists being interviewed is puzzling. (Or downright sloppy as with the Valera Miranda family of Santiago, whose name is repeatedly misspelled) If you are truly looking for a "comprehensive" text , I would suggest Ned Sublette's master work, Cuban Music: From the First Drums to Mambo.

              5 out of 5 stars Entertaining and erudite!.......2004-07-17

              Jorry Farr writes with panache and shares his deep knowledge about Cuban culture and music in this entertaining book. Anyone interested in understanding the evolution and synthesis of the various Cuban musical genres will find this to be an valuable addition to their library. The appendix also contains a comprehensive discography, including some rare works.

              2 out of 5 stars Journalistic skimming of the surface.......2004-03-05

              A quick and easy read, but a little flip and trying to be too hip. This book will ring hollow to most who have visited the island. I was pretty disappointed at encounters that pumped up to be more meaningful than they seem on paper. Comes off as journalistic tourism.

              5 out of 5 stars A Cuban Musical Tour from a Human Perspective.......2004-02-05

              In Rites of Rhythm, Jory Farr captures the relationship between Cuba's music and its reality--from the spiritual to the socio-economic and the political. His book is highly readable and informative. He openly shares his journey through the Cuban music world (both inside Cuba and beyond its borders), interviewing Cuban musicians about their art, their lives and their spiritual roots in Afrocuban music. He expresses the ecstatic side of the music in print, the suffering of the Cuban people, and the psychological effects of living in Cuba since the revolution. For anyone planning to travel to Cuba or wanting to understand its music, I highly recommend this book.

              5 out of 5 stars Fantastic.......2003-08-11

              Beautifully written and superbly insightful. A must read for anyone interested in Cuban music or culture.

              The Beatles: An Illustrated Diary Third Edition
              Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
              • A HEARTY ROUND OF APPLAUSE AND A "YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!"
              • Great!
              The Beatles: An Illustrated Diary Third Edition
              H.V. Fulpen
              Manufacturer: Plexus Publishing
              ProductGroup: Book
              Binding: Paperback

              VoiceVoice | Instruments & Performers | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
              RockRock | Musical Genres | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Beatles | Music | Pop Culture | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
              Collections, Catalogues & ExhibitionsCollections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
              GeneralGeneral | Composers & Musicians | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
              ASIN: 0859652742

              Book Description

              In The Beatles: An Illustrated Diary, H.V. Fulpen has compiled the most complete record ever undertaken of the Beatles decade of success. The book provides a precise chronology of their day-to-day activities with nearly 1,000 illustrations and photos from every period of their careers. The Beatles: An Illustrated Diary combines hard facts, merchandising curiosities, album covers, unpublished photographs and posters.

              Customer Reviews:

              5 out of 5 stars A HEARTY ROUND OF APPLAUSE AND A "YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!".......2002-03-25

              This book is such a treat. I love it! H. V. Fulpen does an outstanding job of chronicling each Beatle's growth and progress and follows each Beatle's movements accurately. He is plainly a Beatles scholar and this book is lauded, loved and respected among the Beatle literati.

              The pictures alone are sure to delight; the wealth of information is what makes for a very nice package indeed. Inveterate Beatles' fans will love it; lay people will certainly come away with an abundance of knowledge. This book has appeal for all, from the seasoned Beatles' fan to folks interested in learning more about them.

              A round of thunderous applause and a hearty "yeah, yeah, yeah"! for this book.

              5 out of 5 stars Great!.......1999-07-15

              I thought this book was great. It tells you every single thing that happened in each beatle's life. Plus some great pictures.

              Transnational Television, Cultural Identity and Change: When Star Came to India
              Average customer rating: Not rated
                Transnational Television, Cultural Identity and Change: When Star Came to India
                Melissa Butcher
                Manufacturer: Sage Publications
                ProductGroup: Book
                Binding: Hardcover

                History & CriticismHistory & Criticism | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
                Performing ArtsPerforming Arts | Entertainment | Subjects | Books | Dance | Magic & Illusion | Theater
                IndiaIndia | Asia | History | Subjects | Books | Ancient
                CulturalCultural | Anthropology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
                GeneralGeneral | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
                GeneralGeneral | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
                GeneralGeneral | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
                ASIN: 0761997679
                Transnational Television, Cultural Identity and Change: When STAR Came to India.(Book Review) : An article from: Pacific Affairs
                Average customer rating: Not rated
                  Transnational Television, Cultural Identity and Change: When STAR Came to India.(Book Review) : An article from: Pacific Affairs
                  Divya C. McMillin
                  Manufacturer: University of British Columbia
                  ProductGroup: Book
                  Binding: Digital
                  ASIN: B000ALV9RM
                  Release Date: 2005-07-25

                  Book Description

                  This digital document is an article from Pacific Affairs, published by University of British Columbia on March 22, 2005. The length of the article is 764 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: Transnational Television, Cultural Identity and Change: When STAR Came to India.(Book Review)
                  Author: Divya C. McMillin
                  Publication: Pacific Affairs (Magazine/Journal)
                  Date: March 22, 2005
                  Publisher: University of British Columbia
                  Volume: 78 Issue: 1 Page: 159(3)

                  Article Type: Book Review

                  Distributed by Thomson Gale

                  Books:

                  1. How to Draw Anime & Game Characters, Vol. 4: Mastering Battle and Action Moves
                  2. How to Draw Manga Volume 2 Compiling Techniques (How to Draw Manga)
                  3. How to Look at Outsider Art
                  4. Illuminating Video: An Essential Guide To Video Art
                  5. Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space
                  6. John Updike: Just Looking: Essays on Art
                  7. Kandinsky, Complete Writings on Art
                  8. Keith Haring: I Wish I Didn't Have to Sleep! (Adventures in Art Series)
                  9. LaPorte, Indiana
                  10. Let's Get to the Nitty Gritty: The Autobiography of Horace Silver

                  Books Index

                  Books Home

                  Recommended Books

                  1. On Rope: North American Vertical Rope Techniques for Caving ... Rappellers
                  2. Potty Time for One, Two or Three! A Parent's Survival Guide for Potty Training One Child, Twins, or
                  3. Intrinsic Bioremediation
                  4. Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction
                  5. Introducing Character Animation with Blender
                  6. Medical Terminology Simplified: A Programmed Learning Approach By Body Systems
                  7. How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend: The Classic Training Manual for Dog Owners
                  8. Lingua Grafica
                  9. Mary Engelbreit's Oh So Breit: 2006 Day to Day Calendar
                  10. Ninth Day of Creation