The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink

The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink
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On The Cyclone With Chuck Traynor

Dazzling Pyrotechnique

America Dances on the Edge of the Abyss

Pyrotechnic Insanitarium

Like Coney Island, baby!

The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink
Mark Dery
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

From the far left to the far right, on talk radio and the op-ed page, more and more Americans believe that the social fabric is unraveling. Celebrity worship and media frenzy, suicidal cultists and heavily armed secessionists: modern life seems to have become a "pyrotechnic insanitarium," Mark Dery says, borrowing a turn-of-the-century name for Coney Island. Dery elucidates the meaning to our madness, deconstructing American culture from mainstream forces like Disney and Nike to fringe phenomena like the Unabomber and alien invaders. Our millennial angst, he argues, is a product of a pervasive cultural anxiety-a combination of the social and economic upheaval wrought by global capitalism and the paranoia fanned by media sensationalism. The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium is a theme-park ride through the extremes of American culture of which The Atlantic Monthly has written, "Mark Dery confirms once again what writers and thinkers as disparate as Nathanael West, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Sigmund Freud, and Oliver Sacks have already shown us: the best place to explore the human condition is at its outer margins, its pathological extremes."

Customer Reviews:

On The Cyclone With Chuck Traynor.......2007-09-13

Dery has created a humorous addition to the library of cultural thought. His writing falls someplace between a Henry Darger mural and Chuck Traynor's Vegas gunshop. The text flows smoothly, allowing a simpleton like me to wrap my narcotic-injured cerebrum around the complex matrix of thought. I strongly disagree with the reviewer of Publishers Weekly, particularly regarding the complaint of Dery too quickly shifting focus on subject matter. The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium reads like a study in frame analysis, shifting ever so slighly, but nevertheless drawing the reader on into the psychotropic funhouse. I loved it, and recommend it to friends when looking for an alternative to the stale prose of much in the field of cultural studies.

Dazzling Pyrotechnique.......2004-07-28

Dery has taken on a most admirable task indeed in this book: containing the ongoing, ever deepening insanity of America and its so called culture- enough so to write intelligent, very engaging and sophisticated commentary on it. This is one guy I'd like to have as a next door neighbor because it would be most inspiring to hear him pontificate about my Weber Grill, lawn mower, X-box, etc. linking them with more far ranging societal pathologies ever mutating, replicating across the US if not the world at warp speed. Read this book out and temporarily ground yourself in some actual clarity, sanity, wit and wryness to boot.

Jaye Beldo: Netnous@Aol.Com

America Dances on the Edge of the Abyss.......2000-05-20

Dery's initial metaphor--Coney Island as controlled chaos, an irruption of social taboos--sets the theme for this collection of essays exploring the fin de millenium American turn toward the countercultural, the outcast, the obscene,the pacifying. Exploring the place of Disney, talk radio and television, technology, Heaven's Gate, the Unabomber, aberrant art, freak culture, carnival celebrations and other social expressions beyond the pale, Dery suggests that in the century since Coney, America continues to indulge the dark and the chaotic, but it does so now in tones suggesting resignation more than despair. Suggesting a dialectic reaction, Dery posits the angst of postmodern American as a response to the loss of meaning and control that pervades its society. Gated communities attempt to carve out islands of control amidst urban terror; Disney offers a world whose simplicity and comfort counter the misshapen reality about us; all the while underground art movements aggressively mock corporate values. And for good measure,Dery is a scintillating writer, tossing off well-turned phrases and allusions that both entertain and clarify. A stimulating compilation of writings.

Pyrotechnic Insanitarium.......2000-04-02

I heard Dery interivewed on KPFK in Los Angeles, and wondered if he was as gleefully subversive, jarringly insightful and downright hilarious in print. I wasn't disappointed! Imagine a brains-sloshing rollercoaster ride where your IQ is ten points higher--rather than lower--when you disembark. That's what you're in for.

austro@excite.com

Like Coney Island, baby!.......1999-11-09

Dery's compendium of stellar essays achieve the dizzying heights of literary incision that is all too rare at this end of the millenium. His wit, depth and powerful style inform both the reader and the Zeitgeist of the heretofore and palpably novel analyses of America as Hypercapitalist theme park turned phantasmogoria. The book recalled to mind that fabulous poem by William Carlos Williams, "The Pure Products of America go Crazy" from "Spring and All", circa 1923. Like his previous sphere-gasser,"Escape Velocity: Cyberculture At The End of The Century", Mark Dery's superb research and synthetic skills pull together this truly colossal set of sources and deftly deliver them to dazzling effect. Dery's flourish and sardonic wit are both rare and endlessly entertaining. Like the early Tom Wolfe,his essays explore the uncanny, the gothic and the downright pathological with flair and scholarly rigor that is equally well received by the educated bibliophile and the academic alike. J.G. Ballard and Howard Rheingold's various dust jacket notes are no exaggeration! Move spheres to get this book.

The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink.(Review) : An article from: Arena Magazine

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The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink.(Review) : An article from: Arena Magazine
Dominic Pettman
Manufacturer: Arena Printing and Publications Pty. Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Arena Magazine, published by Arena Printing and Publications Pty. Ltd. on June 1, 1999. The length of the article is 1565 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: The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink.(Review)
Author: Dominic Pettman
Publication: Arena Magazine (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 1999
Publisher: Arena Printing and Publications Pty. Ltd.
Page: 67

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink of the Millennium

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The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink of the Millennium
Mark Dery
Manufacturer: Grove Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VYJT5W

Book Description

88 fashion plates from great 19th-century "style" periodical Repository of Arts show evening, riding, walking dress, women's fashion in charmingly rendered pictures. Finest source for post-Empire, pre-Victorian Romantic style in women's costume. 8-page color insert.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent for late Regency and early Romantic, but we need more books on this era!.......2006-08-13

Rudolph Ackermann was one of the premier fashion illustrators of the early 19th century, and many of his finest works from 1818 to 1828 (many in color) are preserved in this high-quality paperback from Dover Publications, kings of vintage-fashion books. Everyone wanting to know what women wore in the years between Waterloo and the height of the Romantic Era will want this book, and for that reason I give it 5 stars.

However...we really, really, REALLY need Dover to put out a book or two on fashions of the Napoleonic and Regency era from 1789 to 1815. There are plenty of fashion plates available from the period, for instance in the well-known magazines "La Belle Assemblee" and "Lady's Monthly Museum", and there are any number of Regency-fashion enthusiasts who have put together exhaustive websites on the topic. So how about it, Dover? Jane Austen fans everywhere will blow out Amazon's servers ordering such a book if you publish one! :)

Fashion Plates for a good price.......2001-05-09

For those of us who love to indulge in poring over antique fashion plates, this book is an excellent acquisition. I recommend it not for someone particularly new to costume history, but for those who need good reproductions of this particular period as a resource. Well worth the extremely reasonable price. Be aware that these plates were the "ideal" in fashion at this time. Look at our own fashion magazines and think about how close everyday clothes are to those images and you'll understand my caution.

The Plates are the thing..........2000-06-19

As the title of this book suggests, the subject matter isprimarily reproductions of many ladies fashion plates from the higheststyle journal of the English Regency. Sadly, too few of the plates are reproduced in color, however, the editorial choices made by Stella Blum (at one time curator of the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Collection) about which plates to reproduce, and which ones to print in color are intelligent, and her brief essay of introduction is highly informative. This book is a must for people wanting to see what Regency Fashion looked like, or for people who wish to identify Fashion Plates. People who need a more through text on the subject should also buy "Jane Austen : In Style" by Susan Watkins, Hugh Palmer. People who want guidance on how to make these clothes should also seek out "Federalist & Regency Costume : 1790-1819" ed. by R.L Shep. END

ACKERMANN'S COSTUME PLATES WOMEN'S FASHIONS IN ENGLAND 1818-1828

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ACKERMANN'S COSTUME PLATES WOMEN'S FASHIONS IN ENGLAND 1818-1828
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Manufacturer: Dover Publications, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JWDP3S

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Praise for Developing Affordable Housing A Practical Guide for Nonprofit Organizations Third Edition

"Ben Hecht's book explains in clear language everything needed to successfully engage in nonprofit housing development. He tells how to find the money, how to generate good design and quality construction, and how to improve management—a complete, well-researched, and well-presented 'A to Z' approach."
—Henry G. Cisneros, former secretary U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

"Ben Hecht's book makes the affordable housing development process accessible for communities and practitioners everywhere. Developing Affordable Housing should be on the bookshelf of every organization that cares about people and wants to make affordable housing possible."
—Rey Ramsey, former chairman, Habitat for Humanity CEO, One Economy Corporation

"The development of affordable housing is as much a journey as a destination. Ben Hecht's book provides maps and bridges while not losing sight of the challenging but elusive goal of providing decent, safe, and affordable housing."
—Nicolas P. Retsinas, Director, Joint Center for Housing Studies Harvard University

"In our work to increase the supply of safe, decent homes for those who need homes the most, we appreciate the power of partnerships and the value of information. So does Ben Hecht. Developing Affordable Housing is more than a practical guide for nonprofits—it's a library, a trusted advisor, and a road map. Read this book and benefit from its wisdom."
—Stacey D. Stewart, President and CEO, Fannie Mae Foundation

Customer Reviews:

It's a great book, very informative.......1999-11-08

This book is wonderful! It is very informative and interesting. Buy it! In bulk! Certainly worth my reading time.

Developing Affordable Housing: A Practical Guide for Nonprofit Organizations, 1995 Supplement (Nonprofit Law, Finance & Management)

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Developing Affordable Housing: A Practical Guide for Nonprofit Organizations, 1995 Supplement (Nonprofit Law, Finance & Management)
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Manufacturer: Wiley Law Pubns
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Developing Affordable Housing: A Practical Guide for Nonprofit Organizations, 1996 Cumulative Supplement (Nonprofit Law, Finance & Management S.)

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Bennett L. Hecht
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons Inc
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Developing Affordable Housing: A Practical Guide for Nonprofit Organizations, 1998 Cumulative Sup.

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Developing Affordable Housing: A Practical Guide for Nonprofit Organizations, 1998 Cumulative Sup.
B Hecht
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Albert J. Luxford has long been known as "The Gimmick Man" in the film and television industry, but he has remained one of its unsung and unknown geniuses despite his well-known work. He equipped James Bond with some of his most memorable gadgets; made possible many of the effects and sequences in the Carry On series. He worked on such shows and movies as Are You Being Served?, The Muppets, Highlander, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, among many others. In this memoir, Luxford reminisces with great good humor about his life and work and shares some tricks of the trade. He left school at 16 to attend the Institute of Automobile Engineers in West London and began in the film industry as an engineer at Pinewood Studios. The bulk of this work is made up of Luxford's recollections about his experiences in special effects. This is a genuine tour behind the scenes by an incomparable master of movie magic.

Customer Reviews:

A fascinating read.......2003-09-02

This is a terrific litle book about a much under-celebrated British special effects technician. Anyone interested in the history of special effects or the wider British film industry in general would learn much from this book. It would be of particular interest to Bond fans as Luxford was responsible for many of the famous gadgets seen in the earlier films.

A very enjoyable read with some rare insights.

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This book of hymn arrangements as recorded by Chet Atkins was done in hopes that other guitarists will benefit from the availability of beautiful hymns for guitar, both for use in worship services and for personal enjoyment as well. The arrangements are given in notation and tablature just as Chet played them. They have not been simplified, and are intended for use by those who know and appreciate Chet's style of guitar technique. Fingerings and performance notes have been added by the transcriber.

The Serger Idea Book: A Collection of Inspiring Ideas from the Palmer/Pletsch Professionals
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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying Foreclosures
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CID Guide to Buying Foreclosures

Very Insightful

Provides solid information worthy of the Complete Idiot Guide series

READ ME FIRST - A comical and resourceful guide

Provides good information for getting started

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Find the sound investments among the foreclosures. Covering both bank-owned and government-owned properties, this book focuses on helping buyers distinguish between good foreclosure investments and those plagued with liens and other pitfalls. Readers will learn about the benefits of buying foreclosures; foreclosure timeline and process; the different types of foreclosures; finding pre- foreclosed properties; important pre-purchase pitfalls; buying at an auction; and more.

• The national residential foreclosure rate rose to from 1 to 1.23% (of all mortgages) by the end of 2003—the biggest jump in 30 years
• Foreclosures are expected to increase as interest rates rise and monthly payments on short-term variable rate and interest-only loans begin to follow (Realty Times)

Customer Reviews:

CID Guide to Buying Foreclosures.......2007-05-06

Sunday, May 6, 2007

For a newbie, this is an excellent introduction. It shows you the way to proceed, if you're serious about trying. For the price, it is a bargin and should be kept as a reference. If you're like me, a yellow lighter can be quite helpfull. Well worth the price when you consider the large sums of money that can be involved.

Very Insightful.......2007-03-10

This is a very informative book. It doesn't mess around with a lot of fluff. I highly recomend it!

Provides solid information worthy of the Complete Idiot Guide series.......2007-01-22

I've always enjoyed the Complete Idiot Guide series. Why? Because it delivers the message down to earth. It takes highly complexed legal matters and shows you step by step on how to invest in foreclosures. If you want to make money in foreclosures or have wanted to invest in them, you need to read this book.

Matt
Illustrator for the Ultimate Foreclosure Kit (ISBN 0978834658)

READ ME FIRST - A comical and resourceful guide.......2006-11-13

This is a comical and resourceful guide to foreclosures, offering an easy to read handbook on how to invest in govt or bank foreclosed properties. Other titles that helped me about foreclosures -- Investing With out Losing: The Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Tax Lien and Tax Deed Auctions

Provides good information for getting started.......2006-11-07

Provides a large amount of information in a concise but easy-to-read format. Considering all of the nuances of buying foreclosures, from the legal considerations to the occupation stage, the author does a good job of capturing and conveying the essentials. The author also does a good job of communicating both public and private foreclosure opportunities, which is important in many states.
The author focuses primarily on 'investing in foreclosures' vs. 'buying a foreclosure for your primary residence.' Consider this when comparing to other books.
Could have used more specific information on where to look for foreclosure opportunities, but the book does mention that actively searching and networking is a key to the game.
Overall, a good, easy read with valuable information for anyone wishing to enhance their real estate expertise.

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