White on Black: Images of Africa and Blacks in Western Popular Culture

Book Description

White on Black is a compelling visual history of the development of European and American stereotypes of black people over the last two hundred years. Jan Nederveen Pieterse shows the pervasiveness of prejudice against blacks throughout the western world as expressed in stock-in-trade racist imagery and caricature. Reproducing a wide range of illustrations-from engravings and lithographs to advertisements, candy wrappings, biscuit tins, dolls, posters, and comic strips-the book raises troubling questions about caricature and parody as instruments of oppression.

White on Black: Images of Africa and Blacks in Western Popular Culture

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White on Black: Images of Africa and Blacks in Western Popular Culture
Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Jan Nederveen Pieterse Ian Nederveen Pieterse
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORNQO6

Book Description

"At a New York fashion show, we saw a girl clad from head to foot in artificial materials. Everything she wore was made from synthetic stuffs created by chemists. Her hat was Cellophane, her frock was Rayon. She wore 'Nylon' stockings and carried a patent-leather handbag and stood in imitation alligator shoes. Even the faint hint of musk on her imitation silk handkerchief came from a synthetic perfume." -- National Geographic Magazine, November, 1939

Nylon, the wonder fabric, debuted at the 1939 New York World's Fair and created quite a sensation. Later, following the deprivations of World War II, Europeans and Americans greeted synthetic fabrics so warmly and quickly that they helped to bring about what Susannah Handley describes as a "fashion revolution." The story of synthetics in fashion, she notes, is one of chemical innovation, national pride, couture brilliance, and street style -- and it reflects the social trends and desires of every generation in the twentieth century.

Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution folds together an array of topics: the role of technology in modern life, the changing nature of popular taste, the fortunes of the late twentieth-century garment industry, and the design innovations and artistry that synthetics permit, even encourage. Handley tells behind-the-scenes stories about companies like DuPont (inventors of Nylon, the first pure synthetic fabric) and its competitors and imitators. She introduces readers to the world of clothing design and manufacture, tracing the development of fabrics from the semisynthetic "Art Silk" early in the century to polyester, Lycra, and the newest technological fibers and desirable weaves. She examines the advertising strategies that played on and built up consumer expectations. And she describes a not-too-distant future of interactive textiles, solar suits, intelligent jackets, and the "wearable office."

Lavishly illustrated, with many images in full color, Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution is a fascinating combination of social history, history of technology, and the story of fashion.

"So rapid has been the technological progress that we can no longer be sure that the 'natural' material we see and handle is not in fact artificial, and even in the eco-fiber war it is practically impossible to establish whether or not nature's fibers hold the ethical high ground. The story of synthetics is the story of the eternal competition between nature and artifice." -- from the Introduction

Customer Reviews:

finishes the story of 1939.......2002-10-29

This book is a tour de force narrative of the modern world, using, of all things, fashion as the yardstick. Dr. Handley has shown with firm authority the relevance of fashion to everyday living using copious, well-chosen examples from haute couture, pop, and ready-to-wear markets to elucidate the link between these markets and the amazing marketing and technical campaigns of du Pont and Imperial Chemical Industries. The role of plastics in today's world starts with nylon, and the introduction of synthetic fibers. This story is seldom told, and by being sympathetic to all participants in this saga, Handley weaves an excellent story. The chemical details are weak, but everything else in this book is great.

!.......2000-12-04

This is an incredibly well-researched, well-written, and interesting book on an obscure topic. The photographs included are amusing and helpful.

Fabric Into Fashion.......2000-05-25

Which do you prefer, synthetic or natural? The answer is obvious to everyone, but on closer examination, the question becomes cloudy. Take fibers, for instance. There has been a boom in cotton and even hemp clothing because it is "natural," but then one has to consider the artificial fertilizers used and all the insecticides poured on the land to make the plants to make the textile. "Polyester" is something of a bad word to many people, as it is a synthetic, but it comes from petroleum derivatives, remnants of plants that are millions of years old rather than grown last season. Ever since artificial fibers were invented, there has been a see-saw of taste for them and against, for sensible reasons and for irrational ones. The history of this see-saw forms much of the story in _Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution_ by Susannah Handley.

In the US, the story of artificial fibers has been the story of Du Pont. Dupont made gunpowder in the nineteenth century, and boomed during WWI, but it had an image problem after the war. "Better Living Through Chemistry" became the slogan, and the better living was going to start, of all things, with better stockings. There was a wildly fluctuating silk market based on imports from Japan; American women were buying 1.55 million pairs of silk stockings a day. The Japanese cornering of the market was resented by the American government and citizens, but that didn't curb the appetite for silk.

Stockings were a huge market, but Du Pont dragged the textile industry into re-inventing their stagnating wares. Nylon for dresses, nylon for wedding gowns, nylon for everything possible was advertised by Du Pont, and synthetics were linked to fashion forever. Polyester and Dacron, launched in the fifties, were light and resistant to stains and wrinkles. Sales of irons went down, sales of washers and dryers went up. There was a positive image of scientists taking part in fashion and popular culture.

Synthetics drastically affected even the couture of the Paris salons. The post-war cultural shifts meant that the salons could not continue to exist on a small number of wealthy clients, but had to start licensing such things as perfumes and ready-to-wear clothes. The sixties had a vogue for all sorts of technological materials, and especially for synthetic fashions. Du Pont worked hard to integrate its fibers into fabric manufacture and fashion design. It commissioned top fashion photographers to photograph synthetic fashions and sent the results out as press releases, a free publicity outlet to French couturiers. In America, 20 of the 21 layers in the Apollo moon suits were Du Pont fabrics originally developed "for earthbound use," and Du Pont encouraged "spacey" looking designs in clothes. Synthetics were pitched to the youth market, which had no prejudice that they were inferior to the "real" thing.

There was a bust. Polyester and nylon were in everything. Polyester especially peaked in John Travolta's disco leisure suit, and has had a bad reputation ever since. Overproduction of synthetics caused a classic boom and bust; with so many wonder fibers, people were free to notice that they caused static, retained moisture, and yellowed in perspiration. Natural fibers became more fashionable, both because of the ecology movement and because with more money, people could afford the extra cost of washing and ironing them. Raw materials for synthetics became more costly with the gas crisis. Attempts to shore up synthetics in the fashion industry were unsuccessful, and they took their places mostly in blends.

All things come full circle. Engineered fibers were reintroduced to European fashion in the eighties by none other than the Japanese. They married amazing new microfibres and the ancient craft of textile making, to produce brand new forms of cloth. Sculptural textures are formed by blending fibers of different shrink ratios and popping them into a hot dryer. Metallic films are imbedded into the threads. Even stainless steel could coat the fabrics. The Japanese recognized that silk has a desirable audible quality when it rubs on itself (called "scrooping"); new fibers passed sound-wave tests to verify that they scrooped satisfactorily. Next up: clothes that change colors or other properties based on heat, moisture, or anxiety levels, or wearable computers that control the appearance of the cloth. Will these be the next objects of desire, and if so, will they become just another burned out fad? Predict fashions accurately, and get rich.

_Nylon_ is a lively history of modern technology and fashion. Handley covers engineering, advertising, and fashion house philosophy with insight. The excitement, disillusionment, and excitement again of synthetic fabrics is a surprisingly alluring topic. Her book is beautifully illustrated with many historic advertisements, fashion model shots (both beautiful and absurd), and pictures of such novelties as the two ton leg in a huge nylon stocking to advertise a Los Angeles hosiery shop.

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NYLON: THE STORY OF A FASHION REVOLUTION
Susannah Handley
Manufacturer: Johns Hopkins Univ Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J416L4

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Nylon, The Story of a Fashion Revolution: A Celebration of Design from Art Silk to Nylon and Thinking Fibres
Susannah Handley
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins Univ. Pres
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N3C4C6

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New Mutants Classic Volume 1 TPB: Vol. 1
*
Manufacturer: DIAMOND BOOK DISTRIB
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K3RJNS

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A light, fun read about a woman's relationship with her dog - joys and perils of psychoanalyzing everything

Quick entertaining read, but recommend others instead

Recommended for any dog owner

Insanely Funny

Good to know I'm not the only one!

What Wendell Wants: Or, How to Tell If You're Obsessed with Your Dog
Jenny Lee
Manufacturer: Delacorte Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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You Are a Dog: Life Through the Eyes of Man's Best Friend

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I Do. I Did. Now What?!: Life After the Wedding Dress

Skinny Bitching: A thirty-something woman mouths off about age angst, pregnancy pressure, and the dieting battles you'll never win

The Sisters Mortland

ASIN: 038533785X
Release Date: 2004-08-31

Book Description

Jenny Lee covered her first year of marriage in the painfully real and funny book I Do. I Did. Now What?! Now it's time for her to write about the real love of her life: Wendell. Her dog.

*Do you talk about your dog non-stop?
*Do you suspect your dog is a genius?
*Do you name each of your dog's toys?
*Does your dog get more heavy petting than your spouse?
*Do all holidays revolve around your dog?

If any of these scenarios sound familiar, you probably have a healthy admiration for your dog. But if all of the scenarios in What Wendell Wants sound familiar, well, it's obvious that your appreciation of your pooch has truly crossed the line into true love--dysfunctional, sure, but who cares?!

Jenny Lee knows this obsession inside and out, and her advice is not to fight it: there's simply no cure. Instead, she offers hysterical accounts of her own experiences--from fretting over her dog's haircut to getting his portrait painted a la Picasso to trying desperately to impress the Bed & Biscuit dog kennel--to give all kindred dog-loving spirits out there some consolation that they're not alone.

Customer Reviews:

A light, fun read about a woman's relationship with her dog - joys and perils of psychoanalyzing everything.......2006-08-14

The author was very funny and the stories rang true so many times - the thought we put into our dogs health, well-being and feelings can be over the top. She would go to any length to make sure Wendell the dog was happy and safe, and the stories were hilarious. In the end, we would all do the same. She also gives cute little descriptions of "Ten Types of Dog Owners" that all dog owners can identify with.

Quick entertaining read, but recommend others instead.......2006-06-22

I found this book to be quite funny in its accounts of life with Wendall (or more so life with Jenny who worries about Wendall). I smiled and chuckled often as I read. However, while I am obsessed about dogs, I was relieved to find that I am not obsessed in the ways that Jenny is.

But while this was a good book, it does not even compare to similiar books about life with dogs. I would recommend Marley and Me by John Grogan, A Dog Year by John Katz, and The Dogs of Bedlam Farm also by John Katz over this book anyday. Those books all seemed to captivate me and connect me to the owners in a way this book never did (although perhaps it's because this is also much shorter).

Recommended for any dog owner.......2006-02-24

We bought a Papillon and the breeder who sold her to us highly recommended this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was hard to tell how much was "real" versus made up or exaggerated in the telling, but regardless, it was a good read, if only to convince myself that I'm not that obsessed with our dogs!

Insanely Funny.......2006-01-11

I got this book from my husband for Christmas. I have a LIST of people I am lending this book to...it's hillarious!

Anyone that gives it less than 5 stars just doesn't understand what life is like when you are obsessed with your dog. So many times through this book I could swear I was writing it.

Of course I feel a bond of sorts with Jenny Lee since she did consider a French Bulldog. I own two...and several other dogs and animals. And, YES, I am obsessed with all of them.

Two PAWS UP!

Good to know I'm not the only one!.......2005-10-01

I was recommended this book by one of my dog loving friends who said that it was a must read--and I'm pleased to report he is absolutely right! It's such a relief to know that there are others out there who obsess about their dogs the way I obsess about my Jack Russell--McKenzie. I too throw birthday parties for my dog and also have a weakness for cute Halloween costumes.

The best thing about this book is that the author embraces her neurotic tendencies and owns up the fact that she's a little nutty when it comes to her dog, but you never blame her for it because it's obvious that it comes from the heart.

There are also some really funny charts in the back of the book! It's definitely a great gift for the dog lovers in your life!

Book Description

This second edition of the widely acclaimed Film Scriptwriting is a truly practical manual for the working writer. It provides all the clear, step-by-step guidance you need to script both fact and feature film and video - from getting and developing ideas to the writing of master scene or shooting script.

Featured in this new edition are annotated excerpts from some of today's most successful films, selected to point up principles and techniques discussed. Interviews with working film specialists reveal the things professional directors, producers, story editor, and analysts look for in appraising the scripts that come across their desks.

Customer Reviews:

A nice easy Primer.......2003-08-29

This book takes the budding Script writer through the nonsense to a solid plan to get that novel written.
Sound advice and guidanace from a good teacher. Well worth the money.

Roseburg, OR.......2001-03-07

This manual is an excellent resource for beginning script writers who need guidance through the minefields of writing and getting a script into the hands of the correct people.

Don't waste your time........1999-05-12

This book is incredibly trite and condescending. Even for the few worthwhile tips I was able to get from reading this book, the price is still ridiculous. If you want a good book on writing a script, try reading The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lagos Egri--it is tailored to playwrighting, but can be easily applied to any kind of writing.

Make Up Your Minds OK!.......1999-01-09

This Book is too complex and can confuse you one writing for the screen. It will tell you one thing and then tell you another. The authors should make up their minds on which format to use and stick with it.

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Jonny Lang - Long Time Coming
Jonny Lang
Manufacturer: Hal Leonard Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Long Time Coming

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ASIN: 0634068776

Product Description

Right-from-the-record transcriptions for all 15 songs on the third CD from this young blues phenom from Fargo. Includes a bio/notes on the album, great photos and: Beautiful One Dying to Live Get What You Give Give Me up Again Goodbye Letter Happiness and Misery Hide Your Love If We Try Living for the City Long Time Coming The One I Got Red Light Save Yourself To Love Again Touch.

Book Description

Jeopardy! has become a cultural icon of the 20th century. Its popularity transcends all media - from TV to board games to video games to Jeopardy! Online. An now, for the first time, Jeopardy! answers and questions are presented in a quiz-book format for fans to enjoy anywhere. Each book contains 700 entries, composed of Jeopardy, Double Jeopardy, and Final Jeopardy clues.

Customer Reviews:

Great Fun.......2002-10-02

This quiz book has a total of 12 complete Jeopardy games, complete with Final Jeopardy questions. As in the television show, topics are all over the board (pun intended), including things like "John Cusack Movies," "Crustaceans," "Boo!" (in which each answer contains the letters b-o-o). Each topic has five answers with space to write the question, and the correct question is on the back of the page, so there's no having to flip back to an index or anything like that.

While there may be better ways to prepare yourself for Jeopardy competition (reading reference books and atlases comes to mind), this is a wonderful entertainment and a great way to pass time while on the phone, in the doctor's office, or just before bed.

What is ... quizzical.......2001-07-03

This book has plenty of quizzes which I call quizzicals and tests, which I call ... tests. It is like the TV show, only without that annoying host. Thumbs up from me, eh.

Customer Reviews:

Dan is the Man!.......2007-07-28

Got an idea for a product or service you'd like to sell, but you don't know where to start? Dan Kennedy comes through again with a wealth of proven, yet often out-of-the-box ideas for making money with your ideas. Everything I've ever bought from Dan has been worthwhile, and I own all his books and a few of his workshop transcripts. Dan is the man when it comes to out-of-the-box and highly effective marketing ideas. Even if you own a "mundane" business like dry cleaning or dentistry, Dan's book will give you a boatload of ideas for creating more revenue.

Excellent 10 years ago.......2007-07-23

I found the book generally helpful, but now is clearly dated (the author was just becoming familiar with his PC). Still, one can glean a few useful ideas. The book should be revised in order to make it worth buying.

Dan's Info & Advice Has Made Me Millions..........2007-05-28

I was a member of Dan Kennedy's elite $10,000+ per year "Platinum Coaching Program" for a number of years... and must admit that Dan is a virtual encyclopedia of marketing and product development ideas. This book is a reflection of Dan's genius... and is a "must have" for any serious product developer, marketer, and inventor. One of Dan's strong points is teaching through stories - and "How to Make Millions with Your Ideas" is chock full of real-world "success stories" of how others have made millions with their ideas... and how you can use their proven methods to create your own million dollar ideas. If you don't get a product or marketing idea from this book that generates at least 100 times what you pay for it, you either haven't read it close enough... or simply failed to implement what he suggests. Highly Recommended.

Dan S. Kennedy book "How to Mkae Millions With Your Ideas.......2007-02-18

I have most if not all of Dan's book and his course. He is one the great business consultant. He has more millions the most consultant I believe. I only wish I read these books when I was young. I be a billionaire now, with Gates and Buffet. Dan S. Kennedy's book decribes every option for truning sound ideas into fortunes. I have one book at home and one in the office because I like that much and know what it can do for many business ventures.

A great companion to Jay Abraham's 'Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got'.......2006-07-23

Dan Kennedy is another street-smart author/consultant whose published works I really admire, despite the associated slick factors. The other is Jay Abraham.

To me, this particular book, written as an entrepreneur's guide, is definitely a great companion to Jay Abraham's 'Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got' which I had reviewed earlier - & vice versa.

Like Jay Abraham's book, it is jam-packed with actionable tools & ideas. Most of the tools & ideas can also be easily adapted, with a little bit of ingenuity, to suit one's unique marketplace & special circumstances. This is the elegant beauty of both Jay Abraham's & Dan Kennedy's street-smart advice.

I have specifically adapted many of his tools & ideas. His 'Million Dollar Rolodex' in Chapter 13 is just one excellent example, among many others.

I certainly rate this book very highly. GO FOR IT...if you want to make your dreams come true!

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