Sketches of the Civil and Military Services of William Henry Harrison

Average customer rating:
Sketches of the Civil and Military Services of William Henry Harrison
Charles S. Todd & Benjamin Drake
Manufacturer: James Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000T69D9Y

Product Description

'Sketches of the Civil and Military Services of William Henry Harrison'' by Charles S. Todd and Benjamin Drake. Cincinnati: James Co.: 1847. First edition. Hardcover book details the life of the shortest serving U.S. President who died only one month into his presidency. Until then, no other President had died in office.

Sketches of the Civil and Military Services of William Henry Harrison (The Mid-American frontier)

Average customer rating:

Sketches of the Civil and Military Services of William Henry Harrison (The Mid-American frontier)
Charles Stewart Todd , and Benjamin Drke
Manufacturer: Arno Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Book Description

"Confessions is an important read for any person with a learning disability, or for anyone who loves that person and seeks to understand."

Customer Reviews:

The memoir of a writer with social learning disabilities.......1999-06-08

Dale Carlson captures wih ferocity the dilemmas experienced by people who have right hemisphere learning disabilities in her CONFESSIONS OF A BRAIN-IMPAIRED WRITER. She exposes the most intimate details of her life and loves...her gift with words demonstrates with stark realism how people with such social learning disabilities compensate for struggles to negotiate and manage relationships to become a wife, lover, prize-winning author. She is gifted and disabled. -- Dr. Kathleen Laundy, Psy.D., MSW, Yale School of Medicine

Amazon.com

This issue of Projections was produced in association with the great cinema journal Cahiers du Cinema in honor of its 500th issue. Projections 7 features a 100-page interview with Martin Scorsese that updates and enhances the material covered in Faber and Faber's Scorsese on Scorsese. Rather than approach his career chronologically, Scorsese talks about his love of movies, his influences, and his collaborators. He discusses Robert DeNiro, Brian DePalma, Francis Coppola, and Steven Spielberg; speaks of his passion for British, French, and Italian cinema, as well as for Irish American directors; pays homage to some early independent filmmakers; and talks about the making of Casino. As an extra treat, the Cahiers editors put in their two francs, contributing personal appreciations of the director. Nicolas Saada speaks with Thelma Schoomaker, Scorsese's longtime editor.

And that's just the beginning. Projections 7 also prints an interchange between Jamie Lee Curtis and her mother, Janet Leigh (complementing the talk with father Tony Curtis that appeared in Projections 5), and a conversation between Leigh and Lillian Burns, the drama coach who worked at MGM between 1935 and 1953. Other interviewers question Robert Mitchum, Leslie Caron, and Teresa Wright. Willem Dafoe talks with Francis McDormand, who won the Oscar in 1996 for her performance in Fargo. Appreciations of recently deceased greats such as Marcello Mastroianni, Douglas Sirk, and Frank Capra close the volume. This is another invaluable issue of the only journal devoted exclusively to filmmakers' commentary on their work.

Customer Reviews:

A nice addition to a cineaste's library.......2006-10-18

This book has 11 essays in it by names like River Phoenix, Jonathan Demme, Hal Hartley, Michael Mann and Nestor Almendros.

Out of all of the essays in the book I found Michael Mann's most interesting as he talked about all aspects of production on his film "Last of the Mohicans". He talks about adapting the book, the character of Hawkeye, his production techniques etc. A very interesting and helpful interview.

The essay where River Phoenix interviews Gus Van Sant is great. As an actor he asks a lot of questions that a journalist might not consider.

Nestor Almendros talks all about his theories of "photogenics". Why some beautiful women look good on camera while others do not, ideas for lighting and shooting for maximum aesthetic impact, etc. An informative and helpful read for cinematographers (and directors too for that matter).

John Boormans essay "A Journal for 1991" is, of course, a little out of date as he talks about the future of film. Unfortunately this essay makes up half of the content of this book. I didn't find it very useful or helpful, but film historians might be able to take away something of value.

Book Description

Based on lengthy interviews with Ellington's bandmates, family, and friends, Duke Ellington and His World offers a fresh look at this legendary composer. The first biography of the composer written by a fellow musician and African-American, the book traces Ellington's life and career in terms of the social, cultural, political, and economic realities of his times. Beginning with his birth in Washington, DC, through his first bands and work at the legendary Cotton Club, to his final great extended compositions, this book gives a thorough introduction to Ellington's music and how it was made. It also illuminates his personal life because, for Ellington, music was his life and his life was a constant inspiration for music.
When A. H. Lawrence was a young trombone player in the '40s, he met Ellington and befriended the elder musician. From that point forward, he closely followed Ellington's career. Because of his deep love for Ellington's music, he began interviewing many of the stars of Ellington's early bands, hoping to capture from them, before they passed away, their memories and insights. Drawing on these interviews with legendary musicians-including many who worked with Ellington from his earliest days, such as drummer Sonny Greer, who played with Ellington's first bands in the '20s and who continued in his bands through the early '50s-the book offers a rounded and human portrait of the great composer and musician. Ellington's son Mercer was particularly forthcoming, offering new information about his childhood and experiences working with his father. The insights into the family that he shared have not previously been published.
The result is a thorough biography that offers unique insights into Ellington: the man and his music. This fresh and balanced portrayal will undoubtedly add to our understanding of one of America's greatest artists and bring renewed attention to his distinguished body of work.

Customer Reviews:

Odd.......2006-01-05

I found this book reasonably entertaining, approaching, you might say "attacking", Duke Ellington from a psychologizing angle. Interesting. Few people ever really knew Ellington, and the ones who did didn't talk much about him, at least not in any revealing way. And the man was clearly an affable narcissist, with a tendency to be passively cruel to band members and some family members. If this personality hadn't existed, Thomas Mann would have invented him, with a little help from Freud. And of course there's nothing wrong with taking a figure so frequently deified down a couple of pegs. So the author's tack seemed, for the nonce, acceptable.
Unfortunately, I noticed quite a few oddities, in dates, attribution of composer credit, and elsewhere. I also wondered how this guy could have interviewed all these old timers, this late in the era. And I'd never heard of a trombonist of this name who played with Benny Carter, Luis Russell etc. in the Forties. And though I'm a thorough Ellington fan and personal admirer, I'm no scholar. So I had to wait till I stumbled on the "brief" by Steven Lasker, who is a scholar, to realize what a hoax this book is. Stick "depanorama stratemann lasker lawrence routledge" into the google search engine. You'll get a issue of the Duke Ellington Music Society bulletin from late 2001. Read it before you buy this book.
Routledge didn't originate the contract on this book. They bought it from some other outfit. Routledge used to be a standard issue publisher of unreadable academic jabber of the paramarxist school, parasitizing on English universities. In the last few years they've tried to break into the American popular market. Hence opportunistic stuff like this.
There's a Duke Ellington industry out there, appealing to scholars, musicologists and plain enthusiasts of good music. So there are bogus reissues on CD and preposterous books like this. The same thing happens with Mark Twain; you come to expect it. But damn Routledge for getting involved in the seamy side of it as they scramble to find a place in the dwindling high end market.

Mighty subject through a very narrow lens.......2004-05-09

Duke Ellington is such a towering subject that any book about him contains some items of interest. This is the first full length biography I've read on Ellington, although I did take a course with Mark Tucker, author of "The Ellington Reader" in college. This book is written by a psychologist and a musician of the 1940s, not a researcher, and the previous reviewers have criticized him for a lack of research. Lawrence relies heavily on Sonny Greer and Mercer Ellington as interview subjects and there may be the value in skimming through this biography. As a drummer, the story of how Greer got his magnificent drum kit that you see in all of the 30s and 40s footage of the Ellington brought me a smile. Stories like this lead me to believe that Lawrence would have been better served facilitating a memoir of Sonny Greer and some of his musical contacts [he admits that he was trying to do this until Hentoff's "Hear me Talkin' to Ya came out in his introduction] than writing a flawed biography of Ellington, a towering figure who deserves a thorough scholarly biography like the one that Lewis Porter did for John Coltrane.

The book has two other big flaws. First, the 50s and 60s are really quickly treated and he will go through a year of the band's life in a couple of pages. I personally was first drawn to Ellington's music through this musically rich period and while the creation of some of Ellington's key suites like the Far East Suite is mentioned, I would have liked a better sense of what life in the band was like at this time.

The biggest problem, here, however, is that Lawrence the psychologist intervenes at times and leaves the reader with a sour taste in his mouth. I do not need speculation on the psychological nature and "narcissistic" elements of Ellington's personality. I'd rather get detailed research as to what happened in his personal life from varied sources and allow me, the intelligent reader, to draw my own conclusions. The fact that the last paragraph of the book concludes with a statement of his "profound narcissism" and how Ellington just wanted "everybody in the palm of my hand", diminishes the ultimate musical and spiritual legacy that Ellington left behind.

Right now, I don't see a major full length biography of Ellington on the market that I can completely endorse. This book has some value as a quick, though flawed, overview of the band while introducing members like the great Sonny Greer.

2 stars.

--SD

Shame on Routledge.......2001-05-09

This abysmally inaccurate "biography" should never have been published. It is obvious that neither Routledge nor A.H. Lawrence had any reverence for the facts, despite the liberal use of plagarized passages from authoritative works. There are many books on Ellington that are well worth having. Not this one.

Travesty In Blue.......2001-05-05

A. H. Lawrence has written a book filled with errors on almost every page. Lawrence's lack of scholarship will seriously call into question the lack of Routledge's editorial integrity if not its motives - unless the publisher decides to recall the product.

If you really want to see this book, wait until it is remaindered or piled on the "free" table - that should be soon.

Hopelessly bad.......2001-05-05

This book is so filled with factual errors (wrong dates, misspellings of names, etc.) that it is impossible to take seriously. Please don't waste your money.

Duke Ellington & His World : A Biography

Average customer rating:

Duke Ellington & His World : A Biography
A. H. Lawrence
Manufacturer: Routledge & Kegan Paul
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O2STAC

Average customer rating:

Duke Ellington & His World : A Biography
A. H. Lawrence
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MY7UHA

Average customer rating:

Duke Ellington and His World
A H Lawrence
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K727ZE

Duke Ellington and His World: A Biography.

Average customer rating:

Duke Ellington and His World: A Biography.

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ICKNN4

Average customer rating:

conflict of interest

Houdini Escapes!!!

Informative - Yes. But, boring

Revisiting a Childhood Hero

the Index of all Biographies for Houdini

Houdini!!!: The Career of Ehrich Weiss : American Self-Liberator, Europe's Eclipsing Sensation, World's Handcuff King & Prison Breaker
Kenneth Silverman
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Entertainers | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Sports Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Houdini on Magic

The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero

Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear

The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini

Final Seance: The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and Conan Doyle

ASIN: 0060169788

Amazon.com

Silverman's engaging biography catalogs the life of Harry Houdini, born Ehrich Weiss, who made a career out of his capacity to amaze. Having developed conjuring skills and an ability to wriggle free of handcuffs, ropes and manacles, Houdini elaborated his tricks into theatrical set pieces that made him famous--stunts like escaping from a strait jacket while dangling head down from a skyscraper, or from a wooden packing crate submerged in water. Silverman's meticulously researched book reveals other sides to the great illusionist too. Houdini collected a library of books on magic, wrote books himself, exposed shyster psychics whose tricks he could easily match, and was a friend to Jack London, Sarah Bernhardt and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Book Description

In the most comprehensive biography written about the great illusionist yet, author Ken Silverman, who has won both a Pulitzer and a Bancroft prize, draws on never-before-used scrapbooks, personal diaries, court transcripts and hundreds of unpublished notes and letters collected from around the world to reveal a far richer, more personal view of Houdini than ever before. While Silverman focuses on the magic and miraculous escapes that made Houdini a legend and the most celebrated, highest-paid performer of his day, he also delves deeply into Houdini's fascinating personal life. He explores Houdini's many friendships with politicians and celebrities like Jack Dempsey, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Jack London, the Astors and others. He looks into his traumatic encounters with anti-Semitism; his close-knit family; his strange and troubled relationship with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; and his bitter war against spiritualism. He also uncovers new revelations about Houdini's secret affair with the widow of a famous American writer.

Customer Reviews:

conflict of interest.......2006-02-19

The author had a conflict of interest while writing this book. On the one hand, as a former magician, he didn't want to give away any trade "secrets." But as a writer he had the responsibility not to short-change the reader by omitting important details. I found the second half of the book that covered Houdini's bitter relationship with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the exposing of fraudulant mediums much more interesting than the first half where Silverman "kept the secrets." How can the reader fully appreciate Houdini's performances if the preparations that went into them are omitted? Besides, there are few magic "secrets" left to be guarded as most have already been published--see Jim Steinmeyer's "Hiding the Elephant" for a recent example. I can understand Silverman's decision to abide by "the code," but it does detract from the book's appeal, hence only three stars.

Houdini Escapes!!!.......2006-01-04

Silverman's biography on Mr Erich Weiss (Houdini), in my opinion, is the best out there on the bookshelf. It's a little long and dry
at parts, but it's packed with interesting information about a mystery man and the life he lived. It's a wonderful insight on his life and the time he lived in. Much recommended for the magic buff, historian, or inquiring mind.

Informative - Yes. But, boring.......2003-06-27

I bought this book for my father, who is a huge magic-buff, and recalls hearing about Houdini while growing up.

Of course, I knew then that my father never reads books, and my hopes that he would break that pattern and read this one were lost. So, I took it home and read it. Er, read most of it.

I enjoyed the historical aspects of the story, but I couldn't get past the fact that the manner in which the book is written was less than enthralling. I just couldn't stay interested! I wanted to, I wanted to!!

If you're interested in learning about Houdini, I'd find something smaller to being your foray - like a three-fold brochure or something.

Houdini ROCKED! This book doesn't.

Revisiting a Childhood Hero.......2001-03-19

From the time I could count my age on my fingers, Houdini fascinated me; I read everything regarding him that I could get my hands on. So I already knew a lot of what Silverman mentions in Houdini!!!

However, this book actually managed to surprise me. First of all, most of what I read from the ages of seven to fifteen were biographies written in the "Boy's Life" mode, heroic tales which read more like dime novels than actual biography. Not only does Silverman present an accurate, well-researched account of Houdini's life, he also accounts for many of the myths surrouding Houdini, even in some cases explaining how Houdini himself contributed to some of the confusion. Because the book is so even-handed, I walked away from the book still admiring my childhood hero.

Second, Silverman brings a magician's perspective to this biography. He describes at length the presentation and details of the effects that Houdini accomplished, such as the Metamorphoses, the Milk Can Escape, the Chinese Water Torture, and numerous jail and handcuff escapes. However, he does not "give away the store" by spilling the secrets to the man's life. Sure, some of Houdini's secrets are now known, others not, but Silverman refrains from writing a kiss-and-tell book, and I had to admire that.

Lastly, Silverman went a lot further than I've ever seen in describing both the man and his times. While I've known for years that Houdini lived in a very exciting time, Silverman portrays him as truly a man for his age. From Houdini's interactions with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Theodore Roosevelt, H.P. Lovecraft, Sarah Bernhardt, and Hollwood's silent film stars, to his involvement with aviation, spiritualism, movie making, and more, Silverman makes a case that Houdini brought together much of what first made the modern age modern.

Houdini!!! did not perpetuate the same tall tales that all the movies and Houdini himself put forwrd. Instead, this biography exposed Houdini for what he was--a physically accomplished, master showman, sometimes ego-driven, yet principled man who always struggled to accomplish more.

Given the wide array of misinformation that exists about Harry Houdini, this book outshines the rest. Quite enjoyable.

the Index of all Biographies for Houdini.......2000-08-25

Informational source containing very detailed events in Houdini's career from birth to death. Is very accurate and well written. This award-winning biography was written with the help of the experts at the Houdini Museum at Scranton, PA. A very reliable source with many unique photos and illustrations. To learn more about Houdini, go to ... .

Book Description

According to Slywotzky, value migration is the flow of economic and shareholder value away from an increasingly outmoded business design toward others that are better equipped to create utility for customers and profit for the company. This book describes the skills that managers will need to identify value shifts in their own industries and to craft the key moves that will determine their ability to achieve and sustain value growth.

Customer Reviews:

Insightful and influential.......2004-06-29

I discovered this book during a business trip to Phoenix in 1996, and it still occupies a space on my special shelf of books that have deeply influenced me.

As the most basic level the concept of value migration is business design, and the ability of that design to evolve in a dynamic market. The simple map of where your business, which is a function of design, is summed up in three states: value inflow, stability or outflow.

At a more complex level, this book provides seven patterns that serve as markers to show how value can migrate from one business (or industry) to another. The final part of this book shows how the concepts and patterns can be applied in your own business.

The foregoing may erroneously give the impression that this book is heavy on concept and lite on practicality. It's not. The material is meticulously presented, reinforced by recognizable examples drawn from industries, and prescriptive measures are laid out with realism and pragmatism. The concepts are what have influenced me. After reading this book I've looked at certain industry trends differently, and after eight years my observations bear out the premise of this book. This is highly actionable information that is invaluable to any company that wants to prevent the outflow of value, while capitalizing on stability and finding ways to create inflow. A more recent book that meshes nicely with this one is "The Ultimate Competitive Advantage: Secrets of Continually Developing a More Profitable Business Model" ISBN 1576751678. In fact, that book extends this book in many ways, especially with respect to business design, and further proves the concepts Slywotzky set forth in this book in 1996.

High level view.......2003-07-07

This book presents a very high level strategic view of business. Slywotzky emphasizes the value of a good business design vs reliance on technology for growth.For example, there is the simplified view of why IBM became a slogging giant in the early 90s. Lou Gerstner would certainly like to add to it

However there is good set of tools to understand your business better. I find his radar screen tool particularly useful to visualize business competitors and analyze the direction of value migration.

All said, this book is worth reading..just don't expect ttoo much.

A whole new way of thinking for me.......2001-08-16

I normally do not read business books of this book's scope; however, it was recommended by my co-author for an article on which we were collaborating. Our challenge was to support the assertion that the U.S. software industry is being supplanted by India, and a shift in off-shore development resources from the U.S. consumer to Indian provider is actually moving to Indian consumer to Russian and Egyptian providers. This is obviously value migration in its truest form and is consistent with the ideas set forth by Mr. Slywotzky in this book.

Using the inflow-stability-outflow model that is one of the basic paradigms in this book, we developed a model upon which we were able to build a case supporting our assertion. More interestingly, the whole concept and numerous case studies that reinforce it throughout the book provided me with a deeper understanding of the macro and micro issues of value migration - this was eye-opening.

My favorite chapter is at the very end of the book. Titled, "Five Moves ... or Fewer," it showed how major companies captured or recaptured the biggest share of value available, and each of the examples involved five or less moves. I was personally fascinated.

Although my initial reason for reading this book was to research an article, it has changed my way of thinking on a number of levels that go well beyond a single-topic research project. The writing style is clear and engaging, and the concepts and ideas ring true. I am giving this remarkable book 5 stars and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to see a bigger picture of economics or develop a keen business strategy.

Mastering an "Acquired Skill".......2001-06-05

According to Slywotsky, there are three phases of what he calls "value migration": In "inflow," the initial phase, a company starts to absorb value from other parts of its industry because its business design proves superior in satisfying customers' priorities; the second phase, "stability," is characterized by business designs that are well matched to customer priorities and by overall competitive equilibrium; in "outflow," the third phase, value starts to move away from an organization's traditional activities toward business designs that more effectively meet evolving customer priorities. Slywotsky explains that Part I of this book describes the basic rules of Value Migration" and the workings of what he refers to as "the new game of business." As when playing chess, winning at this game requires an understanding of the individual pieces (i.e. when to deploy them and how to capture them). One must master basic moves and simple techniques such as openings, traps to avoid, end-game moves, etc. It is also important to understand the the importance of controlling (as in chess) "the four central ones." In business as in chess, one must become familiar with certain "basic patterns" which will ultimately determine success or failure. These "patterns" are examined in Part II. There are seven: Multidirectional Migration (from steel to materials), Migration to a Non-Profit Industry (airlines), Blockbuster Migration (pharmaceuticals), Multicategory Migration (coffee), From Integration to Specialization (computing), From Conventional Selling to Low-Cost Distribution, ands finally, From Conventional Selling to High-End Solutions. Slywotsky shifts his attention in Part III to explaining how to play the Value Migration "game" well on a day-to-day basis. He identifies certain specific initiatives to take which help to (a) avoid value loss and (b) preempt the next cycle of value growth. "The final chapter of the book focuses on the increasingly high-stakes nature of the decisions that determine future value growth."

There are more than a dozen charts which effectively illustrate Slywotsky's key points. For example, Figure 15-1 presents "The Grand Masters of Value Growth" and identifies them, their key moves, and the value each created (in terms of billions of dollars) from 1980 until 1994. All of these visionary leaders (Welch, Walton, Vagelos, Gates, Petersen, Grove, Malone, Platt, Noorda, Iverson, and Kelleher) focused on making the right moves and thereby created enormous value for their respective companies. "Business chess is a game that is as demanding as [football and basketball], but in very different ways. It is not physical stamina, but stamina of thought. It is not transactional concentration, but constant shuttling between a focus on the current move and imagining the next several moves out. It is an unrelenting exercise of matching patterns on the current game board to the countless patterns in your mind." Slywotsky concludes the final chapter with a suggestion that this question be asked: What five moves will capture most of the given industry's value growth? "Give yourself a couple of months to analyze and assimilate the grand masters' key moves. Then come back and determine the five (or fewer) critical moves for your company." In this exceptionally thought-provoking book, Slywotsky indicates why he would be an indispensable guide throughout that difficult but necessary process.

Incisive and Penetrating!.......2000-08-15

This book is an invaluable study on those business designs that are based on the Value Chain model. Its premise: Changing customer priorities are responsible for the displacements of old business models which in turn catalyzes the need for the creation of new business designs. This book describes the process that triggers the migration of values from a non profitable design to a more profitable one with the help of seven patterns (multidirectional migration, migration to a non-profit industry, blockbuster migation, multicategory migration, from integration to specialization, from conventional selling to low-cost distribution, and from conventional selling to high-end solutions). Useful Case studies are given to illustrate the problems. Overall, this is a very informative book although this book is not as clear and direct as the author's book 'Profit Patterns.' However, it does serve to provide a better understanding on the value chain/migration thesis a lot better than the 'Profit Patterns'.

Value Migration: How to Think Several Moves Ahead of the Competition

Average customer rating:

Value Migration: How to Think Several Moves Ahead of the Competition
Adrian J. Slywotzky
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NSKBIU

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books