Book Description
The Empress Dowager Cixi (1835 - 1908) brought destruction to the Qing Dynasty, the last feudal dynasty in the long history of China. Written with remarkable charm and verve, this book is a delightful exploration of the history of her extraordinary life and long reign, relating both historical facts and apochryphal anecdotes about her private affairs. How did she climb from the bottom rung of the ladder as an ordinary ambitious girl to the top rung of power as an empress dowager? How did she grow from an inexperienced girl to a mature politician who managed to maintain her sovereign status for 48 years?
Download Description
The Empress Dowager Cixi (1835 - 1908) brought destruction to the Qing Dynasty, the last feudal dynasty in the long history of China. Written with charm, this book is a delightful exploration of the history of her extraordinary life and long reign, relating both historical facts and apochryphal anecdotes about her private affairs. How did she climb from the bottom rung of the ladder as an ambitious girl to the top rung of power as an empress dowager?
Customer Reviews:
Same old, same old.......2004-04-27
Cixi had to have been a fascinating woman, to rule China for almost 50 years, but all you get with Woo's book is the same old legends of a beautiful, merciless sexual & political predator. This may be intriguing stuff, but it ISN'T TRUE. Most of these stories of murder, incest, etc., come from an old Victorian hack named Backhouse -- who was also a pornographer -- and wrote sensational stuff that would sell. Woo's book recycles most of it, although I have to say that Woo's style (very English-version-of-a-Chinese-fairy-tale) is a lot better than Backhouse's. Go ahead and read it, but do it for entertainment. Don't think you're getting any history out of it at all.
Fascinating anecdotes, but how many are true?.......2002-12-20
This is probably the most detailed account in English of the court of Tz'u-hsi. You get character sketches of the prominent figures that reaveal far more of their motivations and personality than any normal history of the period. Most of the book is based on solid factual information from diaries and Chinese histories. It's a pity that this is mingled with legendary anecdotes and no attempt is made to ..... their veracity. Professor Woo could have supplied some endnotes to help with this. Still, it's an entertaining read and very helpful for understanding the late Ch'ing.
Average customer rating:
- Review of Boxer's heart
- An excellent read.
- Great Book!
- This Reader's Heart
- Extraordinary intertwining of many themes
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The Boxer's Heart: How I Fell in Love with the Ring
Kate Sekules
Manufacturer: Villard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0375503951
Release Date: 2000-09-19 |
Book Description
"I fought to shake things up, to play with the world. If I--sometime bookworm, singer in a band, Londoner, magazine editor, fiction writer, hotel and restaurant critic, softball addict, Caucasian of mixed heritage, pony-mad child, expatriate--could become a convincing pugilist, then anything under the sun is possible."
So says Kate Sekules, the author of this brilliantly candid memoir and first-ever guide to the world of women's boxing. The story of how an averagely talented athlete converted her visceral dislike of violence into a short but eventful career as a professional boxer makes irresistible reading for both fans and foes of what used to be "The Manly Art."
After growing up in London during the seventies and eighties, Sekules hit New York in 1992 and quickly happened upon something she hadn't realized she was seeking. In the mirror-lined gyms of SoHo and later at Gleason's Gym--the famous training ground of world champion boxers--she found herself in the right place at the right time to participate in the birth of a movement and an astonishing new direction for women. Sekules explains the mysteries of this most mythologized of sports and introduces the reader to trainers and fighters both famous and obscure, both male and female. With razor-sharp insight, she dissects her conflicting feelings on approaching the prize-fighting ring, drawing the reader in every step of the way.
Sekules's account unfolds with the pace and depth of a great novel, crammed with larger-than-life characters and piercing observations about matters that concern us all: the nature of masculinity and femininity; love and conflict in the ring and in relationships; trust, fear, pain, and the uses of aggression. Along the way, the author casts new light on the confused state of gender roles today, deals a death blow to issues of weight that have plagued women for decades, recounts the secret history of women in the ring, and delivers a primer on how to box--all in a fresh, conspiratorial, and highly entertaining voice.
Any woman who has grappled with anger and trust, been nagged by insecurity at the gym, or wondered what it feels like to throw a punch will identify with this witty and honest author's experience. Any man who has imagined stepping into the ring, or been baffled by the mysteries of the female, will want to add this one-of-a-kind to his shelf of sports books. It is a remarkable literary debut--with a very big heart.
Customer Reviews:
Review of Boxer's heart.......2001-04-24
I read this book with interest...Her book certainly explores the way in which women may find an outlet for their physical and emotional problems through the activity of boxing, although it need not be associated with significant pain or violence. I recommend her book...for individuals interested in reading about the way that women can gain satisfaction in their own lives through the the sport of boxing....
An excellent read........2001-02-04
My wife recently brought this book home from the library with great excitement, after telling me that she had met and become friends with the author a number of years earlier at a writers' workshop in Vermont. I picked up the book out of curiosity, mostly about boxing (of which I know very little).
For me, this book immediately worked on the most important level - as a vivid, inside account of what it is like to become a boxer, to train at a famous fight gymnasium, and ultimately to enter the ring as a professional. The book is also a lot more: an intelligent meditation on the history and technique of the "sweet science," a reflection on feminism, gender politics, and the vicissitudes of body image, and a narrative arc describing one woman's journey in synthesizing meaning from her personal experience. The juxtaposition of these elements is an ambitious undertaking, and the success of the author in so doing derives as much from her gifted prose style as from her observations and insights regarding the world of pugilism.
Anyone interested in boxing, sports, and/or feminism will find this book compelling, as will anyone who enjoys a good story. I am looking forward to reading Sekules's next book - on whatever topic about which she next decides to write.
Great Book!.......2000-10-09
I loved this book! I loved it so much I'm not sure where to begin this review! It is certainly well written, entertaining and witty. She also makes many observations about female fighting, and being a woman in this world in general. I am a brown belt in karate, and I really identified with some of her experiences. I found her to be a very honest and emotionally courageous writer. It's a great glimpse into the world of women's boxing but beyond that it's an entertaining and thoughtful memoir.
This Reader's Heart.......2000-10-08
Those of us who thought we knew fighting from the inside out better re-examine our armchairs. Here's a surprising book about boxing - and a book that is full of surprises. I don't particularly like boxing, but reading The Boxer's Heart half changed my mind. The author has as much to say about boxing (and the fight game), as she does about men and women and the way our culture pushes us to see ourselves. It's a compelling read on many levels. One, it's a damned good story about what led one very interesting woman into the ring. Two it's superbly written; she knows language and how to work it like a jab or uppercut - and watch out for the unexpected knockout punch. She can write AND box. On another level this is an involving, compassionate, detailed and painstaking piece of personal reportage about the fight game at a time when the game is beginning to make way for female pugilists (and not so fast either). It's also a thought-provoking critique of conventional male/female role models via the surprising agency (at least to this reader) of this most violent, supposedly most masculine of sports. and is it a sport, or merely sanctioned brutality, a legitimate way to vent murderous rage? the author raises lots of questions inside her compelling may-I-dare-to-suggest distinctly female yet unisex narrative. The book plunges the reader into a ring of rich and challenging insights and keeps you on the ropes till the closing bell. The writing is tough and compassionate, feeling and probing, literary yet down to earth and always bobbing and weaving a spell. The Boxer's Heart is one of the best fight books I've ever read - your adrenaline is in for a ride. Author Kate Sekules performs open heart surgery on boxing in a way no man could - yet she doesn't pull any of her punches. You're going down on the canvas, if you deserve to! She boxes - sometimes shadow boxes - with elusive truths of a deeply personal nature - as do we all - in a way that transcends both ring AND gender divide. This is a classic about the fight game told with passion and wit, destined to appeal, I think, to males and females on the basis of something other than their gender. In other words, to anyone with an interest in themselves and others and life. And I come back to the writing, it sings. Bringing Gleasons and other boxing icons to life like no other fight book or flick i've read or seen. Well worth the ticket price.
Extraordinary intertwining of many themes.......2000-09-27
After reading great reviews about this book, I got a copy even though boxing--let alone women's boxing!--isn't my thing. But then, this book isn't about boxing: it's about life, love, mastering fear and pain, themes that this amazing writer ties together by means of boxing & conflict as a metaphor for life. (Still, there are many fascinating details about real, 'non-metaphorical' boxing too--the first chapter, about the author's preparations for her first professional bout, is so suspenseful and well-told that I couldn't put the book down until I'd gotten to the end when Ms. Sekules tells us the outcome, after detouring through other fascinating territory about her life, the history of women in boxing, and many other issues.) Ms. Sekules does a dazzling job here of intertwining the gripping descriptions of her life in boxing with those issues that that 'the ring' is meant (I think) to represent here: the difficulties of loving (loving oneself not least of all), of coming to terms with one's fears about life and self-worth, of realizing one's limitations--and, in the end, also one's strengths. It's a moving journey.
Also, the author's narrative voice is unlike any I've ever come across: strong, clear, very idiosyncratic, and, in the end, totally winning. It reminded me of the first time I read "Catcher in the Rye"--it's that personal and quirky and astute. I hope there are many more Sekules books in the pipeline. This is clearly a major new author.
Customer Reviews:
Avante-gardism vs Exploitation - Is there a difference?.......2000-10-03
Cutting Edge investigates the differences/relationships between avant-garde cinema and exploitation (what she terms as `paracinema') - how viewers of both types tend to divorce themselves from mainstream cinema. The difference between the two types of cinema is that though both tend to use shocking material to explore certain themes whilst attempting to jolt the viewer out of complacency, `paracinema' maintains a more ironical distance. The films used to illustrate this hypothesis are interesting choices. George Franju's LES YEUX SANS VISAGE/ EYES WITHOUT A FACE is used in a lengthy chapter as an example of a horror film that has transcended its origins to become a respected art house film. An equal amount of space is given to Jess Franco's GRITOS EN LA NOCHE and FACELESS, both as examples of the how Franco approaches the material in a different way. Other examples explored in depth are ANDY WARHOL'S FRANKENSTEIN, an exploitation film whose genesis was in the avant-garde scene, and Tod Browning's FREAKS, a horror which has once again been appropriated by the avant-garde. But most fascinating for me however was a detailed description of Yoko Ono's RAPE. It was meant to be an allegory of the media's "rape" of Lennon, McCartney and the rest of the Beatles and their wives/families, though it raises some interesting points about the nature of spectator/victim in the role of cinema, a la PEEPING TOM. Is this "art" or "exploitation". Undeniably it's the latter, BUT the film was never released commerically into cinemas, just a few specialist screenings for an "art" market. The author contrasts this film with SNUFF, a fake film which masquerades itself as reality.
Well worth a read, this book. Very thought-provoking stuff indeed.
Average customer rating:
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He Started the Whole World Singing
Bill & Glori Cdchmg 425750 Gaither
Manufacturer: CHORDANT MUSIC GROUP
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
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ASIN: 6308796999 |
Customer Reviews:
A CHRISTMAS BOOK.......2005-06-21
I WILL WANT TO KNOW HOW I CAN GET ONE OF THE GAITHER BOOK.
Average customer rating:
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The Whole World Singing
Manufacturer: Friendship Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000BO7XYG |
Product Description
Songs of Praise and Work and Joy from many Lands.
Product Description
Naval and Airplane Double Deck Set. Each 55-card deck is a facsimile edition of artwork that was used in identifying silhouette views of military craft. Airplane Spotter was originally issued during World War II, and features three views of Allied and Axis aircraft. Naval Spotter (1940's-1960's) was first issued by the Department of the Navy's Training Center and features side views of U.S. and foreign battleships on each card. Suitable for most card games. Cards measure 2 1/2 x 3 1/2.
Book Description
This classic book offers a broad sweep of economic history from prehistoric times to the present and explores the disparity of wealth among nations. Now in its fourth edition, A Concise Economic History of the World has been updated to reflect the stunning changes in the world economy since 1989. Truly a definitive history of globalization, the new edition has been expanded to include coverage of the most recent developments in the European Union, East Asia, and, in general, transition economies. Comprehensive and global in scope, this concise text features ample illustrations and a fully updated annotated bibliography that guides readers to the relevant scholarly literature. Now available in eleven languages, including Spanish (second edition), French, German (two volumes), Polish, and Chinese, this unique work remains an invaluable, lively, and accessible text for both undergraduate and graduate students of European economic history, the history of globalization, and world development.
Customer Reviews:
Simple history lacking theory.......2007-09-06
This book is too elementary, in terms of economic history, for even an intro level book on the subject. For a better introduction see Braudel's "Wheels of Commerce". In addition, it lacks any discussion of theory(ies) or presentations thereof as to what drives growth and why it has occured in some areas and not others. After all, is this not the purpose of studying history?
Adequate but roundly lacking work.......2007-04-24
If one looks to today's world he overarching political and economic structure is that of westernized globalization. It seems that most political movements are either for globalization who to varying degrees either against or promoting the slowing of its effects. How does this relate to the world we have seen previously in the world?
Cameron and Neal hope to give a complete history of the trends and stages of the world economy from the first humans to today's world (circa 2001) and cram it into fewer than 500 pages. In this fourth edition of their 1989 original, they have produced an adequate work. They take surprising stands on certain issues, like the Industrial Revolution while not accounting for some recent scholarship on effects of neo-liberal globalization.
Their thesis of the logistic (the S shaped growth curve of biology) to help explain periods of European growth may help to enlighten some trends in world economic history. The first logistic happens in the early fourteenth century; while the second takes place in the seventeenth century. After the logistic the "life for ordinary men and women were becoming increasingly difficult in the decelerating phases" (p. 17). Cameron and Neal place the third logistic in the first part of the nineteenth century.
As the nineteenth century is considered the beginning of "modern industry," the effects of the "industrial revolution" have become a major determinant of modern growth. Yet, Cameron and Neal call this a misnomer. The growth of population and agricultural efficiency in the period can help to explain the third logistic. Therefore for Cameron and Neal the Industrial Revolution was no revolution. One can look to Marx' description of what we think of as revolution: it is only the big bang at the end of real social revolution. Is it not possible that the industrial revolution was a revolution; just due to a dearth of ready capital there was no big bang but a steady growth of investment into the world of iron and coal?
The spend time discussing the revolutions of 1989 as the prelude to the more modern era of both economics and politics. The year 2001 is declared a watershed, as we will view the successes and failures of globalization. Here they follow neo-liberal party line. Let's quote Adam Smith about growth but ignore his portions of the Wealth of Nations regarding equality.
At no point in the work do I recall the terms "equality," "inequality," "Gini coefficient," or "Lorenz Curve;" and, none of these terms appear in the index. (Stolper-Samuelson and Hecksher-Ohlin are equally shirked). The fact is they turn blinders to the growing inequality found at stages of globalization of the economy, neither mentioning the scholarship nor even attempting to excuse the matter.
While the actual trends of inequality in today's globalization may not have been readily available in 2001, there were those who had not drank the neo-liberal Kool Aid and were already challenging some of the assumptions. Jefferey Williamson's 1997 paper "Globalization and Inequality, Past and Present" shows that while there was overall growth in the world economy's first major globalization from 1890-1914, the fruits were seldom shared by the working class. This is the dirty little secret of globalization, which is invariably ignored by Cameron and Neal. Perhaps they can use the excuse they only had 500 pages to tell the history of the economic world.
I am going to give this book two stars. I see no reason to read it if it were not assigned for a class. Yet, if it assigned it will be one of the easier economic textbooks to read which you'll ever be assigned.
Excellent Work.......2005-04-27
This is one of the best works by Neal. While yes it is heavy on Europe, the explanations of Egypt and China are exceptional.
A sure buy is you want to study the topic better.
Not Bad.......2002-01-07
The title of this book should read "An Economic History of Europe," because 90% of the material focuses on the economic development of Europe. This is understandable considering that the industrial revolution first occured in Europe, and pulsated outwards. However, the amount of time given towards explaining the economies of the middle east, Asia, Oceania, Australasia, Africa, Latin America, and even the USA are so minute that the title is decieving and for all intensive purposes incorrect.
Nevertheless, the book is quite interesting, as it progresses from the dawn of human civilization with very concise and brief summaries well in to the twentieth century becoming more desciptive and detailed. If you are interested in how the world economy arrived to its current level, then I would suggest that this book is a good read and worth your while. Since this edition was published in 1997, it is excusable for the author to omit the economic consequences of the Euro, the rise of China and the rest of Asia, and the economic implications of Septemer 11. The author also refuses to offer his speculative view on the future of the world economies, thereby leaving the reader to do his or her on guess work. Although the introduction of the book, on the current inequality of world economies, is quite interesting, it is not elaborated upon towards the end of the book, and causes a lack of continuity. If you wish to understand better the world economy, you would be better off reading the encyclopedia, Lonely Planet travel guides, or perhaps even better, (what I have done) which is to travel and see these countries for yourself with your own eyes.
The total economic history of the world in laymans words.......1999-01-25
Rondo Cameron certainly explains the hold economic history of the world. Rondo takes you from the ages before Christ to the twenthieth century. Why did the Roman Empire went down?, Why Spain was not able to achieve higher levels of economical well-being despite their big colonies overseas?: Questions like these are answered in Rondo's excellent book. If a man wants to forsee the future, he has to go back and learn where he comes from. Economics and History were successfully married in the book, so historians, economists and financiers will find it helpfull.
Books:
- Fergie: Her Secret Life
- Heart of a Queen: Queen Victoria's Romantic Attachments
- Henry V: The Rebirth of Chivalry (English Monarchs. Treasures from the National Archives) (English Monarchs: Treasures from the National Archives)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- How Christians Made Peace With War: Early Christian Understandings of War (Peace and Justice)
- Ibn Saud: Founder of a Kingdom
- Isabella of Castile: The First Renaissance Queen
- James II: The Triumph and the Tragedy (English Monarchs. Treasures from the National Archives) (English Monarchs. Treasures from the National Archives)
- John Brown: Queen Victoria's Highland Servant
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