Perdita: The Literary, Theatrical, Scandalous Life of Mary Robinson

Book Description

This compelling and richly researched book presents a fascinating portrait of Mary Robinson–darling of the London stage, mistress to the most powerful men in England, feminist thinker, and bestselling author. Though one of the most flamboyant free spirits of the late eighteenth century, Mary led a life that was marked by reversals of fortune. After being abandoned by her father, Mary was married, at age fifteen, to Thomas Robinson, whose dissipation landed the couple and their baby in debtors’ prison. On her release, Mary rose to become one of the London theater’s most alluring actresses, famously playing Perdita in The Winter’s Tale for a rapt audience that included the Prince of Wales, who fell madly in love with her. Never one to pass up an opportunity, she later used his ardent love letters for blackmail. After being struck down by paralysis, apparently following a miscarriage, she remade herself yet again, this time as a popular writer who was also admired by the leading intellectuals of the day.
Filled with triumph and despair and grand accomplishments, the amazing life of “Perdita” is marvelously captured in this stunning biography.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating transformation.......2007-10-04

The late 18th Century is a fascinating period of contradiction. The circumspect lives of George III and his wife are at odds at the so-called crème de la crème of society, including the Prince of Wales. Mary Robinson's life story reveals the opulent lifestyles, decadence, and life of privilege of England's aristocracy and nobles. A great commentary on this period.

A Woman Of Her Time..........2005-11-11

For the eighteenth century, I suppose you could call her a great 'beauty' as she was privileged to be painted by the famous Gainsborough and other artists of that time. She was a social climber who had her own opera box complete with mirrors. As the actress portraying 'Perdita' in Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" she captured the fancy of George,the Prince of Wales, and became his mistress at the risk to her reputation and career. Had it happened in today's society, she could have married him and become royalty.

Born in a former monastery in Bristol, England, on November 17, 1757, she was a notorious figure of society, theatre, and literary circles. She derived from Irish roots, she was the perfect 'Juliet.' After her betrayal (in which she produced letters to negotiate a future), she became ill with rheumatic fever and turned to writing Gothic novels. Living in the old ruins of a catheral as a lonely, introverted, sad child, she had a vivid imagination and used it in her books.

She was a product of her time and used whatever wiles she had as a female to further her activities, whether in theatre, politics, royalty, celebrity writers or just her own poetry and fiction. She wrote a memoir of her sordid beginnings and sham of a marriage, which had allowed her to live a fashionable life in London for a short time, then to fall to the bottom of the ladder in debtors' prison. Her early years were one of abandonment and marriage one of infedilities. She had good teachers along the way.

This was well researched and much effort put forth to show the truth, no matter how bad. Her triumphs were greater than her failures.

A must for lovers of Regency history and this period.......2005-07-24

For those who enjoy the Regency period and life of George IV, this is one of the most perfect books to introduce you into the life of the period. It was a brief, intense and fascinating life which pushed the established mores to their limits.

The Prince of Wales (lat to be George IV) became enamoured of Mary Robinson in her portrayal of Peridita in Shakespeare's, A Winter's Tale. She was a young actress, escaped from a bad marriage and strange father. She took to the stage for some income (as many women of the period did instead of taking up prostitution as such)

The Prince of Wales became known as Florizel to Robinson's Perdita and she was his first 'major' mistress. Their lives intertwined for a brief period in his early adulthood - the beginning of what is known as the 'extended regency'. Robinson was then mistress to many of the influential peers of the time, and was even friends with Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire;

At a time when Georgian morals were of questionable value (everything in private, nothing in public)- when profligacy, spending, appearance and general splendour were the order of the day - Mary Robinson orbited on at the perimetre of acceptability. An actress, an abadoned wife, a mistress, and more.

I found this book overlong, but worth the effort to read. It is one of a series of books about women on the edge of society in this period, and has been great to build up a picture of life and living in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The author has gone to enormous efforts to track down information on Robinson, and it has paid off. There seems to be a good depth of research to back up the work. Overall a good read and well worth making the effort

An excellent biography of an outstanding woman. BUY IT !.......2005-04-20

I'll confess I would never have looked at this book if it hadn't been for the fact that I decided to read the 10 nominations for Richard and Judy's Best Read 2005.This book has been the biggest surprise of the lot,because, to be honest, I was not really looking forward to it.
How wrong could I be ? This is a dazzling story of a fascinating woman. I am afraid to say the other biography in the Richard and Judy list,"Feel" by Chris Heath, which is all about pop singer Robbie Williams, comes off a very poor second when compared to this volume. Sadly of course there's no doubt which book will sell more.I wish all Robbie Williams fans, or indeed the fans of any of the over-hyped celebrities of today, would read this book and find out that maybe their hero's or heroine's exploits are not so special after all when compared to what the subject of this biography got up to.
Mary Robinson, whose nickname was Perdita, was married at 15 and her marriage was something of a disaster and included spending some time in prison with her husband. She then made herself into one of London's most celebrated actresses and was a friend of the outstanding theatrical figures of the day.She became a leading figure in the glamorous high society of the city, reputedly being the most beautiful woman in Britain.She voluntarily gave up her theatrical career to become the mistress of the Prince of Wales, thus heightening her celebrity even further. Reading about this time of her life it appears that she was just as famous or infamous as any contemporary celebrity.Maybe more so.There are many obvious similarities.
In the second half of the book the plot changes almost completely as Mary, after being ditched by her royal lover, re-invents herself as a writer. She is so successful in this enterprise that she becomes one of the leading lady literary figures of the era. She is primarily a poetess, but also writes plays, novels and political tracts and she becomes friendly with both leading political and cultural figures.
It is an absolutely fascinating tale, made more moving perhaps by the fact that she was not lucky in love, suffered a debilitating illness for many years and finally died young at the age of 43.
All this is retold in an easy and entertaining way by Paula Byrne and I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone.

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The Mistresses of King George IV
M. J. Levy
Manufacturer: Peter Owen Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0720609569

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An 18th-century courtesan speaks for herself

Perdita: The Memoirs of Mary Robinson

Manufacturer: Peter Owen Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Customer Reviews:

An 18th-century courtesan speaks for herself.......2004-01-21

In writing her memoirs, Perdita plays the wounded and put-upon heroine with the expertise of the actress that she was. She irritated me at times, but she never bored me. What a wonderful story her life was. Her memoirs are also a terrific glimpse at late 18th-century high life. Also, a fascinating introduction explains a lot about the woman.

Book Description

George Brett: A Royal Hero is the most complete volume ever compiled about the 1999 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee. His legendary career is reviewed in precise detail through articles that appeared in The Kansas City Star from the early 1970s through 1999. No one followed George Brett with greater interest nor wrote of his exploits with greater insight than the sportswriters of the Royals' hometown daily newspaper.

Customer Reviews:

NICE COLLECTION OF TIDBITS ABOUT GEORGE BRETT.......2005-08-21

THIS IS A VERY NICE COLLECTION OF HIGHLIGHTS AND LOWLIGHTS CONCERNING THE CAREER OF SUPERSTAR GEORGE BRETT. IT HAS A NICE AMOUNT OF SHORT STORIES AND FACTS FOLLOWING HIS AMAZING CAREER FROM HIS FIRST YEAR IN THE MINORS TO HIS INDUCTION TO COOPERSTOWN. IT IS KINDA SHORT NOT HIGH ON DETAIL BUT HIGH ON CONTENT AND FACTS CONCERNING MR BRETT. I LIKED IT AND RECOMMEND IT FOR ALL BASEBALL FANS WHO MIGHT LIKE TO READ ABOUT THE PINE TAR INCIDENT, ALMOST HITTING FOR A 400 BATTING AVG, AND MANY OTHER FACTS IN HIS GREAT CAREER. WELL WORTH READING.

Amazon.com

Nobody writes openings like Elmore Leonard. Case in point: "When Chili first came to Miami Beach twelve years ago they were having one of their off-and-on cold winters: thirty-four degrees the day he met Tommy Carlo for lunch at Vesuvio's on South Collins and had his leather jacket ripped off." You need to know about this because you need to know why there's bad blood between Chili Palmer and Ray Bones, the guy who stole his coat and is now his boss--and has ordered him to collect $4,200 from a dead guy. Except the guy didn't die; he went to Las Vegas with $300,000. So Chili goes to Las Vegas, one thing leads to another, and pretty soon he's in Los Angeles, hanging out with a movie producer named Harry Zimm and learning what it takes to be a player in Hollywood.

Get Shorty is classic Elmore Leonard: While other people write "crime fiction," Leonard's come up with a masterful social comedy that happens to be about criminals (and other fast operators). He's a master of snappy dialogue and dizzying plot twists. The best parts of Get Shorty move along so briskly you almost forget there's somebody with a firm control over the story. And you'll be rooting for Chili to get the money, the girl, and the studio deal. --Ron Hogan

Book Description

Mob-connected loanshark Chili Palmer is sick of the Miami grind—plus his "friends" have a bad habit of dying there. So when he chases a deadbeat client out to Hollywood, Chili figures he might like to stay. This town with its dreammakers, glitter, hucksters, and liars—plus gorgeous, partially clad would -be starlets everywhere you look—seems ideal for an enterprising criminal with a taste for the cinematic. Besides, Chili's got an idea for a killer movie—thought it could very possibly kill him to get it made.

Download Description

E-book extras: "Martin Amis Interviews 'The Dickens of Detroit'"; Elmore Leonard's "If It Sounds Like Writing, Rewrite It"; "All By Elmore: The Crime Novels & The Westerns"; Selected Filmography Mob-connected loanshark Chili Palmer has an idea for a killer movie - thought it could very possibly kill him to get it made. Mob-connected loanshark Chili Palmer is sick of the Miami grind - plus his "friends" have a bad habit of dying there. So when he chases a deadbeat client out to Hollywood, Chili figures he might like to stay. This town with its dreammakers, glitter, hucksters, and liars - plus gorgeous, partially clad would-be starlets everywhere you look - seems ideal for an enterprising criminal with a taste for the cinematic. Besides, Chili's got an idea for a killer movie - thought it could very possibly kill him to get it made.

Customer Reviews:

Can't review what I never received.......2007-09-10

I never received the book from "bordeebook". I'm sure I'll eventually receive credit for the purchase, but I doubt that I'll receive credit for the postage and handling. I am not at all impressed by this vendor.

good book.......2006-06-30

An excellent read. If you enjoy the movie, then pick up the book.

Another terrific Leonard, complement to the movie.......2005-05-16

I loved the movie Get Shorty, as well as the other Leonard books that have been turned into movies (Rum Punch, Out of Sight), so I had to try out this book. It's a great read and much of the snappy dialoge from the movie is taken right from the book's narrative. The dialoge works great both on screen and in the novel.

I appreciated the subtle differences in the plot line between the movie and the book, and the differences were enough to keep me interested in the book despite knowing much of the movie by heart. Leonard is a master at writing dialoge. He uses grammar that precisely captures the way people speak, and each character has a unique way of talking that is personally identifiable.

The character descriptions were so similar to the movie that I had to wonder if Leonard wrote the novel with certain actors in mind!

I recommend this as a companion to the movie. They can be enjoyed together as the same story via two different mediums, each with its own richness.

Actors die to live one day as an Elmore Leonard character.......2005-03-17

It's no wonder so many of Elmore Leonard's books make it to the big screen and Get Shorty is no exception. It's a great read that makes you sad that it has to end, like a best friend who just couldn't stay. But it's not just his insightfully funny, yet touchingly tragic stories that draw readers in so earnestly. It's his ability to reach down inside himself and draw upon the everyman we all hope to be in our next lives. And it's not by accident that Elmore's protagonist, Chili Palmer, is of the mold that every lead actor wants the public to perceive them to be. Every actor knows playing characters like Chili can and does make an actor millions. But Elmore doesn't stop there. His villains, like Ray Bones, are drawn from muck and grime often scraped out of the gutter and splattered on the face of their unwitting victims, and yet any character actor from around the world would give his left nut to call their name his own. A true homage to one of America's greatest character writers, and my home town hero, Elmore Leonard. So, if you like great people, in cool stories where the good guy isn't always an angel, then Get Shorty will grab you by the short hairs and take you there. Just remember that all great books must come to a great end.

Karl J. Niemiec - author of Mammoth Towers Mysteries (Apartment 101)

A great novel!!!!!.......2005-02-25

I saw the movie before I read the book. I was intrigued by the movie to read the book.

The theme behind Get Shory is a common theme present in most of Elmore Leonard's books (I have read most of Elmore Leonard's books). The theme is to trust no one... But the theme does not detract anything from this book, rather makes the reader curious about what is going to happen next.

The story behind Get Shorty is believable, not far-fetched, and engaging including Chili Palmer's character.

This book is a great read. I highly recommend this book to every reader.

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Be Cool

Manufacturer: Recorded Books, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: 078873430X

Product Description

7 Compact discs. Elmore Leonards crime thrillers capture places on best-seller lists and an ever growing number of fans. His skillful mixture of quirky characters, snappy dialog, and unexpected twists provide pure pleasure for readers. And in an audio format, when narrated by a professional performer like Ron McLarty, Leonards work becomes truly irresistible. Chili Palmer is a smooth operator who has made a bundle in films. Now hes ready to move into the recording industry. Theres a leggy blonde who could be the next big singing star. But she has a funky manager who may be tied to the mob. All Chili has to do is promote the girl, lose the manager, and avoid stray bullets. In Chilis world, however, one thing rarely follows another in a straight line. Funny and hip, Be Cool is classic Elmore Leonard. Get ready for a few wonderful hours filled with suspense and dynamite punch lines.

Book Digest ("The Langoliers" from Four Past Midnight, Get Shorty, and The Wings of the Morning)

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Book Digest ("The Langoliers" from Four Past Midnight, Get Shorty, and The Wings of the Morning)
Elmore Leonard, & Thomas Tryon Stephen King
Manufacturer: Time Life
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ND3JTI

The Elmore Leonard Value Collection: Pronto, Riding the Rap, and Get Shorty

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The Elmore Leonard Value Collection: Pronto, Riding the Rap, and Get Shorty
Elmore Leonard
Manufacturer: Random House Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

General | Books on Cassette | Audiobooks | Formats | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0553527584
Release Date: 2000-11-07

Book Description

Six cassettes, 9 hrs.
performances by Joe Mantegna

Pronto—For 20 years Harry Arno has operated a sports book in Miami Beach, taking bets on all the pro games. And for 20 years Harry has been skimming off the top of the profits, short-changing his silent partners, the local wiseguys. Harry is ready to retire to a villa on the Italian Riviera with his girlfriend Joyce, when he becomes the fall guy in an FBI assault on organized crime and ends up running for his life.

Get Shorty—In a novel filled with his signatures—nerve shattering suspense, crackling dialogue, scathing wit—Elmore Leonard proves once again why he sets the standard against which all other crime novels are measured.

In GET SHORTY , he takes a mobster to Hollywood, where the women are gorgeous, the men are corrupt, and making it big isn't all that different from making your bones: You gotta know who to pitch, who to hit, and how to knock'em dead.

Riding the Rap—It seemed like a brilliant idea. Three mismatched bad guys—a Palm Beach pothead, a Bahamian ex-con, and a Puerto Rican gardener turned mob enforcer—get together to carry out the perfect crime: kidnap retired Miami bookie Harry Arno and let him pay the ransom with his ill-gotten wealth. He can't go to the cops later. No one will miss him. It's perfect. Or so they figure.

They figure wrong. Harry's former girlfriend, ex-topless dancer Joyce Patton, misses him a lot. Now she's sending her current boyfriend, Stetson-hatted federal marshal Raylan Givens, looking for Harry. And Raylan always gets his man. And in this case, he also gets his woman—the last person to see Harry, a sexy psychic named Dawn. Dawn may be clairvoyant, or she may be in on the kidnapping. Either way, she gives Raylan a lead, and he's hunting on Florida's 24-karat Gold Coast for three loco hombres…and trying to bring Harry back alive…

Elmore Leonard. Get Shorty / Kontrakt s korotyshkoy (Lekarstvo ot skuki)

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Elmore Leonard. Get Shorty / Kontrakt s korotyshkoy (Lekarstvo ot skuki)
Elmore Leonard
Manufacturer: Inostranka
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Product Description

CHili Palmer - krutoj gangster, odnako v poslednee vremja u nego s mafiej voznikli "raznoglasija", zastavljajuwie ego "slinjat'", brosiv nasizhennoe i "okuchennoe" mestechko. No CHili ne otchaivaetsja: ego put' lezhit v stolicu kinoindustrii - Los-Andzheles, gde on sobiraetsja sdelat' kar'eru. Udastsja li novichku vyderzhat' shvatku s akulami kinobiznesa, otlichno znajuwimi zakony Gollivuda, ili ego zhdet fiasko?

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Get Shorty
Elmore LEONARD
Manufacturer: Delacorte Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OPMCB6

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Get Shorty
Elmore Leonard
Manufacturer: Delacorte Press c1990
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ONSOK6

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Get Shorty

Manufacturer: Delacorte
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Get Shorty
Elmore Leonard
Manufacturer: PENGUIN PUTNAM * TRADE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Get Shorty
Elmore Leonard
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on June 1, 2000. The length of the article is 770 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: Singing in Zion: Music and Song in the Life of an Arkansas Family.(Brief Article)(Review) (book review)
Author: Kip Lornell
Publication: Notes (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 2000
Publisher: Music Library Association, Inc.
Volume: 56 Issue: 4 Page: 960

Article Type: Brief Article, Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Singing in Zion: Music and Song in the Life of an Arkansas Family

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Singing in Zion: Music and Song in the Life of an Arkansas Family
Robert Cochran
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MU93HO

Customer Reviews:

Fun & Games is lame, lame, lame!.......2000-04-26

I am planning a family reunion and need some fun, creative ideas, so scanned the good ol' Amazon database for something helpful. I discovered this book, and ordered it. What I found between its covers were a bunch of ridiculously lame games, and largely unrealistic suggestions and silly ideas for what would amount, in my mind, to the family reunion from hell, should anyone actually put these goofy ideas into practice. (I certainly will not!) Some may find these games and suggestions fun and creative, but I just hope that I don't have ocassion to attend a family reunion that's been planned by them. I did not find one single idea that I'm willing to use in this book. On the other hand, I've since found magazine articles with some very good ideas for family gatherings, which I definitely will use. This book stinks!

An excellent idea book for activities for all ages.......1999-05-26

I found this book to be helpful not only for family reunions, but also for birthday party ideas for my kids. The games part was especially strong, but I thought the reunion section could have been more helpful. Bring on Book 2! I want to play more games!!!

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A privilege to hear candidly from a great man

Unimpressive

Learning from experience

I guess I'm a Dissenter but this book isnt for me

How to be a name dropper

How to Get Anyone to Do Anything
R. Philip Hanes
Manufacturer: Ten Speed Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1580086675

Book Description

"You can accomplish anything you can dream if you get someone else to do it!" is the personal mission statement and secret weapon of the irrepressible R. Philip Hanes. A dynamic and visionary entrepreneur, civic leader, and philanthropist whose CV includes posts at the National Endowment of the Arts and the Smithsonian, Hanes packs at least 10 lifetimes' worth of experience and achievement into a memoir of his first 80 years. HOW TO GET ANYONE TO DO ANYTHING is not only the story of an exceptional life, it's a manual for how to make your own life exceptional.

Customer Reviews:

A privilege to hear candidly from a great man.......2007-06-01

I loved this book. As a regional director for an international telecom company and having worked in International Telecom for 16 years, I thoroughly enjoyed the candor and humor in the creative problem solving and risk taking stories. The fund raising world is foreign to me, I was intrigued by those chapters and found I have a lot to learn. The full and fabulous life Mr. Hanes is living is a great inspiration. He really makes it sound easy with his humility, confidence and charm and I am blessed to know from experience, when you love and have a passion for what you do, great accomplishments do feel easy.

Unimpressive.......2006-11-28

There are many good books available that contain information that is about self motivation. This book is primarily a recollection of memories with a few good nuggets of information thrown in. While I do not dispute any of Hanes ideas, I found the constant walk down memory to be distracting from the good information that is available within the book.

If you are looking for fundraising ideas, this may be a good choice for you, as one-third of the book is about fund raising. There is also some good information about interviewing for high level positions in the appendix of the book.

If you are looking for a book about motivating yourself and others, I would highly recommend another book. If you are looking for insight about fund raising, and interested in preping for a tough job interview I would suggest this book. Information contained in the book is quality, and solid, but there are many long passages to read inbetween the nuggets of knowledge that were intended for you to grasp from this book.

Learning from experience.......2006-06-29

The shared wisdom and experience of the author made this a valuable read. The fact that there are a number of varying examples from real life experience and success at getting people to do things for the arts or the environment among many other activities provided different scenerios to learn from and to apply.

I felt that the personal accounts or stories of his interesting experiences made it a good read in addition to useful advice.

I guess I'm a Dissenter but this book isnt for me.......2006-06-09

I have chatted with the Author and he seems like a great guy. I went back and reread the book and it just isnt for me. He and I are from two different worlds and thats great because that is what makes the world go round. But try as I might the book and its advice didnt work for where I come from in life. Not sure those tips are applicable to most of us out here working in the world. It could be me but just didnt connect with the principles outlined in this work.

How to be a name dropper.......2006-04-04

I have to agree with the last review. The priciples Hanes claims in the introduction he'll be expounding upon cannot be argued against (though fund-raising has very limited relevance when considering all applications of persuasion, and the concept of problem solving is trite, to say the least). But what in fact follows is a 200-page list of the rich and powerful that run in Hanes' circle and a pat on the back for each of the good deeds they have done together (which are noteworthy, admittedly). Even the jacket blurbs reek of people with attention-catching names or titles returning a favor.

As a how-to this book is a complete failure. But it does have value as a case study. After all, Hanes was able to get it published, and published with a misleading title, and was able through continual reinforcement to convince at least ten Amazon reviewers that he's a great man and quality writer. Anyone who can pull that off with this material is worthy of consideration in the field of persuasion.

In addition to Cialdini's work mentioned by the previous reviewer I'd recommend Bandler's work and Greene's "48 Laws of Power" for those interested in persuasion.

Bouquets of Bitterroots: Or How to Get Just About Anyone to Do Just About Anything for You-And Feel Good About It

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Learning from Adversity

Bouquets of Bitterroots: Or How to Get Just About Anyone to Do Just About Anything for You-And Feel Good About It
Betty Lou Leaver
Manufacturer: Authors Choice Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0595178219

Book Description

Let the pages of this book bring warmth and color and the strength of gentleness to your world.

Learn how to get what you want and need and make others and yourself happy as you do so.

Customer Reviews:

Learning from Adversity.......2001-06-02

Until I read the manuscript of Betty Lou Leaver's "Bouquets of Bitterroots," I thought Bitterroots was just an odd name pinned to a mountain range in Montana. The conflagration that scorched those mountains a few years ago raised my consciousness about their stunning, irreplaceable beauty, just as Ms. Leaver's pithy book elevates the eponymous flower to a superb metaphor for learning from adversity and cultivating empathy. The thread running through her personal anecdotes, each a jewel-like epiphany, is that faulty thought patterns need not lead to self-defeating behaviors. Protesting, perhaps too defensively, that she is not a Pollyanna, Ms. Leaver demonstrates over and over that you can be your own cognitive therapist, though she would never such lingo. The little half-scenes, scenes, anecdotes and stories that propel "Bouquets" forward show that it is possible to turn dysfunctional thoughts and awkward situations to your advantage by developing the tools to challenge them. Her strategies focus on problematic thoughts, emotions, behaviors and underpinning belief systems. Adept at making the best play with a badly dealt hand, Ms. Leaver suggests, through concrete examples, that one can learn to identify and correct the thoughts that make us feel anxious or even helpless. She demonsrates, through her intensely peripatetic life as a teacher, that you can improve your interpersonal relationships by thinking logically, looking for the best outcomes (the glass is half full) and becoming more assertive. You come away from her pages admiring her pluck, ingenuity and maturity, attributes not taught in any school. "Bouquets of Bitterroots" is illustrated, in black and white, by Zhenya Yanovic, a young immigrant from Siberia. His life story, encapsulated without sentimentality by Ms. Leaver, is a triumph over incredible adversity. As it happens, I have seen color reproductions of his work; his paintings are magical, mysterious, mythical and altogether charming. Read Ms. Leaver's book and seek out Zhenya's paintings; you won't be disappointed.

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