Those Pullman Blues: An Oral History of the African-American Railroad Attendant

Book Description

The first oral history centering on the unique experiences of black porters and railroad attendants during the railroad's heyday is by turns dramatic, inspiring, comic, and heartwrenching. First person accounts document both the glamour of the railroad era and the bitter realities of being a black worker on a white railroad.

Customer Reviews:

Good history of Pullman from its Workers' Point of View.......1998-08-24

This is a great book to read if you want to know what it was like to work for The Pullman Co. The biggest problem with the book is that it is virtually one-sided. Mr. Perata doesn't seem to include the positive side of The Pullman Co., nor has he included the historical perspective of the times and attitudes of the general populace during the period he explores.

I had two close friends who worked for Pullman. One was a black former Pullman Porter. The other was a white Pullman employee who had worked his way up the system from the entry jobs to conductor and finallly a Pullman General Manager. Far from having the "plantation mentality" Mr. Perata speaks of, his concerns were that the level of service did not diminish AND that the employees were being treated fairly and with respect.

The black person worked for me in an executive compacity, so he need not have been less than candid. He told me stories of both his positive and negative experiences. Of course, there was the occassional ornery Conductor or supervisor, but almost all his comments about Pullman were positive. In fact he was insistant that the traditions of The Pullman Company be carried on and used on Amtrak.

A bittersweet collection that's well worth reading.......1997-10-16

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading this book, but quickly became caught up in the stories and work experiences of these men. Many people don't know what train travel was like in the days before Amtrak and this will be an eye-opening book for them. For those of us who do recall Pullman travel, and the people (many of them friends) who worked the cars, this book will bring back meny memories. Readers should be aware that that this collection of oral histories is not a railfan's book or a wallow in nostalgia. These men tell what it was like not only to work for the Pullman Company, but also what life was like for them away from the trains. Parts of the book are funny, and others are heartbreaking, but most work is that way. The only thing that kept the book from receiving a "10" rating was that it could have used some car diagrams (floor plans) to give the novice an idea of the interior layout of the cars described in the text.

Interviews bring a bygone era to life for the reader!.......1996-08-01

The interviews of the men that built such a style of travel are conducted and written in such brilliance that you can almost smell the starch in their white jackets! A brilliant method of capturing the true life emotions of an almost invisibale servant who afforded the rail traveler a luxury that this country will never again know. Mr. Perata has imortalized those fine men in print, a much needed documentation of a bygone mode of travel and the truth behind it. Those Pullman Blues should be on every bookshelf in America

True to history, an outstanding reflection on an era of time.......1996-08-01

David Perata has captured the essence of an era of time when the black man was presented to the public in such an extrordinary way, yet was treated by the Pullman Comapany as nothing more that an endentured servant. The book has a definate place in American history, and will become significant documentation of an era of travel and national growth that will be valued for years to come. A must read! Coretta Scott King should be proud of this endorsement!

Those Pullman Blues - An Oral History of the African American Railroad Attendant

Average customer rating:

Those Pullman Blues - An Oral History of the African American Railroad Attendant
David D. PERATA
Manufacturer: Twayne
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OOXZC2

Book Description

Top chefs often earn six-figure incomes, achieve celebrity status, and work in a field that rewards creativity, innovation, and hard work. But great chefs are made, not born, and for many, the first step up the culinary career ladder is cooking school.

Since 1989, when The Guide to Cooking Schools was first published, the number of cooking programs has increased threefold and the demand for cooking professionals continues to outstrip the supply. The Guide to Cooking Schools can help aspiring chefs choose exactly the right program to suit their needs and goals.

The Guide is divided between career/professional schools and recreational programs. There are also listings for apprenticeships, wine courses, food and wine organizations, and recommended reading. At the beginning there's a brief checklist of points to consider when choosing a particular program. The listings contain information about tuition, program length and features, faculty credentials, student-to-teacher ratios, facilities, percentages of students who find employment, and more. The Guide will be useful to readers considering a career in cooking as well as those seeking an enjoyable vacation with lasting benefits.

Average customer rating:
Peterson's 1999 Culinary Schools: Where the Art of Cooking Becomes a Career (Issn 1094-0693)
Peterson's
Manufacturer: Petersons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Professional | Professional Cooking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Reference | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | College & University | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
College Guides | Education | Reference | Subjects | Books
Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0768901278

Average customer rating:
Union Organizing: Management and Labor Conflict
William E. Fulmer
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Labor & Industrial Relations | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Labor & Industrial Relations | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 003062603X

Average customer rating:
Inside game tactics: Understanding work-to-rule and other union in-plant campaign strategies : lessons from the UAW-Caterpillar and other labor/management conflicts
Columbus R Gangemi
Manufacturer: Labor Policy Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Labor Unions | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Industrial Relations | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006R9GNO

Average customer rating:

MY MOM IS THE FUNNIEST PERSON ALIVE

Male-bashing taken lightly

Absolutely delightful! I have bought it for many friends!

Fun reading.....and OH! so true!!!

Take a Woman's Word for It: The Dictionary According to Women
Cy Deboer
Manufacturer: CCC Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1576440664

Customer Reviews:

MY MOM IS THE FUNNIEST PERSON ALIVE.......2005-03-04

hey everyone, my mom wrote this book and i just want you to know that her friends and everyone who knows us thinks that she is very funny and i know you will think so too. I myself am a funny person and i get it all from my mom, its my favorite trait about myself that i have. dont listen to that jerks comments above about some male-bashing, evil person my mom is. Why in the world is he reading the book anyways, because i wonder if he even can read if he missed the big part on the cover, called the title, "Take a WOMAN'S word for it: A dictionary for WOMEN"....anyways, thats all I have to say. oohh and BUY THE BOOK! it rocks my world, just like she does.

Male-bashing taken lightly.......2001-08-03

It saddens me to see male-bashing taken so lightly these days, and also that men allow this to happen.

"It's only humor" they say. "We didn't mean it" they say. But pop culture INFLUENCES people, especially people who would get this book.

"You're overreacting" you say. Not really. The obvious feminist who wrote this has one particular entry:

Obvious- To a man: Nothing

and many more entries that make me positively sick.

If you're a man, steer clear. Obviously male-bashing is so accepted universally now, that it's classified as humor. And STILL the feminists say THEY are the ones suffering injustices. How sad it is to be a man. Our lives have been CHEAPENED by feminism.

Absolutely delightful! I have bought it for many friends!.......1999-04-27

I would recommend this clever, delightful book to all women! Each page has at least three humorous definitions that will "hit home." I've bought it for hostess gifts, stocking stuffers, and for every female relative and friend -- anyway, those who did not already own it! We all need to know we have a kindred female soul-mate, and we've found her in author Cy DeBoer. Thank you, Cy! It's a great "dictionary according to women!"

Fun reading.....and OH! so true!!!.......1999-04-26

If you only have 5 seconds in the morning, grab this little book and get your "high" for the day. Cy has an wonderful understanding of men with her tongue in her cheek. It makes my day each day!

Book Description

Gram Parons lived hard and died young, and left behind a musical legacy that has influenced generations of rock and country legends. Ben Fong-Torres's moving account of his story--from his poor-little-rich-kid childhood; through his seminal time with the Byrds and his own bands, the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Fallen Angels; to days and nights spent with the likes of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Emmylou Harris--is a classic of rock biography. This newly expanded edition updates the text and discograph, adds rare new photographs, and concludes with an intriguing epilogue that answers some lingering questions about Gram's untimely death--and raised a few more.

Customer Reviews:

I'm looking forward to read it ! .......2006-07-28

Fast and Sequre Delivery !
Can Only be recomended further !

My Opinion.......2006-07-02

The Life and Times of Gram Parsons is a great source of information about the music scene during that era. I found the book to be very well written and interesting. I have always loved Gram's music and have been curious about this cult figure. He was here such a short time but his music has left a tremendous impact on many musicians. This book is well worth the read!! I only wished for more pictures.

Georgia Peach.......2006-03-03

Been listening to Gram's music for years and when I saw this book I ordered it and having read it I enjoyed it a lot , I do wish that it had a few more photos but the overall bio was very good I thought....well written and a breeze to read...for those who don't know of Gram , find out about the most unsung hero of the 60's and 70's music scene...for those of you who do know Gram , read it and be entertained....

Very Informative.......2006-02-25

This book was extremely informative. I had long been a Byrds/Burrito Bros, but I had no clue the extremes which Parsons lived.

-Des

Forgotten Angel.......2005-12-06

I had really forgotten about Gram Parsons....Like many "fallen stars" from the '60's and '70's that came and went...
I heard his name mentioned on CMT television as being revolutionary in the whole rock/country meld...
Intrigued I decided to start researching more information about him.
Searching the internet...I found out about Hickory Wind and ordered it immediately.
I loved this book, I felt it was a forthright, no holds bared account of a man, sucked into the whole booze, drugs, rock and roll attitude of that time.
I think that Ben Fong-Torres wrote a exceptionaly honest book.
I didn't walk away thinking that this guy was a loser, but a real person, victim to predisposed addictions...A man, no matter what his demons, was very much loved and respected for his work.
Kudos to Ben Fong-Torres
I reccomend this book to anyone, regardless if you knew of Gram or not...it is great reading of a intriguing generation of music and people.
Sincerely,
Linda Hayes
San Diego,CA

Amazon.com

"She's a cutthroat killer," Martha Stewart gushes about the head of an investment firm. A Cosmopolitan cover story exclaims, "Infidelity--It's Not Just for Men Anymore." "Go Ahead, Be a Bitch," counsels Woman's Own. Rick tells Oprah how his wife "liked to slap [his] face a lot." Demi Moore plays a hard-driving, ruthless executive who is also a sexual harasser. Taken individually, these homages to violent or exploitative behavior by women might not be worth getting riled about. But with the blight of images of aggressive women in every genre of entertainment (the list of films about women killers alone fills two pages), cultural critic Benjamin DeMott smells something akin to a cultural conspiracy going on, one that silences feminist calls for reimagining relations between the sexes without stereotypes (what he calls "gender flexibility") and transmogrifies feminism into a dumbed-down campaign to turn women into men ("gender shift"). DeMott sees this phenomenon everywhere, from riot grrrls to bruiser chic guy-talk, from sitcom humor in King of the Hill and The Single Guy to the writings of cultural critics such as Camille Paglia and Katie Roiphe. In each case, they reduce equal justice to "free expression of violent hatred of the other sex" and equal sexual candor to "equal right to objectify and humiliate."

None of this is the stuff of true feminism, DeMott reminds readers as he turns to the works of such feminist writers as Catharine MacKinnon and Carol Gilligan. Rather, feminism is liberationist politics and the goal is humane interactions. DeMott's biggest concern is that the raiding and pillaging of gender identity is undermining women's moral authority and weakening the country's sense of social justice. Through stories about people such as Sandra Quintana, a high school gang member in New York City who was transformed with the help of concerned teachers and school programs, DeMott links the "violent woman" with the rise of the politics of pitilessness and acceptance of corporate greed. While it's easy to be skeptical of his claims on the surface, just as it is to laugh at gender shift jokes, his lengthy list of examples and critiques of contemporary writings are compelling. This is an eye-opening addition to the literature on feminism and a trenchant indictment of where the sexes have landed at the turn of the millennium. --Lesley Reed

Book Description

The new "killer woman," says Benjamin DeMott in this lively and provocative book, believes that empowerment lies in tough, aggressive, "male" behavior. This gender denial, he contends, is reshaping American society and betraying the original vision of feminism, which embodied the ideal of a more compassionate and nurturing society for both women and men. Today, many women believe they must "become men" to succeed -- and men are perceived as often ruthless and brutally competitive. Differences molded by nature and history are obscured, as is the healthy flexibility that would free both sexes from rigid gender positions. The other side of this coin is an increasingly hard-nosed ethos in corporate America and in our public policy.
We can no longer think straight about gender and power, DeMott argues, because we are inundated daily by a flood of cultural material -- popular and literary fiction, movies, sitcoms, commercials, cartoons, the whole media mix -- embodying the killer woman and her values. It leads us to believe that the sexes have nothing to teach each other except ever harsher modes of selfishness and cruelty, both at work and at home. DeMott makes his case persuasively with a wealth of fascinating and highly entertaining material. Present, among others, are Nicole Kidman, Walt Whitman, Courtney Love, Teddy Roosevelt, and Rudy Giuliani, along with The New Yorker, Salon, Ally McBeal, Sex and the City, and much more.
Concluding with a passionate plea for a return to feminism's large-spirited vision of human variousness, KILLER WOMAN BLUES clarifies several of our nation's most troubling social problems and will surely be heatedly discussed.

Customer Reviews:

Very Thought Provoking.......2002-01-30

Don't be put off by the reviews of some of the female readers on her. This book has an important, long over do message about both men and women. It is definitely worth the read.

Anyone whose worked in corporate America knows of the kind of woman that Demott is describing. But one need not be in the office to see her. Today the "Killer Woman" is found with celebratory fame on numerous shows and in the media. From termagents for wives to Lorenna Bobbit, the so-called no-nonsense woman that is not concerned for liberty and completely lacking in moral fortitude, is virtually championed. Today many buisnesses have taken note of this species of woman, who is referred to as a "bully broad." They are most commonly found in human resources, but where ever they are they share that same immaturity of mind, the kind reminescent of the proud little girl in the school yard whose expection that the entire world must yield to her demanded she retaliate on the world when it didn't.

Demott brilliantly shows the hypocricy of many women who claim they are for feminism, liberalism, and equality yet demonstrate by their actions they are far from having any such concern. Ask any man under 40 and he will laugh at the old hackneyed statement that women are more nurturing and are better at communicative skills (just look at the tripe that, say, writers like Natalie Angier or Helen Fisher are preposterously peddling these days).

A few years back the essayist Barbara Ehrenreich wrote in Time magazine that Lorenna was a victim and had a right to do what she did. Ehrenreich continued on to offer her suggestion of how she would have sexually mutilated a man. It is this culture that Demott is addressing. Later it was found that Lorena Bobbit had a long history of physically abusing people, including her mother who she beat with a baseball bat. Moreover, it is a culture that is tolerated where women are allowed to do damaging things in the name of equality, even on youth. Two years ago, as an example, Oprah sponsored and televised a show about the Brotherhood/Sisterhood Club of Los Angeles, a summer camp for teenage kids. In what Oprah termed a "life changing experiment," the boys were subjected to nearly three hours of sexual humiliation and emotional abuse by the girls for, as one girls innanely rationalized, "to teach boys a lesson" about what "girls go through everyday." Several lawsuits were filed and several of the female psychologists who orchestrated the "program" came under investigation. But more darker still is the impact on male youth who witnessed this, a subject that Demott also addresses. Several of the female "participants" were later the targets of sexual retribution by other males, and no doubt these young males reasons with a like-minded rational: to return the favor of the "lesson" they had learned. Not surpisingly the "program" had the opposite effect: it made otherwise kind men into angry offenders.

I find this aspect the most interesting for Demott is taking on how damaging today's culture is to society. Seeing the moral collapsing in women gives men a cause to not follow the rules, and this correlates well with the undeniably decline in chivalry over the decades. Many men are tired of listening to the real double standards of so many women wanting to have policies in their favor and at the same time not take responsibility for actions that if a man had done would be dealt with severely.

Demott's book is right on target.

DeMott can't think straight.......2001-01-30

I bought this book with the hope that Benjamin DeMott would provide an insightful, thought-provoking look at gender politics - and instead found myself disappointed before I had finished the introduction. DeMott seems to have created a theory which he wants desperately to prove: that women have shed their femininity to become men largely because the media - arts, journalism, commercials, etc. - has innundated our culture with images of the "killer woman", an aggressive, asexual figure. DeMott's supporting facts are weak and often a real stretch, so that when he occasionally gets things right, it seems an exception rather than the rule. His generalizations go too far, and his understanding of contemporary women not far enough. It struck me that the author was trying to fit the facts to a theory and not the other way around. Much of this seems (whether fairly or not) to reflect the author's sense of being threatened by strong women. Who else would find a female journalist's tough questions as a shedding of her womanhood? Does he truly expect Diane Sawyer to ask Al Gore about the draperies hanging in his house instead of calling him to task for his exaggerations? The only interesting aspect of this book is the variety of sources upon which he draws, from television shows to Joyce Carol Oates to Susan Faludi.

I really hate to pan a book, but this one truly disappointed me. I found it a waste of my time and intellect.

different.......2000-12-18

some of the author's agruents make sense some do not

An Essential Book.......2000-12-05

This is the third book I have read in DeMott's trilogy on class, race, and gender. As in _The Imperial Middle_ and _The Trouble with Friendship_, the author once again takes on an issue about which it would seem there is nothing new to be said. By the end of the argument, DeMott has cast fresh light on contemporary American life and highlighted previously unrecognized connections between popular and elite culture, between the multiplex and the boardroom.

DeMott takes as his subject images of and debates about gender and sex in the last half decade of American life. From sitcom America to feminist academia, DeMott guides us across a wide and varied field of modern American voices. Along the way, we are shown that all around us feminism's original promise---as voiced by writers from Wollstonecraft to Gilligan---is today too often neglected. Contemporary America has replaced an aspiration for egailitarian gender relations with a deformed ethos of tough women and, what DeMott calls, "gender shift." What is lost, DeMott reminds us, is feminism's liberating promise.

DeMott writes with a fierce commitment to shared democratic values and reconnects the gender wars to larger questions of politics and power. One concludes this essential book with a fuller appreciation of how the coarsening of modern democratic life has been in large part accomplished in the cultural realm, by shrill voices unalert to human sympathy and by those with an inability to imagine a fuller world of gender possibility.

Average customer rating:
Centre game and Danish gambit
Leonard M Pickett
Manufacturer: The Chess Player
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0900928492

Average customer rating:
CHESS OPENINGS ILLUSTRATED; II THE CENTRE GAME AND DANISH GAMBIT.
J. Du Mont
Manufacturer: G.Bell and Son
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PYH8DS

Average customer rating:
CHESS OPENINGS ILLUSTRATED; II THE CENTRE GAME AND DANISH GAMBIT.

Manufacturer: G
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HIS0Q6

Book Description

Untitled

There's a good chance that anyone who's studied vector-based drawing during the last decade has read an Illustrator Visual QuickStart Guide in one of its many versions. Though this book has become the standard text in many design schools, it has evolved over the years along with the program itself. And with some of the radical changes in Illustrator 10 -- such as live distortion tools, dynamic data-driven graphics, and symbols to create repeating Web graphics and keep file sizes small -- the authors thoroughly revised this popular QuickStart Guide.

Illustrator 10 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide includes information on all the latest features, a 24-page color section, and clearly marked locators to both new and improved features that can easily be found by simply flipping through the book. Best of all, it's delivered in a highly readable, entertaining, visual, and easy-to-navigate format. This affordable, task-based book may be the only one users need to create powerful graphics for print or Web.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books