Modern Corporate Finance: Theory & Practice

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Modern Corporate Finance: Theory and Practice

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Modern Corporate Finance: Theory & Practice
Nelson J. Lacey , and Donald R. Chambers
Manufacturer: Hayden Mcneil Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Corporate Finance: Theory & Practice

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ASIN: 0738007706

Customer Reviews:

Modern Corporate Finance: Theory and Practice.......2005-09-26

Book came in excellent condition. Was brand new without errors.

Good transaction.......2005-09-10

The book was in almost new condition and I received it only a few days after I ordered.

Modern Corporate Finance: Theory & Practice, 3rd Ed.

Average customer rating:

Modern Corporate Finance: Theory & Practice, 3rd Ed.

Manufacturer: Hayden McNeil Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0738004952

Modern Corporate Finance: Theory & Practice, 5th edition

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Modern Corporate Finance: Theory & Practice, 5th edition
Nelson J. Lacey , and Donald R. Chambers
Manufacturer: Hayden-McNeil Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Modern Corporate Finance: Theory and Practice

Average customer rating:

This is a wonderful book on basic corporate finance
So basic as to be insulting and it's boring to boot.

Modern Corporate Finance: Theory and Practice
Donald R. Chambers , and Nelson J. Lacey
Manufacturer: Harpercollins College Div
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Customer Reviews:

This is a wonderful book on basic corporate finance.......1999-04-29

Hello finance teachers - if you are looking for a basic corporate finance book for undergraduate finance majors, this is it. You will get better evaluations using this book then using the Ross book. This is a great book that undergraduate finance majors love. Unlike most other books on this subject, this one is very concise, clear, and understandable. I wish more finance books were written that were so clear and to the point.

So basic as to be insulting and it's boring to boot........1999-03-22

This book was used in an MBA class at UMASS. Goes to show you what the MBA program is like there. And this Lacey guy is the head of finance. Go to Tuck.

Average customer rating:

Modern Corporate Finance : Theory and Practice
Donald R.; Lacey, Nelson J. Chambers
Manufacturer: Harpercollins College Div
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OF6DES

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Modern Corporate Finance: Theory and Practice
Donald R.; Lacey, Nelson J. Chambers
Manufacturer: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OUJTTY

Product Description

High Impact Hiring Is Your Essential Step-by-Step Guide to Conducting Interviews that Get Results and Eliminate Costly Hiring Mistakes. This Book Will Show You How Easy it is to: Uncover an often overlooked set of competencies that are responsible for almost all job failures; Build a job-related interview that gets you solid, reliable information about a job candidates skills; Use the Response Pyramid and SAFE techniques to learn about a candidates strengths and weaknesses. High Impact Hiring is clear and easy to follow. Its loaded with practical examples and expert advice.

Customer Reviews:

Costly mistake!.......2002-06-30

In December 2001 I recruited a person to our business and because I hired on my gutfeeling I made a very expensive mistake. Now seven months later after enormous amounts of energy and resources devoted to that person I had to fire him.

This book has thought me the importance of looking at working habits and past actions when hiring people. Maybe you can teach a old dog to sit - but who has the time and money for that!

If you are hiring - buy this book and do it right!

The Hiring Process - Will make or break your business.......2002-06-02

"High Impact Hiring" by Del Still is a must read for everyone from the President of a Company to the Dept. Manager charged with interviewing & hiring decisions. Once you have read this book you will find you are more equiped to gather the pertinent information on candidates which will ultimately give you greater success in this most important decision. Hiring the right individual is one of our Corporate clients greatest challenges so we have been giving this book to them to assist in facing the hiring hurdle. With the assistance of the book they are capable of meeting the hiring challenge with confidence. As the President of one of Southern California's premier CPA firms I am involved in all of our own internal hirings and am so grateful to have read this book. My advise to those of you who are involved in this process is "Don't hire without first reading this exceptional book!" Your business cannot afford the wrong individual. Creating an exceptional company can only be acheived with exceptional people within an organization.

"You win by building an exceptional work force".......2001-04-25

"Making the right hiring decision is more important today than ever before." Del J. Still writes, "I don't have to tell you about the impact of smarter competition and globalization of today's business on profits. I'm sure you've felt the pressure. If not, you will. Even the smallest company cannot afford to operate as they have in the past and expect to suceed in today's pressure-filled environment. How do you win? You win by building an exceptional work force"(p.19).

In this context, throughout the book, he presents his 7-Step interview model that can be summarized by one seven-letter word- 'PROCEED.' He argues that "It is an acronym where each letter represents one step of the process. 'PROCEED' is your blueprint to interviewing success. You'll be amazed at the results you achieve when you follow this process, step-by-step"(p.42).

Step 1: Prepare

* Identify existing superior performers

* Create a job description for the position

* Identify the competencies or skills needed to do the job

* Draft interview questions

Step 2: Review

* Review questions for legality and fairness

Step 3: Organize

* Select your interview team and your method of interviewing

* Assign roles to your team and divide the questions

Step 4: Conduct

* Gather data from the job candidate

Step 5: Evaluate

* Determine the match between the candidate and the job

Step 6: Exchange

* Share data in a discussion meeting

Step 7: Decide

* Make the final decision

Finally, he writes that "Even though the material I have included in this book is based on years of research and practical experience, it can always be improved. I encourage you to experiment with the methods and discover what works best for you...The cardinal rule is to 'stay legal' and 'play fair.' The 'best' thing you can do is put someone in a job where their competencies closely match the requirements. The 'worst' thing you can do is the opposite"(p.221).

Highly recommended.

The Ultimate Interviewer's Handbook.......2001-04-01

With all the books on hiring out there, I didn't expect to find one that showed me a system that worked flawlessly. This is a must have book if you are at all involved in the hiring process. It's worth its weight in gold! Buy it before it sells out. Enough said.

Proceduralizes Interview Techniques.......2000-06-27

Over the dozen years that I've been interviewing and hiring staff, I have "self-developed" many of the techniques the author presents. However, I had not formalized them. This book provides methods and procedures, helps develop a mechanical thought process, to structure the pre-interview selection, the interview, and the post-interview analysis.

I used the book to augment my own "self-grown" interview process recently and with tremendous success.

Book Description

A simple yet comprehensive framework for hiring exceptional people and tying the hiring decision into the purpose and work of the organization. In clear-cut terms, the authors guide the reader through the procedures and sequences for applying the right hiring tools in the right ways for the right tasks.

Customer Reviews:

A GR8 Book on Recruitment & Selection.......2001-04-11

A very comprehensive book on recruitment and selection. I found it especially useful on its coverage of interviewing and tests. Its coverage of structured and unstructured interviews as well as the five factors approach to personality tests is fairly extensive and substantiated with rationale. Very logically written and well sign-posted with appropriate sub-headings; it is very easy to follow the logic as well as easy to search any particular aspect of recruitment you need to check. Even the experienced recruiter will find it useful to refresh his or her skills. The authors have removed the mystery and ambiguity often associated with successful recruitment. Anybody who is in the hiring business should get a copy and read it.

This is the hiring book to use.......1999-09-06

At last, I found a book about hiring that treats me like I can think. This book is readable and has a lot of depth. The authors get you to think through where you are trying to go with your business as the first part of hiring. I got a lot out of that focus. Then they have solid information about what tools to use for good hiring. High-Impact Hiring shows you how to structure an interview, but also how to use other tools like tests and reference checks. They show you how to design your own performance tests. Their decision-making tools are cool--there's a decision table that helps you make sure you don't hire a disaster and sorts out all the information you've got. If you just want an interviewing book, you could get one of the other "hiring" books--though High-Impact Hiring's treatment of interviewing was the best I've read. This book that gives you a system, gives you knowledge and tools, and treats you with respect.

great roadmap to follow for the hiring process.......1999-02-17

I used this book to design our company's hiring process, and found it helpful for all stages from job descriptions, interviewing, applications to offer letters. The quality of our hiring has improved significantly; all of the people we have hired since are still making major contributions to the company.

Still the best.(e-Series, online, High Impact Hiring online from Ninth House Inc.): An article from: Training Media Review

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Still the best.(e-Series, online, High Impact Hiring online from Ninth House Inc.): An article from: Training Media Review
Tom Abraham
Manufacturer: TMR Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Online Books | Books & Reading | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Training Media Review, published by TMR Publications on January 1, 2001. The length of the article is 1754 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: Still the best.(e-Series, online, High Impact Hiring online from Ninth House Inc.)
Author: Tom Abraham
Publication: Training Media Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2001
Publisher: TMR Publications
Volume: 9 Issue: 1 Page: 11

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Nothing new under the sun.

Old book given new life

The Dollar Hen: The Classic Guide to American Free-Range Egg Farming
Milo M. Hastings
Manufacturer: Norton Creek Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

THE DOLLAR HEN is America's classic handbook on free-range egg production. First Published in 1909, it walks the reader through valuable concepts available in no other source. With an emphasis on simplicity, practicality, and the synergy between hens, crops, soil, and farmer, the book is a timeless guide to poultry farming as it ought to be practiced.

Customer Reviews:

Nothing new under the sun........2003-08-04

Lots of new gadgets and inventions today but the old methods of yester year still tried and true. This is brought out in a wonderful easy read and fine editing by Mr. Plamondon. Capturing the past and sailing it into today with good common 'chicken sense' practices. I also have other books by Mr. Plamondon that have that same appeal. Success With Baby Chicks, Genetics of the Fowl and am looking forward to getting my copy of Feeding Poultry: The Classic Guide to Poultry Nutrition. These are a wealth of information for the beginner to the well weathered Showman or the serious breeders.
I highly recommend these books.

Old book given new life.......2003-05-06

Mr. Plamondon has taken a 1909 classic and edited it to reflect modern advances while maintaining the common sense basis of the original. His comments are bolded at the bottom of the page where needed. The original text is maintained allowing the reader to see how pastured poultry farming was done almost a hundred years ago. Recommended reading for anyone either raising free-range poultry or considering it.

Book Description

On the forefront of modern scientific innovation, Cloning, Gene Expression and Protein Purification: Experimental Procedures and Process Rationale effectively doubles as a laboratory manual for students and a reference book for professional researchers. Designed for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in molecular biology, this unique combination lecture/laboratory resource presents detailed protocols for the multi-step process involved in isolating a gene, cloning and characterizing it, expressing its encoded protein, and purifying and characterizing the protein's basic physical properties. This manageable volume includes both theoretical background and practical procedures and is structured around twenty experiments that demonstrate how to prepare, manipulate, and analyze plasmids, produce fusion proteins in bacteria, and purify these proteins based on unique chemical properties or substrate affinities. The book describes advanced topics such as the use of antibodies and the techniques developed to transform their structures, as well as combinatorial approaches designed to manipulate the structure and functions of proteins and nucleic acids. Supplemental literature provides a variety of theoretical explanations encouraging a more intuitive understanding of the experimental mechanisms and behaviors of the chemical participants, while also giving students the tools needed to become "capable proactive researchers." Features: DT Emphasizes electrophoresis, Southern and Western blotting, and combinatorial techniques DT Defines clear reaction mechanisms; stipulates the functions of reagents; and helps students think about the precise consequences of solution and procedural manipulations DT Discusses fluorophores, and solvent effects on protein structure DT Characterizes plasmids, cDNAs, and antibody probes (available from ATCC) in research literature DT Includes carefully selected primary source research literature and articles from current vendor literature DT Contains a glossary of unfamiliar phrases and jargon; important summary statements and conclusions are italicized DT Provides an alphabetized list of common reagents for rapid reference DT Offers an extensive index of concepts and terms DT Categorizes helpful and distinctive information into five types of supplemental literature: Innovation/ Insight, Theory/Principle, Process Rationale, Vendor Literature, and Alternative Approaches

Protein Purification: From Molecular Mechanisms to Large-Scale Processes (Acs Symposium Series)

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Protein Purification: From Molecular Mechanisms to Large-Scale Processes (Acs Symposium Series)

Manufacturer: An American Chemical Society Publication
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

This practical volume gives real-life examples of how separation techniques are used in industry with recombinant proteins and emphasizes which techniques might be more useful than others. An introductory chapter ties together the various topics and associates the methods used with examples of large-scale methodologies. The emphasis of the volume is on how series can be applied to developing strategies and appropriate approaches for difficult protein separation problems. This valuable book provides an update on some of the existing technology used in industry and presents separation examples of several commercially important and recently developed proteins.

Protein Purification Process Engineering (Biotechnology and Bioprocessing Series)

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Protein Purification Process Engineering (Biotechnology and Bioprocessing Series)

Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 082479009X

Book Description

Offers coverage of the development of protein purification processes for large-scale commercial operations, and addresses process development, scale-up, applications and mathematical descriptions. Technologies currently used at the commercial scale are covered in depth.

Purification and Analysis of Recombinant Proteins (Biotechnology and Bioprocessing Series)

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Purification and Analysis of Recombinant Proteins (Biotechnology and Bioprocessing Series)
Seetharam
Manufacturer: CRC
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Binding: Hardcover

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Covering both new and traditional topics in the purification and analysis of recombinant proteins, this volume demonstrates how to overcome problems in protein research and presents practical methods used in protein work, explaining their theoretical bases. The collection also explores innovative co

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Over the past 50 years, Meriam & Kraige's Engineering Mechanics: Dynamics has established a highly respected tradition of Excellence—A Tradition that emphasizes accuracy, rigor, clarity, and applications. Now completely revised, redesigned, and modernized, the new fifth edition of this classic text builds on these strengths, adding new problems and a more accessible, student-friendly presentation.

Solving Dynamics Problems with Matlab

If MATLAB is the operating system you need to use for your engineering calculations and problem solving, this reference will be a valuable tutorial for your studies. Written as a guidebook for students in the Engineering Mechanics class, it will help you with your engineering assignments throughout the course.

Book Description

Soldier of 30 campaigns and the survivor of fourteen wounds, Prince Eugen fought against the French with Marlborough in a glorious brotherhood that Winston Churchill praised in glowing terms as without peer.

Customer Reviews:

Eugen of Savoy.......2005-10-16

This is an excellent biography of one of the great figures of European history in the 18th century. Eugen of Savoy led Austrian Imperial armies in the Balkans, Italy and Flanders. He won great victories over the Turks and Louis XIV's France. He was the Duke of Marlborough partner at Blenhiem, Oudenarde and Malplaquet. This study gives you a full picture of this important man both on the battlefield and in his private life. A great collector and builder, Eugen left a mark on Vienna still visible today and well told in this account. Eugen's statute still towers over Budapest today, a fitting reminder of the man who taught Frederick the Great the art of war.

Good on Eugen's character, but military skills remain mysterious.......2005-07-08

Henderson has written a traditional historical biography of Eugen (Eugene) of Savoy. At the time of his writing, this was the only such biography in English. This still seems to be true.

Henderson's book is much more readable than most traditional biographies, and it is even a page-turner at times. He provides good coverage of Eugen's character, and gives significant attention to his interests in architecture, art, and bibliophilia. As you might expect from a book written in the 1960s, Henderson dances around Eugen's apparent homosexuality but provides enough facts for your own evaluation.

The book's major weakness is that it lacks any explanation of Eugen's military successes. Since Henderson is not a military professional, he shied away from any analysis, and the battles mostly rest on Eugen's "brilliance" and "courage." Since Eugen's rise was predicated on his military abilities, this is an unfortunate (and glaring) omission.

Nonetheless, if you're interested in the period or the place (Austria-Hungary), this is a very useful biography of an important figure who is all too often forgotten today.

Thank god for Henderson.......2004-10-02

Thank god for N. Henderson. Finding a book, any book written about the Prince are extremely hard to come by. Additionally the book is excellent. Fluid, easy reading, well done period atmosphere outline, the "times" of Eugene right up to his passing, personal anecdotes that really give you the flavor of his personality, overall balance and depth of subject all make this a 5 star selection. Now, if I can just find something like this on Turenne , I'll be set. LOL.
As a social aside, any person looking to emulate a man with integrity, loyalty, who is personally brave and honest, will be hard pressed to find one better than Eugene.

The Sun King's Greatest Foe.......2002-10-28

Prince Eugen of Savoy was of an Italian/French background (his mother Olympia was related to Cardinal Mazarin) and raised in and around the court of that great French expansionist, Louis XIV. His decision to flee France and join the court of the Habsburgs, France's most implacable opponents, is the stuff of legend, and his epic battles against Vendome and Villars won him the status of Louis XIV's Enemy Number One. Of course, in English history, Eugen plays second-banana to his great ally, the Duke of Marlborough, and while it is true that two of his greatest victories (Blenheim and Oudernarte) were won at the Duke's side, his other exploits are equally glorious. He won a series of crushing victories against the Ottoman empire, permanently altering the balance of power in the Balkans, and conducted a Northern Italian campaign that ranks equally with those of Hannibal and Napoleon. (Indeed, it was Eugene, and not Marlborough, who made Napoleon's "greatest hit" list of famous generals.) This 1960s classic is the only English language biography of Eugen available, and the reprint is most welcome. Henderson also does an admirable job of showing us Eugen in peacetime: as his wonderful Belvedere and Winter Palace attest, he was foremost among Europe's greatest art collectors, builders and bibliophiles.

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PRINCE EUGEN OF SAVOY.
Nicholas. Henderson
Manufacturer: Weidenfeld and Nicolson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0297168290

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Prince Eugen of Savoy: A Biography
Prince of Savoy ) Henderson, Nicholas Eugen
Manufacturer: Weidenfeld & Nicholson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UO9MXM

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Prince Eugen of Savoy: A biography
Nicholas Henderson
Manufacturer: History Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007J3SOO

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Prince Eugen of Savoy
Nicholas HENDERSON
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OIVNP4

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Prince Eugen of Savoy
Nicholas Henderson
Manufacturer: FREDERICK A. PRAEGER, PUBLISHE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OKU0EM

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Prince Eugen of Savoy: A Biography
Nicholas Henderson
Manufacturer: History Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OMTJM4

Amazon.com

Bobbie Ann Mason's marvelously tactile and textured memoir has the same blunt yet supple prose that distinguishes her novels In Country and Feather Crowns. Examining her roots in rural Kentucky, where she was born in 1940, Mason unravels her family's history and considers its impact on her as a person and a writer. Readers of the New Yorker will recognize a few excerpts, most notably the magical chapter on a local pop group in particular, and the siren song of rock & roll in general. Mason has woven the pieces of her story into a seamless whole limning her ambivalent relationship to her country roots. She was a bookish girl who fled to college and the sophisticated North before realizing that her fictional material and her heart were still down South. But when she bought land in Kentucky, it was "a long way from [home]. I had to keep some distance, keep my options open." Although her immediate family members all get loving, unsentimental treatment, the book is in essence a tribute to Mason's mother, whose free spirit never had a chance to roam as her daughter's did and who grabs center stage in the final chapter. This memoir is quintessential Mason in its strong storytelling, seeming simplicity, and deep mystery. --Wendy Smith

Book Description

In this superb memoir, the bestselling author of In Country and other award-winning books tells her own story, and the story of a Kentucky farm family, the Masons of Clear Springs. Like Russell Baker's Growing Up, Jill Ker Conway's The Road from Coorain, and other classic literary memoirs, Clear Springs takes us back in time to recapture a way of life that has all but disappeared, a country culture deeply rooted in work and food and family, in common sense and music and the land. Clear Springs is also an American woman's odyssey, exploring how a misfit girl who dreamed of distant places grew up in the forties, fifties, and sixties, and fulfilled her ambition to be a writer.

A multilayered narrative of three generations--Bobbie Ann Mason, her parents and grandparents-- Clear Springs gracefully interlaces several different lives, decades, and locales, moving from the industrious life on a Kentucky farm to travels around the South with Mason as president of the Hilltoppers Fan Club; from the hippie lifestyle of the 1960s New York counterculture to the shock-therapy ward of a mental institution; from a farmhouse to the set of a Hollywood movie; from pop music concerts to a small rustic schoolhouse. Clear Springs depicts the changes that have come to family, to women, and to heartland America in the twentieth century, as well as to Bobbie Ann Mason herself. When the movie of Mason's bestselling novel In Country is filmed near Clear Springs, it brings the first limousines to town, even as it brings out once again the wisdom and values of Mason's remarkable parents. Her mother,  especially, stands at the center of this book. Mason's journey leads her to a recognition of the drama and significance of her mother's life and to a new understanding of heritage, place, and family roots.

Brilliant and evocative, Clear Springs is a stunning achievement.

Customer Reviews:

So Pleasant.......2006-07-15

I'd never read any of Bobbie Ann Mason's work before reading Clear Springs for a book club. I believe I may be missing out if her other books are like this one. There is a warmth to her story that makes it a real pleasure to read. Mason's language, too, is comfortable and highly readable. Her rhythms, especially, give a real richness to her prose. I highly recommend this.

Wonderful!.......2004-07-23

Bobbie Ann Mason has done a wonderful job with "Clear Springs". I did not grow up in Kentucky in the baby boom generation, but I did grow up in rural southern Missouri just after it, and this story is so very like what I was familiar with. Ms. Mason is of my mother's generation and except for the disfunction there are many similarities between this story and stories my mother has told. My family reminded me of the older Masons and not the disfunctional Lees. The isolation of rural life, but the joy in many ways that come from it. The curiosity of the outside world, but the fear of it. She relates that Clear Springs hadn't changed much since the Civil War and she was correct in that. The world that slowly evolved for most Americans changed before this rural generation's eyes. A Great book!

The way it was, for some of us, in childhood..........2003-05-24

When writing a memoir, authors are advised to write the first draft as if everyone is dead - and then to prune the damaging parts in subsequent rewrites. Perhaps Mason pruned a bit too much. This otherwise lovely and affectionate memoir of how it was to grow up in a small, working-class town in Kentucky in the 40s and 50s is a bit long on respect and caution - and a bit short on grit.
Otherwise, I loved it. I grew up in Kansas in the 50s and can relate to the pace, small-town values, and lack of danger (except from the "evil Communists" and "the bomb") that Mason portrays as such inherent parts of her roots. Her language, esp in the first part of the book focusing on her own childhood memories, is rich and multi-layered and pulls readers into every scene right along with her. In the rest of the book, she uses the techniques of creative nonfiction to weave a background narrative that spans the lives of three generations of women within the community.
A worthwhile read; it won't change your life, but it might make you think, and it's certainly a pleasant trip to take with this accomplished author.

Pure Mason.......2002-12-05

Indispensible to serious readers of Mason's fiction, this memoir is true to family and community life in Western Kentucky (despite what other reviewers might say).

The author remembers and revisits her Kentucky home.......2002-10-06

I'm an appreciative fan of Bobbie Ann Mason's short stories, about rural people raised with traditional values now somewhat at sea in a world of consumerism, pop culture, and a new morality. Young adults, whose parents would have stuck with a marriage come hell or high water, now divorce and drift through relationships. Their parents tied to the land and other life-long occupations, Mason's post-war generation is less rooted, freed of conventional beliefs, but often at a loss about what to believe in. Most striking as America grows increasingly urban, Mason's people continue to inhabit a rural landscape -- more worldly than their forebears, but not more sophisticated.

While some readers of Mason's stories and novels may have been puzzled by the point of view in them (ironic? matter of fact? sentimental?), this wonderful memoir should do much to clear up that ambiguity. Here a reader is introduced to the world of day-to-day experience that these narratives have emerged from. And you can begin to see how the matter of fact, ironic, and sentimental blend into a perspective that is distinctly rural American. The strongest individual (who is surely the source of many of Mason's fictional characters) is without doubt her mother, a remarkable woman with a quizzical sense of humor, a colorful manner of speaking, and a long view that comes of witnessing much of the 20th century at first hand.

A list of highlights in this book would go on for pages; there's just so much to savor and enjoy. There's Mason's own unsophisticated childhood (barefoot summers, crushes on pop stars, rock and roll fandom), the making of the film "In Country," and the continuing transformation of the rural Kentucky environment from horse-and-buggy days to the invasion of agribusiness -- a huge processing plant has sprung up across the road from the family farm.

I recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed Mason's fiction. It is rich with thoughtful and well-observed detail reaching back across three generations of family history.

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