Product Description
This acclaimed collection presents Hamill's best journalism since 1970--43 hard-hitting, opinionated pieces on what television and crack have in common, why American immigration policy toward Mexico is wrong, what Mike Tyson did to pass time in jail, and what it's like to realize you're middle-aged.Amazon.com Review
A New York newspaper veteran of more than 30 years and acontributor to such magazines as New York, Esquire, andVanity Fair, Pete Hamill has collected his best articles inthis stunning collection illuminating his insights and his grasp ofthe vital issues of our times. As he puts it in Piecework's subtitle,it's "Writings on Men and Women, Fools and Heroes, Lost Cities,Vanished Friends, Small Pleasures, Large Calamities, and How theWeather Was."And it's much more: evocative visits to NorthernIreland, Mexico and Vietnam; time spent with Sinatra, Jackie Gleasonand Madonna; and thoughts on race, drugs, and the mob. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Valuable perspective
A recurring theme in "Piecework" is that America has become a place in which people no longer seem to have the basic toughness to accept life's hardships, and must therefore heap the blame upon everyone else.

The situation is made worse, Pete Hamill says, by television, which allows people to have deep emotional experiences without "earning" them. This attitude is summed up most effectively in two essays, "Letter to a Black Friend" and the disturbing "Endgame."

When Hamill isn't shaking his head at our collective mistakes, he is shining the spotlight on individuals -- as he does in solid features on Mike Tyson and Frank Sinatra -- or examining a city gone wrong, the Miami of the 1980s. Here, and throughout you see the keen observation skills, dogged research, and common sense that made Hamill a top-flight reporter first, an insightful columnist second.

Whether or not you share Pete Hamill's old-fashioned, hard-nosed worldview, you won't be able to deny that he expresses it brilliantly here.

Words in the hand of a master craftsman
Some beautiful writing--the kind of material you go back to over and over again just to see how he does it. The piece titled "Endgame" is worth the price of the book. It describes the craziness and the downwardspiral of this splintered country of ours better than anything I've everread.

Throw out your j-school textbook!
Here it is folks: How To Write 101. All you ever needed to know about writing columns is between these two covers, in my opinion. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A NOVELLA THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES
Pete Hamill wrote this novella immediately after he took that last drink on New Year's Eve, 1972. He wrote in A DRINKING LIFE: "The book was full of drinking and love for my father and the sweat poured out of me while I wrote. I thought of the book as my own gift to him, a declaration of his value that he could read while he was alive, and an explanation of myself to him and to me..."On leave from the Navy at Christmastime, Hamill writes of a boy becoming a man in his late teen's. He evokes the warp and woof of a Brooklyn long gone. A neighborhood where the men gathered in saloons, telling each other lies, singing Irish songs, and getting into brawls. More than that, it is a story of a son getting to really know his father on some even plane. Hamill was old enough to be in the Navy, so he was old enough to drink in his father's favorite watering holes. He finds out things he never knew but often wondered about. Directly from his father's once reticent mouth. It is a touching story. Hamill writes with grace. You'll find youself reaching back to your own coming of age. ... Read more

Product Description
Drawing on two centuries of important literary and historical writings, Rebecca Shannonhouse has shaped a remarkable collection of works that are, in turn, tragic, compelling, hilarious, and enlightening. Together, these selections comprise a profound and truthful portrait of the life experience known as addiction.

Under the Influence offers classic selections from fiction, memoirs, and essays by authors such as Tolstoy, Cheever, Parker, and Poe. Also included are topical gems by writers who illuminate the causes, dangers, pleasures, and public perceptions surrounding people consumed by excessive use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Recent provocative works by Abraham Verghese, the Barthelme brothers, Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, and others expand and modernize the definition of addiction to include sex, gambling, and food. Together, these incomparable writings give shape and meaning to the raw experience of uncontrollable urges.

Shannonhouse’s recent anthology, Out of Her Mind: Women Writing on Madness, is also available as a Modern Library Paperback. ... Read more

Product Description
The islands that form New York City are far more subtle and varied than the five that can be seen from the air. In this spectacular portrait of the great metropolis, renowned photographer Jake Rajs juxtaposes iconic views—the Empire State Building, the Hudson River skyline, the Brooklyn Bridge—with unheralded neighborhoods and hidden places throughout the five boroughs.

Pete Hamill's literary portrait perfectly complements Rajs's visual presentation. This lively and compelling view traces the history of the city from its beginnings as an Indian hunting and fishing ground to the early years of settlement by immigrants from all corners of the world to the numerous and overlapping islands that now make up the city as a whole.

First published in a deluxe edition in 1998, this unique presentation is now available to all who are eager to explore the city that fascinates the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent book about an impressive metropolis!
This book is excellent!

The introductory essay brilliantly connects the history of the city, the multiculturalism of the city, the reality of the city in a way that is warm and insightful. It smoothly flows from the actions of yesteryear that have lead to the great metropolis of today, all while maintaining an emphasis on the human side of the story. Its a great literary preparation for the visual feast your eyes will experience as it glances, absorbs, and inspects photos in the latter parts of the book.

The images themselvess are fantastic. The book is divided into six chapters: City of Islands (which is the well written introduction), Passage (random images of the city), Retreat (images of green areas, parks, and gardens), Connection (images of bridges and roadways), Structure (images of facades and interiors of a few important buildings), and Edge (images of places along the outer edge of the city such as Staten Island, Rockaway Beach, and Coney Island among other places). There is a certain human element through out the book. One of the nicest element is that the author places emphasis on showing pieces of all New York boroughs and avoids the Manhattan bias typical of other books about this city.

All in all, the book shows New York City as it is, a great multicultural metropolis worth saving!

THEY WILL RISE AGAIN!!
I bought this book back in 1999. I am a New Yorker and I wanted a book that showcased all of my wonderful city. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought that I would have to look at this book in order to ever see the World Trade Center again. After the attack on New York City on Sept.11, 2001, my whole world as I knew it changed forever. This wonderful, beautiful book is my only reminder of the New York City that I have known and loved all my life. I know the Twin Towers will rise again! Until then I have my book!

A great documentation
I bought the book based on the coverphoto. Regarding that I in fact wanted a book on New York, I cannot say I regret it. The book is fully illustrated with beautiful photographs of New Yorks five boroughs. Though I`ve been toNew York five times before I`ve only been to Manhattan and Queens, but Isurely was tempted to see all five boroughs when I go back during fall -99.The photographs has a soul in a way and all represent a motion or a moodthat I catched right away. I could actually feel the smells the sounds andthe dynamic pulse New York stands for. Pete Hamill's textas anintroduction to each borough gives the reader a fully good and poeticinsight in New Yorks majestic soul. ... Read more

Product Description
Diego Rivera (1886-1957) was the greatest Mexican painter of the century-an audacious muralist, voracious lover, and ardent leftist who befriended Pablo Picasso, married Frida Kahlo, and quarreled with Leon Trotsky. Pete Hamill, a best-selling novelist and one of America's most esteemed journalists, gives us an extraordinary book, now in paperback, on Rivera's life and art. Hamill, once a young art student in Mexico City, shows how, despite the political passions, Rivera created a body of work that still astonishes. Filled with superb reproductions and documentary photographs, Diego Rivera is a tour de force.

"In this tight and balanced look at Mexican painter Diego Rivera, Pete Hamill focuses on Rivera's work. While Hamill touches on Rivera's unpredictable temperament . . . notably displayed in his infamous marriage to Frida Kahlo . . . this gorgeous book devotes itself to Rivera's development as artist and political icon. . . .Hamill deftly shows why Rivera deserves to be remembered as one of the great painters of the twentieth century."-The Progressive

"A fascinating book . . . Hamill writes authoritatively about Rivera's work and diverse styles."-The New York Times Book ReviewAmazon.com Review
In another life, before becoming one of the best known and most popular journalists in New York and the author of the bestselling memoir A Drinking Life, Pete Hamill studied art on the GI Bill in Mexico City. Upon seeing the monumental work of José Clemente Orozco, however, he abruptly lost his nerve: "It seemed an act of self-delusion to try to be a painter."

After 44 years, Hamill has found a way to integrate his early affair with art, his lifelong love of Mexico, and his narrative gifts in this riveting and lushly illustrated book on Diego Rivera, Mexico's best-known, widely loved muralist. Hamill's text, he says, was completed before the publication of Patrick Marnham's Dreaming with His Eyes Open: A Life of Diego Rivera. This one is less scholarly but respectably researched, and Hamill's fervent opinions on which of Rivera's works are worthy and which are the sad effluvia of a Communist Party hack are remarkably persuasive. Hamill's esthetic judgment has led him to avoid reproducing any second-rate clunkers. He has chosen the great murals, paintings, and drawings that suit the godlike stature of this outsize artist who lied, cheated, womanized, and evaded responsibility his entire life, but who worked like a demon in the service of his art.

Rivera's shabby genteel childhood; his flight to France during the 10-year Mexican Revolution, during which nearly a tenth of his countrymen died; his callous abandonment of his first wife; his ugly political gambits and high-flown society contacts; his ultimately sad relationships with both men and women--Hamill weaves it all into a fantastic read. The book is not as balanced as Dreaming with His Eyes Open, but is nonetheless a passionate first look at an artist whose complicated life will probably still be examined decades from now. --Peggy Moorman ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

great artist, great writer
Buy this for the beautiful reproductions and intriguing photos that will have you dreaming of the non-beach areas of Mexico.

Buy this for the warm and beautiful writing even if you don't know who Diego Rivera is.

Re the reviewer who thought Hamill was hard on Rivera's politics: he was equally hard on Rivera's religious affiliation.Hamill is not interested in convincing the reader of any political or religious belief; he is interested in describing the difference between Rivera's greatest and weakest works.His opinion, of course, but the overall impression is one of great admiration for Rivera as a person as well as a painter, and the overall influence on the reader is one of opening the mind and not closing it.

Highly recommended.

Anti-left diatribe

The artwork in Hamill's volume almost makes the book worth its price, but his commentary is so unrelentingly anti-left that he does an injustice to Rivera's memory. Consider a representative passage: "The violent triumph of the Bolsheviks in October 1917 and the swift and bloody [sic] creation of the Soviet Union provided an instant model [for Mexican revolutionaries]. Many young intellectuals were persuaded that a Marxist-Leninist ideology could be imported to Mexico... They believed the lies about communist successes that were being sent to the world from Moscow. They truly believed that the new and glorious Soviet Union was a state where artists and writers flourished, and where millions of happy Russians, Slavs, and other ethnics were working selflessly toward common goals....It was an oddly innocent time. Nobody had yet heard the word gulag." Now any reader with even a limited knowledge of Soviet history can't help but find the sarcasm of this passage arresting. One need not be an apologist for Stalin and the crimes of the later Soviet Empire to acknowledge that in the early years of the revolution there was, in fact, a flowering of art and culture, a truly revolutionary environment that produced luminaries like Bakhtin and Eisenstein. Furthermore, Rivera, himself, was not an apologist for Stalinism and his own work fits well within the critical Western Marxist tradition that includes Lukacs (who, by the way, also admired Lenin), Benjamin, and even Adorno.

Hamill never loses an opportunity to attack Rivera's politics. Why such a strident anti-leftist would write a book on Rivera I'll will never understand. But the fact that this is the most readily available and one of the most handsome books on Rivera speaks volumes about the politics of the art publishing industry.

The life and the art. First rate!
Prior to reading Hamill's bio of Rivera I had read some of another, published the same year. I'm not sure why I was so cool to the book or why it left me irritated. But that would have been the end of my investigation of Rivera's life if I hadn't come across Hamill's book by accident.
I read a couple of pages and was hooked. Hamill is known to me as a fine journalist, editor and novelist but an art biographer? Yes! Yes! This book is a pleasure to read. The prose is clear, clean and engaging, yet it packs a lot of information. And what's the point of writing about a major painter and not printing any of his work? This book is filled with glorious, excellent color reproductions covering Rivera's entire life work. Hamill is not afraid to offer judgments but I thought they were fair and relevant. This is a solid piece of work. As a young man Hamill wanted to be a painter and went to Mexico City to study. He later lived in the city as a journalist. So there are many years of the love of Mexico and art behind this book.
If you want to know more about the Mexican revolution, the art scene in Paris around the years of WWI (Rivera accused Picasso of stealing ideas from him) how Mexico nurtured and esteemed its artists, and much more, read this book.

Coffee Table Material
If you admire Rivera, buy this book. It sits on our coffee table and is very alluring. It makes a great gift for any fan of this extraordinary artist.

Submitted by the author of "I'm Living Your Dream Life."

Blends both the highs and lows in his struggle
Unforgettable reading, Diego Rivera is a vivid, emotionally written biography of the famous Mexican artist, mural painter, and Communist activist Diego Rivera (1886-1957). Biographer Pete Hamill narration of Rivera's remarkable life is enhanced with Rivera's great works of art both in full color replications and through black-and-white photographs. With an informed and informative text more heavily weighted toward relating Rivera's life story than simply being a showcase of Rivera's great murals, Diego Rivera blends both the highs and lows in his struggle through life for meaning against a background of turbulent politics, as well as the overwhelming messages of his art. ... Read more

Product Description

A Tale of One City

It was the best of times, it was the best of times; it was a season of pinstripes, it was a season of amazin'; it was the autumn of Sinatra, it was the autumn of Baha Men; it was a time of the 7 train, it was a time of the 4 and the D. In short, the period was so like other glorious times that it inspired chanting in the streets, division in the taverns, and a giddy nostalgia in the hearts of all who watched and cheered.

The 2000 World Series pitted the New York Yankees and their winning tradition against the New York Mets and their history of miracles. These two outstanding teams breathed new life into the words that characterized the city's halcyon hardball past: subway series. Older generations followed the action with one eye on the games of today while the other viewed black-and-white film of the past: Derek Jeter strokes a home run, and Hank Bauer rounds the bases; Al Leiter rocks back, and Johnny Podres delivers the pitch. New generations experienced thrills they'll tell their own grandchildren one day: "Yes, I saw Mariano Rivera pitch...." "I was sitting right there when Todd Zeile's drive hit the top of the wall...."

To celebrate the return of New York to the center of the baseball universe, Pete Hamill, legendary columnist, editor, and author of Snow in August and A Drinking Life: A Memoir, has assembled an all-star team of writers to create the ultimate thinking fan's keepsake of the subway series. The Subway Series Reader spans the generations of baseball in New York, from Lawrence Ritter's recollection of attending his first World Series game in the subway series of 1936 to Peter Knobler's reflection on bringing his son to the Series in 2000.

With contributors running the gamut from Frank McCourt to Yogi Berra, The Subway Series Reader contains all of the best of what made the millennium World Series one for the ages. When it comes to World Series teams and the city that loves them, The Subway Series Reader -- thoughtful, nostalgic, graceful, charming, exciting, and up-to-the-minute -- is the one book to have when you're having more than one. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A LITERARY HOMERUN
What a terrific way to remember the 2000 Subway Series -- a collection of personal, touching, exciting and funny pieces from some of America's biggest literary (and baseball) names.Pete Hamill has brought together a roster including Yogi Berra, George Will, Andy Borowitz and Frank McCourt to make the Subway Series come alive all over again.It's a book to treasure, and it would make a great Christmas present for fans of the Yankees or Mets -- or of great writing, period. ... Read more

Product Description
"A great photograph often reveals the city to the people who share its life." Thus does Pete Hamill introduce this marvelous collection of photographs from the unparalleled archives of the New York Daily News. This American newspaper, the first to truly understand and use the power of photography, has created an unforgettable and indelible portrait of New York and New Yorkers in pictures.

Here--spanning the years 1920 to 1999--are images that capture the heart and guts of the city: crammed sports stadiums, hushed morgues, glamorous nightclubs, and mean streets. Including a keen text by best-selling author Pete Hamill, who has tabloid journalism in his blood, New York Exposed is an incomparable visual record of the city over eight decades--full of surprise, drama, and sheer unalloyed fun. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

new york in photos
a compilation of photos from the daily news photographers
incredible collection here. my only disappoitment, which is a slight one, is that the 90's section does not seem to have the same feel as the other decades do

The dailiness of New York life.
The New York Daily News was always the largest circulation tabloid in America and as Pete Hamill says in his excellent twenty page essay "The Daily News was possessed of a quality derived from the city itself: energy.The tone was brash, sarcastic, irreverent."All successful tabloid papers have two things in common: the headlines and the photos and this beautifuuly produced book has hundreds of the latter.

To get great photos the paper had always invested in its photo department, which by the fifties had two planes, ten radio cars, a brigade of motorcycle couriers and a staff of sixty-three to insure no story was missed.This book shows the benefits of this investment.Eight chapters are devoted to a photo record of the decades from the twenties through to the nineties and as the News was a tabloid, the rough and tumble of daily toil is revealed: politicians; celebrities; sport; crime (some of these predictably stark) and when appropriate, the weather.Each photo has very detailed captions and thankfully, the photographer's name.

Shawn O'Sullivan, who works on the paper, writes in a short essay titled 'Photography at the Daily News' "In making this book, we sought to show the images in all of their original beauty, as the photographer originally witnessed the scene....". I think this was a mistake, newspaper photographers don't know how a photo is going to be used on the page and they try to take plenty of shots, so that Photo Editors will have lots of choice.I have a book published in 1979 celebrating fifty years of the News and it has many of the same photos as this latest book but in the earlier one the photos are handled in a much tighter way and sensibly trimmed to get the best from the image.

Apart from some of the photo trimming I enjoyed New York Exposed, a photographic book that captures the dailiness of New York life.If you lived in the city it will be a stimulating reminder of the last eighty years.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

The Way We Were
New York Exposed is photographic journey down memory lane.
I won this book about a month ago and was so taken by the photography and the history of the photos that I have since purchased it as a gift for my Dad.The book consists of photos of NYC from 1919 until the year 2000.Each photograph includes a descriptive caption.
The skyline changed so many times throughout the time span that the book takes us through, although there are no photos of that dreaded day in September.
From air disasters to a traffic accident circa the early 1930's, from J. Edgar Hoover in a Mickey Mouse mask at the Stork Club in the 30's to the Yankee's World Series win in 1999. New York Exposed is a wonderful book for those of us who grew up in the greatest city in the world.
A reminder of the way we were..

Book Review on "New York Exposed"
I lived in Upstate New York for most of my life.Several years ago my wife and I decided to relocate to Arizona.After September 11th, 2001 I like so many other Americans watched what unfolded before our eyes.Most of my family lives in the North East.I heard about this book on TV and was interested.I thought this would be a great book for my father.

When this book first arrived, we only had to skim over it to see it was trash.Yes, this book is an honest picture of the madness that is present in many large cities, but we were outraged by the contents: Graphic pictures of accidents, murders, shootings, Prostitution, etc.I thought this would be a book about the good in New York.

Normally when I get a book I do not care for I would donate it to the library, but in this case I am going to return it.My first choise was to burn it.Thank God my parents did not read any of this book. I am disappointed in the day time national television station that promoted this book on the air.

...end....

An Excellent New York Photo Documentary
As the grandson of NY Daily News photographer Charles Hoff, this book offered much insight in to family (as well as New York) history.Only a hint at the tremendous photographic contribution of the NYDN can be addressed in one book, even in a volume this large.Still, it reveals fascinating insight in to the last eighty years of New York visual history through stunningly beautiful photographs.The quality is only enhanced by the fact that the book was published just prior to the tragic events of September, 2001 -- the book closes with a wonderfful photograph of the World Trade Center, as well as text by Shawn O'Sullivan that in retrospect is perfectly appropriate -- that the picture press remains vigilant in a constantly changing city. ... Read more

Product Description
Bestselling author and leading light Pete Hamill makes an impassioned plea for common sense on the issue of illegal immigration.

As the son of Irish immigrants, Pete Hamill has a deep respect for the courage and work ethic that newcomers to America have brought with them, transforming and enriching our society. For him, the issue of illegal immigration is not just a current political lightning rod -- it's personal.

Using individual stories, front-lines reporting, and historical perspective, Hamill puts into context the raging debate about illegal immigration. He presents both sides of the question, detailing the social costs of our policies, and making practical recommendations for reform.

Above all, he argues powerfully and persuasively that America needs these new waves of immigrants as much as they need us, and that we must welcome them with decency and grace. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of short stories set in Tokyo by the author of Dirty Laundry and The Invisible City features the tale of a blind musician who has trouble communicating with his female interviewer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Excellent
I'm delighted to say I was delighted by the collection- especially so since, before this book I had read the Collected Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald & was underwhelmed. The iconic writer's tales were larded with cardboard characters, creaky plot machinations, & just plain old bad writing, down to the construction of sentences. Hamill, on the other hand, has crafted a collection of 13 tales about the great Japanese metropolis. Rather, about things related to Tokyo. His characters are real, the situations unique, & just when you think the story is going to turn out a trite way it goes in another direction. Yet, his tales' ends are not deus ex machinas, nor Twilight Zone-like twists that properly belong to sci fi- they are, like life often is, abruptions in the flow- yet wholly believable....What makes the book & its tales so good is how they unfold. The little details- their descriptions, & usage within- separate Hamill from hack tale tellers. The way he so realistically describes Tokyo- sans mythology- reveals human bonds in ways that PC Elitist writing utterly fails to. Hamill does not ram these similarities down the readers' throats. Notably, most of the similarities are in the negative vein. The prose is poetic, but never floral. There are no wasted sentences, nor descriptions. Having only read his journalism & this book I wonder how much of this book's style owes to its subject matter. Hamill has a pitch-perfect sense of the length of his tales, where to make breaks in the narrative, & when to end the stories, always leaving the reader wondering what happened next in these characters' lives. Few writers have that- even supposed greats like Fitzgerald could learn that lesson.
Would-be fictionists in creative writing classes should be forced to read these tales for their economy, subversion of the expected, & the power of detail, rather than the pabulum that is spewn out now, which wins award after award, yet leave nary a fraction of the emotional impact of these tales. Having recently completed a 4 book series of memoirs on growing up in New York I feared that there may have been a large gap between the mid-20th Century's noted chroniclers of New York's streets & my tales. Luckily, Pete Hamill, if this book's an indication of his non-journalistic prowess, is more than an able bridge between the 2- he's a possible Master.

Great stories from a perceptive storyteller
I read this book while living in Japan, and thought it was very good.I recently reread it and it was as good as I remembered it.

As in "the Invisible City," Hamill writes about the small glories and tragedies of ordinary people, and does it in succinct and understated fashion.

His characters, while sometimes a little odd, are always believable.This is a feat considering that he is writing about a foreign country.Part of this is because the protagonists are often expatriates.He is very good at characterising the sort of people who are drawn the japan and japanese culture.His japanese characters are also believable, particularly the title character in "A Blues for Yukiko."

excellent
I read this book a long time ago, and my memory's not so great, but this is just a concurring opinion to the above.Also, I've lent/given this book to other people and they tell me they've enjoyed it.

Tokyo Sketches Is For Lovers Of Japanese Culture
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.The references to both American and Japanese culture were quite refreshing, and amusing to those who know background information on Asian culture.I, having grown up Asian-American, giggled at many of the references, understanding what was meant.The stories are short enough to make you want to read them and not be worried about not being able to finish, yet long enough to delve deep into the lives of the characters.Great details and description draw readers in.The endings make you wish for more and wonder if there was some mistake -- if a page was left out at the end.Some personal favorites of mine were The 48th Ronin, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, and The Magic Word.Every story is truly a masterpiece.I couldn't put the book down even if I had to! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Another use for tools
This book shows what creative minds can do for art besides yet another vinyl floor-tile design. A book not for everyone but a must for anyone who uses and appreciates what a tool can do. In addition, it can be a source for ideas for student sculptors or for anyone with a shop. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A must have for your daily mafioso fix !!
This supplement to a recent Fox series on the Mob delivers page after page of mug shots, bodies, and all the other little creature comforts these goons call home.Watch the story of the Mafia in the New World unfold from boatride across the Atlantic to the speakeasy all the way up to the rise ( and fall ) of the Teflon Don.This book is perfect for anyone interested in the Mob, or for those canaries in a cell who can't remember what life on the outside is really like ... Read more

Product Description
Photojournalist Eddie Adams invited photography students to document 9/11/02 in the five boroughs to illustrate the resilience of New Yorkers. "Assignment: We Love New York!" brought 101 participants - many of whom were visiting New York for the first time - into the city, where they focused their cameras on the upbeat daily life of the Big Apple. Two stories unfold here: one of the young photographers learning from their mentors the craft of photojournalism, and the story of the men, women and children of New York and their love for the city on the first anniversary of 9/11. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A moving photographic testimony of daily life and common joy
Compiled by the staff of the Syracuse University Press and specifically dedicated to the men, women and children of New York City on 9/11/02, NYC Life Going On is a moving photographic testimony of daily life and common joys, problems, sorrows, and challenges in New York City one year after the devastating September 11th attacks. Almost no captions distract from the full-color pictures, which vividly and eloquently speak for themselves, evoking a universal characterization of humanity's can-do spirit. NYC Life Going On is a very highly recommended addition to personal and community library Photo Journalism collections and a welcome visually oriented memorial tribute to a city and a people dealing with and recovering from a horrific and unexpected experience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

OVERRATED SELF-INDULGENT POLEMIC...
This book, wriiten when the women's liberation movement was still in its nascent stage, is a reponse to some of the writings of the movement's leaders, in particular, Germaine Greer, Kate Millet, Betty Friedan, and Gloria Steinem. While the author makes some valid points (I agree, political correctness does tend to have a chilling effect and censorship is to be avoided.), it is nothing more than an overrated, pretentious, self-indulgent polemic. His response to the writings of feminist intellectuals is over the top, treating their writings as mere diatribes, rather than as the cutting edge views of a segment of society that was rising up to be heard and reckoned with. Women were, indeed, the prisoner of sex, before the feminist movement loosened societal restrictions on women. Men, too, were prisoners of sex, but it was they, who were the wardens and jailers of those prisons. They were the ones who set the ground rules. The feminist movement merely ponted this out.

Moreoever, Mailer's views are often put forth in a rambling, stream of consciousness fashion, ponderous and pedantic, and often incoherent, so puffed up with self importance is the writer in his ostensible defense of the male sex. He misreads the feminist movement, thinking it to be an attack on manhood, his, in particular, when all it really was calling for was the full inclusion of women in society. Were it not for the feminist movement, women of today would still be very limited in terms of opportunities to be all that they could be, constrained by their sex. One should be mindful, however, that while women may have come a long way, they still have a way to go. There are, unfortunately, still a lot of Mailer types out there. Like the dinosaur, however, they will one day cease to exist.

OVERRATED, SELF-INDSULGENT POLEMIC...
This book, wriiten when the women's liberation movement was still in its nascent stage, is a reponse to some of the writings of the movement's leaders, in particular, Germaine Greer, Kate Millet, Betty Friedan, and Gloria Steinem. While the author makes some valid points (I agree, political correctness does tend to have a chilling effect and censorship is to be avoided.), it is nothing more than an overrated, pretentious, self-indulgent polemic. His response to the writings of feminist intellectuals is over the top, treating their writings as mere diatribes, rather than as the cutting edge views of a segment of society that was rising up to be heard and reckoned with. Women were, indeed, the prisoner of sex, before the feminist movement loosened societal restrictions on women. Men, too, were prisoners of sex, but it was they, who were the wardens and jailers of those prisons. They were the ones who set the ground rules. The feminist movement merely ponted this out.

Moreoever, Mailer's views are often put forth in a rambling, stream of consciousness fashion, ponderous and pedantic, and often incoherent, so puffed up with self-importance is the author in his ostensible defense of the male sex. He misreads the feminist movement, thinking it to be an attack on manhood, his, in particular, when all it really was calling for was the full inclusion of women in society. Were it not for the feminist movement, women of today would still be very limited in terms of opportunities to be all that they could be, constrained by their sex. One should be mindful, however, that while women may have come a long way, they still have a way to go. There are, unfortunately, still a lot of Mailer types out there. Like the dinosaur, however, they will one day cease to exist.

Mailer shreds the cant of women's liberation
There is much to argue with in "The Prisoner of Sex", and though I'm in sympathy with the aims of the womens' movement, I cheer Mailers' defense of the artists right to use their sexuality and sense of the sensual world as proper fodder for poetic expression. What makes the book important is precisely the fact that Mailer felt there was a need for a man to stand up and have a word against and about the rising tide of Feminist theory; while many male writers were too confused, adrift in daydreams of irony or bottled up rage, and while the academy was surrendering its arms without a shot being fired, Mailer spoke up and wrote that there was a profound and important difference between the sexes, and that while social justice must and will prevail regarding the rights of women in the work place and overall social sphere, one cannot maintain, straight faced, that the only difference between the sexes has to do with genitalia.

There are times when Mailer- the- mystic clogs up an otherwise lacerating arguement,where his romanticism veers dangerously towards a lunatics hallucinations, but his defense of Miller, Lawrence and Genet against the clumsier moments of Millets' orginal critique in "Sexual Politics" is literary criticism at its most emphatic. "Prisoner of Sex" is, I'm afraid, incoherent at times, but there are long passages of rich knock-out prose that demonstrate why Mailer is thought by many to be one of the premiere stylists of the times, and if nothing else, his lyrical defense of D.H.Lawrence is worth the purchase by itself.

OVERRATEDSELF-INDULGENT POLEMIC...
This book, wriiten when the women's liberation movement was still inits nascent stage, is a reponse to some of the writings of the movement's leaders, in particular, Germaine Greer, Kate Millet, Betty Friedan, and Gloria Steinem. While the author makes some valid points (I agree, political correctness does tend to have a chilling effect and censorship is to be avoided.), it is nothing more than an overrated, pretentious, self-indulgent polemic. His response to the writings of feminist intellectuals is over the top, treating their writings as mere diatribes, rather than as the cutting edge views of a segment of society that was rising up to be heard and reckoned with.Women were, indeed, the prisoner of sex, before the feminist movement loosened societal restrictions on women. Men, too, were prisoners of sex, but it was they, who were the wardens and jailers of those prisons. They were the ones who set the ground rules. The feminist movement merely ponted this out.

Moreoever, Mailer's views are often put forth in a rambling, stream of consciousness fashion, ponderous and pedantic, and often incoherent, so puffed up with self importance is the writer in his ostensible defense of the male sex. He misreads the feminist movement, thinking it to be an attack on manhood, his, in particular, when all it really was calling for was the full inclusion of women in society. Were it not for the feminist movement, women of today would still be very limited in terms of opportunities to be all that they could be, constrained by their sex. One should be mindful, however, that while women may have come a long way, they still have a way to go. There are, unfortunately, still a lot of Mailer types out there. Likethe dinosaur, however, they will one day cease to exist.

Mailer as Literary Critic Intrigues
There is much to argue with in "The Prisoner of Sex", and though I'm in sympathy with the aims of the womens' movement, I cheer Mailers' defense of the artists right to use their sexuality and sense of thesensual world as proper fodder for poetic expression.

There are timeswhen Mailer- the- mystic clogs up an otherwise lacerating arguement,wherehis romanticism veers dangerously towards a lunatics hallucinations, buthis defense of Miller, Lawrence and Genet against the clumsier moments ofMillets' orginal critique in "Sexual Politics" is literarycriticism at its most emphatic.

"Prisoner of Sex" is, I'mafraid, incoherant at times, but there are long passages ofrich knock-outprose that demonstrate why Mailer is thought by many to be one of thepremiere stylists of the times, and if nothing else, his lyrical defense ofD.H.Lawrence is worth the purchase by itself. ... Read more