Product Description
Once again Tom Wolfe brings his artistry, skill, and wit to the mythic figures of bygone days: The Wild West. Taken separately, the cowboy, gambler, bartender, sheriff, and soiled dove offer interesting challenges to the carver. Together they make an enchanting scene, interacting with each other and almost magically taking on a life of their own.Fully illustrated, step-by-step instructions from the blank to the painted figure.

, 280+ color photos, 8 1/2" x 11" ... Read more

Product Description
Step-by-step instructions for carving an amusing golfing figure from wood, painting it, and displaying it. Full of original personality and a spark of wit, the design will delight all who encounter it. Other patterns make up a foursome, with a color gallery illustrating all. ... Read more

Product Description
For caricature carvers the greatest challenges and the greatest rewards come from carving the head and face. This is where the personality of the figure resides. The exaggerated nose, the enlarged ears, the toothy or toothless grin...they all combine to give the figure a story we can understand at a glance. In this new book, Tom Wolfe concentrates on the caricature head by carving busts. About 8 inches tall, these carvings give plenty of room for detail, and allow the carver to explore new ways of giving expression to their work. One figure is carved step-by-step, with clear color photographs illustrating each technique. They carry the reader from laying the pattern on the blank to the final painting. Also included are patterns for 15 other figures, including military, western, and Victorian characters, and a full color gallery of 23 finished busts, each shown from four angles. This is an important guide for caricature carvers, and will lead to hours of learning and pleasure. ... Read more

Product Description
Clowns are the ideal subjects for caricature carvers. They give the carver a limitless variety of faces and situations to create. The only boundaries are the carvers ability and imagination, and the realities of the human form. Like all of us, clowns are complex figures, happy and sad, comic and tragic, all at the same time. Because they capture both sides of us, the clown has been a powerful figure through many years of human history. One clown is carved from beginning to end, with each step illustrated to help the carver. Most of the figures are in various comic settings and the gallery has several different clowns in various situations. Also included is a brief section on carving the letters used to label the pieces. This book promises hours of enjoyment and challenge for woodcarvers of all abilities. ... Read more

Product Description
This book grows out of many requests we have received for animal carving books in general, and for Tom Wolfe animals in particular. His raccoons and hounds have graced the pages of his previous books. His bears, in their original form and as reproductions, have found their way into the hearts of people across the nation. Beginning with a plain block of bass wood or white pine Tom creates a menagerie of characters. Bunnies and bears are the epitome of "cuddly," and are a favorite of children and adults alike. These projects are perfect for the person who carves for relaxation. After bandsawing the patterns, they can be completed with the simplest of tools-a knife, a gouge, a veiner, and nailset. Tom helps the less experienced reader with the basic skills required for carving. Those who are more experienced will value a few of the secrets and shortcuts he has learned over the years. The projects can be adapted so that your bear or bunny will take on a different character through its size, position, and/or color. Your imagination is all that is necessary to make the changes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Carving Bears and Bunnies
I would have liked to see a better pattern to start with.I also would have liked to see more details walking through the process of the rabit.

Carving Bears and Bunnies
The cutting pattern for any project in this book is very poor.I ended up hand drawing my own pattern(s) to accomplish what I needed.

Excellent Step-by-step instructions.
The reason I really liked "Carving Bears and Bunnies" by TomWolfe, was the step-by-step instructions and color photographs.As abeginner they really helped me to get the proportions right on thecarvings. I really enjoyed this book of Tom Wolfe's and I am hoping to getsome other ones of his. ... Read more

Product Description
A roughout is the start of a carving that allows the carver to skip the first few steps to go right into the good part. Theyre great for developing your creative eye, because they have a basic but distinct shape that lets your imagination take off. The rough figure might have its own shape, but no one said which side was the front, back, top, or bottom. Thats up to you to decide. Hold the roughout one way and maybe youve got a grizzly old rebel in the making; turn it upside down and theres a lazy bullfrog. In his friendly, laid-back way, Tom Wolfe guides you step-by-step through the carving of an unlucky fisherman from his own roughout design. The emphasis here is on staying loose with the carving and seeing the endless possibilities you have in carving anything from the most basic shapes to the smallest details. A large full color gallery features a variety of characters all made from the same roughout. Dont look too far ahead, because you might miss something! ... Read more

Product Description
Just when it seems that Tom could not possibly have any more Santa patterns, here are 75 never before seen designs. They reflect Tom's unquenchable creativity, his boundless sense of humor, and his keen eye for caricature. Each pattern is clearly drawn and reproduced at full size. A color gallery is included on the back of the book to use as a paint reference. ... Read more

Product Description
Do animals have their own Santa Claus? One look at these creations by Tom Wolfe and you will believe that they do. Santimals capture all the charm of the season in a new and delightful way. Tom takes the reader step-by-step through the carving of the raccoon Santimal, from the pattern to the painting. Each step is clearly illustrated with a full-color photograph and helpful description. In addition there are patterns and multi-angled color gallery photographs for several other Santimals. These include a goose, a hound dog, a duck, a pig, a mouse, and a bear. In addition, the raccoon pattern can be easily converted to a fox. This creative new project is perfect for the holidays and a welcome addition to the carver's repertoire. It is a great book for carvers of all skill levels. Everyone, from the beginner to the veteran, will enjoy its delightful projects. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An intermediate level carving book with fanciful, fun santas
This book includes a pattern for a santa racoon with detailed steps aswell as patterns for 6 other creatures.These patterns are cute, fun tocarve, and of moderate difficulty level.Thephotography is extremelyaccurate in the instrucitonal seciton; the angels given make the designseasy to follow. ... Read more

Product Description
Tom Wolfe has been carving signs and other flatcarvings for many years, bringing to them the same creativity and skill he brings to his three-dimensional work. Sometimes practical, sometimes whimsical, and sometimes a little bit of both, this country flatcarving is loved by everyone. Country Flatcarving shares some of Tom's patterns and techniques. The three projects include a potholder holder (practical), the man in the moon (whimsical) and a welcome sign (a little of both). You will find step-by-step instructions, all illustrated in full-color, and will be able to design and carve your own patterns when you are finished. ... Read more

Product Description
The cane is a simple accessory with a lot of personality. Some are sleek and elegant, others are twisted and gnarled, others are bright and silly. Canes make great carving projects for many reasonsthey have endless creative potential, require only a relatively small time investment, and they are good pieces to practice on. They make terrific gifts, and are always top sellers at shows. In this book, Tom Wolfe guides the reader through the carving of a particularly clever cane, a fancy bird that doubles as a nutcracker. He explains carving, painting, and finishing the piece, as well as fitting the handle to the spindle. The step-by-step instructions are clear enough for the beginner to follow, while more advanced carvers will learn from Toms expert techniques. A huge, colorful gallery illustrates dozens of canes of all skill levels to give you plenty of ideas for carving your own. ... Read more

Product Description
You've got to crack some eggs to make an omelet, and that's just what author Tom Wolfe has done. Tom finds out what is inside those wooden eggs found at craft stores and woodworking suppliers. This an interesting and informative book goes from the blank egg, through drawing, and finishing. Step-by-step the reader is taken through two projects, a caricature head and a bird, learning the techniques of good caricature carving from one of the best. Each step is photographed in a clear, color image, with concise, easy-to-understand explanations of what is happening and how to do it. This is the perfect book for beginning carvers and old dogs looking to learn new tricks! ... Read more

Product Description
Tom Wolfe's cane carving books have been popular with readers. in this new one, Tom starts with a sapling straight from the hillside and takes the carver through each step to create a charming cane. He begins with prepping the sapling, helps the reader think through the design of the spirit that will emerge, and explains the various carving techniques that are needed to do the work. Finally he shows the painting and finishing steps, including ways to conceal unexpected problems. Each step is clearly photographed in color, with a concise, easy-to-understand explanation of what is happening and how to do it. This is a clear and informative guide and will be valued by carvers of every skill level. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (10)

Very Interesting, But Uneven
This book raises a number of issues, but one is paramount: we know all about `admissions', particularly with regard to highly selective institutions; we also know about graduation rates (chilling, in some cases).What we don't know about is what happens in between.Are students learning more now than a generation ago?Less?Decidedly less?

These questions are hard to answer with any rigor because we do not have common exit exams and common curricula.The answers are usually couched in very general terms, e.g., "All is fine.Our students have a high graduation rate; they tell our alumni pollsters that they had a good experience and they have jobs that pay well."

The authors approach this key (and other) issue(s) from differing perspectives.The contributors include journalists, administrators, faculty, association and foundation executives and even the redoubtable Tom Wolfe, who provides a foreword.

As with all such books, the collection is uneven.Some of the pieces are exceptional (Frank Deford's, Julie Johnson Kidd's, Vartan Gregorian's, e.g.); some are predictable and add comparatively little to the discussion (Murray Sperber's, Heather D. Wathington's, e.g.) and one is excellent but already appeared elsewhere (David L. Kirp's).Some are wise and insightful; some are a bit provincial.In other words, this is like nearly every other edited collection.

On balance, however, the book is worthy of attention.There are many thoughtful essays and a number of interesting statistics and facts (along with some amusing factoids).There is also a kind of internal dialogue, with contributors markedly disagreeing with one another.Leon Botstein, e.g., is very brave (and cogent) with regard to the ultimate marginality of student service personnel (whose numbers have proliferated) and Julie Johnson Kidd argues, convincingly, that we're not doing students a favor by placing them in an ethos of endless service personnel, a situation that will not be replicated in the outside world that they are soon to enter.At the same time, there are calls (from Heather D. Wathington, e.g.) for more and more `support' services, with the onus for student success being put on the colleges and universities rather than on the students themselves.Hence, the book provides a sense of the general issues at stake along with some cogent reflections on it.

Bloated Byzantine Professoriat Should Be Threadbare!
I loves it when the tweed coat crowd intones against market values driving education.Yes, nearly all students go to college for career reasons.Imagine if they didn't: the funding would dry up quicker than you can say "pompous professors are well paid hypocrites": the constituency that supports state funding would wither -if not run - away and tuition dollars would disappear too.Then, all those students who really believe that they care deeply about intellectual values would face the true cost of paying the salary and benefits of the professors living a lie based on the same pretense.Absent their subsidies, very few students would continue along the path of intellectual self-abuse (to use the Victorian term), which would mean cuts in the department, which would mean those tenured - not those whose love for the life of the mind is greatest - would cling to their positions with all the materialistically motivated might their greedy, arthritic claws can muster.

College professors like to tell us they don't care about money and they point to the fact that they're not millionaires to prove it. In doing so, they are positioning themselves in the virtuous middle class, among the Babbits they condemn with a vehemence and vitriol that can only be born of infantile resentment at being dependent.Their motives are infinitely more base than the materialistic undergrads upon whom they depend for their life of leisured - intellectually mediocre, at best - pretense.

DECLINING BY CHOICE
This book is full of so much significant information that it's overwhelming (in a good way) at times. Highly informative, and deeply insightful, it's packed with statistical data; longitudinal surveys; historical analysis; the advantages of private colleges versus state colleges and universities; the role of community colleges and career colleges; the increasing use of part-time faculty and adjunct professors; marketing tactics of competing universities; myths and facts about collegiate sports programs; commentary by educators and administrators; and potential solutions to many of the problems which plague our institutions of higher learning.

If you are considering a career as a college professor, this book offers a very accurate depiction of what your life and challenges will be, as well as your requirements for success. If you are a student, you will inevitably find educational anecdotes which resonate with you. Both educators and students will appreciate the enlightening information on the influential factors which are causing the financial costs of a college education to skyrocket.

While most who read this book (and the reviews on it) will be intrigued by the accompanying video, the book is far more comprehensive.

Good survey of higher education
This book does a nice job of highlighting many of the problems present in higher education - e.g., too little focus on basic skills (I'm consistently amazed at how many college graduates have sub-par writing skills), treating teaching as secondary to research, and graduate students as cheap labor. I'd recommend this over many of the so-called college guides for high students and parents so they can learn the real questions to ask admissions staffs.

My one quibble would be that not enough attention was given to issues of economics and class - no real discussion on escalating tuitions costs, draconian financial aid systems, or how the real issue for many schools is less about race but rather about socioeconomic status. These are huge issues that are slowly rippling into the classroom - and something the public should be debating rather than infringing too much on syllabi and course requirements (at least at this point in time). That said, it's a good book that many outside the academic world should read.

Excellent!
This book was received in a respectable time period.The book alone has qualitative information and knowledge for professionals in higher education, and answers many questions that have been asked by higher education professional in regards to curriculum, educational organizations, university in the USA, for example, and many other topics.

Good read! ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of photographs from Rolling Stone magazine features familiar shots of such celebs as Jagger, Nicholson, Madonna, Brando, Bowie, Mailer, Reagan, Belushi, Eastwood. Reprint. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Srill haven't received it
Have seen this book before love it however the seller has yet to send it and it has been over a month.Says has had the flu but a month SERIOUSLY????Waiting anxiously for it to get here ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

So-so
4 stars for decent writing (I do enjoy Wolfe's style; AFB was my first encounter with this author)
5 stars for a terrific reading by Edward Norton
4 stars for a story that started strong
2 stars for a weak 4th quarter and lousy non-ending
Overall: 3 star average
Equal parts humorous and repellent, AFB is worth checking out for Wolfe's style alone.I gather Wolfe has deployed his talents to much greater effect elsewhere.If your choice is between AFB and some other Wolfe novel, I'd recommend going with the other.

Seemed incomplete
This CD naration was done by Edward Norton. And he is a good at doing the stero-type "redneck" voice. It is easy to listen to.

This Tom Wolfe novella has a self-important prime time TV producer, Irv Durtscher, trying to get the rating bust show that will get his genius recognized. He belives he can prove that three soldiers from Fort Bragg were resp[onsible for the savage beating and murder of a member of their company because he was of a differrent sexual orientation. Through the use of hidden cameras and mic's, he records these three soldiers over a period of weeks. What he gets is incriminating, but he wants to get them to admit to the crime conclusivly.

So he attempts to do the standard TV news ambush. Irv arranges the three to see the footage they have recorded showing them talking about the night of the murder. When he thinks he has them, he sends out the awarded winning Anchor to grill and shock them into admitting they murdered the soldier. But the ranger takes control of the interview.

What we see is that the special would have been ruin. All sympathy and support would have gone to this thug. But because Irv wants to show how smart he is. He uses editing to make the trio of soldier look guilty. This just shows how far the media will go to show their version of the truth. And to get ratings!

I felt that Wolfe did not tie up all the loose ends. Who was the missing witness? What happened to the soldiers? If it went to trial, what happened to the producer when it was discovered the extent of the editing tha that taken place?

Wolfe-Lite, but interesting nonetheless
Tom Wolfe presents an even-handed tale about a head-twisting attempt of a newsmagazine crew to ambush military men accused of killing a gay fellow soldier.This short story will leave you wondering, "Who actually got ambushed?"The soldiers?The murdered victim?The newscrew?The American public?Possibly everyone.

In comparison to other Wolfe works, AMBUSH is relatively shallow.It's still a work that might make a number of other best-selling authors green with envy.Wolfe explores the minds of soldiers and newspeople whose motives and actions are far more complex than they appear on the surface.One would be tempted to initially label both parties in black and white judgements, but Wolfe's rich internal monologues make that difficult.The murder and it's criminal investigation ultimately become secondary to the news story and the circumstances surrounding it.

Wolfe's even-handed approach to presenting the complex details of what appears to be an open and shut case will have folks from opposite sides of life react to different details with ire.It's easy to hate the accused rednecks.They're crass, unpolished, crude, and embody every bad southern male stereotype.It also becomes easy to hate the media moguls who twist and torment the story, not because they want justice (they don't REALLY care about gay rights or even solving the crime), but because they want huge ratings.They want their names up in lights.They'd sell their souls for things they don't even believe in.The converse observation of the accused soldiers is that they'd never hide behind false pretense, even to the point of death.

The audio book has its own set of issues.Edward Norton's reading certainly hits the mark on tone and atmosphere.He's earnest, but varied in quality.(Given, deep-south--nearly-unintelligible-redneck might not be an easy accent to emmulate, but sometimes it's just painful.)The producers seemed to want to throw in "mood music" at every opportunity, so the listener is bombarded with distracting backdrops of country metal and news-promo orchestrations that add nothing to the overall mix.Please don't let that disuade you from this quick listen (about 180 minutes) is you're interested.Just consider yourself warned.

AMBUSH at FORT BRAGG comes recommended to those seeking a quick and engaging tale to fit between your larger listening projects.

Not worth the paper it is written on.
With all the books I have ever read this one comes to mind as the only one that has ever turned my stomach.I am sure there are many other ways of treating a subject like homophobia without going this route.I gave it one star because there was no option lower.

HE'S DONE BETTER
I like Tom Wolfe, but this novella was a disappointment.It is surprisingly unhumorous, the story's climax comes too early, and the novella trails off at the end.The two protagonists at first seem like perfect targets for Wolfe's satiric genius.One is the TV newsmagazine producer: male, jewish, unattractive, and self-pitying.The other is the TV newsanchor: female, WASP, beautiful, and shallow.It's too bad that Wolfe gets so little comedic mileage from them.

Wolfe seems to have thrown in a pornographic section in the novella for no other reason than salaciousness.(Certainly it was not done as a plot device -- it is absurd and unbelievable.)

Edward Norton does funny redneck voices, but otherwise his narration is dull and flat.

Despite all the bad things I've written, there are some funny moments, and some of the satire hits the mark.Overall, this recording is so-so.

By the way, this novella now is in print in Tom Wolfe's new book Hooking Up. ... Read more