Product Description
Michael Jackson: The Making of "Thriller" is an illustrated tribute to the King of Pop and his groundbreaking music video, with never-before-seen photos of its creation. The book features over 200 exclusive, behind-the-scenes photographs of the artist on set during the 1983 production of the Grammy award winning video directed by John Landis.

Considered to be the most successful project of all time, "Thriller" is beloved the world over, inspiring imitation and a cult-like following of millions of fans.Documenting the creation of the most popular and iconic music video of all time, this book celebrates the artist and his music at the top of his career.


Famed photographer Douglas Kirkland and journalist Nancy Griffin were the only members of the media allowed on the set of the video.The resulting photos capture Jackson both in high performance mode and relaxing on the set and depict his transformation into the characters in the video as well capturing the public and private faces of Michael Jackson.

Compelling, intimate photos of the artist are accompanied by interviews and quotes from musicians and celebrities, including Sir Paul McCartney, Diddy, Beyonce, Steven Spielberg and many more.With a holographic cover that, when tilted, transforms the artist into his zombie character, the book is an impressive gift to be treasured by fans and music lovers everywhere. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

nice, but......
The photos in this book are nice to have and I have enjoyed reading all the artist's comments in the book about Michael Jackson.But if you feel you must own this book please disregard the words of authors of this book, Douglas Kirkland and Nancy Griffin.They are simply unaware that whatever it is that makes a journalist tick is something that is extremely destructive to an artist like Jackson and decidedly unhelpful to the general public and their grasp of what art really is.This book contributes nothing to the subject of why Thriller is the single most enduring and beloved work in the genre.The authors are unable to give an accurate synopsis in the beginning chapter "The Story of the Thriller".Their observations and remembrances about being on the set reveal a lack of understanding about the film and the artists who created it.Their reflections on Jackson's life show they didn't do their homework on Michael Jackson before putting out a book about him.I'm afraid we still have to wait if we want a good informative book about Michael Jackson and the making of Thriller.

Great photos, unwelcome commentary
Jackson fans will surely want this volume for their collections, with the behind the scenes photos of the making of the Thriller short film. True, many are still shots that can be seen in action contained within "The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller" home video, but many are seen here for the first time. What is disappointing and keeps tis from being a truly "5 star" volume is the random and unnecessary commentary from Nancy Griffin, whose discomfort with the king of pop taints the volume from the beginning. She is a journalist by trade, but yet says "whether Michael Jackson was a victim or a perpetrator in his later years, we will never know". Hey, journalist, how about doing some reserach and reading the trial transcripts, and then you'll have your answer! She also says "one thing we know for sure, he did not find happiness". So, there is definitely judgement cast by Griffin, but at least her comments are contained almost entitely within the Introduction - fans will move on quickly.

Elsewhere, Douglas Kirkland makes the comment "What a waste!" in reference to the suggestion that co-star Ola Ray seemed interested in Michael because Michael "wasn't wired that way", and the reader is left to interpret this for themselves.

Finally, I always wonder why "experts" on Jackson's career imply that it was all down hill after Thriller, when even a quick survey of history will tell you that his most popular days, best selling tours, and subsequent new world records in number one songs were still a few years away. What certainly was "all down hill" after Thriller was the media's handling of Michael Jackson. It is but too bad the volume is tainted with some unnecessary speculation, but its value is as a photographic time capsule of a very significant event in music history.

I love it
I wish I would've have ordered two, that way I can have one to read and the other unopened. Every MJ fan should buy this book.

A "thrilling" visual orgasm...
Starting from the lenticular cover showing Michael as man and zombie, the book invites you to remember, reminisce, dream about Michael back in 1983. This is the Michael I fell in lust with, that teenage crush I had at age 15. I hated Ola Ray, that lucky girl. This book brings me back to those schoolgirl, jealous twinges again. The pictures of Michael and Ola Ray flirting behind the scenes. Ahhhh....

The book is colorful and engaging. The little notes about what was going on were informative, but I admit I bought the book for the lovely pictures of Michael. It also gives location information which I love as I like to travel around LA following Michael's footsteps. IMO, it had too many costume pictures, I want the more natural, movie theater scene Michael, before the zombie and werewolf pictures, like the ones outside of the Palace Theater in downtown LA, but I know this book encompasses the whole 4 days.

Please, buy the book, BUT please do not read the unnecessary, and I feel derogatory opinions/beliefs of the person who wrote the introduction, Nancy Griffin.Why the author, Douglas Kirkland added this in this otherwise perfect visual orgasm of a book is beyond me!!!

Michael Jackson in 1983 is, to me, perfection, his beautiful eyes, those sexy lips, ahhh... I need to take a minute.

OK, I am back... At 15 and now at age 42, the Thriller era has always been my favorite and I am so happy that this book celebrates this era in the life of Michael Jackson. It is a wonderful piece of history that I cherish and tie much of my teen memories to. Thank you Douglas Kirkland for preserving this for us lifelong MJ fans and for exposing this experience to new fans alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

One happy customer
I give this seller 5 stars for super fast service, excellent pricing & great shipping.

Cover Description
From the cover:

"Take the 'High' road with Peter Harkness as he travels the Berkeley-to-Boston trade route for marijuana.Peter takes the money and comes back with tidy packages of little bricks of dope soakd in Coke (to diguise the smell).There's plenty of action and then plenty of hassle when Peter's lady gets busted for holding forty bricks (or eighty pounds) of marijuana.Suddenly, everything becomes very heavy for a formerly straight college student named Peter Harkness."

A Favorite
Love this book. It is NOT Chrichton's usual, that's for sure. It tells more truth about drug culture in the 60's than most scholarly tomes.

A Classic
What a fun read. So much less pompous than the rest of Michael Crichton stuff with a real feel for the 1960's drug scene.
I find myself quoting a line from the book repeatedly. There is a scene where the main character goes to his friends room and the girlfriend wearing only a robe, crosses her legs giving him a long slow shot. "Nothing offered," the character says, "just letting you know it's all there."

You holding NARC PLATES?
Michael's first (with his brother) venture into satire. How is your scat dropping? A bit diff than E.R. I'd say. Or Sphere, or 5 patients, or ?? ... Read more

Book Description
The Prince & the King presents a series of guided visualizations for men seeking to know themselves better. By combining powerful archetypal images with elements of the father-son relationship, Gurian helps you to transit from the "Prince" stage to the "King". - loving, wise & powerful ... Read more

Product Description
Now in paperback, and based on interviews with friends and colleagues, a revealing biography of Hollywood celebrity Michael Douglas, who has starred in such films as 'Basic Instinct', 'Fatal Attraction' and 'Wall Street'. First published in 1994. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Interesting biography of Douglas
The writing sometimes is "overblown," but it's an interesting biography of Michael Douglas. The book is from 1995. Two facual errors in the book do make you wonder if the author also made other factual mistakes. The two factual errors: 1) The author says that Jimmy Carter was an "unknown senator" before becoming president. Carter wasn't a senator, he was a governor. 2) The author says about William Calley, convicted after the Mylai massacre, that "the court martial...imposed a death sentence on Calley." That's incorrect. Calley was sentenced to life imprisonment - but was finally released after 3 and a half years. A biography shouldn't have factual errors like that - it makes you wonder how correct anything else in the book is. But the book is fairly interesting about Douglas' life and career. ... Read more

Product Description
Think of the quirky buildings you pass every day but whose quiet beauty you take for granted—the moviehouses, juke joints, soda fountains, barbershops, roadside diners, and storefront churches. You don’t miss them until they’re gone. As suburban sprawl and strip malls conquer the country, these vestiges of a lost way of life are falling under the wrecking ball. Here the photographer Michael Eastman has made the ultimate road trip, crisscrossing the nation dozens of times, to capture these buildings on film before they vanish. These dreamy images call us to question what we choose to let go in the wake of contemporary life, with a cool melancholy that evokes the work of Edward Hopper, Jack Kerouac, and William Eggleston. There is a wry sense of humor here as well. The book delights in the idiosyncracies of America’s vernacular styles, ranging from Depression Deco to New England clapboard in random juxtapositions that accrue over time in a town’s landscape. Countless visual puns arise among the book’s many detailed images of signs and statuettes. Vanishing America catalogues great everyday American architecture and design. But it also offers a provocative portrait of the silent emptiness that has descended upon vanishing small communities everywhere. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

An intriguing look at the America we often overlook...
I seem to have a fascination with older photos, especially pictures of architecture and buildings that tell endless stories.Our local library just got a copy of Vanishing America: The End of Main Street Diners, Drive-Ins, Donut Shops, and Other Everyday Monuments by Michael Eastman, so I got on the list to check it out.While it's not the old black-and-white photos of 80 years ago, Eastman has captured images of America that we pass by every day without a second thought.In context, the buildings and store fronts may not stand out.But isolated in a picture, they take on a certain quality that we wouldn't otherwise notice until they're gone.

The book is divided up into chapters covering theaters, churches, hangouts, doors, signs, stores, services, automobiles, hotels, and restaurants.After a brief one page somewhat philosophical description of the chapter matter, the rest of the chapter is nothing but full color photos of different places, from east coast to west.For instance, the theater chapter has a beautiful picture of the Fremont theater in San Luis Obispo, as well as a picture of the candy counter inside, evoking memories of when going to a movie was a big deal.Some of the theaters are abandoned, such as the Diamond theater in Tuscaoosa, but others are beautifully appointed interiors like the Paramount theater in Oakland.It's fascinating to see all the different styles, colors, and conditions laid out in successive pages.

What I found interesting in the book (and in photos in general) is that Eastman can take a run-down building that most of us would consider an eye-sore and give it a personality.The Arcade barber shop in Paducah would not win any awards for style, fashion, or even upkeep.But isolate it in a photo, and it takes on a whole new light, a completely different story.At some point, sites like these will be torn down for some other development project.Many will not even remember what was there to begin with.But Eastman is able to capture those glimpses of America that either are in their current glory, or perhaps are only reminiscent of better days.

Vanishing America won't take you long to "read", but it's an enjoyable walk across America's distant and not-so-distant paths...

Neglected Pieces of America
No matter where you live, you probably pass buildings that have seen better days on your daily commute. If not buildings, then maybe signs, whether they are on billboards or sides of buildings. All of these items harken back to an earlier time; a time when the area was more vibrant. Now replaced by suburban shopping malls, a changing population, or economics, these store fronts and signs are falling into our distant memories. With Vanishing America: The End of Main Street, Michael Eastman captures these items before they are demolished.

Contents:
Introduction
Theaters
Churches
Hangouts
Doors
Signs
Stores
Services
Automobiles
Hotels
Restaurants
About the Author

This book is filled with beautiful and sad photographs of pieces of America that disappear every day. While the population continues to move out from city centers, Eastman ventures into those spots to show you what you are missing or fail to see during your morning and afternoon rush hours. Each photo is worthy of your time, examining not only what is in front of you, but surrounding the focal point. While every chapter has its share of exceptional photographs, I thought that the chapter Doors was the best. There is something about these entranceways that speak to me. I don't know if it is the boarded up windows and locked doors, the storefronts covered with newspapers, or abandoned schools, they are haunting pictures. Other photos, full of energy and "life," are without any people. I don't know how Eastman was able to shoot those photos. An example is "Cabin Motels, Ketchum, Idaho." There is a vehicle in front of every room, but not a single person in the shot. I know that this Ketchum, Idaho, but still-where are the people? I think that aspect of the pictures is the most unsettling; all of these excellent photos, in fairly populated areas, and not a human in view.

While I loved this book, there were some small, annoying issues with it. For one, none of the photos have any sort of border around them, When the publisher puts 4 pictures on one page, they seem to "bleed" into one another. Another problem I had was that some of the pictures seemed to have been tightly cropped. An example is the photo "3'5'6' Hotel Pool, Fort Lauderdale, Florida." In the photo, I can see the 3' and 5' sections of the pool, but the 6' section is missing. If that was on purpose, I have no idea. Finally, some of the titles of the photos seem to have shifted somewhere in the publishing process. I don't know if this is due to sloppy editing, lazy proofreading, or an issue at the publisher, but it was somewhat shocking in a book of this caliber. Other than those issues, this is an excellent book that catalogues some parts of America that are slowly disappearing. I hope that after reading it, you will come to see your environment in a different light, much as I have.

A Different Kind of Beauty
This book is beautiful, but not in the traditional sense.It shows well-loved and decaying mainstays of small towns all across the U.S.Not so much the "Route 66" kitchy America, but the regular, everyday sights and signs that we seldom focus on but are there, nonetheless.The photographer took pictures of what was on the other side of the street, and it is poignant and a little sad to see some of that stuff in such a state of decline.I'm glad I purchased the book and I love to remember the small town I grew up in as I flip through its pages.

A Necessary Disappointment
If You're a fan of Michael Eastman's fine art photography, as I am, you must get a copy of his latest book, "Vanishing America."You must get it, but you'll be disappointed in it--disappointed in the layout, particularly, but also in the reproduction.

As to the layout, the photographs are given no respect.They are presented full bleed, that is, without margins.A typical two-page spread has a large picture full-bleed on the left side, and an array of smaller pictures--also full bleed and butting up against each other so it's hard to tell where one ends and the next begins--on the right.

This is not a book of photographs so much as it is a book of Americana, the kind you see on the bargain racks of the large chain bookstores.

As to the reproduction, I remember seeing a large (50x40 inch) print of "Shotgun House, New Orleans" at a show a few years ago.It was $5000 framed and I wanted it, but I had neither the wall space nor the money, so I contented myself with a free, postcard-size promotional reproduction.This reproduced the colors of the larger image very well and it served as a good reminder of why I liked it.This picture is reproduced in the book, slightly cropped, for no good reason, and with a decided magenta cast, compared to my postcard copy. Looking at the picture in the book, it doesn't remind me at all of my feelings for the original print.

I assume books of American are more profitable than books of photographs.If so, I can forgive this disappointing book.Fine art photographers need all the support they can get.

Worth getting
This book is full of wonderful pictures - too many, in fact. It could be half as long as it is and still be worth the cover price and more. The result of such overly generous editing is that the layout is downright awful - crowded, jumbled and ugly. But that in no way diminishes the fact that there are some stunning, evocative pictures in here, pictures of the backbone of America many of us have never seen and will never see. A book to come back to again and again. ... Read more

Product Description
July 20, 1944: the legendary Bomb Plot by the disillusioned members of Hitlers military high command succeeds. New tactics are employed by the Nazi war machine including the appointment of General Rommel, as military head of the Nazi forces in Europe. This lays the groundwork for a vastly different Battle of the Bulge with even higher stakes and possibly dire consequences. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (54)

Engaging and plausible
A great novel which take the basic historical facts, takes a key turning point and flips it round. The way in which the authors achieves this creates a unique reading experience. The reader will be ready for the sequel. Recommended to anyone who likes history.

Without a Doubt One of the Best Alternate History Novels
One of the biggest problems with alternate histories is that they either tend to be poorly thought out and the worlds they create are inept, or they are so overly rah-rah that you know how the story ends after one page.The good AHs are like M.Chabon-The Yiddish Policeman, where there is a strong main character and story, with the change in history being explained in a realistic way (ok a jewish homeland in alaska is a little bit of a stretch).

In this scenario, with Hitler assassinated by von Staffenberg and his conspirators, it would not be unthinkable that Himmler had planned to make himself the new 'fuhrer' by having Goring killed.That he would make a peace with Stalin is also not that far fetched, since Stalin had already dealt with Hitler and the Germans and Soviets worked together a lot in the 20s and 30s.

There is no question that Rommel was there best strategist and to try and recapture Antwerp was the reason behind the "Battle of the Bulge".Niles and Dobson do a great job of using 'real' military people as characters and then creating a few of there own to enhance the action.More than anything the do a fabulous job in describing battles (some of which actually happened but in other places) and the feeling of those not only in HQ but also of those who have to slog it out on the battlefield.

Historically, they have done a good job in explaining how Eisenhower was able to keep Montgomery happy, use Bradley as his main strategist and Patton as his head executor.That he represents Monty as a strutting peacock is exactly as he has been shown by the accounts of most of his contemporaries.That Patton was pompous and bombastic is true to his character, though he cared deeply for his men and the sacrifices they made.(My Dad was Third Army and always spoke well if not profanely about 'Old Blood and Gut', your blood his guts.)

All in all a very satisfying story.

What is the point? What is the reason?
Why write a novel with 'what if' premise if the result will be the same? So Hitler dies and there is a chance to turn the war around for Germans.... then let the Germans win or at least have them take France and Poland and call it a draw. What the hell was the purpose of the book if Patton will continue to beat up on Germans? At the least, have Patton or Eisenhower assasinated and come up with a good story. This book was a waste of time and money. You guys can skip this one because you are not missing out on anything.

Cunning What if..!
As true to the Desert Fox with a tribute to his genius without glorifing the Third Reich. A compelling see-saw story between the Allies and the Wehrmacht with plenty of intrigue and surprises. Some outcomes are slightly disappointing, but then again, so is life. Very interesting how the two authors work so well to fulfill an exhilerating story. Right up there with Harry Turtledove in the Alternate History legends, I cannot wait to get the sequel, AJH.

A book to perpatuate the worst of American historical propaganda
To anyone who knows the real history of the European part of WWII, this is an idiotic premise for a book.In America--and nowhere else in the world--they teach that America, with help from the Soviets, defeated Nazi Germany.This is propagandaand makes us a laughingstock for our naivete.

In truth, while we were fighting the Japanese, and crushing their hopes beyond repair in the Battle of Midway, making it only a matter of how long it would take, not who would win, the Russians did the same thing to the Nazis in the Battle of Stalingrad and surrounding areas.One huge difference is that while the U.S. lost between 292,000 and 400,000 dead in the entire war, the Russians lost beween 20 and 30 MILLION dead.(Ponder that for awhile.I find it incomprehensible.)

Unimaginable numbers of men, women and children died in and around Stalingrad, and the old beast Stalin--in perhaps the only completely truthful statement of his life--said, "They are not fighting for me and they are not fighting for Communism.They are fighting for Mother Russia."He was right.

When the 12-to-18 month battle was over, the Russians' fatalities far outnumbered those of the Nazis.But the Russian people's courage--aided enormously by the climate that had doomed Napoleon, and supplies and food from the U.S.--destroyed a majority of Hitler's army.The Nazis were in full retreat back through Eastern Europe, forcibly conscripting 15-year-old Poles to fight in what remained of their great army.

All of this was well BEFORE D-Day.If you read American newspapers from November of 1943, you can read about conferences between FDR, Churchill (my pick for the greatest person of the century) and Stalin--discussing what they would do when the war ended.In other words, they knew victory was a done deal--over half a year before D-Day.

So, this book is another effort to say the U.S. military played a major effort in defeating Nazi Germany.That is a lie which every country in the rest of the world scorns us for believing.In World War II, we did the following things:

(1)Defeated a Japanese government & military not much better than Hitler's.While we had help (as did the Russians in their immense sacrifice), we were clearly the main force in the Pacific, just as were the Russians in Europe;

(2)Kept Stalin from metastasizing his way through the rest of Europe;

(3)Hastened the war's end, a big deal.Nobody will ever know how much longer Hitler needed to get the doomsday bomb, but we all know what he would have done, as those Russian tanks smashed their way through those final blocks toward his bunker, if he'd had the doomsday button at his command; and

(4)Lost the lives of 292,000-400,000 courageous souls, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of others who came home with what is now called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (a major mental disorder) and/or serious physical injuries.

I am not disparaging any of those sacrifices, nor trivializing Items (1) through (3), nor (of course) our defeating Japan.But this country REALLY has to get past the notion we beat the Nazis or co-beat them.

We didn't, any more than the Soviets co-beat Japan.

A year ago, I heard an idiot on ESPN tout some movie about D-Day, a movie which was to air that night on their parent network, ABC.He referred to D-Day as, "The most important battle of World War Two."

There are a lot of places in Europe where one would not want to be heard making that statement, and only people "educated" about history in American schools could in good faith state such nonsense.

This book, sadly, will only carry on this tradition of ignorance through propaganda.The conspiracy to kill Hitler had been in its formative stages well before D-Day, for the reason its major participants had already known Germany was hopelessly beaten.

Here is what all reasonable people can agree upon:

(A)It is a great tragedy the bomb failed to do its job, for it would have saved many millions of lives; and

(B)It is too bad Rommel, a man deeply respected by many American military leaders, went down with the ship, because I don't believe he would have failed again.Moreover, he obviously knew Stalingrad had destroyed the great Nazi machine, and that the combined wraths of the Russians/Soviets over Stalingrad, and the British over The Blitz in 1940-1941, would take a horrible toll on the Germans at the hands of their victors.And he was sure right.

Americans nowadays argue over the morality of Truman's two atom bombs, with the vast majority of those who were not alive then condemning him for ordering the bombings.

I agree they are a fascinating subject for debate.But I can tell you this:I was born in 1953 and have asked well over 1,000 people in my life who were at least 21 on the date of Pearl Harbor how they felt about the dropping of those two bombs.And I have NEVER found such a person who disagreed with the dropping of those atom bombs AT THE TIME, though many disagree with it now or disagreed with it later.Not a single one disagreed with it in 1945.

But the firebombing of Dresden?Not only does everyone I know now who knows about it condemn it as a clearly indefensible thing (which killed more people outright than either of those atom bombs), but most people I have known who were adults during World War II condemned it, too--not only to me, but when it happened way back then, finding no justification for it at whatsoever.

I apologize for using a monolithic subject with which to grade this book.But it IS another book which perpetuates the lie that our military defeated or co-defeated the Nazis.And our country's perpetuation of that myth/propaganda has done our country and its civilians a great disservice in the court of Western Culture's opinion.

I care a lot about that court's opinion of me and my country.I don't care at all what Bin Laden and other fundamentalist Islamics think about me or my culture, any more than I care what Falwell and Robertson think about me.But I am tired of having the rest of the Western World view Americans as naive idiots.

A book which perpetuates the notion our military defeated the Nazis will only help ensure that we continue to be seen--not only by Russians, but by all Europeans--as at least naive, if not idiots.

Jim F. ... Read more

Product Description
First biography of one of the founding members of Punch set against Victorian theatre life.

 Michael Slater is the acclaimed editor of the four volumes of Dickens’s journalism (Orion).

 No current book available on Victorian theatre life, Jerrold’s milieu.

Douglas Jerrold was the quintessential Victorian. Starting life as a seaman, he, like Dickens, one of his closest friends, turned himself into a famous writer and journalist, a friend feared for his sharp pen in literary circles. A prolific writer of articles and novels, he wrote many successful plays that made his rising popular fame equal to Dickens’s celebrity as a novelist. When Jerrold died at the early age of 54, Dickens spoke the eulogy at his funeral, which was attended by a crowd that would only be surpassed by the attendance at Dickens’s funeral. Michael Slater has researched Douglas Jerrold ever since he became professor at the University of London, distilling his views in this vivid portrait of a remarkable man and dramatic life which is little known. Jerrold was in his time as important as Dickens and understanding him is a necessary step to understanding the great writer himself. ... Read more

Product Description
Archbishop Michael Ramsey was arguably Anglicanism's saint of the 20th-century. Clever, humble, shy, full of sympathy and with a great wit, his outstanding gift was that he made God real for people. It is said that when he read a Bible lesson, it was as if every word was on fire, and his robust saintliness was tangible, even in telephone conversations. This study explores what made him such a remarkable figure. Drawing on his published and unpublished writings and on the many personal recollections of him, "Glory" (a favourite expression of his) explores his theological understanding, his vision of the Church, or worship and the Christian life. A complementary volume to Owen Chadwick's biography, it is arranged around themes that were central to him: the meaning of the cross, the Church's life, the primacy of worship and the Church's unity. A record of a Christian leader for all students of church life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Spiritual Theology Embodied
Glory! is an introduction to the "spiritual theology" (a popular phrase today in some Anglican circles which seeks to emphasize the importance of dogma and the fact dogma shapes how we live, think and pray) of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1961 - 1974.Throughout the book, Dales refers to Ramsey as "Bishop Michael," which was Ramsey's preferred means of address throughout his life.Glory! therefore operates on several levels: historical, theological and, perhaps most importantly, hagiographical.As Dales writes in the introduction, "This book is intended to reaffirm the essential unity, identity and vitality of Anglican Christianity throughout the world, and to strengthen the integrity of its life and witness as it enters a new century and millennium" (xiii).Dales sets out to inscribe the life and teachings of "Bishop Michael" upon the Anglican imagination and memory; not only does he succeed, but in the process he reaches into the very depths of Anglicanism and fills the imagination and memory of the reader with information about many other great saints in Anglican history.

Dales has a solid sense of history; unlike a number of people today, he is fully cognizant of the fact that Anglicanism's history is quite literally 2,000 years old.Thus, Bishop Michael is not marooned in a history that begins in the 16th century but, instead, is a part of a living stream of tradition that reaches from the time of the Apostles through the Church Mothers and Fathers up through his own day.The history of the Church of England from the 6th century on gets a certain priority in terms of shaping the narrative, but that is only to be expected: Ramsey was an Anglican!Fortunately, however, Dales does not revel in some sort of nationalist-tinged historiography or hagiography but looks both East and West, ancient and modern, for insights into Ramsey's thought.

It is the Eastern Orthodox influence on Bishop Michael that Dales does an especially fine job noting.There is, perhaps, something curious about the fact that although most Anglicans have no real knowledge of the long and fascinating history between Anglicanism and Eastern Orthodoxy; the history goes all the way back to the translating of the King James Bible and has continued unabated since.This history reached a high point - its highest, really - when The Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius was founded in 1928 by members of the Anglican Communion and the Orthodox church.Bishop Michael was a member of the Fellowship - it still exists today and Rowan Williams, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, is its president - and was, throughout his life, greatly influenced by Orthodox theology.Dales notes that Ramsey himself often felt that he was more of an Orthodox than an Anglican thinker in many ways (118).

Bishop Michael was among a group of theologians in the Fellowship including Sergius Bulgakov, the greatest Russian Orthodox thinker of the 20th century, and Nicholas Lossky, who wrote a still-classic study of Lancelot Andrewes' theology, who believed that the Orthodox and Anglican churches ought to be in full communion with one another.This, however, never came to be.But ecumenism ran deeply in Bishop Michael's veins; he also had hoped that the Anglicans and Methodists might be reunited, and spent a tremendous amount of time working towards this.When it did not succeed, Bishop Michael apparently even considered leaving the Anglican Communion!However, he did not, for he felt that faithfulness despite heart-breaking setback was the key to truly catholic life.

Bishop Michael is probably best-known today for his ecclesiology, but Dales also does a fine job looking at other facets of Bishop Michael's thought: the authority of Scripture (and what this does and doesn't mean), the necessity of the sacraments, the nature of the priesthood, our participation in God and what it meant to be filled with the Holy Spirit.Dales includes a fantastic amount of primary source material; Bishop Michael's own voice shines through spectacularly throughout this volume.Glory! works wonderfully well a companion volume to Glory Descending: Michael Ramsey And His Writings, a selection of primary texts written by Michael Ramsey to which is joined a several theological studies on various facets of his theology by several contemporary Anglican luminaries.One does indeed see that Bishop Michael was the greatest of Anglican theologians - and mystics, really - of the second-half of the 20th century.Thank God for him, for his life and his witness, and may this book do much to inscribe that life and witness upon the memory and imagination of Anglicans, and all other catholic Christians! ... Read more

Product Description
Takes a look at the seven debates in 1858 between Abraham Lincoln and Stephan Douglas in their race for the U.S. Senate in Illinois. ... Read more

Product Description
As the spirited step dancer and international star of Riverdance, Michael Flatley shattered records, silenced doubters, revolutionized an ancient dance form, and brought joy to millions of people worldwide. After finding his calling at the age of eleven, when he was "dragged by the ears" to dance school, Michael went on to become the first American to win the World Irish Dancing Championship.

In this no-holds-barred autobiography, Michael explains what really happened backstage at Riverdance -- and why and how he launched one of the greatest show business success stories of all time, Lord of the Dance. He also discusses his life as a dancer -- the hours of rigorous training and the drama behind his controversial rise to stardom. Filled with commentary from family, friends, colleagues, and celebrities and brimming with Michael's Irish charm and good humor, this book is the very personal story of a man who has lived life to the fullest according to his own credo: Nothing is impossible. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (148)

For my mom
I wish my mom was still alive to see it. She was so proud of her Irish heritage.

Bravo!
This is a really fun production, Michael is a little over the top, but the female leads are beautiful and talented and the music is superb. I got the soundtrack and I listen to it all the time!

replacing a defective DVD
The Michael Flatley -LORD of the Dance was defective, but all I had to do was notify Amazon.com. they issued a postage paid return label, and immediately sent another one. I returned the bad one with the return label,and my replacement came a day later. thanks for your quick and easy response.

Exciting
Although he is a bit of a show off, Michael Flatley is an incredible dancer.The various dancing, playing, and singing disciplines go well together as does the changing of acts.Very well done.

WONDERFUL
THE BEST RIVER DANCERS DVD LIVE PREFORMANCES I HAVE HAD THE PLEASURE TO ENJOY.MICHAEL FLATLEYS' PRODUCTION IS INCREDIBLE. ... Read more

Product Description
The world's premier music photographer takes us on an electrifying journey through rock history--from the early 1960s to the present. Not Fade Away collects the best of Jim Marshall's photography for the first time--and offers a visual history unprecedented in its intimacy, immediacy, and impact. The 124 duotone images include virtually every artist in the rock pantheon, including the Beatles, the Grateful Dead, the Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Muddy Waters, the Allman Brothers, Jackson Brown, and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

I knew him when........
As post teeners in SF's North Beach, Jim and I caroused the jazz clubs in the 50s with his first Leica. Always caustic, ever insightful, Jim progressed from raw talent to brilliant. This book is super to those who lived it !!!! Jack Bennett

music photographs in the highest regard
a beautiful music book from a very opinionated photographer. both text and images are the top shelf material.

This incredible photo book should get 11 Stars!
So MUCH ink has been spilled about the 60's & early 70's, most of it overblown or off base in someway. Marshall's black and white photos (most of them taken by a Leica without flash!) get to the heart and soul of thetimes in ways most writers can only dream of...I can't wait until the colorvolume comes out. Powerful stuff (like a shot of great whiskey), a musthave for any music fan. The HIGHEST recommendation!

Where Have You Gone, Jim Marshall?
One of America's pre-eminient rock photographers surfaces.Jim Marshall's work was a fixture of the '60s and some of the '70s, especially when it came to the Summer of Love and SF.But then like Flower Power & the '60s, Marshall indeed "faded away."His later output in the '70s and '80s is devoid of post-'60s icons as Springsteen, who had a huge pre-Time/Newsweek magazine following here, as well as others.I first met him 12 yrs ago when he sold me one of his photos.I was familiar with his work with Life (Stones 1972 tour) and before and was thrilled to be able to meet the man.At the time I wondered why he hadn't published a book yet.Now here it is and for the most part it delivers bigtime.Great insights delivered via the photo captions; sometimes when Marshallcompliments an artist ("so-&-so was the greatest") it might come off a bit on the light side but you can't really complain. His work speaks for itself.It was powerful and awesome.Also in the book are photos of recent performers such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers.Maybe it's the Times...maybe it's the Subjects...but these recent photos didn't belong in this book at all.It's great to see Marshall's more current work, but I think quite a bit of the magic was missing.Marshall himself acknowledges this.If anybody can conjure this old feeling back through the art of photography, he can. ... Read more

Product Description
This trip through one of the most densely populated areas of the world is also a journey through a strangely underpopulated place, inhabited only by the traces of city dwellers.The dark back alleys that crisscross the city are home to objects that, at first glance, seem to be discarded—the random detritus of the man-made world. Under the scrutiny of Michael Wolf's photographic eye, these objects become fascinating installation pieces, while the abstract patterns of the buildings reveal the beauty and order that underlie the apparent chaos of the city. Thought-provoking texts by Kenneth Baker and Douglas Young explore the choices that people make of lifestyle, form, function, identity, and design, as well as the notion of Hong Kong as a brand. 75 color photographs ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

review taken from kee magazine, hong kong, by rebecca walker
The Architecture of Density

Words: Rebecca Walker
Images: www.photomichaelwolf.com

German-born photographer Michael Wolf has been described by some as `humanly alert'. KEE talks to him about the urban dynamics of a complex culture.

Michael Wolf views ordinary things in extraordinary ways. Culturally astute, Wolf's artistic inspiration comes from the local culture in which he immerses himself. Wolf has been fascinated by China's complex urban dynamics since moving to Asia as a contract photographer 10 years ago and his photography focuses on the idiosyncrasies of the Asian way of life. Insightful and absorbing, his latest book "Hong Kong, The Front Door/The Back Door" deals with the SAR's cultural identity through depictions of the city's architecture.

Wolf was born in Munich and grew up in the USA. He began a career in photography after graduating from the University of Essen in Germany, freelancing for various international publications including Time, Spiegel and Stern. In the early 1990s Wolf had an epiphany. "I was sitting in my room in Amsterdam and suddenly knew I needed to make a big change in my life. I had a picture of the globe in my head and when I came to Asia I knew that was where I needed to go."

His decision was a good one and it was in China that he found his ultimate inspiration. "I love the visual chaos of China. It is a photographers dream," says the photographer. Wolf's poignant portrayals of the lives and living conditions of his cultural environment are subjective and personal and have earned him international acclaim. As described by Art Critic Kenneth Baker, "By their formal intelligence and acuity of observation, Wolf's Hong Kong pictures easily earn the status of art works."

Wolf's first book, "China in Transition" (2001) documents the disappearing grandeur of the Middle Kingdom in China. It is a compelling portrait of old culture embarking into modernity and casts a moving gaze at China and its people on the threshold of the third millennium. His second book, "Sitting in China" (2002) depicts a multifaceted China, from its chairs to the mindset of its people. Through a diverse assortment of compelling images, Wolf documents the beauty of the ugly, the stretching of time, the art of improvisation, and the nature of the stool as a portrait of its user. He often depicts discarded objects of the man-made world in his photographs and is interested in the "beauty inherent in used objects." He explains, "My parents are both artists and from an early age my mother took me to flea markets to rummage through a myriad of used knick-knacks. I love pattern and character, and the feeling that something has a history."

Wolf's third book, "Chinese Propaganda Posters" (2003) showcases his vast personal collection of colourful propagandist artworks and cultural artifacts produced between the birth of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and the early 1980s. "Chinese Propaganda Posters" is whimsically structured to correspond with the chapters of Mao's Red Book and gives a sense of how the illiterate masses used images to define themselves in Communist China. "The posters give a sense of how the Chinese viewed their future at that time. The discrepancy between fantasy and reality really fascinates me and the posters are also very stylistically beautiful."

In his latest release, "Hong Kong: Front Door/Back Door" (2005), Wolf continues to explore the theme of the organic metropolis. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the world and Wolf's photographs seek out the human spirit in the urban jungle. The images in the book depict the high-rises that shape the spatial experience of Hong Kong's citizens. Since Wolf himself is one of those citizens (he has been a Hong Kong resident since 1994), his photographs have a distinctively personal essence. "To me the concept of the `back-door' is far more interesting than the front. The back alleys contain a tremendous visual wealth. When you enter through the font door of someone's house you see what they want you to see: the best version. The back door on the other hand tells a culture's true story."

A close look at one of Wolf's architectural images uncovers irregularities such as plants, laundry and scaffolding that interrupt the orderly design of monolithic apartment buildings. The monotonous regularity of each façade is given a distinct personality through human details. "When people don't have enough space, they improvise and adapt. There are many symbols of Chinese thriftiness in the book that are very telling of the Eastern mindset. In the West we throw things away when they break. In the East people take the time to fix things, it doesn't matter what things look like, as long as they work."

Thought-provoking texts by art critic Kenneth Baker and designer Douglas Young are included in "Front Door/Back Door". The two pay a humanistic tribute to the ingenuity of city-dwellers and their content examines peoples' lifestyle choices and explores the concepts of form, function, identity, and design. As stated by Baker in the book's introduction: "The new Hong Kong residential architecture has turned the lives of the Hong Kong people inside-out." This assertion is supported by Young who says, "Buildings that begin as monoliths are slowly humanised by their inhabitants; architecture becomes a framework upon which people can hang their personal personalities."

Young describes Hong Kong as a "city of contrasts" and says, "Architects (in Hong Kong) have ingeniously stretched the tolerance of strict building codes by squeezing as many households as possible into a given site." Wolf chose to collaborate with Young and Baker on this project because he was drawn to their cultural knowledge and artistic sensibility. "Douglas Young has a very interesting local vision of Hong Kong whereas Kenneth Baker puts the photographs into context artistically on an international level."

Wolf's interest in the people and societal changes taking place in China earned his images first prize in the `Contemporary Issues' section of the 2005 World Press Photo Awards. Held annually, the awards have come to be regarded as the most prestigious for photojournalism in the world. Says Wolf, "I have been a photojournalist for over 30 years, so it's great to be rewarded for all my hard work."

Wolf is interested in exploring a wide range of multi-faceted artistic pursuits and says he has an ever-increasing urge to work on his own projects. His installation art piece, "The Real Toy Story", is one such example. In 2004 he spent four weeks collecting over 20,000 toys from various charity shops and flea-markets, all with `Made in China' stamps. He then visited five toy factories in China where he photographed the workers producing the toys and the resulting artwork was an elaborate installation that incorporated 16,000 toys and embedded photographs. The installation was extremely well received by art critics worldwide and will be exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago in 2006.

With the next 12 months booked in advance, Wolf shows no sign of slowing down. He stands by his motto: "If you are a vision and real conviction, you will find success." And that he has. ... Read more

Product Description
This text is designed to serve as a primary text for teaching the science of studying to university and other students. Divided into five main sections, 13 chapters deal with:

(1) Fundamentals, including scientific findings concerning learning and studying, and the physiological and psychological basis of memory(2) Physical and emotional state when studying/taking exams(3) How best to store and remember information(4) Using the environment and things around us to help(5) Integrating the above.

Improving Memory and Study Skills is based on the latest research, including that of the authors, on how students study, learn, and remember. The authors collectively have over 100 years of experience in teaching and research about how students can learn more efficiently. This text presents both the rationale and the methods that have led to a new and successful multimodal approach to developing memory and study skills. Not only is the book full of practical recommendations for both teaching and learning these skills. In addition, the scientific reasons for the suggested procedures are clearly laid out, and the explanations in turn are grounded in practical examples.

Each of the 13 chapters is rounded off by a concise summary of the most salient points, and the book itself is completed by a comprehensive glossary, and full author and subject indexes.

A series of CD training products entitled "The Memory Works", produced by the Practical Memory Institute (of which first author Doug Herrmann is Executive Director), are available from: ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

True "Super (High Level)" Learning
This book is utterly superb.I have never read such a clear, practical, and detailed book on how memory works, and how to improve it.

It takes a strategy perspective (although it uses the term manipulation) and shows how many different ways can be used singularly or in combination to fit particular study and memory tasks.

So there is nothing about mystical breathing techniques, yoga, the use of baroque music, the application of NLP, the increase of IQ or the use of pseudoscience to twist any issues.It relies on strategies that everyone has access to without the attendance of seminars or gurus.E.G, getting reasonable sleep, not being alcoholic, as well as typical external and internal memory strategies such as writing things down, placing objects as reminders, the correct application of the search for meaning and the use of visual mnemonics.

The high level of organization in the text makes it very easy to read.There are brief and clear summary sections at the end of each chapter, and clear advanced organisers throughout.

The best thing, I feel, is the addition of about 40 different strategies suited to various tasks that are common to study.All the strategies are reasoned out, and research is quoted for support.

Both useful and inspiring.
True "super" learning. ... Read more

Product Description
Thorstein Veblen shook the complacency of America in the early twentieth century with his incisive criticisms of our social and economic systems. Discarding the classical view of "eternal" economic laws that conveniently justified the nineteenth-century predatory practices of "big business" in terms of rational self-interest, Veblen cast a fresh, merciless eye on America's money-making passion.

In glittering prose, Veblen exposed our social system as one designed to block man's natural "instinct of workmanship." He demonstrated that our leisure-class culture fostered the myth that work was inherently irksome to man. Veblen was also fascinated by the machine and the new science of technology. He saw businessmen basically at war with engineers and scientists because making exorbitant profits did not necessarily jibe with making better goods.

In his study of this intriguing personality, Thorstein Veblen, Douglas Dowd reveals that Veblen was unsuccessful in his university career and his two marriages, and in his private life was strange, bitter, and detached. But in his books, Veblen shone as one of America's most penetrating thinkers whose theories proved a potent force in the modernization of economics as a science. Dowd's sympathetic approach to Veblen's nature and problems places this giant in the field against a contemporary background in powerful and lively fashion. In his new introduction, Michael Keaney breathes new life into this unjustly neglected primer on Veblen. A new generation of students will undoubtedly benefit from this comprehensive guide to the thought of someone whose intellectual endeavor was non-doctrinaire and constantly changing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Glory DescendingMichael Ramsey and His Writings
This is a book I would heartily recommend. It provides not only a wonderful insight into the heart and mind of Archbishop Michael Ramsey, who was a most inspiring person, but also a fund of spiritual teaching and faith-filled encouragement that is much needed in these difficult post-modern times burdened under the dictatorship of relativism. This great spiritual leader held up a vision of humanism - a Christian humanism that is most authentically filled with hope. In this he draws on and develops for people of today the approach of the Fathers of the Church, such as St Irenaeus of Lyons, whose words he delighted to quote: "The Glory of God is man fully alive; and the life of man is the vision of God."

Glory Descended
A reader in the writings of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1961 - 1974, is long overdue.Although this particular volume does not quite make up for the deficit, it does a fine job in providing readers a generation of Ramsey's death an introduction to one of the most holy men to have ever sat within the see of Canterbury.It is accompanied by several essays on Ramsey's theology as well as two homilies, the first by the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the second by Douglas Dales, the leading scholar of Ramsey's thought and author of a fantastic study of Ramsey's theology entitled Glory!.Bound quite sturdily in a hardcover book and beautifully printed, it is obvious that those who edited Glory Descending - Douglas Dales, John Habgood (former Archbishop of York), Geoffrey Rowell (Anglican Primate of Europe), and Rowan Williams (current Archbishop of Canterbury) - edited it not just with an eye to the mind, but to the heart as well.It is no exaggeration to write that this volume is lovingly edited.

This book is not, however, a theological reader so much as a theological devotional.This may sound strange, for theology and devotion are often seen as being antithetical to each other - and in certain forms of Christianity they are - but in the life of Michael Ramsey, the heart and the head were always joined together, with neither division nor confusion.Thus, the writings collected and edited within this volume are, like many devotionals, given in rather short form; some selections are a few pages long, but most only a few paragraphs (and some not even that).It is a format that one might think would not work, but it actually works surprisingly well.In perusing the pages of Glory Descending one is therefore given to depth: of the heart and the mind.The book is actually arranged according to the Church year, so that various readings are set within the historic seven season framework, but whether or not one wishes to read it seasonally, it reads quite smoothly.

Ramsey is perhaps best known for his book The Gospel and the Catholic Church, which was first printed in 1936.To this day it remains the greatest work on ecclesiology ever written by any Anglican theologian - and, for that matter, one of the finest works of ecclesiology ever written by any Catholic Christian period.Ramsey was, through and through, an Anglican: deeply rooted in the Bible, Church and Sacraments.His writings - on the Church, the sacraments, Christ, God, prayer, the transfiguration (all of which are sampled extensively in this book) - breathe the breath of the ages; it is obvious that Ramsey did not do theology as if he were shooting from the hip but yielded himself to a deep, deep study of the Tradition.The voice he speaks with is not simply his own, but joined to the chorus of the saints of all ages, East and West (and Ramsey was deeply indebted to Eastern Orthodoxy, being the first Archbishop of Canterbury to ever be invited to visit the Russian Orthodox church - during the reign of Stalin, no less! - as well as being quite active in the Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius; Geoffrey Rowell has a wonderful essay within this volume on Ramsey's indebtedness to the Easter church, especially with regard to the transfiguration of Christ).This ability to join his voice - to yield his voice - to the great doctors, East and West, only shows his own humility and, at the same time, also let his own voice resound that much more clearly - but, such is the paradox of all saints!

Glory truly descended upon St. Michael Ramsey of Canterbury; he is among the last of the great Anglican theologians and he is too often neglected today, for his writings reveal a deep spirituality, animated by Scripture and rooted in prayer, a compassionate and humble spirit that was equally at home with Biblical scholars and the great saints of ages past.This hardcover book is not just a book to be read, but a book to be meditated upon again and again.In every age there are a handful of genuinely holy people that really point the way to God; Michael Ramsey was one of them.This is a fine introduction and survey of one of Anglicanism's - and Christianity's - finest and no Anglican, especially, should be without a familiarity with his writings - which were, in many ways, doxologies at the same time.May his memory be eternal. ... Read more