Product Description
Robert Shaw is considered to be the most influential choral conductor in American history. This is the first collection of his letters and notes about music ever published—at another time, it is the book Shaw would have written himself.

The letters are an invigorating mix of music history and analysis, philosophy, inspiration, and practical advice. Shaw examines technique, but only as a means to an end—he moves beyond that, delving into the essence of what music is and what it has to say to us. The heart of the book is composed of Shaw’s previously unpublished notes on fifteen major choral works, ranging from Bach’s B Minor Mass to Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms.

Often inspiring and sometime hilarious, these writings reveal the full breadth of Shaw’s knowledge, intensity, and humor.



Robert Blocker is the Lucy and Henry Moses Dean of the Yale School of Music.

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Customer Reviews (6)

Great book
I had to buy this book for my advanced choral conducting class - and we're assigned just a few passages to read out of it - just reading those few passages has made me want to read the entire thing - Robert Shaw comes across as intelligent but quirky and humorous.I'm enjoying it so far.

Robert Shaw - rehearsal genius
The book is an invaluable collection of Mr. Shaw's excellent rehearsal techniques, including his "building block" approach to learning new music.It's pedagogically sound.Another interesting section recounts his letters to his choirs about poor rehearsal attendance, tardiness, unexcused absences, etc.It was so gratifying to find out that the greatest choir director of the 20th century had many unfaithful attenders.Several of his Atlanta Symphony Chorus members failed to attend a full concert with the orchestra, in order to hear Pavarotti sing the same night!!!Shaw was furious. Every choir director should read this book.

Must Buy
This book is a must buy, if for nothing else, than for his analysis of some famous pieces. His analysis of the War Requiem is nothing short of awe inspiring. This man was one in a billion in terms of his thought process of music, and this book is a road map to greatness in choral conducting.

A must read
If you are at all serious about being a choral director, this book is a must. If you work with amateur choruses or school groups,the opening chapters will serve as a reminder that you are not alone in your experiences; they are universal. The later chapters give great insight to Shaw's musical thinking and the care with which he prepares his work. My only regret is that I did not run across this book sooner in my career.

R. Shaw Reader
What an inspiring book.This man did it all and was successful at it.I recommend this to all future and current teachers looking at teaching music of any kind.Rehearsal techniques, great stories, letters, etc. ... Read more

Product Description
The Westminster Confession of Faith is the standard of Church beliefs for the Reformed churches worldwide. It is also the most comprehensive statement of biblically based Christian belief available. Here you have an excellent manual of Christian Doctrine, expertly unpacked by Robert Shaw.
This book is a practical aid to help us understand and apply the material in the Confession to our lives – making us live out our confession as individual Christians and as members of the worldwide church.
This book is the recognised companion volume to the Westminster Confession of Faith.
The Westminster Confession is the most accurate creed so far produced by the church. Many of its statements are short explanations of profound doctrine that need to be unpacked. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

From provocial to practical...
Shaw's work is an excellent PRACTICAL explanation of the Westminster Confession of Faith.It is far broader in scope than Williamson's work that tends to get bogged down in inter-nicene Reformed battles.Shaw stays focused on making clear and comprehensible the rich summary of Biblical teaching that is the Westminster Confession of Faith.

The Old Paths
Robert Shaw's: "Reformed Faith: Expostition of the Westminster Confession of Fatith", is an excellent resouce for understanding the WCF. It is well written and organized bringing to bear many additional scriptures which further expound the given topics. The truth of the matter is that the Church of Jesus Christ must return to the old paths; that is, classic, foundational Christianity as commanded and taught by the Scriptures and as expounded by the WCF and other such reliable confessions. Shaw's work is an excellent resource to that end. I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Product Description

From an esteemed child psychiatrist: a bold, fresh, and controversial look at the faddish child-rearing practices that have created a nation of children who are depressed, alienated, often amoral, and all too often violent. The shock of the Columbine shootings and other school violence has generated a national debate, and there's a dawning realization that something incomprehensible is happening: our privileged, pampered children are turning into monsters at an alarming rate.

Customer Reviews (36)

Nothing To Offer to the Genre
Neither helpful nor insightful. That is how I would characterize this book. Where to start? It was simply dreadful, in my opinion. First and foremost, not a single opinion contained in this book was sourced from any reliable research. There was no analysis of current studies on children and parenting. In fact, there were no studies mentioned at all, to back up the author's opinion that most children out there are twits. There were a lot of anecdotes about how the author disliked what he saw children doing in restaurants or stores. Truthfully, I felt like these anecdotes revealed much more about the author and his own issues. His opinions about toilet training, breastfeeding, and other developmental stages revealed an ignorance of the most current evidence and studies about these stages. In general, this was just a pile of poorly reasoned opinions and conclusions drawn from incredibly shallow observations. A complete waste of time.

The Truth about our childrens future
This book should be required reading for anyone contemplating having children or those who already have them.It is a no nonsense look at what is becoming of our children.The majority of parents truly want what is best for the child(ren) but are scared to dicsipline or train their children how to live real life. A very refreshing an honest look and guide to raising purposeful loving empathic children. I am so glad i stumbled uopn this in our local library.

great book for parents; explains a lot about American kids these days
I wish more parents would read this book and realize the effects of their actions or lack of actions on their children.So many parents think that they should just let their kids make all of the decisions and let them rule the home, when in fact that is so damaging to the well-being of the children long-term.As I read the book I saw many things that my husband and I are doing right and also several ideas of how we can improve to be better parents.The children of today's society in America scare me; we are even considering pulling our children out of public schools to home school them because of all of the garbage that goes on at schools these days.So many of the kids are apathetic and self-centered, only thinking of what they can do for instant gratification and not ever considering how their actions will affect others.This book helps to explain not only what is going on but how it got this way and also what we as parents need to do to correct it and NOW!

Black and White
As a single mother with two small children and some very big questions, I found some reassurance reading this book. Like the cover I did find the author uncomfortable with the gray that makes up most of our lives! Of course one should have our partners vetted before taking a stroll down the aisle and certainly prior to creating a living partnership but reality is, if we knew so much ahead, would we dare enter any relationship.

What happened to my journey into motherhood, was a fast slide down the years to my early upbringing and that was something I was NOT expecting. Thus many many books later, some questions have been answered and along those lines, this book does do an excellent job, of reminding one of the higher road that is to be taken during parenthood. This road is as the author points out, a hard uphill slog against the stream of survival in the competitive world we live.

Have the negative reviewers even read this book?
I recently read this book and found it to be both relieving and empowering. I could fill a library with the books I've bought about babies and raising children, but this is one of the ONLY books I've read that really tells you to trust your own instincts and to feel confident in being a real parent. You know, the kind whose job it is to both nurture and love their children AND to teach them structure, limits, independence and consequences. Until now, I would have sworn that every other book I've read said the two were independent of one another!

I was baffled to see other reviewers write things like Dr Shaw doesn't promote breastfeeding or completely misconstruing his advice regarding "on demand" feedings, potty training, etc. For instance, he clearly states that breastfeeding is best UNLESS it is making you miserable, your baby miserable and it just isn't working for you.

Of course, if you can't stand the thought of your child ever crying, being mad at you, disagreeing with you or not having their own way, then this book isn't for you. But if you would like to find a way to teach your children how to be fulfilled and get along in both a family and a civilized world, then please read it! And after all, nothing good ever comes easy, does it?

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Product Description
Examines Shaw's life, character, and career against the backdrop of developments in American musical history, highlighting the conductor's beliefs about the spiritual values of great music and his achievements as the director of numerous ensembles. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Review of "Dear People...Robert Shaw."
I purchased this book as a gift for a friend who is a choral director and Minister of Music of my church.I had originally read the book in the early '80's, soon after the first edition was released.I had despaired of finding a copy to give to my friend, and was overjoyed to find that Hinshaw had picked it up after it was no longer available from the University of Indiana Press, its original publisher.It is a wonderful book, giving great insight into the personality and accomplishments of Robert Shaw, one of the great choral conductors of our time.Thanks to Amazon for making this edition available.

Only four reviews on "Dear People"letters from Choral Genius,
When we left the Atlanta scene of ASO and Robert Shaw's profound influence on that whole city, even the state of GA. It was as if Choral Culture flew out the window of our Church Lives! When his Minneapolis Homily on "Worship and Fine Arts" appeared on NPR in 1984, I made an effort to write Sir Robert's ASO Secretary, Nola Frink, please send me a copy of "Dear People?" Within one month the Postal Service shipped an Autographed copy of Dear People... Robert Shaw! Even using my favorite spacing of three holy dots!

Inaddition to several personal family pictures of the Shaws in different time frames and settings, there are noteable shots of Robert with his Glee Club in San Francisco and Fred Waring Workshop! Next an early rehearsal picture of Collegiate Chorale, calling-it "...the melting pot that sings." An early Tour Poster from the 1950-51 season, introducing that yet famous Robert Shaw Chorale wearing dress-black outfits, until they began wearing Choir Robes or Tuxedoes.

His most collectable pictures included, Norman Dello Joio, Fred Waring, Robert Merrill, Paul Hindemith, Serge Koussevitsky, and Pablo Casals. Many singers & Soloists became known and 'oft used in Major Symphony concerts. When Florence Kopleff had retired from teaching at GA State University, in the audience sat Alice Parker, Adele Addison, Saramae Endich, Clayton Krehbiel of FSU, John Wustman, Pianist++ other names from Robert Shaw Chorales.

My most fun Amazon reviews included, Brahms' German Requiem, The Bach B-Minor Mass, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Mozart's Requiem, Schubert Masses, Choral Masterpieces ++ other CD's. All of these musical giants became known to us and admired through rehearsals with an artistic creative, immanent touch of the only one whose choral genius will be missed, yet always an invisible Spirit in choral rehearsals, especially in Georgia! With grandioso thanks, Retired Singer and Chaplain, Fred W Hood

The Bully Pulpit for Artistic Excellence
People who think Robert Shaw was something special and who come across this book will be delighted with its readability.While it certainly captures Shaw's unique ability to command your respect and warm your heart, it is especially successful in putting the phenomenon that was Shaw into the context of music in America in the Twentieth Century.One often doesn't think much about what it must have been like, especially in the earlier part of the era, to champion and perform the "modern" serious music repertoire; this book forces us to think about it, to put ourselves in the places of those who felt, like Shaw, compelled to do it.Along the way, there's a good overview of the evolution of recording, and how Shaw fit in there, not so much exploiting the medium as using it to serve the larger purpose of his art.Compelled throughout his career to make popular recordings, Shaw's final one for RCA ("Irish Songs," August `67) is in fact finished by a capable associate while he runs off to do more important things with his latest love, the Atlanta Symphony.The "popular" Shaw was to always dog the "artistic" Shaw throughout his career.He was once stung by a critic who said of his light encores, "They drew lots of applause mingled with the soft plash of the cognoscenti being quietly sick in their hats."

Everyone will have their favorite quote from Shaw after reading this book.Mine is a long, affectionately comic poem on Mahler's Eighth Symphony, which concludes, "So, grieve not, Gus!Our new Apollo! // Where you lead us, we will wallow!"Indeed, the many quotes from Shaw as he speaks and writes to his choruses are the principal glories of this book.

But always, always the music.You can feel the march of performances as they are roll-called before your eyes.This may not be the most authoritative, most definitive book on Shaw possible, but it is the one I wanted most to read.A real five star recommendation, and no apologies to the cognoscenti!

This marvelous work desperately needs to be updated
The late Robert Shaw had an incredibly long and distinguished career. This authorized biography by Joseph Mussulman, a one-time Shaw chorister, covers Shaw's life and career up to 1979 in detail, with a Foreword added in 1996 which briefly covers those later years. But a revised edition, with full detail in the period 1979 to Shaw's death in January, 1999, would fill in a lot of blanks for those who know him best through his Telarc recordings with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and his Chamber Singers and Festival Singers, or through his Carnegie Hall Choral Workshops and Tanglewood appearances in the later years of his career.

I came by my appreciation of Shaw relatively late in life, and by a somewhat unusual means. When he founded his Collegiate Chorale in 1941, I was all of two years old. I was still way too young to latch on to him seven years later, when he had disbanded the Collegiate Chorale and founded the Robert Shaw Chorale. For three decades after that, I had a somewhat different musical agenda, and he was a musical "ship passing in the night" for too many years.

The signal event which brought Shaw to the forefront of my musical consciousness was the launching of Telarc's digitally-mastered LP's by Bob Woods and Jack Renner, in 1977. The second of these LP's was a performance of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite and Borodin's Polovtsian Dances by Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Shaw had earlier assumed the directorship of the ASO in 1968, and Woods and Renner had been associated with Shaw during the period when he was assistant conductor and choral director for George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra. In a very real sense, Woods and Renner were, by bringing this new technology to Shaw, thanking him for past friendships and associations. And the history of his role in leading the ASO, and bringing it to prominence with its recorded repertoire, was dramatically changed by this event. But much of this later history, and what followed Shaw's "retirement" as active music director of the ASO, has unfortunately been compressed into the all-too-brief Foreword, and the last three years of his life are not documented at all.

It is fair to say that the Telarc "gift" which Woods and Renner presented to Shaw made the difference between a career which would have been insufficiently documented by recordings (except for a handful of earlier RCA Victor recordings of the Robert Shaw Chorale) and one which will now stand the test of time. The ASO, good as it became under Shaw's leadership, served as much during his tenure as the recording instrument which would provide support for the "ultimate" Robert Shaw Chorale, the remarkable, and totally amateur (in the best sense) Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus, as it would as the civic orchestra for the greater Atlanta area.

I could wax eloquent about the dozens of recordings this orchestra and chorus produced over a 20-year period of Telarc support. But there is one recording which stands out above all, of a work which was the closest thing to a cornerstone for Shaw's career: Bach's B Minor Mass. His professional life with this work is well-documented in Joe Mussulman's book. There is a wealth of anecdotes about how his performances of this work could reduce folks to tears, from Alaskan Aleuts to college kids everywhere to Soviet apparatchiks at the height of the Cold War.

One anecdote stands out above all others regarding his mastery, as well as his unassuming modesty in the face of it all, regarding the B Minor Mass. It occurred after a performance that must have really come together in a very special way. Following the concluding "Dona Nobis Pacem" of the Mass, Shaw left the podium and darted behind the curtain, awaiting the applause. He waited, and waited some more. Finally, not understanding why it was that the applause never arrived, he poked his head out from behind the curtain, only to find both the audience and the musicians facing each other and bawling their eyes out from what must have been a rendering of the final "Dona Nobis Pacem" of the Mass for the ages. Those who were at that performance carry a very special event around in their memories.

This single, simple paragraph of an anecdote says volumes about Shaw's largely underrated mastery. When you read this book, you too will cry. And you will laugh. And you will likely do both simultaneously. For all the right reasons.

Now, if only someone would fill in the final missing 20 years or so of "Dear People," we'd have it all.

Bob Zeidler

Brief review of "Dear People...Robert Shaw"
This book is welcome principally because it is the only systematic discussion of the life (or a good portion thereof) of one of the important musical figures in the second half of the 20th century.Unfortunately theauthor fails to capture the essence of what made Robert Shaw successful asa performer and how his inspiration largely fueled the "choralrenaissance" in this country.The definitive critical biography ofthis singular talent remains to be written. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (8)

A book that should be in everyone's library
More than a quarter century ago, Hilton Kramer, chief art critic for "The New York Times," wrote this about the first major exhibition of quilts in a museum of art: "The suspicion persists that the most authentic visual articulation of the American imagination in the last century is to be found in the so called `minor' arts - especially in the visual crafts that had their origins in the workaday functions of regional life."

Robert Shaw's "American Quilts: The Democratic Art, 1780 - 2007" affirms Kramer's "suspicion." In this book Shaw produces an exhilirating array of quilts to support his claim that quiltmaking is "a democratic art, quintessentially American in its openness, receptivity, adaptability, and malleability - available to anyone willing to accord it the time, value, and dignity it deserves." The quilts featured in this book are the best support for his claims.

The revolution that gained political independence for Britain's American colonies did not give them instant cultural independence. In fact, the colonists had sought merely the rights of free Englishmen, and it was only when these continued to be denied them that they determined to separate themselves politically from the mother country. It would be decades before a distinctive American viewpoint coalesced, still longer before it would be expressed culturally. In literature, Washington Irving's 1819 Sketch Book, with its tales set in the Hudson River valley, is generally regarded as the first use of an American voice in literary art, and it would be some time before a similar voice emerged in painting, longer by far in music.

In fact, one might make a good case that in America the so-called high arts tend still to be detached from the fundamental impulses of a people who eventually settled a broad continent, that in America the high arts are often disconnected from the vitality of the national culture and experience. Scratch the surface of the average insider in the American art world and there's a good chance you will discover someone grounded not in the experience of a people, but in the experiences of increasingly insular art centers of the cities on the nation's East and West Coasts. Perhaps that is why museum exhibitions of quilts attract such large and diverse audiences.

It is to Shaw's purpose to present a wide array of quilts and to organize them in a way that shows how their makers used the American visual idiom and American quiltmaking traditions to create not merely serviceable bedcovers, but at the same time, expressive art. He accomplishes this mainly through careful selection of quilts and even more careful organization and display of them. To his credit, Shaw generally lets the quilts speak for him. His discerning eye, his careful use of detailed views, and his concern for the artistry of the quilts lift this book above the rank and file of quilt books. and makes it one that should be in every library.

For instance, in the chapter entitled "Diversity: 1870-1940," the author does a particularly fine job of suggesting the variety that may be achieved within the conventions of quiltmaking, even within a single cultural group. An iconic quilt by the Georgia former slave Harriett Powers gets a mere 1/3 page, while on the next page Arthur Rothstein's well known 1937 WPA photograph of "Jennie Pettway and another Girl with the Quilter Jorena Pettway" (of Gee's Bend, AL) by gets 2/3 page. Shaw also cropped the photograph, refocusing it. Granted Powers' place among early African-American quiltmakers, that decision might seem questionable. If you are talking about the art of quiltmaking, you should show the quilts, not secondary images, right?

Not always, and this is a good example of Shaw's discrimination. In Rothstein's image, an African-American woman sits at an old-fashioned treadle sewing machine while two girls hold the bulk of the Dresden Plate quilt top she is completing. Shaw cropped Rothstein's photograph so the reader must look closely at the world in which black people (and many white people) lived at that time in Alabama and other places wealth had not found. That room, its walls papered with newspaper pages, printed photographs, and insurance-calendar pictures on which are surmounted with a antlers, crochet-covered shelves, and strings of Chinaberries, helps account for the Gee's Bend quilts. It shows cross-cultural influences and tensions better than any single quilt might do.

The woman seated at the treadle machine wears a neat, home-sewn print dress and a perfectly ironed and starched white apron. The girls wear Sunday dresses with pearl necklaces. They hold a pale, conventional Dresden Plate quilt top as Ms. Pettway runs the last section through the machine. Shaw's placement and cropping of this familiar photograph forces us to see it anew. That tidy, oh-so-white and perfectly pieced Dresden Plate (Dresden, the whitest and most uptight of the generally white and uptight) and those pearl-wearing children speak loudly of who sets the "rules" and suggest how good the quiltmaker must have felt to be done with the quiet prints of the Dresden Plate, which she possibly is making for awoman in the community, and to reach into her own scrapbag and say, "NOW! I'm going to do something I enjoy!" In my view, that's the real story of the more interesting quilts from Gee's Bend. Their energy is the energy of conflict, juxtaposition. They are understood best when seen within the context of the conventions they flaunt.

Turn a page and discover a vibrant 1935 "Birds of a Feather" pieced quilt made by Blanche Ransome Parker from Carroll County, TN. Its maker used the American block tradition, but she played fast and loose with it. No two blocks are the same size or shape. Within crazy black borders, blue birds raise red wings to zoom forward from a white ground, their feet on what almost surely was intended to represent earth, but what looks much more like magic carpets. We see them poised at the moment of flight. Though confined within those black borders, the figures of the birds are dynamic. It is as if their boundaries free them. One imagines Ms. Parker, a superintendent of an African-American school system, knew the wild, jubilant sense of freedom of children set free from their desks and classrooms at the end of a school day, their small bodies filled with what Wordsworth called "glad animal spirits."These birds have "glad animal spirits."

Elsewhere in this same chapter, Shaw juxtaposes two quilts in a recognized snakey quilt tradition, both attributed to African-American women.In the first (1875-1900, NC) the maker uses the conventional Pennsylvania German Bars vocabulary as the ground.Green, yellow, and white bars are perfectly spaced and the whole is framed with outer rows of yellow and green calico borders. Down those orderly Germanic bars in precise undulations move five snakes, their bright red, yellow and black bodies composed of triangles that give them movement. Very civilized and orderly serpents, these. Contrasting it is an AL quilt called "Snails Trails" in which the red paths move diagonally across asymmetrical yellow and black blocks. A single black border encloses three sides and the trails appear to move beyond their boundaries. A dark, disorderly world, this one. From similar vocabularies and traditions come two completely different and visually striking quilts.What the writer doesn't do is account for their great differences. Since the first offers no compelling basis for its attribution, I think it wise to question whether it was, in fact, made by an African-American quiltmaker and if it was, why it differed so radically from other African-American quilts shown here.

Mr. Shaw awakens the reader to the ways in which quiltmakers have employed distinctly American idioms and artistic means to create works that, had they been produced by men working in studios, would unquestionably have been declared works of art worthy of museum walls. Their makers drew upon a common body of experience and an intimately familiar medium to create objects of beauty and commentary about the American experience.

Thus the author produces a critical examination of the art of American quilts, not a mere compendium of quilts. With equal skill he studies the way the nation's quilts comment on the nation'smoods. The book begins where American quiltmaking began, with the formally organized early palampores and broderie perse quilts made in affluent families along the eastern coast in imitation of those being made by their English relatives. It closes with the contemporary "art" quilt. It has fine chapters on the introduction of appliqué to create naturalistic imagery, the rise of the pieced quilt as a fresh design element, the exuberance and imagination that reflected the national mood from 1870-1910, crazy quilts and log cabins, quilts from the first 40 years of the twentieth century when quiltmaking was consciously used to express political statements and to preserve some form of domestic beauty in the era of the Great Depression. The art of the Amish quilts, which prefigured abstraction in studio art, receives due attention as does that of the Hawaiian quilt.

This book includes a number of quilts not commonly seen in print and draws from private and public collections. Those who think it is possibly a rehashing in a larger format of materials they already have in their libraries may be assured this book will surprise and teach. Turning its pages is a luxury. It sets a higher standard for presenting the art of the quilt.

That said, the work of this book is weakened by Mr. Shaw's failure to be more inclusive. He simply omits too much that should be represented in a study such as he proposes.

No one can be expected to find room for every important quilt in a book of this length. One must select widely in order to assemble a balanced, representative body of art. Perhaps one fewer Amish quilt, one or two fewer Gee's Bend pieces, a Quaker album added from Virginia and Ohio to go with those from the Mid-Atlantic coast.

Notably absent from "American Quilts: The Democratic Art" are the Quaker quilts from the Shenandoah Valley and Ohio, and, in fact, older Ohio quilts in general, though they constitute an important body in the American quilt heritage and reveal important points of cultural transmission and artistic change.

And when it comes to Southern quilts, Shaw is particularly remiss. Although a number of Southern documentation books are in print and their results available online in the International Quilt Index, the South is represented almost exclusively by the quilts of African-American quiltmakers, most particularly those from Gee's Bend, Alabama. To neglect the quilts of the Southern piedmont and mountain South is inexcusable in a book that purports to draw conclusions about the art of American quilts.

One must wonder whether these and other omissions (e.g., the Northern Plains states and the West in general and, ironically, the contemporary African-American quilts of Chicago and Detroit) result from bias, lack of information, or the lack of easy access to photographs. The latter is certainly a possibility, for the few examples in some these areas (e.g. Quaker quilts) often come from private collections that the author mines heavily in this book, when much finer and more representative examples are available.I suspect that is the problem, and it is not one easily excused. Yet one cannot dismiss the possibility of a bias along the lines of the smug H.L. Mencken who declared the South "the Sahara of the Beaux Arts," even as the region was producing the greatest writers of the twentieth century.

Although Mr. Shaw includes the well-known "Lazy Man" quilt from the TVA era, commissioned and produced by white Tennesseans, he offers no comment on its art or implications for black quiltmakers. This quilt depicts a bold black male figure holding a guitar, caught between an oversized arm of the federal government (the TVA project that was supposed to free southerners from economic dependence and "cure" their "backwardness") and his girlfriend, who looms from the right edge of the quilt. The sun rises between his legs, promising a new day, and the somewhat heavy-handed implication is that he must choose between his old life and the hope of the new. Many who see the quilt today do not know its history and assume the black figure to be that of Elvis Presley. As well as I know it, my own mind sees Presley, something that seems reasonable in this time. That Shaw doesn't think of this or does not comment on the quilt's implications suggests a certain ignorance of the diversity and history of the South. He seems not to understand that the energy of the Presleys, like that of the Pettways, is largely the energy of conflict and juxtaposition.

I have spent my adult lifetime studying and teaching the culture and literature of the South. I grew up in a quilt culture. And I submit that one cannot appreciate the Gee's Bend quilts without understanding the quilts made by the great range of Southern women. Gee's Bend is far less distinctive than is generally recognized by those who sweep down into Alabama to look at it out of context. It comes in many colors. Too often those who complain of stereotypes are the first to rely on them.

Cultural historians, writers, and thoughtful Southerners generally recognize the cultural dynamic that created white Southern art and thought in the twentieth century is the same one that generated art made by African-Americans. It is the same dynamic that generated the Fugitive-Agrarian group at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and that accounts for the phenomenal literary renascence that occurred in the South in the 20th century and produced writers like Wm Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Robert Penn Warren, Flannery O'Connor, Elizabeth Spencer, Walker Percy, Shelby Foote, and the non-political Alice Walker. That black figure in the condescending TVA quilt is Every Southerner, torn between the traditions of his family and home and the industrial mentality that has left dead and desolate cities throughout the Midwest's Rust Belt and that was once depicted as the summon bonum. The price of electricity was high. It was the price of personal and cultural identity, towns and cemeteries, churches that defined and gave meaning to lives and, many argue, make possible a vital art. Such choices give a people pause for thought, and out of those pauses often come great art. That is worth noting in a work such as Shaw's. The book cries for a broader representation.

When attempting to locate some of the quilts shown, I also found their sources no longer valid. In several instances (e.g., the Germanic looking Snake), where attribution is doubtful, I would have appreciated more information about the author's decision to accept it. If "attributed to" means "somebody told us they think," it is best to admit the maker is unknown.

Yet even given these problems---and they are not inconsiderable, I found this book a joy to behold, a visual feastthat I recommend to anyone who appreciates the artistry of American quilts. And for those who have not yet come to appreciate them, it would make a wonderful gift.

A begginers delight
As a very experienced and seasoned sewer ButNew to quilting I found this book to be very informative not only to the history but also the progression of quilt making. This is a great read and I found it difficult to put down, only pausing when I reached the end of a chapter.
In some reviews I see there is a dissapointment as to the credits or acknowledgements made in the book ,that being said I approach my review from a begginers standpoint. It breaks down the art of quilting into very identifiable periods and helped me understand the many different styles and applications in quilting and to some extent their origins.
I really loved this book and believe it should be in everyones reference section of their own personal libraries.

Texas Part-Time Quilter
This is a great book. It has many colored photos. It will give you great ideas. There are some quilts in this book that I have not seen before. It does not have patterns. Great addition to any quilters
library.

Excellent, highly readable, visually stunning
I've seem many quilt books over the past 40 years, and this one stands out! I read it right away from cover to cover. Some of the older quilts are ones I'd never seem before and visually stunning. If you get only one quilt book this year, get this one.

A Treat
This was an unexpected treat.Fabulous photgraphs of some old favourites and some unusual quilts that I hadn't seen before.The photographs are accompanied by brief histories of the quilts.A really good overview. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
A gripping biography of the actor best known for his role in Jaws. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Robert Shaw : More Than A Life
I have just finished reading Robert Shaw : More Than a Life and found it an interesting read. I knew little of Shaw before this book and always wondered why he was not given more credit as an actor. The book, which is filled with recollections from family and friends gives great insight into a truly complicated man. He was constantly conflicted about acting versus writing. He excelled at both. When he was happy in his work, he was happy in his life. The suicide of his father, the death by drugs and alcohol of his second wife Mary Ure and the early death of Erroly Flynn at age 51 (same age as Shaw) all influenced his life and his work. It was also interesting to learn of the tax problems that plagued Shaw and others who worked in and out of Britain. If you like biographies, movies, and men who lived bigger than life, I highly recommend this book.

More than a Life - more than a Star
This is an excellent and engrossing account of a complex, flawed, difficult, passionate, honest, immensely talented and hugely underrated actor, author and playwright.
The book provides a superb overview of his life, and provides a counter-balance to the only other completed (to date) biography, the rather more subjective view of his former manager John French.
Robert Shaw's brilliance as a performer and writer was underpinned by the early experience of his father's tragic suicide; the resultant fiery over-competitive will to succeed was best channelled in performances that displayed his talent for supreme intensity backed by intelligence. On this form Shaw commanded the camera; witness his scene-stealing in From Russia with Love and Jaws - then witness again in his other works; this is Gold standard British talent that is yet to be fully appreciated by his profession and public...this book helps redress the balance a bit and lets us know what we are now missing.

Robert Shaw, much more than just a great actor
My wife bought me this biography because she knows how big of a Robert Shaw fan I am.However, before reading this book, my knowledge of Shaw was limited to his work in the movies.I had no idea he was a brilliant writer as well as a father of ten.After reading this biography I read one of his books, The Man in the Glass Booth and realized how big of a talent he was with writing.It was mentioned several times in his biography that he enjoyed writing more than he enjoyed acting.It also tells about his time doing Shakespeare and there is a section about his time spent acting in Jaws.This is truly an exceptional biography about an exceptional actor/writer.

For my friend Robert because I love him
When I saw Mr Shaw for the first time (in Jaws)I was about nine years old.
Now I'm twenty and Shaw was far before mine time but I feel that he can learn me how to life because this great biographie from a man who I love and dream about.
I'm sure that I'm the most fanaticus of the "Shaws-fan" from the Netherlands.
I have a private archief from this unique person and I dream about him and think most of the time how sweet he was for childeren.
Mr Shaw is deep in my heart because I discover his live and read this colourful biographie and I will thank Garmean and Gaston for this great great great book, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!
This book is the most best biography because the spirit that Shaw in his short live had give this book the most power.

(sorry for my bad english I think)

Love you all Gilian Schmidt,

the Netherlands

Robert Shaw - British Film Star.
While he never reached the mega-stardom of Sean Connery, RichardBurton, or Peter Sellers. Robert Shaw was still one of Britains major stars. A very talented, but difficult man, it is not hard to see why he had problems in his life. A tragic childhood experience (his father commited suicide), haunted Shaw all though his life. Determined to succeed, Shaw was over competitive, which alienated him from many people. Basically he was a decent man, who while had many faults, never had the self-disgust of Richard Burton, or the utter selfishness of Peter Sellers. 'From Russia with Love,' made him a star, but it was his role as 'Quint' the shark killer in 'Jaws,' which made him a major player in Hollywood, but success came to late, for like so many of the character,s Shaw played in his films, he had used all his skill and determination to get to the top, only to fail at the last minute. His death in 1978, at the early age of 51, robbed Britain of one ofher truely international stars. A total family man, Shaw was also a talented author and playwright (something he was returning to at the time of his death). It's good to see a biography of this talented but neglected man. The authors do a completely fair study, pointing out his strengths as well as his faults. Recommeded. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1970 Robert Smithson (1938-1973), one of the most innovative and provocative artists of the twentieth century, created the landmark earthwork Spiral Jetty at Rozel Point on Utah's Great Salt Lake. This dramatic and highly influential work forms a coil 1,500 feet long and 15 feet wide and stretches out counterclockwise into the lake's translucent red water. Composed of black basalt rocks and earth, the sculpture comprises the materials of its location: mud, salt crystals, rocks, water.
The contributors to this comprehensive publication consider the sculpture in relation to its eponymous companions--a text work and a film. These essays situate this renowned series of works alongside Smithson's critical writings, proposals, drawings, sources, and models. Amply illustrated with archival and new photographs of the Jetty and many comparative illustrations, this book makes evident why Smithson's art and writings have had such a powerful impact on art and art theory for over thirty years. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (6)

Blued-Eyed Treasure
After viewing the movie Glory for many years I came across this book and purchased it immediately. Robert Gould Shaw grew up in an influencial home which had amazing political and social connections with the abolitionist movement. His words preserved from the past through today and gives us insight on what he was thinking about after fighting at Antietam as well as his feelings about his role and service for this nation.

A must for any civil war reenactor or student of the American Civil War.

The "real" Robert Gould Shaw is in these pages
If, like me, you have seen the film "Glory", where Matthew Broderick plays Col. Robert Gould Shaw, white commander of the black 54th Massachusetts Regiment during the Civil War, you will see only a brief a glimpse of who Shaw was in his short life. Broderick does a masterful job of capturing some of Shaw's personality, but if you want to get inside this young man's head and find out who he really was, I highly recommend reading the book, "Blue Eyed Child of Fortune", ed. by Russell Duncan.

This collection of Shaw's letters shows a far more complex and conflicted young man than Broderick was given a chance to play. While his parents burned with the abolitionist spirit of Boston's intellectual elite, Shaw struggled with his own prejudices and his own self doubts throughout his short life. Never an exemplary student, he dropped out of Harvard to work in his uncle's New York firm, but rapidly found the work boring and unsuited to him. Struggling to find his place in the world, the Civil War came along and gave him a sense of purpose and direction.

Enlisting first in the 7th New York Guards, he served until his enlistment was up, and then joined the 2nd Massachusetts, gaining position as an officer. He "saw the elephant" at Winchester, Antietam and Cedar Mountain, was slightly wounded in two of those engagements, and found out first hand about the horrors of war. During winter camp in 1862-63, his father visited with word that Shaw had been tapped by Massachusetts Governor John Albion Andrew to command a new black regiment. At first, Shaw refused this offer on the basis that he felt a strong bond with the men he had fought and bled with, but then changed his mind and accepted the position of Colonel of the 54th Massachusetts.

Returning home to Boston to take command of his new regiment, he was deeply conflicted over whether these men would pan out to be good soldiers, but as time wore on and they proved their worth, Shaw's respect for his men grew, as did their respect for their commanding officer. After three months training, they left for duty in South Carolina after a grand parade down Boston streets. Shaw chafed for some action for his men, and the first that they saw was the tragic raid and burning of Darien, Georgia under the command of Kansas jayhawker Col. James Montgomery. Shaw was outraged at this action and very nearly refused his orders from his commanding officer, but reluctantly had to obey and ask his men to do what he felt was utterly immoral and against the codes of war. He would write letters of protest to his father and to others.

Eventually, in his quest for real action for his men, they were assigned a diversionary action on James Island to allow Union troops to land on nearby Morris Island for a planned assault on Fort Wagner a few days later. Sustaining light casualties in a skirmish, Shaw was impressed that his men were indeed up to snuff as soldiers, and so, a few days later, after a long exhausting march in a storm to Morris Island during which they got no rest, they were assigned to the lead attack column on Fort Wagner on the evening of July 18, 1863.

Sadly, Union intelligence on Ft. Wagner was badly flawed. It was originally thought that the fort held a complement of only 300men and that after days of relentless shelling by the Union navies, that the fort would be softened up enough to withstand a frontal Union assault. However, most of Wagner's nearly 1500 men were in a massive bombproof riding out the shelling, and so, when the Union assault began with the 54th leading the attack column, they took the heaviest casualties, including the young Col. Shaw, who foresaw his own demise while speaking to Lt. Col. Edward "Ned" Hallowell, his second-in-command, while on a steamer on the way to their assignment: "If I could only live a few weeks longer with my wife, and be at home a little while, I might die happy, but it cannot be. I do not believe I will live through our next fight."

Rather unfortunately, Shaw was right. He was killed upon reaching the parapets of Wagner, a bullet through his heart killing him instantly. His body was stripped and thrown into a common grave with his men, and his father asked, when the Union finally took the fort a few months later when it was abandoned by the Confederates, that his body be left there with his men. Shaw's burial spot now lies somewhere under the Atlantic Ocean, the island having eroded significantly in the past 140 years since Shaw's demise and burial there.

This book will give you a great insight into a very conflicted, complicated and yet reluctantly heroic young man who was just coming into his own at the time of his tragic death. I am sure that he would have shunned the limelight had he survived the war to live to old age and would have been content to live life with his beloved Annie, to whom he was married a mere two months before his death. Annie would never remarry and lived the rest of her life as his widow, dying in 1907. The war would doubtless have made Shaw and given him the potential to focus his life and go on to great things had he lived to do so. Having lived so much of his young life with such rebellion against his mother's domineering apron strings and not quite sure what he wanted out of life, the war gave Shaw a brief opportunity to find out what it was he was made of. In so doing, he achieved the one thing he never dreamed of, immortality.

Read this book if you are eager to know the "real" Shaw. Letting him speak for himself is the best way to know this fascinatingman who died so tragically young at the peak of his life. Follow it up with "Where Death and Glory Meet", Russell Duncan's excellent biography of Shaw. By the time you finish these two books, you will feel as if you know Shaw quite well. If you want to know a few of his men, read "A Brave Black Regiment" by Capt. Luis Emilio, a regimental history of the 54th, "On the Altar of Freedom" by Cpl. James Henry Gooding, a black soldier in the 54th, and "A Voice of Thunder", the letters of Sgt. George E. Stephens, another black soldier in the 54th. I just hope that more letters and diaries from this regiment surface and are published someday. Doubtless there are more hiding in attics and other unknown places.

This book comes highly recommended for good Civil War reading of a primary source, along with the other books mentioned that are by Shaw's soldiers. Together, they beat any historian's account of this historic regiment. Read them all if you are interested in Civil War or black history.

best buy
it's must have book I love this book

A hero by default
Russell Duncan's compendium of letters both exalts and puzzles.The job of editing the letters and setting them in the context of war, family ties, friendships, etc. is thorough and, for the most part, makes them accessible. Let's not forget, though, that the editor omitted some letters that don't support his main thesis: that Col. Shaw was a rich young pleasure-lover who fought to get back to his privileged existence, never changing this outlook throughout the war; he "never fully understood nor dedicated himself" to the cause of Black freedom (pp.1-2). So here we are presented with a young man raised by abolitionists who went to all the hazards of preparing and leading something new, a black regiment, before dying in the middle of it, without understanding what he was about, or dedicating himself to it. It's fashionable to "debunk" the heros of yore, but even those letters we have tell us otherwise, and Duncan reverses his appraisal, back and forth, several times. We should also beware of measuring citizens of other times against a modern baseline on classism, racism, etc. Apart from these problems, found in the introduction and some footnotes, the book lets Shaw speak for himself (he does it eloquently and enjoyably) and the reader can draw his/her own conclusion on ideas, events, and character development.

Bringing War to Life
Robert Gould Shaw's letters home are a very realistic look of the Civil War battles by a unique individual with many perspectives.The brutality of battle along with the emotional turmoil from such a young officer bringthe war to life.The authors have given us a true picture of a braveofficer and the war.As you read the letters of Shaw you want to pull theblankets closer on the cold winter nights he spent in the field.You canshare the suffering along with Shaw at the loss of friends.The courageand love of family and devotion of country are evident throughout hispremature adult life.God bless the 54th and may Robert Gould Shaw and allthat served with him and under him never be forgotten. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Haunting...
Reading this aloud, I was surprised more than once at the boldness of its language in my own voice, a clear indication that it's retained its dramatic force since it was first staged over four decades ago. Penned as a bittersweet acknowledgment of the Nostra Aetate, the reconciliatory announcements by Pope Paul VI that preceded it and the trial of Adolf Eichmann, Shaw's third stage play (adapted from his novel of the same title) is among the most fiercely caustic dramatic works pertaining to the atrocities of the Holocaust.

This titular man is an eccentric Jewish property magnate in the prime of his career. Soon after bewildering his obsequious assistant, physician and tailor with dangerously erratic and weirdly antisemitic behavior, he's arrested by Mossad agents who allege that he's actually a former Einsatzgruppen Colonel who's assumed the identity of a deceased concentration camp inmate. Detained in Israel during the second act, the lunatic tycoon is interrogated and arraigned; what he reveals during the course of his imprisonment and trial is bizarre beyond imagining, almost as much so as the truth that he's desperate to conceal.

Impossible and engrossing, Shaw's effort here was reportedly as controversial as he could have expected. Wrongly interpreted by some as anti-Jewish, this is as far from the preachy, saccharine storytelling that comprises too many postwar Holocaust-related stories as one could hope for. As a result, this is a curiously original perspective of many familiar themes: the politics of identity, the vanity of martyrdom and the personal cost of war and genocide - guilt, madness and loss. Even at its final resolution, the tension of the second act is not released by a redemptive catharsis; rather, it lingers on as the curtain falls. If only for effect, Shaw could be as cruel at his two-tiered writing desk as so many of the characters he portrayed on stage and screen.

Published to coincide with the 1968 staging of the play at the Royale Theater in New York, the '68 hardbound edition is an attractive volume that features ten illustrative photographs shot at the play's premiere. The American production was directed by Harold Pinter and starred Donald Pleasence, Lawrence Pressman and Ronni Gilbert. Both Jack Hollander and a young F. Murray Abraham played two very different parts each, and Abe Vigoda also had a small role! Pleasence was surely perfect in the lead role - one can easily imagine him as the paranoid, manic mogul - and the photos of this edition make it very easy to imagine just how tremendous his lauded performance was; even those critics who didn't care for the play had many kind words for him.

Best Version Ever!
What a standout 1st Edition this is! Actual photos of the author; stage pictures of the debut American performance in New York; binding and paper designed to stand up to the years; all in all the treatment this fine play deserves!

Timeless drama looks at society's own holocaust culpability.
In 1964, the Israeli intellignece group, the Mossad, kidnaps Jewish businessman, Arthur Goldman from his New York City apartment and accuses him of heinous war crimes. During the trial that follows, this man will offer a defense that will shock you, provoke you, and force you, the reader, to become the judge of him, his actions, and yourself.Originally staged in NYCin the '60's, the play wasrevised in New York City at the Cocteau Theater in 1998. This is a testament to the timeless nature of the drama. Historical references to the Pope's edict, concentration camps, and ethnic cleansing are repeated in recent history.Interesting metaphors are employed in the use of certain music references and references to certain paintings. The reference to Poussin's "Arcadia" bring to mind the scholarly interpretation of the painting "Here too (in paradise), is death." Arcadia is paradise neglected and fallen into ruins. The full title is "Et in Arcadia,"which is actually meant as a riddle.Since there is no verb, the reader is meant to infer the meaning. So too is the main character, Arthur Goldman, a riddle, leaving the reader to guess at his true nature.Ultimately the reader is shocked by a surprise twist ending in the script, which reveals Arthur Goldman to be someone wholly different from whom he himself was pretending to be.Often performed with the audience being the jury of the trial, the audience is then forced to make a life or death decision about this man, unwittingly being lead to make the wrong conclusions. The play is a well crafted, dark drama. The gruesome talk of Nazi atrocities, with our main character admitting to shooting a person in the nape of the neck, allowed me to truly hate our main character, and yet to be alsofully surprised by the climatic twist. If you're into the dark and gritty, buy this play. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (6)

What IS the measure of a man?
Every Civil War buff (and many others, too, thanks to the movie "Glory") knows the story of the 54th Massachusetts, the black regiment commanded by the boy-colonel Robert Gould Shaw which attacked the Confederate Fort Wagner in July 1863.

The story of the 54th is memorable for many reasons.The most obvious one--and the one usually focused on--is that Shaw and the 54th displayed extraordinary courage in the assault on Fort Wagner.Another less emotional reason is that the 54th proved to the nation that men of color could and would fight for the end of slavery.This was the shattering of an important color barrier and an important stage in the evolution of the conflict.By war's end, an incredible 74% of free Northern blacks of military age would enlist (p. 50).

But a deeper, more significant reason why the history of the 54th is important--and one, moreover, that's usually missed--is that it invites reflection about the standards by which our culture, then and now, measures "manhood."W.E.B. Du Bois (quoted on p. 123) put it well:"How extraordinary...in the minds of most people...only murder makes men.The slave pleaded; he was humble; he protected the women of the South, and the world ignored him.The slave killed white men; and behold, he was a man."Prior to proving themselves in battle, both the North and the South looked at men of color as bumbling and cowardly half-wits.Except for the minority Abolitionists, most whites considered blacks subhuman, and there seemed little or nothing blacks could do to break through that conviction.But he moment they proved themselves skilled at killing other human beings, they were accepted (even if reluctantly) as "men."

Duncan's Where Death and Glory Meet is a fascinating chapter in the history of how our culture determines manhood.Although a rather detached supporter of abolition, Shaw was skeptical about the fighting abilities of freedmen, and initially declined the command of the 54th.When he did accept, he was painfully aware that the eyes of the nation were on his regiment, and his training of them was relentless.But the 54th measured up by proving itself in battle.

Moreover, Shaw is also representative of the cultural measure of manhood.In his private letters, he expresses great ambivalence about commanding the 54th and almost panicky fear about assaulting Fort Wagner--a task that he (correctly, as it turned out) thought rather hopeless. Just as th But Shaw, fully aware of what was expected of a "man," overcame both doubts and anxiety in order to perform his duty.Just as the ability to kill men made his black soldiers "men," so Shaw's willingness to die in battle also demonstrated his own "manhood," his final maturation from a boy-colonel to a seasoned warrior.

What fascinating under-currents run through the Civil War.Too bad they're so often bypassed in favor of the surface stories of guns and glory.For more on our cultural conflation of manhood with battlefield courage, Margaret Creighton's magisterial The Colors of Courage is highly recommended.

GLORY
HONOR THE MEMORY OF COLONEL ROBERT GOULD SHAW AND THE FIGHTING MASSACHUSETTS 54TH BLACK REGIMENT IN THE CIVIL WAR

COMMENTARY

FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Those familiar with the critical role that the recruitment of black troops into the Union Armies in the American Civil War usually know about the famous Massachusetts 54th Regiment under Colonel Robert Gould Shaw which has received wide attention in book, film and sculpture. Those heroic black fighters and their fallen leader deserve those honors. Glory, indeed.

Although Shaw was hesitate to take command of those troops after suffering wounds at Antietam when he accepted he took full charge of the training and discipline of the regiment. Moreover, as the regiment marched into Boston to cheering crowds before embarking on ships to take them South each trooper knew the score. Any blacks captured(or their white officers, for that matter) were subject to Southern `justice', summary execution. Not one trooper flinched. Arms in hands, they fought bravely at the defeat of Fort Wagner and other Deep South battles, taking many causalities.

I have remarked elsewhere (in a review of William Styron's Confessions of Nat Turner)
that while the slaves in the South, for a host of reasons, did not insurrect with the intensity or frequency of say Haiti, the other West Indian islands or Brazil that when the time came to show discipline, courage and honor under arms that blacks would prove not inferior to whites. And the history of the Massachusetts 54this prima facie evidence for that position.

I should also note that the Massachusetts 54thwas made up primarily of better educated and skilled freedman and escaped slaves unlike the black troops recruited from the plantations in the Deep South in the 1st and 2nd South Carolina black regiments. Thus, one might have suspected that they would not be up to the rigors of Southern duty. Not so. After reading a number of books on the trials and tribulations of various Union regiments, including the famous Irish Brigade, the story of the 54th compares very favorably with those units.

However, so as not to get carried away with the `liberalism' of the Union political and military commands in granting permission for black recruitment it is necessary to point out some of the retrograde racial attitudes of the time. It took a major propaganda thrust by Frederick Douglass and other revolutionary abolitionists to get Lincoln to even consider arming blacks for their own emancipation. Only after several severe military reversals was permission granted to recruit black troops, although some maverick generals were already using them, particularly General Hunter. As mentioned above there were qualms about the ability of blacks to fight in disciplined units. Moreover, until 1864 black troops were paid less than their white counterparts. The Massachusetts 54th is also rightly famous for refusing pay until that disparity was corrected.

One should also not forget that the North in its own way was as deeply racist as the South (think of the treacherous role of the Southern-sympathying Northern Copperheads and the Irish-led anti-black Draft Riots in New York City, for examples). This reflected itself in the racial attitudes of some commanding officers and enlisted men and well as the general paternalism of even the best white commanding officers, including Colonel Higginson of the 2nd South Carolina. It was further reflected in the disproportionately few blacks that became officers in the Civil War, despite the crying need for officers in those black regiments and elsewhere. Yet, all of these negatives notwithstanding, every modern black liberation fighter takes his or her hat off to the gallant 54th, arms in hand, and its important role in the struggle for black liberation

A Good Portrait of "New England's Perfect Son"
Although Robert Gould Shaw was only 25 years old when he died, leading the 54th Massachusetts Infantry in a futile assault on Fort Wagner, he has become an object of interest in the past dozen years, especially since the release of the movie "Glory," which gave a somewhat fictionalized account of the 54th. This book by Russell Duncan is a good introduction to the life of Shaw, and gives an extensive bibliography for those who want to engage in further reading and research.

In this book (which is an expanded version of the introduction to Shaw's collected letters that Duncan edited and published in the book "Blue Eyed Child of Fortune") Duncan gives a view of a life that one can truly say was tragically cut short by war. Robert Gould Shaw spent much of his short life trying to find his way and place in the world, something that many of us can identify with immediately. He had difficulty in accepting authority; he could not decide upon a career; he was the only son of well-known abolitionist parents, yet he had grave reservations about the abilities of black people. A "rebel" by nature, he could be rigid and unbending with others. He was dominated by his mother, only truly breaking away from her by marrying a lovely young woman against his mother's wishes. Married to a woman he apparently adored, he also engaged in a flirtation with a schoolmistress in South Carolina after accepting the command of the 54th. Shaw had found his calling in the military: he was brave, and able to inspire confidence within his men, yet he promised his future wife that he would not persue the military as a career once the war was over.

This book is a good introducation to the brief life of Robert Gould Shaw. It contains some photographs of the Shaw family and Annie Haggarety, Shaw's wife. It also dispells some of the myths about the 54th that were present in the movie "Glory," chief among them the myth that the 54th was made up primarily of unlettered escaped slaves. From reading Duncan's book it appears many were literate freedmen of long standing. Also, the sergeant-major of the 54th was the son of Frederick Douglass, not the middle aged recruit as played by Morgan Freedman in the movie. I would recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the life of Robert Gould Shaw, or the history of the 54th, as a jumping off point for further reading.

A gripping tale of honor!
This book serves as an important source of information regarding the birth of the 54th Massachusetts,black soldiers, politics, Shaw's personal and Civil War life.It is well written and places the reader at the start of northeastern politics and Shaw's upbringing.Shaw leads a pampered life of a wealthy family.He travels the world yet comes back to fight for the Union in the Civil War.His family is influencial in his military promotions and sets his promotion to Colonel with Governer Andrew's backing.Shaw becomes Colonel of the 54th and dares to take a risk at leading the first ever black regiment.His daring tale of being an outcast and a potential political target for his role in getting the 54th ready for battle is courageous and inspiring. The book covers the plights of the 54th in learning drill, military life and battle in chronological fashion.Much is covered in this short yet informative book on Shaw and the 54th.The definate "must read" for anyone looking to get an understanding of how the 54th and Colonel Shaw came together and fought!

A superb contribution to Civil War & Black History studies.
Where Death And Glory Meet: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw And The 54th Massachusetts Infantry is the fascinating military biography of Civil War Colonel Robert Shaw who commanded an infantry unit composed of Negrosoldiers, the North's first Black combat regiment. Russell Duncan presentsa poignant portrait of an average young soldier struggling against hismother's indomitable will and thrust unexpectedly into the nationallimelight. Drawing upon Shaw's letters home before and during the war,Where Death And Glory Meet tells the story of the rebellious son of wealthyBoston abolitionists who never fully reconciled his own racial prejudices,yet went on to lead his black regiment into fierce and bloody battlefieldconflicts where they performed with heroic distinction and scotched foreverthe notion that black soldiers would not or could not fight successfullyagainst the Confederate forces. Where Death And Glory Meet is a superbcontribution to Civil War studies and will prove of deep interest tostudents of Black history. ... Read more

Product Description
In this companion volume John van Maanen's Tales of the Field, three scholars reveal how the ethnographer turns direct experience and observation into written fieldnotes upon which an ethnography is based.

Drawing on years of teaching and field research experience, the authors develop a series of guidelines, suggestions, and practical advice about how to write useful fieldnotes in a variety of settings, both cultural and institutional.Using actual unfinished, "working" notes as examples, they illustrate options for composing, reviewing, and working fieldnotes into finished texts.They discuss different organizational and descriptive strategies, including evocation of sensory detail, synthesis of complete scenes, the value of partial versus omniscient perspectives, and of first person versus third person accounts.Of particular interest is the author's discussion of notetaking as a mindset.They show how transforming direct observations into vivid descriptions results not simply from good memory but more crucially from learning to envision scenes as written.A good ethnographer, they demonstrate, must learn to remember dialogue and movement like an actor, to see colors and shapes like a painter, and to sense moods and rhythms like a poet.

The authors also emphasize the ethnographer's core interest in presenting the perceptions and meanings which the people studied attach to their own actions.They demonstrate the subtle ways that writers can make the voices of people heard in the texts they produce.Finally, they analyze the "processing" of fieldnotes--the practice of coding notes to identify themes and methods for selecting and weaving together fieldnote excerpts to write a polished ethnography.

This book, however, is more than a "how-to" manual.The authors examine writing fieldnotes as an interactive and interpretive process in which the researcher's own commitments and relationships with those in the field inevitably shape the character and content of those fieldnotes.They explore the conscious and unconscious writing choices that produce fieldnote accounts.And they show how the character and content of these fieldnotes inevitably influence the arguments and analyses the ethnographer can make in the final ethnographic tale.

This book shows that note-taking is a craft that can be taught.Along with Tales of the Field and George Marcus and Michael Fisher's Anthropology as Cultural Criticism, Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes is an essential tool for students and social scientists alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

I like writing ethnographic fieldnotes - and I did not know that is what I was doing!!!
This book is a clearly written guide to writing field notes. Even better, it has small samples of the variations of technique being described.

Advising without preaching that there is only one method and never indicates that the author's style is the be-all, end-all of ethnography.

I purchased this on a recommendation of my professor for this quarter's inquiry and observation project. It has helped me improve my note-taking and reflections on the observations as I was performing my research.

Not just for anthropologists
I'm fully prepared for outrage from people in the social sciences, but...The title caught my eye for two reasons.First, I recently read a protracted rant by an anthropologist, and was interested in gaining a better understanding of his context.Second, I am a fan of Kipling's "Kim", and wanted a clearer understanding of an occult (to me) discipline practiced in colonial India of the Victorian era; ethnography.I was impressed by the depth of the writing and the broad utility of the concepts presented, and I achieved my primary goals of a better understanding of cultural anthropology and ethnography.

The structure of the book follows the process of writing an ethnography.Go to the field, listen, interview, and take notes.Several categories of notes are addressed, from the hasty single word memory aids to the detailed write-ups at the end of each reseach day.The multi-stage process from fragmentary notations to a structured final product is carefully described with an excellent balance between the needs of prose, the scholarly and analytical needs, and the ethical considerations towards the groups and individuals being researched.Although not specifically about the field work of observation, casual questioning, and interviews, considerable knowledge can be gleaned from a careful reading of this book.

Critical thinking, in the broadest sense, is encouraged throughout this book as is the precursor to critical thinking, meticulous and unjudgemental observation.The authors continually exort the reader to refrain from framing information within a conventional conceptual construct and to avoid categorization of people and activities.

Stylistic advice is clear and well thought out.Whether to write from first, third, or an omniscient perspective are all given due consideration and appropriate circumstances for each are discussed.Organizaton and themes are also carefully considered.

I whole-heartedly recommend this book for anyone in any discipline that involves observation of people, interviews, documentation of this fieldwork, and production of a report or publication.

E. M. Van Court

Noteworthy Resource
It's interesting that books on fieldwork tend to exclude extended discussions of note-taking as a part of fieldwork.The focus of many guides on fieldwork methods usually is on completing audio or video interviews and on the use of photography in fieldwork.This book fills this gap in research methodology.The writers show good, practical techniques for taking notes during ethnographic and oral history field research.More importantly, they convincingly demonstrate how creating good fieldnotes is essential to completing good ethnographic studies.Each section of the book blends practical ideas with theoretical generalizations in ways that not only show readers how to complete field research, but the discussion also reveals why these techniques are useful.The chapter that provides ways to turn fieldnotes into written ethnographies is an especially helpful discussion of a challenging task.In this particular chapter, and in the book in general, readers can find ideas that can also be applied to the use of other field-generated resources such as structured audio/video interviews and photo sessions.This book is also valuable as a resource for understanding and examining various written ethnographic studies.In this respect, the insights offered by Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw give readers good ideas for evaluating written ethnographies and useful perspectives for understanding the process of completing ethnographically-grounded research and how ethnographic study contributes to the representation of culture.

Perfect for master's level studies
The text is exactly as described and promised.A very practical tool for the bachelor's or master's student.

took too long to ship!
the shipping for this item took forever! book is in nice condition though. ... Read more

Product Description
In December of 1995, at the age of twenty-four, Lisa Shaw-Brawley was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, a form of lymphoma. Shaw-Brawley and her husband were visiting her family in California during the Christmas holidays when swollen glands sent her to see her lifelong family doctor.Based on the journal she kept from the moment she was diagnosed,Only When I Sleep: My Family's Journey Through Cancer is her inspiring, first-hand account of what she learned that day and the battle she fought against cancer.

The story chronicles in detailed, compelling scenes both the emotional and physical journey of cancer, including the numerous tests and treatments Shaw-Brawley endured. Honest and forthright, she does not disguise the bitter truth of her experience or the fear that accompanied her diagnosis. Because of this, the book will reassure newly diagnosed cancer patients that their fears-of possible infertility, hair loss and recurrence-are normal and give them guidance on facing these fears.

Only When I Sleep is also the story of Shaw-Brawley's family, and their journey through a harrowing and ultimately strengthening experience. The book is a remarkable story of family love and the commitment of marriage, which also explores the tensions and comforts of returning home as a married adult. In vivid prose, the author invites the reader into her family's home, into their hearts, and into the battle of their lives. As readers join in this journey, they will be moved, informed, reassured and assisted in their own personal journey. The author's father also contributes a heart-warming journal entry of what his family endured, offering comfort and insight to every mother and father in a similar situation.

In the end, a second miracle in Shaw-Brawley's life proves to be the ultimate lesson in redemption and hope. This, coupled with her determined fight, will send a clear message of survival that will inspire and empower other cancer patients. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Judge This Book By Its Cover
The pouty look on the author's face on the cover of the book should be enough for anyone to know exactly how the book will read.
As a current Hodgkin's patient, I was highly disappointed in Only When I Sleep.I kept reading it only because I wanted to be able to write a review here to counter those that convinced me I should buy the book.I am experiencing how personally devastating cancer can be, however, I am ashamed (and a little bit angry) that people might think that all cancer patients behave like spoiled children, moping around in search of pity and verbally abusing those who love them.
There are certain emotions and ideas about cancer which the author writes about that I do agree with; however, it's mind-boggling why someone would want to actually put their selfish and immature behavior on display like this. Shaw-Brawley wasn't happy unless everyone was coddling her; she had to see everyone cry over her before she was happy.Her poor parents and husband deserve some kind of award for putting up with her--they were probably exhausted by the time her treatments were over.I agree that families experience cancer right along with the patient--there's no denying that--but none should have to suffer like Shaw-Brawley's.
I don't doubt that keeping a journal throughout her ordeal was beneficial and cathartic to Shaw-Brawley, it was not something I feel she should share with the world.In no way am I saying that what she was feeling was wrong or that she should have kept it bottled up...it just wasn't worth publishing.Journals are meant for personal reflection and should be kept in a box in the back of the closet.
I gave the book two stars only because it must have took some kind of gumption to show this side of herself in a book.Do yourself a favor and don't buy this book...neither the writing or the editing is that good anyway.

a courageous, determined girl
Lisa is a brave and intelligent person. The words she writes of her cancer experience are from inside her soul, they are real.She dares to speak of her fear.You can hear her fear and her courage to fight fear.She insists on explaining this life changing event.She describes cancer's potential and how paraylzing an experience can be. I myself am a (2) time Hodgkins Disease survivor. I can relate to Lisa in many, many ways.The title, "Only When I Sleep," says it all. I strongly encourage anyone to read this book to hear words of a cancer experience and the meaning of a cancer survivor.Those who have experienced cancer and read this book will applaud Lisa for her strength to overcome adversity and commend her for not letting her experience go unnoticed. That yes, Cancer is life changing, it will try to take you down, but for many not without a fight.With a loving support system, you can overcome.
Thanks Lisa, and happy healthy - life to you and yours.
Patti Nowak

A MUST READ!!!!
This is a wonderful book. It will make you cry, but will also bring joy to your heart and a smile to your face. It makes you realize the "choices" Lisa and her family had to make to survive where very hard for her and her family. You will admire her strength, courage, and her determination to beat this. You see first hand how it effects everyone in her family. How the love of her husband, parents, family members and friends are unconditional. It shows us how the small things we all take for granted can be taken away from us in seconds and our world can be turned upside down. How Lisa never gave up and if you "believe" anything is possible.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, not just those dealing with cancer. There is a "lesson" for everyone to learn from Lisa's experience. It's a WONDERFUL story of love, courage, faith and determination of a young woman who is fighting to survive cancer.

A MUST READ!!!!
This is a wonderful book. It will make you cry, but will also bring joy to your heart and a smile to your face. It makes you realize the "choices" Lisa and her family had to make to survive where very hard for her and her family. You will admire her strength, courage, and her determination to beat this. You see first hand how it effects everyone in her family. How the love of her husband, parents, family members and friends are unconditional. It shows us how the small things we all take for granted can be taken away from us in seconds and our world can be turned upside down. How Lisa never gave up and if you "believe" anything is possible.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, not just those dealing with cancer. There is a "lesson" for everyone to learn from Lisa's experience. It's a WONDERFUL story of love, courage, faith and determination of a young woman who is fighting to survive cancer.

Superbly written, presented, and inspiring biography.
Only When I Sleep: My Family's Journey Through Cancer is an intenselypersonal, candid, and compelling account of then 24-year-old LisaShaw-Brawley's battle to overcome Hodgkin's disease and give birth to achild. This superbly written and presented biographical account is aninspiring testament to the human spirit in overcoming adversity andstriving for a dream against all the odds. Highly recommended reading. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

The Art Quilt
Beautiful color plates.If you are an artist or quilter who prefers to emphasize color and design, then this book is invaluable for ideas and inspiration.Highly recommend for your library.

Tremendously inspiring - gorgeous photography
I'm a weekend quilter - and love working with rich color.This is not only a coffee-table beautiful book but it inspires creative ideas far beyond normal quilting.You don't have to be a quilter to enjoy - the art is wonderful.And if you do quilt, this will inspire you to all sorts of radically new ideas.

Recommended for needlecraft students, quilters & collectors.
Robert Shaw draws upon his impressive expertise to celebrate the traditional bed quilt as a needlecraft art form that is a creative, emotional, example of "form following function". His insightful text traces the transformation of the quilt from bed cover to displaypiece, the quilter from homemaker to academically trained artist, theworkshop from kitchen to studio, and the materials from simple to complex.The Art Quilt is superb survey of an art form grounded in tradition and, atthe same time, committed to originality and innovation. The works of suchsuperb contemporary quilters as Michael James, Yvonne Porcella, JuliaPfaff, Nancy Crow, and more than two hundred others, serve to illustratethe quilt as art -- and the art of the quilt. The Art Quilt is enhancedwith 300 full-color reproductions and numerous insightful sidebars ofimportant technical processes and leaders int he art quilt field. The ArtQuilt is highly recommended reading for needlecraft students, quilters,collectors, and popular culture enthusiasts.

Incredible quitls, great gift
From the moment I set eyes on this book I knew I had to have it. The quilts are totally incredible. The skill of these quiltmakers & the detail they obtain is astonishing. They are true artists. It is a great value.

The abstract quilts combine color, pattern & shape sobeautifully it takes your breath away. Surface techniques such as dyeing,painting, applique & embroidery make these quilts remarkable works ofart.

Some of my favorite quilts include a nude pregnant woman & twoquilts depicting Noah & his ark. I enjoyed a few scenes with vases& another made as a memorial to the artist's parents. I also fell inlove with the many landscape quilts.

The text is fascinating, discussingthe history behind quiltmaking & the techniques used to make thesebeautiful quilts. The captions are great, explaining the methods used tomake the quilt as well as the artist inspiration.

good book
Was a very informative book on quilts, but was puzzeled by the caption on page 56 of the quilt titled Hank Williams.I don't believe the idea of the artist intended for it to be catagorized in pop art.Maybe a quote fromthe artist would be appropriate or a way to contact the artist about herview.Did the artists in the book have to sign a release for use of theirquilts? ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more