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A survey of modern art from the Impressionists to the present, with a new chapter on the art of the seventies and eighties, and corrections and revisions in the text. ... Read more

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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

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Newly updated and expanded to commemorate its 20th anniversary—this classic resource helps people complete the grieving process and move toward recovery and happiness

Customer Reviews (86)

The Grief Recovery Handbook
Excellent book,the focus is on a huge oversight of much needed healing for everyone, cuts healing into weeks instead of years. A must read for sure.

Grief
This book was definitely an insight into the grieving process.My husband died about 4 1/2 years ago and I needed some personal help to get through it.By reading the books that I have at MY home was much more help than seeking counselling.Each person has to deal with grief the best way they possibly can; and this did help me a great deal.

Grief Recovery Handbook
I took a class for grief and my instructer had all of us get this book prior to class, I highly recommend it - it really helps you get through the pain you are in, say good bye to it and helps you to move on.

grief recovery
This is the first kind of book of ever read on grief. It was recommended to me by 3 friends. It is excellent! It covers every point you can think of. How people treat people who are grieving and how the person grieving has been taught to grieve. It is very helpful to do with a partner but you can do it alone.

Gentle and Kind
This book takes you through the grief process gently and kindly.It dispels the myth that there is something wrong with you for being sad.It explains why others are so uncomfortable in your presence.I higly recommend it. ... Read more

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In Two Volumes. Due to the very old age and scarcity of this book, many of the pages may be hard to read due to the blurring of the original text. ... Read more

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For John Russell, author of the highly successful Paris as well as a score of other volumes, writing London was a labor of love. English by birth, Russell lived in London for nearly 50 years, and here he offers a matchless tour of the key aspects of the city and its notable citizens through the centuries. 183 illustrations, including 86 in full color. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Artists' London
John Russell has put together in this book, simply entitled London, a wonderful guide to the memory of London in word and, most especially, visual images. Lavishly illustrated and bejeweled with paintings, photographs, drawings and maps, this is the ultimate 'coffee table' book on London. But please, don't set your coffee (or, as it is a book on London, more appropriately, tea) cup on it, and don't just let it sit there. Peruse the pages -- no reading required! Although, unless I miss my guess, you will want to read these pages that accompany such wonderful visual treats.

Russell includes drawings by Wren (who practically rebuilt London after the fire of 1666) for whom there is no monument ('If you want to see a monument, look around', he is once reported to have said, meaning the abundance of architectural monuments most of which remain to this day), Carter, Gilbert, Soane, Kip & Knyff (a print of the original drawing for Buckingham House, now Palace). Among the paintings are all famous portraitures and landscapers, scenes royal and common, serious and fanciful. Nearly 200 illustrations, including almost 100 full-colour plates of paintings, make this book a stunning edition.

Russell recounts an early comment on urban renewal, by Francis Bacon, who commented upon buying a house in an unsafe neighbourhood: 'I have bought the house in which I shall be murdered.' But, within a year, the Foreign Minister had purchased the neighbouring house, making the area safe and sought-after.

Russell said that the changes talked about here [and generally everywhere in the history of London] owe nothing to Authority. No government planned them, foresaw them, or sanctioned them. They are owed to the experimental, liberated, and sardonic temper of the individual Londoner as it has evolved.

'Like every other big city in the western world, London was built for a society that no longer exists.' This one statement perhaps best sums up the history of London. This book gives new life to that departed society, and helps to put London in its proper context.

This was obviously a labour of great love on the part of Russell. Do yourself and favour and purchase the hard-back edition. You will be glad you did.

The City as it *should* be experienced . . .
The much-honored Russell spent nearly thirty years as chief art critic for the London Sunday Times, and then came to New York and did the same thing for the New York Times for another sixteen years. Even after leaving London, though, he still considers himself an insider of that city, and in this book he shares his fifty-year perspective with the reader. It's not a guidebook nor a travel book, but a highly idiosyncratic sort-of-memoir of London, organized around many diverse themes, including Samuel Johnson, Buckingham Palace, the rebuilding of the city after the Great Fire, the role of the Thames, and what he calls the "spirit of place" -- which is one of the best chapters in this marvelous book. Throughout, he illustrates his thoughts and recollections and often witty commentary with reproductions of art and photographs of people and buildings which, brought together in one place like this, are just about worth the price of the book by themselves. One of the best books about London I've seen in years.

London or not?
London, the book YOU should read. Don't waste time get the book! Do you want it? Buy it here then. London is a great book which contains an amazing amount of information that will make your brain burst!Well anybody out there want to find out about London?Come here and click on the button! London is a book that is basiclly amazing, basically real and finally, brill! Well London is basically the only book that will travel you through London. This is THE BEST BOOK ABOUT OLD LONDON!Read it in front of your children and they will know instantly about London. Read it to your friends and they will go talking about it all day long! Read it to your relatives and they will go mad about it! Read it to a stranger and they will invite you over every day! ... Read more

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John Randolph of Roanoke - Roanoke being the name of his home in Charlotte County, Virginia - is unique in American political history. Only twenty-six when first elected to Congress in 1799, he readily became the most forceful figure at the Capitol. An incomparable orator, he was also, in the observation of Dumas Malone, "a merciless castigator of iniquity." For most of his public career Randolph was a leader of the opposition - to both Jeffersonians and Federalists. He was, writes Russell Kirk, "devoted to state rights, the agricultural interest, economy in government, and freedom from foreign entanglements." Above all things Randolph cherished liberty, and he famously declared, "I love liberty; I hate equality. "This fourth edition incorporates the corrections and modest revisions provided by the author shortly before his death in 1994. Among the new material is a transcription of the first-hand account of Randolph's death that relates information long deemed apocryphal. The account is by Dr. Joseph Parrish, who was at Randolph's side when he died in 1833. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The Republican's Republican
I hadn't read much about this book before I got it. I thought it was going to be a biography. Instead, it's an analysis of Randolph's political philosophy, including his thoughts on slavery. Roughly 2/3 of the book contains Randolph's letters and speeches. They certainly are worth reading. This book, then, serves as something of a primary source.

Kirk clearly admires his subject, who was a Republican's Republican--a guy who was true to his conservative values, whether or not doing so made him popular. Randolph, for instance, was opposed to the War of 1812 because he was an isolationist. Nor did he like the federal government meddling in the economy, even though he lived in a time when the federal government was relatively small. For Randolph, he was ever fearful of the country slipping into despotism. His was the spirit of the Stamp Act opponents: they thought a small measure by the government might mean impending tyranny.

When it came to slavery, Randolph was in the gradual emancipation school. But unlike Jefferson, he freed his slaves, who then moved (per Virginia law) out of state. His servants migrated to Ohio, where they encountered hostile northerners who did not like free blacks in their neighborhood.

Randolph was an unusual man, who remained politically consistent in a way a man who had little contact with the "common man" only could. He could never have risen much higher than Congressman, because he lacked the compromising spirit that makes for great executives. His persistent defensive stance toward change, however, made him a model for American conservatism. One can see much in Randolph that Pat Buchanan would admire.

Reading this book, I couldn't help but think of Kierkegaard, a contemporary of Randolph's, though on opposite sides of "The Pond," who like Randolph had a misshapen body and a similarly conservative and puritanical view of the world. They were guys who spent too much time in their heads. Indeed, there's something very aristocratic and European about Randolph, who had great admiration for the British system and the writings of Burke, another great conservative. "I love liberty," Randolph once said, but added, "I hate equality." That's more American than it might first sound. Even though Jefferson said all men were created equal, that didn't mean it was best that they all were equal.

Randolph was a man too strange not to have new biographies written about him. That might soon change. In the meantime, enjoy this well written thought piece.

How many Americans can articulate such values?
Russell Kirk is particularly adept in pointing out the value in what he calls The Permanent Things in life. He expresses the tremendous value we have in that thread which connects us to our ancestors on the one hand and our posterity on the other. John Randolph understood the value of preserving the limitations placed on government by the Founding Fathers and the perils in surrendering state sovereignty to the national government.

An excellent political study and selection of writings...
~John Randolph of Roanoke: A Study in American Politics~ is a brilliant exposition of John Randolph's life and statesmanship. Russell Kirk classified Randolph as a "conservative statesmen" while the southern conservative Richard Weaver deemed Randolph a "conservative individualist" and another historian has characterised him as "aristocratic libertarian." Randolph was a Virginia planter from a prominent pedigree, and he served much of his adult life as a member of the Congress and the Senate.In one his earliest books, the conservative luminary Russell Kirk sketched a succinct biography of the late and great Virginia statesmen John Randolph of Roanoke. Kirk supplemented the biography with a poignant collection of speeches and letters capturing Randolph's illustrious statesmanship.Randolph was possessed of brilliant oratory skills and a subtle genius teetering on madness in his advanced years.He was tutored under his uncle Edmund Randolph, Washington's first Attorney General and was the adopted son of the Virginia jurist St. George Tucker.After a juvenile flirtation with the skepticism of Hume and Paine, Randolph became a stalwart Anglican and an avowed Christian in the prime of his life. He made quite an educational odyssey attending William and Mary, Princeton and Columbia, though Randolph maintains that he was largely self-educated from his Roanoke library.He was an avid reader and possessed a multitude of books including Aristotle, Blackstone, Burke, Hobbes, Locke, Machiavelli, Say, John Taylor as well as files of the Anti-Jacobin Review.First elected to the Congress at the age of twenty-six, his consistent principled republican statesmanship earned him the commendation of his friends and many enemies as well.He broke with the Francophilia of his adolescence and would latter earn the appellation of being "an ultra Anglomaniac" by some of his critics. Though, Randolph bitterly denounced John Calhoun (because of the protectionist and warhawk mold of his youth,) the South Carolinian Calhoun would come to praise the elder Randolph as he deepened his own conservatism with maturity. Calhoun came to accept many of Randolph's positions as his own and was no doubt deeply inspired by Randolph's statesmanship.

Russell Kirk describes Randolph as an "American Burke."Randolph like Kirk is possessed of contempt for metaphysical abstractions of liberty and equality.Both men were students of Edmund Burke.Randolph found natural-rights theories from Locke to Rousseau rather loathsome, as well as the abstract Rights of Men that Jefferson lauded. Randolph insisted that liberty was prescriptive and not absolute."Liberty was no absolute and abstract Right of Man, immutable and imprescriptible; but it was a privilege conferred upon men who obeyed the intent of God by placing a check upon will and appetite," declared Kirk in surmising Randolph's view.While Randolph acknowledged the laws of nature, he was aghast at acknowledging some absolute liberty wrought out in the natural law.Randolph like his contemporary Taylor saw the landed freeholders or planters as the bulwark of republican liberty and the pillar of the commonwealth.Like Taylor, he scorned the aggrandisement of power in the hands of the so called "paper aristocracy," (i.e. bankers, stock-jobbers, and speculators) who profited not by the labor of the land but by their efforts to subvert the political process for pecuniary gain. The Quids deplored legal plunder and believed that if it went unabated than free government would cease to exist. Randolph was perhaps smug in his aristocratic roots, declaring, "I am an aristocrat. I love liberty and I hate equality."Not surprisingly, Randolph came to disdain the egalitarian tide blustering across the Atlantic from France.Russell Kirk surmised, "Equality before the law had no more determined advocate than Randolph, but there was no stronger opponent of political and economic leveling."Though, appointed by Jackson to serve as ambassador to Russia, Randolph would come to despise Jacksonian democracy for its demagoguery and its ascendant move to majoritarian tyranny by maligning republican principles and state sovereignty with populist rhetoric.One of his more famous speeches entitled 'King Numbers' offered a resounding condemnation of majoritarian tyranny and favored constitutional concurrent majorities.Randolph keenly observed that democracy worked best when localised and was most tyrannical when centralised: he proclaimed, "A government of numbers in opposition to property was Jacobinism, rank Jacobinism."

John Randolph of Roanoke was a leader in the Tertium Quids (Latin for "the Third Thing,") which was the defiantly constitutionalist, conservative arm of the Jeffersonian Republicans.Just as their Federalist counterparts in New England splintered into various factions and sects like the Essex Junto and the Connecticut Gods, the Jeffersonian Republicans had pronounced divisions as well.The Quids were led by prominent statesmen like John Randolph of Roanoke, John Taylor of Caroline, and Nathaniel Macon. They eventually broke from Jefferson and Madison over their compromises and were bitter enemies of the Hamiltonians.This little of band of brothers was adamant in their defense of classical republicanism, the agrarian interest, strict construction of the Constitution, and states' rights."To ask any State to surrender part of her sovereignty," avowed Randolph, "is like asking a lady to surrender part of her chastity."Too Randolph, local government and states' rights were natural and it was the task of the thirteen political societies that acceded to the Union to check the general government and ensure that it operates within the scope of its constitutionally delegated powers. In 1805, Randolph was incensed over the Yazoo federal bailout for land speculators in territories claimed by Georgia, which came at the behest of the Jefferson administration.Randolph was possessed of pessimism so profound it only deepened his commitment to principle, and the alternative of apathy and resignation was absurd to his keen mind.He wrote in 1806:"The old Republican party is already ruined, past redemption. New men and new passions are the order of the day-except such of the first as have sunk into time servers, usurers, and money changers." Randolph was furious with the warhawks that zealously pursued war with Great Britain which culminated in the War of 1812.Randolph was keenly aware that the young republic was not only unprepared for the war, but that the conflict was avoidable.Unlike their northern antagonists such as Fisher Ames and Timothy Pickering, the Tertium Quids did not beat the drums for disunion or secession.John Randolph in fact addressed a New England Senator in a letter in 1814 and criticised them for their thrust towards disunion; though he expressed sympathy for their opposition to the War of 1812 and the hardship born by the Embargo Act.At the apogee of his career, Randolph was challenged by Henry Clay to a duel after Clay was incensed by his taunting in the Senate, and of course both men emerged unscathed.Randolph ironically in his last days said that Clay was the only man that could save the Union.

With one succinct little volume, Russell Kirk gives a clear impression of classical republicanism as reflected in the life and statesmanship of John Randolph.What Randolph brought to the table was an austere republicanism, deeply rooted in principle, which would animate the insurgent southern conservatism of antebellum America that became more unadulterated as the south became a conscious and beleaguered minority.After the death of Randolph, the prescriptive wisdom of the Tertium Quids proved prophetic as the moneyed aristocracy corrupted the body politic and fomented a sectional crisis leading to disunion by 1861.

John Randolph and Russell Kirk, Aristocrats Bar None
Russell Kirk's John Randolph: A Study in American Politics is really more a statement on the philosophy of the author. Kirk, A right wing fanatic who admires monarchy and aristocracy, loves Randolph for thesamereasons. Randolph, although an eloqent and passionate defender of state's rights, was an enemy of the Jeffersonians, and an unwitting ally of his Federalist enemies. Randolph was orginally a liberal, but soon became a defender of what Murray Rothbard calls the "Old Order". The Old Order mindset is one of a monied aristocracy, powerful political leaders, dominating religious leaders, and fuedalism, all of which Randolph admired.

All of this tells much about Kirk himself, as most biographies do. Kirk is an enemy of Jeffersonian democracy and limited government, even though Randolph supported a limited federal structure. Kirk, an admirer of Burke, along with Randolph, seems to endorse the view that people need an aristocracy to run their lives. Randolph believed those ideals too. He believed in primogeniture, entail, a strongly restricted franchise, and the power of landed wealth. Primogenture, entail, disestablishment of a state religion were the linchpin of a Jeffersonian reform of Virginia. Randolph despised these changes. Kirk, seems to despise them also. It seems to me that men like Kirk and Randolph would have been Tories in the American Revolution, both admired England, it aristocracy and it's powerful government. Old John Randolph, the aristocrat and state's rights man, and Russell Kirk, the monarchist and conservative couldn't be better bedfellows. The only good point is that Kirk points out that Randolph opposed slavery but realized that simple manumission would be futile in his society. After Randolph's death he deeded a large tract of land to his slaves in Ohio and freed them. When they tried to settle the land they were run off by the white population. This should answer the moronic comments by leftists who rail at the Founding generation and continually cant that they should have just "freed" their slaves, the consequences be what they may.

Other than that Kirk shows why the modern conservative movement, of which he is credited as it's founder, is anti-liberty and pines for a return to the "Old Order".

Overall a poor study with much bias.

One of America's great characters!
John Randolph of Roanoke, a distant cousin of Thomas Jefferson (whose mother was a Randolph), cut one of the outstanding figures in American politics in the first third of the nineteenth century.Virtually nothingin his life was uninteresting.From leader of the Republican Party in theHouse in Jefferson's first term as president, Randolph went to leader of anew opposition party after his notorious break with Jefferson.Later, hisfamous speaking style (the speeches here are worth the volume's price andmore!) and acerbic wit made him the terror of administrations of bothparties.His duel with Secretary of State Henry Clay is immortal, hisimbroglios with the young John C. Calhoun are mesmerizing, and the story ofhis death fascinates.Not included here is the controversy over his will: in the end, one of Randolph's wills was probated and the other failed, withthe result that Randolph freed more than 400 slaves!He also bought themland in "free" Ohio, where the natives ran them off; I don't knowwhat became of the land (or of the Randolph money that had bought it forthem).Randolph's long-standing insistence that the Yankees werehypocrites when it came to slavery and emancipation finds some supporthere, to say the least.

Kirk, unfortunately, has a tendency to make everyconservative he admires into a bygone Russell Kirk.Randolph, for one, wasnot nearly so religious as Kirk would have him, and what Christianity hehad was -- as one might expect -- of an eccentric variety.Still, the texthere is a nice entre' to Randolph's life, and the speeches and letters arepriceless.We don't have politicians of this intellectual level, or withthis grasp of the English language, anymore.Nor, alas, do we have any whoare so consistently, insistently conservative. ... Read more

Product Description
The Memoirs of Colonel John S. MosbyBy the close of the Civil War, John Mosby had become notorious as a raider and master of Guerrilla tactics.The illustration at right appeared in the January 21, 1865 edition of Harper's Weekly, a New York newspaper.The paper included the following description of Mosby:The Rebel Colonel MosbyJohn Singleton Mosby, long notorious as a rebel guerrilla, was born in Virginia in 1832.Little is popularly known of his career before the war.In 1862 he was a Lieutenant in Lee's army, and for his services in harassing our troops encamped near Fredericksburg, met with General Lee's approval and was promoted Major. In March, 1863, he captured General Stoughton at Fairfax Court House. He was wounded near this same place in August of that year, and was unable previous to January, 1864, to resume his official duties. Last August he was again wounded and put hors du combat for two months, after which he again appeared in a raid on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, for which he was made Lieutenant-Colonel. December 10 he was given the full rank of Colonel.We give above an account, entitled "Two Days with Mosby," which, as being substantially true, will prove very interesting to our readers.This rebel Colonel has been the centre of a great deal of fabulous romance during the war.He has been recently wounded again, and so seriously that his friends, it is reported, despair of his recovery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Rebel With A Cause
John Singleton Mosby ranks up there with the very best of those who served his country during war and I suspect that had he served with the North during the War Between The States his legacy today would be even more enhanced.
His Partisan Rangers gave the Federal Army in Virginia more than they had anticipated or could handle and they sustained their brilliant raids throughout the war. They were so good at their small unit hit and run tactics that at the war's end there was some question as to whether they would be pardoned. They were and his skill as a Ranger, his daring, and his loyalty to his cause and to those who served under him earned him the respect of many of his contemporaries, North and South alike...well, most of them anyway. George Custer probably didn't like him too much but read Mosby's book and see why.
Having visited and walked some of the sites of his raids and fights in Virginia I greatly enjoyed having his book with me. Getting back to the place is one thing while getting back to the time is another. MOSBY'S MEMOIRS offered those rare, brief glimpses into the mind and times of a true Special Operations soldier.

A great book
I read this book in less than 3 weeks! It was great, and for those who don't know the Civil War it's even better because you don't know what's about to happen. I really liked it, and you should check it out.

A Good Story --- Reads Like an Adventure Novel
Since I live in what might be called "Mosby's Back Yard" --- the Washington, DC suburbs of Northern Virginia --- I thought I should learn something about this man for whom several local streets, highways, andbridges are named.A friend recommended "Mosby's Rangers" byJeffrey Wert; my wife suggested a new book, James Ramage's "GrayGhost."But I opted to begin my study with Mosby's own account of hisadventures: his own memoirs.

I know that old soldiers tend to exaggeratetheir war stories; and they occasionally ramble.But Mosby's Memoirs arestill fascinating, and I think the exaggeration is kept to a minimum.Thestory does get a bit bogged down in Chapter 12 --- talking about eventsleading up to Gettysburg.The good colonel, like all soldiers, is alsosomewhat wordy discussing the merits and failures of various generals andofficers in the war.

Still, all things considered, I found this to bequite interesting.I don't usually read military memoirs, but I enjoyedthis.Now on to "Gray Ghost!"

Oh, another thing that made thisbook (and, presumably any book on John Mosby's exploits) fun to read: hementions so many towns, roads, and places already familiar to me.Lastweekend I took a drive to Beaverdam, VA just to see what was left of thetrain station near where the Yankees captured Mosby early in his career (hewas shortly released).Couldn't find the station, but the tracks are stillthere!If you're familiar with Northern VA & the Shenandoah Valley,check out this book! ... Read more

Product Description
This first comprehensive biography of Charles M. Russell examines the colorful life and times of Montana's famed Cowboy Artist.Born to an affluent St. Louis family in 1864, young Russell read thrilling tales of the West and filled sketchbooks with imagined frontier scenes.At sixteen he left home and headed west to become a cowboy.In Montana Territory he consorted with cowpunchers, Indians, preachers, saloon keepers, and prostitutes, while celebrating the waning American frontier's glory days in some 4,000 paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sculptures.Before his death in 1926, Russell saw the world change dramatically, and the West he loved passed into legend.By then he was revered as one of the country's ranking Western artist with works displayed in the finest galleries, his romantic vision of the Old West forever shaping our own.

Taliaferro reveals the man behind the myth in his multifaceted complexity:extraordinarily gifted, self-effacing, charming, mischievous, and playful, a friend to rough frontier denizens and Hollywood stars alike.The author also explores Russell's controversial partnership with his fiery young wife, Nancy, whose ambition and business savvy helped establish Russell as one of America's most popular artists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Great reading!
I purchased this book for my cousin whose father knew Charles Russell personnally.Warren has one of his paintings and I have ordered another one for him (last of the 5000).He is loving the book and can't put it down.The book details his life in a easy-reading, very interesting way.

WELL WRITTEN AND INFORMATIVE BIOGRAPHY OF AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL
This is a very well written biography of an American Original, Charles M. Russell, cowboy, artist, story teller and someone you would probably like to hang around with for a bit.I have always been rather fond of Western Art, in general, and Russell's work in particular.I have, from time to time read articles on the life of this truly individual man but have before now, been unable to read a complete work on his life that I could give credit to for being valid.John Taliaferro has treated the artist rather fairly as well as the artist's wife Nancy, who I have always suspected has not been appreciated for just what she did for her husband. Truth be told, I doubt if Charles M. Russell would have ever been the artist he was without her. It is good that the author has given credit were credit is due.I have also had some problems with the separation of truth from myth.The author has done a very nice job of this with this work.

This book is a bit more than just the story of the life on one man though.If you pay attention, you can find a pretty good history of the evolution of the Western Artist here, and the role he played in this particular genre of art.I say art, because I believe that is just what it is.I realize that there has been, is, and probably always will be the artist/illustrated argument being pitched back and forth with each new generation of artists and art teachers.Personally, I am one of those people who looks himself in the mirror and says "if I call it art, then by God, it is art."This of course my personal standard and I am sure there are many who would disagree. And that is the way it should be. The purpose of this biography was not to establish the answer to this question one way or another.Let the argument rage on...it just makes things more interesting.

The author of this work does have a very readable style, has well foot noted his sources, and when he simply does not know something, says as such.When he speculates, he specifically states that he is doing so.Now I will warn the reader that the author, Mr. Taliaferro, does love his Thesaurus, aggressively uses it, and does display a quirky sort of vocabulary.I personally like this, as I love words, but some readers may find it just a bit distracting.This is a very minor problem though, if even a problem it is.

I feel it is important to understand our art if we are to understand ourselves as a society and also feel that we need to know and understand those who are able to create this art.Works such as this help greatly with this understanding and by reading them, simply makes life a bit more enjoyable.I know that I will certainly look with new eyes now, each time I view a Russell painting or sculpture after reading this work.A well written biography, informative, fun and a pleasure to read!

A factual, fair and fascinating account
John Taliaferro does a great job of separating fact from legend in this well-written, engaging account of Charlie Russell's life. Russell wasn't above embellishing his western credentials (he never, in fact, lived with the Indians, as he once claimed), but Taliaferro shows us that he did have genuine cowboy credentials, cutting his chops over years of nighthawking on the Montana range.

This biography is fair to Russell's wife, Nancy, who was often vilified by Russell's friends for her money-hungry, status-conscious ways. Nancy was a young, uneducated woman who came from dirt-poor circumstances. She took on the sole responsibility for managing her husband's art career. If Nancy made a few enemies over the years, she deserves credit for taking Charlie from being a cowpoke selling his sketches for $25 to a world-renowned artist.

"THE" COWBOY ARTIST
Art critics spend much time arguing about the value of western art and as to whether it can really be classified as art at all.Some of the more snobby critics attempt to discredit western painters by referring to them as "illustrators" as if that changes anything.They argue that if an artist is commissioned by other than the loftiest of patrons or if their work is used primarily to illuminate a story then their art can only be classified as illustration and not as fine art.

As an art student I argued this one ad nauseam with my art professors.And invariably the work of Charles Marion Russell, my favorite ARTIST - period - would arise.But that's enough about small-minded art professors and their unwillingness to accept art wherever they find it.

The work of Charles Marion Russell (hereafter CM Russell) is accepted by thousands as arguably the best of the western genre.It remains the standard against which all other western pieces are judged. Russell also was an accomplished western wit who drew and kept the fast friendship of the king of western wit, Will Rogers.In his book Charles M. Russell: The Life and Legend of America's Cowboy Artist, John Taliaferro not only discusses the art achievements of Russell but also provides a biography that paints the life of the artist and the west Russell knew so well in the most vivid colors possible.And indeed CM Russell was the most colorful of characters.

Read this book and I'll bet you will at least become the owner of a CM Russell print and at most plan a pilgrimage to Great Falls to visit CM Russell's museum, studio and home.

"No one comes close"!
As a young boy he heard the words of Horace Greely, and indeed went west to seek fame, fortune, and adventure. After two years with Jake Hoover in the Judith, his dreams of wranglin', and ropin' came true at the O H ranch. Over time the home of the "Big Sky Country" became his perminant domain, and his mother Miss Montana, she blessed her son with a gift that would speek for many of his kind that ventured before him. He illustrated with brush, and canvas. He wrote in scripture, and sculptured in bronze. With his gift, C M Russell was able to protray what it was like to live in a time when spurs, the six-gun, and the feel of leather was a cowhands only cherrished parcel. He became the "Cowboys Cowboy", and the voice of the "Red-Man". Montana's dearest son had done what she wanted him to do. Russell for those who knew him was Loving, Kind, and Loyal. He never forgot his roots, no matter where he traveled. In the end Montana was more than proud of him. For she had raised him as Montanan. Over the years he became a Montanan. And at the end of the trail, he was buried as a Montanan. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

World Nature
Excellent book...great resource and testament about how beautiful our World is and potentially reminder what we are slowly but surely ruining around us!

A Hefty Treasure
This is a massive book.It is really much too large to easily read unless you sit down with it and prop it on a table.The weight and size make it a bit uncomfortable to read and that is a shame as it has such good content and is a very important and timely book about the earth's biodiversity crisis.

Hotspots are areas of the earth that harbor unusually high concentrations of plants, birds, mammals, fish and other species out of proportion to their small area.Examples are the cloud forests of the Andes and the Atlantic Rain Forest of Brazil.Most of these areas are threatened by logging or other development and biologists are racing to catalog and describe all that is there as the conservationists struggle to protect portions of the areas.This book shows with gorgeous images the beauty of these rare places and helps to explain their immense value through the text, tables and charts for each region.

There is much to learn from the pages of this book and to appreciate from the images taken across the world.I too would recommend sharing this book with friends but would recommend a weight lifting program before hauling this off to your reading room.

First Rate Summary of Planetary Biodiversity and How to Go About Saving It
It isn't often that a sumptuous coffee table book is both visually appealing and scientifically packed with well-researched data. Hotspots Revisited hits the mark on both scores. This updated revision of the 1999 edition of Hotspots expands the number of planetary hotspots to 35. This is an information-packed compendium on those areas of our planet that are species-rich and home to the highest levels of species endemism. The book acknowledges that all biodiversity is important and that all nations and communities must do everything possible to protect our planet's rich biological heritage. Life, however, is not evenly distributed around the world and because of this fact, this volume presents a convincing and forceful rationale for adopting the hotspot strategy for prioritizing areas for biological conservation. This is done by summarizing the distributions of plants and vertebrate animals in a way that is both comprehensive and intelligible to even the lay reader who does not have an extensive background in the biological sciences. This volume is both a visual feast and a celebration of life. It is hard to set it aside once you have opened it. Without a doubt, it is one of the best bargains of any book offered by Amazon.com and should be required reading for all governmental and private organizations charged with saving our natural resources at a time when the fabric of life on planet Earth is being threatened by overexploitation, environmental destruction, violent conflict, and countless other factors. Buy it, read it thoroughly, learnmore stunning facts about planetary geography and biodiversity than you have probably ever been exposed to at one sitting, and by all means loan it to a friend once you have immersed yourself in this model expose of our planet's extraordinary biodiversity. ... Read more

Product Description
"Russell Lee's sense of the possibilities of photography was almost as generous, open, and democratic as photography itself. His appetite as a spectator was as wide as the prairie, and his sympathy for his fellows appeared seamless."--John Szarkowski, from the forewordRussell Lee is widely acclaimed as one of the most outstanding documentary photographers of the twentieth century. His images of American life during the Great Depression, created for the Farm Security Administration between 1936 and 1942, hold a preeminent place in one of history's best-known and most useful photographic collections. This famous body of work demonstrates Lee's extraordinary ability to reveal the humanity of his subjects and to become a part of the communities he photographed. It also displays Lee's superior technical ability--his legendary skill in using a flash enabled Lee to create some of the finest candids in the history of photography. Russell Lee Photographs is the first book to show the full range and quality of Lee's entire oeuvre beyond the FSA work, as well as the first major publication of his photographs since F. Jack Hurley's 1978 book, Russell Lee: Photographer (long out of print). The book contains over 140 images, 101 of which have never appeared in book publication. The photographs are grouped into suites of images that represent all of Lee's important, non-FSA subjects: early work from New York City and Woodstock; the Spanish-speaking people of Texas; the mentally and physically disabled; political campaigns, including the Kennedy-Johnson campaign of 1960; commercial work for chemical and other companies; a portfolio of images of Italy; and quintessential scenes of small-town life. Setting Lee's images in context are a foreword by John Szarkowski, one of America's leading photography curators and critics, and an introduction by Lee's friend and fellow photography educator J. B. Colson, who offers fascinating personal insights into Lee's life and career. Considering Russell Lee's stature in American photography, it is surprising that much of his post-FSA work is unknown to the public and has been seldom seen even in the photography community. By making these images readily available for the first time, this book gives long-overdue recognition to the full range and excellence of Lee's work. Russell Lee Photographs is the essential book on this major American photographer. (20070323) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Images for heart and mind
A wonderful large format and beautifully produced book of 140 photos by Russell Lee made more worthy because 101 of them have not been published together in book form.Lee is rightly famous for his FSA work though none of that output is included here.Instead there are photos from the Texas political scene from 1935 to 1965, Italy in 1960 (where he did a portfolio of work commissioned by the Texas Quarterly) and Saudi Arabia in 1955.The majority of the photos are of the US with plenty showing small town life.

I'm not convinced that the absence of FSA work was a wise editorial choice, clearly this aspect of his career has been well documented in other books but perhaps in this one there could have been a chapter devoted to Lee's extensive 1940 work in Pie Town, New Mexico.The photos of this small town seem to be the high point of his career, also he was experimenting with color at this time (seventeen shots are shown in Bound for Glory: America in Color 1939-43 and I hope some publisher would consider a book just on Lee's Pie Town photos.

'Russell Lee Photographs' compares very favorably with Jack Hurley's 1978 Russell Lee, Photographer though the reproduction, with 250+dpi gives a much better showing than the 200dpi used in the Hurley book, which has 121 photos and a more comprehensive biography of Lee.

Both books celebrated the work of a dedicated humanist photographer whose creativity will equally stimulate your heart and mind.

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

Perhaps the best of the best
Russell Lee was one of the group of photographers that were assembled by the government during the Great
Depression to document and publicize the poverty that had hit the heart of the nation, and the ways - through
various federal programs - those that were hurting the worst could be helped.Today, that group, which included Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Marion Post Wolcott, Eudora Welty and many others who worked for the Farm Security Administration and other agencies, has been recognized as perhaps the greatest collection of documentary photographers ever gathered.Russell Lee was one of many, some of whom became much more famous, but who was recognized by them as perhaps the best.This collection strengthens that
reputation as the best of the best.He wasn't fancy, and took what he saw - he did not pose subjects for his
camera, but shot the truth.This book covers not only the Depression years, but continues with photographs in other countries, politics and of course, his chosen home state of Texas.This book is getting a lot of attention -well deserved.Center For American History and University of Texas, Hardcover, with over 140 b/w photographs, some never previously published. ... Read more

Product Description
John Russell Pope is considered one of America's finest and most important classical architects, and this lavishly illustrated book, long overdue, is the first comprehensive survey of his work. This definitive study, comprised mainly of projects dating from 1910 to 1937, includes the Jefferson Memorial, the National Gallery of Art, Constitution Hall, the National Archives, and the Temple of the Scottish Rite in Washington, D.C.; the Frick Collection and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Duveen Sculpture Gallery (for the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon) at the British Museum and the Sculpture Hall at the Tate Gallery, both in London; mansions for the Vanderbilts and Marshall Field; and campus plans for the Yale and The Johns Hopkins Universities.

Steven McLeod Bedford follows the architect's career from his early education through his development as one of the most important figures in classicism, examining every aspect of Pope's architectural output, from his residential and commercial projects to his museums and monuments. Illustrated with archival photographs and Jonathan Wallen's never-before-published new color photography, John Russell Pope: Architect of Empire captures the enduring beauty and significance of this American master's oeuvre.
Amazon.com Review
Despite the contemporary fascination with all things classicalthat has fueled the recent antimodern movement, this is the first bookin more than half a century to explore the career of John Russell Pope(1873-1937).And it is worth the wait as it luxuriously presents thework of the architect of the National Gallery of Art, theJefferson Memorial, the National Archives, and dozens of otherbuildings that are now intrinsic to the constructed environment of theU.S. capital. Pope was an architect of such harmony, balance, andeffortless grandeur that he might well be ignored by current Americanneoclassicists, whose ill-conceived gewgaws are put to shame by Pope'sstately homes, serene monuments, authoritative collegiate buildings,and regal museums.

Architect and historian Steven McLeod Bedford began his solitary,comprehensive, and difficult research for this book during the 1980s,when proponents of the high-minded cultural imperatives of the late19th century, including the Hudson River School painters, were invogue. Bedford admirably analyses the strengths and weaknesses of anarchitect whose most famous buildings "expressed the grandiloquentaspirations of private and public patrons." He also puts Pope'scontributions in historical perspective, noting that a 1961 history ofAmerican architecture published by the A.I.A. found "no merit inPope's work." Bedford himself writes with careful objectivity that"Pope seemed to adhere to the precept that a certain set of classicalforms and plans existed whose inherent beauty was immutable."

Bedford writes warmly but dispassionately about buildings that manypeople love, and some--such as those who listened to Martin LutherKing Jr. speak on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, or visited thesoaring, softly sky-lit rooms of the National Gallery--have specialattachments to. Beauty of this exalted type may no longer be ofinterest to the architectural cognoscenti, but there is a quality ofcalm endurance to Pope's buildings that has lasting appeal. In spiteof the author's reserve, this is an inspiring, elucidating book,filled with plans, drawings, and color photographs that do somebelated justice to Pope's career. --Peggy Moorman ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Balanced Portrait, Mostly
Well, if there was ever a misunderstood architect it is Pope. Somehow people imagine that the classicizing elements he represents were just his application of aretrograde zeitgeist element that he picked out and employed for longer than some might have liked. But go and look at the many, many unlovely classical buildings others producedand then look at Pope's. His genius was to take a long overused stylistic vein and give it life. Consider the long history of the classicizing tendency, is it not almost miraculous that Pope could be as good as he was? This book treats him as a real world figure, not an object of potential hagiography which apparently some would like. He was enormously learned and had business savvy. That is why he produced so many fine buildings. I am sure it was difficult for him to hear his beautiful National Gallery in DC bad-mouthed as a "pink" abortion, as the book describes. It shows how little there is to fashionable opinion makers. Would that current museum designs would wear half as well as Pope's National Gallery has worn, or his beautiful Baltimore Museum, which is still gorgeous eventhoughunfortunately disfigured with bad additions to emphasize thegift shop. My only problem with the book is that it does not give proper emphasis to certain buildings. For instance, the great House of the Temple, the Scottish Rite Temple in DC is not given the emphasis it deserves compared to other buildings. That is to say, that the House of the Temple is considered to be one of his greatest works and always was, and is treated in the text as on the same level as others. If the criticisms of Pope are to be taken seriously, and they seem to be in this text, then the House of the Temple must be seen as a structure that avoids the problems that are attributed to Pope. That is, as an early work it avoids the problem of hisgradually more restrained and restricted classical style. The House of the Temple is easily one of his most exhuberant buildings and thus demands emphasis as an example of Pope's avoiding the very pitfalls attributed to him. If that is not acknowledged the portrait is not so balanced. But that is ultimately a quibble with a very fine book. And the pictures are mostly beautiful.

Great archtitect, long overdue book, writing a little dry.
This wonderful architect deserves study. his work is represented well but society context, office practice, growth in style are a little lacking and could have beenbetter . Still a great addtion to any library!

Pope rehabilitated
This carefull reappraisal of Popes work was long overdue. One would hope that it will be followed by books on Cass Gilbert and Paul Cret who with Pope were the last masters of American Classical Architecture.Their work has stood the test of time beter than many more modern buildings.

another great topic in the wrong hands
I love all architecture and I can remember when I could count on titles from Rizzoli to uphold a certain standard, but that was too long ago. J.R.P. was an extrodinatry man for his time and a classic architect whodeserves the same type of fame given to Frank Lloyd Wright. Rizzoli onceagain has failed the topic. GREAT COVER AND NO SUBSTANCE A.K.A. PAPERGARBAGE. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The very best guide to the City of Light
I've taken this book with me twice to Paris, in spite of its weight (three-and-a-half pounds) and the fact that it's not really a guidebook.It is an elegant, erudite tour of the City of Light, through its streets and through its history.

I first read "Paris" in a small garret under the eaves of a grand Parisian hotel.It had been one of the hottest days on record and my room had no air-conditioning.Nor does Paris shut down for the night.However, I had an imposing view of a street, lined with facades of a "huge blank pompous featureless sameness" that was deplored by Henry James.And I had this book, which turned that airless Parisian night into magic.Its author has a knack for spotting the most telling detail--from the "heavy, gun-metaled print of a mid-nineteenth-century thumb" where he starts his tour in the Louvre, to the very borders of Ile de France where he ultimately bids his readers farewell under the "immensities of the upper air" that were a painter's dream."Light, then, first: and air."

In many aspects of their lives, John Russell finds Parisians to be "a secretive, devious, ungiving people."Buildings are there to hide things, not expose them to every passing tourist.However, this book puts all of the charming (and not so charming) details of interior life on view.There are the velvet-lined elevators of the original Galeries Lafayette, whose builder's passion "was to conquer the female race"--in the shopping sense of 'conquer.'There are Anglophile pubs, and expensive 'bars-à-filles,' where "the lights glow rose-to-amber, the windows are curtained with carpet, ...a sad bargain can be driven at any hour of the day, and the atmosphere is inexpugnably 'triste'."

One of my favorite descriptions is of Balzac's house on the street that now bears his name.Like so many other Parisians, the nineteenth-century author succumbed to the contagion of High Victorian style.Hardly a surface in the house was left unsculpted or unencrusted with bronze, tortoiseshell, and buttercup damask.The bathroom was built of yellow stone and covered with bas-reliefs in stucco.Once shut inside Balzac's library, a stranger might never find her way out again, because even the door was lined with bookshelves.

The author is equally at home in every Parisian milieu, from palace to 'bar-à-fille.'As Rosamond Bernier says in her introduction to this book, "No one else could combine the feel and the look, the heart and the mind, the stones and the trees, the past and the present, the wits, the eccentrics, and the geniuses of my favorite city with such easy grace."

"Paris" is adorned with 310 illustrations (many of them charming old photographs), including 85 colored plates, all personally chosen by John Russell.

If a trip to Paris is even the merest glimmer on your event horizon, read this book.You can lug it to Paris like I did, or snuggle up to it in the comfort of your own room.And dream.

Je Suis Pret (I Am Ready)
I bought this book many years ago, before my first visit to Paris.It was both more than I anticipated and less than I expected.By this I mean that it was a very impractical book to use, by itself, as a guide to Paris, but was a wonderful book to use to learn about the Paris of the Parisians andthe Parisians, themselves.Strange, you may say, but by reading PARIS, onecomes to the realization that the Parisian has a relationship with his citythat is unlike any other.

As one example of this, Russell talks of thefact that Parisians are not particularly impressed by their famous authors,artists, statesmen, etc.To wit:When a great man dies, Parisians givethemselves over to grief that seems almost inconsolable, but on the wayhome from the miles long funeral procession, "they remind themselvesthat for every great Parisian who lies in a vault there is another greatParisian ....."

Russell says that Paris is a city of impulse, a city in whichto act on impulse is one of the secrets of happiness.This, to me, is whythe typical three day whirlwind tour of Paris is so unsatisfactory.Myfirst visit to Paris was on just such a tour (my last one, by the way) andI left feeling that I'd really missed something.Following Russell'sexcellent advice, I came back a few years later and spent a month takinglife on a day by day basis.This visit was much more fulfilling and I havePARIS to thank for helping me understand the importance of taking time outfrom sightseeing to absorb a little of the ambience that is the trueParis.

This book is much more than an occasional bit of advice to thewould be tourist.It is a history.It is a discussion of the art andarchitecture of Paris.It is a discussion of key areas within the city andof the Ile de France surrounding the city.It is also a discussion of theParisian of today and yesterday and what makes him unique.To boot, itcontains countless photographs and art reproductions going back hundreds ofyears.There is a wonderful discussion of the old railroad station hotelswith detailed descriptions of several of them.I have a feeling that"progress" has wiped out most of them.

No book on Paris wouldbe complete without a discussion of the Metro.PARIS gives the history ofthis transportation backbone of Paris from its beginnings to the present. It's nice to know that you're never more than about 5 minutes from a Metrostation and never more than about 45 minutes, by Metro, from anywhere inParis.My wife and I purchased Carte Orange's (Orange Cards - 30 day MetroPasses) for about $42.00 American each, and had our month's transportationneeds provided for.The Metro and good walking shoes, that's all one needsin Paris.

I can't imagine anyone reading this book and not wanting tovisit Paris.I know that if I hadn't been there I'd want to go afterreading it.As it is, rereading sections of this book, in preparation forthis review, has made me want to do just that.Je suis pret. ... Read more

Product Description
A comprehensive illustrated survey of John Russell Pope's (1873-1937) residential work, delving into Pope's design sources and methods. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Belisima
This is a very well executed book.The pictures chosen are perfect and the authors do a commendable job with the research.The book gives an exhaustive cross section of Mr. Popes work and one gets a real appreciation of his talent.The book publisher deserves credit for creating such a finely made book, one never doubts they are perusing an expensive book.The only qualm I have with the book is that they didn't do like the authors of the book on Delano and Aldrich and include some fine current color pictures to compliment the wonderful vintage B&W photos, that would have made it perfect, but this is close enough.Congradulations to the authors for this fine piece of work. ... Read more

Product Description
Once in a lifetime there may come to an author the opportunity to produce a book as distinguished as this acclaimed tribute to the Duke—a man as large as the American West he so loved. It is the first book ever to have the complete cooperation of the late Michael Wayne and is a classic production that spotlights John Wayne’s West from reel to real through 400 exciting images, with text by Jane Pattie. These visual remembrances, many from private collections, are high points from five decades of his film and ranching careers. There are 276 pages of colorful reminisces of the man who was John Wayne, the film icon, and Duke Wayne, the loyal and generous friend, including the story of the 26 Bar Ranch in Arizona co-owned by Wayne and his best friend, Louis Johnson, cattleman extraordinaire.

The centennial celebration of John Wayne’s birth will occur on May 26, 2007, 100 years after he was born Marion Michael Morrison in Winterset, Iowa. This imposing western biography salutes him as a timeless American. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

JOHN WAYNE..THERE RODE A LEGEND: A WESTERN TRIBUTE
EXCELLENT BOOK FOR JOHN WAYNE FANS..THOUGHT I KNEW EVERYTHING ABOUT JOHN WAYNE UNTIL I READ THIS BOOK..IN THIS BOOKHIS CO-STARS TALK ABOUT JOHN WAYNE, HIS MOVIES, AND WHAT HE DID OUTSIDE OF HIS MOVIES.

Beautiful Book
This book has alot of realy nice pictures and story. It's very beautifully done. I bought it for my father in law and he loved it. He said he had another John Wayne book but, this one was much nicer. I recieved it quickly. The book jacket was crinkled and the seller said I could exchange it after I gave it to my father in law. But my father in law said he could fix it so there was no need to do so. I would highly recomend this book to any John Wayne or western lover. Great coffee table book or addition to any personal library.

John Wayne/There Rode A Legend
It is now my favorite book on the life of John Wayne.Lots of photos I had not previously seen.Great coverage of his entire life with details of his ranch and cattle.A must have for any John Wayne fan.

Must own for any Duke Fan
This book is a must own for any Duke fan. Most books about John Wayne cover the more well known parts of his life such as acting and public notoriety. And this book does that also. But this book goes far beyond that and covers his life in many other aspects such as his raching/farming/feedlot career. It talks about things such as John Wayne memorabilia, John Wayne comics, and has a heart felt introduction by one of his most famous co-stars; Maureen O'hara. I could go on and on about this great book, but to sum it up, you could just quote me as saying that this is the best John Wayne book available today!John Wayne ... There Rode a Legend: A Western Tribute

we rode with him
All around the world, for decades, millions of dreamers have rode in magnificent landscapes with a man that everyone would have had as a friend. But when the red light of the camera has been switched off, when the dream vanished, there was a man that we couldn't meet. We can meet him now, thirty years after his death, and we can do it in his world, his country. In the first part of this book, that I've found the most interesting, I could take a look on the life of Marrion Morrison and see him with his family and friends. In the other chapters I could see the Duke in action and it seemed to me that he blinked from a movie poster. I loved every page of this book, can you believe? ... Read more

Product Description
" Criminal defense attorney J.R. Cuttler begins his Sunday with thoughts of flying his airplane around the East Texas area and later watching his Dallas Cowboys play the hated Washington Redskins. That thought is shattered in an instant when the local radio station reports the abduction and rape of a twenty-eight year old woman and her twelve year old niece from the local Wal-Mart parking lot. The identity of the victims and the initial allegations as to their assailant would draw Cuttler into a capital murder case that would forever change his life and his practice of law.
This small, deep East Texas town located on the Texas-Louisiana border never really accepted the end of the Civil War. Therefore, when two White women are allegedly abducted, beaten, raped and sodomized by a young “uppity” Black Man, the county digresses into the mind-set of the 1850’s.
After his arrest in another jurisdiction, Lincoln Johnson is beaten beyond recognition by two deputies returning him to the local jail. It is this senseless barbarity that raises Cuttler’s ire to the degree that he agrees to represent the accused.
The development of pre-trial tactics, the trial, and hypnotic conclusion pits modern scientific methodology and old time trial theatrics.

"
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Author doesn't even know what he wrote...
I don't know how "anonymous please" is related to the author, but I hesitate to buy a book in which the author himself doesn't know what he's written.Read the first two paragraphs by using the "look inside" feature and then count the number of discrepancies you see in his "product description."(Hopefully he'll read this and correct the mistakes before you get the chance.)Notice that only a self-published (and yes Xlibris is a company that "authors" must pay to see their book in print when real publishing houses won't publish) author would put a two page (or one page for that matter) table of contents into a modern "work" of fiction in which the chapters have no chapter titles or headings.A real publishing house probably would not have sent it to print like that... think John Grisham, James Patterson, even Danielle Steel.You'll notice that I used a lot of quotation marks in this review.I do that to honor the author's own style.I particularly enjoyed his disclaimer on the copyright page in which he improperly and incorrectly uses quotation marks around the words "fiction" and "actual."Finally, from the product description it is clear that this work was inspired by A Time to Kill by John Grisham.I do strongly recommend Grisham's version.It is powerful and gripping and published the old fashioned way - sweat and tears and hard work and NOT through paying for it.

East Texas needs a hero
A white woman and her 12-year-old cousin are raped and left for dead in a small east Texas town. The brutality of the crime alone is enough to make one cringe, but when a black man is accused of the crime, the town is divided, and it will only take a small spark for the place to blow. The Civil Rights movement is over and we are all created equal, but there are plenty in Crownover, Texas, who didn't get the message. Racism is rampant and for the most part, unchecked.

The accused is Lincoln Johnson, the only son of Queeny Johnson, J.R. Cutler's former maid of twenty years. Cutler, a prominent local attorney and former DA, has a well-known soft spot for Queeny. He finds it impossible to say no to defending Lincoln, even though everyone he respects tries to tell him it is a bad idea.||Cutler is drawn into the case with a strong belief of his client's innocence and a belief that he is unlikely to get a fair trial or a vigorous defense in an area where bigotry, racism, and just plain stupidity are the rules of the day, not the exception.||Detailed and at times nail-biting, Smith has taken a tale based partially on fact, and written a new Atticus Finch for our times. J.R. Cutler is a character who stands up to be counted in //Redneck Country ... Black Letter Law//.

A MUST READ!
this is a page-turner from the get-go.i got it (e-book) on thursday and finished it over the weekend.
i cannot believe how great the author is in describing people, and places and things.he is super.
i strongly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a great great book. ... Read more

Product Description
A BRILLIANTLY WRITTEN ACCOUNT OF THE NBA’S GLORY DAYS, AND THE RIVALRY THAT DOMINATED THE ERA

In the mid-1950s, the NBA was a mere barnstorming circuit, with outposts in such cities as Rochester, New York, and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Most of the best players were white; the set shot and layup were the sport’s chief offensive weapons. But by the 1970s, the league ruled America’s biggest media markets; contests attracted capacity crowds and national prime-time television audiences. The game was played “above the rim”–and the most marketable of its high-flying stars were black. The credit for this remarkable transformation largely goes to two giants: Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain.

In The Rivalry, award-winning journalist John Taylor projects the stories of Russell, Chamberlain, and other stars from the NBA’s golden age onto a backdrop of racial tensions and cultural change. Taylor’s electrifying account of two complex men–as well as of a game and a country at a crossroads–is an epic narrative of sports in America during the 1960s.

It’s hard to imagine two characters better suited to leading roles in the NBA saga: Chamberlain was cast as the athletically gifted yet mercurial titan, while Russell played the role of the stalwart centerpiece of the Boston Celtics dynasty. Taylor delves beneath these stereotypes, detailing how the two opposed and complemented each other and how they revolutionized the way the game was played and perceived by fans.

Competing with and against such heroes as Jerry West, Tom Heinsohn, Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, and Elgin Baylor, and playing for the two greatest coaches of the era, Alex Hannum and the fiery Red Auerbach, Chamberlain and Russell propelled the NBA into the spotlight. But their off-court visibility and success–to say nothing of their candor–also inflamed passions along America’s racial and generational fault lines. In many ways, Russell and Chamberlain helped make the NBA and, to some extent, America what they are today.

Filled with dramatic conflicts and some of the great moments in sports history, and building to a thrilling climax–the 1969 final series, the last showdown between Russell and Chamberlain–The Rivalry has at its core a philosophical question: Can determination and a team ethos, embodied by the ultimate team player, Bill Russell, trump sheer talent, embodied by Wilt Chamberlain?

Gripping, insightful, and utterly compelling, the story of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain is the stuff of sporting legend. Written with a reporter’s unerring command of events and a storyteller’s flair, The Rivalry will take its place as one of the classic works of sports history.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

A great read, but accuracy is suspect
This appears to be a thorough, thoughtful examination of the Russell-Chamberlain rivalry and what it did for pro basketball (much as Bird-Magic would do years later), but its sloppiness makes its accuracy on any given anecdote suspect. Given that some of the inaccuracy involves some of the better-known, most easily researched moments -- mistakes that literally jump out for their amatuerishness -- I went from initially being fascinated by Taylor's compilation of behind-the-scenes insights to wondering whether I could trust any of it.

Here are some examples that came to mind as I read The Rivalry:

* Taylor's depiction of one of the most celebrated shots in NBA history, Don Nelson's desperation foul-line set shot that bounced freakishly high off the rim before falling through the net just as the Lakers were making their Game 7 comeback in 1969, is available from many film sources, and yet Taylor gets it all wrong. He say Keith Erickson "blocked a shot" and Nelson "recovered" the ball, when in fact, Erickson clearly reached from behind Havlicek in an attempt to steal the ball and poked it loose. The ball went directly to Nelson's hands some 10 feet away as if it were a pass (yet another freakish twist to the play) -- Nelson didn't "recover" the ball, he had it plop into his open hands like a gift from the basketball gods.

* Taylor correctly depicts Sam Jones' rattling game-winner triple-pick jumper on the "Ohio" play that pulled out Game 4 for the Celtics in the first telling, but later in the book refers to it as having happened in Game 5. Did anyone edit the book or even proof it? This is basic stuff, folks, and if you can't trust the simple things to be accurate, can you trust Taylor's accuracy on the more sophisticated events described in the book?

* For instance, Taylor goes into great detail about the injuries and strategies of both the Celtics and Lakers leading into the 1969 finals, yet leaves out one of the most crucial factors and a pretty well-documented one: Although Havlicek had been the team's famed Sixth Man throughout his career to that point, Russell moved him into the starting lineup for that series because he felt the Celtics needed to get off to faster starts. That, more than anything, may have made the difference in the series because in most of those games the Celtics jumped out to early big leads and put the Lakers in the position of constantly having to play catchup. The psychological implications of this dynamic can't be overstated, as the Lakers (and Wilt, with the exception of 1967) had perpetually lost to the Celtics and to trail early in most of the championship games had to reinforce likely presumptions that once again the Celtics couldn't be beaten.

As I say, these are just simple, obvious things that jumped out as I read -- and things any reasonable student of the game should have gotten right. I'd like to think they're just minor dumb oversights, but I can't help but wonder if the rest of the so-called facts in this book are as dubious.

The book is a good read -- I just don't trust it.

The Irresistable Force Vs. the Immovable Object
There have been many head-to-head rivalries in professional sports, but perhaps none has been so compelling as the NBA rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain.In "The Rivalry", author John Taylor examines the battles between the two superstars that helped put pro basketball on the map of American sports.

The book recalls the paths that Russell and Chamberlain took to the NBA, and details how different the league was in the 1950s and 1960s.Stars in the league had different lives than pro basketball players do today, and Taylor recounts developments that in time changed the league, such as the civil rights movement, television contracts, and conflicts between the players' union and the owners.

Taylor describes Chamberlain's 100-point game, the many playoff battles between Russell's Boston Celtics and Chamberlain's squads, and some of the playoff battles that the Celtics had with some of the other noteworthy teams of the era such as the St. Louis Hawks and the pre-Wilt Los Angeles Lakers.Chamberlain was notorious for feuding with his coaches, and the author recalls many of those incidents.Russell, on the other hand, had a positive force on the chemistry of his teams, and won many more championships.

This well-researched book is a first-rate history of the NBA of the Fifties and Sixties.

Russell-Chamberlain
Pretty straightforward but it did bring me back to my youth loving Russell and hating Wilt.A fair amount of good information.

A fascinating look at Russell, Chamberlain and the NBA
Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, two giants of the NBA, first competed against each other on Nov. 3, 1959.They would go head-to-head many more times over the next decade, which author John Taylor dubs "The Golden Age of Basketball."

The study of Russell and Chamberlain, two very different personalities and competitors, is fascinating.Their matchups were classic and helped shape play in the NBA.Russell and Chamberlain collided for the first time, just five years after the 24-second clock was introduced and the NBA was known for its "blood and thunder" style play.

While Chamberlain was recruited by 200 colleges, Russell, a late bloomer, received one college offer.Celtics coach Red Auerbach told Russell to focus on defense and not to worry about how many points he scored.Chamberlain, on the other hand, was obsessed by his scoring.Although he possessed a prickly personality, Russell was much more coachable and team-oriented than Chamberlain.Wilt was constantly clashing with his coaches.Russell earned the "winner" label, while Chamberlain was forever known as a "loser." Chamberlain's offense wasn't nearly as influential to the game or his team's performance as Russell's defense was.Russell focused on blocked shots and rebounds.He changed the game from layups to outside shooting, screens and picks.

The seventh game of the NBA championships in 1969 exemplifies the difference between Russell and Chamberlain.Taylor excitingly recreates the playoff battles between the Lakers and Celtics.

Besides Russell and Chamberlain, Taylor presents interesting profiles of Auerbach, Butch Van Breda Kolff, Alex Hannum, Bob Cousy, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and several other key figures of the era.

Taylor's coverage of the formation of the players' union and the possible All-Star boycott in 1964 also is interesting.

Very Impartial Accunt Of These Guys
What I most appreciated about this book was the objectivity of the author John Taylor.You don't find this often this day: a totally unbiased account of people.Here, we see the good and bad of Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Red Auerbach along with other notables of the 1950s and 1960s NBA.

Taylor simply points out the things that happened to Wilt, Russ, Bob Cousy, Jerry West, Tom Heinsohn and others, letting us - the reader - make up our own minds about these people.One thing for sure: you never get a boring account of anything that happened or was said by guys like Chamerberlain and Auerbach.Some of things those two did were unbelievable!

Almost all the stories in here are amazing and even if you think you know a lot about these famous basketball players, you'll be surprised at all the new inside information provided in this book - all of it very interesting and impartial. ... Read more