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This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure in America, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 5514 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.From rodeos to quilting bees, stickball to stock car racing, American pastimes comprise a broad range of activities. The two-volume Encyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure in America provides a comprehensive survey of these activities from the Colonial era to the present. This title examines how the pursuit of leisure has changed over time, reflecting shifting social, cultural, political and economic trends in the United States. Particular attention is paid to how leisure activities have varied by region, class, ethnicity, gender and age. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure in America, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1733 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.From rodeos to quilting bees, stickball to stock car racing, American pastimes comprise a broad range of activities. The two-volume Encyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure in America provides a comprehensive survey of these activities from the Colonial era to the present. This title examines how the pursuit of leisure has changed over time, reflecting shifting social, cultural, political and economic trends in the United States. Particular attention is paid to how leisure activities have varied by region, class, ethnicity, gender and age. ... Read more

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Originating more than 2500 years ago, cockfighting is one of the oldest documented sports in the world. It has continued to flourish despite bans against it in many countries. Folklorist Alan Dundes brings together a diverse array of writing on this male-dominated ritual. Vivid descriptions of cockfights from Puerto Rico, Tahiti, Ireland, Spain, Brazil, and the Philippines complement critical commentaries, from the 4th-century reflections of St Augustine to contemporary anthropological and psychoanalytic interpretations. Various essays discuss the intricate rules of the cockfight; the ethical question of pitting two equally matched roosters in a fight to the death; the emotional involvement of cockfighters and fans; and the sexual implications of the sport. The result is a collection for anthropologists, folklorists, sociologists, and psychologists, as well as followers of this ancient blood sport. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

the cockfight a casebookone
one thing that you must remember with this book; it is a case book, notwritten in regular story form. however, once you start to read this andrealize that it is written in a thesis/documentary form, it takes on a lifeof it's own. this book is not written to assist the lost 'cocker', but moreor less to share and help shed some light on factual practice, and help topossibly understand the connection; or at least some of it, with ancientand modern man and the true importance of cocckfighting in society, pastand present. i truly did enjoy this book, and highly recommend it to otherswith similar intrests. ... Read more

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Pepe knows that Raimundo is really a peaceful rooster and saves him from the cockfighting rings. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (6)

"The Boy was confused."
This quick novel, almost a novella it reads so fast, is a strong telling of a young man/old boy's coming of age by way of a reclamation/realization of himself from his parents, particularly his father.
Jake is Sonny's father, a hard man, embodying the strict emotionless nature of a survivalist and an entrepreneur. For years now Jake has raised and successfully fought chicken's at his Snake Nation Cock Farm, and the time has come for Sonny to take part. Sonny's interest and appreciation for his father and his lifestyle is monumental, though challenged by his mother Lily and ne'er-do-well uncle Homer, whose patheticness Jake ridicules. Sonny is ripe to be an apprentice, and Jake knows it, but throughout the story Sonny begins to recognize that he is not his father, cannot be him...
Manley has created terrifically visible characters, from Sonny and his family to the tramps the guys encounter at the cockfight, to the chickens themselves. On top of which his writing style is smooth and easy, as well as quite poetic and passionate.
A strong story, illumination of a brutal, horrendous sub-cultural sport, and of a family over-wrought by a man, and his son's coming out from under him....

A FULLY IMAGINED COMING-OF-AGE TALE
Cock fightingis a fierce, take-no-prisoners battle.At times, as we discover in Frank Manley's lean, movingly drawn debut novel, coming of age can also be a protean struggle.
Twelve-year-old "Sonny," the only name he is given, lives with his parents in a trailer beneath the shadow of Snake Nation Mountain.His mommalongs to hold him close; hisdaddy, Jake Cantrell,raises fighting cocks for a living, and wants the boy to emulate him.Sonny is so anxious to oblige, to be a man that he views his mother as "...a hundred-pound weight dragging him back.If she had her way, he'd be a girl."
Paying the ultimate compliment, Jake gives Sonny his prize cock, a champion, a three-time winner, and is going to allow the boy to pit him.The cock is a Gray; Sonny names him Lion because his daddy had told him that "Of all the animals in the world, the cock and the lion are the only ones steadfast."
Explaining that "the wilder they are, they better they fight," Jake orders Sonny to stay away from the cocks lest he tame them.Nonetheless, the boy loves Lion, and when he lifts the cock out of his cage to put him in a traveling case, he can't resist holding him in his arms, "pressing him against his chest with both hands the way he would a cat or a puppy."
Surely there can't be many more dismally offensive placesthan the low bleacher banked buildings dotted with sawdust sprinkled pits where gamecocks fight to their deaths.Mr. Manley projects these scenes, as well asthe fierce battles during which the animals gaff one another, with unsparing reality.
As plans are made for Sonny to present Lion,Jake hopes to win big, gaining the sympathy of the crowd with a boy handler.Homer, his momma's alcoholic brother will help them by taking bets.
Thetelling moment comes when Sonny and Lion are on their own in a hogwire fenced pitfacing a cunning snakeskin booted Tennessee handler who twists the gaff each time he pulls it from Lion's body.As Lion's wounds increase in severity, Sonny looks to a referee who refuses to interfere.
Perhaps for Sonny the events of this day willbe a landmark in his life, as that is when he realizes that he is not like his father nor would he wish to be.The beauty and the answer, he discovers,is found in each of us being different.
That's hard won knowledge for the boy and how he expresses this realization is found in the story's disturbing but perhaps inexorable conclusion, leaving the reader at a loss as to whether to smile or weep at Sonny's loss of innocence.
With The Cockfighter Mr. Manley offers a psychologically deep, fully imagined coming-of-age tale rife withpain and possibility.

- Gail Cooke

Manely leaves readers content...until the sequel.
Frank Manely expertly weaves a tale of one family's struggle. The story is that of a thirteen-year-old boy who assists his father who raises roosters. Sonny, the son of Jake and Lily, is finally going to be allowed to handlethe roosters at the cockfights. The big day arrives and the prize rooster,is prepared to fight. However Sonny has made a pecadillo, he did not noticethat Lion has "the white head." This aillment will cause Lion todie. Manely's characters captivate.

A must (NOT) read !
If I could I would give this book -5 stars. Due to it's lack of plot, Character development, or reality. All the characters in this book are so fickle, and extreme in their emotions that you can not help not caring fortheir situation. There is apx. 4 chapters of worthless writing before theplot! Mr. Manely never tells how cocks are raised, what they need, nor doyou get to know the boy or his cock. Finally this book has extremely vulgarrefrences. Usually relating to sex. If you would like a good read I suggestMaya Angelou's "I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS." It isintelligent, smart, intresting, thought provacative and brings you into Ms.Angelou's world. Happy reading !

comment
thank you for your review of "one weak to freedom" ... Read more

Product Description
Paul Silva lives in a magical place on a farm high in the hills of a lush, green Hawaiian island, where his disabled father raises, trains, and doctors to roosters cockfighting intended for cockfighting. The family business sickens Paul, but it s the only way his family can continue to live in the place he loves. Eventually, he must realize that being a man goes beyond wielding the power to hurt people and animals, and meet the tests of making decisions in a real world, which is far from a paradise. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fabulous!
An important novel for today's middle reader. Cockfighting in Hawaii needs to be addressed, considering the recent legislative attempt to honor this cruel and illegal activity. Paul is an admirable hero and all the book's characters are honest and alive.Thank you from a school librarian on Kauai.Bravo! ... Read more

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Reference book on all aspects of showing American Game Fowl. The complete and only technical show Standard of What a perfect specimen should look like. 16 pages of color illustrations and 4 b/w illustrated pages.If you wish to show these fowl you need this book ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Disappointing
Inaccurate information on game fowls. Illustrations are taken from classic English books. There are no illustrations of true American game fowls. Poor quality.

Informative
I can see people have tagged this book as "cruel" "Disgusting" etc. The Idiocy in that is remarkable considering the book is about poultry at shows. The point of the book, with colorful illustrations and standards is intended for the poultry show hobbyist who likes gamefowl. Gamefowl, like all other breeds of chickens can make wonderful hobby farm livestock, and the best reward can be getting the winning ribbon stuck on your pen at a show. This book was written to standardize the american gamefowl since its show history is a relativly recent one. People who tag this book for somthing that its not are showing everyone how foolishly presumtuos they are. ... Read more

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GOLD POINT is a novel about turbulent times, greyhound track gamblers, illegal cockfights, drug smuggling in the Caribbean and the mountains of Columbia, South America. It is the story of expatriates, pirates and the perverse. At its heart it is a tale of two brothers, their partners and lovers, their innocent dreams of wealth and acts ofgreed, betrayal and heroism. ... Read more

Product Description
Originally published in 1878.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

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The sport is cockfighting, and Frank Mansfield is the Cockfighter--a silent and fiercely contrary man whose obsession with winning will cost him almost everything.  In this haunting, ribald, and percussively violent work, the author of the Hoke Mosely detective novels yields a floodlit vision of the cockpits and criminal underbelly of the rural South. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

not the genuine article
This has been copied from an early manuscript; the genuine Cockfighter was published in hardcover by Crown and in paperback by, among others, Black Lizard.

A FULLY IMAGINED COMING OF AGE TALE

Cock fighting, is a fierce, take-no-prisoners battle.At times, as we discover in Frank Manley's lean, movingly drawn debut novel, coming of age can also be a protean struggle.
Twelve-year-old "Sonny," the only name he is given, lives with his parents in a trailer beneath the shadow of Snake Nation Mountain.His mommalongs to hold him close; hisdaddy, Jake Cantrell,raises fighting cocks for a living, and wants the boy to emulate him.Sonny is so anxious to oblige, to be a man that he views his mother as "...a hundred-pound weight dragging him back.If she had her way, he'd be a girl."
Paying the ultimate compliment, Jake gives Sonny his prize cock, a champion, a three-time winner, and is going to allow the boy to pit him.The cock is a Gray; Sonny names him Lion because his daddy had told him that "Of all the animals in the world, the cock and the lion are the only ones steadfast."
Explaining that "the wilder they are, they better they fight," Jake orders Sonny to stay away from the cocks lest he tame them.Nonetheless, the boy loves Lion, and when he lifts the cock out of his cage to put him in a traveling case, he can't resist holding him in his arms, "pressing him against his chest with both hands the way he would a cat or a puppy."
Surely there can't be many more dismally offensive placesthan the low bleacher banked buildings dotted with sawdust sprinkled pits where gamecocks fight to their deaths.Mr. Manley projects these scenes, as well asthe fierce battles during which the animals gaff one another, with unsparing reality.
As plans are made for Sonny to present Lion,Jake hopes to win big, gaining the sympathy of the crowd with a boy handler.Homer, his momma's alcoholic brother will help them by taking bets.
Thetelling moment comes when Sonny and Lion are on their own in a hogwire fenced pitfacing a cunning snakeskin booted Tennessee handler who twists the gaff each time he pulls it from Lion's body.As Lion's wounds increase in severity, Sonny looks to a referee who refuses to interfere.
Perhaps for Sonny the events of this day willbe a landmark in his life, as that is when he realizes that he is not like his father nor would he wish to be.The beauty and the answer, he discovers,is found in each of us being different.
That's hard won knowledge for the boy and how he expresses this realization is found in the story's disturbing but perhaps inexorable conclusion, leaving the reader at a loss as to whether to smile or weep at Sonny's loss of innocence.
With The Cockfighter Mr. Manley offers a psychologically deep, fully imagined coming-of-age tale rife withpain and possibility.


- Gail Cooke

Nothing "fowl" here - get it?
This was a whole lot different than the DVD of the same name I bought from an African guy on 10th Avenue.

one man's obsession with cockfighting...
Before reading 'Cockfighter' I knew nothing of cockfighting. Now I know more than I thought possible, which I guess is a good thing. :-)Thankfully Charles Willeford's cockfighting education manual is actually a darn good read.

Cockfighting is gruesome, and Willeford does not sanitize the sport in any way.In a rather balanced way he describes cockfighting and cockfighters.The main character in this novel is obsessed in winning the 'super bowl' of cockfighting.He lives for cockfighting.Quite honestly, it's a rather depressing existence.Thankfully Willeford's attention to detail rises just above the boredom level.And the ending is very exciting indeed.

Bottom line: certainly not a book for everyone. Yet it's compassion to this nasty blood sport should be lauded.

Absorbing fictional look into a colorful subculture
You can't really relate to another man's (or woman's) obsession, but "Cockfighter" does a impressive job of drawing the reader into the psyche of Frank Mansfield, the single-minded hero of this prettyintense novel.Frank's goal in life is to win the Cockfighter of the Yearaward, and he's taken a vow not to speak another word until he does so.Inrelating silent Frank's journey, the author takes us on a memorable tripthrough the cockfighting pits of the Southern U.S. and allows us a close-uplook at the rugged, obsessive, fiercely individualistic types who hauntthem.You will learn from this novel virtually everything you couldconceivably wish to know about cockfighting; the details feel absolutelyauthentic.Above all, though, it's a convincing portrait of a man drivenhalf-mad by his private demons. ... Read more

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Fifty-two-year-old rural activist Molly West hears about the murder of an acquaintance, and although the people of Appalachia do not like to talk about themselves much, Molly keeps digging to find the killer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

fowl play
I loved this book. There was so much information about the Appalachian culture and what they do things a certain way. The stories about funerals was so funny that I was laughing out loud. I am so glad I read this book and as going to start the next book right away. You will not be sorry that you read this book.

A well-written debut with a great sense of place
FOWL PLAY is the kind of well-written, satisfying average mystery that keeps us one-a-day mystery addicts going.I would give it a "C+" which is not a bad grade for a first novel; Patricia Tichenor Westfall isbetter at her craft than many much more experienced writers.The fouraspects of this small town mystery that particularly interested me were hersleuth Molly West (an intelligent and believable 50+), her elder characters(especially the admirable and independent 70+ Louella), her never-cutesyuse of Appalachian folk culture (yes, sometimes Molly's husband Ken gets alittle talky, but it's interesting talk and believable coming from a Socprof), and her portrayal of the lives of the working poor.I look forwardto reading future books in this series.

The education I received was as enjoyable as the mystery.
Molly West is an ex-Chicagoan accountant, transplanted to southern Ohio due to her husband's position as a sociology professor at the nearby college. Although they have lived there for fifteen years, they are stillconsidered outsiders by the Appalachian community.Although not anoutstanding mystery, I found myself engrossed in learning more about theAppalachian culture.Ms Westfall enlightens the reader about the ways ofthe hill people. Her next book, Mother of the Bride, also a Molly Westmystery, is even more enjoyable. ... Read more