Bauer: Classic American Pottery, by Mitch Tuchman a detailed account of the Bauer family business, from its nineteenth century roots in Paducah, Kentucky, until the close of its Los Angeles plant in 1962. This chronicle is punctuated by large, beautiful photos both old and new. The second half of the book features pictures and brief descriptions of the collections of several people. In all, it makes a pleasant read. The only things one might ask for are a suggested values list, something appreciated in most collector's books, and more detail conerning the shape and colors of each of the lines, to help with identification.

This is a MUST READ for anyone interested in Bauer Pottery. It is a shame that the last book about Bauer, written by Jeffrey Snyder, didn't use this book as a reference. Mitch Tuchman did extensive research on the subject and no inaccuracies are found. The pictures by Peter Brenner do the colorful pottery justice.

by now it's presumably common knowledge that the nazi's had very firm ideas on art. Other than pictures of heroic nazis, grandiose mountain views and happy peasants, all modern art was considered degenerate, especially if it was painted by a jew. It's not enough just to know this, however, one wants to see what the fuss was all about. This book brings the reader reproductions of the censured works in question and provides excellent essays that discuss the painters, their work and what happened to them under the nazis. This is a work which is essentially an excellent idea. It's a fascinating period for anyone interested in the role of the state in the production of art. What is perhaps even more fascinating is that the "modern" art which was the main target of the nazis, is so often the subject, to this day, of layperson's attacks on art. Think of the classic cliche remark, "oh, my three year old could have done that". This link raises many questions about the link between the fascist outlook and many commonly held views. We are appalled by the nazis and yet their views on art are not neccessarily radical in comparison to many commonly held views. What does that mean about our political leanings? what does that have to say about democracy? Can people truly handle freedom? Or at heart do they want somebody just to step in and take care of things for them? Why is it that people find it so hard to deal with the strange, disturbing and indeed, occasionally absurd images that artists come up with when they are truly are free to express their visions? I have nothing bad to say about this book on any technical level. The essays are uniformly brilliant and useful and the art speaks for itself. the book serves not only as an excellent resource for all those interested in art history, but as a beautiful and necessary tribute to the memory of so many persecuted artists. It reminds us of the importance of artistic freedom, particularly when the results are not to our liking, or are unsettling, or disturbing. It also happens to serve as a useful primer and introduction to a lot of the great art of that time period. I salute the authors and highly recommend this book.

If the Barron/Guenther book were only about the pictures, it would still rate five stars. It has to catalog "degenerate art" (a weak translation of "entartete Kunst", but the one that has become standard) better than most of its competitors.

But Barron and Guenther were not content to stop with a catalog. Even without the pictures, this book would rate five stars. Guenther for one writes about having viewed this exhibit as a 17-year-old, giving true historical context for the gallery.

From an essay on music (which tackles the sticky wicket of Wilhelm Furtwaengler) to an explanation of the structure of the Nazi art and culture hierarchy, "Degenerate Art" provides literate and precise insight to the cultural philosophy of the Third Reich. It remains as objective as you can be about that era, refusing to stoop to shouting "rabid Nazi idiots" -- Barron and Guenther allow their readers to come to that conclusion all on their own.

The unsolved riddle, however, is one we have yet to resolve for ourselves. Witness Rudy G., and the dung-laden Virgin. How can art and government live side by side? One is empty without the other, but how do we define fine lines?

Barron and Guenther's book does not answer that question, but it certainly gives both sides of the debate a ton of ammunition.

I read "Never Cross a Vampire" almost ten years ago and I enjoyed the endearing portrait of Bela Lugosi. The book also features a cameo by Boris Karloff and does not shrink from his rivalry with Lugosi. It is fun to read how a "B-Movie Star Villain" can save the day.

Also, the Asian Professor's account on the myth of internation vampires deserves special mention.

I have read and enjoyed most (if not all) of the Toby Peters mysteries, and this was one of the better ones. Toby represents both Bela Lugosi and William Faulkner at the same time -- Lugosi is being stalked, Faulkner is accused of murder -- and the cases quickly become entwined, with Toby not knowing where one case ends and the other begins. One of the differences to this book (that I don't remember in any other) is that it doesn't begin with the "bad guy" chasing or confronting Toby. There *is* some flashback, but it is expository. As usual, the era references are interesting, and in the re-printed version (that came out in October 2000) there is an good afterword by Kaminsky about the Peters novels and about Bela Lugosi.

Just when you think Faye Kellerman's writing is already at its best, she comes up with a brilliant book like "Justice". In this eighth book of the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series, Kellerman concentrates on another character's point of view as much as she does on Decker's. She tells the story of Terry, a hard-working young high school girl whose father and step-mother expect her to keep house, babysit her younger sister, and maintain top grades. She is asked to tutor Chris Whitman, a young man who runs with the popular crowd and happens to be related to an important Mafia figure. She enters a world of lies and intrigue, where the only thing which remains somewhat constant is Chris's obsession with Terry. Despite this, he maintains sexual relations with other girls and treats Terry with the utmost respect. One of his sexual partners is killed, and Decker quickly closes in on Chris as the chief suspect. This book is loaded with twists and turns, and stories within stories. It deals with police politics, race relations, and gangland justice, and is a very satisfying read. Congratulations to Faye Kellerman who outdoes herself on this wonderful and complex book.

I'm a 16 year old girl from Sotckholm (sweden) And I just finished reading JUSTICE... I loved it, but I got dissapointed on the end. Cause the end kind of ruined the story a bit... Cris had been described as a pretty NICE guy during the whole story and then suddenly he became this evil person... I liked Chris character and that is maybe why I got dissapointed. Justice was the first book by Faye Kellerman that I have read, but it for sure wont be the last! Great job mrs/miss Kellerman! And I wish that there would come a follow up in the near future so we can read about what happened to Terry and Chris. I'm really curious...

This was the first book by Faye Kellerman that I had ever read. And I loved it. The plot keeps you wanting to read more and more unitl you finally find out what happens with chris and to see if he did it or not. I'm 16, and I don't read alot but this book made me want to read more of her books. Right now i'm reading Stalker. It's not as good as Justice, but it's pretty good.

This second book in the Decker/Lazarus series opens with Peter attempting to bond with Rina's two sons - Yonkie and Shmueli. Peter takes the two young boys on a camping trip that soons turns into a horrible nightmare as Shmueli stumbles upon two burned corpses. Peter's investigative trail lead us into a world unknown to most of us...A world of "snuff films" depicting sexual acts culminating in onscreen death. This one keeps you on the edge of your seat. Kudos to Ms. Kellerman...a true crime writer. I love the glimpse into Orthodox Judaism!

This book is excellent---more gripping than Mrs. Kellerman's first book in the series, "The Ritual Bath." The novel further delves into the lives of Rina and her sons while Decker is out trying to solve a multiple murder case in the porn film industy. I was disappointed in the scene when Rina and Decker consummate their love for the first time. First, it totally doesn't fit Rina's character to show up at Peter's house saying, "I want to sleep with you." Also, I feel like if they were going to do it, then the scene and the one following it should have been more dramatic. Kellerman missed an opportunity to write a beautiful scene and comment on Decker's feelings afterward. Withstanding that, this book is really excellent! Read it!

Excellent! Second book in series. Peter is studying the Jewish faith with a rabi because Reni will not consider a relationship with him unless he is a practicing Jew. He takes her two sons on a camping trip and one of the boys discovers two skeletons. They find out one of the skeletons is a teenage girl who has disappeared. Peter's search for the killer takes him into the porn world and he finds it hard to balance his work with his religious studies. Very good. One day read. Since I gave Ritual Bath 5 stars, I wanted to give this one 6 because it is better.

A long time admirer of Rand's work, I found this a refreshing perspective on her. While I'd come to know her characters and read her philosophical works, I really didn't feel I truly understood her until I read this book. I cannot compare it to letters or the like because I have not read them. But, this work is like looking in on practical applications of her philosophy. For example, her discussion of the value of Christmas to atheist such as herself is very enlightening. In addition, her discussion of the monopoly of force still rings in my mind years after I first read it. Being born in the 70's, growing up in the 80's & 90's, her philosophy brings me much joy compared to the pink socialism that I have seen throughout my life and been frustrated by. I think this work should be a supplement to any serious reader of Rand and would highly recommend this.

If you would like a quick, easy-to-read introduction to Ayn Rand's philosophy...if you would like to see how Ayn Rand applied her philosophy...if you simply would like a glimpse into the objectivist world, then this is the book. This is a compilation of numerous articles on various issues that touched America, including the death of Marilyn Monroe. Some of the articles may shock you, but all require a second read-through. Keep in mind, though, that Ayn Rand was a narcissist who had a closed-minded view of who her followers were and who they weren't; that prevented her from portraying objectivism for what it is -- a great "philosophy of philosophy," a method of interpreting human actions and a guideline for having your own ideas.

What many regard as the most influential philosopher of the 20th century, Philosopher and Novelist Ayn Rand was known for crafting novels of Hugoesque proportions that presented the heroic elements of the ideal man, as well as writing epistemological treatises on the art of logic and the process of concept formation that focused on the most abstract and fundamental issues to man. In *The Ayn Rand Column*, Rand shifts to a different gear as she writes short crisp pieces on the current issues of her day.

*The Ayn Rand Column* contains over 35 pieces by Rand ranging from the brief, but concise pieces such as an "Introduction to Objectivism", "The Secular Meaning of Christmas", and "Why I Like Stamp Collecting" to the more lengthy "Textbook on Americanism", "Modern Management", and "The Fascist New Frontier." The collection also features an introduction by the book's editor Peter Schwartz, that helps ties the pieces together.

My favorite piece in the collection is Rand's "War and Peace" where Rand makes the case for why today's peace movements are *not* advocates of peace, but of gang-rule, statism, and thus dictatorship. Quoting Rand,

"Professing love and concern for the survival of mankind, these [peace] movements keep screaming that...that armed force and violence should be abolished as a means of settling disputes among nations, and that war should be outlawed in the name of humanity. Yet these same peace movements do not oppose dictatorships; the political views of their members range through all shades of the statist spectrum, from "welfare statism" to socialism to fascism to communism. This means that they are opposed to the use of coercion by one nation against another, but not by the government of a nation against its own citizens; it means that they are opposed to the use of force against *armed* adversaries but not against the *disarmed*..."

And after some discussion of the concretes events to support her claim, Rand concludes:

"...Let all those who are seriously concerned with peace, those who do love *man* and do care about his survival, realize that war cannot be outlawed by lawless statist thugs and that it is not war but *force* that has to be outlawed."

If I may make a brief philosophical assessment: Wow!

What is most illuminating about this collection is Rand's ability to dissect what, at first glance, appears to be a concrete, trivial issue--say the much-maligned "commercialized" gift-giving during Christmas--and shows how it relates to some timeless philosophical principle of vital importance (Sorry! You'll have to read the book for the principle). To use a popular metaphor, Ayn Rand was a woman who could see the forest (abstractions) for the trees (concretes), and vice-versa.

Though this book uses the issues of the 1960's to reveal the work of philosophy in action, it is of value to the modern reader of today, as the philosophical principles Rand elucidates are timeless.

Peter Farrelly creates a world which may or may not be his own, but is defenitely one to which many people can relate. The storylines from both Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary can be found here. So, if you are fans of these movies, you'll get double the pleasure.

The book begins quickly and ends at light speed, so you'll find yourself midway through the work before you can begin to tear it apart for it's lack of cohesiveness, and you'll be finished with the thing before you know why you didn't use it for your child's second grade papier mache project.

However, there is some crude and cute anecdotal/third person(as in, I'm writing this thing in the third person so the crazy people in this novel won't sue me) type humor contained in this novel. Yet, Farrelly's attempt to rationalize the LA scene during in the second part by introducing us to the suicide victim's midget fiance is troublesome. It's as if Farrely decided to salvage his circus-like work by having the sad clown take over the show. Up until this point, Farrely was doing a pretty decent job as the ring leader.

I believe it was the great, beloved, and much missed Dorothy Parker who once said, "Hollywood -- its like paradise with a lobotomy." Its a thesis that has since been explored in several satirical books concerning the American film industry but never with quite the wonderfully deft combination of pathos and vulgarity as in Peter Farrelly's autobiographical novel The Comedy Writer. The book tells the story of Henry Halloran who, much like Farrelly, is an Irish Catholic from Providence, Rhode Island who, recovering from a bad break-up, impulsively moves to Los Angeles to try to recreate himself as a script writer. Within his first few weeks in L.A., Halloran's life is changed when he sees a suicidal woman standing atop a skyscraper and, despite his efforts, fails to keep the woman from jumping. He writes an article about her death that serves as both his first big break but also leads to him living with the dead woman's sister, the psychotic Colleen. Colleen is a truly fascinating character who manages to be strangely endearing, amazingly annoying, and quite frightening at the same time. As Halloran deals with his slutty, silicon-based neighbor (who basically has sex with with anything yet refuses to consider sleeping with him) and strikes up a rather bizarre friendship with a WASP actor who goes by the name Herb Silverman (out of a belief that the only way to make it in Hollywood is to pretend to be Jewish), he also gets a chance in a hilarious scene to pitch several script ideas to Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld (making devastating cameos as themselves) and, in the book's most unexpectedly sincere moments, to find God.

If all of this sounds a bit heavy, it should be remembered that this book is by the same man who co-created There's Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber. In short, the book is filled with outrageously raw humor but somehow, the vulgarity never feels out of place. Instead, it feels like a natural extension of living in a world (Hollywood) that seems to have been created specifically to showcase the lowest common denominators of pop culture. Instead, much like his better films, Farrelly combines the most potentially offensive of comedy with the most sincere of emotions and it creates a truly touching and exhilirating ride. Its not common to find a talent that can somehow follow up humor about a misplaced sperm sample with a touching passage about his faith in God. Luckily, Peter Farrelly appears to be such a talent and The Comedy Writer is indeed the perfect vehicule for that talent. All-and-all, an amazing and touching book that will surprise those who both love and loathe the films of the Farrelly Brothers.

I have to admit, when I decided to start this book, my expectations were not at an all time high. Perhaps my subsequent delight with such wonderful novel clouds my opinion a little, but five stars is five stars and I loved this book.

Farrelly is best known as a successful screenwriter and director of such over-the-top comedies as There's Something About Mary and Kingpin. Now I really enjoyed both of those movies (as well as Dumb and Dumber), but they are hardly the stuff of a brilliant story-teller.

Or are they?

Having recently re-watched all three of Mr. Farrelly's films, one thing stands out beyond all else. The stories themselves are the most important thing. Sure, sure, you can write their stuff off as "gross-out" comedy, but look at the plots. A could-have been's life stops mattering because of one childhood mistake, something it takes a lifetime of humilation to get past. A man embarrasses himself on prom night and spends the next ten years mourning that one day when his whole life could have been turned around. In The Comedy Writer, there is a similar fixation with that one moment in time that has shaped a life. Something bad or sad or mortifying happened and now the person has become set on a path, no way out, this is who he has become. The Comedy Writer deals, much the way There's Something About Mary and Kingpin do, with a loser's effort to make something of himself--no matter what. It's not like he can get any lower--take the risk.

This novel has a depth and emotional resonance that might come as a surprise. It is dark and tragic in spots, light and silly elsewhere, with wonderful Hollywood dialogue and a perfectly timed first person narration. More than anything else, perhaps, if you are an aspiring young writer (or filmmaker) this book will speak truths you may already know, but try hard to supress. Deal with it. This work can even inspire you to continue

Mr. Delacorte's creation reads on a totally different tangent from other, more conventional time-travel works because of the localization of the scale of temporal involvement by the story's protagonist, Gabriel Prince. His original intentions certainly reek of grandeur - and it even appears, on his first trip to his own time, that he succeeds in his mission to make the world a better place without Ronald "Dutch" Reagan as President. In actuality, the book gradually becomes a story of personal tragedy, with Gabriel pitting his wit, effort and some limited 1990s technology against an inexorable inertia of Timestream to save not the country or the world, but the woman he loves and the man he comes to consider his friend. All characters are well-developed, with fascinatingly complex personalitites. Theory of time travel is underdeveloped, and even the contemplation of the nature of time are muddled, but it appears the author purposefully draws the readers' attention away from this so they can fully appreciate the drama that makes the novel such a pleasure to read.

I found this book to be quite interesting. Though not quite up to the standard of other time travel novels, the book is an engaging read. The premise is this, a modern political activist wants to go back in time and keep Ronald Reagan from becoming President. However, he's not up to the voyage himself and convinces a travel writer, Gabriel Prince, to do it for him. Gabriel ends up making the journey several times because not only does he keep Reagan from becoming President, he also keeps getting him killed. Along the way, he also falls in love, and is pursued by a couple of 22nd century crooks who claim to own the machine. This book is a page turner and the pictures add a nice touch. I hope Delacorte writes a sequel.

I've always liked time travel novels, so getting this one was a natural. Jasper Hudnut has disovered a time machine (he knows it's a time machine because this isn't the first time he's run across it) in a Paris museum. The left leaning Hudnut manages to convince Gabriel Prince, writer of travel books and recently dumped, to use the machine to go back to 1941.There, he is to make sure Ronald Reagan, then a actor, never becomes president. Prince does't have to kill him, but if he wants too...Prince has no intention of killing Reagan, but he wouldn't mind seeing a world minus President Reagan either, and jumps on the machine, only to find himself accidently sent to 1938. Hudnut may have had 2 missions for Gabriel - the 2nd being to save his cousin Lorna, an actress who was killed in "The Great Storm" of 1938. Prince immediately falls in love with her, and, well, read the novel to find out everything that happens. Now, the Left long ago convinced itself that Ronald Reagan was a "amiable dunce", and the author continues to cling to that story. Here, Delacorte portrays him as a complete bumpkin - likable enough, but with no sense whatsoever. Gabriel tries to boost his film career, believing that will steer him away from his eventual path of politics. Unfortunately, Reagan is accidently killed in a swimming accident (I'm not giving away the ending, this is a time travel story remember), and Prince returns to the future. Delacorte's vision of a Ronald Reagan free world is unintentionally hilarious. In the first place, apparently Ronald Reagan was the only person capable of stopping the Carter juggernaut, as Carter wins fairly easily in 1980. This ignores the fact that the Carter presidency was so dismal, the Republicans could send up a, well, a "2nd rate B-movie actor" against him, with a major 3rd party candidate drawn from their own ranks, and still win with a majority of the vote. Having won though Carter turns things around fast, creating a virtual utopia. The world is nuclear free, and the Soviet Union has simply collapsed, having run out of money (the author doesn't explain why they didn't run out of money during our own timeline). That's a political quibble though.The story itself has a few minor holes. At one point, our hero pops up in 1935, and meets a young Jasper Hudnut, who immediately senses that he's from the future. Uh-huh. Still, I'm a sucker for a good time travel story, and this is a good one. Delacorte effecively portrays 1938 Hollywood, and asks all the paradox questions that pop up with this kind of thing (he tries to answer some of them as well, although he maybe should have left that alone as well). If you can ignore his (sometimes heavy handed) politics, you should enjoy this. One last thing. I don't know what everyone else is talking about. I thought the ending was great (didn't you guys read "About the Text"?) It leaves room for a sequel, or it can be left alone. In any event, it makes you think.

Peter Bart, editor of Variety, penned this sketch of the Hollywood summer season of 1998, and offers insight and background information both useful to the interested moviegoer/home critic, and to screeenwriting professionals looking for strategies to break the script-reader barrier. As the title implies, he analyzes in-depth the dollar amounts going into studio movie projects from initial option monies to the screenwriter to post-production marketing campaigns and all points in between. There are a couple of things to be learned here: 1) that the Hollywood moviemaking process doesn't necessarily reward truly innovative and creative material; and 2) that the movie going public does. Hence, Something About Mary comes out of nowhere with a miniscule budget and scores big with the public, while Godzilla hopes to make back some of Sony's money overspent on a shove-down-your-throat marketing campaign the public didn't buy. The gist of this book is that a truly creative screenplay will find a way no matter what financial juggernauts happen to be cruising through Hollywood, with a little bit of faith, hope -- and luck.

Bart's THE GROSS is the best book about Hollywood I've read in ages. Focusing on the Summer of 1998 (remember that? GODZILLA, ARMAGEDDON, THE TRUMAN SHOW, THE X-FILES, THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, THE AVENGERS, etc), Bart takes us behind the scenes in production meetings, with directors and studio heads, on sets, into special effects studios...everywhere the action is. He fills his saga with anecdores, often pithy biographical snapshots, interviews, and informed opinion (with which I often strongly disagreed). After an introduction to the studios and their suits, Bart takes us behind-the-scenes for glimpses at at the makers and the making of each major film. He then tracks---week by week---how they fare in the market horse-race. Bart writes well and structures his book so that it develops irresistable suspense. If you care about the movies, are interested in Hollywood, or just wonder, as you sit through one of these "blockbusters", what were they thinking?, then this is the book for you.

Anyone who follows the motion picure industry from either the position of film buff to budding or established industry insider should read Peter Bart's "The Gross". Bart, a former executive at Lorimar, Paramount, and MGM, takes a look at the summer of 1998 slate of studio releases, covering films as diverse as "Armageddon", "The Truman Show", "Godzilla", and "There's Something About Mary", and the process leading up to their release, from script development at the studio level to the precise steps studio executives now follow such as determining whether a film will fail or succeed based on its opening night East Coast grosses and what kind of legs a film will have on both the domestic and worldwide fronts. As compulsively readable as Bart's "The Back Lot" column in Daily Variety, "The Gross" is trenchantly informative, as one might expect from a former studio executive reporting from an outside world perspective. Film buffs, infrequent filmgoers, and individuals about to enter the business side of the industry often find themselves wondering how three-hour love stories focusing on the afterlife and soulless adventure films ever see the light of day; "The Gross" will provide plenty of answers.