Excellent little book on the "Fallingwater" house by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed in 1935 ( He also designed Guggenheim Museum ). This little book ( measures 5 X 7 inches )contains 90 pages of which the first 15 pages are text, from page 17 to 82 there're Black&White photographs, the last 8 pages are drawings and plans of the house accompanied by explanations to the images. Photos are by Ezra Stoller and "Fallingwater" ( Pennsylvania - USA ) is undoubtfully the most photogenic private house ever built! All photos are superb, especially the ones showing the waterfall running underneath this superb house!
Drawings and plans are made by floor and give a good idea of the interior dining room, kitchen and terraces!

Ezra Stoller is an expert in the art of photography. Although Mr. Stoller is not an architect, he shows you the beauty of one of the marvels of great architecture. Falling Water is one of those dream houses, built over a waterfall, but fitting in perfectly with its surroundings. Ezra Stoller captures its magnificence.

Mollenhoff and Hamilton have done a great job doing research for this book. The background on how Monona Terrace came to be is fascinating. The people and relationships important in Madison's architecture and politics eventually get discussed in this book. About the only thing you could possibly criticize is the rehash of FLLW biography which doesn't need to appear here. This is a minor criticism, as I realize that for some readers this may be the only FLLW book they own.

The story of Monona Terrace, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and updated by Taliesin Architects (led by Wright apprentice Tony Puttnam) to conform to current code and requirements, here receives the sensitive and perceptive treatment it deserves. The book's many excellent features include clear and graceful writing, beautiful illustrations integrated aptly into the text, and balanced consideration of controversial subjects. The authors' account of the life of Frank Lloyd Wright and their treatment of the political history of Madison provide the context that make the Monona Terrace story so fascinating. This is a valuable book indeed.

"Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Houses," by Carla Lind, is one of a series of mini-books dedicated to the work of this important architect. This volume focuses on Wright's Prairie Houses. As Lind notes, the Prairie School of architecture was inspired by the "spacious, horizontal feeling" of the American prairie. This book pays particular attention to several of Wright's Prairie masterpieces built between 1900 and 1908.

This book shares many of the admirable characteristics of other volumes in the series: a profusion of superb full-color photographs (both interior and exterior), Lind's interesting text, illuminating sidebar quotes from Wright and others, and a brief but useful bibliography. Houses pictured include the Bradley House of Kankakee, Illinois; the Darwin Martin House of Buffalo, New York; the Stockman House of Mason City, Iowa; and many more.

The only flaw in the book is the lack of any legible floor plans. Although floor plans are not a focus of this series as a whole, author Lind does call attention to the distinctive features of the Prairie House floor plans several times in the text. Thus, one or two representative plans would have really enhanced this volume. Actually, one floor plan is included, but it is used merely as a decorative background element: the plan is printed in a pale blue ink and has text superimposed on top of it, so it is not very legible. This matter aside, however, this is a fine volume in an excellent series.

Although the entire Wright at a Glance Series is wonderful, this book is especially good. It gives good examples of what made Wright's Prairie home distinctive. The photographs are very fine and the text supports them well.

Myron and Shirlet Marty have given us a book that tells the story of the Taliesin Fellowship through the words of its members who have remained in what the Martys describe as "intentional community." Many of these apprentices knew and had worked with Wright before his death in 1959, most of the rest were members during the 26 years that Mrs. Wright directed the Fellowship until her death. Students of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture since that time give a hint of the future for Taliesin. The Martys interviewed these apprentices and arranged excerpts in what becomes an excellent description of life at Taliesin and the Fellowship experience from their point of view. What is needed now is a second volume, which Professor Marty has said he will consider. This would include interviews with apprentices who chose to leave Taliesin after various periods of time and for various reasons, including the feeling that Mrs. Wrights agenda varied considerably from that of Mr. Wright.

FLW's Taliesin Fellowship is a fascinating study of how an organization evolves as the people in it prosper, then age and die. The community is particularly significant because of Wright's architectural legacy, but there is so much more than the architecture involved. The stories that Fellowship members tell about the Wrights and their lives in the Taliesin community are truly compelling. If you're interested in communal societies, business development, and the creative process leading to many of Frank Lloyd Wright's greatest works, this book is essential.

As the webmaster of the 27th Pursuit history and research page, I have been involved in primary research into the life of Frank Luke Jr. since 1995. The Haibers' new book is without a doubt the most thorough and best-researched work I have read on the topic.

Much of what passes today for the Luke story was published between the 1920s and 1940s, and for the most part this body of work is fraught with error. Luke has always been a romantic figure, and a great deal of his legend is simply that. Legend. The authors of September Rampage not only did a good job of developing new information about their subject, but they also do an overly exhaustive job of trying to put Luke in his proper historical context.

My notes from my pre-publication review copy of the book indicate some areas of conflict with my own research, but they also point out well-documented facts that I missed in my studies.

September Rampage is not the definitive work on the 27th Pursuit or Frank Luke, but it is the best history available. Not only is it recommended reading for those interested in Luke (along with Hartney's "Up and At 'Em" and Hall's "The Balloon Buster"), it is the first book one should read on this topic. September Rampage is to be applauded as the first significant advance in this field in the past 50 years. I sure wish they had published this one years ago - it would have saved me a LOT of time.

Major Congratulations to Mr. Billy Haiber and gratitude to his lovely wife for putting up with him while writing this incredible book. He has covered virtually everything that can be known about Frank Luke Jr from his ancestral heritage to the last days of his life. His passion for knowing the full story led him to detail page after page of photos, documents, and credible source material. Anyone who has tried to search online for meaningful info on Frank eventually discovers NO BETTER SOURCE. September Rampage seemed to reach its ultimate goal when on November 18, 2000 Billy, the town of Murvaux, France and many representatives from around the world met at Murvaux to rededicate the memorial to Frank Luke Jr. Even if I wasn't interested in US Military Heroes, September Rampage would inspire me. Thank You, Billy.

Unless you know German, you'll have trouble reading this. The text is not in English despite the English title. Just a warning for anglophiles.

This conversation really gives you insight into Frank Gehry's background, influences, and philosophies. Gehry reveals a lot about his client relations on various projects which include struggles and triumphs. This has been my favorite Frank Gehry book yet.

For those reading this who may be unfamiliar with Mr. Knight, let me just say that he was responsible for creating the reputation of the "Chicago school" of economics, later popularized by Milton Friedman.

For those who might be prejudiced against the perceived conservative bent of the Chicago school of thought, I will hasten to say that these essays offer very little comfort for the defenders of consevatism. Indeed they offer little comfort to the holder of seemingly any position. The great strengths of his thought were in his great perception of the popular lines of political/economic thought of the 20th century, and his unapologetic criticism of all of these ideas.

This however, to me, is also the weakness of his thought. He seems to want to stand outside the fray, having no position of his own. This doesn't really get in the way of enjoying his essays though. I do have to admit that many of my thoughts about political ideas have been seriously challenged by this work and think that he brings a valuable contribution the debate about the future of American politics, even some 60 years after origianal publication

This is not a book for those looking for arguments to defend this or that ideological position. Frank Knight was far too critical and independent minded to ever be a defender of ideology. He had no interest in being a mere propagandist for free market economics or the mantras of classical liberalism. Although Knight regarded himself as an old-fashioned, nineteenth century liberal, he was well aware of the faults of classical liberalism, and he wrote about them with a candor and honesty sure to annoy the true believers of that creed. In fact, several of the essays in "Freedom and Reform" are critiques of what used to be staples of liberal belief: freedom, free markets, individualism, etc. Knight argues that, however important these ideas may be in the context of a free and democratic society, we would be lying to ourselves if we did not acknowledge their flaws. Individualism, Knight points out, is based on the "fundamental error" of taking the individual as given. What exists in society is not so much "individualism," but, more to the point, of what Knight calls "familism." "Some sort of family life, and far beyond that, some kind of wider primary-group and culture-group life, of a considerable degree of stability, must be taken as they are, as data," he insists. There is an important point here that has not been understood by liberal rationalists. Human beings are in fact social creatures, and if they are deprived of the social bonds of the family, they will search for a substitute elsewhere. Is this not one of the major causes behind multiculturalism and the group-fanaticism of the Left? Rootless individuals, deprived of familial bonds, look to race or gender or sexual orientation to provide what the family no longer can.

Knight's basic approach is to supplement the rationalistic analysis typical of social science (especially economics) with a strong dose of common sense. Anyone with even a moderate sense of social reality knows that human beings are not the rational calculators or profit maximizers envisioned by economists. "It has become clear that people individually, and much more so in collectivities, are not very rational," Knight points out. "Man typically describes himself as an intelligent animal-Homo sapiens; but the main significance of this seems to be that man loves to compliment himself and considers this the highest compliment. 'Intelligence' is a word of numerous meanings, and with respect to all of them man is both a stupid animal and a romantic, preferring emotion to reason and fiction to truth." By keeping the limitations of human nature in mind at all times, Knight is able to see through the cant of the social sciences. He is perceptive not only in regards to libertarians and classical liberals, but even more so to radicals and left-liberals. His review essay on Dewey's "Liberalism and Social Action" is devastating. And his analysis of Marxism in the essay "Ethics and Economic Reform" is one of the best ever. The essential hypocrisy and nihilism of the Marxist creed has rarely been stated with such force and clarity. "For in plain factual appraisal, what [Marxians] are doing is more catastrophically evil than treason, or poisoning the wells, or other acts commonly placed at the head of the list of crimes," Knight declared. "The moralisation of destruction, and of combat with a view to destruction, goes with the kind of hero-worship that merges into devil worship. Such phenomena show that human nature has potentialities that are horrible." Knight wrote this in 1939, long before the atrocities of Stalin were well understood in the West. It is to be regretted that, even to this day, there are professors in American universities incapable of understanding the points Knight makes concerning the Marxist creed.

On the positive side, this book gives a glimpse at Ozian history, telling about some of Mombi's hitherto unknown evil deeds, the rulership of the Munchkin Country, and the origins of the Good Witch of the North. On the negative side, Thompson shows her usual carelessness with dates and times, and some people have objected to the Good Witch's origins. The story itself is somewhat weak on plot, with everything resolved as soon as the main characters get to the Emerald City. On the other hand, it contains some of Thompson's best creations: a fire-breathing sea monster, a medicine man with an actual medicine chest, a naive animated statue, and the title character, a horse with expanding legs. The creativity level of this book makes it well worth reading, despite its minor flaws.

What a story! A ferocious sea monster demands a mortal maiden be brought from Oz to serve him, or else he'll destroy the Ozure Isles. When Trot is kidnapped and whisked away to the monster's lair, the Scarecrow and a living statue named Benny rush to her rescue. Later they encounter High Boy, the giant horse with telescoping legs, escape a tribe of shadow people, defeat the violent Round-abouties and solve the mystery of Tattypoo the witch. A wild, imaginative tale, which ranks among Ruth Plumly Thompson's finest.

Frank Lauria captured the heart, determination, and motivation of a young girl who wants a better life. Consumed with anger she gets into fights often, but learns she can channel that anger by boxing it out. But she has her own problems with a neglegtic father and a part-time best friend. She meets Adrian, another young man with a dream, and they become involved with each other. It's an amazing story full of love, betrayal, and above all, hope.

This movie is the greatest that I've seen in a long time that puts minority's at there best. It proves that you don't have to be a man to follow your dreams and achieve them. I know that this movie has a huge asset of inspiration that will affect little girls as well as women everywhere. Michelle Rodriguez is a beautiful, as well as very talented, actress that has the "umph" to take her beyond the stars. I expect to see this girl very soon in another movie with another riveting performance.

Good for spurring conversation: also provided a 'neutral' source for child to review & discover. Our daughter has spent additional time with text to reinforce the conversation.

When looking at books to read with my child, I was worried that some would go too far, but some would not go far enough. This book is very direct, explanatory, and complete. It covers issues of both genders, which is so important as adolescents try to understand what everyone else is going through. The illustrations are complete, but not overly, and the topic of sexuality is explained in a way that actually inspires a values conversation as a next step. This book was a really healthy read for us with our child, and I plan to use it with our younger children when the time comes. My mother actually read it with me also!