If was a marvelous book about NATO's unjustifiability in bombing a sovereign nation, Serbia. It paints a good portrait of Kosovar Albanians, and that they aren't peacful prairie dwellers. However, it would be nice to update this book, including the fact that the KLA, and its member are being funded and trained by Osama Bin Ladens networks. This book really covers every aspect of why this was an "unjust war". Every nation in the Balkans went through their nationalistic expansionistic era, unfortunately Albania didn't, and i guess they haven't learned from history either, so now they want a greater ALbania, and America supports this corrupt, undemocratic entity.

This book is crap and you can find out by the editorial review 'book description'. It says 'serbians have been fericious fighters against Hitler' - EXCUSE ME??? - 'What you know in comparison of what you dont - is nothing' - READ PHILIP J. COHEN's BOOK 'SERBIA's SECRET WAR' and then you'll get to learn how accurate this book is and also 'fericious serbian fighters against Hitler' who cooperated with him all the time.

Don't you just love DEMOCRACY, and the freedom of speech and publications??? I LOVE IT SO MUCH, it is the only way people and
writers such as the one of this book reveal their ugly true self, often for the sake of money.

Great book if you are a firm believer in the old saying; "there are two sides to a coin"

The controversy caused by this biography led it to be banned by the Irish government for decades. Unique in its contemporary view of this important Irish leader, Frank O'Connor's biography suffers from a rather stilted approach. However, what it lacks in historical accuracy and readability, this account of Collins's life proves an enjoyable read and recounts many enlightening first hand accounts of the man.

This biography was fascinating to me because it was written much closer to the time of the events related than more recent books on Collins, and was written by a man who fought in the Irish Civil War (in which Collins lost his life)and fought on the side opposite Collins. The book is written in a novelistic style that can sometimes be rather offputting, but it is nonetheless an intriguing view of the most charismatic and, probably, most effective Irish leader ever. Certainly it reveals the great regard in which Collins was, and is, held by his countrymen, even those who did not support him after the Treaty which precipitated the civil war(which Ireland seems only now to be putting behind it).Anyone interested in Michael Collins and the tremendous impact he had on his country should read this book.

I remember reading this book in school in Ireland. Collins was a true patriot, but like most of us he had his faults. The book shows the good and bad at a time in Irish history when life was in some cases very cheap. Collins place in the peace treaty can never be discounted and the controvesy relating to the ambush and death will probably never be fully uncovered. I was and still am touched by his own words when he signed the treaty "today I have signed my own death warrant" a true giant the " Big Fellow ".

This book has its place. If you're looking for a very complete reference of Zappa recordings and band personnel changes here it is. But this is not much of a biography apart from a few key facts about schooling, kids' birthdates and such. There are no quotes, and only the most succinct and dry accounts of events. There's a great deal of shallow "sidebar" material on the order of "the single release was a 1:05 longer than the album". If that's what you're after, go to town, but look elsewhere for a serious (or humorous for that matter) Zappa biography.

Sometimes it makes me wonder what book people are reading when I look at other reviews. I have more than 20 books on Zappa and this is the most amazing collection of Zappa information ever compiled. Since more than half of the information in this book has not appeared elsewhere, it was certainly not cut and pasted from another book. It is, in fact, Neil Slaven's book which is rife with errors. This book, in a convincing fashion, proves Slaven wrong time after time with the documentation enclosed within. Why can't other books be put together like this one? If you want to learn about Zappa, this is the place to go after you purchase Frank's book. It should also be noted that the author of "Cosmik Debris" was also greatly involved with the Original Sound CD reissue of Frank's earliest recordings. No other FZ book author can claim this on their resume. I would suggest that all FZ fans buy the book now!

I have read the following books about Frank Zappa:

THE REAL FRANK ZAPPA BOOK by Frank Zappa and Peter Occhioigrosso

NO COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL: THE SAGA OF FRANK ZAPPA by David Walley

COSMIK DEBRIS: THE COLLECTIVE HISTORY AND IMPROVISATIONS OF FRANK ZAPPA by Greg Russo

BEING FRANK: MY TIME WITH FRANK ZAPPA by Nigery Lennon

With the exception of BEING FRANK, all were well written, interesting, thought provoking and worthwhile reading material.

Each of these books (again with the exception of BEING FRANK) creates a picture of Frank Zappa. Each shows a different dimension of the same person. COSMIK DEBRIS is unlike the two because it provides greater technical details. For example, Russo provides the greatest degree of information regarding the business and artistic aspects of Zappa's life and musical history. He shows how classical artists had an impact on Zappa's musical proclivities, but explains historical linkages based on the artistical/musical techniques. For years, I've been attempting to explain Zappa to a friend in Maine who is a classical pianist. I don't think she understood me until I gave her some passages to read from COSMIK DEBRIS.

COSMIK DEBRIS provides an important dimension into the understanding of this artist that none of the other books do. It is more technical than the others are. However, and most importantly, it is a critical addition to everyone's Frank Zappa library.

The first half of this text seems be be a bit simple. Many of the problems are confusing at best. The authors are not very clear on what they want. Many students in my class were frustrated by this time and time again. Still other times the questions were way to easy and never really chalanged the students. Basicly the first half does not provied a good solid base for Calculus. The second half is just flat out poorly written. It leaves the students constently scraching their heads wondering what the authors want. Questions are asked in such a way as to not make sence or not to follow the chapters very well. Chapt 7 is very much like this. Bad. The faculty agrees by having to put out an additional book of their own to help provide a better understanding of Trig.
Over all this book needs to be re-thought out. A poor choise for instructors wanting their students to get a solid base so as to takle more advaced math classes.

I like pictures of people on bikes. It makes me feel better because riding mountain bikes is fun. So when I work on functions, I feel happier.

Great book! It is especially good for understanding what different functions do, and how. This is very important for understanding calculus. Great examples, always linking functions with things in real life.

Kofsky's effort in this book is to tie the avant-garde jazz music that emerged in the sixties to the politics of black nationalism that were boiling up at the same time. His essential thesis is that jazz is an African American art form that is and always has been by its very nature a form of protest against the physical and ideological shackles placed on black people by an oppressive society. He asserts that the musical freedom that black jazz artists searched for in the '60s went hand-in-hand with the efforts of Malcolm X and others to create a new, Afrocentric society that would presumably free black people to nurture their cultural identity.

As the title suggests, Kofsky saw John Coltrane as the key figure in this movement. He is unstinting in his praise of Coltrane's music, so much so that even I, a hard-core fan of Trane's for more than 30 years, found myself yearning for a more leavened approach. Kofsky certainly knows Coltrane's music well. But he makes, in my opinion, a fatal error in investing that music with a political consciousness and aim that Coltrane himself never professed. In fact, in an interview included in the book that Kofsky conducted with the saxophonist, he (Coltrane) makes clear that he does not subscribe to Kofsky's thesis, despite the writer's repeated attempts to put words in his mouth. Some years ago, I secured a tape of this interview, and it's startling to hear how insistent Kofsky becomes in attempting to lead his subject where he clearly doesn't want to go.

Another key weakness of the book is that it gives short shrift to so many fine musicians of the period. Charles Mingus, for example, a key influence on the avant-garde, is barely mentioned. If you read the book and had never heard of Miles Davis, you'd come away thinking that he was just another planet circling the Coltrane star instead of one of the formative influences on the saxophonist himself. And of course solid and influential musicians who made incremental contributions to the music -- Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Lee Morgan, Jaki Byard, Herbie Hancock (the list could go on and on) -- receive nary a word. Meanwhile, Archie Shepp is lionized, first and foremost because of his radical politics.

Lest anyone think I'm taking a shot at Archie, I hasten to add that I think he's made a number of fine albums, and I own quite a few of them. The point is that one realizes early on that Kofsky is less interested in understanding the creative process and analyzing the relative musical merits of jazz musicians than he is in developing a social critique and applying his political litmus tests to the musicians of the era. Viewed in this light, the book is not very informative. A long critique of the "cockroach capitalism" practiced by jazz club owners 40 years ago doesn't carry much weight today. And alas, the socialist revolution that Kofsky proclaimed was imminent has somehow failed to come to pass, yet jazz has endured. Is there a lesson there?

In the end, Kofsky manages to minimize the artistry of the musicians and make them appear to be guided inexorably by Marxist ideology. That's pretty flimsy and it certainly in my mind is a disservice to the many great musicians of the '60s who could never be pinned down to one influence. In fact, their stubborn resistance to being pinned down, and to be endlessly open to new ideas, is precisely what made them jazz musicians.

For a much better insight into the life of the jazz musician, I would suggest A.B. Spellman's "Four Lives in the Bebop Business," and for a balanced analysis of Coltrane's music, Eric Nisenson's "Ascension."

There are a lot of books on jazz and plenty on the subject of Black liberation. What makes this book special is how it combines a serious musical analysis of jazz-as in the chapter on Elvin Jones' drumming-with an understanding of the social and political dimensions of the music-as in the piece on jazz as a weapon of the Cold War. Kofsky takes on a range of music critics to argue the case for considering jazz as distinctively Black music. And he shows how John Coltrane and his collaborators had to fight to maintain their musical integrity in a business dominated by white critics, promoters, club owners and the like. Occasionally, the book reads like a personal vendetta by Kofsky against particular jazz critics, which is distracting. But for anyone who wants to understand better the connections between jazz music and the politics of the 1960s, this is a very useful book.

Although I am not particularly familiar with jazz, I found this book a fascinating.

Kofsky's work takes on the white-owned big-business music establishment, debunking their myths and prejudices. He explains the evolution of jazz in the context of the changing social conditions of Afro-Americans-- not least of which are the social struggles they waged, from the battles to unionize industry in the 1930s to the civil rights and Black power movements of the 1960s. He details the use and abuse of human beings-- the actual musicians-- by the recording industry and club owners in their relentless pursuit of profits from the labor of others.

Kofsky has extensive chapters on the rhythms and other musical innovations of Coltrane and those he worked with, material I found particularly challenging to work through, but which help to understand the real, complex questions Coltrane took on as an artist and why his contributions were so important and inspiring to others. Of particular interest is his discussion of the interrelations between Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Elvin Jones and other artists-- of the collective social process that makes artistic creation possible.

When young Dorothy and her little dog, Toto, are suddenly caught up in a Kansas cyclone and transported to a magical land called Oz, she meets a variety of unusual creatures: three witches,
a humbug of a wizard, colorful little people (Munchkins) and strange beasts. In this "modern fairy tale" which dates from 1900, she witnesses other marvels of Nature, as well as the quirks of human nature. Amazingly this story is still fresh a century later, for it presents the underlying values of friendship, loyalty, keeping one's promises and appreciation of the simple pleasures of home life.

Obviously it is difficult for Americans to visualize this delightful children's classic without being influenced by the cinematography of 1939 Hollywood, especially when Dorothy steps out of her gray world into the dazzling colors of Oz. Thus her powerful "silver shoes" were transformed into ruby slippers. Baum actually color-coded the five regions of his strange country, including Ruby which was beloved by Glinda the Good.

We notice the usual elements found in fairy tales: Magic, a quest, things happening in groups of three, instant wish gratification, greed, selfishness and loyalty. Of course the ending presents liteary resolution for Dorothy and her 3 companions--assuming that the power to rule offers personal satisfaction. There still remains the underlying mystery: what really happened to the Great Oz? Will we met him again in a sequel? Strictly speaking this is not great literature, yet it remains a treasured, timeless read for children of all ages. What do You think Oz is up to now? Anything is possible in the realm of Fantasy...

Do you like to read? I don't like to read but I read this book because I already know the story also I know this story is fun. So I tried to read this book. It was funny and when I finished the book, I love fantasy books.

The time is 19 century in Kansas. Dorothy lived with her uncle and aunt. There have so many tornados. One day, big tornado came to Dorothy's house but she was not stay in house. She just came back to house. So she couldn't avoid tornado. So she took a tornado and she went to other world. It's start to story.

She starts adventures. She makes a lot of friends. She wants to go to Kansas. One of the friends is lion, and he wants to get the brave. Another friend is scarecrow, and he wants to get the brain. And the other friend is Tin he wants to get the heart. So they try to go to Wizard of OZ, but the OZ is not real sorceries. So they go o Wizard of West for their dreams. Finally their dreams come true.

They had lots of hard time that is so fun. The story is great. When I finished this book, this book became to my favorite book.

This is the book on which the 1939 movie is based, but this is one case where the movie is definitely better than the book. The book is terribly dull in spots, and any child reading it would need a lot of imagination in order to get anything out of it. Of course, a child in 1900 did not have motion pictures or television, so maybe a child of that era was not expecting as much.

This is an OK gift book with nice photos of watches, but it fails as a "connoisseurs" guide. There is scant history of the various brands and almost no technical information. No connoisseur would seriously consider a Timex watch, but Timex is presented along with the finest Breitlings, Bulgaris, Breguets et al. In the section on Bulgari, the author describes in detail a watch given by Count Galazzo (sic) Ciano to a friend, but there is no illustration to go along with the description.

A watch collector or connoisseur should not waste his or her time with this lightweight giftbook

Nothing much to learn from this well illustrated book, at least nothing more than what can be found in "wriswatch annual". For newbies only.

Accurate and concise history of time keeping, with a brief history of the technical evolution as well as a generical presentation of the main 50 makers and their actual products. Good photos.

The acclaim that has greeted this perfectly ordinary book is puzzling, as there is nothing terribly fresh or insightful in it. Empson, Mahood, Vickers, Joseph and even Hussey are all more rewarding.

This book promises more than it delivers, with many scholarly discussions concerning texts actually pulling the discussion away from Shakespeare's language. It is a sort of homage to William Empson, a predecessor of Kermode at Cambridge, and a worthwhile reminder of the importance of Empson's 'Seven Types of Ambiguity' and 'The Structure of Complex Words'. Go to the root and read these!

Kermode's book demonstrates an approach deeply unfashionable among many of today's academics, though it is part of a backlash against work which made a strong impact in the eighties and early nineties. As a result readers are likely to diverge widely in their reactions to it. Kermode provides an antidote to work on Shakespeare which shows little interest in the actual meaning of his text, leave alone in the artistry of his language. Yet, of all Shakespeare's outstanding qualities, it is surely especially his use of language - employed in a strikingly arresting, rich, subtle, suggestive yet revealing way - which sets him apart from other authors.

"Shakespeare's Language", as a title, may lead some to expect discussions of his syntax, semantics, prosody, etc., and there is certainly an urgent need for more work on such matters. But Kermode is - properly, I feel - concerned to explain what is ARTISTIC in Shakespeare's language: what, notably, makes it individualistic, well-crafted and imaginative rather than just representatively Elizabethan. Kermode's approach is the more essential at a time when there is a marked, and completely inaccurate, tendency to treat Shakespeare as though he was not, after all, anything special - but rather "just a product of his times". This kind of "egalitarianism" will not ultimately succeed in dwarfing this extraordinary author.

This, then, is one of several recent books (written by e.g. Brian Vickers, Graham Bradshaw, Harold Bloom) which share an urgent concern with Shakespeare's individual quality and see the need to protect that against those who for the most part treat him as having produced nothing other than "documents" (as when critics refer to "the Shakespearean text" in references to his plays). By contrast, Kermode to an extent succeeds in giving one an idea of how one's mind gets enriched and expanded by contact with what he rightly sees as the ditinctive creativity of Shakespeare's language. - Joost Daalder, Professor of English, Flinders University (see "More about me")

One of the most unfair treatments of the demise of Eastern Airlines ever written and the second worst book on the subject. Biased towards labor from the beginning, Bernstein paints Goya-like pictures of an evil Frank Lorenzo and his henchmen cackling over a cauldron late at night, thinking up ways to lie, cheat and steal Eastern away from the hearths of America. At the same time, Charlie Bryan is portrayed as some mythic hero who ". . .read Ghandi and Kahlil Gibran and even Sun-tzu. . .". Right. Bias shows in the fact that no Texas Air management are quoted; no personal attributes are ever given, making Lorenzo, Bakes et all appear as soulless corporate thugs, while the stalwart union defenders with defiant chins thrust forth, are given warm wonderful hearts and the purest of intentions. I'm surprised Bernstein didn't have pictures of Bryan petting a puppy and holding a baby. Of slight redeming value is the fact that the book does tell an accurate story. Eastern didn't have to die and maybe Lorenzo didn't have to kill it, but the interpretation and presentation are designed only to support an intransigent group of labor leaders in their refusal to see the reality of the world. This book is only marginally better than the worst book written about Eastern, "Freefall".

This is a study in an ego taken over. I view is that the games he played could almost be criminal. I would have liked more information for the company as the author does seem to set out to make Frank be the bad guy. I would also have liked more details on the business end of the airline industry. I thought the writing was above average, he moved the story along through some topics that could be considered dull, union negotiations etc. All and all not a bad book and if you find the airline industry interesting then you should read this book.

Excellent book, well researched and very well written. Accurately portrays the events that lead to Eastern's demise. I am no fan of unions. But, Lorenzo displayed a blatant calloused disregard for Eastern, it's people, and everything connected with it.