I have wanted to carve wood for some time, but had no idea how to go about learning. Most of the books I've looked at were either too technical or too advanced for me. Finally, this book has given me the confidence to begin. The discussions are well written at a level that's good for a beginner like me. I read the entire book in about 3 hours and am now going back and starting my first project. The projects look doable and I know what I'm supposed to be learning in each one. Unlike most books, this one doesn't assume a progression from project to project so that you have to do them all--whether they interest you or not. I like being able to focus on whittling or chip work and being able to put off other types until I have a reason to do them.

Just as the title says this is a good introductory text for the person interested in starting woodcarving. There is not a lot of in-depth information about each type of carving, but there is enough to get you started in the right direction.

Types of carving included are line, relief, in the round, bird, and carved gifts, with a few patterns of each type. If you already know the basics of your type of woodcarving, a more detailed book would be a better investment. If you are curious about what tools you might need, some basics of types of wood, a few patterns for your first project, how to get your tools really sharp, basic techniques of making cuts, and how to finish your projects this book will serve you well. Also included in this book are sections on starting a woodcarving club and lists of publications, tool and wood suppliers, books, and sources of glass eyes and bird feet.

If you do decide to continue with woodcarving I strongly urge you to find a woodcarving club in your area. The help the members can give you is invaluable.

I was impressed upon receiving this book, as I had no idea of its size. The book is large in dimension- which is a nice change from all the field guides to birds whose pictures make bird identification challenging. Beyond the visual effects, the author seems to have a bit of wit as exemplified in his writing style. This is not one of the best reference books, as it lacks specific detail on habitat, migration, species, etc. I don't think the author intended to compete in that forum anyway; however, I do wish there was an index for quick reference. All in all, a book displaying good writing with moderate description- but with stunning photography.

I love this book! Even my non-birding friends sit enthralled by it. The photographs are arresting - colors, composition, action - and the text is substantive and charming.

Also, the pictures are big enough to see details. They make the "LBJ's" (little brown jobs) of the Northeast distinct, highlighting their individual characteristics. Photographs of showier species such as the bluebird on the cover are simply stunning.

There is no doubt that this is a good biography of the Bundy brothers' life and times. However, a biography is more than the mere reporting of the subject's life. A good biography makes some moral decisions and conclusions regarding the subject's life decisions, as this book has done. Unfortunately, Mr. Bird's overall conclusion seems to be that the decisions made by the Bundy brothers during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, that is to support US imperialism in the third world in Vietnam, Cuba, etc. is undrestandable due to the fact that they wanted to appear to be "tough on the communists".

In the Vietnam arena, for example, Bird makes the same old doves/hawks argument that was perpetuated by the establishment left and right in the US throughout the sixties. The right constantly hollering "we don't want to lose another China" and the establishment left saying "yes that is true but the price (in American lives and Dollars cost) is not worth the effort. Nowhere did it occur to the Bundy brothers, consummate liberal establishment types that they were, that ther was a bigger question to ask, namely, what the hell made Vietnam "ours" to win or lose. Don't the Vietnamese (and, for that matter, the Chinese, the Guatemalans, the Iranians, the Cubans, ... ad nauseum) have the sovereign right to handle their own affairs, especially through popular means without our murderous "assistance"?

Questions like this would not occur to aristocratic liberals such as the Bundy brothers. Unfortunately, these questions also didn't seem to occur to Mr. Bird. As a contributing writer for The Nation, that paragon of the establishment left, this revelation comes as no surprise.

THE COLOR OF TRUTH: MCGEORGE BUNDY AND WILLIAM BUNDY, BROTHERS IN ARMS: A BIOGRAPHY is essential reading for anyone trying to understand American foreign policy in the twentieth century. This book is well-researched and full of previously-undisclosed information. It also provides two portraits of what "establishment liberalism" was, how it developed, and its consequences. In the process, some of the most fascinating moments in American history are illuminated, most of the time unfavorably.

From their respective military careers in WWII to their numerous positions in academia, government, and the non-profit sector, these two brothers were at the center of a huge web of personal and professional contacts in the American establishment. They were in many ways, the best, but also very flawed. This biography reveals those flaws, and the consequences of their failures.

This book is very dense, especially during the sections dealing with the question of Vietnam, and an acquaintance with the brothers' own corpus of work is helpful and increases the potency of the book's analytical edge. It should be required reading for anyone interested in government policy, because it reveals how decisions are made, and how human beings think.

Like nothing else available, Kai Bird's THE COLOR OF TRUTH demystifies liberal pragmatic centrist (the Bundy brothers were EXTREMELY difficult to categorize/pin, politically) contributions to a disastrous post-WWII U.S. foreign policy drift that continues to this day. It does re-cover best/brightest territory, but in the nicest sense of recovery, with graceful focus on key players plus perspective & freedom-of-information access impossible for Halberstam. A case of perfect historian timing? Primary sources still alive/available but no longer needing/wishing to defend/protect/fib too heavily? Bird is a contributing editor for The Nation & dedicates the book, partly, to his parents, lifelong worried opponents of brutal wars in the Middle East, but has no axe to grind, is familiar with context by virtue of previous work on John J. McCloy, appropriately begins with Henry Stimson & Harvey Bundy, father of a couple of perhaps frighteningly blessed sons.

William & McGeorge Bundy grew into decent bright academics who would indirectly destroy millions of humans, plus their own reputations, by doing exactly what bright decent academics get paid do, usually fairly harmlessly. In order to operate in the professional expert marketplace, one must learn to develop/defend theses. Neither of the brothers was a certified official Dr. Henry VIP (an easter egg the size of the Ritz is noted at the bottom of p. 407 of the hardcover) dignitary, but certain allowances can/will be made for the off-the-charts smartly impatient. These guys were good, even superb, at thesis concoction/defense. Also connected well past needing paper proof? Regardless, thesis defense can get out of hand, seriously, if/when thesis basis information turns out to be inaccurate/skewed or even flatly atrociously wrong. What can a responsible expert do? Admit erroneous basis? Revise thesis? Even, if one has accepted a government job, reverse policy? Perhaps. But this can feel mighty embarrassing, or swampy/waffling/kinetic, especially if U.S. troops have already died under prevailing false thesis conditions & elections impend? So, if one is an unusually gifted aristomandarin character, as both William &, probably even moreso, Mac were, all sorts of spinning options are open? After all, one is a professional? Execute the assignment? Indeed.

It took many to generate bloody quagmire in Vietnam. The Bundy brothers were merely essential state-of-the-art instruments (filtering network managers, the postmodern equivalent of loyal trusted Machiavellian courtiers?) humbly serving two Democratic presidents who failed to get a sane/sage grip on something set in motion by congenial Ike. McGeorge Bundy departed in 1966, just as the unreconstructed Texan in LBJ began to explode. Bill left in 1969, before the incoming Nixon plus Dick's own academic favorite, vastly less decent than either Bundy, cranked Vietnam up/down into criminally pointless/cynical brutality, or peace with honor. Bill Bundy eventually wondered, in writing, about the final five years of the futile war he had contributed to failing to curtail.

Bird's chapter on the JFK government adventurism regarding Cuba, which set a tone, is especially valuable, as is his fairly relentless harping on the bizarrely spooky nature/bias of the American electorate during the middle years of the cool quasi-war with the Evil Empire. The Bundy brothers were NOT very bad men, as gentle reader learns as Bird tells of McGeorge at the Ford Foundation or William writing up himself (plus later even more pragmatic others) for arrogant carelessness. But they WERE very bad wizards, which can/does happen when professional experts overestimate their [genius] rights/capabilities, still. Even now? Might be safer to inform/trust our own judgements, sometimes?

This book is not all that other reviewers have made it to be. The plates are often vague and marginally helpful in field identification. This may be an ok first guide, but birders should look elsewhere for raptor identification tips!

This book certainly lives up to the standards of other peterson guides which I keep handy all the time. Hawks can be tricky identifying so I use this book in tandem with The Photographic Guide to North American Raptors. These two books together make a great set

This book is not only informitive but the photos and diagrams are high quality like the paper it is printed on.
If you love birds of prey like me , get this book.

"Are you doing all that you can?"

That simple question, asked in a popular WWII, finger-pointing poster, captures the patriotic spirit that pervaded America.

Posters, according to the authors, deserve credit as "the ideal agent for making war aims the personal mission of every citizen." Further, "Poster campaigns aimed not only to increase productivity in factories, but to enlarge people's views of their wartime responsibilities." Rockwell's enduring classic images, The Four Freedoms, illuminate this ideological trend.

How did wartime posters inspire military recruits, help increase domestic production, and sell war bonds during WWII? What were the different strategies used by government agencies to promote American ideals, self sacrifice, and gas rationing to a scared and confused public? Which advertising methods and artistic techniques worked best? Why?

This concise, colorful guide examines the power, poetry, and politics of American WWII posters in five thematic chapters. Delving beneath the surface of over 150 colorful posters, the authors showcase and analysis the zig-zag evolution of wartime posters.

Personally, I found chapter three (Art, Advertising, and Audience) to be a fascinating summary of vigorous debate among message makers. How should the war effort be framed? Is it a struggle for truth and democracy against terror and fascism? Is it a battle for survival? Should the focus be on personal fears, national achievements, or heroic freedom fighting?

George Gallup, later of pollster fame, urged posters be designed to appeal to "the lower third" of the population. Other analysts warned that the Office Of Facts and Figures early communication efforts were too abstract and contained too much information. "It would be wonderful indeed if the psychological war could be fought on an intellectual basis," warned two critics "if the American people who will win or lose this war were so educated and conditioned that we could bring them understanding on the terms we all prefer. But, through no fault of ours, they unfortunately are so educated. And in pitting the strategy of truth against the strategy of terror, we cannot stop to educate - we must win a war. We must state the truth in terms that will be understood by all levels of intelligence. Further, we must dramatize the truth." Powerful images soon replaced statistics in posters.

The considerable efforts to coordinate wartime messages across departments also generated vigorous debate. Eventually, the newly formed Office of Wartime Information identified six basic propaganda themes for general information programs: The nature of the Enemy; the nature of our Allies; the need to work; the need to fight; the need to sacrifice; and Americans and our ideals.

This visually appealing book also carefully examines the proliferation of wartime posters, full of patriotic messages, created by non-profit organizations, unions, and corporations. The last chapter, Postwar Aims and Private Aspirations, focuses on the impact of Sheldon-Claire company posters celebrating the middle class home, the traditional nuclear family, consumerism, and free enterprise. It also features a haunting gas mask poster produced and distributed by Kroger Grocery store chain.

The epilogue, the weakest section by far, argues that the change in postwar workplace posters reflected a more condescending air toward workers, explicit anti-union messages, and the renewnal of industrial conflict between management and labor. This thin section seems both out-of-place and a disjointed conclusion.

Design for Victory, despite this somewhat weak ending, should satisfy the curiousities of graphic designers, artists, historians, and scholars interested in advertising methods and persuasive communication.

Anyone intersted in the graphic stylism, the stark imagery, the sometimes disturbing and sometimes hilarious generalizations made in American Propaganda during World War Two should check out this book. It contains many posters that I've not seen in print before, but unfortunately leaves many others out. From an academic, historical perspective the documentation and historical explanations for the U.S. propaganda machine are too brief. Still, the poster reproductions are fantastic, mostly in color. I would also reccomend Anthony Rhodes "Propaganda: The Art of Persuasion" for a look at other countries' propaganda from the same time period.

Birds in Brazil is a big book, beautifully produced on quality paper. It is exhaustive but never exhausting on the topic of Brazilian birds . The color illustrations are beautiful, but unfortunately they are separate from the text about the birds. That is the book's only fault. The text is in smooth and enticing English, and where the same birds are to be found migrating to the United States, the information is quite comparable in completion and interest to the American field guides of Roger T. Peterson. That leads me to believe that the information about birds that we don't experience will be equally accurate. This book is captivating and well worth the price. It is a coffee-table style book that we will be proud to use and to display.

This is the first kids' book I've seen that makes an honest attempt to explain cladistics: that's a tall order in a book of only forty-eight pages, including front and back matter, especially when about half of the pages are taken up by pictures, and large print is used throughout.

You have to admire Dennis Shealy for making the attempt. In seven short chapters he skims over subjects like evolution, extinction, natural selection, Linnaean and cladistic classification and the dinosaurian ancestry of birds. Unfortunately, in covering so much material so cursorily, something has to give: and what gives is the definition of cladistics, which is described as grouping animals ``based just on traits they have in common'', without emphasising the importance of shared _derived_ characters. It's not exactly a fatal flaw in a book aimed at seven-year-olds, but it should have been easy enough to catch.

There are other minor oversights too: page 26 tells us that the bones of _Deinonychus_ and of modern birds share 22 common traits; then on page 30, that there are twenty-three shared traits.

Still, let's not be picky: this is fine attempt at teaching some complex stuff to kids, and it doesn't do a bad job. It's enhanced by Michael Skrepnick's characteristically fine illustrations: not just beautiful restorations, but helpful skeletal diagrams too, including a complete _Velociraptor_, a modern bird, and detail of their arms.

It's a good attempt at a very difficult book. The Jurassic Park institute is to commended for its ambition.

This book represents an excellent guide to learning more about the dodo bird, and its history. The authors cover historical observations and debates by scientists about the dodo, eventually coming to a consensus on what the dodo was and how it behaved. Full of beautiful pictures as well.

Marguerite (Maya) has lived in Stamps, Arkansas for most of her life with her grandmother and out of the blue her father comes forward into her life. In this unexpected visit Maya and her brother are whisked to St. Louis to live with their mother. After awhile, Maya and her brother leave because her mother's boyfriend violates her. Time passes, and they are sent to California where Maya is shipped off to her father and his awful girlfriend. She finally runs away to a wrecking yard where she eventually goes back to her mother. After feeling "finished" with high school, Maya gets a job on the streetcars as the first African-American and some months later becomes pregnant.

I really enjoyed this book and somehow could relate to it, even though I'd never been through any of the same experiences. Maya Angelou has a distinct writing style with an intricate slow pace which I usually dislike although in this book her vocabulary painted a picture which kept me interested. Maya's life has been really hard and reading this now, I wonder how you can overcome all of what she has went through. Her life with her parents was a wreck and yet she still held herself together, probably because of living with her grandmother who helped instill morals, stability, and how the world really worked. It's a remarkable story and that's just what it appears at first. The moral of her life shows how will and determination cannot change your inborn character, that you become stronger through it.

While reading "...Caged Bird" I payed attention to Angelou's innovative writing style. She is of a new generation who dares to write about life as it really is. Instead of an autobiography that idealizes and candy-coats life, this book tells about life's embarassing and not-so-enjoyable details. I enjoyed this book. It was a fast and easy read. I would recommend it for older audiences (9th grade--on). Some of the content may not be appropriate for younger readers. Teachers: this book could be coupled with Mildred D. Taylor's "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry". It would be a great complement for authors like Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Zora Neal Hurston, Jean Toomer, Walter Dean Myers,James Baldwin... for a unit on Multicultural American literature. You could address topics like: racism, rape, relocating and its adjustments, teen pregnancy, parental roles, autobiography writing styles... I'm a 21-year-old female studying to be an Enlish teacher.

A quick review by Michelle A. Bejar.......I first read this book in my English class in the University I am currently attending. It became one of my favorites, that I will have in my own library of books. I know why the caged bird sings, is the biography about Maya Angelou herself, a book that helps understand the struggles of a little girl and her brother Bailey. They both had a hard life, living between Arkansas and California, but both overcame those issues in such a young age. Both children in their young age were not living with their parents due to the divorce, but rather were staying with their grandmother in Arkansas. The grandmother took on the father and mother figure for them, they later had begun to call her Mama too. After moving with their grandmother, the children were facing racial discrimination against them. I think that we can all learn from these issues to make life itself easier. Some readers might not realize this, but I feel that this book teaches us the hard facts about racial issues in life. In Maya's life racism was not the only issue she had to deal with. Once she moved back with her mother, she was raped by her mothers boyfriend at a young age. This is another way she shows the reader how she dealt with hard situations in her young life. I personally recommend this book to adolescent readers, it deals with issues that need to be learned at a young age. I feel that the book will help the majority of the readers to cross giant walls of cultures, race and people. It will help us to learn how to treat and learn about others who might not be the same way as we are. At the end, I think that it will strengthen the race relations between people for the better. In conclusion I would like to add that this book can be funny at time, but also heart breaking at other times. It is the genuine story of a girl, where at times we can relate too.

Mary Barton is the first novel of Elizabeth Gaskell, a female writer who left her influence upon other English writers of the 19th century, like, for instance, Charles Dickens. The book is only an average view about Manchester life in the 19th century, focusing its attentions over the extreme poverty of the working class, the first labor conflicts in the pre-dawn of the Industrial Revolution, all this connected with a tender love story between the young Mary Barton and his old time friend Jem Wilson.
In fact, the murder of the young mill owner, Mr. Henry Carson - he too an admirer of Miss Barton - is not well developed and is not the central point of the novel because the reader knows all the time who is the real murderer. So, it's not a surprise at all the ending of the trial and the revelation of the real murderer in the last chapters.
Miss Gaskell has a simple and an almost näive vision of the social problems that harassed the working class in England when the Industrial Revolution started. Even though, we must recognize that she made a good work trying to denounce the insensibility of the English government about the problems of the workers and their families and the inflexibility of the mill owners and other high economic classes to negociate with their subordinates.
Mary Barton is a book that will hold the attencion of the readers, men or women, because Miss Gaskell has an elegant style and really knows how to tell a good story. Another great vintage of this novel are some great characters portrayed with flavour and undeniable charm, like the old and friendly Mr. Job Legh and the hard and anger John Barton, Mary's father.

Gaskell wrote one of the most vivid descriptions of the gap between rich and poor in this novel of the Manchester 'hungry forties'. The plot is driven by the device of a murder of young factory owner's son, but this story line is more an excuse to present the story as a novel (and to serve the demands and expectations of the novel form as it was understood at the time) than it really is the center of the book. The romance and the mystery (although still well-written) are cursory in comparison to the loving detail that Gaskell lavishes on Alice Wilson, the temptation of Esther and all the little points of life in deep poverty.

Worth reading, particularly if you're a fan of the novel (or history) of the period.

Actually I read this book in three days' time (it can be even faster if I don't have to go to school). Anyway, Mrs. Gaskell's depiction of the working class people in Manchester during the 19th century was so vivid that you can just *see* and *feel* how the rich and the poor's lives were like back then by turning the pages. I believe no one who had read this book will not to some extent feel pity for the tragic hero, John Barton, in the story. But aside from this formal social theme being presented in the novel, there is also a very strong sense of religious/moral theme in it (espeically near the end of the story), as well as some drama and romance in it. Definitely worth a read, especially to those who are interested in Victorian Literature.