This collection of "comic" stories from various artists is a beautiful work of art. The quality of the book is wonderful, the color and print is strong. It is a great book to have in a collection. I'm sure some of these artists will go far, if they haven't done so already. I would love to see more of there individual work.

This is a high quality collection of illustrated stories. All of the artists have very different styles. The print and color quality is amazing.

Kinstler's adroit painterly style reminds me of James Montgomery Flagg [although its been forty years since I've seen a Flagg painting}. I was surprised on rereading the book that a portrait of Flagg can be found on p. 22. Most portrait painting is characterized by a deadly formality. It is, I fear, the nature of the beast. And most portraits in the book are of famous or vainglorious people and are necessarily formal. When he is given leeway with friends such as Thom Wolfe or Katherine Hepburn, his work sizzles. Luckily, he has chosen these very portraits to illustrate his technique. Even the most gifted portrait artist has something to gain from this book.

This is beyond all question the best book on portrait painting ever produced.

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In this fascinating book, Everett Draper shows you how to quickly and accurately sketch the actions of people. You learn how to size a figure and paint shadows so that the figure looks three dimensional. Using basic anatomy, he teaches you to capture someone's gesture with just a few loose pencil strokes, creating them in correct proportion and believable actions.

A figure in your painting draws attention like a magnet. The author explains how to use that fact to draw the viewer into the painting. It's important to recognize this so that you don't end up with conflicting focal points! Using the visual power of a figure effectively means paying attention to things like fitting it not only into the best place, but also into the mood and technique of the work. Draper explains and illustrates how this can be done.

The book is filled with a library of colorful examples -- running, walking, laughing, active, energetic or peaceful-- giving you a huge source of figures to adapt to your own paintings, as well as the knowledge you need to create your own.

I haven't painted for years and have sold most of my library, but it's hard to part with this one. I still enjoy just looking through it!

I've had the book for several years and am about to buy another because I've worn it out

this is as good as it gets! rocky was not only in my opion the best champion but also the wisest specialy with who he was managed by!talk about watch my back!he had some good pals,that stayed the course which also says a lot! buy this its great.

I think This Book Is a must for boxing fan's because,It Is the story of ROCKY MARCIANO,The only undefeated Heavyweight champ ever, It Describes His Tough Childhood and His Fears of Having to work In a shoe factory,and His Rise to the HEAVYWEIGHT Championship also It Has Detailed Descriptions of His Fights with JOE LOUIS,Joe Walcott,Roland LaStarza,Ezzard Charles,

At 550 pages, this classic social history of the first decades of settlement in Nebraska, Kansas, and the Dakotas is informative, entertaining, sometimes poignant, and one heck of a read. For anyone whose knowledge of this period is as limited as mine, it's also full of surprises -- lots of them. Historian Everett Dick dips into a substantial collection of documents, listed in his 10-page bibliography, and organizes what he's found into 35 chapters, each on a different subject, including the sod house of the title, homesteading, prairie towns, vigilante justice, farmers vs. cattlemen, extremes of weather, Indians, hunting and trapping, the railroad, sports, education, the church, journalism, doctors, lawyers, and entertainment. And that covers only about half of them.

Settlement moved quickly and furiously across the Missouri River, while the federal government was still negotiating the relocation of the current residents, i.e. Native Americans, then spread across the territories in a surge of speculation and rapid development in a series of booms and busts. Cliches and stereotypes from movies and television quickly fall left, right, and center, as the author revels in the rich tapestry of human endeavors portrayed against a raw, still alien landscape. Law and order were virtually nonexistent, and a recurring theme in the book is the frequency of scams, fraud, graft, and chicanery of all kinds that were the order of the day. In such an environment, the carrying of weapons was universal, and differences of opinion were normally settled with bloodshed and no questions asked afterwards.

There is the land rush, featuring claim jumpers and speculators with no interest in tilling the soil or putting down roots but turning a quick buck, usually in total violation of whatever law existed at the time. There are the wild cat banks, printing their own money, all of it eventually worthless to those left holding it. There are the crooked investment schemes that raised capital for towns that were never built. Prairie communities lure railroad companies to build lines in their direction with outlays of cash. Elections are rigged, bribes paid, and blood spilled over the location of county seats. Phony local governments elect themselves into office and after borrowing money for public projects abscond with the funds and leave the area's legitimate settlers under a crushing load of debt. And on and on. It's a fascinating account of the frontier as a kind of bonfire of vanities.

But this is only one theme in the book. There are many others, and much to relish in descriptions of the daily life of more ordinary folks who are typically jacks of all trades, short of cash, either hard-working or hard-drinking, often overwhelmed by the isolation of their circumstances. It's a delight, for instance, to read of country and small town pastimes and pleasures from baseball to dances that go until sunup.

Given the book's origins in the 1930s, it tends to neglect the lives of women (an oversight that has been corrected in many more recent books), and while it seems to want to give a balanced view of Indians, it tends to focus its interests elsewhere. Unfortunately, the treatment of African Americans is somewhat condescending. Those faults aside, the book is a page-turner, especially for anyone who, as I did, grew up in this part of the world with only a glimmer of an idea of its actual history.

This is an excellent account of how our forefathers dealt with the day-to-day struggles in the frontier. Excellent as history, entertaining as drama, it's hard to put down.

Terrific reference to use when creating a living trust as well as when using the trust over time. Great checklists. Very easy to read. Top rating!

I found this an ideal resource for any trust manager or participant. In basic yet thorough form, it transforms trust management from the theoretical to the practical. This book will hereafter be a companion to each client's estate plan.

I went on line today just to find this book. I saw it at a friends house, her 6 year old daugher was painting out of it, and I fell in love with it. My seven year old son wanted to try some of the crat ideas and my 12 year old daughter couldn't wait to try some of the painting ideas. I highly recomend this book. It is a great value and it will keep the kids intertained for hours.

This is an excellent book for learning step by step drawing and craft work for children aged 4 to 10

Dr. Schaeffer and Dr. C. Evert Koop have written a masterful book on the "roberry of life" in the world, and particularly, Western Culture. Interestenly, this text, written over 20 years ago addresses the "devaluation of human life" and prophetically predicts the acceptance of redefining what it means to be a person and alive.

Ideas now coming to the forefront on news programs and the like, are already discussed here. Items such as "genetic" knowledge and its impact on abortion and infanticide. Further, Euthanasia is also discussed.

The last two chapters deals with "The Basis For Human Dignity" and what should be the response of the Christian. The arguments are solid, yet, written in a style that lay-people can easily understand and follow. This book crosses educational lines and denominational barriers between Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox; since it is a subject of great importance to all Christians. A must have.

This book is very accurate prophesy as to what would happen when abortion became legal in any country that legalized it. First came taking life in the womb before it is born, then came taking it in infancy (i.e "Baby Doe" cases in the 1980's, China's infanticide of second children and our country's Susan Smith murder case and "prom parents" in the 1990's). A must for those who think abortion, infanticide and euthanasia are "rights" that are freely chosen.

Outwardly the Ruess diaries read very much like a straightforward chronology of his travels during 1932 and 1933, but in amongst the factual information are disclosed insightful nuggets of self-criticism, doubt and despondency that help in rounding out the incomplete picture provided in his elsewhere-published letters. Unfortunately, his mother had erased many lines that were likely the most revealing and confessional passages. Nevertheless, one can still read between the lines and piece together a portrait of the complex character that he was.
A valuable document of a remarkable youth.

I just finished reading this book and was impressed with a new appreciation of Everett Ruess. Ruess wanted to live life the only way that he thought was right for him, which in his case meant wandering through the Southwest with his burros, painting and writing poetry, and befriending whoever he meant. This volume collects his only two surviving journals, one dated 1932 and the other 1933. He is also known to have kept journals in 1931 and 1934, but these have disappeared. The 1932 journal documents his travels in Arizona, while the 1933 journal covers his meanderings through Seqouyah National Park in California. He writes about his day-to-day activities, the people he meets, the books he reads, and the thoughts he has. It is all engrossing. For an interesting experience I recommend reading these journals in conjuction with the letters covering the same period in W.L. Rusho's Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty. The letters often provide interesting commentary on his adventures, and the journals provide insight into some of the letters. I recommend this book to anyone who prefers the road less traveled.

First of all: I am not dealing professionally in any way with music and I am not a music theory student either. However, I find the article 'Listening to Zappa' by Professor Jonathan W. Bernard (which takes circa one third of this volume) as much entertaining as insightful. Like me, Mr. Bernard is a Zappa fan from his early youth on, and in spite of all the theoretical analysis, one can feel that the author truly likes Zappa's music and even appreciates his sense of (often purely musically expressed) absurd humour.

So if you are seriously into Frank Zappa and his music (and his musical parody, of course), this book is a must!