In a world that is completely inundated with so many Norman Rockwell books, I thought that i would never buy another one. I'm an artist and fan of Rockwell's but quite frankly there are so many other great illustrators out there, at times i wish that fewer books were written about Rockwell and more attention was given to other less known American artists like James Montgomery Flagg, F.R. Gruger, J.C. Leyendecker, Howard Pyle and Harvey Dunn, among many others. Then this book came along. I told myself I didn't want to buy it, I already have four books on Rockwell, I certainly don't need another. Then I opened the book and saw that the quality of the prints in this book are outstanding (the best I've seen) and the text is really informative. Now I'm telling myself THIS will be the last book I buy on Rockwell. This book will give you a new appreciation for Rockwell's skill as a painter and a colorist. After seeing these painting in person for the show that this book was written for, I can say that this book does justice to Rockwell's amazing talent.

This book is comprised of articles about Norman Rockwell and his career as an illustrator with the Saturday Evening Post. Rockwell remains a controversial figure in the art world. Although his illustrations were enjoyed by millions of Americans, they were dismissed by art critics and academia as amateurish.

Rockwell portrayed Americans in their daily, mundane activities. He believed that there is beauty in the ordinary. He depicted for example, a couple obtaining a marriage license, a family going and returning from a vacation, and a barbershop quartet.

Rockwell's illustrations did intersect with the world of politics. Because the Saturday Evening Post had a large circulation, he was able to influence public opinion. He designed several covers during World War II, including Rosie the Riveter and the Four Freedoms, to honor the contributions of civilians and to remind Americans of the reason for the war.

Rockwell did not shy from controversy. As America became engulfed in the Civil Rights Movement, Rockwell depicted the ongoing legacy of racial tension. His most famous illustration in the area of civil rights is The Problem We All Live With, which depicts the traumatic effects of desegregation on whites and blacks.

In summary, Norman Rockwell must be include as a figure in American art. Although his works were harshly criticized by those in the art world, they were admired by the general public. Today, scholars have begun to acknowledge Rockwell as being an important artist.

I received Pictures for the American People as a Christmas gift and was delighted at the exquisite art as the pages unfolded. I collect all sorts of Rockwell works and this is truly the best I've seen. It explores not only the paintings, but what is behind them, the man himself. I felt as though I was being introduced to Mr. Rockwell through this masterpiece. It is a MUST BUY book! Even if you have never experienced one of his books or paintings, you will want to open this book again and again. The images are displayed in such detail and the stories behind them tell so much. You will be captured by the different aspects of art once you have seen what is inside. I will not spoil all this book has to offer, so if you haven't already purchased a copy, do so....or put it on your Wish List. You'll be happy that you did!

Best book around I've ever seen on resume writing when job satisfaction, preferences, and career choice are all matched by interests and job tasks. This book outshines them all and goes beyond resumes to finding the right job in the right place at the right time.

Very helpful advice for retirees re-entering job market in computers, including the homebased. I was able to use templates to transfer skills from job pre-retirement to post-retirement re-entry position. Great structure to resumes for people seeking alternative to 9 to 5 work as well as regular jobs. Helpful to boomers seeking to simplify workstyle as well as other age resume writers. Excellent book written by senior citizen homebased with multiple disabilities with very resourceful, creative topics and research.

I rate this book a 10, excellent for finding a job in the world of cyberspace, the Internet, multimedia, and in the computer industry, especially matching your preferences to the requirements and needs of a computer industry corporation.

It includes excellent advice for all computer personnel, especially for technical and science writers, hyptertext fiction writers for multimedia and entertainment technology industries, and both the creative side of the computer industry as well as the logistics part. Great book for finding your career according to your needs and how to match your preferences to the special requirements of the up-to-date aspects of the entire computer and entertainment technology and Internet industries.

This book is one of the best dark humor satires I've ever read on the diary of a Jewish girl from Brooklyn who marries an Arab Sheik to escape from a home of severe domestic violence when she sees an Arab son kissing the hand of his mother, and thinks this is how he'll treat his wife.
The novel is written in first person, and is one of the best diary novels I've seen in my 36 years of teaching university level comparative literature.
The story is one of a Jewish anthropologist/archaeologist female from Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, near Coney Island, searching for marriage into a family where there is no domestic violence, only to find that once she marries this Saudi Arabian/Bedouin Arab Sheik, that he and his world does not treat her as one of the family, as she is an outsider, a Polish Jew living in a world of Saudi Arabians trying to pass, to disguise herself as an Arab "housewife" in an Arab environment.
Then the protagonist is back in Brooklyn or at the West Coast, living life as an Arab woman, only to find out that as the years pass, she is still regarding as "a Jewess" and an outsider.
In her second marriage to a German-American, whose husband has German-oriented southern, American-born parents, his family also is reared to the world of White Protestantism, and has southern White feelings towards her Jewish ancestry in the 1950s sense of the word.
She is swept away into trying to find out her own identity, housebound by agoraphobia for many decades, and expressing inner reflections of what life was in her youth as an archaeologist/anthropologist traveling around the world compared to her middle-age with an abusive second husband, recalling the marriage to the Sheik, and the kidnapping of her children for twenty-plus years in the Middle East, who return grown, and express their fear of her Jewishness, even though she is a secular person in a world of many ethnicities, eagerly searching for her own ancestry which she searches for in ancient ruins only to find she is not what she thought she was, but is she?
A wonderful book for deep reflection, reads as a diary novel written in exquisite language and easy to understand. One of the best novels I've read on searching for ethnic identity and interfaith/international marriage and motherhood. This book should be a best-seller and a great women's movie. This is one of the author's 22+ popular novels, one of the best, and a mainstream women's work of fiction that reads vibrantly and brilliantly.

This is an excellent diary novel of a woman's experience of interfaith and intercultural marriage. Both the novel and the stage play after it.I rate this book a 10, five stars definitely! It should be a movie. Wonderful book.

From Medieval Times to WWII and Beyond Enchanting Pontic Time Travel Adventures That Will Surely Outwit Harry Potter's Magic

Should there be a class about history for 14-year old boys and 15-year old sisters, Marót, the 13-year-old boy in the latest adventure book, The Year My Whole Country Turned Jewish (now available through 1stBooks Library) would certainly outdo and outwit the legendary Harry Potter.

Marót, the wonder boy and his sister Chichek have traveled as far away as Medieval times through World War II and back to the present religious conflicts in the Middle East. Author, Anne Hart painstakingly recreates these memorable historical events and offers loads of adventures, excitement and surprises in her most recent book, The Year My Whole Country Turned Jewish: A Time Travel Adventure in Medieval Khazaria with the Steppe Kids.

It takes place between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in medieval times when migrations were the day and the first crusade had only been in the planning stage. Hart is an award-winning novelist, textbook author, and playwright of a large musical and artistic family from the Greek Islands; she has written over 55 books and dozens of articles, plays and course books. In The Year My Whole Country Turned Jewish, she presents what seems to be an impossible task, bringing together century-old tales, multicultural stories and awe-inspiring historical accounts of Jewish origin.

Hart's spectacular journey begins during the 9th and 10th century at the renowned Medieval Khazaria, the only Jewish state that exists outside Israel. Here, she blends actual accounts of the Jewish struggle against Russian pagan empire and the Vikings with a gripping family saga. The story is told from the perspective of an insightful young Marót who rescued his family from tyranny.

Their journey from Khazaria overflows with memories of the Byzantine Empire and Constantinople which all played significant roles in the history of Judaism. Harts version of the book for young readers, The Day My Whole Country Turned Jewish also is published with illustrations, stories, and poems on the same theme.

Also see Hart's multicultural female sleuth books, her Armenian detective character (female) Tweechig Haroutunian, her Eygptian/Greek Mizrahi character, in A Private Eye Called Mama Africa... She writes several novels a year as she has done since 1963. This is a spectacular book in the style of Harry Potter with a multicultural nuance. Great book for young teen readers. I also enjoyed Anne Hart's DNA Detectives Series, and her novel, The Courage to be Jewish and the Wife of an Arab Sheik as well as a version and poem of Marot's story in The Day My Whole Country Turned Jewish, which is a poem, a story, and illustrations from Marot's diary. The Year book focuses on Chichek's diary story of time travel. A wonderful read for young teens with the whole family.

For the age 12-16 reader, this is the best novel I've read on time-travel adventure in 9th-10th century Khazaria. The words and imagination from the point of view of a 15-year old girl is comparable in philosophy to the diaries of women and girls facing the destruction of their homeland and their need to find a new homeland. This is an excellent book by an author of 55 published books. I highly recommend all of Anne de Sola Hart's fine novels, particularly her series on the DNA Detectives and her romance/suspense novels listed here. This book is a winner, and from a young girl's point of view as a powerful heroine saving her people. Truly a Joan of Arc of the Volga/Caspian world of medieval time-travel. Wow! Highly recommended. I also highly recommend Anne Hart's novel, The Courage to be Jewish and the Wife of an Arab Sheik, and her novel, New Afghanistan TV Anchorwoman. Truly an international buffet!

I loved this book, especially the too hot to handle love scenes, the search for identity, the authentic DNA research steps, and the lively, careful writing. It's one terrific novel by a DNA research journalist and family history observer. Great book, and the romance was terrific with those 14-page love scenes, as well as the fast-paced, gripping adventure, mystery and adventure/travel. This book is a real page-turner. I read it almost all night. Highly recommend The DNA Detectives, bringing those detectives back to work on cold cases with new DNA techniques. Marvelous. I'm sharing this book with my graduate students. It's terrific, the sizzle between the heroine and the hero, and it all takes place at a fictional DNA research center on a university campus. Wow. I also learned how DNA was tested without it ever distracting from the fast-paced, gripping story. This book is character-driven as well as plot driven, and the character's relationship drives the plot as well as the fast-paced facts unfolding with scientific accuracy. You won't be able to put this book down. What a refresher, DNA and genealogy....It grips you in reality, and yet is a novel.

This is the best award-winning book that I've ever read on how to start more than two dozen online homebased businesses on a small budget and how to run these businesses. The book tells me the target market, who the intended audience or consumers are, where the best locations to open a business are, and at home online means everywhere you can connect. It tells me how much I could expect to make and gives me every resource current and appropriate for more help. This book is about the best I can find on resources and applications of new creative innovations on how to start and run online homebased businesses in businesses few have thought of that are right under one's nose.

The resources are current and terrific, and the cost of operating these online homebased businesses are perfect for anyone who wants to work part time or full time at any age on any budget. It's full of practical applications of creative ideas and business strategies and resources. I highly recommend this and all other books by popular-selling author, Anne Hart.

Wow! This is a great book, the best book for teaching online all about your homebased business. Teach anything you're expert online from home at low cost. This books really helped me to learn how to do it.

So said Hercule Poirot, and I have no doubt that he's spoke right. Poirot is the next Sherlock Holmes, perhaps, he's even better than Holmes. Created by the 'Queen of Mystery' Agatha Christie, Poirot became an instant hit all over the world due to his peculiar habits and nature. But there's no denying the fact that he's solved some of the most baffling murders ever. Now, Anne Hart writes the biography of a fictious character, and does it pretty well. With references from all Poirot novels, she traces the little man right from his birth to his last case in which he died before he could solve the case...or so we think. All in all, this book is a great treat for all Poirot fans. Don't miss it!

Wow! novelist Anne Hart does it again with a great adventure! Terrific, fantastic. I love the humor and satire in the adventure as well as the suspense, intrigue, and mystery. This is another one of the best books from the popular novelist.

The female sleuth-therapist making housecalls with video camera is the funniest yet and I love this book. The detective novel series of Anne Hart and her time-travel historical novels in medieval Khazaria are the greatest. Each year Anne Hart comes out with yet another zany, funny wonderful adventure or suspense novels featuring her unique female clever characters who take on yet another adventure and solve a mystery in this series by insight into what makes people tick. Wonderful book. Couldn't put it down....a real page turner!