Interesting little book, this. Costs next-to nothing and takes almost no time to read. But there's more here than most of the other spurious profundity published these days.

Warren, a Kentuckian whose grandfather fought for the Confederacy during that war, looks at the effects of the war on both North and South. Warren is harsh on the hypocrisy of the North and its "Treasury of Virtue" as he calls it. But he is no Lost Causer; he is equally harsh with the South, with its "Great Alibi." And Warren is scathing with those racists who believed(and still believe)themselves to be the legatees of Jefferson Davis or Robert E. Lee. An essential book.

The noted poet and novelist Robert Penn Warren wrote several brilliant book-length essays on various subjects, including JEFFERSON DAVIS GETS HIS CITIZENSHIP BACK (which originally appeared in THE NEW YORKER) and INTEGRATION, but none better than this miniature classic of historical interpretation. In 1961, when LIFE magazine asked him for his thoughts on the centennial of the Civil War, he wrote this superb, thoughtful essay (originally subtitled "A Meditation on the Centennial"). In an extraordinarily compressed discussion, Warren notes a dizzying variety of effects that the war and the policies it brought in its wake had on American society. His two most important observations have to do with the ways that the North and the South used the war as alibis. For the victorious North, the war was a "treasury of virtue" that excused generations of corruption, short-sighted public policy, and neglect of national interests; after all, we won the war and freed the slaves. For the defeated South, the war was "the great alibi" that excused every failure to grapple with a region's pressing social and economic problems. Warren never wrote better than in these eloquent pages; this book should be required reading for anyone interested in the Civil War in particular or American history in general. Its reappearance, with a fine introduction by Howard Jones (author of MUTINY ON THE AMISTAD and other excellent histories of the Civil War era), is cause for celebration. -- Richard B. Bernstein, Adjunct Professor of Law, New York Law School, and Daniel M. Lyons Visiting Professor in American History, Brooklyn College/CUNY (1997-1998)

beautiful, compelling...a great study of one of the most interesting rebel artists of our time. everyone should know who howard finster is!

Fans of the odd and eccentric will find Howard Finster's Paradise Garden fascinating and entertaining. The quality and selection of photographs of the garden is fantastic, and Finster's statments regarding the vision behind his creation are intriguing. This book is definitely worth examining for its unusual scope and content.

Printed in June, 1976, Pigeons From Hell is in excellent condition. I intend to continue to preserve it. Actually, the story Pigeons From Hell is but one story amidst a set of Robert E. Howard short stories. My interest was in tracking down the original novel which inspired what most critics seem to maintain as the greatest installment among the 67 Thriller TV show (1960-62) episodes. The purchase was economical, of the highest quality and punctual.

I've been hunting for this book sine it was released in 1988, and I was recently lucky enough to acquire a signed edition of the hardcover. All I can say is that it was worth both the wait and the search.

Pigeons From Hell is adapted from the classic Robert E. Howard short story by artist Scott Hampton. The story is a pretty straightforward southern-gothic ghost tale, with a little gore thrown in for good measure. Howard's prose is some of his best, and Hampton's art is breathtaking. His dark, moody paintings evoke a sense of isolation and terror that had me totally drawn into the story. I couldn't stop reading. The book also contains a foreward by noted horror author Ramsey Campbell. Highly recommended for horror fans!

A must have for anyone who is fascinated by Robert Cochrane and the Clan of Tubal Cain. There is much to learn from this complex writings , His devotion to the Old Ways is felt when you read his letters. Some of the letters give inside information about the way the Clan of Tubal Cain worked . A great job done on this by Evan John Jones and Michael Howard. FFFF

A must have for anyone who is fascinated by Robert Cochrane and the Clan of Tubal Cain. There is much to learn from his complex writings , His devotion to the Old Ways is felt when you read his letters. Some of the letters give inside information about the way the Clan worked that has not been made public before. There more new information about the letter "s and The Clan of Tubal Cain. The only thing missing are the drawings and symbol's.
A great job done on this by Evan John Jones and Michael Howard, FFFF .

SPC is one of the most powerful tools available to any organization or workgroup that wants to implement continuous improvement. Unfortunately, it is not widely used outside of manufacturing or companies that are committed to quality. One of the reasons is that is perceived to be difficult to learn. This wonderful book changes that by introducing statistical process controls in a clear, gentle manner.

The book is divided into modules, each of which builds upon the preceding one, and can be used as a training text or as a self-study guide. The first module covers the basics: causes of variation, tools (historgrams, control charts, variable and attribute charts).

Modules 3 and 4 go deeper into the tools, explaining why you would use them, how to use them and how to interpret them. This is the heart of the book.

Machine and process capability, the subject of module 5, can be applied beyond the shop floor. For example, I work as an information technology consultant and was able to apply the knowledge from this module to project estimation and controls, service level measurement and quality assurance processes. This information is also applicable to other areas and will be useful to anyone who works at a company registered as ISO-9000.

Module 5 covers all of the common quality problem-solving tools ranging from brainstorming to scatter diagrams. IT consultants and practitioners will find the sections on cause and effect diagrams and Pareto analysis useful for process improvement for defect identification and removal, and other related objectives.

Elements of a TQM system covered in module 8 may have been better placed in module 1, but it is thorough and a good starting point for anyone who is new to quality.

This book finishes with a module that provides the answers and solutions to practice problems from the preceding modules, which underscores its value as a class test or self-study guide.

I recommend this book to associates who either have never heard of SPC (and there are a lot of them) or think it is beyond their ability to grasp. It is impossible to have a viable, effective program of continuous improvement without SPC. The authors have done a remarkable job of writing a book that lives up to its title by simplifying SPC. As such they have made an important contribution to quality by making this effective tool available to anyone who will take the time to read the book and apply what they learn.

SPC Simplified came along at just the right time. I needed help developing statistical analysis that I could interpret to upper management. I used this text to assist me in constructing my first run charts, variance analysis, error analysis, root cause analysis, brainstorming session and my first Process Cause and Effect Analysis. Great job. A good buy for anyone in Performance Improvement.

Informative---covers just about every area of decision sciences.
Very readable with solid examples and great insight into the theory as well as the the subtleties and nuances of making better decisions. Academically oriented, but with strong practical applications.

Stephen J. Hoch and Howard C. Kunreuther present a series of articles about making decisions written by professors at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. The articles describe how decisions are made using an ideal scenario, and then offer practical suggestions on how to make better business decisions. The book is designed to help top executives and managers use the latest methods of analysis and reasoning in decision making. Some may find this approach overly academic - in that many of the research findings are based on social laboratory experiments, statistical analysis and modeling - but if you've been making decisions based on guts, glory and a coin toss, the latest scholarship does offer some stronger strategies. We [...] found several in this solid book that will be of great help to managers dealing with employees, executives formulating strategy and finance or compliance officers weighing corporate risks.

Dr. Howard has written an excellent overview of the concept of intelligence. He covers human intelligence, including recent definitions, testing, and education. His chapter on testing I found most interesting since he discusses the most popular tests and their limitations. There is an excellent section on gifted children. The sections on animal and artificial intelligence is fairly sweeping, but he does present the main ideas very clearly. I found this book very easy to read and enjoyable.

I love Amados work and think that everything the guy stands for is worthy of a brother artists. Being an artists myself I can relate to the educational background and the teaching experience that he has . We love him!

The volume Black Colossus is part of the deluxe Conan series published by Donald m. Grant. It is a triumph of the bookmaker's art - beautifully made, sumptuous, with illustrations by Ned Dameron. The book contains two Conan tales, the title story and "Shadows in the Moonlight." Howard wrote these yarns in his mid-twenties (he would commit suicide at the age of 30) and they were first published in the legendary pulp magazine "Weird Tales" in 1933-34. These are excellent, typical Conan stories: colorful, blazing action, top-notch Howard, ignore the unholy legion of pallid imitators and rip-off artists that haunt us to this day. In Black Colossus, Conan is a captain of mercenary spearmen who fights to save the kingdom of Khoraja (and the lovely princess Yasmela) from the black magic of Natohk, the vieled one. As one character notes, "A short life and a merry one, say I, and with Conan the Throat-slitter in command, life is likely to be both merry and short." These are not my favorite Conan stories (see "People of the Black Circle"), but they are worthy nuggets from the Motherlode, the astonishing amount of good writing REH did in his few short years of productive life.

I bought and read it several years ago; somewhere in the 80's. I couldn't put it down until I finished it. A very good and interesting book. I would like to have it again!

The worm was a hideous creature summoned only by a harp when played by one of the characters. The story had a sad ending with Helvy getting killed, but Blood Star killed the worm in the end although he got killed too. They story was long but good from start to finish.