I don't much like memoirs. But Packinghouse Daughter, by Cheri Register, is not a typical memoir. It is enchanting, disturbing, and provocative. It should be read by a wide range of readers, including academics and other middle-class professionals who pride themselves on "siding with the working class." It shatters some of our illusions and our tendency to romanticize our identification with working-class people even as it encourages us to hold fast to our principles. The book should also be read by the countless working-class parents who worked hard to give their children the life they knew they could never have. Speaking for those children, this book says eloquently: we honor you, our parents, for your commitments and principles and will try to carry those into our very different worlds. As a bonus, the book's author tells her story so well, with a disarming openness about her conflicted emotions and with such humor and earthy but deep insight, that it will be accessible even to those who don't read much.

Register tells a story of growing up in the 1950s as the daughter of a longtime employee of the Wilson meatpacking plant in Albert Lea, Minnesota, not far from the more famous (and, in her account, more favored) Hormel plant in Austin. Coming-of-age memoirs now flood the market with stories that cater to our need for a revised Horatio Alger myth. In countless stories--many of them moving, important stories for our time--children grow up suffering from unspeakable poverty, abusive or otherwise dysfunctional families, or racism, but somehow survive and overcome those conditions to become not wealthy business moguls but their equivalent in our politically correct age: writers or academics who speak out against poverty, violence, and racism. Despite some similarities, this memoir is different. Register acknowledges gratefully that her parents provided an emotionally and economically secure environment for her, while educating her about her place in a world with more complicated class divisions than we see in most popular memoirs. It is, in part, her more subtle account of those divisions that makes her story so compelling.

Make no mistake about it: this is a one-sided story. Register's father is a loyal union man, and she is loyal to the union line, too, especially in telling the story of a particularly divisive labor dispute in 1959. But even when she makes it clear where she believes justice and unfairness lie, she complicates the story in ways that enrich our understanding rather than feed our prejudices.

I grew up in rural Ohio only slightly later than Register, the son of a small-town midwestern merchant in a solidly middle-class family with undoubtedly less disposable income than Register's. My father, like many of Albert Lea's merchants, resented the unions that secured better wages for the workers in the nearby General Motors plant than he thought he could afford to pay his loyal, hard-working employees--some of whom earned more than he did. That experience has always made me suspicious of class-based analyses of rural and small-town life. But Register's subtle class analysis of life in mid-century Albert Lea rings true even to my suspicious ears.

It also rings true because Register does not rely on memory alone. She consulted contemporary sources and interviewed a wide range of informants-balancing her interview with the union president by her interview and sympathetic portrayal of the plant manager, for example. Register knows what memories--hers and her informants--are good for. They convey the sentiment of the times. In that sense her account is sentimental in the best sense of that word. Her language is so vivid and her memories so fine-tuned that we feel we are walking the streets of Albert Lea with her, encountering mid-century sights and sounds that conjure up our own memories. But she knows enough not to trust memories when they become nostalgic, and she walks that fine line with a fine sense of balance.

Register also manages to succeed where many memoirists try but fail: though cast as a memoir, this book feels like it is more about the times than it is about her. Packinghouse Daughter is an eloquent and fitting tribute to the working-class lives of The Greatest Generation.

I first found out about this book in an article in the Rochester newspaper about the Minnesota Historical Society Press. Since then, I have purchased several of their books. *Packinghouse Daughter* won the American Book Award and the Minnesota Book Award for autobiography, and it deserved both prizes heartily! This book is full of interesting people, class struggle, a young woman coming of age, and old-fashioned Midwestern life. If you hate those whiney memoirs about bad childhoods then this is the perfect antidote.

I would also recommend Steven R. Hoffbeck's *The Haymakers,* which won the Minnesota Book Award for history, and Peter Razor's *While the Locust Slept,* which deserves to win every award out there--both from the Historical Society. These books, like Register's, are good stories concerned with how ordinary people get by and sometimes make an important impact on our culture. These heartfelt books should be read by Americans everywhere and should be the standard for all publishers to meet.

Even if you are not from the midwest or know nothing about the meat packing business this book will give you much to think about. Cheri has a way of bringing you into her experiences.

Simply better than the first... and it's on my bookshelf now.

I got this book from a local bookstore. Only one was available and the cover was not in a very good condition. But I find the content stunning... the combination of photographs and no faults with the manipulations/modifications done could have easily fooled many in earlier days. Today we know such mastery is possible powerful computer software.

This book eye candy to me.

Sometimes we come across advertisements (eg. posters) that catch our attention and make us wonder---"How REAL!!" and amaze us. This book is filled with wonderful pictures, carefully designed, composited, etc. with consideration of details such as shadows to make things realistic. Everything in the pictures blends well with other elements in the pictures. With the power of today's photo editing software, some of these may not be difficult to produce but for the rest, they seem like wonders to me. Imagination and skills are essential.

If you are in advertising and designing, it would be a great challenge to yourself to try to produce similar effects in the book. Or if you are just looking for a book that shows you great pictures in advertising, you will find this book to be an eye-candy. However, this book does not teach you how to produce the effects; which, I think is not the aim of the book.

I am happy to have a copy of this book.

When I was a little boy, this story brought me incredible delight over and over again. When I saw this film as a young man in my 20's, it brought me delight again, letting me relive my childhood all over. As an adult, I just introduced the book and the film to my 2 year old daughter, and once again this classic story has brought me delight. My daughter, who is usually only interested in Elmo and Barney, stood riveted through both the pages of the book and the scenes of the film, as Pascal and his balloon let her imagination soar. I cannot recommend this story more than to say 'no child should grow up without it'.

THIS BOOK GIVES ME A WARM HEART AS I REMEMBER READING IT AS A CHILD. I GIVE THIS BOOK TO ALL THE CHILDREN IN MY LIFE AND AT LAST I HAVE A LITTLE BOY TO BUY IT FOR AND READ IT TO. I CANT WAIT.......

As a very young boy, I remember asking my mother to read The Red Balloon to me a hundred times or more; something must have truly spoken to me in the story of this child with the ever-faithful balloon friend. On par with Saint-Exuperie (author of "Le Petit Prince"), the metaphors in this 'children's book' run a gamut of complex emotions -- from learning love for friends, to feeling different and expelled, a sense of loss,... but then ultimately reclaimed, finding joy in one's own self. There's sadness, but also understanding, as the balloon's 'life' goes. The lessons here are obvious ones, and I am glad they were imparted on me at an early age. I highly recommend this title to kids 3 to 8 -- particularly if they seem introverted or shy. They might not always be so, once they learn to let go! FYI, you may find copies of The Red Balloon currently (12/12/99) at your local Resoration Hardware; thanks guys! Oh, and don't forget to read to a child! :-)

Roman Empire, fifth century -- murder, suspense, characters whom you can identify with, set in an era that piques ones interest. THE SAINT'S DAY DEATHS is a fun read.

Author Albert Noyer has brought history to life through a novel that has something for everyone - murderous conspiracy, political intrigue, warring sects and religious motivations - in "The Saint's Day Deaths." This evocative, historically accurate fictional mystery provides twists and turns never anticipated by the reader. The story is set in the year 406 CE, and the Rhine River has frozen over, making the city of Mogontium a target of three factions vying for empire. It is the beginning of the fall of the Roman Empire, and barbarian tribes are planning an invasion over the frozen river, while Christians and pagans clash inside the city to acquire religious and political power. In the midst, each month a citizen is murdered on their namsake's Saint's day in the same way the saint was martyred. [With Presbyter Modestus,] husband and wife team Treverius and Blandina, mapmakers, investigate the murders for an ailing governor and must find the culprit, as well as a way to prevent more deaths while they sort through a mingling of politics and religion combined with deception, treachery and greed. Noyer is an obvious passionate savant of Roman history and superbly combines it with many literary elements such as foreshadowing, allusion and dialogue. His first novel is a glorious accomplishment combining historical fact and setting, intriguing fictional characters and mesmerizing events. A glossary of names and places and the addition of three maps create an authenticity rarely found in literature. Review by Shawn Childers, East Mountain Telegraph.

This is a historical novel in the best sense of the word. A good history book makes the past come true, and a good novel breathes life into something that never happened. This book accomplishes both. An amazing feet! The story plays at around 400 AD in the Roman outpost Mogontium at the river Rhine. With the historical finesse that makes this book so enjoyable, the author selected for Mogontium a location that roughly coincides with the modern city of Mainz, thus making the settlement half fictitious, half real. At the time, the Rhine marked the boundary between two cultures: Supposedly civilized Rome west of the river, and barbaric Germanic tribes to the east. It was a time of frequent clashes between the dying paganism of the past and the budding religion of the future. This struggle, which provides the background for the story, becomes plastically alive through the deeds and the dialogues of its finely chiseld characters. The historical setting, in turn, heightens the story's suspense that would be considerable even in a more ordinary environment. The story is a classic whodunit. The stage is set when a worker, acting on behalf of Presbyter Modestus, attempts to erect a Christian cross on a former temple of Jupiter and is struck by lightning. Treverius and Cyril, who witness the incident, are terrified, but for different reasons. Treverius, the map maker, who has adopted the Christian faith, considers the poor man's death an accident, while Cyril, a rich merchant, who still clings to orthodox pantheism, views it a Jupiter's revenge. Many more deaths will follow, Cyril darkly prophesies, while Triverius attends to the daed man and his widow. Cyril's prophesy comes true, or so it seems, when Mogontium is rocked by a series of grisly murders. Triverius, his beautiful wife Blandina, and Presbyter Modestus are faced wirh the challenge to solve the mystery, and they attend to their mission with the bravura of a lay detective of a modern thriller.

Are the murders solved? If so, how? Where they hate crimes of the kind we know today? What was the role of the competing religions in these trgedies? Last, but not least, did Cyril's prophesy have some truth in it? Read it yourself. You will not regret it.

This book should be in every school library in the world (in translation, where necessary). Stanford tells us how to make public schools really work.

I was at first a bit put out by his advocacy of "running schools like a business," having all too often heard that phrase as an excuse for placing cost reduction above all other goals. But Stanford clearly recognizes and strongly emphasizes that the correct BOTTOM LINE for a school is STUDENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVMENT! The proper test of a proposed expenditure is its anticipated effect on SAA (Student Academic Achievment) per dollar spent. Projects should be prioritized by decreasing improvement in SAA per dollar.

The most important qualification for a school administrator is not knowledge of teaching, but ability to be an effective LEADER. The successful school administrator must have the LEADERSHIP to get several constituencies enthusiastically involved in achieving a high level of SAA. These constituencies include not only teachers, school staff, and students; but also other government entities, parents, businesses, the media, and the general public.

The leader should practice management by support rather than management by intimidation. The intimidated will concentrate on keeping a low profile and covering their backsides. The leader can benefit little from such people, because no leader can provide all the needed creativity. (S)he must encourage and reward constructive suggestions from teachers, staff, students, parents, businesses, other government entities, and the general public.

In the three years before he lost his battle with leukemia, Stanford caused an enormous improvement in the Seattle Public Schools. His methods and practices could be employed in any school system, with great benefit not only to the students, but also to teachers, staff, businesses, and the public. But also read "Radical Equations," by Robert P. Moses. Moses' book complements Stanford's. If you are a parent of school-age children, or expect to be, and you want the best possible education for your children, you need the Algebra Project, which was started by Robert Moses, and is described in his book.

Both books should be required reading for every school administrator and everyone involved in the selection of a school administrator.

I found Stanford's book to be a blueprint for educational reform. He was not merely a theorist; he was an activist who took his vision from the black board to the the hearts and minds of the students. He didn't propose, he purposed. Read this book...you need to read this book if you are unclear about the means, if you need to know HOW to enact change in the bureaucratic jungle of miasmic, lackluster schools.

What I enjoyed reading about was how he emphasized having a heart for the students, caring for them with compassion and keeping their interests at the center of all educational activities. Next, I found that he wrote persuasively about running schools more like businesses than the anachronistic centers of regurgitation. Finally, I was energized by his results; although he only had three years in Seattle schools to enact many of his plans before his hard passing, the momentum has started.

This needs to be on the book shelves of administrative offices of schools across the country, but it needs to be read by anyone concerned about how to engage our students for higher achievement in learning, now.

Stanford's book is an easy read about reforming public education. He is no fan of charters or vouchers, which he thinks draws money away from public education. He also believes that increases in funding must be tied to student and system performance and not granted because the public "ought" to support educational levies.

This former director the the US Military Logistic Command knows how to marshal resources and arguments for reform. His strongest point is his systems perspective--that is, all the systems of the schools must be aimed at one fundamental objective. His was to develope a "world class student-focused learning system by 1999." He tied this statement to every plan made within a complex 47,000-student system. He does not provide the testing data to substantiate his plans, but he gives great examples of an achievment-oriented system development.

A Tour de Force! Is there going to be a Third Edition? Let us hope so, given Arthur Croft's ability to consume, digest and make palatable to us the most recent research on the topic of whiplash. Fortunately, Dr. Croft is still writing (see his articles in SPINE with co-author Dr. Michael Freeman), and still at the forefront of the profession. As a chiropractic physician, his contributions are all the more important in the medical world, which often borrows from alternative health without crediting it. Not so with Croft, who is credited in medical circles worldwide. A thoroughly readable, well-referenced and enjoyable textbook which will open your mind to a syndrome (group of injuries, really) so misunderstood.

Any physician without this text on his/her shelves should not be treating persons injured by whiplash.

If you are a physician who treats whiplash patients, or an attorney trying to understand the hows and whys, this book is the absolute BEST there is. 'Nuff Said.

Croft and Foreman are to be greatly commended on this work, the BEST in the field of whiplash traumatology. Apparently, there will be a 3rd edition coming soon.

The nonsense coming from Canada this year, including the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) Cassidy study (April 2000) and anything that Robert Ferrari has written, and is likely to write (Whiplash "Encyclopedia"), is an utter shame. The author of the recent NEJM study (Cassidy) has been accused of falsifying data (Emma Bartfay, PhD vs. Cassidy), and the views of QTF and Ferrari on chronic whiplash have been refuted over and over again.

Research in this field is of two types, with one out-weighing the other exponentially: insurance company-sponsored stuff such as Cassidy's, the "Quebec Task Force" or "QTF" study(1995), and much of the Ferrari literature IS VASTLY OUTWEIGHED by the other 95% of the university-based and engineering research that refutes it.

This book, especially in its new edition (pending), is and will be the definitive treatise on whiplash-related injuries. It is not written for the layperson, and covers complex medical topics. However, for physicians and health care professionals working with the whiplash-injured, it is indispensable.

When all the hubbub surrounding the latest weak studies from Canada subsides, Foreman and Croft's work will still be standing tall and unscathed. And that is because these two authors understand the difference between a strong study and a weak one. It is NOT true that you can use the research to prove anything. For example, the April 2000 NEJM study by Cassidy et al. states that when you remove the tort system, whiplash-injured persons miraculously heal faster. But upon closer inspection, it turns out that the authors of this study equate "recovery" with "return to work". They did not report on the physical exam findings of their research subjects at the time of claim closure (so-called "recovery"), so we do NOT really have an honest study.

With Ferrari, he is just so out in left field that one cannot imagine how he survives. The only answer must be that insurance company money is paying for his "research". Is it? Ferrari has been refuted over and over again by Croft and Michael Freeman, DC, PhD, MPH in the literature (see SPINE 1998 and 1999). Ferrari is actually on record as saying that chronic whiplash pain is from a psychological disturbance.

The 1995 QTF study is on record as saying that pain "is not harmful". These are doctors?

Of course, if you have had a brain injury and have been diagnosed with MTBI (mild traumatic brain injury), which is often permanent, there is psychological disturbance. But this is not what Ferrari argues. He basically believes that the millions and millions of chronic whiplash sufferers world-wide are all faking it.

Nikolai Bogduk, one of the top, if not the top, researchers in the world in the study of pain, has conclusively proved that whiplash injuries, even at VERY LOW SPEEDS (less than 5 mph) do damage the cervical zygapophyseal (facet capsules) or "z" joints of the neck, and that those injured in this way have chronic pain, and often full (actually too much) range of motion in their necks. The recent excellent crash tests by Ono, Kanno, Siegmund, Brault, Croft himself, and many, many others all confirm Bogduk's findings in a very conclusive way.

The fact that "researchers" like Cassidy, Ferrari, Russell, and now the NEJM never cite these authors, who are the most respected in the field, is certainly suspect.

I look forward to the next edition of this book, which should address all of the misinformation being propagated by the insurance industry and its representatives (do they fear an even larger class-action suit than big tobacco? You betcha!). Then we can all know the real science, well-written and more thoroughly referenced than any book on whiplash to date.

After listening to this series and applying what I've learned I have a few reasons why master copywriter and business consultant Drew Eric Whitman selected the title.

Maybe it relates to the fact that I would have paid $50,000 to him and the 10 other experts that have literally super-charged my business and increased profits. And at that price, it would have been a steal.

Or maybe the $50,000 references what average business owners can add to their annual profits after listening. I know in my case, $50,000 would be a low estimate for the increase in business I expect over the course of the next year as a direct result of listening to this course.

Whatever the reasoning behind the title, in my opinion this is material that every person running or thinking of starting a business should own. It delivers essential business and marketing information (some of which I've never heard before but works almost like magic), and it spoon feeds it to you in such a way that you not only completely understand it, but you're excited and can't wait to start applying it to your business immediately.

I've had many nights where I've only grabbed a few eyefuls of sleep since owning this. But I want to thank Drew Eric for giving me the information and motivation to get in and do something that's responsible for literally putting more money in my pocket while making it fun.

Grady Smith

Who is this Drew Eric Whitman? And how can he help me?

Those were my thoughts as I read his captivating ad for The $50,000 Business Makeover Marathon. I was spell bound. And you will be too.

Being an adventureous sort, as all entrepeneurs are, I decided to take the plunge and purchase it. You know what? It was everything he said it would be, and more!

Drew, if you read this, thank you. We may never meet but you have changed my life and business.

After listening and putting into action many of the tips(lessons, really) I have seen an amazing change in my professional and personal affairs.

I own six other tape programs on sales and marketing and this one is unique. Get it now. While you're thinking about it.

Better hurry. Your competition may already have this.

Yours in Success,
...

I confess to buying too many business tapes. I am also too often disappointed by the quality of the production as well the content.

THESE tapes, however, are fantastic. The speakers are all interesting to listen to - not boring. No fluff. Recorded in a studio, so you can ALWAYS hear the speakers. The topics will be valuable to any small to medium size busines owner or marketing executive who wants to expand and grow their business.

You may have heard SOME of this material before, but you haven't heard ALL of it -- and it's all in one powerful package.

IMHO, it's worth a listen -- again and again.

-Keith Price
Developer of The Magic Bullet
Software to help you write sales letters that really sell.

Several years ago, when I nearly died from the dangerous stupidity of AA, I was fortunate enough to find a wonderful Alternative Treatment clinic in St. Paul. And in that clinic, I read as much as I could and learned as much as I could. I, to this day, believe that ADDICTION, CHANGE, and CHOICE was the book that made the most impact upon me during the early stages of getting better. Several years later I still refer to it.
Vince Fox writes in a way that is easy to read, yet provokes a great deal of thought. For anyone trying to make a change in their chemical health life and is struggling, for those trying to learn more about chemical health truth in general, and for those who wish to break the bonds and bondage of 12Step terror, I highly recommend this book. It can add much to your life if you wish to change and to know the Alternatives that are available to all of us.

By far, one of the best books I have read regarding alcoholism, and more specifically where we are and where need to go in upscaling our current treatment efforts of this insidious problem. I have read quite a few books on alcoholism and 90% endorse only one mode of treatment-AA. That is not only unfortunate, it is a sad state of affairs when we cling on to only one mode of treatment that is not necessarily the right one for everyone.

Mr. Fox had some of the deepest knowledge in regards to alcoholism and more importantly where we need to move forward to in achieving a better success rate in treating this problem.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who openly and objectively would like to know more about alcoholism and what other options are available to those who truly want to deal with their or a loved one's substance abuse problem and receive the appropriate treatment that they need.

Vince Fox, in plain and fair language evaluates the major players on the recovery scene. There are many choices out there, even if there may only be one in your town. Before following "the others" on the "Broad Highway" leading "you know where", it would be wise to educate oneself on the principles of the lesser knonw recovery programs. What do they represent, what ideas to they promote, why did they come to be? I love the part where significant word clusters found in the Big Book are itemized for the reader. Over 200 instances of God and related words??? hmmmmmm... Spiritual, not religous... hmmmm.....

Even if you're not enrolled in a psychology class, you may still want to read this text. Its lively writing style and reader-friendly interface make it easy for ANYONE to learn about how humans work. Although it lacks the cartoons and "wow" of Myers' text, I believe this is still one of the most authoritative psychology textbooks on the market.

At my school we use this textbook for our AP Psychology class. It is very clear and understandable, a great introduction to Psychology.

First of all, I am a computer scientist and I picked this book without taking a course. I was reading books like "Your erroneous zones", "Too much control", "Do what you are" and some others like those, when I decided I wanted have a deeper understanding of psychology.

This book is great. I was first surprised to discover there was much more to psychology than Freud, Jung and the psychoanalysis. Just look at its table of contents.

1. The Science of Psychology.
2. The Biological Basis of Behavior.
3. Sensation and Perception.
4. States of Consciousness.
5. Learning.
6. Memory.
7. Cognition and Language.
8. Intelligence and Mental Abilities.
9. Motivation and Emotion.
10. Life Span Development.
11. Personality.
12. Stress and Health Psychology.
13. Psychological Disorders.
14. Therapies.
15. Social Psychology.

Reading this book helped me understand myself and other people, and it has a lot of sources. There was not a chapter I found uninteresting. A great buy.

This is a serious work on Web Usability that attempts to define in detail the user context and to construct a user-centred methodology based on that context.

There are so many books on web usability these days and most of them are about web pages first and people second. Doctor Badre's approach, though, is firmly grounded on the human side of HCI and some of the material in this book is outstanding.

The chapter on "Older Adults" is a great example. Badre is fastidious enough to consider the different cognitive needs of people in this group and to consider the implications of those needs for the designer. Elsewhere he considers personality variations, the role of affect (or emotion), and many other individual differences.

In contrast, however, Badre has a strong leaning toward standards and predictability, which seems to contradict his comments elsewhere. Having identified the myriad reasons the web audience is uniquely diverse he nevertheless finds traditional HCI evaluation techniques attractive, and sometimes fails to bite the bullet.

For example, Badre insists that "Testing conditions ... should approximate the actual situation in which ...visitors are likely to find themselves." Yet he does not display any distrust of laboratory testing, questionnaires and all the artificialities of user testing that would suggest a more ethnographic approach.

The material on the test methodology is therefore somewhat weaker, but does not detract in any way from the main part of the book, where Dr Badre's experience in Human Factors allows him to illustrate with considerable skill the way design features can be adjusted to meet the cognitive abilities of real human users. In this arena, Dr. Badre is a leading authority, and it is for this, the main body of the work, that I would strongly recommend this book to web and usability professionals alike.

What use is a Web site if no one uses it? Too many Web design books and development tools provide cut-and-paste solutions to design problems without providing the developer with an understanding of fundamental principles.

This is where Dr. Badre's book enters the scene - in a big way. "Shaping Web Usability" does just what it promises, providing clear, cogent instruction in designing sites for people in all their needs and diversity. It promotes a robust methodology for Web design that can adapt to user requirements without sacrificing logic or cohesion. Badre's process also helps one communicate methodology and design issues to others. This book gave me the grounding I needed to explain to clients exactly why I had made a particular design decision and how it would benefit the site users.

If you are concerned about your site being used once it is published (and who isn't?), take a look at this book. It can't make your Web site for you, but it can help you identify and satisfy an online audience better than any other book on the shelves.

This book is unlike many other web usability books. It goes well beyond the cookie-cutter guidelines for fast web usability, and gets the reader thinking deeply about contexts of web usability. It focuses on the real important issues and concepts. However, it is not an abstract or theoretical book. The author illustrates the concepts and explanations with numerous real examples from the web. This book is a must read for web designers, information architects, and web usability engineers.