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Book reviews for "Maysles,_Albert" sorted by average review score:

Dancers in Mourning (Fifty Classics of Crime Fiction, 1900-1950 : 2)
Published in Textbook Binding by Garland Pub (1976)
Author: Margery Allingham
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Cupid Agonistes
No doubt Allingham fans will remember Uncle William from "Police at the Funeral." William's near miss with the British legal system and the death of his mother having left him at loose ends, so he decides to write his memoirs. Having lived an unexceptional life, William decides to make it up out of whole cloth. Unexpectedly, the book, "Memoirs of an Old Buffer," becomes a comic bestseller. To ice the cake, a musical review, starring Jimmy Sutane, the dancer, is a runaway success. All should be roses.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Freak accidents and practical jokes have dogged the cast of the play, and nerves are running high. Uncle William calls in Albert Campion to help resolve the problems and return things to normal. After a backstage visit Campion accepts an invitation to Sutane's country house, where he meets Sutane's long time friend Squire Mercer, his understudy Benny Konrad, supporting actress Chloe Pye, and many other players in the drama about to unfold. Much to Campion's shock he find's himself stricken by Suntane's wife, Linda. Everything comes to a head when Chloe Pye falls off a road bridge directly in front of Sutane's moving vehicle. The inquest is inconclusive, unable to decide if se was pushed, fell, or jumped.

Completely befuddled by his feelings for Linda, Campion has difficulty focussing on the case. He withdraws, providing help only sporadically. Not even the sudden tragedy of the bombing murder of Benny Konrad, which leaves 15 people dead or injured, seems to rouse him from this state. Finally, it is the pleas of Linda herself that arouse him to the hunt again. Even so, it is an unwilling Campion that follows the trails to their inevitable, tragic conclusion.

This is one of Allingham's most difficult books. Truly, we are not used to an unwilling Campion. Without the precious antics of Magersfontein Lugg, Campion's manservant, the overall tone of the book would be darkly somber. Yet the writing is some of her best. Character depictions are deep and well made. There are moments in the dialog and narrative that attain an almost poetic clarity. The plot is complex and moves along well. And, for those of us who do not always pay close attention, the ending is a bit of a surprise. Allingham has wandered onto uncharted waters in "Dancers in Mourning," and she has done very well.

Wonderful mystery
Margery Allingham is a great writer. Albert Campion is a classic figure in mystery literature and I hope they never stop reprinting her books. I haven't been able to read many Allingham books but I can say that this is one of her best. The mystery is fascinating and she provides a wonderful twist in the plot right in the end. Just when you think it's all figured out. Wham! Even Campion is shocked. This is the first Allingham I read and I was hooked. Campion is such an intrigueing character. Sometimes he's not even the main character in her books, but he's still a force to be reckoned with. A character that adds much warmth and richness to Allingham's books and particularly this one, is Magersfontein Lugg, Campion's valet, butler, cook, etc. He also happens to be a former burglar, I believe. Writers like Allingham don't happen all the time and I wish I had discovered her sooner. Any book written by her is bound to be good and I also recommend Tiger in the Smoke. Wonderful suspense too.


The Diary of Anne Frank
Published in Hardcover by Random House (1956)
Authors: Frances Goodrich, Anne Frank, and Albert Hackett
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Anne Frank
When I first read the story about Anne Frank, I was in 8th grade where every english teacher in my school had chosen to read this story to all of there students. I had no idea of what the story was going to be about and also had no idea who Anne Frank was. But after reading about her life, I had saw how hard it must have been for her.

This year in school we had to choose a book to read and do a book report on it. I had chosen to do Anne Frank because I had already read a little about her but I had wanted to learn more information about her and life for Jewish people during WW2. By reading both of this book it had shown me how hard it was for Jewish people of all ages. They where taken out of there homes and sent to a concentration camp where most of them later died. It puts the whole world to shame because we all knew about this and nothing was getting done early. But finally we were able to help them and save them.

It takes a brave little girl like Anne to be able to write everything down in a diary that was happening in her life. And by Mr. Frank giving Anne's book to be published must had taken a lot of courage also. But in many ways we are glad that he did because Anne had showed us in many ways how tough it was to be Jewish and how hard it was to go into hiding. I would recommend this book for people off all ages because it is a wonderful book, and I know everyone will enjoy reading it.

My first personal encounter with the horrors of world war II
Even though I was born during the war and grew up with the remembrance of it I was untouched by its reaality. When, at the age of 14, I first read Anne Frank's diary it was perhaps the most amazing encounter with the horrors perpetuated on millions but seen through the eyes of one person.

Her little diary gave the world a personal view and meaning to the millions who suffered the same fate. It will continue to be read and lets hope they will be young readers, caught in time to perceive it while their hearts and minds are still impressionable. It simply proves that life is a wonderful mystery. Anne Frank's diary and death were destined to touch the hearts and minds of millions. Her legacy written into history as a trivial, adolescent words scribbled in her little diary to transgress time.

My own question when reading her diary was "who was Hitler?" which brought tears to my mother's eyes. She said, I was told that someday your children will ask ! that question. One great and powerful forgotten, another, a little sparrow, remembered by millions.


Disco
Published in Hardcover by E P Dutton (1978)
Author: Albert Goldman
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The Big Party of the 70s
A brilliant view of all that disco represented in the 70s - the explosion of sound, light, rhythm, drugs, clubs, celebrities and lifestyles of an era. For Goldman, discomania was just another outburst of what he called 'the buried life' - the underground tradition of primitive tribal religious rites, the Greek dionysiac cults and bacchanals. He therefore considered disco as a manifestation of the dancing sickness or the ever-renewing quest for ecstacy and transcendence. The difference with the rock experience was that the dancers themselves became the stars, instead of the performers up on stage. Goldman describes the scene from the perspective of a psychologist, sociologist, musicologist, anthropologist and participant, and it is this last view which makes this book such and excellent and highly readable document of an era. He talks about the personalities, the clubs, the producers and the music in an intelligent but engaging, almost chatty style. Disco genres and musicians like Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, Cerrone, Alec Castandinos, Kraftwerk, Meco and others, and the Saturday Night Fever phenomenon. The black & white photographs enhance the enjoyment of reading, and the middle section holds stunning colour pics of disco fever in action, celebrities and musicians like Grace Jones. I think Goldman has succeeded well in preserving a lively and cinematic record of a happy era. It's also interesting to discover the roots of the techno-rave movement in these pages. Of course, the abundant varieties of today's House music have not only their roots, but their spirit as well, in good old disco.

Disco by Albert Goldman
The origins of disco music are the central issue of this book, which was written in the late seventies. The idea of discotheque was originally created in France and was taken to America in the early sixties. The first disco DJ in America was Slim Hyatt. DJ Terry Noel, however, took deejaying to another level and eventually, in the late sixties, Francis Grasso introduced the technique of slip-cueing, which orginated modern mixing. Also, very popular discotheques like Studio 54, Loft, etc. are treated here. Besides, Goldman focuses on the disco stars, i.e. figures like Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, Cerrone, Alec R. Costandinos and so forth. Highly recommended if you are interested in how disco came about.


Dressed in Black
Published in Hardcover by Harry N Abrams (2000)
Authors: Victoria and Albert Museum, Valerie Mendes, and Richard Davis
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A SPECTACULAR SPECTACLE!!
On my first visit to London, I happened into the Victoria and Albert Museum and saw my first costume exhibition: CECIL BEATON'S ANTHOLOGY OF FASHION. It changed my life. This book will change yours. The photography is fantastic and the text is informative as well as entertaining. This book is almost as wonderful as seeing these dresses in person. . .almost!

A chic addition, a chic edition
No "well heeled" coffee table should be without this little number...also makes an elegant gift. Gorgeoous photos of the black dress spanning the 1900's, lovingly compiled.. Anyone who loves fashion will appreciate this book. A "MUST HAVE" for STYLE BUFFS!


Dutton's Navigation and Piloting
Published in Hardcover by United States Naval Inst. (1988)
Authors: Elbert S. Maloney, Albert S. Maloney, and Benjamin Dutton
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Not essential to navigation, but most desirable

The essentials to celestial navigation are a sextant, the current nautical almanac, and an accurate timepiece correctible to Greenwich Mean Time (Coordinated Universal Time.)

Given those things and some basic instruments and charts, and of course the requisite knowledge and skills to use them, you can find your way on the trackless oceans of the world.

If you lack the knowledge and skills to use the above instruments and objects, you can learn to use them, with the application of the necessary dilligence and intelligence, in either of two volumes, this one and the 'American Practical Navigator.' The latter comes in two volumes, and is published by the U.S. government (Defense Mapping Agency Hydrographic Center).

Both volumes are used as textbooks by the United States Naval Academy and the United States Power Squadrons, to teach celestial navigation. I am a full certificate member of the latter organization.

I recommend them to you.

Joseph Pierre, N
Author of THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: Our Journey Through Etermnity

A systematic and complete book about navigation
This book is very complete covering all aspects of navigation from simple pilotage to gyro compass. The approach is always didactic and very complete describing f.i. not less than 4 methods of sight reduction for Astro Navigation. Although written for merchant navy, it is also suitable for small craft navigation.


Ecology and Management of the North American Moose
Published in Hardcover by Smithsonian Institution Press (1998)
Authors: Albert W. Franzmann and Charles C. Schwartz
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more info on moose than most people will ever dream of!
If you're a moose-aphile, then this is your book! Every aspect of the moose is covered and includes great pencil drawings and photos. While written for scientists, most of the book is still quite readable for the layperson. I haven't read most of the book, but I do thumb through it regularly, and I always read something else that I never knew about the moose!

Amazing, informative, breathtaking, godsend, detailed, etc!
I would like to take this oportunity to thank all of the people/scientists, biologists, volunteers, etc. who helped put this awesome book together. The information in this book is coming from hands-on time consuming experience. This book is truly a mooselover's bible. I hold the men and women who devote their lives to researching this beautiful animal in the hightest respects. I just hope someday I may be part of the group of people contributing their knowledge into a future book as great as this one. I would like to say a special hello and thank you to the people of the Moose Research Center (MRC) at Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. I hope to be offered the wonderful opportunity of being able to volunteer at MRC. Moose and this book combined have opened up whole new doors to life's avenues for me. Again, thank you for your time and efforts in bringing this great book to us. I love it


The Einstein File: J. Edgar Hoover's Secret War Against the World's Most Famous Scientist
Published in Hardcover by St. Martin's Press (2002)
Author: Fred Jerome
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More than a theory
The Einstein File by Fred Jerome, quickly dispels the poplar image
of Albert Einstein as an absentminded, head-in-the-clouds-genius.

Though Einstein is arguably the most widely covered, continuing
science story in history and is most noted for his scientific
theories that transformed our view of the universe. This book
chronicles the life of an Einstein that the masses knew nothing
about. An Einstein described as a troublemaker, an agitator, a
fervent pacifist, a socialist, and an open critic of racism.

Einstein arrived in the United States in 1933, the year of
the Nazi's ascent to power in Germany, and became the focus of
J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. And by any means necessary the FBI amassed
a 'file cabinet' of information on him. Fred Jerome stumbled on
documents that addressed Einstein as a Spy and a Kidnap Plotter.
And a dossier where Jerome discovered the political dimension of
Albert Einstein's life and his intense commitment to social justice.

Jerome says when he realized how much had not been told to us about
the life of the 'Man of the Century', he felt as though he had been
robbed. This is not another biography of Einstein, some two hundred
have already been written. It is a window opened by the FBI on the
nature of Einstein's politics, the depth of his public involvement,
and the generosity of his endorsements of organizations he supported.
And it is this activism that made Hoover's Bureau consider Einstein

dangerous. This book reveals information that makes one think the
history we know is sanitized, and what we don't know is at times
appalling. It talks of a 'list' maintained by the FBI on celebrities,
political figures and anyone thought to have affiliatiions with the
Communist Party. It underscores the dangers that can arise, and the
rule of law that exists in times of obsession with national security.
And it creates questions on where the line should be drawn on the issue
of an invasion of privacy. This one will make you take a seat.

Reviewed by aNN Brown

Unusual suspects
Einstein was a troublemaker, the author informs us at the beginning of this book detailing, armed with the 1800 pages of files released by the FOIA, with Hoover's Albert-paranoia in action, aimed at the great scientist, especially in the years of the Red Scare, McCarthyism, and the Cold War. The public image of the greatest scientist of the twentieth century has been carefully manicured, but behind the teddy bear was a determined activist on many fronts, who fell afoul of not only the Nazis, but of the FBI. Einstein's valiant stands on social justice, racism, antisemitism, war, peace, and the Bomb barely enter public consciousness through the layers of the myth. The record of Hoover's manipulations and skullduggeries is almost pathetic in its pickiun character, next also to its bungling and misinformation. It is, for example, discouraging to watch how Einstein is deprived of security clearance, lest a man with such a reputation and global popularity be, we suspect the motive, able to influence or speak out from the inside on the use of the first atom bomb. The portrait left of the reactionary and racist Hoover at the head of a critical institution pursuing this biased and incomprehending agenda is nothing less than appalling. The portrait of Einstein's deep social concerns (read a triffle 'leftist') in action is the real man, please.


Encyclopedia of Freemasonry: And Its Kindred Sciences Comprising the Whole Range of Arts, Sciences and Literature As Connected With the Institution
Published in Paperback by Kessinger Publishing Company (1991)
Author: Albert G. MacKey
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The Essential starting place for any Masonic research
An amazing collection of facts, stories, biographies, theories, and not a few myths all relating to Freemasonry. If you are interested in the subject, you will find each entry to be informative, and perhaps even entertaining. You never know what nugget you will find next as you go through it.

This encyclopedia was originally written in the late 1800's and went through several revisions during the first half of the 20th century. This Kessinger reprint appears to be a facimile of the 1920's version. As with most Kessinger reprints it is essentially a bound xerox kind of quality, which is suitable for a "working" copy. This also is the only version still in print. Those buyers with patience can frequently find old originals with their ornate bindings and color plates at auction web sites (including Amazon's) in the fifty to one hundred dollar price range.

Excellent reference for those interested in Freemasonry
This encyclopedia covers in depth the wide range of lore, terminology, and history of the Craft. I would recommend it as an excellent gift for that newly made, or veteran Master Mason.


Entheogens and the Future of Religion
Published in Paperback by Council on Spiritual Practices (01 December, 2000)
Authors: Robert Forte, Albert Hofmann, R. Gordon Wasson, Jack Kornfield, Ann Shulgin, Alexander Shulgin, Robert Jesse, Thomas Riedlinger, Eric Sterling, and Rick Strassman
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Entheogens? Yes!
This is a great book for anyone interested in this subject, whether initiate or not. It provides insight from a number of the initial 20th century pioneers, as well as gives us a window into the inner ritual as performed by the more rural indian "initiates". I would recommend this book to anyone interested in using entheogens, writing about entheogens, or anyone who has used them previously and would like a better understanding of their experience. I especially liked the different perspectives such as referring to their experiences as just that-personal experiences rather than simply hallucinations, which implies something false or nonexistant. It provides a profound respect for these experiences rather than a complete dismissal of the experience as nonsense, as our governments and "health" agencies may be tempted to do.

Great Panoramic Introduction
If you want a number of perspectives on the serious use of psychedelics, this is the book! Christian, Buddhist, spiritual, scientific and legal considerations on the subject are presented.

As an anthology, it will familiarize you with key figures in the contemporary psychedelic scene.

This is an intelligent book for people wanting to explore psychedelics for spiritual purposes. It is not a book for "stoners" who just want to trip to see "pink bunnies"


Ethan Allen: Frontier Rebel
Published in Paperback by Syracuse Univ Pr (Trade) (1983)
Author: Charles Albert Jellison
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Very good historical account
This is a very good book and also an excellent source for a research paper. I am a senior history major, and I found it to be very informative as well as entertaining.

An authoritative, balanced examination of a colorful patriot
Recently transplanted to Vermont, I wanted to know more about the man whose namesake is lent to everything from tourist motels to air guard squadrons to think-tanks. Jellison's narrative paints a balanced portrait of a man whose legacy among latter-day Yankees approaches sainthood. This book tells the complete story (with due reverence where applicable) while resisting the urge to canonize. Jellison provides ample historical context to help armchair historians understand the motives and context behind the events. Very readable...a scholarly work unburdened by tangential footnotes and obscure allusions. Includes an index, a map, and a chapter-by-chapter bibliography.


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