This is a straight reprint of the original...they actually photographed the pages instead of having it re-typeset, thank god...and all the David Stone Martin illustrations are intact.

This is THE classic on jazz music and writing. Crazy stories, crazy times, with the unbelievable spinner of tales Jelly Roll holding the floor. Lomax could have just printed Jelly's comments verbatim and this would've been great, but he went to the trouble of tracking down a bunch of people who knew Jelly or were otherwise around New Orleans in the early daze, and this added detail spices the pot considerably. Alan Lomax's own commentary and observations are witty, charming, and spot on.

This edition is made definitive by a scholarly afterword bringing the reader fully up-to-date on modern Jelly Roll research. Quite a few pertinent details are now known that weren't when Lomax was writing this.

Up there with Mezz Mezzrow's "Really the Blues" as essential an text in the American music pantheon.

This is one of the rare books for it can be enjoyed by just about anyone who picks it up. Its the amazing account of the life of Jelly Roll Morton, one of the best jazz pianists of all time. Though a braggart and troubled man, he created some of the very best pieces of jazz. The book goes into his life from his childhood and his time working at Storyville to the very troubled end in the early forties. You learn about his family, his troubled relationships with Anita and Mabel and how he went from being wildly successful to dying virtually forgotten. Voodoo, New Orleans, jazz and Creole culture, its all here.

Written with flair and never boring, Mr. Jelly Roll is a book that you will read more than once. Its a look at a legend and a glimpse into a world we can only know of through books and music. Get this if you want a good read and a look at Mr. Morton's life. A true classic.

Alan Lomax interviewed Jelly Roll while doing an extensive set of recordings shortly before Morton's death. He followed up with a number of interviews with people who knew Jelly Roll. Lomax did a fabulous job of keeping himself out of the way while letting the often colorful information from the interviews tell the story of Jelly's part in the birth of jazz, a story with triumphs, massive ego and ultimate decline. I read a library copy and am buying a copy for a present.

The author seems to have a good feel for the subject and keeps the reader interested in the subject. Good reading.

I thought that it was a very good book on the subject, the author demonstrated a professional view that is lacking in other books in this catagory. All in all very informative.

enjoyed the book and the subject matter was very interesting. It opened my eyes to this very rare and deadly type of criminal. I hope he comes out with a sequel soon.

Before reading his poetry in this volume, I was aware of Larry Fike as an extraordinarily well-read philosopher with a keen and incisive intellect and insight into human issues. I knew he had a creative and compelling way of expressing his thoughts in papers and in discussion.

I was delighted to find the same care and depth in his poetry as expressed in Obstinate Air.

Mr. Fike is not afraid to express himself on topics regarding the darker side of human nature. I found his poetry passionate and compelling.

As one of those priviledged to have witnessed public performances by Mr. Fike of his poetry, I can confidently attest that he is personable, inclusive, and touches a very broad audience on many levels.

If you are an experienced poetry enthusiast, I believe you will enjoy the depth of expression in Mr. Fike's work. If you've never been exposed to poetry, I believe this is an excellent entree into the genre. If you have an opportunity to catch one of his performances, avail yourself. If you have a venue in the Pacific Northwest that would benefit from a performance by a skilled and accessible performance artist, I suggest you contact Mr. Fike by email as, based on my observations, I would highly recommend him as a performance artist.

Mr. Fike exemplifies the best of practitioners in both philosophy and poetry. I have given this volume as a gift several times, and unfailingly get amazingly positive responses.

I buy books on philosophy by relatively unknown philosophers to discover interesting points of view. Rarely do I find anybody who can move me, but Fike did just that. His word usage along with shared feelings of abandonment gives this book a place on my bookshelf.

Reading a book of collected poetry or essays is not something I normally approach in chronological order. Yet, the power of Fike's first poem, "From the Heart," which opens this small volume, compelled me to do just that. I was enchanted, drawn in, from the first word to the last. The reader joins the poet in a journey, sometimes a mysterious one. It is not just the deep expression in these poems that held me but also the richly textured language, like witnessing a painting on canvas that moves your soul and also your mind into new levels of understanding of the beauty that is life. Just excellent.

If Lawrence Broxmeyer is right about his theories on the possible causes of Parkinson's disease then a cure could follow. Who is looking further into his theories? It's scary to realize that a lot of possible causes to many diseases are dismissed and possibly controlled by the multi-million dollar pharmaceuticals that only look for what they want to find. Michael J. Fox needs to see this. Maybe his clout could initiate some action. My brother has Parkinson's and I can't stand watching him deteriorate, all possible causes and cures need to be pursued.

Dr. Broxmeyer reveals some theories based on his years of research on Parkinson's disease that are exciting and interesting. Theories that need to be examined closer with funding and more sceientist. A cure needs to be found and Dr. Broxmeyer's theories seem very logical in regards to the cause. Once the cause can be determined the cure is not ususally too far away!

It was quite a grueling match between Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazer.
For those who have seen 'The Champ' recently it has forced us to look at the effects that Parkinson has had on him. Classically Ali's Parkinson's was said to have came from one punch to many but Dr Broxmeyer's astounding findings present at least two other possibilities as to how Muhammed Ali's ParkinsonIsm probably began with his "THRILLA IN MANILA".His intriguing findings should be used as the basis for ongoing science and medical reseach to find a cure for this debilitating disease.

Using the visual medium of postcards coupled with creativity and philosophy and memoir of Lawrence Sutin's words gives this work life, punch and texture. It's a great work to spur your own creativity - and to satisfy the voyeuristic urge in all of us. I wish there were more truly original pieces of literature like this.

Larry has an interesting life problem -- he's the son of Holocaust survivors. His mom and dad met behind enemy lines in Poland, hiding from the Nazis -- a remarkable story he details in his tribute to their experience, Jack and Rochelle. He reveres and loves his parents, but their experience has had the effect of throwing his life into a sort of unheroic (by comparison) shadow.

Yet he has soldiered on. Larry is a gnostic by nature. By this I mean to say that Larry is, as near as I can tell, very brilliant, with a special knack for tackling arcane topics.

He wrote a celebrated analysis of speculative fiction writer Philip K. Dick a decade ago , and has followed that up with something even more Byzantine, a full-fledged biography of Aleister Crowley (Do What Thou Wilt, A Life of Aleister Crowley.

But in the meantime, he took time to create a perfectly wonderful mini-autobiography called A Postcard Memoir. It is a series of portraits from his life, thumbnails of people who have touched him, along with a few philosophical observations. The "gimmick" or hook that these 400-word wonders hang on is that each is accompanied by an antique picture postcard, which Graywolf Press has lovingly reproduced.

It is a gimmick which works smashingly. First, it is a natural one -- Larry collects postcards, and uses favorite cards as reverie objects, staring into them until the faces and places he doesn't know and hasn't visited spur a personal association inside him. A postcard labeled "Smartly Dressed Young Man" depicts "a young man of angular but easy good looks, earnestness and wit, [and] a taste for faintly wicked pranks." The picture bears an eerie resemblance to Larry's friend Bob, who can be charged with those same defects.

So Larry's essay describes his friendship with Bob, how they met as young writers (though "his subject matter was the borderlines of clarity and mine the chasm of chaos") concluding with the realization that "the best friends of my life were people who would let me be in their company and somewhat copy them."

In one essaylet after another, Sutin is unstintingly honest about what he takes to be his own defects -- an obscurity of thought, a painful bashfulness, and a feeling of not being quite right for this world -- feelings alien to all but himself.

I have only scratched the surface of his concerns. He writes about his parents, lost loves, his beloved children, his wife Mab, who from these writings appears to have been FedExed to Larry overnight from heaven, about jobs and opportunities, places that are real, and places that exist only in dreams.

It is a book of tremendous intimacy because we get to look at Larry's life in all its pimply everydayness -- but it is magical, too, because the pictures are so beautiful, and transport us into our own unspoken memoirs. It's a wonderful gift from a talented writer.

I can't believe Lawrence Sutin has written another book - and this one is even better than the last two. What a fascinating way to structure the story of his life - by using favorite postcards that inspire memories of days gone by. I loved his book about Phillip K Dick - and the one he wrote with his parents, about their Holocaust experiences, is must-read stuff. But this one is the best yet - by turns fanciful, touching and downright funny. Bravo!

When I read this book I thought the book was the best book I've ever read. The Littles Take a Trip is the best book I've read this year. I think that the book should receive a prize because there are very good parts in this book. There was a part in the book that The Littles went to see the other families but they could not because there was no way to get to their families homes. Their families homes were a street away and The Littles were scared that they might get lost. The Littles had an Uncle named Pete. He delivered the mail to their home. Uncle Pete has an airplane he flies to go to the other homes. Uncle Pete came and showed the Littles the way to get to the other homes and they had some trouble on the way but were able to get to the other home on time . There is a lot of adventure in this story so that it keeps you interested!

Living on this Earth, right under our very noses, is a race of tiny people. They are not dwarfs or elves, but simply tiny people, six inches tall at the most and possessing beautiful, furry tails. And in the home of the Biggs, lives a family of these tiny people, called the Littles.

In this book, the Littles' children grow tired of watching young Henry Bigg play with his friends, and yearn to have friends of their own. When Cousin Dinky, the only tiny person who travels, suggests that the tiny families of the area can have a get-together, the children seize on the idea, and with the help of Granny Little make it happen. But going out into the big world brings more adventures than the Littles every could have expected!

What a great book! I am a fan of Mary Norton's Borrowers books, and was saddened by the knowledge that there would never be any more. When I discovered Mr. Peterson's Littles books I was overjoyed, hoping that these would be just as good. Well, I wasn't disappointed!

The story in this book is charming, and quite entertaining. My children and I were thrilled with the story, and look forward to reading more of the adventures of the Littles. We highly recommend this book to you.

Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute.

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. The Littles Take a Trip was one of her picks.

If you do not yet know the Littles, you should. They are tiny people (six inches or less tall) who live undetected in the Bigg's house. They are just like full-size people, except that they have tails! Being a Little has one big drawback. You cannot easily go visit others. This makes it tough for the children, who do not have other children to play with. Instead, they spend way too much time watching the Biggs (like human children watch television).

Their source of information about the other families is Cousin Dinky, who is quite an adventurer. He travels from house to house using his glider to bring the mail from one family to another and to share stories of his adventures and of the other small families. The Little parents are fearful of ever leaving their house because of danger from animals, and think that Cousin Dinky is quite rash.

In this story, the Littles decide (at the urging of the children and with the encouragement of Cousin Dinky) to visit the other families who live nearby. This has never happened before. With Cousin Dinky's help, several families will converge at the home of the Smalls. Fortunately, Tom (the ten year old) has tamed the Henry Bigg's cat who will let them ride to the Smalls' house. All is going smoothly until a baseball hits the cat, and she darts into the dangerous woods. There the Littles learn a lot about life, danger, and their own capabilities.

This book directly addresses the fearfulness and dependency that many children feel because they are small and vulnerable. The book's message is that you can do anything you set your mind to. It's not safe to do so because you can take all risk out, but rather because you can handle the risks as they arise because you are an active, thinking person. And other people will help you!

I liked the wonderful role reversals in the story. At first, a skunk is viewed as a threat. But a skunk can be a great resource if he is your friend because he can run off other marauders. Also, the Littles learn that their insulated life style is costing them a lot of the freedom, excitement, and companionship that life has to offer. Safety has a cost that can be too great, as a result.

After you and your child finish enjoying this story, I suggest that you each share with the other where you are holding back from trying things because of safety concerns. Then you should discuss how any valid concerns could be handled so the risk is appropriate. In this way, you can arm each other with good thinking skills to address dangers in the most appropriate way . . . rather than let dangers inhibit you from acting. By being open and helpful to each other, you will also improve the quality of your relationship at the same time.

Live big, appropriately . . . regardless of your size and age!

I can't believe this is the same book that the editorial reviewers so rudely panned! The story was riveting and very well written. I can't remember the last time a book affected me so deeply. I picked it up off the new book shelf at the library on Saturday morning and finished it in tears Saturday night. The characters are still with me as I write this on Monday morning. I highly recommend it.

After reading some of the critics' comments (as opposed to customer reviews), I have to wonder if the same book was released to the public as was sent to the press. I found Carole Lawrence's novel far from 'stilted' and 'hackneyed' - I thought it a well-written story, one that is both entertaining on the surface and potentially eye-opening for those who have not had the experience of dealing with people affected by mental illnesses. Reading this book is an experience that could very well lead the reader to a greater understanding and empathy for those of us among us who are touched by mental disease and disability - and allow them to be treated more like human beings and less like freaks.

The cruelty perpetrated on Mary Gabriel in this novel - not only by the neighborhood children and her classmates, but by well-meaning but ignorant and prejudiced adults as well - is hard to watch, but it's unfortunately not too far-fetched. 'Kids can be cruel' is the excuse too often mouthed by those who would just as soon ignore the problem when it arises - but there is a lot of guilt bubbling under the surface of the Gabriel family, and it causes a lot of harm when it's ignored, or when it's dealt with in an inappropriate manner.

Dr. Gabriel is like many physicians of his day - suspicious of psychiatrists, seeing them as out to steal the patients of general practitioners and place the blame for the mental illness of children on the shoulders of the parents. Dr. Landry, the psychiatrist who lives across the street from the Gabriels, is firmly ensconced in the professional beliefs of the day (the 1950s), and holds firm that Mary's mental illness is a direct result of a lack of proper attention by her mother. Medical professionals today believe that schizophrenia and other mental disorders are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain, some of which might be hereditary. Ironically, Dr. Landry's pronouncement that Mary's mother is to blame for her daughter's disease is - somewhat obliquely - pointing in the right direction. However, suggesting that Mrs. Gabriel's mothering skills - or lack thereof - are to blame for her daughter's condition placed an unbearable amount of guilt on the shoulders of the mother.

Dr. Gabriel himself is not much more help. Eager to keep Mary's problems 'within the family', he lays far too much of the burden of her care on the shoulders of Bonita, her older sister. The effect of this on Bonita is shattering - when something bad happens to Mary, she feels like it's her fault, that she's let both Mary and her family down. This guilt piles higher and higher within her until it wreaks its havoc on her own psyche - it's a sad but inevitable result of placing too much inappropriate responsibility on a child.

The author utilizes two time planes in relating the story. One of them is told in the first person by Bonita, and is set in the present day. The other is told in the third person, set in the 1950s, when Bonita and Mary were children. Even though the 1950s portion of the story is told in the third person, the author skillfully - and wisely - gives these chapters the voice and innocent outlook of a child. The time frames alternate from chapter to chapter very effectively, allowing the reader to follow events in the present day and understand what has happened in the past that shapes them. The characters are fully developed - and the author has treated the character of Mary Gabriel with incredible respect and love. She is believably depicted as a schizophrenic patient, and the scenes involving her as a child are heartbreaking - but she is never treated as a caricature, never ridiculed by the story (although she suffers several indignities from other characters). She comes across as her own 'whole' person - and it's easy for the reader to understand how much people like her deserve more dignity than they receive in this world.

The tension in the story - both parts of it - builds nicely. I thought I could see where the 1950s story was headed, but some clever (and completely plausible) twists by the author surprised me nicely. The part of the present-day story wherein Bonita comes to terms with her sister's condition at last, and recognizes the place they have in each other's lives, is particularly moving.

This is a book that could be valuable to mental health caregivers - maybe not the doctors themselves, but those who meet the day-to-day needs of mental patients. It's also a very entertaining read for the general consumer.

I LOVED this book!! I thought the author captured life as it really was in Baton Rouge, La. in the mid '50's!! And,yes, as your reveiwer said, it sounds like "Pleasantville", and it was, except for those who were trapped in mental illness!! Her contrasts of those who were allowed to "run free" and those who had "special needs" is really the heart of this compelling and heartwarming story!! She portrayed this loving, once happy family who was torn apart through ignorance and fear, and the GOD-AWFUL SOCIAL OUTCAST horror,in a loving and yet painful way!! And, yeh, folks, that's the WAY IT WAS in So. LA in the 1950's!!! NO ONE was mentally ill!! NO ONE committed suicide!! At least in "nice" families!! Thanks to Ms. Lawrence for helping us remember that maybe some of our "old thoughts" and values aren't quite so CORRECT anymore, and that those of us from this Faulkner-esque mentality from the South should re-think it. I have to give her many thanks for her portrayal of the mental institution and long-time care facility in Livingston Parish that I THINK she is speaking of in this book!! If not, then many thanks to her anyway for bringing a long-time problem to light!! A 60yr old reader from CT who grew up in Hammond, LA.

I'm from Argentina, and I was wondering if you could send me the abstract of chapter 12 from this book, because here is imposible to get it. Thanks anyway.

gabriela

Although the book tackled a lot of material pertinent to Attitude and Personality Measurement, I find it really useful in my research-interest in Subjective Well-Being (SWB). A chapter was dedicated to SWB, it's theories, tests and development. It is a really must-have book for those interested in SWB.

If you are teaching research courses this book you want to have in your test library.

This book reads like a work of journalism. It was good because it explained the economic and social conditions that spawn totalitarian regimes and military takeovers. Very good bibliography if you want to further your study. Good Interviews. Very Thorough and Fair. More than I would have been. Names, Dates, and the history behind the story is always given.

An incredible book that describes a few horrific cultures of dictatorship that will hopefully be forever unrecognizable to people in the United States. The most fascinating parts of the book are the theories of how the dicatorships came to be (the Tupamaros in Uruguay and the backlash of the military, etc.); even more incredible is how the leaders of the respective dictatorships stayed in power out of necessary compromises with the government(some are still in power, which will be difficult to swallow after reading this book). It is, in the end, a hopeful book with a warning: "¡Nunca más!" The book asks "how do you come to terms with those that tortured?" (especially in the incredible situation of passing someone who tortured you in the street, described by someone in the book) Another point the author makes is that there can be forgiveness after such horror, and if there's not there may just be more torture. A very worthwhile read, but not for the squeamish.

Lastly, the book provides a good introduction to a much neglected country: Uruguay. There are very few accounts in English of Uruguay, and this is probably the best I've seen. I have also visited Uruguay; it is a fascinating country and well worth a visit. You get a real appreciation for the friendliness of the people after reading what a lot of them went through during "la dictadura."

This is a magnificent book about a terrible subject. From the sixties through till the mid-Eighties, almost the entire continent of South America fell under the sway, or rather the boot, of military dictatorship. The dictatorships were, without exception but with varying degrees of vigour, active in torturing political prisoners. Weschler does a masterful job in describing the various forces that contributed to the overthrow of democracy throughout the Southern cone (not the least of which was American insistence on training Southern militaries and police forces in counter-insurgency in the hope that Castro's example would not spread further south), but the book's focus is not only the depravities of the two regimes -- Brazil and Uruguay -- but on the efforts of survivors of torture and imprisonment to make their oppressors see and recognise their evils.

The first section, 'A miracle, a universe' recounts the incredible efforts that went into collating and publishing the account Brasil: Nunca Mais (Brazil: Never Again), a book which set forth the policies of systematic torture and denial of due process practiced by Brazil's dictators. The truly remarkable aspect of the work was that all the material was obtained from the regime's own archives, over a period of several years, and at great personal risk to the authors. It's an inspiring story, and one that demonstrates the power of the written word.

The second and longer part of the book, 'The reality of the world', centres of the efforts of a committe in Uruguay to call those accused of torture during the country's decade-plus period of military dictatorship to account. In an effort to hasten reconciliation (or so they claimed), the civilian government declared an amnesty for those imprisoned for subversion under the old regime; later this amnesty was extended to those who tortured their political enemies. A group of concerned citizens began an exhausting referendum campaign to put the second amnesty to a vote. Weschler makes their task as exciting as a Hollywood thriller, without ever losing sight of the horror and tragedy which had been their inspiration. It's a beautifully structured, patient, and gorgeously written piece of work. An afterword makes some more general claims about the need to speak up on the subject of torture. 'The scream that comes welling out of the torture chamber is thus double -- the body calling out to the soul, the self calling out to others -- and in both cases, it goes unanswered. Torture's stark lesson is precisely that enveloping silence: it aims to take that silence and introject it back into its victim, to replace the flame of subjectivity with an abject, hollow void.' It is through reading books like Weschler's, and discussing and acting on his suggestions and the example of those in Brazil and Uruguay and elsewhere, that this silence can be partly drowned out. The book deserves -- indeed, demands -- a wide readership.

I read this most sensitive book about the lives of both a brother who donated his kidney and his sister who was the recepient. The book reveals how the transplant effected both of their lives. This is a timely book since there are many more transplants today than when they went thru their ordeal. The book should be read by those who are about to be a donor, and those who will be a recepient. In addition it should be read by any close relatives and friends. There are many sensitive,revealing and beautiful passages The book was well written by Mr Liebling and is easy to read.

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This is not a clinical account of a kidney transplant. Rather, it is a very personal account of the author's experience with his sister back in the 1070s. Back then, such transplants were not nearly as common as today. The author recounts the toll his sister's kidney disease had on the entire family and what the family went through both before the surgery and in the remaining decades of his sister's life. One minor criticism, the author does not state which hospital the surgery took place in. I am interested in such details. Nonetheless, this is a very moving personal account of how the donor, recipient and family coped with kidney diseaes, the transplant and it's aftermath.

This true story is told in a gentle, caring manner, and is easy to read for both young and old alike. Lawrence Liebling reflects on the conflict that he encounters about a decision that will not only impact on his life, but on his sister's and family's life forever. This story is about love, faith, courage and trust that every reader can relate to. It gives the reader a chance to reflect on his/her values. The author ultimately conveys the power of love through his story. Liebling's sensitivity and insights are meaningful, and touch the heart. The reader will reflect on the meaning of life and relationships, laugh and cry, and be touched by this beautiful story.