_Pulp Art_ contains a varied collection of wonderful cover art from the pulp fiction of the early 1920's through the 1940's. The paintings are nicely reproduced, crisp and colorful. Intended to encourage the viewer to buy the book, all the cover art is sexually suggestive, menacing, or mysterious. The art also reflect the attitudes and prejudices of their times. The whole spectrum of different genres are represented here, including Science Fiction, Tarzan, Mysteries, Westerns, Heroic, Romance, and War. I found several spelling errors in this book, some of them quite obvious. _Pulp Art_ could have benefited from a decent proof reading, to be sure. Still, the beautiful art is fascinating to view and speaks louder than the printed text inside.

Pulp fiction is an acquired taste these days; although I was born in the sixties, long after the death of these magazines, the paperback boom in science fiction and fantasy following the explosion of popularity due to Tolkien and "Star Wars" put much of the classic pulp series in my hands. I still love the stuff, much in the same way that I enjoy sitting down to a childhood meal of Captain Crunch or a chocolate Sundae. This book provides the graphic counterpart to the words I know so well, in gorgeous reproduced color. The pop culture of the thirties is to this day some of the deepest and most endearing, from Fred and Ginger to the Marx Brothers to the Wizard of Oz movie to hard-boiled detectives to golden age science fiction to the westerns to...well, you probably get the point by now. This is an art that was never intended to do anything more than sell a magazine, but it shows a vitality and craft sadly missing from the same kind of art today. Granted, some of it is misogynistic, sadistic, and racist, but then almost everything in western society is, even to this day. Taken with a little salt, the paintings reach out and bash you between the eyes, daring you not to pick up the magazine they advertise. The book provides an introduction to the topic unmatched elsewhere, and makes suggestions for follow-ups to the fan. The pictures alone are worth the price: they range from N.C. Wyeth to J. Allen St. John to Margaret Brundage to Rafael de Soto (whose use of light, darkness, and bright colors is perhaps the most striking in the whole book, at least to my uneducated eye -- regardless, his paintings in particular leap off the page). All in all, a most enjoyable volume.

However, with all due respect, a book about the pulps without at least one typo would not be true to its subject. That is to say, a hallmark of the pulps is the speed and verve with which the books were produced -- mispellings, tygos, broken fonts and printing blemishes included.

Every one of the 208 pages is loaded with large full color, sharp photos, along with comprehensive text. 16 chapters cover items from almanacs, calendars, catalogs, fans, to postcards, posters, signs and trade cards. One chapter deals with investing in paper advertising. Provides information about looking for the next paper advertising collectibles. Everyone interested in any kind of advertising will love this beautiful book and enjoy having it in their library !

This book combines everything anyone ever wanted to learn or just as a great reference guide!

Honest and candid, Barry Williams gives us a funny, entertaining viewpoint of growing up as Greg Brady of "The Brady Bunch." What I like about this book is that he tells of his start in show business, then details life as part of "The Brady Bunch". He expresses amazement that people still love and want to see the Brady Family which resulted in several made-for-TV Brady movies with the old cast and the hilarious Brady Bunch movies with Shelly Long as Carol Brady. Of course Williams describes his crush on Maureen McCormack as well as other Brady Kid pairings once the cameras stopped rolling. It must have been frustrating for him and for the other actors portraying the Brady kids because most of them were not like their characters at all, yet the public expected them to behave that way. Can you picture that Thweet Little Thindy (Susan Olsen) is now a hard-drinking woman? Williams tells of them swapping Brady stories over drinks on an airplane. The only thing I didn't like was at the end of the book, a synopsis of each Brady Bunch episode was included to plump up the book. While that info might be useful for die-hard Bradyphiles, I would have preferred that Williams give us more anecdotes about his life as Greg Brady or better yet, life after Greg Brady, since the bulk of the book is focused on the Brady Years.

I loved the book! Barry Williams gives a refreshing insight into his life and times on one of the USA's most famous TV series - the relationships between the cast members, the fastiduous Robert Reed (he was a Shakespearean actor) and life post-Brady Bunch. His episode guide is also very witty.

If it were up to me, Barry Williams would never have another door slammed in his face, Maureen McCormick would see her country album sell like hotcakes, Robert Reed would still be alive and getting roles worthy of his talents, and the world would be a lot more like The Brady Bunch than it is. But, alas, it's not up to me, so we have to deal with the bitter reality that our entertainment industry uses people - particularly children - then discards them. It's not fair, and I wish something could be done about it, but, for the life of me, I don't know what that would be. How painful it must be to be forever judged by what you did and how you looked as a teenager. How hard it must be as an actor to have doors slammed in your face because you accepted a role on a sitcom as a child, all the while receiving no residuals for your work. How difficult it must be to reflect on your entire adult life and see one professional embarrassment after another, all traced back to the good work you did as a kid. How disheartening it must be to look into your future and see nothing but cheap movies, TV guest appearances, and reading children's books at Target on the horizon. It isn't fair, and we should look deep down inside ourselves as a culture for both the blame and the solution.

The world is sometimes a place of harsh realities. For Barry Williams and the other cast regulars, playing on the show brought with it the harsh reality that their careers as actors all but ended when the show ended. As the fate of the series went, so went the fate of its stars, particularly its child stars. Oh, sure, there have been numerous sequels, spin-offs, etc., but, in reality, the sausage machine that is Hollywood all but ended these kids' careers before they began. Forever typecast as their TV characters, they are caught in an entertainer's purgatory: they are inherently disadvantaged when seeking new roles, while, at the same time, receiving no compensation for the original role. All people are interested in are those five brief years when they were doing their best to grow up on a soundstage in between rehearsals and shooting a TV show. Their lives and work since the show are not terribly interesting to the masses. Indeed, if people had it their way, the kids would never grow up. Barry would always be Greg, and Maureen would always be Marcia.

We make fun of the clothes, but they were normal for the time. We make fun of the lingo, but it, too, was commonplace. We make fun of the idealistic manner in which the show portrayed family situations, but we all know it's just a TV show. I mean, why watch TV if all you want is realism? Look around you, or look out your window if all you want is real life. Isn't there a place for the idyllic? Don't we sometimes tune into programs to get *away* from reality - for their inherent escapism? Why, then, should we take this show to task for portraying life optimistically? Are any of us naïve enough to believe that real life always works out as we'd like? What's wrong with wishing?

Barry and Maureen, Robert and Florence, and the others were and are real people. They deserved better than this. If Williams' book makes any lasting impression, it is this one: these are real people who had real lives that were stolen by "the business." They do not want or need pity; they only want opportunities. If this book proves anything, it proves that they deserve them.

An epic tour-de-force which examines the fascinating life of John Reed, the only American to be buried in the Kremlin Wall. An ecclectic mix of personalities - from Lenin to Gertrude Stein, from Lincoln Steffens to Teddy Roosevelt - pass thru the tapestry which was Reed's life, each having their own unique impact on the art which remains. From his childhood in stoic Portland Oregon to his years in Harvard and New York to his coming of age in Mexico covering the Villa revolution, Reed absorbed experience and reflected his concept of justice and equality in his writing. Each stop along the way was preparation for Reed's ultimate mission - to report on the earth-shattering 1917 Russian Revolution. The book "Ten Days in October" is still the seminal work on the topic, and this book delves into the evolution of Reed from middle-class dabbler to full-blown Socialist commentator. Mr. Rosenstone does the man justice - well-documented, fair, and without overt "gushiness". An exceptional read.

This is the book the academy-award winning movie "Reds", starring Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton, was based on. An epic (but true)love story, you finish reading it in awe at how much life was packed by these people in such a short time.

Although I am unsure as to whether or not I passed the AP exam in May 1999, this book did have some value when I prepared for the actual exam. It is ok in giving strategies for the test, but I would recommend that you do as much reading and essay writing as you can during the summer prior to taking the exam. Like any other AP test, this is not an easy test unless you have a greater understanding in English, which is developed through many years of experience and practice. Although this was my first AP exam in English as a junior in high school, this book somewhat did help me during the months before the exam. I would recommend this book if you have enough time for preparation. Before closing this review, I would like to thank Erin Mooney who taught AP English Language to me as her first year.

168 pages of beautiful full color, large photos, along with discussions of the major topics, including: Advertising Dolls, Bears, Barbie's, Book Dolls, Fast Food Dolls, Candy Connection, Great Comeback Ad Dolls and Sports Dolls. The pictures are so sharp you can almost feel the furry critters. A price guide is included. You'll want to add this to your collection if you like character and critter advertising bears and dolls collectibles.

Beneath the Gated Sky is a wonderfully conceived and joyously written followup to the New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Beyond the Veil of Stars.

In this outing, Reed seems to concentrate more on the character of Porsche. I found Porsche to be a rather one-dimensional, predictable character in Beyond the Veil of Stars. In this book, however, a great deal is told from Porsche's point of view. As such we get a greater glimpse into her psyche, which makes for a much more rewarding read.

Perhaps Robert Reed's greatest strength as an author is his ability to introduce stunning scientific ideas while still maintaining believable situations and believable, likeable characters. Beneath the Gated Sky is no exception. Reed expands greatly upon the ideas first put forth in Beyond the Veil of Stars. To go into any detail about his extensions would be to take away the thrill of discovery, so suffice it to say that Beyond the Veil of Stars is just the tip of the iceberg.

I was looking for something a bit lighter, but found the book give details I wasn't looking for. Had numerous pictures of early Baguio.

Beautiful 200 page companion volume to the 1995 volume, contains all different items. Features over 600 beautiful, large, full color, sharp photos. Price ranges are provided. Major categories include: advertising and product-shaped radios, character and figural, household and personal use, media stars, sports and recreation, and much more. Good quality, paper back book that novelty radio collectors are sure to enjoy and consult often.

A very useful guide to the Chennault Papers, covering the American Volunteer Group and the 14th Air Force. Note that there is a microfilm version of the Chennault Papers at the Library of Congress, as well as the originals at Stanford. Though the LOC version is differently cataloged, the published guide can still lead you to what you want; once you get to the LOC manuscript room, you can supplement it with a paper finding aid. I spent weeks reading this material for Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and the American Volunteer Group.