It's rare that one can read a book containing so much dry information such as the budgetary concerns of many many films, and still be captivated by the storytelling enough to make it work. This book reads like a well-crafted novel, with the main characters being a handful of studio executives. What results is an utterly readable, insider's look into the business of filmmaking in the studio era. The artistic genius of some of these men is acknowledged, but largely, their business dealings are highlighted. If you're afraid of such business talk, don't be. The author makes budgets and salaries an interesting and integral part of the story. I highly recommend this book to anyone who just loves movies and wants to learn more about how it all started. I also recommend this book to anyone who is in or getting into the producing biz now. What a helpful and inspirational resource. My only regret is that there is just no way that I can remember all of the information that I read in this book. That's why I refer to it as a resource in the title of this review and why I will use it as such for years to come.

Prof. Schatz does not suffer from the scholar's disease of academic-speak and writes a book that clearly demonstrates his expertise on the studio structure. Most books I have read extended the view of the outsider looking in at the star system and not the economics of the studios. "Genius of the System" chronicles the history of the studio's business, that is to say the economics and the people behind the economics.

If you want to read about the business structure of Hollywood during its beginnings, this is the book for you. I cannot recommend it enough.

An easy to read writer, Thomas Schatz details how the studio system worked from the silent era to its final collapse in the 1960s.

He illuminates both the art and the business of films, with keen analysis of how producers, directors and screenwriters created such fine art (and rich profits) -- especially the producers, who are more the authors of Hollywood films than any other group.

He convincingly portrays MGM's Irving Thalberg as a genius of art and commerce and MGM's Louis B. Mayer as a clod (except when dealing with difficult stars).

Schatz offers telling portraits of many others who did their best work under the constraints of the Hollywood system. He details the major studios' styles and how they evolved over the years. It's clear he has read file cabinets of documents, from endless -- but revealing -- memos to how much the stars made(!).

He also puts the film industry in social and cultural context; he even says the anti-communist witch hunts of the 1940s and 1950s were a disguised form of anti-semitism.

In the end, Schatz offers a convincing alternative to the auteur theory.

I like this book because it's a learning tool that gave me exactly what I was looking for. I was tired of looking through Make-up effect books that had two pages devoted to doing horror effects. Stephen King and George Romero (or just horror in general) will really enjoy this book. As will make-up effect artist.

This book is a manual for every horror fan, FX student, and lover of Savini around. I was lucky enough to get a copy of this from my schools bookstore, and might i say, what a find! Explained in gory detail, every effect is uncovered. The book has many hpotos, most in black in white, some in nice bloody color! Lots to look at, and plently to read about, this book is THE BEST! Even if your not into special FX, I'm sure you've seen the horror movies he's done, and its worth reading to find out how this talented man created these effects.

A mistake was made during my recent review on this book.Instead of me giving it a 5 star review like I intended,I gave it 1.I am correcting this mistake and I am giving it 5 stars.It deserves it.

Coyne Steven Sanders is, undeniably, _under_ the rainbow with this treatment of Ms. Judy Garland. In a good sense. First, one must respond to the treatment here of Micky Rooney, without whom we would still probably be responding to Ms. Garland in the same way. In the birth of the cliche, there is a moment when the idea itself is not a cliche but is instead an archetype. In this way cliches are to be honored as original ideas so fitting to such a large number of {events} that they become, through no fault of their own, a cliche. Sadly, this treatment of Micky Rooney in relation to Ms. Garland does not recognize the fact that Mr.Rooney was a cliche _from the beginning_. He personified the cliche by occupying one from the moment he embarked on his character--the same wide-eyed, over-eager, lifelessly hyperbolic grating dunce he dusted off every time the cameras were stupid enough to have him within their frame. If only Steven Sanders would have bitten into this none-too-tender tendril of the gas that was Micky Rooney! Instead, it is waived away like a bad odor that the reader imagined should have dissipated 5 minutes earlier. By failing to contextualize Ms. Garland within this necessary border, Coyne Steven Sanders renders a full quarter of this book into a wide pie of plums and pits; into a full line of outergarments best suited for intemperate climes. Three cheers for Coyne! Because, after all, this author is able to, in this book, show us why we should all, as I do, love Judy Garland with each breath we take. I love her. Yes. I love this book, and I love Judy Garland.

Over the years I have read every book about JUDY and excluding the 'book' written by Mel Torme' many have been decent. But, not until this book has the talent, the class, the POWER that was JUDY GARLAND been properly conveyed!The book is informative about what went on in front of and behind the scenes of THE JUDY GARLAND SHOW. But also, it shows how at certain points JUDY wanted certain things done a certain way for a specific reason!!! Case in point, her singing 'THE BATTLE HYMM OF THE REPUBLIC'. She knew why it had to be done, she knew how it had to be done, and she knew that it had to be done!!!! AND SHE DID IT!!!! And what 'we' see on video during that performance is what JUDY was, is, and always will be!!! A performer who should have been left to do what she did-SING!And reading this book, you'll see why she is what she is, and how she got what will always be hers! LEGEND!!!!

An incisive, detailed look at The Judy Garland Show. Blows away the myth that Ms. Garland was the psycho-tornado that destroyed the show. A wonderful book with many pictures, showing Ms. Garland at the peak of her performing abilities. A rare, realistic look at Judy Garland; the person and performer. A good buy!

This eerie tale will keep the reader intrigued long after finishing the book. In the town of Preston, an old rusting water tower stands on the edge of a hill. Two boys decide to go inside for a swim on a sweltering summer day. What happens inside is a mystery, but one of the boys is forever changed.

This 1995 Australian Picture Book of the Year winner uses the contrast between colorful illustrations and black background to great effect. In a twist on the usual picture book, the illustrations tell the real story, while the text provides the background information.

What a great puzzle. This is the kind of book that I could not stop thinking about, even long after I read it. This is an engaging book for adults as well as for children.

This book has kept the students in my grade 4/5 class at Acton School in Burnie, Tasmania captivated throughout this whole week. At first when I read it to them they picked up that the town residents eyes were funny looking but on further investigation they found many other peculiarities in the story. They were crowding around the book trying to see the different pictures and solve the mystery.

Erin says her favourite part was when Bubba came out of the tank and Spike wants him to show him his hand. Bubba says "No" because his mum would be worried however at the beginning he says that his mum would not care!

Alaster says that his favourite part of the book is solving all the mysteries.

Laura says her favourite part of the book was the picture of Bubba's face up close.

Melissa Lowry agrees with Erin that the part where Bubba came out of the Watertower is her favourite. Actually most of the class agrees that this part was the best. I think this is because it began all the questioning about the story.

Aaron and Matthew say that the mystery is related to the pitchfork that is seen on all pages.

We will be continuing to use Gary Crew books for language and drama work. We would love to hear from any one who has solved the mysteries in the story or of any activities you have been doing in the classroom. Thanks. .............

I have always been a fan of gary's and i was lucky enough to meet him. i was in one of his workshops on writing and i found him to be truly amazing.The Watertower, was a book we read in book club with older readers, and we found it intreging. It was easy to read the story, but as soon as you saw the subliminal messages in the illustrations, it was hard to focus your concerntration on the actual text. Don't shrug it off if you have that poor attitude about picture books.

I received my book very fast and the book is in good condition as described.

I received my book very fast and it is in good condition as described. Thank you.

I'm in 11th grade AP U.S. History and this is the text we are using. Definetely worth it. Dives into every depth that this nation can exhibit.

This is a great book about Disney Company. It goes chronologically from 1901 to 1999 and beyond. Every event in the company's history is put in the book, but without much detail.
Since he maintains Disney Archives, Dave Smith could have done a litle better, like he did with Disney's Encyclopedia.

This book was excellent! It had terrific pictures and it told from 1901 when Walt was born until 2001. It is a great keepsake. I purchased mine at Walt Disney World during the 100 Years of Magic celebration.

I really enjoyed this book. It is packed with lots of great photographs and artwork from Walt Disney and the Disney Company. It also has a really nice overview of the life of Walt Disney and the work of the Disney Company in text.

I appreciated the organization of the book. The book is arranged chronologically, which helped me to understand the flow of events better. This book has a very upbeat, positive tone and paints a very bright and exciting future for the Disney Company.

This book does not contain nearly as much information about Walt Disney as some of the biographies that I have read, but I don't think that was the goal of this book. This book does a very nice job of chronicling the art and the work of this great American icon and then continues the chronology with the work of the Disney Company in the post Walt era.

This book starts with very early Disney and takes the reader all the way through to Fantasia 2000. This is an excellent coffee table book. I highly recommended it to anyone that loves Walt, his work and the continuing work of the Disney Company.

I like this book and think it should be in the hands of every manufacturing engineer. Most of the classical manufacturing subjects for example materials technology is treated, but also modern subjects like computer integrated manufacturning systems and automation. As far as I can see it is updated with the latest research and engineering practice.

This is one of 2 books that captures the essence of a manufacturing management (or industrial engineering) engineering undergraduate degree- the other being an operations management text from Ray Wild, Nigel Slack, or Laurie Mullins. To help get an idea of what being a manufacturing engineer involves, prospective students should envision a dose of intense team & individual industry-based change projects, and striving globally competitive companies to add "seasoning" to these books. The broad 'technology' contents are useful for industry veterans, consultants, and undergraduate students alike, as well as being a good starting point for researchers.

Over 1000 pages of richly detailed and illustrated yet concise contents span:

* materials properties- metals, behaviour & testing, properties, alloys, production of steels, non-ferrous production, plastics, ceramics, and composites.

* metal casting processes and equipment- fundamentals, processes, and design & economics.

*forming and shaping processes and equipment- rolling, forging, extrusion and drawing, sheet-metal forming, powder metallurgy, forming & shaping plastic & composites, forming & shaping ceramics & glass.

* material removal processes and machines- cutting, tolls & fluids, round-shape processes, various-shape processes, machine tools and economics, abrasive processes & operations, and non-traditional processes.

* joining processes and equipment- oxyfuel & arc & resistance welding, solid-state welding, metallurgy, brazing/soldering & mechanical joining processes.

* surface technology- characteristics & measurement, tribology, surface treatment, fabrication of microelectronics,

* common aspects of manufacturing- metrology, testing and quality assurance, human factors and safety.

* manufacturing in a competitive environment- automation, integrated systems, competition and economics.

The strengths include the vast amount of detail, illustrations, references and exercises to embed learning; broadness yet correctness of content; and many examples of industrial application and usefulness for industry. An updated version, with further additions on latest technologies, process control, and systems analysis/simulation & change management, would address the only weakness of the text (the section on competitive environment manufacturing). Thoroughly recommended as a reference and how-to book in manufacturing (suspect latest version even better!)

[Refers to first edition 1989 ISBN 0201128497]

this book contains all the information ever needed by a mechanical production engineer. it is a usful addition to all libararies.

What I like best about the book is the way in which it traces the historical development of calligraphy. The author's Japan bias matches my own (I got into calligraphy in Japan) and so I didn't particularly mind the heavy Japan slant. What I found frustrating was the lack of a pronunciation guide, especially for the Sanskrit. Given the diacritics in use, I would have liked to have known how to pronounce the dotted consonants, etc. It would be nice to learn more about Khmer and Thai calligraphy also, but I turn to other books...

Sacred Calligraphy of the East takes you through the scripts used in the sacred writings of religions and nations of East Asia. If the book would have just been a wide collection of calligraphic examples, this would have been a good enough reason to get the book. But the book is more than this: It actually teaches you to draw these characters. It's a wonderful book.

Two years ago, at a Zen retreat, I needed something to relax my mind. The priest who headed the retreat had, at his house, an assortment of books from which to choose. I didn't want something cerebral. I fingered his library and came upon John Steven's "Sacred Calligraphy of the East." It was perfect! It offered pictures from which I was able to relax and study the historical progress of Eastern calligraphic forms. Since then, I have bought the book for myself and I continually refer to it when in need. That may seem rather odd: I don't really know why the book relaxes me and gives me solice, but I am quite grateful to John Stevens for his contribution to the art and to my life.