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Book reviews for "White,_William" sorted by average review score:

North of Everything: English Canadian Cinema Since 1980
Published in Hardcover by Univ of Alberta Pr (2003)
Authors: William Beard and Jerry White
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Really useful and interesting
To speak frankly as a US citizen with an interest in Film Studies, I never quite know what the heck is going on in Canadian cinema, nor where I should be looking. So this book fills a serious void for me, and has a diversity of entries, some more academic than others (but almost all good), that offer lucid and interesting introductions to the wealth of visual culture being produced in Canada over the past decades. I really like the essays on Native filmmakers Loretta Todd and Alanis Obomsawin, and think the editors did a great job of casting their net widely.

I highly recommend this book, though I wish it were cheaper.


Romeo and Juliet (New Casebooks)
Published in Paperback by Palgrave Macmillan (2001)
Authors: William Shakespeare and R. S. White
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The actuality of Romeo and Juliet
Tudor Vianu,one of the best Romanian art critic said that a good literary work must pass the obstacle of Time,must be understood and appreciated in all the cultures of the world,must speak to all the social categories,must let the human soul speak in all its profoundness.Well,Shakespeare managed to do thatand I think that this book succeeds in emphasizing the actuality of this Elizabethan writer.


Sources of Information in the Social Sciences: A Guide to Literature
Published in Hardcover by Amer Library Assn Editions (1986)
Authors: William H. Webb, Alan R. Beals, and Carl Milton Sources of Information in the Social Sciences White
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A Fourth Edition is Much Wanted
In library schools we teach information sources in different domains, including the social sciences. Guides to such sources are extremely important for the identity and qualifications of information specialists. Webbs guide (third edition) from 1986 was the best overall guide to information souces in the social sciences generally. The book has a chapter on social science literature, which also covered such issues as the structure of the information system, the users of social science literature and patterns of use; the evolution of the literature, and presentations of different types of information sources, including sources on different paradigms or approaches. The book is highly structured, and this structure itself is an important subject to teach. After the general sources are chapters devoted to History, Geography, Economics with Business Administration, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Education and Political Science. Each chapter is devided in two main parts "Survey of the Field" and "Survey of the Reference Works". The survey of the field includes systems, approaches, methodologies and history of the field, outstanding primary works, tekstbooks and handbooks, and a survey of the main subdisciplines and their literature. The survey of the reference literature is highly structured and annotated. I have only small objections to the classes used in the typology. For example, the class "reviews" covers both literature reviews and book reviews, which in my opinion are two different things. The book was published by the American Library Association, and representended in my opinion a very important action for the advancement of information science and a cooperative effort between ALA and subject specialist. The core expertise of librarians and information specialists are in my opinion closely related to research and practice in the system of information sources in different domains. If our profession was in front with the development, we should publish a new edition of this work every year in paper, online and on CD-rom.


Stairs to the Roof
Published in Paperback by New Directions Publishing (2000)
Authors: Tennessee Williams and Allean Hale
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Tennessee "Y2K" Williams!
Following closely upon the heels of NOT ABOUT NIGHTINGALES and SPRING STORM, this latest New Directions release is refreshingly optimistic for Williams. In this early play, he didn't feel confined to three acts, but instead wrote nearly twenty vignettes, some only a few lines long, to tell the story of Benjamin Murphy, employed at the Continental Branch of Consolidated Shirtmakers. Very impressionistic, this play opens with mechanistic technae in the background as Murphy's supervisors wonder where in the world Murphy is. He's literally found stairs to the roof! A place to smoke, but also a place to dream and to breathe fresh air. As the scenes proceed, the story becomes more and more fantastical and wild, with obsession and foxes and carnivals and millenial magic. Great fun--I'm teaching it to my high school freshman English students this year!


Sweet Wild World: Henry David Thoreau; Selections from the Journals Arranged As Poetry
Published in Paperback by Charles River Books (1983)
Author: William White
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Thoreau through the seasons
Just when I think I've seen every modern-day compilation of Thoreau quotations, I turn down an aisle at a used bookstore and gasp in pleasant surprise. Henry David Thoreau wrote in 1850 about "a sweet wild world which lives along the strain of the wood thrush," and here William White reveals glimpses of that realm through selected journal entries arranged by season. White rightly asserts that the transcendentalist's formal poems are clumsy concoctions and are less than memorable, but his prose -- especially portions of his journal -- contains a poetic quality worthy of transcribing into free verse form. Hence, this volume. Individual excerpts appear on separate pages and are enhanced with 16 seasonal pen-and-ink illustrations by Georgia Dearborn. A tasteful gift idea for nature lovers, and certainly less expensive than one of the innumerable coffee table books with full-color photos accompanied by random quotes.


Three Pillars
Published in Paperback by White Wolf Publishing Inc. (1997)
Authors: William O'Connor and White Wolf
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Background for the Dark Ages
This book provides lots of background for Vampire: the Dark Ages. It has what's going on with the different classes (Nobility, Clergy, and Peasantry) also it has background on the Italian City-States which was the largest cities at the time and allows the GM to have large campains that's in the city and in the countryside. It was a great start for my Venice game and recomend it for other GM's that want to set their game in or around Italy.


Vigil Watch: Warrens of the Ratmen
Published in Paperback by White Wolf Publishing Inc. (2002)
Authors: Dave Brohman, Ben Lam, William Timmins, and White Wolf Publishing Inc
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An interesting and well done book
When I read this book, I was glad the Ratmen were presented as not just another evil, warmongering race of monsters. In fact, this book presents the ratmen as part of a larger, ratmen society with different subraces and factions each with their own agendas. Some seek unity among the subraces, while others are absolute pariahs. Indeed, the ratmen become a vital part of the world of the Scarred Lands.

As a sourcebook for Sword and Sorcery's Scarred Lands Campaign setting, this book is a must have. However, those people not playing in the Scarred Lands can find some use in it for presenting ratmen/ratlings/skaven, or whatever other name you wish to call rat people, into thier campaign worlds. This is a well written book, with excllent artwork and information. There are several Ratmen prestige classes, Spells, and new pieces of equipment presented, and most of them are well done.

However, the only factor that keeps me from giving it a full 5 stars is that the writers of the book make too many decisions for the Game Master using this book. Only some races of ratmen are presented as viable player character races, and are given full write ups for using them as such. Those subraces that the authors deemed too-powerful to be used as a player character race are denied such a writeup. Unfortunately, this takes alot of control away from the individual game master, and makes it more difficult to present NPC's from these subraces that possess character class levels beyond the norm for their race. Perhaps most annoying is that the most interesting of the subraces - in my eyes, anyway - are the ones not given an extra writeup for uses as a character race.

In all, I thing this book was a very good purchase, especially considering the price. I've found alot more enjoyment reading this and other Sword and Sorcery releases than the "official" ones from Wizards of the Coast. All things considered, this book is worth the cost, just for a new and interesting take on a culture of ratmen.


Werewolf Chronicles: Rite of Passage: Through Danger Reborn (Werewolf - The Apocalypse , Vol 1)
Published in Paperback by White Wolf Publishing Inc. (1997)
Authors: Sam Chupp, William Hale, Rob Hatch, and White Wolf Games Studio
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((Includes Rite of Passage and Valkenburg Foundation))
Rite of Passage is a great book for starting out a character and a pack. It give you info on how to get started and then an adventure to carry you through. Valkenburg Foundation is interesting if only for the nefarious skin-dancer Samuel Haight. An interesting read and it seems to have the makings of a classic adventure.


The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment that Redefined the Supreme Court
Published in Audio Download by audible.com ()
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Confirms Confirmation
John Dean has written a readable retelling of the appointment politics surrounding William Rehnquist, then Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and since 1986 Chief Justice of the United States. Those who have read about the Court avidly or extensively will not find much here that is new, but that tends to validate what Dean says. Those who knew little about President Nixon or the politics of appointments in the Nixon Era will find more than a few fascinating stories.

Mr. Dean was a lawyer working in the White House. Thus, he was privy to many of the machinations of the Nixon Administration. If Mr. Dean is liable to be suspected of repenting or exaggerating his role, he may be at least presumed to be an authority.

One of Mr. Dean's overarching points is that Mr. Rehnquist was appointed to the Court nearly accidentally. The naive reader will be startled to see how little thought went into the selection, how late in the process that thought came about, and how few second thoughts were lavished on the selection once it was made.

In addition, the reader will be amused by the cavalier banter that passed for analysis between Nixon and his various sounding boards. Dean has reproduced dialogue from the White House tapes, so the quotations appear to be authoritative.

The "might have beens" are too delicious to spoil in this review. Dean deftly introduces each possibility with a capsule description so that readers who did not pay much attention in 1971 may appreciate who was who.

No one should be surprised to read that Nixon was prejudiced against blacks, Jews, and women, but the vehemence with which Nixon spews stereotypes startles even thirty years later.

Dean concludes that Rehnquist, in 1971 and 1986, fibbed his way thorough difficulties. The splendid irony that the fellow who presided over Clinton's trial in the Senate in 1999 had perjured himself onto the Court and into the Chief Justiceship is hardly news. To believe Rehnquist's denials concerning challenging minority voters in Arizona in the 1960s or concerning his memorandum urging the justices to uphold "separate but equal" as good law required muscular denial. [Dean does not raise the matter of the restrictive covenant on Rehnquist's property.] Those familiar with these issues will find very little new. However, those new to the matter will find in the "Afterword" a concise but articulate discussion of why Rehnquist's denials were unbelievable.

What readers may not gather from Dean's prose, however, is that, in a roundabout way, the system worked. Stymied by the American Bar Association [which found Nixon's first few candidates to be unqualified or unimpressive] and stung by mass media attacks on Nixon's attempts to appoint mediocrities, Nixon felt compelled to go for a little stature with predictable ideology. Rehnquist was a predictable conservative. He was also many cuts above the sorts of people with whom Nixon wanted to saddle the Court.

An Excellent Choice-- You Be the Judge!
John Dean has written an insider's book that chronicles President Richard Nixon's appointment of William Rehnquist to the United States Supreme Court. It was without doubt a Presidency filled with history, and the appointment of William Rehnquist to the Supreme Court is an often forgotten part of that Presidency. The book is well researched and throughly documented with first hand material from the National Archives, including several verbatim passages transcribed from the infamous White House tapes that otherwise doomed the Nixon Presidency.

Dean brings us inside the "vetting" process used by the White House staff and Justice Department to select nominees to the Court. Dean floated the name of Rehnquist to several in the administration, including then Attorney General John Mitchell, as a possible conservative candidate for the Court as Dean had worked with Rehnquist in the Justice Department and learned of the Rehnquist's strict constructionist interpretation of the constitution. What was fascinating was that Rehnquist while toiling away at the Justice Department was tasked with "vetting' the other possible Court nominees chosen by the White House. Sounds much like the recent scenario of the selection of Dick Cheney as Vice President.

The book details the other nominees Rehnquist beat out for the coveted position. If anyone believes that politics plays no part in the selection of the members of the Court, then this is required reading. At times humorous and at times self-serving, this book is well worth the purchase. If you are not a Court watcher don't worry, you don't have to be to appreciate this book. Dean is a good writer and the text flows easily. Add "The Rehnquist Choice" to your summer reading list - you will gain an appreciation of the importance of Presidential nominations to the Court.

Politics, Happenstance, and William Rehnquist
Only in the last couple of years have all the tapes of Nixon's many conversations as President in the White House been released. The tragedy of Richard Nixon is that every time someone wants to think well of him, tapes or something else surfaces that shows his real unpleasant, dark, and unsavory character.

John Dean waited for the release of these tapes and along with his personal recollections during the time period has written a book that deals with the selection of Rehnquist and Lewis Powell as United States Supreme Court Justices. Its not pleasant reading for those naive enough to believe that Presidents seek out the most qualified people for appointments. Rather, the book exposes the process used by President Nixon to select two supreme court justices as frought with politics, bigotry, and regionalism. Nixon's bigotry about Jews, prejudice against easterners, and nasty language make this a book that someone who is very sensitive should not read.

The real shocker here is that before picking Powell who was a superbly qualified justice, Nixon first selected two candidates who could not even win acceptance as "qualified" for the Supreme Court by the American Bar Association Committee on the Federal Judiciary. Nixon stubbornly tried to get these individuals appointed until it became absolutely clear it was hopeless. Only at this point, did a real candidate like Powell get nominated. Nixon further abused the process by sending names to the ABA of other people he knew would never win approval.

Rehnquist had good paper qualifications to sit on the Supreme Court. However, it was known early on he was extremely conservative. He may have lied about statements he allegedly made expressing approval of racial segregation in schools. Dean presents the case for this. Its up to the reader to judge.

In the end, we are left gasping at the twisted and bizarre process which put Rehnquist on the Supreme Court. Even those who support Rehnquist and other conservative justices should wish for a better process to select judges. Hopefully, one day we shall see such a process and never see another President like Nixon again.

Mark


Nighttime Parenting: How to Get Your Baby and Child to Sleep (LA Leche League International Book)
Published in Paperback by Plume (1999)
Authors: William, MD Sears and Mary White
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Good Resource for tired parents
Nighttime Parenting is the book that will help you really help your baby to sleep better, not "train" her. It is for parents who are willing to have patience with their babies, and not try to force them into rigid patterns before they are ready. I have an 11-month old baby who wakes up at night. I have read Ferber and Mindell and some of the others who advocate "sleep training." But I just couldn't let my baby cry herself to sleep, as they recommend. That's what it comes down to. Really helping your baby takes time, and effort. It's not easy, but did we really choose to become parents because we thought it would be easy? After using the suggestions in this book, my baby is now sleeping much much longer stretches than she was three months ago, and I am thrilled. I also don't mind getting up once or twice a night to comfort my precious daughter. This book is not for everyone. If you want your baby to sleep 11 hour stretches without bothering you, then you probably want the Ferber book. But, please reconsider, for your baby's sake.

An alternative to "cry-it-out" that really works!
For parents who are looking for an alternative to the "cry-it-out" theory of getting their baby or child to sleep, this is the book for you. William Sears provides practical advice on everything from the causes of night-waking in infants and children to the best furniture to buy for the children to sleep on. He covers important information about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, night terrors, bed-wetting, thumbsucking, nighttime fathering tips, nighttime parenting of high-need babies, and much more. Working moms will particularly like this book because it will give them practical advice on how to ensure their young baby "knows who their mom is!" Sears' advice not only works, but it just plain "feels right". I've raised my two kids (now 2-1/2 and 10 mos) using his advice, and it really works. A "must buy" for every parent's library.

Finding the information you need isn't easy.
This book provides practical information on finding a solution that will meet the needs of your family (needs of baby AND parent). It advocates responding to your baby's needs in a way that is very natural and loving.

Co-sleeping with your baby is not the only solution Dr. Sears suggests. For more information on co-sleeping historically and cross-culturally, I recommend The Family Bed by Tine Thevenin. If you're looking for solutions to your older baby's sleep problems, you may also want to see The Discipline Book by Dr. Sears.

I understand the urge of parents who want to have their babies trained to sleep through the night in a nursery room -- some times I wish for the free time I imagine that affords. But we have fewer night problems than people we know who follow other methods. It's easier to make choices as a parent when you sort your wants from your needs. Babies ask for what they need. We have a very peaceful time as a family by following Dr. Sears advice and it really shows in our toddler's daytime and nighttime behavior.


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