Ok what can i say i'm exstatic, lol. What a shocking development..he put a shock to my system. Its static the man virgil hawkins. I ran into this comic a while back when it was hot but wasn't really into it at the time. But now that i've matured and seen the comic it got me interested so ya know what i got static all the static i could find. I love this comic its like a comic for the ages, it deals with all the issues that need to be dealt with in our society. I love how it works the fluency, the art and of course teh writing. I don't know why i didn't find this sooner now i've made quest for myself trying to get my hands on all the static i can i belive issues 1-45. I recommend this to any comic fan of any gender and age. Its the kind of thing that any person can enjoy even those who aren't into comics. The teen angst, super heroes using their brains not their brawn. And that's all i can say..or can think of right now at least

This book recounts the origin and first adventures of Static. The artwork by John Paul Leon is beautifully done, and the painted coloring adds a real sense of quality. The story really captures the feel of Static's everyday life. It is different from the TV show in the details, but the characters, feel, and attitude are the same. I highly recommend it.

I read this book, and Joyce Milton, sure did a good book about the first president of the united states, who married Martha Dandrige Washington, got his face on a quarter, and got his face on a penny. I give it a ...(5 out of 5), and I give it 5 stars.

This book was a worthy tribute to our first President who was truly a quiet and even a reluctant hero. It told something of his boyhood, but the main focus was on his part in the formation of the United States. The reading was perfect for my sixth grade readers, and also held the interest of my Asian college-aged exchange students who are here to study American culture.

As we traveled along Interstate 10 between New Orleans and "Red Baton," I mused about the girders which held the highway up out of the bayous. What must travel or life in general have been like in that part of Louisianna a century or so ago.

George Washington Cable first collected these seven stories about Louisianna and published them in 1888. He calls them true stories. They are stories from times before his own from 1782 to after the Civil War. At the same time these stories are strange to Cable because life had changed so much in Louisianna between the time that the stories occurred and his own time.

The stories start with the story of Louise who came to Louisianna and almost became the dinner of a local chief. This tragic tale is quickly followed by the "bright and happy" story of Francoise and Suzanne who travel through the "wilds" of Atchafalaya. Alix's story is next. She was once introduced to Marie Antoinette. Then the French Revolution came and Alix lost her first husband. She will be a character that I long admire but I ask you to read the story to see why. Salome Muller was a German who lost most of her family enroute to Louisianna. (Some 1200 of the 1800 who attempted to make that trip never arrived.) Salome became a slave. Yet some 20 years or so later her family took her case to the State Supreme Court to free her. The
"haunted house" is the house of Madame Lalaurie who chose to save her possessions rather than her slaves when a fire burned her house. The story of Attalie Brouillard reminds me of the con men of the movie "The Sting" with Paul Newman and Robert Redford. The last story is a diary of a Union woman who lived in the South during the Civil War. To these I would like to add the story of George W Cable who begins his book by telling his readers how he got these other seven stories.

These are true stories from people who lived in Creole Louisianna, a time strange to us now.

Seven unusual, true stories set in Louisiana comprise the reissue of George Washington Cable's STRANGE TRUE STORIES OF LOUISIANA. First published in 1888, these stories are a gold mine of cultural lore and historical facts. As interesting as the stories themselves are the accounts of how Cable acquired them.

"The Young Aunt with White Hair" is set in Spanish occupied Louisiana in 1782 and describes the horrors experienced by a young woman on the long journey to New Orleans from Germany: robbed by sailors on the ship; an Indian attack near the mouth of the Mississippi River, during which her husband and baby are brutally murdered; being held captive by Indians and told she was to be the chief's dinner. Her ordeal was so great that her hair turned snow white in a matter of hours, and she never recovered from the experience.

Humor and suspense make "The Two Sisters" just plain fun to read. Two teenage girls- one a tomboy and one a demure, sweet lady- undertake a dangerous trek across the Atchafalaya swamp to North Louisiana in 1795. It's not only a good story, but the details of clothing, places and people are priceless. "Plaquemine was composed of a church, two stores, as many drinking-shops, and about fifty cabins, one of which was the courthouse. Here lived a multitude of Catalans, Acadians, Negros and Indians. ..It was at Plaquemine that we bade adieu to the old Mississippi.."

The story if "Alix de Morainville" reads like a fairy tale: the birth-deformed baby farmed out to a peasant family; the arranged marriage that turns out to be a love match; the convent stay; the marriage of dear friend Madelaine to Count Louis de la Houssaye and the couple's departure for the Louisiana colony; presentation to Queen Marie Antoinette; Aleix's grand wedding at Notre Dame Cathedral; the onset of the French Revolution; widowhood; rescue; and flight first to England and then to Louisiana.

The other stories are "Salome Muller, The White Slave," "The Haunted House in Royal Street," "Attalie Brouillard," and "War Diary of a Union Woman in the South."

While Mary Ellen Mark and husband,Martin Bell,were filming
their haunting masterpiece,Streetwise,in 1983,Mary Ellen was
also busy taking snap-shots of the runaways...and what a worthwhile effort this was!
Anyone who viewed the film will recognize most of the photographs of the Seattle runaways found in the same-titled book.
The Streetwise kids lived in a sad world of uncertainty.Many had fled from abusive homes.
Mary Ellen developed a closeness with many of her young subjects,including Dewayne and Lulu.Dewayne hanged himself in 1984,and Lulu died in a fight with a man in 1985.Mary Ellen has dedicated her book in their memories.
Like every other work that she has ever created,this book is a keep-sake.I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the film documentary and in the author`s work.
Jeffrey Bryan,White Oak,NC

While Mary Ellen Mark and husband,Martin Bell,were filming
their haunting masterpiece,Streetwise,in 1983,Mary Ellen was
also busy taking their snap-shots...and what a worthwhile effort
this was!
Anyone who viewed the film will recognize each photograph of
the runaways of Seattle found in Mark`s same-titled book.
The Streetwise kids lived in a sad world of uncertainty,many
having fled from their abusive homes.They searched for love and
happiness in a place which offered neither.
Mary Ellen developed a kin-ship with many of her young subjects
including Dewayne and Lulu.Dewayne hanged himself in 1984,and
Lulu died in a fight with a man in 1985.Mary Ellen has dedicated
this book in their memories.
Like every other work that she has ever published,this book
is definitely a keep-sake.I highly recommend it to everyone
who is interested in the documentary film and in Mary Ellen Mark.
Jeffrey Bryan
White Oak,NC

I visited Spain in Nov 2002 and was absolutely enchanted by the Nasrid Alhambra palace in Granada. Built in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, it casts a watchful eye over the inhabitants of the city below.

From the exterior, palace is surrounded by an imposing fort structure built of reddish brown stone - clearly meant to give the vision of martial strength to the outsiders. At night from the Albaycin (Old Arab Quarter), the palace is hauntingly beautiful-floodlights on the fort giving it a ghostly appearance. Upon entering the deceptively unassuming palace, a world of breathtakingly beautiful art and architecture slowly overwhelms you.

I simply couldn't get enough of this palace and often found myself trying to absorb as much of it's ambiance as possible. I was introduced to Washington Irving's work when I had bought an audioguide at the entrance of the palace. This guide was essentially oral excerpts from his book detailing the history and legends of each room as I walked through them.

Upon completing the tour, I then was compelled to buy the book. Reading it, I could see the Alhambra in front of my eyes again. In addition to that, I could imagine its former royal inhabitants as the legends of chivalry, romance and ghosts were told.

Washington Irving had the opportunity to live for several months in the Alhambra palace. Back then it was a forgotten Moorish fort in a terrible state of disrepair. His style is very soft and dreamlike, thus one is drawn into his writing as he discovers the legends from the 'guardians' who have taken residence in the palace.

This book was truly a delight to read, I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about the Alhambra or as a memoir of one's own visit to the palace.

"Tales of the Alhambra" was penned by American author Washington Irving ("Rip Van Winkle," "Sleepy Hollow") during a stay at the legendary Alhambra in Granada, Spain. I bought this book after my visit to the Alhambra, and found it to be a fantastic companion to what I had seen and experienced.

The Alhambra (and Generalife) is a combination fort/palace/gardens dating from the 13th century, filled with fantastic Arabic architecture (ornate plasterwork, ceramic tiles, sculpted marble fountains and archways), and lots of room for imagining the days of its former greatness, which Irving brings to life most memorably. The book is illustrated with charming and detailed watercolour engravings dating from the same period when the book was written.

Irving seamlessly winds legend, history, and a Spanish travelogue of sorts together, and even though the book is over 170 years old, it seems as if it was written yesterday. There are tales of princes, genies, lost and found loves, enchanted treasures, battles, hellish headless horses (does the inspiration seem familiar?), and commentary on the Spanish landscape and nature of the Spaniards that he lives with. Full of bewitching music, the smell of roses and exotic perfumes, firey sunsets, and the ghosts of the past, the book is a sensory treat as well. If you plan on visiting the Alhambra, read this first--it will definitely enhance your experience. If you've already visited, this makes a priceless souvenir, bringing to life once more the stately halls and fragrant gardens.

With his book, Tell Them Who I Am: The Lives of Homeless Women, Elliot Liebow has done an excellent job of putting the facts of shelter life together. His research was not done in a far away library with his nose in a book, rather he learned first hand by working in women's shelters and soup kitchens in Washington DC. In his book, he explores the multitude of ways that "the humanity of the women is under constant threat" and gives the reader an in-depth and intensely personal view into the different facets of the lives of homeless women. Liebow continues throughout the book to deliver the facts to the reader in such a way that they reveal the brutal truth of the women's lives without dragging the reader to a place where (s)he is overcome with pity and shame. Instead, Liebow manages to connect the reader to the women, showing their humanity. I wanted to cheer them on, encourage them, defend each of them, from opinionated Betty to retarded Ginger to Grace, a born-again Christian, although these aren't the actual names of the women. This book makes a the reader see homeless women as people and forces the reader to look beyond stereotypes. It gives the women faces and shows their individuality. Tell Them Who I Am also goes into some detail about the different shelters themselves, the ways they are run, and what function they serve. It also mentions such things as Social Services and Medicare, pointing out what they provide and, very importantly, the weaknesses that these services and others have when dealing with the homeless. These weaknesses are evidenced through the multitude of difficulties that the women experienced in dealing with various "helpful" agencies. Probably the most important reason for a person to read Tell Them Who I Am is that one can learn from it. The facts contained within this very well-written book are the facts that could go a long way toward a better understanding of homeless women and what can be done to aid them. The fear that "in all its forms stands out," can be worn away with some of the understanding can be found in this book.

Tell Them Who I Am is a tale about several homeless women and one non-homeless man. For all its merits as an ethnography of women's shelters, which are many, one of the most endearing things about this book is its author. In 1984 Elliot Liebow found out he had terminal cancer. He promptly quit his job at the National Institute of Mental Health and headed for the soup kitchens and shelters of a small city outside of Washington, D.C. Taking notes "out of habit" he gradually compiled his thoughts (and those of his informants) as he got to know the women of these shelters. His participant-observation approach led him to be very involved as an actor in the lives of the women he met, and they too became involved in the writing of their stories. The result is a fascinating book which details the trials of homelessness alongside the joys and sorrows of being human

I bought this book a long time ago but it's still on my bookshelf (I don't save many books when I'm done with them) and I am pushing it for my book group (if we can find enough copies). I've read it many times and it never fails to grip me. The story is pretty simple -- a boy growing up in a small midwestern city right before WWII -- but what's great about this gentle book are a)the characters -- each one a believable, fully-developed, eccentric (but not cutely so) HUMAN, even the minor characters, and b) the wonderful sense of time & place. It's not a lovely place -- it's rife with class, race and other perennial American problems -- but it's full of life, humor, love, hate -- and it has fantastic women characters. Another plus for the book is that it takes place in (I think) someplace like Duluth MN, not the usual East, South or West coast location. The novel also features Native Americans in contemporary roles (circa 1936) -- how often do we get to read about regular old people who happen to be Indians?

Reading reviews of Seamus Deane's new novel about growing up in Derry reminds me of how I haven't yet gotten over the disappearance of this brilliant book from the publisher's active list. Tommy McAllister, the main character, reads his upper midwestern world and people in it. He uses both heart and mind to probe each word he hears and gesture he sees to map out his world of loving, dangerous, sensible, and eccentric people, most of whom try to keep him safely in the dark

In another sterling volume of the Leaders in Action series, Stephen Mansfield here outlines the life and character of Booker T. Washington. In vivacious voice and moving magniloquence, Mansfield traces Washington's path from slavery to his founding of Tuskegee Institute. He shows the difficulties Washington surpassed in reaching his goals, and the principles that helped him make it. In the words of Washington, "Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succed." By this standard, Booker T. Washington was an astonishingly successful man.

Washington wrote his own autobiography, _Up From Slavery_, which must certainly not be neglected. But Mansfield's biography is also a criticial read because he includes facts that the autobiographer was too modest to mention, and he highlights wonderful aspects of Washington's character that humility prevented him from including. This biography doesn't contain the wonderful self-analysis and insight of Booker himself - but it does contain all the benefits of a third person account.

One thing I really appreciated about this book was its terrific analysis of slavery and inter-race reconciliation. Expounding Booker's opinion, Mansfield blames both whites and blacks for the problems that cropped up after the Civil War. Whites needed to repent of their brutal treatment of slaves and actually begin considering blacks more than mere animals; and blacks needed to repent of their spirit of bitterness toward their white enslavers, and begin working hard and leaving no excuse for disrespect of blacks. Too many books on reconciliation have practically advocated bitterness, hatred, and laziness when what is really needed is Washington's outlook of forgiveness and hard work. This book offers relief from such pride.

To wrap up, this is a great biography. Good history, good style, and good content. Buy it.

Then Darkness Fled is a celebration of the life of Booker T. Washinghton and tells of a man who dined with heads of state and became the first Afro-American to receive honorary degrees from Harvard and Dartmouth. Chapters survey both his achievements and his life in this lively coverage.

Beth and Allen Cheng live a quiet life with their three small children in the small town of Bellevue, Washington, close to the mountains of the west coast. Beth works as a wildlife biologist and her current project is tracking the goat population through the high elevations.

Though Beth enjoys her job, Allen hates that she must work to supplement their household income. They had agreed that she would work so he could take the pastor's position at a small local church.

The story describes their quiet, yet comfortably hectic family life as Beth leaves for the airport to board a small plane that will take her high above the mountainous terrain to count the goats. While she and her family go about their routine, Dennis Doyle experiences a far different existence.

Instead of family, he has chosen a life of solitude deep in the hills, as far from humanity as he can get. His Vietnam past haunts him even after thirty years if living alone.

Beth and Dennis eventually cross paths high in the mountains. Her Asian appearance brings back the nightmares of the jungles of Vietnam and he has moments where he can no longer distinguish between the past and the present. Beth, being strong in her faith, fears for her life, but she knows God has a purpose for putting her with this troubled man.

Bette Nordberg brings to life the horrors of war and how the experience can manifest itself in one's mind. She does a wonderful job of helping the reader get to know Dennis Doyle and Beth Cheng. And, though Dennis appears on the surface to be a selfish, crazy hermit, we come to find that he still has a warm heart no matter how hard he tries to stay detached.

And Beth, though she is thrown into a situation where she must face much suffering, she questions her faith, but she never falters. She continues to seek God's will and asks for guidance and strength through Him.

Bette Nordberg has produced another work of dazzling fiction. The suspense in Thin Air kept me glued to the pages even when other responsibilities called. I lived in the skin of Beth, feeling her pain when the plane crashed, her longing for kids and husband, her fear she would never see them again. I came to understand Viet Nam vets in a way I never could in the past--even though I am married to one. Bravo to Nordberg once again. I eagerly await her next novel.

This well-crafted account of life along the banks of this gem of a lake deserves a wider audience. Mr. Washington weaves a tale every bit as compelling as any novel. His depiction of real people and real events engage the reader instantly. The startling final chapter about the flood that, for a short time, spelled the end of Timberlake, proves riveting. If you like small, detailed histories of places, you need a copy of this hardback book on your bookshelf. It's a perfect weekend read.

This well-crafted account of life along the banks of this gem of a lake deserves a wider audience. Mr. Washington weaves a tale every bit as compelling as any novel. His depiction of real people and real events engage the reader instantly. The startling final chapter about the flood that, for a short time, spelled the end of Timberlake, proves riveting. If you like small, detailed histories of places, you need a copy of this hardback book on your bookshelf. It's a perfect weekend read.