Going into a project with a pro-union (which, these days, is not necessarily the same thing as pro-worker) agenda, Laurie Graham proves once more that the term "labor journalist" is an oxymoron.

I have read this book.. What a work of fiction! I work at the same auto plant 'Laurie Graham' worked (worked??) and wrote about.. This book seems to have been written with a pre-determined opinion.. She had it in her mind before she worked in the plant to knock the SIA work place. She writes about a few months that she worked at SIA.. Well after most of us have worked at SIA (5-9yrs Union Free) Zero layoffs. Low OSHA's comparied to other autoplants and great pay and benifits! This book seems to give most of us at SIA a good laugh! Try Reading Ben Hampers 'Rivet Head'.. Good for a laugh also.. but much more accurate.

This book is a very good account of the process a person had to go through in order to gain employment at the Subaru-Isuzu and the working conditions that were present at the plant at the time the author worked there. There continue to be problems at the plant with them being cited by IOSHA (Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration) on August 20,1998 for not recording all safety and health violations present at the plant. The company did not document approximately 567 Manpower employees who had recordable injuries and/or illness during the years 1995 - 1997. The company also did not provide a copy of the OSHA Log 200 in its entirety for employees for the years 1995 - 1997. The reader from Lafayette needs to get the facts straight before making statements about the low OSHA statistics. The use of "temporary"workers to keep OSHA numbers down is only one way the company has manipulated, and continues to manipiulate, the system and the workers. Laurie Graham has been, and continues to be, open to imput from workers from Subaru-Isuzu and the conditions that exist there. She welcomes workers to contact her with both positive and negative information, seeking updates on the changing atmosphere and attitudes that exist as a plant grows and changes.

This book is filled with translations of business-related English phrases. While the quantity of terms and the quality of the translations are good, there are two fundamental flaws with this book.
1. All the Japanese terms are written in Romaji, or alphabetic characters. While this may be adequate for those who are just learning the language, it is very limiting for advanced speakers, who are probably more likely to use the high-level expressions contained in this book. I realize that the first edition of this book was published in 1991, but would it have been too much to ask to include the Japanese? Even for a beginning user it can be quite helpful to have the Japanese text to show to a native speaker when communication breaks down. Sometimes Romaji can't cut it.
2. It's only English-Japanese. If you want to go the other way, you're pretty much out of luck.
This dictionary is [inexpensive], but in this case you get what you pay for.

This book is really great if you are wanting to learn Japanese words that are used in everyday business. I have had a few year of Japanese classes in college, and they really did not prepare me for interacting in the Japanese's business enviroment. They never taught me the vocab. necessary to do business in Japan, but this book did the trick.

On the plus side, the pronunciation guide at the front of the book is excellent.

On the minus side; no tonal marks, many errors in the examples.

I have shown this book to several native speakers in China and they said 'we don't say that'. In many of the examples the words appear to have been taken from a dictionary without consideration of use in context. The words are correct but the sentence has no meaning.

I removed the pronunciation guide and tossed the book.

This book attempts to be a shortcut for people who don't want to learn the pinyin system. This creates some fundamental problems. First, the romanization system it uses is subjective. While the author's choice of letters may seem logical for one accent, it does not make sense for all. Second, while the introduction gives lip service to the importance of tones, the entries fail to denote them in any way. I would not recommend this book to anyone. There are much better alternatives for a casual learner, and it is completely unsuitable for a serious student.

I use this book in conjunction with classroom instruction and a CD set (Instant Imersion Chinese) and find it very useful. It matches the structure of the classroom instruction and CDs well, and I haven't noticed any inconsistencies in the content.

One shortcoming is that it does not use the pinyin tonal inflection marks. However, when used with other learning resources, that is not much of an issue. I find it very useful for basic vocabulary building and memorization drills; you really need to hear the language to learn the accent and cadence, and no book will provide that.

First: the positive-
The drawings in this book are wonderful. They are very true to life (at least for the part of Louisiana my husband comes from.)
The stories are the reason I bought this book. There is a lot of information regarding the culture and traditions of the Acadians and the lifestyle of Southern LA. The recipes are good.

Second: the needs work part-
These recipes were gathered together from a group of people. Because of this, many of the recipes are not typically cajun recipes. For example, there are many pasta recipes which have nothing to do with Cajun cooking. If you are looking for a cookbook with traditional Louisiana cooking try Talk about Good.

However, if you collect cookbooks and want to add an interesting cookbook to your collection, this is the one. Just realize that you will find many recipes in this book that are already in other cookbooks. If you are interested in reading about Louisiana and want some traditional recipes, this is a good book to get. Just realize that there will many non-Louisiana recipes included in this book.

This book can't really stand on its own, but is a good supplement to Talk About Good I and II. The artwork is great the stories by Sonnier are delightfully nostalgic. I found the text, however, to be unorganized and the recipes seemed to be reminiscent of ones that could be found on the back of a Campbell's Soup can. As a transplanted Cajun living away from Louisiana, I always refer to T.A.G. I and II and use them religiously and only refer to Tell Me More if I want a variation on a recipe that I already know.

i am so glad that someone did write the teacher addtion because it the book is heard to unnderstand. the way i used was to teach a college class how to undertdand the book and do it buy chapter to chapter not by person to person. the book over all helped me understand how to teach the book so i and the students could understand a lot better. it helped greatly for my students. i have let othere teachers look at it. they enjoyed it very much too. i am getting copy for my brother who has to read the book too. it has helped a great deal because the french grammer was heard to hunderstand in the book it self. this way it takes step by step it takes you threw it too.

After buying this book, I regreted it and wished I had gotten a different Learn Japanese book. This book is mostly phrases. It would be helpful if you were in Japan and needed a quick reference for phrases, but if you wanted to actually learn vocabulary and such, this isn't the book for you.

This is a nice pocket-size book, with clear maps. However, it is not totally complete because although individual maps are given of Japan's main TRTA/Eidan and Toei subway lines, no maps at all are included of the JR lines.

As anyone who has ever rode the Tokyo subway knows, the JR lines are an intrinsic part the system, esp. the green Yamanote line that makes a continuous loop around all hubs of central Tokyo. The maps that are included show where the JR subway stations are, but not where the JR routes go. How this can be left out of a book that would be otherwise complete is beyond me.

An interesting biography of Lafayette, the young French nobleman who served with Washington during the American Revolution and then went back to France to help usher in the French Revolution. A long life spent extolling the virtues of liberty, Lafayette is portrayed in the book as a generous man who seeked fame only. When presented with a chance to actually take action and change the course of history, he would retreat and allow others to make the decisive actions of the time.

The author is not particularly kind to the Lafayette and does not hestiate to point out his flaws. However, the writing is well done. The only major problem I have with the book regards referring to many major historical characters without giving us some background before they are introduced. For example, many of the leaders of the French Revolution are referred to without any explanation of their politics. The author assumed a fairly wide understanding of the various personalities. I would have preferred a little more exposition.

I had a hard time forcing myself through this book. I gave it to my 10 year old son, who is a Francophile and a voracious reader, and he couldn't get through it. Just kind of dry for a biography of a person who was probably pretty interesting.

Lafayette, young brash and bored, takes as his life motto the "Why Not?" on his family crest and answers the call to adventure by leaving the ennui of European court life and taking up arms in the American cause. His personal life, including wife and kids left at home, his adoration of Washington, and his instrumental role in the success of the faltering colonial revolution are all adequately explained for young readers, but there is an uncharacteristic flatness to the telling. Fritz' many other biographies certainly qualify her to tackle this enigmatic subject, but the intricacies of political intrigue seem to oscure the storyline. Lafayette's life seems to have been about boredom, about opposing constituted authority and about swashbuckling adventure, no matter who pays the price. A tough subject to cook down for readers 10-14, by any standard. It's a great read for an overview of Lafayette's life, but lacking in the fire and passion of Fritz's other books.

Please don't waste your time or money on this book. There are much better books available (I have lived in Japan for 5 years and didn't see anything remotely approaching insightful or original commentary). I thought this book would give me tips on how to experience the Japan of old -- which is hard to find. Instead I got a variety of short stories (none of which I found interesting or provide enough detail for you to figure out how to find the romantic old Japan), and an abbreviated history of Japan. Also, the author is always obsessing about women! I recommend to keep searching!

It's hard to find a travel book that is more than a list of hotels but less than a travelog. I thought this book was it -- but I was wrong. Boyde Lafayette De Menthe writes as if every American doesn't want to experience the real Japan. And describes the real Japan is some sort of secret brothel.

Some of the history was interesting and the quick guide to the language was informative but, overall, the information was very dated (copyright 1995). And as a woman who loves to travel, this book left me with very few insights other than where I should sent my male companions at night.

Boye Lafayette De Menthe creates a fascinating portrait of Japan and provides a good primer on the basics of Japanese culture. De Menthe certainly covers all the big points in this rather slim volume. His discussions of language, hospitality, the seasons, and Japanese history are valuable for a brief introduction. He reads easily and offers insights which only one intimate with Japan and the Japanese could proffer. He offers good advices, too, on getting into the "real Japan" rather than sticking to the tourist traps. He offers: "this book is designed to provide you with the historical and cultural perspective, the insights and the knowledge you need to intellectually, emotionally, and physically cross the cultural barriers into the inner circle of Japanese life and savor it to the fullest extent possible" (xxvii). He succeeds.

However, I found myself rather distracted by his emphasis on the erotic side of Japan. His book frequently reverts to topics of eroticism, sexual pleasures, and the like which I found superfluous and, at times, inappropriate. Certainly sexuality is an important part of any culture, however, De Mente gives it undue emphasis and falls prey to the Western tendancy to make Asian women exotic (and therefore erotic). Discovering Cultural Japan is definately not for the casual traveler or tour group. But if you are looking for a more "social" guide or plan to stay in Japan for a longer period of time, this might suit your purposes. With chapters such as "Sexual Mores," "The Soaplands," "The Kimono and the Yukata," "Pleasures of the Night," among others -- De Mente's book is a bit more than the average traveler needs.