The Golden Age of movies is sometimes taken as the glorious silent era. However, it can be argued that the films made right after the advent of sound provided more realism and more to think about than movies before or since. In a vital and entertaining study, _Dangerous Men: Pre-Code Hollywood and the Birth of the Modern Man_ (Thomas Dunne), Mick LaSalle lovingly analyzes the films and movie heroes from around 1929 until 1934 when censorship took over. Those interested in the history of film, and in learning more about giants like Cagney and Gable, as well as about important but forgotten former stars like Richard Barthelmess and Warren William, will find this book irresistible. After 1934, it was a long while before American films were made without a censor able to clip scenes, and LaSalle demonstrates that the pre-censorship (or "pre-Code") era was a time for realism as well as idealism in the movies.

LaSalle demonstrates that silent films were really productions of the Victorian era; men were expected to have sobriety and character. World War I, Prohibition, and the Great Depression changed all that. There was a deluge of pre-Code gangster movies, and every major actor played a gangster, even Spencer Tracy and Boris Karloff. The gangster movies, and the war movies, provided a new look at how a person might live in the world and live with himself; there was a good deal of introspection within the characters displayed on screen that would vanish when the Code came into force. Along with serious evaluation of such moral matters, pre-Code movies were full of pacifism. Repeatedly the young idealistic heroes go into battle only to be shocked at the destruction they themselves have wrought. These movies exalted individuality and distrust of governments that led citizens into pointless wars. Pre-Code films emphasized the heroism of getting wise and taking care of oneself, not the heroism of battles and bugles. There is a good brief history of Code censorship here, showing the role of the Catholic Legion of Decency and its regrettable effects. Not only did the Code enforcers impose wholesomeness on future movies, they insisted that when the pre-Code films were re-released they be re-cut into more acceptable form. Sadly, sometimes the censored version of a pre-Code film is all that remains. It was not until the ratings system came in 1968 that the Code was dismantled.

Partly LaSalle's book is a warning, and one especially pointed now that certain forces within the government find censorship in various forms appealing. LaSalle has enormous admiration for the films described here, but says, "Even vitality such as this can be squelched if a close-minded faction is obsessed, pernicious, and willing to organize." He has seen a lot more of these pre-Code pictures than his readers have, but anyone who enjoys the movies will be eager to take a look at these films after reading this book. Pre-Code films showed war brutality, governmental corruption, and harnessing courage to subvert the system. LaSalle writes, "These may be healthy things for individuals to know, but they aren't what governments like to see pumped into the public consciousness."

I guess it's too early to have a favorite book of the year, but I can say with certainty that, had I completed it in 2002, Dangerous Men would qualify as one of my top two or three -- and probably the best non-fiction book I've read: So smart, so authoritative and, as some other readers have pointed out, so funny -- funny, even as you're learning something fascinating on every page.
It is hardly the usual sort of film book. Rather it's a brilliant investigation into the nature of manhood in the twentieth century, using these films as markers along the way. At the same time, it is a movie book in the sense that you come away dying to see the movies. I'm going to be using the list that the book provides to help make my video choices in the coming months.
What a wonderful Christmas gift. I already ordered Complicated Women, because now I can't get enough of the subject. You'll probably feel the same way, too. By all means, this is a book to get.

I find myself in some awe at the achievement that is this book and the richness of its subject. Its subject is, specifically, men who made films during a period of relaxed censorship in America. On one level, the book is enormously useful just as a critical guide -- the end of the book has an extensive appendix that tells where most of the movies can be seen, and the book itself goes far to point out just which films must be seen.
But to see "Dangerous Men'' as having utility only as a work of criticism at its most basic -- giving good advice for future viewing pleasure -- is to miss what I believe to be the larger picture. This is an enormously important and very serious (though never, ever somber) book about men in America, about their journey in the 20th century. It's actually a rather profound book about sex roles and self-image, the mores of business, emerging ethics, the American idea of crime and punishment, war and its consequences and what really constitutes heroism. It's even, in a way, about how people's behaviors adapt to economic exigencies.
It's a brilliant work, every bit the equal of the author's "Complicated Women,'' and yet it's also a work of charm and wit that never flags or fails. It's never work to get through. It's always a pleasure.

MANAGING CANCER addresses the particular needs of African Americans and helps them to achieve earlier diagnosis and thus better cures. There is much that can be done to prevent cancer before it begins and this book fully covers over twenty types of cancers in language every reader can understand. MANAGING CANCER is well-written, thoroughly researched and accessible and speaks to readers through personal stories involving patients, the senior author himself, and his family. Many of these stories are poignant, revealing examples of how the human spirit can endure and even triumph when faced with crises. This is a book that will educate, inspire, and improve the life of African Americans from all walks of life.

The Authority In Leadership is not about taking control. This book is about being the type of person who wins the favor of influence because of the way you live your life. The pages of this book will guide you toward your purpose. After you finish this very short paperback, you will be able to sit back and relax in the comfort of knowing that your blessings are coming soon.

Anyone interested in Network+ Certification needs this book. This books explains TCP/IP in great detail. Read this book first, then Michael Meyers Network+ All in One Exam Guide, then the Network+ Exam should be quite easy.

Are you a man who tries to crack the Woman case? If so, this is the book for you. There are hundreds of nuggest of truth in this book that will help any man understand how women tick. For some men, this may not be important, but for those who know that it is always best to have a helpmate, the pages within this winner will get you closer to that awesome relationship described in the stories about creation. THIS IS A MUST HAVE PUBLICATION to read and store on your bookshelf for your children.

"The Code came in to prevent women from having fun. It was designed to put the genie back in the bottle-and the wife back in the kitchen," says Mick LaSalle, film critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and professor of film studies at University of California at Berkeley, in his excellent book of film criticism, "Complicated Women: Power and Sex in Pre-Code Hollywood." Before reading this page-turner, I had assumed that "women's pictures" came into existence during the '40s, featuring the femmes fatales of films noirs. Now I know that not to be the case because actors of the Pre-Code era, such as Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, Jean Harlow, Constance Bennett, Ruth Chatterton, and Ann Harding, were modern and daring women who made some great films like "Queen Christina," "The Divorcee," "Red Dust," "The Easiest Way," "Madame X," and "The Animal Kingdom."

"The best era for women's pictures," according to Mr. LaSalle, "was the pre-Code era, the five years between the point that talkies became widely accepted in 1929 through July 1934, when the dread and draconian Production Code became the law of Hollywoodland." Moreover, in pre-1940 American films, actors were showcased through innovative close-ups, and directors took second seats to film stars and producers. In those days, "image-the public's idea of personality-was everything." Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer were two stars whose images were packaged and polished by the production studios. Before their time, in the silent era and in the first talkies, women were cast into two film roles: vamp and ingénue. "Garbo, by nature aloof and mysterious, was forced to play the vamp, a role she hated. Shearer, who radiated integrity, was forced to play the innocent ingénue, which frustrated her. So they rebelled."

Fans of Garbo and Shearer will love Mr. LaSalle's book. He uses his insider's knowledge to contrast their respective vamp-turned-martyr and ingénue-turned-modern-woman roles. Now I can re-view these favorite films, from the time when there was no censorship, with this book as companion and guide to understanding and appreciating the challenges that were faced by these "complicated women."

As an avid fan of pre-code Hollywood films, I found this book to be an exceptionally well-written, entertaining reference source which goes into vivid, right-to-the-point details of the women who dominated American film in the fascinating pre-code talkie era which lasted until 1934. Among the many actresses who contributed their talents include: Norma Shearer, Loretta Young, Mae West, Nancy Carroll, Miriam Hopkins, Wynne Gibson, Helen Twelvetrees and MANY more. The text in the back of the book gives the reader information on pre-code films which can be either purchased on video - or watched on TCM. I wish more of these throroughly fascinating films would become available to the public on video: clearly, since they can be viewed on Cable television, many do indeed exist! Hint, hint....... P.S. For a great companion piece, read the equally well-written DANGEROUS MEN: it's about the men in pre-code Hollywood and THEIR contribution to that elusive, revealing era. Written by the same author: he does a splendid job in every respect: Again, LaSalle lists an exhaustive number of films available for the public to view on video & TCM. Hey, video people: get cracking!!! Perhaps Ted Turner owns these films and has exclusive copyright.

Mick LaSalle's COMPLICATED WOMEN showcases the development of an exciting genre of films (1929-July 1934) that should really be seen by anyone interested in good films and film history. LaSalle writes with a sharp, informed intelligence and wit. He capsulates the careers of the era's most significant stars: Harlow, Francis, Crawford, Harding, Hopkins, Chatterton -- and reminds us of the strong, sexual, intelligent roles they were able to play before the Production Code. Garbo and Norma Shearer provided the foundation in 1929-30 for what followed. His emphasis on these two makes perfect sense -- they had the most prestige, fan appeal and power during this time to shift the gears of how women were to be seen in the movies. This book is also a great reference of film titles to go out and seek or watch for on Turner Classic Movies. It certainly made me redefine my own outlook on women's roles in old movies. What I saw growing up in the 50's and 60's at the movies was a gigantic technicolor bore compared to some of these films. This book is a must for every film library.

Any book that can provide you with one insight is worth whatever the author wants in exhange - and that is in part the core value of this book.

The authors formalise the need to reduce the Why people purchase a product down to the core value the buyer perceives - the first or second given reason is often not the case and the reality is often more about personal irrationality (who needs a Porsche yet they sell the annual production at full price) rather than reasons that can be easily tabulated. Too much marketing is written about these top level issues and miss what this book identifies.

However, while many of their examples appear relevant to the point they are making, they focus on the good fit between the idea (easy to install new computer) and that these were (for the moment) winning ideas, and leave the exploration of the lower level value out of their analysis, the one thing they stress in the best part (the first two) chapters of the book.

One very good item is where they provide details of their personal contact details to encourage feedback - you do not see that often enough. Another is telling about failures with all the details, some consultants tell you the names of their successes but talk about the failures (and then only of others) in only the general.

I would suggest you puchase this book - it is not the definitive platform (that say Porter's Competitive Advantage is) about creating value; it does raise and examine relevant issues in creating value, particularly for service industries.

MasterCard commercials effectively dramatize a distinction between the cost and the value of human experience. In essence, this is what LaSalle and Britton have in mind when explaining in their brilliant book how to turn "ordinary products into extraordinary experiences" for consumers. They organize their material within two separate but related sections: in the first, they examine the interaction of customers, value, and experience; in the second, they explain how almost any company can prosper in what James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II characterize as "the experience economy," in their book so entitled. But HOW? By offering a product or service which, according to LaSalle and Britton, fills a consumer's need for freedom, adventure, and a sense of well-being. My own rather extensive background includes market research on what consumers value most. Those surveyed ranked "feeling appreciated," ETDBW (i.e. easy to do business with), and enjoying the experience were ranked highest. Those responses are consistent with what LaSalle and Britton have learned. What astonishes me (and perhaps them as well) is that only recently has the importance of sensory experience been recognized, relative to purchase decisions and to consumer perceptions of those from whom their purchases are made.

Bernd Schmitt and Alex Simonson's Experiential Marketing: How to Get Customers to Sense, Feel,, Think, Act, and Relate to Your Company and Brands was first published in 1999. In it, they examine a number of different companies (e.g. Nokia, Procter & Gamble, Apple Computer, Volkswagen, Siemens, Martha Stewart Living, and SONY) which demonstrate the fundamental principles of what they call "experiential marketing." They were praised as pioneer thinkers (which I certainly do not dispute) when, in Part Two of their book, they focus on what they call Strategic Experiential Modules (SEMs), each of which has its own distinct structures and principles which must be understood by each manager. SEMs include sensory experiences (SENSE), affective experiences (FEEL), creative cognitive experiences (THINK), physical experiences and entire lifestyles (ACT), and social-identity experiences (RELATE). Schmitt and examine each, explaining how to achieve the effective integration of all four.

LaSalle and Britton share my high regard for Gilmore and Pine as well as for Schmitt and Simonson (among others) but break critically important new ground in Priceless by providing a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective system by which almost any company can increase and enhance the appeal of almost any product or service. More specifically, LaSalle and Britton identify and then explain a series of interdependent components throughout Chapters 1-6 which comprise what they call the "Priceless Roadmap." By the end of their book, they have enabled their reader to understand the relationship between value and experience (including emotional as well as sensory experience) by showing the link between them and customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and (most preferable of all) customer evangelism. They trace the series of events which a customer experiences during the consumption process. Most important of all, with precision and clarity, they demonstrate how a company can deliver value through experience by focusing on three key attributes: product, service, and environment.

It would be a mistake to assume that this book was written primarily (if not exclusively) for marketing executives. Every value, principle, strategy, and tactic which LaSalle and Britton examine is directly relevant, for example, to increasing and enhancing the appeal of any workplace and to strengthening relationships between and among those within it. I also think this book will be of substantial value to senior-level executives as they embark on mid-range and long-term planning (i.e. up to 36 months at the most) because organizations as well as consumer products and services, and indeed individuals, can achieve greatness only if guided and informed by a "Priceless Roadmap" in one form or another.

Priceless captures the next leap business leaders need to consider and then act upon! The concepts can be applied universally. The key is to apply the strategy BEFORE and better than your competitor. The application can be used with our internal customers just as effectively. In fact, if it is used inside, the results will surely impact the external customer in a very positive manner.

Interesting to think of the ways to apply ... Thanks.

I find precious little reading time, yet I got this book Friday night and finished it Sunday morning. The brutal honesty sucks you in from the start. I don't know who I like more--Barbara or Ben. The writing is incredible, and the story is heart-breaking, but one that needs to be told. I've been planning to write a book about our own journey through autism, and after reading this one, I'm ready. I didn't realize the depth I needed to reach to tell our story, and now I do. Thanks to Barbara and Ben. I thought I'd sweep around all those dark little corners in our story, and everyone would be happy. Now I realize that exposing those dark little corners, no matter how painful, is what matters most.

Ben, I want to protect you from everything you've already gone through, and Barbara, I can SO relate to you, it's scary. Your book is simply amazing, and I'm struggling to put it into words. Anyone who even remotely knows someone on the autistic spectrum needs to hear this story. In the past few days, I've hugged my autistic son with an intensity that surpasses what I felt when he was a baby and I still thought he was "normal."

This book is simply life changing.

Barbara LaSalle's honest and painfully graphic book, "Finding Ben," hits you between the eyes with its depiction of a family in turmoil. Barbara's son, Ben, seems to be a gifted child, perhaps even a genius. From an early age his reading ability is astounding. He speaks like a little adult. Ben's recall of specific knowledge is incredible and he can mimic any commercial that he hears on television or on the radio word for word.

In spite of his remarkable intellectual prowess, Ben has some very serious problems. He is unable to make friends. He is uncoordinated and hopeless at sports or any other kind of physical activity. He feels like a freak and his peers treat him like one. Barbara and her husband make every effort to get help for Ben. They go from one specialist to another and they hire various therapists to work with Ben, but he does not get any better. Will Ben's parents ever find out what is wrong with him and can he ever be like other kids?

LaSalle is perfectly frank about what she considers to be her shortcomings as a mother. Although it is obvious that she cares very much for Ben, for a long time she is unable to accept him as he is. LaSalle blames herself for not being a model of patience and tolerance. She also effectively depicts the emotional strain that having a special needs child places on a marriage.

"Finding Ben" is for all parents of physically and emotionally challenged children and for anyone who wants to know what it is like to live with such a child. LaSalle's book is also a cautionary tale, warning parents that even people with fancy degrees and titles after their names can misdiagnose a patient. Never stop being an advocate for your child, warns LaSalle, since you are his greatest champion. "Finding Ben" is a poignant, informative, funny, tragic and hopeful book.

Barbara LaSalle's book, "Finding Ben," is one that should be read by anyone who is dealing with pain in their lives which involves another person. It is the most courageous and honest story I've ever read. The author reaches deep into her soul and exposes both her own secrets and those of her son. And then finds a way out of the pain into love. It's a story of how one person can create a bridge to change through changing themselves - and begin to truly see and understand another person. In this world of blame - both personally and nationally - Mrs. LaSalle brings hope for reconcialation - the power of self-knowledge and of personal change. She has given us a great gift - the truth of her own experience and her deep courage.

Ice hockey, perhaps the greatest and most demanding of sports (do you sense a bias?), rarely has been the subject of fiction. For this reason, if no other, Peter LaSalle's collection of stories, "Hockey Sur Glace", is remarkable in itself. But the seeming anomaly of the book's mere existence only draws the light more brightly on these deeply affectionate, elegantly written, warm and human stories about the way hockey indelibly marks the lives of those who play it, those who watch it, those who live their lives at the rink or on the icy ponds of long northern winters. "Hockey Sur Glace" is, to be sure, an uneven collection of stories (with a few short poems interspersed). The best of the lot are the first two, "Hockey Angels" and "Le Rocket Negre". But while the other stories are somewhat less than remarkable, all of them bear the mark of strong feeling for a sport which, perhaps more than any other, suffuses the lives of those who play it. If you play hockey, or have children who play hockey, or if you just like the sport, reading this slim collection of stories will be time well spent.

A book by and for north people, who grew up in cold winters, whose toes froze on the walk back from pond to home, and who built the small fires of kindling and scrap wood to stay warm as afternoon faded and the hockey game went on. I hadn't thought for years about the way we carried skates, even those of us who didn't play much, by their laces slung over the blade of the hockey stick, but Peter LaSalle gets that detail and so much else about the game and the era, late fifties to early seventies mostly, exactly right. The problem is the stories themselves are lightweight and entirely too similar in tone and substance. The first two -- Hockey Angels and Le Rocket Negre -- are the best of the book, closely followed by three poems, particularly A Pond-Hockey Pledge. So, overall, a slight read, but still, for those of us who come from this place and this era, there's a sweet feel of things gone by here, and it's nice to see hockey written about, and this book can be good consolation in late spring when your team has been unceremoniously booted from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The intertwining of hockey and life is well done in this book. Great for anyone who loves and lives the game.

This is a great book. Buy it for all the great photographs. The section on the V-16 cylinder is great. The text is good. Some of the authors remarks don't make a lot of sense. But all in all a great book for those of us who still love Cadillac Automobiles.

I found the book to be very well written and informative though I wish there were color pictures and interior pictures such as dashboards.

Excelent, comprehensive,loads of pictures, perfect for the serious collector.