Whether its your major, for an intro class, or just for fun, everyone can walk away with something from this book. It written well, and really makes you think about our society.

I've read other sociological works on inner city residents and was invariably disturbed by the soulless way in which the subjects were portrayed. No doubt, the authors of those works would defend their method as being objective and showing rigor. However, at some level, the objectivity becomes stultifying and numbing.

Duneier cuts through all of this by portraying real people as human beings for whom he cares deeply. At the same time, he is able to pull back from the personal stories and draw conclusions that are intellectually sound. One feels a deep sense of pride in the men whose lives are profiled in Slim's Table and a lingering sense of regret that they seem to be a dying breed.

This book is the rare work that appeals in equal parts to the intellect and the soul.

Last spring I took a course from Mitchell entitled Urban Sociology at the University of California Santa Barbara. Mitchell would read us exerts from the book and I found it very intriguing. This summer I decided to purchase the book so I could have my very own copy, it's great! The men Mitchell writes about and talked about in class seem to be on my mind; these men are normal men, making the streets their home. I enjoyed their humor throughout the book and Mitchell's too. I highly recommend this book and highly respect Mitchell. I can't wait to read his other book entitled Streetwise.

One has to read very closely the five stories, five observations, and several essays to understand what these men are doing with this delightful book.
Robert Canipe is playing with narratives employing several styles from first person with immediate sequencing to omniscient narrator with flashback. His writing is a fine example of the Southern Oral Tradition that peppers the southeast and into Texas. Canipe's characters are real people--warts, curse-words, and all--and their problems are real problems from robbers whose intended store is robbed before he can finish the job to men who get out of jail and search for an identity that is lost to them while in prison. The tales are tightly written and suspenseful and the character's voices are real.
Carter Monroe represents the curmudgeon of the Southern Tradition who likes what he likes because he likes it and that is all there is to it! From his comedic trip to the eye doctor for new glasses to his tale of buying a stereo with cash, Monroe shines as the philosophical old buzzard who refuses to give in to Life's constant nudge to evolve into something alien. From his front porch perch, cigarette in hand, Monroe preaches Southern life with an authority. Here is to Life in the Provinces!!
Tim Peeler writes of education outside the classroom and in the world of the working man. He relates tales of old men who flip the bird to convention. They learned in the school of hard knocks and do not care who knows it. Peeler's prose is poetical with a lilt of southern charm missing in today's "Southern" writers.
This collection is far better than I thought it would be. These men will be heard from again.

What makes Writers On The storm a significant tribute to Modern
literature is not so much the inventive and expressive prose
style of all three contributing Authors, though is indeed present. Rather it is the fact that amid a confusing and often baffling array of hypertextual nonsense, on the one hand, and 'pop' sensationalism as it proports to some 'Avante Gaurde'
and exhibitionist approach to literary fashion, on the other,
which are the modern standard in so many published works these days...That as apposed to the ways and means a kind of hyperbolic fashion which has become the norm, this book in general and in particular with regaurd the last author Tim Peeler, has reasserted the need for a the kind of 'thoughtful
creative calm' present only in the form of the Essay Proper.

Whereas it is true that individual works of nonfiction in this book take on a more narrative charecter, build themselves in
in their concept and thematic appropriation in what tends to be
a highly anecdotal manner, they still reassert those 'classical'
and thorough going aspects appropriate to what one considers
as apposed to NON FICTION PERSE...the Essay Proper. In an age
as intellectually divorced from serious literary thought of course, there are quite a few people capable of only a more
direct and visceral and entertaining assessment of human values
and human existence. This is a failure of the Age which we live in and not at all one of this wonderful collection.

Writers on the Storm: Stories, Observations, and Essays
by Tim Peeler, Carter Monroe, and Robert Canipe

One of my favorite living authors, Carter Monroe, has several stories in this collection. Monroe catches the flavor and humor of small town Southern living. Being from the provinces myself, I can vouch that his characters are true to life. The American short story is in good hands with Peeler, Monroe and Canipe.

Arlan Carter's 19th Century Fishing Lures is outstanding both as a collector's guide and as a fisherman's general reading reference. Chapters document lures manufactured before 1901 and provide color photos and histories organized by manufacturer. A 'must' for the avid fisherman, and a nice gift package.

This is an outstanding book for anyone who is interested in early metal, "spinner" type lures. Up until now, metal lures have been a largely overlooked and under-rated area of tackle collecting. In his book, Mr. Carter combines a wonderful collection of pictures with detailed information. This is a real gem of a book and should definitely be added to every tackle collector's reference library.

I've read them all but this book is the best. Not only does it offer values and great illustrations it also provides a snapshot of the lure maker. You will be amazed at what you didn't know about these ancient lures.

BIG CITY JUNK, which was probably in production on September 11, 2001 (it arrived in bookstores a couple of months later), carries a special resonance because of the events of that day. What would otherwise be a lark of a style book appealing to the collectibles crowd becomes a small shrine as well for a piece of the New York lifestyle and psyche. In the course of celebrating the cast aside and disposable, Mary Randolph Carter, the author and photographer caught a lasting, brave, prophetic comment about fear and city living rendered in the temporal medium of a sidewalk chalk message. But she is also onto something else that is so very much a part of the economy and ecology of the city: the cycle of "stuff" in a population intensive, small place. The sociological angle raises this volume in Carter's Junk series above the others.

This is not to say the book isn't fun. It is fun. And it is very fair: Carter gives very specific information about how much things cost (or don't) and where they were found. She provides lists of flea markets and thrift shops in the major metropolitan areas she covers. Her method is to focus on individual collectors in locales like New York, San Francisco and LA, profiling how they find their stuff and what they do with it.

Like a novelist who succeeds in creating a world and staying true to it, Carter has established a vision that makes junk matter. I need open, less cluttered surfaces in my own environment, but when I read the Junk series, I can certainly enjoy that collectible urge.

Mary Randolph Carter, aka "Carter", is Queen of all things Junk! Others may use that title, but Carter owns it. The fourth (!) book in her "American Junk" series, "Big City Junk", finds our heroine Carter trapsing through the junk yards, stores and flea-markets of more cosmopolitan outposts. As usual, Carter's unique gift is her ability to photograph junk in its "natural state", and giving the discarded, outdated and seemingly unimportant the artistic presence it deserves. Subconciously, every compulsive junker has always understood the "power of junk", and Carter's "Big City Junk" is a celebration of that understanding. Particularly poignent in "Big City Junk" are Carter's photographs of various paintings, sketches and souvenirs of New York and The World Trade Center. Odd and touching how a few photos of humble junk express that which cannot be said in a million words.

I love this book, and I will admit, I am the subject of one of the chapters in the book (Lost and Found). But I was a big fan of
Carter's books before I met her 2 years ago. I remember the excitement I felt when I saw "American Junk" for the first time.
A woman after my own heart! (I have been making art from junk for the last 6 years.) Thank you Carter (she prefers to be called that), for helping us to see so many fun ways to decorate inexpensively and recylce, reuse, and clean up the environment.
Carter writes in an inviting, cozy manner that makes you feel like an old friend. And I really enjoyed watching her photograph
for my chapter, no fussy rearranging of things, she captures the
images as she sees them and moves on. Packed full of inspiration!

It can only be guessed at why this book was out of print in the US until recently. In it, the reader can discover a charming collection of VERY short stories, which flit from whimsical to mythological, humorous to chilling. All are written in Dunsany's incomparable prose, which ranges from arch first-person narrative to stuff that sounds like embellished mythology.

In this you'll find centaurs, sphinxes, master thieves, about-to-retire pirate chiefs, kings trying to move an emotionless queen to tears, a magical window, a pair of feuding idols, and a delightful story called "Miss Cubbidge and the Dragon of Romance." In addition, this new reprint by Wildside Press has a beautiful cover of a young boy on a winged horse.

The stories are a little short -- much shorter than most present-day short fantasy stories -- but they are just amazing. A must-read for immediate suspension of belief.

It can only be guessed at why this book is out of print in the US, though it can be obtained with other Dunsany works from the UK. In it, the reader can discover a charming collection of VERY short stories, which flit from whimsical to mythological, humorous to chilling. All are written in Dunsany's incomparable prose, which ranges from arch first-person narrative to stuff that sounds like embellished mythology.

In this you'll find centaurs, sphinxes, master thieves, about-to-retire pirate chiefs, kings trying to move an emotionless queen to tears, a magical window, a pair of feuding idols, and a delightful story called "Miss Cubbidge and the Dragon of Romance." The stories are a little short -- much shorter than most present-day short fantasy stories -- but they are just amazing. A must-read for immediate suspension of belief.

Three tales of famous thieves are part of this collection. _The Book of Wonder_ consists of 14 of Dunsany's short stories (I've sorted them by title rather than order of appearance); it's in print as I write this, as part of the Fantasy Masterworks edition of _Time and the Gods_.

"The Bride of the Man-Horse" - Shepperalk the centaur headed from the first for the city of Zretazoola, though all the mundane plain lay between.

"Chu-bu and Sheemish" - The idol Chu-bu was worshipped alone in his temple for over a hundred years, until the day the priests brought in the upstart idol Sheemish to be worshipped beside him.

"The Coronation of Mr. Thomas Shap" - When Mr. Shap perceived the beastliness of his occupation as a salesman, he began to venture into the lands of dream and wonder as an escape.

"Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller" - Thangobrind, a master thief operating behind a cover as a jeweller, is offered the soul of a Merchant Prince's daughter in exchange for stealing a diamond from the temple of Hlo-Hlo...

"The Hoard of the Gibbelins" - The Gibbelins maintain their hoard only to attract a continual supply of food...humans...

"The House of the Sphinx" - A visitor chances to come to the House of the Sphinx after a mighty deed has been done, and her servants are in a panic...

"How Nuth Would Have Practiced His Art Upon the Gnoles" - Nuth the incomparable is a master thief. "It may be urged against my use of the word incomparable that in the burglary business the name of Slith stands paramount and alone; and of this I am not ignorant; but Slith is a classic, and lived long ago, and knew nothing at all of modern competition..."

"How One Came, as Was Foretold, to the City of Never" - "Time had been there, but not to work destruction...by I know not what bribe averted." But not even that Ultimate City is perfect.

"The Injudicious Prayers of Pombo the Idolater" - It is unwise to pray to one idol, only to become impatient and ask another idol to curse the first one; it's against their etiquette....

"The Loot of Bombasharna" - The seas are becoming too hot to hold Captain Shard and the crew of the pirate ship _Desperate Lark_. The sacking of Bombasharna is to be their last hurrah before retirement...

"Miss Cubbidge and the Dragon of Romance" - If princesses are in short supply, sometimes a dragon might have to kidnap the daughter of a member of Parliament.

"Probable Adventure of Three Literary Men" - "When the nomads came to El Lola they had no more songs, and the question of stealing the golden box arose in all its magnitude." The legendary thief Slith, along with two assistants because of the weight of the box of poems, are chosen to make the attempt.

"The Quest of the Queen's Tears" - Sylvia, Queen of the Woods, cannot love any of her suitors, but as a compromise, will consent to marry the first man who can move her to tears.

"The Wonderful Window" - The mysterious window was being offered for sale in the streets of London, and its price is all you possess.

This is a very nice pop up book with spooky illustrations. My children want it read to them over and over again. Definitely worth the money. However, my toddler has ripped the pop ups several times, probably better for kids over 3.

My 14 month old son loves the book. It has great pop ups and flaps of creative made up bugs. It's great to see funky bugs rather than the usual barn animals etc. The spooky theme is also fun and different.

My 14 month old loves this book. He is a big fan of other pop up books but these pop ups and moving flaps are creative & new made-up bugs, not the ordinary animals he sees in all his other books. We also like the "spooky" theme.

This book helped me to realize, that the only thing that I could change in a situation taking place in my life, was ME. If I could change myself and adjust to the situation, it would in turn change the affect the problem was having on me. I highly recommend this book to anyone...but especially to anyone who has trouble in their life.It was a big help to me and I believe it will be to others as well.

It touched my heart and soul, only wish we had more books like this

I'm a fifteen year old and I thought the book was very interesting. It was quite humerous, yet it made me cry at times also. I reccommend Wm. Lee Carter's books to anyone.

I ran across this book when looking for Christmas books to read to my son. This is a wonderful book that tells the story of Christ's birth with vivid illustration that reflect us as African-Americans. Easy read for the young reader and reading aloud (as we did before we opened gifts). With delightful illustration for everyone as well.

My two year old son loves looking at the pictures in this book. The baby looks so real. I was pleased to find a book that is simple enough for a 2 year old to enjoy it and so beautiful that an adult will love reading it as well. My son especially likes the picture of the lovely mother gazing down at her child. Although the art work and Wise's poetry are what make the book enjoyable, the fact that the characters are people of color make this book a must have for our family. Because it seems very unlikely that Jesus was a blonde with blue eyes, I want to present images of a more colorful Jesus to my son. I also appreciate the depiction of many wise men from the East, not just 3.

I borrowed this book from the public library and found that it took my breath away. Author Margaret Wise Brown has done many of what are now considered classics such as RUNAWAY BUNNY,LITTLE ISLAND and GOODNIGHT MOON has one more to add to her collection. The illustrations by Cooper are amazing. The realistic pictures of the newborn baby (which remind me so much of my own sons when they were that small)in the manger are very moving. Some narrow-minded people may be put off by the fact that the main characters are African American and the book "appears" to be depicting the Holy family, although Brown's text does not actually indicate this. I also find it ironic that two different online bookstores that I went to for this title do not actually have the cover displayed. The illustrations depicting angels are absolutely gorgeous. I took the book to work to share it with my co-workers who would appreciate it and they agreed with me. I was very reluctant to take it back because I knew I would not be able to have it over the Christmas holiday. I just have to have this book for my personal collection to share with my two sons. This book celebrates the miracle of life and the joy of two parents gazing upon their son with hopes for the future. I hope this book wins an ALA (Caldecott or Coretta Scott King) award or awards this year.

If you love New Orleans traditional jazz, you gotta read this book. Mr. Levin writes about many of the legends of jazz and recounts personal experiences with many of the the jazz musicians. I liked the depth of treatment by the author. He tells you a lot of interesting things about the musicians and their careers, but doesn't go overboard in telling you more than you really want to know. His telling of the story of how the statute of Louis Armstrong made it to Louis Armstrong Park in New Orleans is especially informative. I recommend it to most anyone who has an interest in traditional jazz, but especially to those who want ot knwo just a little bit more about the major players.

Maybe I shouldn't call the book a popouri of Jazz musicians because Levin's stories of the many personalities and events are well organized. However, a mine of classic jazzmen, famous and/or forgotten, are included with stuning, compeling and personal detail. Many talents I followed years ago who'd dropped off the radar, and about whom I've never been able to glean prior information, are included along with their more famous brothers and sisters.

What makes the book a real five star celebration are the first hand naratives along with page turning drama and pictures that carries along any New Orleans, Chicago, San Francisco, et. al. jazz lover. The book is in lyric style just like the music it presents with great pictures as well.

Persosnally I savored the mid-century west coast scenes, documenting what has not prevously been so well described, about Ory and the host of his compatriots including my favorite, Buster Wilson (whom I had never found in any other publications).

For me this is the best jazz book ever -- just what I wanted.

Floyd Levin has always been a stalwart jazz enthusiast. Living in the Los Angeles area, he has had opportunity to know many of the jazz musicians personally and to share their stories with the readers. As the title implies, this is a personal recollection for Levin.

Floyd's book fleshes out some of the jazz history and clarifies some points. One is the story about the plaque in Touro Infirmary in New Orleans. Trumpeter Muggsy Spanier had a perforated ulcer which was operated by the famous Dr. Alton Ochsner, Tulane Professor and founder of famed Ochsner Clinic. During convalescence, Spanier composed and later recorded a tune called "Relaxin' at the Touro." Previous jazz writings had told about a plaque in Touro commemorating this event. Floyd tracked down the plaque which administration couldn't exactly locate. Because there had been renovation, the plaque was in a somewhat obscure location. Levin interviewed Muggsy about the event and they became fast friends. ( This is frequently a jazz quiz question: In the famous Muggsy Spanier tune, "Relaxin' at the Touro," what is the Touro? Now you know the answer.)

Levin writes about musicians he has known including Benny Carter, who wrote the foreword, James P. Johnson, Milt Hinton, Wild Bill Davison, Artie Shaw, Barney Bigard and many others. He also includes many West Coast musicians with whom he came in contact. There is a chapter on musicians, lesser known, who deserved greater recognition. Two of those included reedmen Pud Brown and Rick Fay.

Levin's concluding chapter covers the struggle to get an appropriate memorial for Louis Armstrong. Funds were being raised by various jazz societies and individuals for a statue of Armstrong to be erected in Armstrong's native New Orleans. He recounts how Bing Crosby donated the proceeds of a concert in San Francisco which put the fund over the top. That twice-lifesize statue of Armstrong stands in Armstrong Park in New Orleans and was unveiled on the nation's bicentennial in Jackson Square in New Orleans. Levin made the presentation, on behalf of the Louis Armstrong Statue Fund, to the city of New Orleans. Four years later, the statue was permanently erected and dedicated in Armstrong Park.

This book is not a definitive jazz history but an interesting view into the lives and careers of musicians who have been influential in shaping jazz--America's Music.

My review of this book is not without personal bias. I have known and worked with Levin on the Board of American Federation of Jazz Societies and have visited with him at various jazz festivals and in his home. Two of my photographs have been included in the book. I am pleased to have known him and congratulate him on completion of this book, his labor of love.

Here is where Ginsberg's brilliance is perhaps best shown. In conversation, he revealed his passion and sharpness for all topics. His "poems" should probably not be called poems, but instead exercises in poetic freedom, which is ultimately a futile task, especially when approached for the mere sake of asserting more freedom. One is baffled at the mere badness of his poems, which are not in the Whitmanian vane at all, but in the vane of bloated mounds of words. Nonetheless, Ginsberg, the "excitable visionary Jewish Budhist," is beautifully and swiftly rendered in these interviews.

i am a ginsberg fan and so i am biased but this book of interviews is really an enjoyable read. sure some of the interviews are dated but they really show the great intuitive thinker and off the cuff debater the allen ginsberg really was.
especially fun is his debate with john lofton who attempts to bury ginsberg in his born-again brand of conservativism. also fun is allen's transcripts from the chicago seven trial. i actually found this a hoot.
also his discussion on poetics is quite enlightening.
we miss you allen; your shining mind, intelligent wit and your shaman boddisattvic spirit

David Carter edits this compilation of selected interviews with Allen Ginsburg from 1958-96, providing a chronological arrangement of material which in some cases has not appeared elsewhere. The extensive interviews from decades of changing experience result in an excellent survey of Ginsberg's changing life, works and times, and provides a fine commentary on his social and literary life.