Nowadays when people think of the 1960s youth culture, they think "American Graffitti" and "Grease", both rather shallow and semi-comic overviews of a time when America really didn't think its youth were particularly funny. Henry Gregor Felsen came closer to the realities of that era, but his best-known books centered on ownership of modified cars. You know--those "little deuce coupes" the Beach Boys sang about. But this culture in those days regarded all youth not depicted on the "Donna Reed Show", "Ozzie and Harriet" and "Leave It To Beaver" as juvenile delinquents--or at least potentially so--the difference from one kid to another was seen as merely one of degree. But this book--which later was adapted for the screen under the title "Because They're Young"--tells a pretty readable tale of a high school football player named Jim, his two teammates Buddy and Buck, his cheerleader girlfriend Ricky--and only one "hoody type"--a troubled kid named Griff who drifts toward crime because of the possible affluence and ego enrichment it can bring. And unlike much of today's fiction about youth, this story does not blur the lines between good and evil. The "good guys" and the "bad guys" are clearly identified in a way that would be seen as narrowminded today. It is clear here that--while this book explains why Griff acts as he does--the "environmental" hypothesis of criminality takes a back seat to the behavioral one. Maybe I'm a bit of a reactionary, but this book makes me nostalgic in more ways than one.

The book Heroes Of My Time is an outstanding book containing twenty short biographies of people from the 20th century. The author of the book, Harrison E. Salsbury is a Pulitzer-Prize wining journalist who spent six decades writing for the New York Times. These people are all heroes for different reasons. Some people gave inspiration to others while some were leaders and still others risked their lives for strangers. We do not live in an age of heroes but the people written about in this book are unmistakable heroes. The stories of these heroes are unknown, uplifting, and inspirational.
The heroes in this book are not always the top newsmakers of the day. Some are men and women who are just as important but seldom recognized in the public eye. An example is three Russian street poets known as The Three who wrote very good poems about Russian politics. The political leaders of the day did not like the poems, but The Three continued to write and recite poems anyway. They are heroes because, even though they were being scorned and yelled at by the Russian leaders, they continued with their poetry and gave inspiration to many people. Brigid Temple Keogh is an example of another obscure hero. Brigid was a teacher in China, but she wasn't like her other Chinese colleagues. "She encouraged her students to argue with her (unthinkable for the solemn Chinese scholars)" (5). She was fired but she didn't give up and eventually found a new job at Yanan University. Yanan University was a run-down school at the end of a road. With houses were merely grim caves carved out of hills. Brigid did not lose her faith, though. This shows heroism because she worked hard after her life got tougher, and she helped lots of people by building new things for their town like a Language center. All of these people were relatively unknown and all obviously heroes.
The stories of these men and women are uplifting. Deng Pufang's story was particularly uplifting. Deng Pufang devoted his life to helping the disabled in China after he was tortured and then thrown out of a four story university window and left for dead. His fall left him paralyzed from the waist down. This shows extreme heroism because he could have spent the rest of his life feeling sorry for himself over all of the tragic things that happened to him but he didn't. Instead, he worked hard and got rights for the Chinese disabled, including equal rights in the work force and education. One other hero from the book whose story is uplifting is the story of Homer Bigart. Homer was one of the best newsmen of his day. What makes his story so special is he spent the majority of his life at war, constantly risking his life to let the rest of the world know what was happening. A lot of times, Homer took no more shelter or food then the troops. Homer showed his heroism by laying his life on the line for other people and not thinking of himself as above other people because he lived under same conditions as the soldiers. Both of these men's stories are examples of a heroes story being uplifting.
A third trait the heroes have in common is that they are all inspirational. Roger Wilkins is an example of a role model. Roger was a leader for the blacks during the Civil Rights movement. Roger was almost killed twice, but he kept fighting even though his life was always in danger. Roger Wilking is a hero for two reasons. The first is that he kept working even though he was constantly being threatened to stop. He is also a hero and a role model because, as a kid, he had a very tough childhood he grew up in a poor black town, and both his parents had expensive drug habits. Roger overcame this, however, and grew up to become a leader and help thousands of people. A second example of these heroes as role models is Soong Chingling. She housed run away communists during the Cultural Revolution of China. She is considered a hero because she put her life in danger every time she took in another communist but she housed them anyway. As you can see, in both the stories of Soong Chingling and Roger Wilkins the hero is inspirational.
In conclusion, the people portrayed in the book Heroes Of My Time are often unknown, uplifting, and are inspirational. All of these people are undoubtedly heroes. These are only some of the people addressed in the book there are many others whose stories are just as inspirational. The book is an outstanding piece of literature. It's very uplifting but you can also learn something about the worlds history from it.

A well-written introduction to the settlement of the Hudson River Valley by the Dutch, as they migrated north up the Hudson from New York. The book offers an indepth investigation of adapted Dutch building styles, architecture and materials in and around Dutchess, Ulster and Rhinebeck counties. The inclusion of family names and historic figures is beneficial to any reader interested in the geneology of Hudson River inhabitants.

This book has been professionally written by Mr. Harrison, which talks about what Baluch nationalism really meant. The author really tries to talk about the issues rather than the made up theories about nationalism. Being a baluch in the decade of innovation and globalization, it really helped me understand the why the Baluchs took on the Pakistan army; not for personal glory but for a cause most people in Pakistan do not want to understand and don't understand.
The interviews with Baluchi tribal leaders, really gives the book the authencity the most other books miss out on. What really impressed me, was the authors commitment, when he interviewed Baluchi guerilla fighters, rather than telling the same old stories about them for an outsiders prespective. Although I know that most people, have never even heard of the Baluchi people, but anyone who ever gets interested in the Baluchi people and their issues should read this book as it explains from scrath the ideology behind the Baluchi struggle for both idependence and justice by the hands of other Pakistanis. And the brief but informative chapter in the begining gives a good back ground to the origins of the Baluchi people.

This book is at the same time the least and the most "Melvillian" of all Melville's corpus. Melville wrote in Moby-Dick that "two thirds of the world revolve in darkness." This idea certaily holds true for most of Melville's works, but not Israel Potter. In this uncharacteristically light-hearted and crisply written rewriting of American history, Melville gives an early literary version of Woody Allen's film Zelig. The character Israel Potter is that same sort of insignificant historical non-entity who just happens to get caught up in incredibly significant historical moments. In his various wanderings Israel meets and becomes politically involved with a trio of the most important American patriots--Ben Franklin, John Paul Jones, and Ethan Allen. It is through these encounters that Melville subtlely (and sometimes not so subtlely) realizes his critical agenda and those darker themes that dominate so much of his other work begin to show themselves. In his portrayal of Franklin, Melville takes a bash at what he sees as the exemplar of American "genius"--the same American genius that ignored and misunderstood his most significant works and forced him into obscurity and poverty in his lifetime. Melville sees Franklin as representative of all that is wrong with the American character--he is parsimonious, small-minded, hard-headed, and morally hypocritical. In the other two historical figures, John Paul Jones and Ethan Allen, Melville finds redemption. In them he sees represented more of that European idea of genius, the manly half-savage/half-civilized genius of Thomas Carlyle. Like Queequeg in Moby-Dick who is described as "George Washington canabalistically rendered," Jones and Allen are wildmen in a civilized society, raging against the world as they utter their outrageous and at times incomprehensible truth. A fun yet undenialbly thought-provoking read. Enjoy

Well, "book is a reminder." I guess that's the most that comes to mind about this book. Whether you should purchase this book depends on what you're looking for. I purchased it in preparation for a vacation to Thailand, because I was going to be shopping for Thai style household items and wanted to get informed. Plus, I'm a sucker for a decorating coffee table book that everyone else doesn't already have. I visited the Jim Thompson House while in Bangkok, and so that's why the only thing that now comes to my mind is: the book is a reminder of what I saw.

Tepid impression now, I suppose. The book gives some background on Jim Thompson and how he revived the Thai silk industry, as well as information about the rare antique Thai treasures that he collected in his home, which is now a museum. If you're really interested in this aspect, in particular, this book may be for you. If you're interested in Thai style, I'm not sure I would recommend this book as a starting point. There are other Thai style books that I reach for again and again, while this book sits on a shelf, untouched. It's a nice book, but more of an expensive souvenir.

These journals present one of the few areas (for me)
in which Melville is less than he might be, but the
scholarly backup provided by the main editor for
this volume, Howard C. Horsford, ably assisted by
Lynn Horth, G. Thomas Tanselle, Harrison Hayford,
and Alma A. MacDougall fills out the volume with
a wealth of "Discussions" (notes to mentioned items
in the texts of the journals -- these notes go from
page 250 to page 542), "Textual Notes" (not very
interesting except to persons interested in the
picayune details of Melville's underlinings,
spellings, cross-outs, etc.), -- but then, the
editors supply a section titled "Melville's
Agricultural Tour Memorandum (1850)", "Melville's
Notes in Hawthorne's _Mosses_ [From An Old Manse],
and "Melville Abroad: Further Records (1849-1860)".
Many of the "Discussions" items are very interesting
and informative, but the excellent additions are the
drawings, photos, and photo-copies which enrich
the text and the references. There is a photo
of the 5 manuscript notebooks used for his journals
on p. 210 of this volume; there is a photo of
Melville and his youngest brother Thomas, captain of
the ship _Meteor_ on p. 196; there are also maps
such as the one on p. 248 of Melville's European
Route 1849-1850, Melville's Mediterranean Route
1856-1857 on p. 380.
The drawings in the volume are very interesting
and fine. There are personal drawings and photocopies
of personal letter entries that show the "human" side
of Melville and his family. On p. 642 there is
Melville's own drawing of his home and fields at
"Arrowhead" (outside of Pittsfield, Mass.); there
is a photo of Melville's children on p. 637 --
frail, thin looking Stanwix, Malcolm looking off
into the distance, and Elizabeth looking glumly
at the camera. It follows a chilling (from the
apparent lack of warmth, but maybe only from the
inability to express it to his own children) letter
which Melville wrote to his son Malcolm while on
his Pacific voyage of 1860. Here is an excerpt
from that letter on pp. 636-637: "I hope that you
have been obedient to your mother, and helped her
all you could, & saved her trouble. Now is the
time to show what you are -- whether you are a good,
honorable boy, or a good-for-nothing one. Any boy,
of your age, who disobeys his mother, or worries her,
or is disrespectful to her -- such a boy is a poor
shabby fellow; and if you know any such boys, you ought
to cut their acquaintance." Knowing that this son
Malcolm committed suicide several years later,
at home, in his bedroom, gives this letter a chilling
bit of resonant context.
The journals included in this volume are: "Journal
of a Voyage from New York to London 1849," "Journal
1856-1857" (of his trip to Glasgow, to Liverpool -- where
he had that most interesting meeting with Hawthorne
and the resulting walk and talk in the sand dunes;
to Constantinople, to Alexandria and Cairo, then
to Jaffa, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea (from which he
would later write _Clarel_), to Athens, to Sicily,
to Naples, to Rome, to Florence, to Venice, Milan,
Turin, Genoa, Berne, Strasbourgh, Heidelburgh,
Frankfort, Cologne, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and
London, and a trip to Oxford ("Most interesting spot
I have seen in England. Made tour of all colleges.
It was here I first confessed with gratitude my
mother land, & hailed her with pride. *** Soul &
body equally cared for. *** I know nothing more
fitted by mild & beautiful rebuke to chastise the
ranting of Yankees."), Stratford, Warwick, and back
to Liverpool. The final Journal is the one of 1860,
"kept on board ship "Meteor" ...From Boston to
San Francisco."
Some of Melville's notes are brief and cryptic,
and one is at loss to know what appears to be a
personal, secretive note to jog his memory at some
later time. Some of the drawings included which I
found interesting were of the Hotel de Cluny,
Ehrenbreitstein, a full image photo of the statue
of Antinous at the Capitoline Museum ("G.S. Hillard
described the Antinous as 'not merely beautiful' but
'beauty itself' --from note on p. 465), the relief
of Antinous at the Villa Albani, the Athena at the
Villa ALbani.
What surprises one from the journals is an awareness
of how much walking, smoking of cigars, and drinking of
various kinds of alcoholic beverages Melville did on
his trips. But then there are also the interesting
people he met such as the young man he dined with
who gave him a flower. Melville was also a lover of
opera, good food in cheap restaurants, and a grumbler
about hotels with crawly critters in the bed clothes.
All in all this is interesting country to travel
through, but more from what its suggests and causes
the imagination to mull over rather than the fully
written text about his travels. Like many, perhaps,
the experience was the thing to be treasured and
remembered, rather than to be rendered into a fully
articulated prose recounting as a creative work itself
(such as Thoreau's journals, or Hawthone's notebooks).

The book itself is well written but it is really the amazing first hand accounts that this one person was witness to that kept me reading.

Another interesting point was in the first part of the book. Mr. Salisbury talks about the regional economics of his early years. It was very similar to the experience that we were living at the peak of the dot com expansion. He describes the inconceivable crash in wheat prices in 1920. Tells how the depression hit Minnesota in 1920 and stayed through 1930's.

A collection of turn-of-the-century newspaper columns byStroller White, "Klondike Newsman" vividly recaptures whatit was like to be in bustling Northern towns like Skagway and Dawson City around the time of the Gold Rush. White's columns are both funny and historically valuable. A real treat and a pleasant surprise. The only reason I don't give this book 5 stars is because the editors do not do a good enough job of placing White and his writings in historical perspective. All in all, though, I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Lavender Moon is a beautifully written children's book about a woman who trades her cafe for a bus because she wants to see the world. Lavender Moon is strong and free spirited and wants to travel and see new things. She has many adventures and finally finds her niche in the world. This book is good for children because it teaches them that they can accomplish anything they want in life if they are brave, kind and innovative. The illustrations are very beautiful as well and they contribute to the inspirational story line. I would reccomend it to parents who want to teach their children to be creative, innovative and strong.