"LOCAL DEITIES is, simultaneously, an enticing roman à clef, ...a gripping court-room drama and a direct engagement with the daily question of how to live a struggle in the belly of the beast." --The Nation

"Intelligently written, the novel raises issues of commitment, rebellion, and the conflict between individual and public values." --Booklist

"In memorable prose, Bushell depicts the uneasy alliance of women and men, the difficulty of maintaining zeal in the face of public indifference, the irrevocability of radical commitment, and, above all, the hurts parents do their children without intention. This is a book rich in character and incident, blessed with a noble theme." --Library Journal

Local Deities touched me deeply. I am about the same age as the children in the book, and the passages which describe the Bohemian left-wing life of the early 1970s evoke glimpses of my childhood--to the extent of conjuring even smells (e.g., baking bread and homemade yogurt) and sounds (e.g., listening from bed as adults arguing politics late into the night) from that period.

The book uses multiple perspectives to capture different conceptions and practices of left-wing idealism and gave me wonderful perspective on the political and personal choices that my parents and their friends have made. The characters are vividly drawn, and their dilemmas and internal conversations are poignant and seem real.

If you enjoyed E.L. Doctorow's The Book of Daniel, T.C. Boyle's World's End, or John Sayle's Union Dues then you are very likely to enjoy Local Deities.

Local Deities is one of her best. Also look for her short story featuring a fictionalized version of gay porn legend John Preston, in the anthology Looking for Mr. Preston.

The book motivates you to express yourself artisticly and release emotions you don't have to answer to anyone for. An insight into viewing art unlike you have previously. A deeper understanding of the artist and what they have created through their pain and repair of emotions.

I was truly amazed and enlightened by the material presented in this book. It takes psychoanalysis to a new level and brings the reader into the real lives of many different characters who experianced incredible healing through art expression.Reading a book like this is a real joy! It gives insight to this totally new and innovative form of psychoanalysis with a language that can be understood and appreciated by any reader. I really reccomend diving into this one!

This is a very interesting book and theory. A help along the road to understanding yourself and what motivates the behavior of other people.

I got this book in the late 80's and I'm glad I bought it when I did, because it is damn hard to find. Mick Wall spends almost equal time for Ozzy's Sabbath years and his solo years(up to The Ultimate Sin). He also goes into Ozzy's childhood with quotes, a few pictures, and interviews that would be hard to find anywhere else. Lots of Sabbath and Blizzard photos too. All the usual Ozzy stories like pissing on the alamo, biting head off dove, plus a few others you might not have heard. All in all a great book if your an Ozzy/Sabbath fan.

i love ozzy and for any ozzy fan this is an ideal book to read

This book captures both the beauty of ivory and the art form of Netsuke carving. The artist Masatoshi is a superb carver and the photgraphs of his works and others in this collection epitomize the "best of the best" in the field of this unique Japanese art form. If you like oriental art, this book is a must for the true collector. The book itself is highly collectible, although the First Edition is impossible to find.

This is a most touching book that offers hope and inspiration to anyone who has lost a loved one and is experiencing or hoping to experience communication with them. Messages are sometimes subtle and others can be of great magnitude. Either way, Linda shares her experiences in a rare and honest discussion of a mother experiencing both grief and joy in the messages she receives from her son. A quick, easy read that will touch your heart and forever change the way you think about "whispers in your ear."

Lavishly illustrated with color photographs of 790 netsuke (plus black and white photos of signatures) with explanatory text and organized into 45 brilliantly conceived categories. In the body of the text (new principles for collecting) Mr. Bushell fully displays the erudition one would expect from such a formidable collector but manages to do so in a way that is easy to grasp and immensely entertaining. Bravo, Mr. Bushell !

Lehman, a historian who has specialized for many years in studying the history of juries, has created here an amazing fictionalization of what the trial of William Penn and William Mead was really like - from the perspective of the jurors. Penn and Mead, on trial for their lives, had been accused essentially of inciting a riot. Their crime was preaching the Quaker religion in the street, after they had been locked out of their meeting house by the authorities. The quaker religion, in 17th century England, was illegal.

The jury - always a controversial institution, especially with those in power - acquitted Penn and Mead after enduring great hardships. However, the legal texts and case books describe those hardships in an abstract, detached way, with no insight into the actual people who played this critical role in history.

Lehman investigated the actual conditions these jurors faced, and what is known about the individuals who served on the jury, and attempted to recreate the trial as it actually occurred. What wasn't known he filled in with his imagination and sense of humor - although even those items are rich in historical detail, through Mr. Lehman's deep sense of history.

I'd recommend it for reading. It would make a great play or movie as well, if any producers of such things are reading this...

Very unusual book, cross genre. A story of the left but not propaganda. A story with gay men characters, but not pc. A political action/thriller but not cheap or silly. Sharp, economical prose. Engrossing, very real characters. Raises questions and issues about humanity, life, society, love, trust. Try it.

Unusual and fascinating

Gordon's "The Sacrifice of Isaac" is one of my favorite books. I really, really wanted to like this book, but I found it to be too convoluted and the motives of the character to be questionable. I hope his next book will be an improvement.

This book was a major disappointment but,fortunately, I got it from the library so I only lost a little time. The characters were without dimension, shallow and not the sort one could identify with. I finally got to the point where I could not put up with these people at the snail's pace of the plot. Maybe I gave up too soon; maybe not.

A good book overall but it helped that I had read his other novel "Sacrifice of Isaac" previously. Some characters and plot lines do sort of carry over. This is not a sequel but it doesn't hurt to be familiar with his previous work. Neil Gordon is definitely on his way to greatness!

This thriller takes place in San Francisco in early 1993, a time when AIDS was rampant and uncontrolled. The enumerator of the title is Sean, a public health contractor who does door-to-door sex surveys of gay men as part of an effort to study sexual practices and the spread of AIDS. When a fellow enumerator is murdered, and his interview files go missing, it doesn't take long to figure out that someone had said something in their interview that needed to be covered up. Sean teams up with unemployed and spunky Alexandra (yes, romantic sparks fly) to uncover the mystery. Filled with Queer Nation activists, San Francisco neighborhoods and street life, threats of outing public figures, and Army of God militants, the story is a clever modern take on the thriller genre. Of course, Sean and Alex never get enough treatment to emerge as fully realized characters one cares about, nor does anyone else. It's a little too unlikely to be taken seriously, and the resolution is rather too neat-it's certainly not a noir-but it's not bad for what it is, and a good book to take on a trip to San Francisco.