I have been searching for a book like this off and on for years, but just recently came accross it. What a great collection of essays and interviews from the artists! I am a teacher/artist myself, not a researcher, and it is so wonderful to have all this information at my finger tips. I hope the editors do more work like this. If you are interested in finding out about what a contemporary artist was thinking, check this book first!

and not only can I not live without it, but I can feel comfortable recommending it to anyone interested in art (especially contemporary art). it is the kind of book I dream about. I want more like it. there are certain genres left out and some of the groupings are too tight, and some too loose, but the fact that the artists are the ones giving the information means that I can research them more accurately, instead of researching other peoples research. A wonderful compilation of essays and interviews.

I have used this text with grad. students and with advanced-level undergraduate art majors. In an era dominated by some pretty thick-headed critical writing, I value the relatively jargon-free essays by a good variety of contemporary artists. More photos, even B/W ones, would be a help however.

As a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, I found tremendous value in "They Saw The Elephant." For the general reader of non-fiction, this book reads like a novel! The stories of these valiant women grab the reader and never let go. You feel that you are with them, as they face the unknown perils and triumphs of the Gold Rush in California of the mid-19th Century. The words of these wonderful women have the special ring of Truth to them. I cannot overstate my admiration for the author and her work in presenting this important book.

Well written, well researched, mesmerizing! There are not enough words to praise this book. It covers every aspect and type of life a woman could lead when she came West. It takes information from diaries and eyewitness accounts. It will make you realize that human feelings don't change. We can all relate to what these women felt. It doesn't read like a history book, it reads like a magnificent saga. I couldn't put it down.

Reading ³They Saw the Elephant² changed the way I think about historical narratives. JoAnn Levy¹s ³westering women² come alive through their own words and through her skillful weaving of their stories. They weren't just hookers and schoolmarms; they ran boarding houses and laundries, they mined for gold, and there was even one who drove a stagecoach for Wells, Fargo, & Co.! Excellently researched and a great read!

This book is hard to classify. It's not strictly speaking a historical, nor is it a solid contemporary. Instead, it's a wonderful mix of both. If you like books that make you think a little, you'll like THIEF OF SOULS.

Like THE PLAGUE TALES, THIEF OF SOULS is set in both the past and present, centering on two strong, determined women working hard to solve their own current-day mysteries of missing children.

The different voice Benson uses in her past and present scenes is smoothly transitioned so the reader is never left wondering where s/he is. The foreshadowing is a little heavy-handed, however Benson makes you really care for her characters and the outcome to each story.

If you've read THE PLAGUE TALES and THE BURNING ROAD (which I did), I strongly suggest adding THIEF OF SOULS to your Ann Benson collection. You won't be disappointed.

Detective Lany Dunbar and Abbess Guillemette le Drappiere are sisters in both time and crime. Though they are separated by some 600 years of history, each is in pursuit of an abductor and murderer of children. Similiar to her earlier novels, "The Plague Tales" and its sequel, "The Burning Road", Ann Benson weaves two stories, one set in modern times and one in the 1400s. Though this novel doesn't contain a physical link, such as the piece of cloth that ties the two stories together in "The Plague Tales", there are enough nuances and references to keep any detective of historical fiction going. While Lany's perpetrator is fictional, what makes Guillemette's quest even more eerie is that she pursues an actual person, the infamous Gilles de Rais, upon whom Bluebeard is based. De Rais' debauchery is especially unnerving because it is based upon true accounts. How many ghouls would save the heads of over 300 children just to determine who was the prettiest? Ugh! While the collection of the skulls of dead children is a key in the case against de Rais, a collection of footwear plays a part in Lany's investigation. "They eat small children there" is a reference to de Rais' castle but it is also a movie title in Lany Dunbars 21st century Los Angeles. In her pursuit of the serial abductor, Lany uses a text book that references de Rais.

We, as readers, cannot help but root for these strong willed women, both of whom must fight for everything they can in order to succeed in their endeavors in a male dominated society, in Guillemette's case, and in a male dominated profession in Lany's case. Both must deal with the arrogance of their respective abductors and both must find the emerging pattern in their respective investigations.

Ms. Benson throws in some historical plums just for the interest. The actual childhood nurse of de Rais was named Guillemette La Drappiere and some of the 21st century detectives are named for real police detectives. But, still, it is the villains who warrant our attention. The thief in each case here not only steals souls but steals lives as well. And, when each seeks absolution and feels that it is at hand, each thief, as Ann Benson so beautifully puts it, will be as far from absolution as he would ever be in his life and yet more in need of it than ever before. Five stars indeed.

In 1440 Nantes, the abbess Guillemette le Drappiere, assistant and companion to Bishop of Nantes, learns that a child has gone missing. After talking to the mother of the abducted child, she starts an investigation and discovers that many similar children have vanished over the years. Guillemette and the bishop slowly come to the conclusion that the boy she nursed, the powerful Baron Gilles de Rais, is the guilty party but he is untouchable until he commits a crime of unspeakable horror against a churchman.

Over five and a half centuries later in Los Angles, Lany Dunbar is working on a case study eerily similar to the one that Guillemette investigated. Several young males, almost feminine in looks, have been abducted and their bodies never found. Each victim visited a certain popular exhibit at the La Brea Tar pits, leading Lany to the conclusion that the perpetrator is somebody connected to the exhibit who is very wealthy and has time to play out his or her fantasies. She intends to unearth and arrest this person even though the culprit knows that Lany is on the prowl.

Crime and depravity doesn't change very much over the centuries as the actions of the villains in THIEF OF SOULS prove. In both cases, a very strong woman in a position of power brings down a seemingly untouchable person. This is a long juicy novel that takes place ten years after Joan of Arc won the battle of Orleans as well as in the present. The crimes show that the more things change the more things remain the same.

Harriet Klausner

An absolutely great book about the Bad Old Days of trucking. This work is more than just a dark tale about double dealing and violence in a troubled trade. It just has that ring of truth by an author that lived the life. So many of the scenarios he describes bring to mind stories I personally have heard from the old timers in my chosen profession of trucking. A great read that perfectly recreates a place and time.

This is a totally awesome book about the small produce truckers who brought food to market in post-WWII California. In very straigtforward plain prose, the book tells the story of Nick, the son of Greek immigrants. When his father dies after a long life of just squeaking by, Nick is determined he won't fall into the same cycle, and enters the cutthroat world of independent trucking. The bulk of the book concerns the trials he and his mentor Ed encounter in finding and selling their first load. The writing clearly comes from intimate personal knowledge of the life and the swindles that were a constant part of it. It's a brilliant and fascinating piece of noir literature.

After getting burnt out on contemporary fiction and finding no pleasure in my reading, after putting down yet another book that fizzled after 100 pages, I picked this gem off my shelf where it's sat for over a year. The prose, the images, the timeless energy of the story and writing got my reading muscles working again. Since I live in Oakland and work in SF, the images of those cities written 50 years ago give a fresh, vibrant perspective. Characters come alive, flawed and real. A plot that pulsates.

Colin Fletcher managed to escape civilization with a simple plan. He would walk the length of California, including the Mojave Desert. The Ranger in Death Valley worried a great deal about him, but Fletcher's knowledge and understanding of the environment kept him safe and alive. In fact he enjoyed the "walk". Colin Fletcher is an excellent writer and this book is, in my opinin, is one of his best. I think I have read them all. He notices and describes details in vivid language. The clouds, the wind, the color of the valley, the trout, even the beetles and spiders don't miss his eye or nose.
He also describes the details of his hardships and joys, equipment failures and successes. He makes you feel as if you are with him on the trip, and often you may wish you were there. Some very well composed pictures are included. The trip took exactly 6 months. In the end he says "Then I walked down through the trees toward the road that would take me back to San Francisco and everything the city now offered."

I recommend the book to anyone. It is a good story, great adventure, and written by an unusual person. (He would like being called "unusual", I think.)

This book will change your whole outlook on nature. Are you willing to spend the summer walking, alone, then come along for this journey into your thoughts.

It doesn't take long for the reader to get broken in along Fletcher's trail of adventure from the Mexican border of eastern California to the Oregon border. The author takes us along the Colorado trail following the river for a number of days until we spring for the Mohave desert. Fletcher had placed, before his hike, a number of strategic caches of water along his desert route. We are as anxious as he to get to the next cache, particularly as we approach Death Valley in early spring before the overwhelming heat sets in. His descriptions of desert flowers and rolling mounds of sand stretching to dark and spiney ridges rising from the valley floor compel us to make plans to visit Death Valley in the near future. We are relieved when we hop out of Death Valley into the Panamints and scrub forests of the lower Sierra. When we climb high into snow country, our eyes hurt in the glaring snow. But the chill of fourteen thousand feet is more than welcome after the hot Mohave sands. We walk along with Fletcher in the high Sierra to push our toe across the border and touch Oregon soil. We experience the heat, the rattlers, the desert poppies, the cool downsloping breezes from the high Sierra, and the icy waters of alpine streams by reading THE THOUSAND MILE SUMMER. Such a book is a rare treat for those of us seemingly locked into a time-pressure capsule of corporate work

Words cannot even begin to describe the beauty of the works of art contained in this book. If you only ever buy one book in your life to just look at the pictures let it be this one. I could sit entranced by this embroidery for hours. I agree with another reviewer who stated that you can't conceive of this art being created by human hands. If you need proof simply look at the cover. That is not a photograph folks, it is embroidered.
The photographs are also quite beatiful. Consider as you look at them that the photo's are trying to capture texture...something very elusive in that medium. In many cases you can barely tell the photo from the embroidery and in others the embroidery is an interpretation of the photo.
I cannot state this enough... this book is truly, truly extraordinary and I don't think that there is anything else like it out there.

This is, by far, the most beautiful embroidery book I've ever seen anywhere, at any time. It seems impossible that such impressive works of art could have been created. Robert Ketchum's photographs are beautiful, but the embroideries are, indeed, so breathtaking that it's hard to believe real human beings could have worked on them. This is the kind of embroidery I would love to be able to do, but it is so amazing that I know I'll never reach such a high level of expertise (at least not in this lifetime). My thanks to all the people involved in this project for sharing their special gifts with me and anyone else fortunate enough to have purchased this book or, better still, to have seen these works in person.

This book contains lavish photos of breathtaking embroidery from the Suzhou Embroidery Research Institute, representing the pinnacle of Chinese embroidery. Many of the examples are photorealistic interpretations of landscape photographs - an amazing achievement. It makes one understand why embroidery has long been regarded as a fine art in China, often esteemed higher than painting. A must for anyone who loves embroidery or textiles.

I could not resist buying this book after seeing the fine film made from it. The book stands perfectly well on its own, but I found it extremely interesting to contemplate how writers converted it to the screen. The events and characters in the book are almost all the same as in the film, but the movie presents scenes in a different order and significantly revises the prominence/roles of various characters.

I wish I had seen the process, which must have involved scores of 3x5 cards showing major scenes from the book, all rearranged and rearranged again to finally arrive at a linear progression for the movie... one just as good as, but totally different from, the book.

It's worth paying a little extra to obtain this rare volume, just to read the original story. What a bunch of sleazy people these characters were!

This novel became an equally excellent movie directed by William Friedkin (The Exorcist), who then went on to direct an absolute LOSER of a movie entitled PYTHON WOLF. Where has Friedkin been since? This is unknown. . . Gerald Petievich is a former US Treasury agent who has worked the streets and managed to install his brother into not only TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., but the movie SHAKEDOWN as well (which included Dennis Hopper and Viggo Mortensen). -- The bar scene in TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. -- : "Hey, Petievich, get over here!" delivered by William Peterson. Petievich has walked the walk and admirably knows how to talk the talk. His dialogue is some of the finest written, easily on a par with that of Elmore Leonard. His plotting and exposition is terse and spare. There is no overabundance of words. He has not, to my knowledge, written a book since 1991's PARAMOUR. This in itself is a crime. Petievich knows about plot, about characterization, and how to make it all work in a minimal number of words and sentences. GODDAMMIT, PETIEVICH, WHERE ARE YOU?!

Better than the Movie an action filled story of LA undercover cops running a drug bust. Proably the best of Petievich's books. His knowledge of law enforcement makes this a real page turner.

The tobacco industry is one of the most evil industries allowed to operate in America. From child labor to seductive advertising to distribution of a deadly product and ending in mountains of money in political bribes, The US Tobacco Industry has just about every imaginable negative attribute of corporate America, all rolled into one, neat package.

Tobacco War puts a face on a faceless industry, and it is not a very pretty face. From exposing the hidden truths of the seductive advertising schemes and the green blood that flows through the veins of America's political system in every level, Tobacco War doesn't simply archive news stories, lawsuits and events, but connects the dots and presents the reader with a realistic picture of how big tobacco operates.

Likewise, tomorrows activist are reading this book today to gain the edge in a climate of misinformation. Provides grass-roots information for activists to develop and deploy campaigns.

Think your cigarette maker cares about you? They have you hooked, and you are the least of their worries. They are working to reel the next generation of smokers in for the kill.

And so far, the catch is coming in... wallet and all.

"The Tobacco War" is part social and political history, part "how-to" manual. Not a dry catalogue of events, but written with a sense of the human drama surrounding each twist and turn of the tale. Co-author Stan Glantz, involved so deeply in the movement, offers the most incisive, comprehensive, and definitive perspective on the California anti-tobacco effort available. I was astounded to read of the intrigue and jaw-dropping audacity of the Tobacco Industry and its allies in the State government on one hand, and the incredible courage and tenacity of those fighting it in the most aggressive and effective way in history on the other. The growth in political savvy and will of the American Lung Association, the American Heart Association, and the American Cancer Society is catalogued in detail, as are the machinations of the State legislature, the governor's office, and lobbyists and pressure groups when money comes up for grabs. This is an outstanding text for the social or political scientist, activists of any type, and anyone in state local politics. It is a remarkable and practical instruction manual for anyone in tobacco use prevention today. These heroes have not left the field. Their enemy, the Tobacco Industry, is immortal.

I could hardly put this book down. The battle being fought is truly a life and death matter, alliances and strategies evolve on both sides, and the Tobacco Industry uses their multi-million war chests to mislead the public over and over and over again. Even when you think you can relax after a victory by the anti-tobacco forces, in the next chapter the Tobacco Industry is lurking behind yet another door with a butcher's cleaver, which ends up being wielded by tobacco funded politicians and the California Medical Association to cut tobacco education funds and to weaken the anti-tobacco media campaign. Really this book is about much more than California and its battle with the tobacco industry. It is the best book I've ever read about why we need campaign finance reform and effective sunshine laws. You are shown all the nitty-gritty details, the back room deals, the closed-door bargaining. You'll emerge from this book well-prepared to detect lies in future wars, and to read between-the-lines in daily newspaper coverage.

ITS A WONDERFUL BOOKFULL OF SUSPENSE.ANY ONE WHO HAS BEENTHROUGH A SIMILAR TIME SHOULD READ THIS, OUR LIKE THE WOMEN TO ME THE HEROS.OR ANY ONE WHO WOULD LIKE TO READ SOMETHING THAT YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO BUT DOWN. BY THIS BOOK!

Since I work in the divorce industry, domestic violence is something I see too frequently. It's a repeating cycle that is very difficult for either partner to break.

As well as being a true crime book, Two Codes for Murder is an inspiration to women who are caught in the circle of abuse. Charlene's story has some unusual twists -- not every abusive husband hires Iraqui hitmen so he can prevent his wife from leaving while also collecting on a big insurance policy. Or have Lou Brown sit at her side during a trial of her husband for her attempted murder.

Reading about how Charlene overcame fear for herself and her two children, of how she survived two murder attempts and made it through the trials of her husband and the three hitmen he hired gives new meaning to the phrase, "one tough woman". She is to be commended for surviving and moving on with her life.

The author, who happens to be Charlene's mother, tells her story with compassion and love. The book is a good read with a great ending.

Two Codes for Murder provided tremendous insight into the world of domestic violence. Written in almost journal fashion it touched first with the games and emotional abuse followed by the failed murder attempt. What a courageous woman MS. Mitleider is! And courage doesn't stop there. Her two young daughters watched this horrific crime from beginning to end NEVER leaving their mother's side. I can't even begin to imagine the fear of the young mother trying to protect her own, and your's MS. Smith being so far away. Congratulations on one of the BEST crime stories, fiction or nonfiction, I've ever read. May God's richest blessings be with you and yours.

The California Outdoor Writers Association awarded the title "best book of the year." It's easy to see why. Kira pays homage to Ray Cannon, who wrote the bestseller The Sea of Cortez which documented the "Golden Age" for Baja. No one could have written a better tribute than Kira, a Baja afficionado whose enthusiasm and affection for the peninsula can be detected on every page. Rare photos and drawings complement the text. This is a beautiful book!

This magnificent book covers the life of Ray Cannon,who wrote The Sea of Cortez. It is a facinating and well organized assemblege of the man's colorful life. It took me to a simpler time and a place on earth that was unspoiled. A wonderful book.

Wonderful photos and you hold in your hand a book that can transport you, via his own words, into the inner circle of an astounding man, Ray Cannon, and the glamorous and mysterious friends he drew around him. He left Hollywood and the big-city life of the movies, where he had money and power, to take up the life of a country fisherman and a writer of essays. But he was never a country fisherman. He was an institution, living the romantic life in a wild, untamed place, among beautiful scenes and unforgettable people who did outrageous things. Great book. Wonderful company. A trip you can take over and over again.