I was very impressed with the numerous party themes and quantity of ideas for each theme. This is planning made easy and I recommend this book to all hosts and hostess -- whether this is your first party or you have been throwing parties for years, this book is perfect for different ideas, more ideas to enhance been-around themes with easy to follow directions, everything to make a party memorable! Great resource for any organization (church, Scouts, philanthropic, etc.) planning social and fundraising events. I have been a professional party planner (family and corporate) for years and love this book! I recommend it highly as one of the best on the market and I personally give these books as gifts.

Have recently purchased this book. Started skimming through it and couldn't put it down. There was a party for every occasion and it was all planned out for you. The tips were fantastic. I plan on buying more for gifts. This book will make a great Christmas gift and will definitely be on my shopping list in December. I hope they do another book. It was so easy to follow and I know I will have no disasters at another party.

This book will make you get off your couch and want to party. With the clever ideas, tips on every topic you would not even amagine, and most of all the expert advice for all sorts of celebrations. All the work is done for you all you have to do is pick and choose. Great job to you both for a wonderful book... Dawn Hogan, celebration expert, speaker, author of party planning guides.

Dr. Michrina is to be commended for producing an insightful, sympathetic, and evocative study of the mining folk primarily of the central Pennsylvania county of Cambria. He also strives to document the general period of depression in the coal-mining industry, 1922-1942, and especially the traumatic events of the great strike of 1927 and resulting period without union representation and protection, 1927-1933. Unfortunately, while Dr. Michrina's academic jargon enhances this as a scholarly anthropological study, it hinders it as a heritage work which would be treasured by its coal-mining subjects and their friends and family, not to mention local historians. In an ironic twist, the non-academic reader must mine through the earth and rock of academic constructs to extract the coal seams of human emotion and remembrance. Dr. Michrina expresses some awareness of this and is honest in admitting to some guilt in recording and publishing personal information given by his subjects, who were also his frends and neighbors during the years of his "field work." He is also honest about the surprising results of his investigations. For example, he found a general lack of militancy directed against the coal companies, their chief oppressors, though there are still deep negative emotions directed against both the strike breakers and the Coal and Iron Police. The latter, called 'Pussyfoots,' performed the coal companies' dirty work, with state and local authorities turning a blind eye. These acts, including rape and murder, were intended to humiliate and control the captive populations of the coal company towns, while cheating them at the company store and keeping them in abysmal poverty. Dr. Michrina also found that while the miners maintained a strong work ethic, they tended to define themselves and seek happiness not in the work place but within the home and family. Aged survivors of these times also retain a general sense of economic insecurity and continue to practice frugality in most of their endeavors. He also found a strong sense of appreciation for both United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945, and United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) President John L. Lewis, 1920-1961, who are credited for restoring unionism, human rights, and some measure of dignity. This last element, the search for dignity, is the defining concept of the book and the chapter thereon is the finest and should be read above all else. This wonderful book, despite some flaws, is, along with Mildred Beik's THE MINERS OF WINDBER, a defining account of Cambria County's Roman Catholic coal miners of eastern and southern European ancestry. The Protestant coal miners of British and German descent still await their chronicler.

I read Barry P. Michrina's "Pennsylvania Mining Families" with great interest, since I am the son and grandson of a former coalminers and have some firsthand knowledge of the people and postindustrial-revolution landscapes of the geographical boundaries of the work, particularly Cambria, Indiana and Clearfield counties. I was very impressed with this work of anthropology that also functions secondarily as a not unimportant history of Central Pennsylvania, especially with regard to the Great Depression, the labor movement including the aftereffects of the Great Coal Strike of 1927, and the harscrabble lives of the coal-minging families of the time. Through his interviews with mostly old folks, including wives and also sons, who remember the dangers and vicissitudes of mining work -- unsafe shaft timbers, shooting coal with dynamite and the like -- Michrina sketches quite thoroughly a vanished and rough way of life. Moreover, by documenting the violence caused by strikebreakers and the quasiofficial Coal & Iron Police hired by uncaring and venal operators -- who ran roughshod over the locals in such small burgs as Carrolltown, Bakerton, Nanty Glo, Spangler and Mentcle -- Michrina explains how many immigrant and first-generation American families in the Alleghenies scraped by when food, money and employment were scarce. There's a melancholy that lingers in the witnesses' testimony. While the book affords you the chronology and methodology of coalmining in a specific time and place when Central Pennsylvania was vital to the industrial revolution, it also explains how disenfranchised many poor and immigrant families felt, how they were terrorized and how they had to fight all sides just to survive during a growth time in the proverbial land of the free and home of the brave. Today, the tipples have vanished, the driftmouths have bit closed up and the train tracks extracted, and the environmental degradation has been abated a bit from mining -- creeks don't run as orange as they used to into the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. The book touches on this, too, again with verbatim memories. "Pennsylvania Mining Families" is a first-rate work of anthropology, a fascinating history and a significant contribution to the shelf on labor, particularly as it applies to coal operations. -- Jerry Roberts, author, "Rain Forest Bibliography" (McFarland & Company, 1999) "Mitchum: In His Own Words" (Limelight Editions, 2000)

Yes, I know I just gave this book 3 stars, but despite the rating, I like this book and I enjoyed reading it. It's not a personal book, though, so don't expect a biography or memoir.

This book is set up in a "did you know?" fashion. Let me explain. This book is 90% a compilation of quotes and commentary from the people who know Jewel personally. The other 10% comprises of responses from Jewel to various questions (i.e., "What were your worst performance experiences?") This is why I say it's more of a "Did you know?" foundation under this book. It's full of insights and facts we never knew about her. This is a book about what the people who surround Jewel think and know of her.

You really have to have an interest in not just Jewel's music, but Jewel herself to appreciate this book. That's why I rated this item 4 stars instead of 5 because of its limited appeal. I am a long-time Jewel fan, so I loved this book. It's too bad, though, that non-Jewel fans probably won't be attracted to this book, because it reveals so much about her character that fans have known for a while, but the public is oblivious to. For instance, Moby talks about how she has the most twisted, blackest sense of humor, and how contrary to popular belief, she'd fit in with the kids in South Park perfectly. He also mentions that Jewel's told him the most disgusting jokes he's ever heard and has the mouth of a sailor that "would make Eminem blush." (I have to admit that I was giggling all throughout Moby's commentary.) Another bandmate admits that "[he has] sarcasm coming out of [his] pores, but she's worse." Another roadie comments, "Jewel hawks the biggest loogies."

Plenty of attention is given to the side of Jewel's personality the public is familiar with, though, such as her honesty, integrity, and kindness.

What impressed me the most about this book is how more attention was given to her "boyishness." After reading this, you see that she's definitely NOT the simpering, wilting flower so many people believe her to be. In fact, most her friends are amazed that she hasn't been butchered by the media for her jokes (which can easily come across as offensive by those easily offended by direct sarcasm, and many, many people are).

I'm not going to say non-fans are going to be interested in this book, because that really depends on how they feel about Jewel. If you're a fan or just someone wanting to understand the woman who is Jewel better, then this is the book for you.

I think, also, that this book is a wonderful addition to anybody interesting in learning about a very modern and complex woman. Jewel is sexy, smart, kind, and possesses a very sharp wit. She's a paradox in that she's an honest individual who is uncomplicated, yet very complex at the same time. She's feminine yet is definitely "one of the boys" and can stand her own with men. She's definitely kind, yet she's probably the most sarcastic person I've ever read of. On top of that, she's optomistic yet her humor can be very dry. This book covers all of these facets and has been an absolutely delightful read for me.

This book gives a very fresh and surprising view of who Jewel really is and the many fascinating aspects of a very complicated yet simple person. By that, I mean she has many complicated ways about her but she needs the basic things to make her happy in life (This book will explain what I mean by that and more!) The book has little trivia tidbits,interviews with people who know jewel, and many new pictures. Did you know that Jewel has a dark and twisted sense of humor or that she was friends with Moby? Find out this and lots more in this excellent, in depth book! A+ Plus don't forget to check out Jewel's newest album 0304! It's great!

i bought this book for my kids. and they loved it! Within a few hours they were running around the house exsloring their creativity. A lovely gift for chidren!