No one who teaches cultural diversity courses or does diversity training should be without Ebony Power Thoughts. It is a compact, convenient collection of African American philosophy that serves to balance a Eurocentric educational system. The wit and wisdom of Ben Franklin? How about the wit and wisdom of Tina Turner? Or Malcolm X? Was Booker T. Washington an "Uncle Tom" or a gifted leader who gave direction and hope to a generation at a time when to stand up for your rights could mean certain death or at least painful lessons? Depending on your own cultural origins, you will laugh, cry, curse, or fail to understand some of the quotations or the linguistic expressions between the covers of "Ebony" but your life will be enriched to the degree you reflect on the thoughts of African Americans represented here, many of whom succeeded against the odds in our society before Civil Rights and Affirmative Action. Do not be without this book.

I used to be a weak black man. Now I'm an ebony powerhouse! Thanks, Tony. Your ancestors must have been very kind slave owners. You clearly know what it means to "live" ebony.

After viewing on PBS, a documentary of Edward Sheriff Curtis, I was moved to purchase this excellent work.
I was touched to my soul, by the photos, and how well they conveyed a race of people who have all but vanished.
The text that goes with the pictures is also quite good, and tells a remarkable story of a man obsessed to tell the world a story which we all need to hear and see. Curtis sacrificed his own finances and marriage, and did succeed in completing a very exhausting pilgrimage.

This is perhaps the greatest book authored by my uncle, Victor Hugo Boesen. He worked diligently with Curtis' daughter and other members and friends of the Curtis family to research and to write this book. The photographs are stunning. It is a must read for anyone interested in the history of the American Indian and Curtis' crucial role in recording this history. This book has been translated into French and German. Victor Boesen served as a war correspondent for Liberty Magazine during World War II and was present at the signing of the peace treaty on the USS Missouri. His writings appeared in Life, Look, the Los Angeles Times, and other major periodicals and newspapers.

If there is one word, which could sum up Elder Anthony's ministry and example it would be humility. He willfully submitted to so much during his earthly life.

He submitted to his father's desire that he not become a monastic for a long time. Even against his own desires, he submitted to his earthly father.

For a long time after he became a monk, his own brother was his Elder (Elder Moses of Optina)...and imagine submitting yourself to your brother, even if in a monastic setting (a most difficult task indeed.)

Not only that, but he endured untold physical suffering. He had many and various ailments that he patiently endured as part of God's will.

He also took the burden of becoming an abbot, something most monastics do not want to do, since it requires so much time handling earthly matters.

All of these things he endured patiently without grumbling to others or about others. While many would call this weak willed, Elder Anthony showed strength and discernment in realizing that all these things helped him along the path of salvation.

An inspiring story of a simple man that loved God with every ounce of his being.

In addition to a biography of his life, the book also includes several letters he wrote and some of his teachings.

A fantastic book of a true disciple of Christ.

In the past several years, the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood has been devoted to producing books originally published in Russia nearly a century ago about the great Russian monastery of Optina and it's elders. This second volume in the series focuses on Elder Anthony (Putilov), the first abbot in the monastery and one of it's lesser known of the Optina Elders. A man afflicted by many excruciating illnesses throughout his life, and a man with an unbending faith in God, this biography proves that Orthodoxy is not a mystical way of life wrapped around incense but a faith of human proportions.

Thanks to Anthony Molino and Jane House's brilliant translation,Manlio Santanelli's play Emergency Exit has been made accessible to English speaking readers.Hailed in Italy as a masterpiece,Santanelli explores the physical and psychological condition of two Becket-like characters in a modern urban setting.Simultaneously witty,probing and disturbingthis translation demands to be read. Better still,it demands to be produced.

Emergency Exit by Manlio Santanelli is a rewarding read, both for it's metaphoric value as well as for its literary style.

I must confess that I am not fond of reading plays. While a work of prose allows your mind to spontaneously create its own images, a play does not. One must first create a mental image of a stage, then create the appropriate scenery, props, and the like. Then one must scrupulously follow what character is speaking, mentally attribute the corresponding voice and follow each character's entrances and exits so as not to have the wrong character on the stage at any given time. There is the whole business of delivery . . . how a written line is to be spoken; what emotion, how intense and so on.

Emergency Exit eliminates most of these problems. First, there are only two characters, Angelo and Martino. The setting is the interior of an abandoned dwelling in Naples. Santanelli is highly directive, providing copious directions for the characters - something that actors and directors may find confining, but removes much of the guess work for the reader. So, from the reader's stand point, it is direct, to the point and unambiguous.

But the real value is its content. Emergency Exit is a metaphor for life. Two characters, one of high birth and the other a commoner, represent the Everyman in each of us. They find themselves sharing quarters in a district of Naples which is largely deserted due to earthquake damage. The threat of another quake looms ever in the background. Angelo's and Martino's arguments and bickering vacillates from the trivial to the profound, but always has the texture of reality. Effusive with existential despair, it never wallows - you are constantly motivated to turn the next page.

What a spectacular book! This will be the starting point for all future researchers of the subject. It's not your typical, dry encyclopedia text. I read it from cover to cover, and found every page enjoyable, fascinating reading. Slide presents beautifully written articles on hundreds of topics, individuals and locations -- and with a wealth of footnotes and resource lists. There's even a small but exquisite selection of photos. I've been researching vaudeville for years, and I learned more from this one book than any five others on the subject. Anyone interested in vaudeville owes Slide a genuine debt for this one. Wherever you are, Mr. Slide, three cheers!

Those of us with a love and fascination for vaudeville, but who were just born too late, owe a real debt to Anthony Slide. This book, while a little light on the stories so near and dear to my heart (though I suppose you can get those from "All My Best Friends" by George Burns) is still an absolutely invaluable reference piece. I'm sure there are others out there (you know who you are!) who wish they could have been there- to see a young Eddie Cantor run around the stage for eight shows a day with total abandon; to witness W.C. Fields as he originally performed, as a silent juggling clown(!); to watch the Ziegfield spectacles; to see, quite simply, the GREATEST ENTERTAINER THAT EVER LIVED, Al Jolson. This doesn't put you in the front row of the Palace, but it sure helps. Even if you're not a fan of this truly American artform, you should be proud that a resource like this exists (and in nigh-indestructible library binding, to boot!) Not cheap, but well worth it.

I read Anthony Minghella's sublime, lyrical novel some time after seeing the Oscar-winning movie and I was struck by the seamless similarities in both genres. The novel has a dream-like quality as it shifts in time back and forth, sifting through the memories of the dying patient and the other inhabitants of the Villa San Girolamo. The cinematography of the movie has the same fluid continuity, no mean feat when one considers how difficult it is to keep a story flowing with constant flashbacks. The film of The English Patient was described by one reviewer as almost film noir. Well, the book is novel noir. This not a romp, it's intricately multi-layered and intended to be savoured.

The story is based in the abandoned villa on a hilltop in central Italy. It is 1944 and the Allies are advancing yet the scent of victory is overwhelmed by accumulated shell shock. The central characters in the villa: Hungarian Count Lazlo de Almasy, Canadian nurse Hana, the Indian sapper Kip and the thief Caravaggio are all burned out by war and in de Almasy's case, literally and mortally burned. Hana is nursing her mysterious dying patient who gradually details his life as an explorer in the desert of northern Africa and reveals his doomed, magnificant, obsessive, life-altering love affair with Katherine Clifton, an English rose with the tenaciousness of a lioness. Hana, who has lost everyone she dared to love, tries to insulate herself from the world but in the presence of Kip and the less noble Caravaggio, she reaches out once again. This is a story of love's expectations, and the shifting loyalties of friends, family and nations in times of war, of deadly betrayals and being rescued by strangers, of healing wounds and preparing for death. In short, all the stuff top class literature is made of and, strangely, pretty much what happens around us every day although the settings might not be as exotic.

Minghella has constructed a vast canvas of human experience, yet he does not waste a word. He peels away the exterior visage of his characters to reveal their joy and pain with an exquisitely bare, poetic use of language. The consequences of their lives remained with me long after I had put the book down. I pick up The English Patient from time to time and the magic is always there.

This is the first screeenplay i've read and i understood it clearly. In regards to the books content i was in tears by the end and it pushed me to buy the film after i read it. A must for any shelf.

Father Zimmerman takes a unique and thoughful approach to all his work, and this book is no exception. Of particular interest to me is his analysis of what St. Augustine's approach meant to the development of certain negative features in Catholic theology regarding Original Sin. (But don't get me wrong, Father Zimmerman is totally orthodox and pays due respect to the great Augustine.)

All who are concerned about this subject and read this book will find much to ponder. Few books really shed new light on one's thinking, but this is one of those books.

This book gives some new insights into original sin and Adam and Eve and I recommend it to all interested in that important subject

I'm half way threw the second one. This is a good series for learning about religions. It really gets down to the point of meaning. Why we're here without any religious garbage.

I read the Tarot series only knowing it was by my favorite author. Piers Anthony has a way of making the reader think....especially concerning long taught ways in our social upbringing. He has made me ponder the meanings of religion (formed and free spirited) on more than one occasion. His hero, Brother Paul, is the epitome of man. Bravo, Anthony!!! You should add more to this series on the world of Tarot.

I just finished reading this wonderful book a few hours ago. The book is so well written, so full of honesty and family anecdotes, it make me feel almost as if I were a member of the Waller family. Maurice Waller (Fats' son) has written a classic, seminal book about the greatest pianist/singer/comedian/actor/composer of the twentieth century. I place Fats' untimely death at age 39 in the same category in terms of the tragedy and loss to the world of music, as the tragic death of George Gershwin in his 30's. (Gershwin and Fats were good friends, by the way. It was Gershwin who suggested to Fats that he study counterpoint and harmony with Godowsky). There are so many good things to say about this book that I wouldn't have room to list them all. Maurice Waller, born in 1927, should in my opinion win a Pulitzer prize for this book. I have already begun ordering CD's ...in order to better appreciate this great man's musical output. Fats was taken under J.P. Johnson's wing when Fats was 16 and J.P. Johnson was 26. Fats himself personally taught Count Basie how to play the organ. Fats was a truly wonderful human being. Over 10,000 people came to his funeral in Harlem when died in 1943. Thank you, Maurice Waller, for writing this monumental book about a monumental man.

I love Fats Waller, which is why I wanted to read this biography by his son, Maurice Waller. I had high hopes and expectations, and I was not in the least bit disappointed! This is a great book! The biography is filled with Maurice Waller's fascinating anecdotes, one of the most notable being the one about how Fats was kidnapped by Al Capone's men. I was also intrigued by the ways in which Fats acquired his musical education, and with the accounts of how he composed his music. The authors also bring to life the context in which Fats Waller lived and worked: the rich culture of Harlem, the way in which the jazz greats nurtured each other and promising young musicians such as Fats, how they created their music, and how Fats and the others dealt with racism in the performing world. It also provides a fascinating look at the young recording industry. The book includes several appendices of Fats Waller's recordings and compositions. This book is short, fast-moving and easy to read, and absolutely packed with information. It enhanced my appreciation and understanding of the great Fats Waller and his work. Anyone who loves jazz should read this book!

This novel happens to be my favorite type of story: one which begins in the present and connects back to the past. In the present there is Faversham, who is plagued by a recurring dream. He goes to an auction and makes a purchase, which turns out to be poetry written by a man who used to live in Faversham's house. Strangely, Faversham finds his dream described in this book of poetry. In the present, everyone is trying to explain this event and other weird happenings, but the writer's strength is definitely his portrayal of the past, in Britain during the reign of King Henry VIII and a little beyond. You will like this book.

Anthony Duncan's novel is a spell-binding, magical tale, simultaneously imbued with earthy humanity and spiritual insight. But this is not a preachy book that sets out to convey a "message". Rather, the lives displayed in the story weave a tapestry of wisdom, which is not easily reducible to any summary. Father Duncan is already well known for his writings on mysticism and theology. He will surely become just as much admired for his fiction, if this novel is any indication.