This superb book explains how well-to-do New Yorkers were reluctant to move into apartment buildings, and how that resistance was overcome through clever design and marketing tactics. Cromley begins by discussing early Parisian apartment buildings and the earliest tenements in New York City. These two historic strands came together in the 1870s, when apartment buildings for the affluent, known as 'French flats,' appeared as a new building type for New York. Cromley highlights the social history of the era - what life was really like for the people (especially the women) who lived there, as distinct from their counterparts in single-family houses. Among the still-extant classic buildings discussed are the Dakota (1884), the Osborne (1885), and the Ansonia (1902). In all, the book covers the mid-1800s to 1911; there is nothing here about the 1920s building boom following WWI. The book is generously illustrated with about 30 floor plans and about 50 engravings.

There are 110 pages of vintage photographs in this oversize book, by a half-dozen or so early photographers working with bulky equipment out on the plains during the years of open rangeland. Most of the photographs chosen for this book date from 1885 into the first decades of the 20th century, with a few as recent as the 1930s.

Besides herding, driving, and working cattle and horses, which have become familiar images over the years, the editor has included shots of meal-time and preparation of food at the chuckwagon. Some of these are nights shots, lighted by the campfire.

There are shots of cowboys with fiddles and guitars, one a younger man on a cot in a cabin, the photograph rich with details: the layers of worn blankets on the cot, the cowboy's big white hat, the two shirts he's wearing, the cuffs of his jeans turned up, two pairs of boots (the more beat-up pair shoved against one corner of the cot), a towel hanging against the log wall behind him, and a copy of Liberty magazine lying open on a seat in the foreground.

There are cowboys on horseback performing the remarkable trick of drinking water from their hat brims. (One of these is on the cover.) There are many groups shots of men lined up to face the camera. Two of them from early 1880s Montana show artist and writer Charles Russell. Another shows over 30 men at a cowboy's funeral, hats off, standing around a patch of freshly turned prairie sod, two of them holding shovels.

A group of ten trail cowboys from the XIT ranch sit for a portrait shot, two with revolvers drawn in their laps, each of them dressed very differently. There are two studio portraits of individual cowboys from the 1890s, one of them with long, shoulder-length hair, the other a fresh-faced youth, with silk scarf, woolly chaps, leather gloves with wide cuffs, gunbelt, and a monogrammed shirt with big medallion buttons.

There are a few shots of cowboying in winter, taken in the 1920s and 30s. In one remarkable two-page spread, a cowboy on his horse watches a long, long line of Herefords moving across a landscape totally whited out by snow. Also interesting are shots of early ranch houses and cow camp cabins, one of them against the eroded rocks of the Missouri Breaks.

The opening essay by Bob Edgar, curator of The Museum of the Old West, Cody, Wyoming, gives a general overview of the period, focusing on the cattle drives and talking briefly about the career of one dedicated photographer, Charles Belden. For more of a historical background to go with the photographs, there is Andy Adams' "Log of a Cowboy," "Cowboy Life" by William Savage, Jr., Ramon Adams' book about chuckwagons and the camp cook "Come an' Get It," and Larry McMurtry's novel "Lonesome Dove." For another book of vintage photographs of the Old West, look at "The Early Days in Jackson Hole" by Virginia Huidekoper.

This book has enchanting ideas to set you busily decorating your home for Christmas, it includes gifts to make for kindered spirits. Each item is beautifully pictured and has easy to follow instructions. The projects relate wonderfuly to Anne and her friends at Green Gables inspiring you to make and bake the treasures. The Christmas treasury is definately somehting to cherish forever.

This is a beautifully produced book with wonderful photographs that capture the essence of Predock's work, the magical interplay of light and shadow. A characteristic of Predock residences is the interdigitation of the house and the land so that it appears as if the house almost grew out of and/or grew into the earth (pp.46-7, 82-3). The siting of the Boulder House (pp.46-7)against the majestic barren New Mexico environ is bold and assertive but at the same time is pitched in perfect harmony with its surroundings(pp.38-9). It embodies the primordial purpose of a domicile, a shelter from the harsh elements of nature and a haven where the inhabitant inside feels snug and protected. A unique feature of Predock's buildings is his almost metaphysical approach to design so that the structure seems to morph into a kind of mythic place, evocative of some distant place/ancient times/primordial culture. This is exemplified by the Fuller house as illustrated on pages 86-7. The Fuller house is classical without appearing derivative. It is timeless in its suggested monumentality. Predock's designs should withstand the vagaries of time. Though he is a gifted master of modernism, he is a universal architect of all times and all places because of his almost mystical reverence for the land and his profound appreciation of the "geological strata" of culture encoded in the place where his building is situated. Because he also understands stage craft from his background in dance performance, he is a clever stage master and understands the emotional impact of well choreographed presentations. (See the boulders spilling down to the pool on pages 100-1.) He is also a brilliant colorist, as exemplified by the elegantly tinted exteriors of his houses which blend in so seamlessly with the background landscape without the artifice of mimicking nature (pp. 86-7, 104-5, 120-1). This book does an admirable job of capturing these special attributes of Preodock's designs.

In my late 20's I was diagnosed with severe crippling rheumatoid arthritis and told to prepare for life in a wheelchair. For five years I was in constant pain in spite of daily medication. One day I found an early edition of this book and began the diet it describes. Within three weeks I was able to discontinue medication. As long as I stick to the diet I am still pain free. There is no sign of arthritis in my body. At age 52 I am more active and youthful than many women my age. I recommend that every arthritic read this book and try the diet. It gave me back my life and it might work for you, too.

This is my 11 month old's favorite book. She will actually search through all her books to find this cute book of active babies. She loves the expressions of the children and other baby faces. A great gift to any new parent or baby!

As a longtime reader of this consistently satisfying series, this years' edition just might be the best one yet. It is meatier than the last few years and each story in the book seems a little bit better than the last one. As always, there are surprises, too, not only of more obscure sports (wreck diving, poker and surfing) but in point of view, re: Gene Collier's farewell to sportswriting and Charles Young's meditation on losing. But there's plenty of straight sports, too; Tiger Woods, DiMaggio, Ripken, etc., and big names like Reilly, Pierce and Bissinger. And maybe it's me, but there's an odd, antidotal prescience to this book in these strange times. Collier's story alerts us to the real heroes, and if you need an uplift, read the story called "Toughest Miler Ever," for a true profile in courage. Collins introduction is vintage, and well, that's it. I don't want to spoil it for you, but I enjoyed this so much I rather wish I had another to read right away.

well for one its hard to read the book when i can't get to it so please tell me how i can get to it. also anything on collin raye is rated at a 5 star mark. he is the greatest

REVISAR TEXT

Since this book was first published in 1996, there has been at least some progress in terms of what Vernon Jordan calls "signs of new opportunities" as indicated by the appointment as CEOs of Kenneth Chenault (by American Express) and Richard Parsons (by AOL Time Warner). However, obviously, much more remains to be achieved in a society which still relies so heavily on gender-specific adjectives (e.g. female jockey) and hyphenated descriptives (e.g. Lilliputian-Americans). Let us all hope that Chenault and Parsons were selected wholly because they were best-qualified to provide the organizational leadership needed. Period.

The subtitle of Collins' book ("The Making and Breaking of a Black Middle Class") implies -- to me, at least -- initiatives which were consciously and deliberately expedient. That is to say, in response to various pressures (especially from the federal government) on many corporations in the late-1960s to create access to career opportunities previously denied to black executives. These same corporations then "racialized" the positions many black executives occupied by limiting their responsibilities to supervising Affirmative Action programs, cultivating "special markets", and solidifying relationships with minority customers. In almost every instance, this eliminated them from the "fast track" to positions at higher levels within their respective organizations. Their income permitted what Dick Gregory once referred to as an "Oreo lifestyle" but job security was tenuous. I was curious to know: Was the emergence of a Black Middle Class, throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, more a perception than a reality?

In an e-mail from her, she responds to that question. "I really don't think the emergence of the middle class was illusionary at all. I think the socioeconomic gains were/are real but they are grounded in different sets of conditions than those that prop up whites. I think that its emergence and growth was, and still is, dependent on the continued support of public policies and social pressure. When I look at the Ken Chenaults and Richard Parsons of the world I see them as anomalies rather than as symbols of a a trend. In other words, I don't think these companies are going to integrate their power structures in a sustained way unless there's some type of external nonmarket pressure to do so. Of course, I could be wrong and, if so, I'll have to rethink my understanding of race relations in the business world."

I was also curious to know to what the extent (if any) the demographics of black executives (male and female) have changed since 1996 when her book was first published. In the same e-mail, Collins observes: "The demographic trends associated with the number of black executives is almost impossible to measure for several reasons. One, the best source (EEO1 data that surveys private employers) groups managers so that rank is obscured. Managers counted here could be the manager of a 7-11 food store or a CFO of a Fortune 500 company. Census data does have an "administrator" category, but that probably relates more to public than to private sector employment. This problem has been my nemesis and probably will continue to be so because I am forced patch together information from various sources and than draw inferences." Although the scope and depth of Collins' survey sample may seem insufficient to support her generalizations (i.e. two sets of interviews with 76 of the most successful black executives in Chicago's major corporations), she consulted extensive supplementary research resources which apparently confirmed what she learned from those interviewed.

The Collins Web site features a statement which asserts that her analysis in this book "challenges arguments that justify dismantling affirmative action. She argues that it is a myth to believe that black occupational attainments are evidence that race no longer matters in the middle-class employment arena. On the contrary, blacks' progress and well-being are tied to politics and employment practices that are sensitive to race." That brief excerpt refers to her analysis of circumstances almost two decades prior to 1996. It remains for each reader to read and evaluate Collins' book, then draw her or his own conclusions as to its relevance to circumstances today. I rate the book so highly because she addresses so many important issues which remain timely in 2001; also, because she raises questions which must continue to be asked, and then answered honestly, until such time that there is no longer a need to do so.