It is funny, extremely interesting, and makes you want to read more about some of its subjects. The author has a knack for setting up the story so that you, as the reader, will understand the in's and out's of small town life 80 to 100 years ago. Things that we do not give a second thought about, since dogs are now vacinated again rabies, the author details with serious humor. (I'm still laughing about the stampede story.) As I read the book the descriptions of people and places became an image in my mind similar to the school I attended as a child and the people I knew, not the mention the close encounters I also had with snakes.

Take this book on vacation and kick back and enjoy.

One of only two books that I have ever read that have made me laugh out loud. The setting is the little town of Clio, Alabama, in the 1930's--hometown of the author and of Alabama Governor George Wallace. The content is a compilation of stories, really "Tall Stories," about real people and real and imagined events. The reader will get a great feel for the small-town South of the period, will learn lessons from the text, but most of all will enjoy the hilarious tales so well portrayed by the author. You will learn how to "tame" both husbands and wives, how not to have a big bulldog attack a little monkey, everything you need to know about "hoop snakes," and many more "useful" things. The book is one that people of all ages will enjoy. I've now read it three times, and still laugh at the stories!

We purchased the book a few weeks ago and since using the program my daughter is a new person. After learning the basic skills in each of the three categories: speed, agility and quickness, she has increased both her performance and attitude. She is working on her volleyball skills and is improving her reflexes. She really enjoys the drills. She has been practicing some of the rolls and moves even when she is not working out.

The guidance is what she really needed and has really helped her athleticism.

No need to spend valuable time searching your files for various drills any longer.These coaches have placed drills into separate categories for our convenience. The combination of old and new drills will make your conditioning sessions more enjoyable for the athletes, and will certainly meet the training objectives of any coaching staff. There is a section which has sample programs that will give athletes, parents, and coaches solid advice on how to develop and organize a SAQ program that can be tailored specifically to fit individual needs.

Get fast or be last!

...I disagree with the author saying that "every rug needs a degree of breathing space". I realize that is a Westernized viewpoint, and tastes vary...but these beautiful one-of-a-kind works of art were originaly intended to cover a tent floor...to the point of overlapping at times ! My preference is to see them in close proximity to each other, a glorious mosaic of rich color and design.
I also disagree with the statement that the rug has to "match its surroundings", which is like buying a painting to match the sofa. To my way of thinking, a piece of art, whether a painting or rug, should give one an uplifting thrill, not "match" something.

The first 4 chapters are on everything from detailed descriptions of how rugs are made, where to buy them, their care and repair, and the ethnic groups worldwide that make them.
This is followed by brilliantly colored illustrations of 44 rugs and 3 bags, from the marvelous Belouch animal design that graces the cover to a Navaho pictorial flatweave.

Chapter 5 is about the designs, and how to identify them. Chapter 6 is on the regions (maps are included). 7 and 8 are on the tribal groups, from those in Adraskand, to the Yurks, and describes the patterns, colors, and quality produced by each group.

So though I don't agree with the decorating ideas, it's 5 stars for the research and remarkable detail that has been put into this volume. It's an excellent primer, as well as a good reference book.

If you wouldn't know a Kilim if it bit you in the leg, you'll soon be able to do a lot more than just bluff your way in the world of rugs! This book takes you through it all quite painlessly!

Beautifully illustrated with full colour pictures of rugs from all around the world, it is a pleasure to leaf through as much as to read for its detailed information on what makes these wonderful rugs what they are.

Maps, texts and illustrations take you through the cultural and practical aspects of rug design and manufacture. For the professional dealer or the enthusiastic amateur like me, this is an indispensable book! Anyone who has read it will know how much better equipped they are to snap up the best buys with confidence.

Louise Edwards writing in The China Journal (July 1999) says: "This innovative volume furthers a dialogue between China studies and postcolonial and cultural studies. Using literary debate as its primary focus (popular music is also discussed in Chapter 6), the book raises questions for all disciplines of China studies, Gregory Lee also makes a timely contribution to the field of postcolonial studies...Troubadours, Trumpeters, Troubled Makers makes a valuable contribution in resisting the "mixophobia" that is so prevalent in academic scholarship."

This book attempts to promote a non-authentic, non ethnocentric, and more complex perspective on certain aspects of Chinese poetic and political culture. Its concerns, as the title suggests, are not just with the culture of making and consuming lyrics, poems and songs, but also with questions to which such practices give rise. As the sub-title ( Lyricism, Nationalism and Hybridity in China and Its Others) suggests the interest is also in 'inauthentic' hybrid practices and communities - the book talks not just about mainland China, but about peripheral communities like Chinatowns and Hong Kong. Since this is a comprative work it looks at other non-national communities and cultures like that of southern France, or Occitania. Nor is the book an orthodox British or Western sinological statement on modern Chinese culture. Rather it attempts to shed light on those lyrical works that are either marginalized and occulted, or considered by conventional scholars to be literally beneath consideration. The chapters on contemporary poetry and the chapter on Chinese popular music, are attempts to do just that. Similarly the chapter on the representation of the Chinese American and the descendants of Chinese immigrants to Britain is there to tell a story of Chinese people who in a sense are no longer Chinese, and yet will always be seen and represented as such, and so at a certain level will always remain so.

As a reader perusing this book, the words "gritty" and "painfully honest" came to my mind. But as a single mother of three daughters, who is also a recovering alcoholic, the phrase "been there, done that," resounded in my consciousness. There is much in the book for any single mother or recovering female addict to relate to, in kind, if not in the same quality or amount as Ms. Hall experienced in this autobiographical book.

Ms. Hall's writing style is direct and fast-paced. The reader feels an intimacy and immediancy with her and her story. She holds nothing back and lays before us her motherhood, her strong feministic beliefs and her sexuality. "there it is; learn from it, if you can", she seems to be saying. Her story takes place in the 1960's, and 1970's, the time of Vietnam, of the draft, of less sympathetic and enlightened child support laws. She joins the feministic movemont in San Diego because she realizes 'the systems' (i.e. the workplace, the courts, the schools, the military) do not serve women well.

After ending an emotionally abusive relationship with her husband, Ms. Hall struggles to care for her seven children. What she doesn't seem to do is care for herself. During her marriage, she relied on alcohol to balm the psychic wounds she feels. Now she is sober, but single. She believes at first, "All I had to do was take my freedom (from her husband)." but almost immediately, she is right up against the walls created by the systems. "I was wrong. I ran smack up against poverty and lack of a place in the male world. Freedom came to me in little pieces."

Ms. Hall is not unlike many women who find themselves single mothers. She has great difficulty looking within for her own emotional support. In former days 'that support' came from alcohol. Now she is on her own. As she tells her story, the reader can sense her internal fortitude, but she cannot. She looks to the male world for her sense of self, despite the fact that world's structures are abusive to her. She writes, ".....I wasn't at all sure a woman with seven children could survive with dignity without a man." As some women do in this situation, she uses sexual experiences to bolster her feelings of self-worth.

But she does survive and comes full circle into a meaningful and rewarding life. "The True Story of a Single Mother" is an engrossing account of one woman's journey to empowerment.

This book speaks the unvarnished truth about the lives of themillions of Americans who are caught up in the "povertytrap." More than a decade has passed since its first publication, but following President Clinton's recent handywork of dismantaliing the Welfare State (such as it was), the author's observations and experiences are more valuable than ever. Today, a new misery is being visited upon American society, and professional sociologists and historians have not yet developed adequate concepts to explain this phenomenon. They would do well to listen to the words of Ms. Hall, to better understand what it costs to grow up poor in America. This book is not of the "belles lettres" genre, which we so often expect of the "poverty pimps." Instead, it is a gut-wrenching confession of a single mother of seven children living on the West Coast in the fourth quarter of the twentieth century. For these reasons it constitutes a useful educational tool for any serious class in contemporary American Studies.

While not having ever served in combat, this work brings to heart the consequences for all of us to share. The words are simple, the poems are concise, but the emotion veiled there is unfathomable.

In their stark view of reality these are perhaps the most evocative of any 'war' poems ever written.

These are the words of a medical officer in a front line aid station in Vietnam... the fact that they are cast as poetry gives them a precision that evokes incredibly painful images which those of us who were not there should share... so that we learn to care, for those who were there

The book is wonderfully written and an inspiration to all ages. I don't know who enjoyed it more my 11 year old girl or myself. Enjoy a great and entertaining read.

Two cents, written by Lee Batterman, is a delightful book of a teenage Jewish girl who wants to be bat-mitzvahed. Set in the late 30's, great descriptions of a tenement family.

As it was made clear from the first issue of "The X-Men," mutants were feared by "ordinary" people. The sub-text of the prejudice of the majority against the differences of the minority certainly became stronger as the series progressed and is perhaps its most defining element; certainly it was the centerpiece of the promotional campaign for the film version. "The Uncanny X-Men Masterworks" offers up the first five issues of the series, written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby. We are introduced not only to our merry band of mutants (Professor X, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Iceman, and the Beast) but some of the seminal villains for the group: Magneto (#1 and 4-5), the Vanisher (#2), the Blob (#3), and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants consisting of Magneto with Mastermind, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and Toad (#4-5). At the end of issue #5 Professor X congratulates the X-Men on completing their training period, telling them it is now time for them to go out on their own and function as a team without relying so heavily on his mental powers.

Although over time the idea of "mutant misfits" became a strong element in the series, what attracted me to the X-Men in the beginning was that they were basically teenagers. They were even SMART teenagers, and that was even more appealing. The comic also benefited from starting off right from the beginning with the group's greatest villain with Magneto, who represents the flip side of humanity's fear of the mutants. It is always interesting to go back and reread these early issues to see what gets abandoned, such as Bobby Drake as the Snowman and Professor X pining away for the lovely Jean Grey because he is old and confined to a wheel chair (that sure would have been a very interesting love triangle once you throw Scott Summers into the mix). It is interesting to compare these early issues with the comic's celebrated run beginning in issue #94 when Chris Claremont revitalized "The X-Men" by having Professor Xavier recruit a new team. Of course, the comic went on to become the top selling title on the planet.

these are great to read and you will find hard to put down. i have read them at least 15 times in 1 month.

it tells you how the x-saga started and i think thats cool

I am a retired teacher. I retired early (age 25) to stay home with my first baby when she was born in 1989. We now have three children who love to read. I love children's literature and this book interested me. It interested me because entangled in the pages are history, family, friendship, devotion, loyalty and patriotism. The author had me glued to the pages and I, literally, did not put the book down until I finished it! She made the main character so real and I was cheering her on, feeling her pain, and could remember being a little sister to a big brother whom I loved and adored. My daughter is reading the book now - it is beside her bed. These are the kinds of books that I loved as a child and love passing down to my children. It's a wonderful book. I hope the author is inspired to continue to write more children's books. She has a gift and we are fortunate that she shared her gift with us, the gift of writing.

I purchased this book for my 10 year old grandchild and decided I should read it before presenting it to her. I am so glad I did. It is a splendid combination of the spirit of World War II and the details of that period of history that should not be forgotten or changed. It was written for the kids we hope will never experience that kind of time, but who must learn about it.

It is not just a story of a victory garden but a child's view of the spirit of the people then and to some extent now. It is so timely because once again our children are called to the details of another world wide battle in which we (and they are involved).

Bravo to the author for bringing this charming, enlightening chronicle of a child uniting people by leading in a way that unified them while helping them. Isn't that what won that war?

A must-have book for all motorcycle fans and riders of all bikes, not just the Victory. The writing, pictures and general information makes this a great read.

I excerpted much of the following from the Polaris Industries web site:

VICTORY: The Making of A New American Motorcycle covers the developmental history of the V92C, the all-new motorcycle from the Victory Motorcycles Division of Polaris Industries Inc. from the idea in 1993 to production in 1998.

The Victory motorcycle is historically significant because it's the first mass-produced, full-sized, all-new motorcycle from an American manufacturer in more than 60 years. Smaller motorcycles such as scooters have been built during that time, as have custom bikes, but nothing on the scale of the Victory V92C, a high-performance cruiser motorcycle.

The book chronicles all stages of the bike's development, including: Polaris research of the motorcycle market; corporate review and approval of the Victory project; benchmarking of competitive motorcycles to establish performance goals; use of a test "mule" to refine the ride and handling; creation of the big Victory V-twin engine (the most-powerful mass-produced V-twin on the cruiser market); and final development work on pre-production bikes.

The photos are excellent and plentiful.