Book Description
From early childhood, Hudson Taylor (1832--1905) dreamed of becoming a missionary in China. Though he would struggle with his faith throughout his youth, by age seventeen he had settled his spiritual issues and acknowledged God's call to the mission field. In China, Taylor took the unusual step of adopting native garb, which helped him earn the respect of many Chinese. Depending entirely on God for his financial support and for protection from hostile elements of Chinese society, Taylor lead a work that eventually became the China Inland Mission, which laid the groundwork for much of that nation's modern-day Christianity. ... Read more

Book Description
The first difinitive biography of singer-songwriter James Taylor, written with the full co-operation of Taylor and his family, numerous friends and musical associates. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (28)

Well Meaning, Well Done
Timothy White obviously worked hard on this book. He clearly wanted to put together a well researched, well written book on James Taylor, and he does a fairly good job of achieving his goal.

As others have mentioned, the first quarter of this fairly long book is dedicated to James Taylor's family and background. Fortunately, his family story is quite interesting, and so I didn't mind looking back a few hundred years into the Taylor's roots in Scotland and North Carolina.

White appears to have fairly good contacts with the Taylors themselves, and he interviewed many of the musicians who worked with him over the years. The result is a fairly detailed look at James Taylor's tumultuous and interesting life.

I have to admit that I have some reservations about this book. Somehow I still feel like I don't quite know James Taylor. Having read the book, I can't really say whether he is shy, outgoing, egotistical, caring or insensitive. Interestingly enough, I feel like I could find material in this book to support almost any of those positions.

White knows Taylor's music, and discusses it in great depth and with considerable enthusiasm and skill. But again, I'm not sure that he fully plumbed the depths of the music, nor does he give a complete accounting of Taylor's various strengths and weaknesses. I've loved James Taylor's music since I was a boy, and I've listened to some of his albums over and over again. There are some things that he does as well or better than anyone else, yet I've also been aware of his limitations. In particular, he is a great singer and craftsman, and he has written some of the most beautiful melodies in pop music; and yet his often skillfully written and highly intelligent lyrics are not as deep as those of some of the other great singer-songwriters. I wanted White to wrestle with these inconsistencies and was disappointed that he did not.

If you like biographies of musicians, and you like James Taylor, then you will not be disappointed by this book. Here you can learn many details that help make the songs come alive. Certainly James should be happy with this book, as reading it made me spend a few dollars to fill in the holes in my collection. If you are tempted by the subject matter, by all means buy the book. You will enjoy it.

Nothing About James Taylor A Hermit Wouldn't Know
I concur with all the prior reviews that criticize this book for the lack of insightful, interesting information about James Taylor the Man and the Musician.Virtually nothing new about Taylor, professional or personal, appears throughout the book.Taylor's life is either extremely boring or intensely gaurded by some kind of blood pact with every single one of his past associates.What is certain is the author didn't have the tools to dig deep enough and come up with something sustantial.However, with this book, you will get an extremely detailed and embellished Taylor Family history dating back to 17th century Scotland worthy of the National Archives.The redundant geneology lesson spans nearly 100 pages, including more information on great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, in-laws, and siblings than could possibly be considered relevant or neccesary to the biography of a musician.Unless, that is, you buy into the weak metaphor of James Taylor still plying the ancient trades of his ancestors and voyaging across that timeless ocean that is life, and slurp up some pretty sappy, poetic reviews and subjective interpretations of his songs from the author.Not much else about this book is new or interesting.Indeed, if you put all the James Taylor quotes together, you'd only fill a page or two.Toss in the author's awkward attempt to evoke the mystic qualities of the pioneer Eastern seaboard where Taylor was raised, or the unconvincing "Taylor Curse" of paternal carelessness and addiciton that the author claims haunts the clan, and by the end of the book your patience has been thoroughly tested.Perhaps you may find this book informative if you have no clue who people like Danny Kortchmar, Peter Asher, Carole King, and Carly Simon are, or if you had no idea that James Taylor struggled with substance abuse and spent brief periods of his youth in mental wards for depression.Or maybe you missed the detail about Taylor being first appreciated commercially in London and signed to the Beatles' Apple Record label.Any unofficial fan website could provide these details; you don't need to wade through 322 pages.As far I'm concerned, we're all still waiting for the "definitive" bio on James Taylor.It's hard to believe the author has known and been interviewing James Taylor since 1977.The familiarity one would hope for from that relationship is surely amiss in this book.

Geneology and discography, but a biography? Nyeh.
Author Tim White worked his butt off to turn this book into a biography but it is clearly "authorized" and will not do.

Outside of a 100-page 600-year family history that the family itself never cared enough about to investigate, and considerable detail about Taylor's music deals, influences, play dates and venues, the biographical material is scarce and overly-vetted, perhaps by Taylor himself who certainly did much living he does not want made public.

Plenty of space is given to Taylor's alcoholic but highly-accomplished father, Ike, and the distance he put between himself and his long-suffering wife and children. The emotional agony he caused his family, for there is no other word for the consequences of his illness and personality, is laid out bloodlessly and at a remove, so while we can "guess" what might have gone one, it is never spelled out. One can almost hear James Taylor okaying the allusions but crossing out the specifics.

The same applies to Taylor himself and his years of alcohol and drug abuse, which must have produced a miserable life for those connected with him. There is little meat to the discussions of his two lengthy marriages, either, which also were fraught with his heroin, methamphetamine and alcohol addiction and emotional abandonment.

James Taylor is a very gifted artist who was married to two artists, the son of gifted parents, thebrother of several musicians, the father of two more and the lover of several others. This book had the potential to be a richly-layered analysis of how love, art, joy, duty, ruin, passion, sin and guilt have woven themselves in and out of this family's lives.

But it is not.

His wives and lovers, for instance, are given extremely short shrift. Being married to James Taylor could not have been a picnic.There is a feeling here that both of his first two wives -- Carly Simon and actress Kathryn Walker -- must have yearned as mightily for a deeper emotional connection to this man they loved, just as the reader yearns to understand what the hell was going on here and how they all traversed the stormy seas of Taylor's personality - and why they bothered.

There is no mention at all, as far as I could find, of Joni Mitchell, with whom Taylor had an affair so intense that she devoted two albums ("Blue" and "For the Roses") to its exegesis, nor of the other affairs that lit up or littered his marriages and his life. Other losses -- the sad death of his father and brother, the divorces, deaths of friends, difficulty with intimacy -- are narrated carefully and truthfully, it would seem, but again, with no detail and at a considerable remove.

The ghost of James Taylor is here, but the body has been carted away. He insists his music is not autiobiographical, and since his biography is not biographical, Taylor continues to be the mystery he apparently wants to remain. I have no objection to that, but it is nothing to write home about.zzz-zzz-zzz

Like reading an encyclopedia
If you want to know everything in the world about JT's music history, including practically every person he ever shook hands with, read this.If you're looking for something to put you to sleep at night, read it.If you're looking for a good, readable biography, skip it.

What about James?
A very in-depth book, however if you're really interested in details about James Taylor's thoughts, reasonings, actions or detailed accounts surrounding his career, you won't find a ton of it hear.The book is over 300 pages but you could probably knock it down to about 50 pages that actually talk about James.Perhaps the author just couldn't get enough out of the private james taylor.Instead of finding out what went on in the early days with respect to his career, music and interpersonal relationships, we get pages and pages of family history and backgrounds of other people or events.The author gives more information about his friends than about james.Just when you think you're getting to a portion in the book that's revealing, the author sums it up in a page.We hear about his songs including vocals by other artists like Jimmy Buffet or Keith Richards - why not expand on thier relationship a bit?He was married to Carly Simon for many years but not much is learned about their life together and the effects they had on each other.

All of this said, the details on the family history and make up does help put a frame around his life.Just don't think you're going to come away with a lot of interesting tales about his thoughts or actions other than some descriptions as to what the songs meant and brief descriptions of certain periods of time.

If I wasn't such a huge fan I never would have finished it. ... Read more

Book Description

“Automated decisions systems are probably already being used in your industry, and they will undoubtedly grow in importance. If your business needs to make quick, accurate decisions on an industrialized scale, you need to read this book.”

Thomas H. Davenport, Professor, Babson College, Author of Competing on Analytics

The computer-based systems most organizations rely on to support their businesses are not very smart. Many of the business decisions these companies make tend to be hidden in systems that make poor decisions, or don’t make them at all. Further, most systems struggle to keep up with the pace of change.

The answer is not to implement newer, “intelligent” systems. The fact is that much of today’s existing technology has the potential to be “smart enough” to make a big difference to an organization’s business. This book tells you how.

Although the business context and underlying principles are explained in a nontechnical manner, the book also contains how-to guidance for more technical readers.

The book’s companion site, www.smartenoughsystems.com, has additional information and references for practitioners as well as news and updates.

Additional Praise for Smart (Enough) Systems

“James Taylor and Neil Raden are on to something important in this book–the tremendous value of improving the large number of routine decisions that are made in organizations every day.”

Dr. Hugh J. Watson, Chair of Business Administration, University of Georgia

“This is a very important book. It lays out the agenda for business technology in the new century–nothing less than how to reorganize every aspect of how a company treats its customers.”

David Raab, President, ClientXClient

“This book is an important contribution to business productivity because it covers the opportunity from both the business executive’s and technologist’s perspective. This should be on every operational executive’s and every CIO’s list of essential reading.”

John Parkinson, Former CTO, Capgemini, North American Region

“This book shows how to use proven technology to make business processes smarter. It clearly makes the case that organizations need to optimize their operational decisions. It is a must-have reference for process professionals throughout your organization.”

Customer Reviews (10)

Natural Successor to "Competing on Analytics"
Most business persons associated with the technology aspects of their firms now understand that the importance of intelligence in general to beat the competition has increased rapidly over the last couple decades. Much of the business world, however, has not been aware of this need until recently. For example, the September 15th-21st 2007 issue of the Economist magazine included an article entitled "Business by Numbers" that covered some aspects of business intelligence, but with an aura of mystery as though the reader was not yet aware of the subject matter. Just several months ago, Harvard Business School Press released the first mainstream work on competitive intelligence, which was long overdue (see my review for that work). While "Competing on Analytics" focused on introducing the reader to competitive intelligence, however, James Taylor takes the next step by presenting an exhaustive survey of current thoughts on business intelligence in general and how it might deliver on its promises to businesses by moving to the next step in providing automated decision making. In his Six Sigma related works, M. Daniel Sloan (see my reviews for his works) stresses the importance of evidence-based decision making that is based on data and not guesswork. The importance of using software systems to enable automated decision making is what "Smart (Enough) Systems" is all about. While chapters 1 and 2 start off slowly and are a bit academic in nature, they set the stage for the remainder of the text. Chapter 3 is incredibly well-written. It provides a history of how technology has been used in business decision making, and how data warehousing entered the picture. This chapter also provides some very well-worded discussions on what distinguishes data warehousing from business intelligence. However, the reader is repeatedly reminded throughout the book that enterprise decision management (EDM) does not just provide business data in different formats in order that business persons can interpret the information manually. EDM actually provides a large portion of these interpretations. The amount of data in software systems throughout the world is rising exponentially, and Taylor explains that this automation is necessary in order that crucial opportunities for more effective competition not be missed. Many of the decisions that need to be made with this data just cannot wait for human analysis. The next few chapters after chapter 3 expound on the earlier material, and the rest of the text explains the various ways that EDM might be adopted by businesses. Unlike "Competing on Analytics", the material in the latter half of "Smart (Enough) Systems" is not lightweight and cannot be read in an afternoon. Davenport and Harris explain very well the "what", but Taylor stresses the "how". Both the content and the number of graphs and diagrams that Taylor provides are excellent and accompany the material well. Updated information on various topics that I have not seen elsewhere are also included in the book, such as Figure 10.11 which depicts how industry software project failures have dropped over time, but the portion of these failures due to requirements errors has remained consistent. In addition, side bars throughout the book present case studies that explain how the EDM way contrasts with the old way of doing things, and the benefits provided by EDM in these scenarios. I do not expect this seminal work by Taylor to sit on bookshelves but to be actively referenced by its readership.

A book that spans two worlds and helps you make better decisions
Smart Enough Systems is a book with one foot in two worlds.At one level, it is a business book addressing the issues of using information and decision support.On the other level it is almost a BI/DSS for the less intelligent in terms of its step by step guidance on working through these issues.Fortunately the books premise regarding automating hidden decisions requires a bit of both.

As a business book, Smart Enough covers the need to explain the concepts in business terms and provide a framework for generating ROI.It does not talk in great depth about how decisions drive competitive advantage.It is also a little weak on the explanation of where to apply this technique as I doubt enterprises will make the funding available to automate all of their decisions.

As a technology book, the author focuses on Enterprise Decision Management (EDM) is the primary focus of this book and it is described as applying a services approach to decision making.This looks to take business rules out of IT systems and put them into something akin to a decision service broker/service so the same situations are handled with the same set of rules.

The book is a solid and complete explanation of the author's ideas. Taylor and Raden focus on the systems aspects of EDM and their automation.This leads into a discussion of decision types and how they are automated.Here Taylor and Raden do well to illustrate these concepts, although the reader often encounters graphics and statements that are more than a bit dated.

The book would have been greatly helped with a clear and consistent case study application of its concepts. It also would have benefited from understanding the nature of decision systems support (DSS) a discipline that has been around for more than 30 years which is only discussed in a single sentence and again from a technology perspective.

This is a solid book by a professional who certainly understands the technical implications of his ideas - enterprise decision management.However, by trying to stand in both worlds it excels in neither.I would recommend this book more as a technical and implementation guide rather than as an executive business book.In that regard it has a place in IT but probably not in the Boardroom.

For me this book defines agility and explains how to approach it
It seemed to me that the systems that run our business process are really controlled by a few elite IT professionals and programers. Unfortunately, they can't really be as responsive as they like our we need.

This book helps me to understand how my policies, rules and decisions can be lifted up a level where we can more directly influence.

Great read.

Verbosity & cliche' obscure important messages
Wouldn't take a very sharp blue pencil to trim this down. Even well-defined terms like blackbox and whitebox testing are obscured in the buzzspeak grinder.Had to stop reading in frustration; maybe the blogs will help.

Why didn't I think of that?
I've been in the enterprise software business for a long time, and for a long time I've had several related intuitions about how requirements, rules and SOA fit together.But frankly, I never managed to get to a coherent whole about them.Many times while reading this book I kept saying "yes of course, why didn't I think of that?"There are so many excellent insights in this book.

Taylor and Raden may have created a new movement with this work in Enterprise Operational Decision Management.The central theme is that organizations are known by the decisions they make, and not just the major strategic decisions, but the myriad small decisions that their thousands of employees make on a day to day basis.Up until now we had to make due with Decision Support, Knowledge Management, Business Intelligence, Data Warehouses and other off-line aids for manual decision making.In the last few years the maturation of Rules Management systems and the near universal adoption of SOA,Work Flow andBPM are making it possible to more the entire decisioning process into real time, whether human assisted or fully automated.

Two other profound ideas I want to comment on are the champion/ challenger concept, and the role of hypothesis and prediction.Each alone isworth the price of the book.

The champion/challenger concept says once you have a decision model in place and working you owe it to yourself to constantly challenge it by setting up a series of alternate models and running some percent of the decision flow through the challenger model and testing the outcome against the current (champion) scenario.This wasn't really viable until the advent of SOA.They make a great case for how this arrangement allows firms to continually improve their decision making.

A traditional rule system runs off what the experts think the best thing to do in the face of uncertainty.But unless and until a system makes predictions about the outcome of its decisions and closes the loop with the actual results (which of course are often not known for quite some time) it will not be able to improve.This is the heart of their prediction driven decision model.

The book is obviously based on a wealth of information: there must be nearly 100 case study/vignettes sprinkled throughout emphasizing the points just made.

Excellent and inspiring piece of work.
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Book Description
Today's organizations face a wide variety of challenges, including such contradictions as maintaining unity of action while becoming increasingly diverse. Even the definition of organization is changing and evolving. In this monograph, the authors apply their academic and professional experience to address the notion of "organization," setting forth communication as the essential modality for the constitution of organization--explaining how an organization can at the same time be both local and global, and how these properties which give organization continuity over time and across geographically dispersed situations also come to be manifested in the day-to-day of human interpersonal exchange.

As a radical rethinking of the traditional discourse approaches in communication theory, this book develops a conceptual framework based on the idea that "organization" emerges in the mix of conversational and textual communicative activities that together construct organizational identity. Applying concepts from the philosophy of language, linguistics, semiotics, system design, sociology and management theory, the authors put forth a convincing argument demonstrating the materiality of language and its constructive role in organization and society.
... Read more

Book Description
Bayard Taylor was among the thousands of young men who came to California in 1849 for the gold rush. Sent by his publisher, Horace Greeley, he came not to find a fortune, but to share his thoughts and experiences with the readers of the New York Tribune. Taylor wrote of what he saw—the growth and popularity of San Francisco and the Bay Area, the immediate creation of townships nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas to house the immigrants, the California constitutional convention, and the circumstances that wealth created, both good and bad—and Taylor's words helped to form many of the perceptions that have shaped modern-day California. With a new foreword by James D. Houston, an afterword by Roger Kahn, and annotations by Robert Senkewicz, Eldorado is an essential contribution to the literature of the West. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Probably the most outstanding book on early California ever written.....
I can't agree more with the other reviewer who has commented on this book. I also found it accidentally (while looking for books written by James D. Houston), and I also am buying extra copies to give as gifts.

The writing here is majestic, magical, and extremely powerful (yet simple and elegant at the same time).You will learn more about the California of the mid-1800s, by reading this book, than you will probably learn anywhere else. The author was a truly gifted writer, and his expressive and detailed language regarding California life at the time of the gold rush, will enthrall and deeply impact you.

One other point!The quality of this printing is exceptional, and adds greatly to the text itself.This book is an awesome deal, given Amazon's pricing and availability.

superb and engaging
I stumbled across this book by accident one day and it has turned out to be my find of 2001 -- one of the most enjoyable books I have read in ages. Taylor, a youthful New York journalist and poet, was sent out to California to file back dispatches on this wild, gold-filled, lush place in the seminal gold rush year of 1849, when California was a sprawling region, and not yet a state. And what a fabulous job he does -- this readsmore like an engaging adventure narrative than non-fiction, and I could not put it down -- a reader is completely transported into another place and time. One cannot fail to be fascinated by the bustling, energetic, multi-ethnic, can-do place that was the west coast. If you know California, especially the San Francisco, Monterey and Sacramento areas, Taylor's descriptions of their still-untamed landscapes will be both familiar and strange, but always utterly lovely. His reports of the gold rush regions are extraordinary, as is his walk -- yes, *walk* -- from San Francisco to Monterey... this at a time when a galloping horse could get from San Jose to San Francisco in perhaps seven *hours*. Taylor is funny, honest, generally very clear-eyed and unsentimental, and his writing is of very high calibre. Kudos to Heyday Press for bringing this wonderful book to a new audience. I am giving it to everybody as a gift this year. ... Read more

Product Description
Elizabeth Taylor (1856 - 1932) was a travel writer entranced by the Northern climes. Her visits to Iceland, Canada, Norway and, above all, the Faroe Islands, resulted in the essays contained in this book. Her original writings were passed around for year and eventually were given to her great-grandnephew who organized them and even visited some of the places Elizabeth wrote about. There are 39 articles from Elizabeth's writings in this book along with letters she wrote and received from family and friends along the way. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Intriguing travel in sub-Arctica by a fascinating woman
Elizabeth Taylor, one of those indomitable Victorian women who hiked their skirts and explored where even tough moderns would pause, faced the wilds of northern Canada and of the Faroe Islands. The miserable weather etched the inhabitants but didn't faze our guide.

Taylor was neither a sentimentalist nor a cynic but saw clearly and wrote straight.Trained as an artist and enamored of nature--especially birds and flowers--Taylor appreciated people who lived closest to her beloved surroundings.By her account, they responded to her interest by inviting her to share their hard-bitten lives and without pretense, she accepted their invitations.

Taylor financed her economic travels by writing for middle class magazines, like Frank Leslie's, and for outdoors magazines where a female byline was a rarity.These essays come from those published pieces and some journals archived in her hometown, Minneapolis.A descendent has assembled the collection, but the task had real literary and cultural value that counts for much more than familial duty.

A book about places few of us ever would want to visit became for me a book full of passages worthy of reading to friends. A description of the whale hunt, for example, rings with authority and subdued horror.Elizabeth Taylor emerges as her own modest heroine, and her quiet, gemhard descriptions stay alive long after the book is finished. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Product Description
Shocked & Amazed! Volume 9(featuring The Torture King)October 2007, 128 pages.-Tim "Zamora the Torture King" Cridland interview-Manuel King (once billed as the World's Youngest Animal Trainer when he was 10yrs. old back in the '30s) interview-Excerpt from RATTLING YOURS - THE STORY OF SNAKE KING (the man who supplied pretty much all the carnival shows with the bulk of their exotic animals, especially reptiles, in the first half of the 20th century)-Excerpt from John Strausbaugh's BLACK LIKE YOU on the historical origins of minstrelsy-Medicine shows!-Hubert's Museum: Dime After Dime-Next installment of "The Strand," on variety entertainment at the turn of the century-Next installment of Walt Hudson's "Coney Island Baby"-History of Ken Harck's Bros. Grim Sideshow photo essay-Joseph Pujol (yeah, Le Petomane) and our discovery that, in spite of the urban myth to the contrary, he really existed (as opposed to: he was a hoax) and farted for a living-"Carny Lingo"-Mark Frierson cover art... AND MUCH, MUCH MORE! ... Read more

Product Description
Piano/Vocal/Chord songbook that matches the James Taylor alubm "Dad Loves His Work" Songs include: Her Town Too * Sugar Trade * Hour That the Morning Comes * That Lonesome Road * Stand and Fight * London Town * Only for Me * Believe It or Not * I Will Follow * Hard Times * Summer's Here plus several pages of full color photographs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Spirituality of Pets
It was interesting, and some what informative.I have read many dog books and I didn't find this one exceptional.I read it because it was a gift but wouldn't purchase it for myself.This book holds your interest and is worth reading as I said if you are a stong dog lover. ... Read more

Book Description
This series of photo books profiling the most famous personalities in the history of cinema contain approximately 150 high quality, enigmatic, and sumptuous portraits, colorful posters, rare film stills, candid shots, as well as essays and career highlights. ... Read more

Product Description
Ten Songs with Guitar Chords: Everyday, Going Around One More Time, Lomousine Driver, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Mona (pig image), Only a Dream in Rio, Only One, Song For You Far Away, That's Why I'm Here, and Turn Away. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The best bearing analysis handbook to date
This book consists of 10 chapters in which there are numerous illustrations and photos. It discusses frequency calculations, data collection, defect patterns & analysis, how bearing generate frequencies, analysis techniques, and different kinds of bearing defects in detail, supported by many case studies. Out of Mr. Taylor's Analysis Handbook series this book is of great importance to me as a vibration engineer. This book is based on the authors 30 years experience in the filed of vibration. I am extremely satisfied with the contents of this book. Purchase this book with confidence, it is worth every penny.

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Book Description
Composer, critic, author, and radio personality, (Joseph) Deems Taylor (1885-1966) was one of the most influential figures in American culture from the 1920s through the 1940s. A self-taught composer, the New York City native wrote such pieces as the orchestral suite Through the Looking Glass and the acclaimed operas The King's Henchman and Peter Ibbetson, the first commissions ever offered by the Metropolitan Opera. Taylor's operatic works were among the most popular and widely performed of his day, yet he achieved greatest fame and recognition as the golden-voiced intermission commentator for the New York Philharmonic radio broadcasts and as the on-screen host of Walt Disney's classic film Fantasia. With his witty, clever, charming, and informative but unpatronizing manner, he almost single-handedly introduced classical music to millions of Americans across the nation.

In this first biography of Taylor, James A. Pegolotti brings to life the remarkably multi-talented man within the context of his times. The captivating portrait recounts his formative years in the Bronx, his college years at New York University, where he composed four successive varsity musicals, his journalistic career first as a writer for the New York Tribune Sunday Magazine and then as the powerful music critic for the New York World, and his musical triumphs. Pegolotti also details Taylor's stints as editor of Musical America, president of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), best-selling author of Of Men and Music and other books, collaborator with Disney and Leopold Stokowski on Fantasia, and even judge for the Miss America pageant. He describes how Taylor used his critic's pulpit to champion American music, opera, and musicians, and also chronicles his colorful personal life, including his third marriage at age sixty to a twenty-year-old costume designer.

Enlivened with such figures as George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ayn Rand, and Taylor's fellow Algonquin Round Table tastemakers, this in-depth, well-balanced, and objective biography will stand as the definitive work on the great American composer-critic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Tantalizing
Pegoletti's wonderfully researched book makes one long, not only for the days when a single figure, such as Deems Taylor, could explain all of contemporary music to a mass audience, but also for Taylor's own orchestral and vocal works which are so hard to find nowadays!Taylor may not have been much good for the women in his life, but he knew how to tell a story and how to build a career. Did he have what it takes to capture the interest of posterity?Time will make these decisions for him, but how i wish an enterprising record company would release at least the radio checks of his operas!Thank you, Mr. Pegoletti, for giving him one more shot.

Deems Taylor - A great read
Who was Deems Taylor?
A member of the Algonquin Roundtable, one of Dorothy Parker's many lovers, the co-author of an opera with Edna St. Vincent Millay, a collaborator with Leopold Stowkowski for Walt Disney's "Fantasia." He was also a commentator for CBS radio on its first day on the air; the president of ASCAP; a long-time commentator on radio concerts; and a close friend of the great musicians, artists, authors and wits of the last century, including: George Gershwin, Robert Benchley, Edna Ferber and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

In his biography, James Pegolotti weaves well the tapestry of events of this wonderful time for concert music and the theatre in New York.

A must-read for theater buffs and others who enjoy recent Americana.

great biography
The research on this book was very extensive. The subject matter was very interesting. There was always a new and fascinating aspect of Deems Taylor's life to learn about. Well written, historic, completely researched and a most enjoyable read. ... Read more