Product Description
A collection of essays and poems explores the attitudes of writers over the years toward the New York they left--or thought of leaving--behind, including Frank Conroy, Mona Simpson, Truman Capote, A. J. Liebling, and Toni Morrison. IP. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Considers social, religious and economic issues alike
New York City's many Arab communities are perfect examples of the melting pot richness of the city, and A Community Of Many Worlds provides an informative account in partnership with the Museum of the City of New York, surveying New York's Arab populations and their characteristics. Seventeen essays consider social, religious and economic issues alike as they consider key issues of the Arab-American community in general and New Yorkers in particular. ... Read more

Product Description
Full color. ... Read more

Product Description
"An invaluable window on how New York self-consciously and very publicly transformed itself from a city that was merely 'the largest' to an undisputed world-class metropolis. . . . A rich historical record of newspapers, manuscripts, artifacts, photographs, and graphics . . . offers a new lens to examine identity, industry, and environment."--Kenneth T. Jackson, from the ForewordFor two weeks in the fall of 1909, New York City threw itself the biggest party it had ever seen--attracting millions of people to a sprawling festival 150 miles long, from Brooklyn up the Hudson River to Albany. This extraordinary event, the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, was officially meant to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson's discovery of the river bearing his name and the centennial of Robert Fulton's first successful run of his steamship Clermont. But in an era of grand world's fairs, the Celebration was really created to showcase New York's coming of age as a world metropolis. On city sidewalks and along the river, millions enjoyed a nonstop circus of fireworks, concerts, museum exhibitions, children's festivals, and military and naval parades, each designed to link past glories to present challenges and future progress. And to show the world that its biggest city worked.For city leaders, the Celebration was to be a gaudy catalyst for change--technological, commercial, cultural, and political. There were great flotillas of the world's navies. New, glittering electric lights illuminated bridges and skyscrapers. Jawdropping flyovers by Wilbur Wright and Glenn Curtiss introduced New Yorkers to the airplane. The Queensboro Bridge had just been built, as had new subway lines. Thousands of children in ethnic costumes marched to celebrate the new American melting pot. No one had seen anything like it.This fascinating book commemorates that commemoration. With a rich selection of full-color images--photographs, graphics, memorabilia, paintings, and much more--it tells the story of what those two weeks meant to four million New Yorkers and one million out-of-town guests. Johnson brings back a city feverishly at work and play, from the grand schemes of the planners to the way the Celebration put the city and its people on a world stage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Ships That Launched New York
Told with wit and charm, Kathleen Eagen Johnson's engaging account of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration restores to prominence an all but forgotten chapter in American history, the two weeks in September 1909 when New York boisterously announced its arrival on the world stage with a dazzling variety of parades, pageants, and parties.

CommemoratingHenry Hudson 1609 voyage of discovery and Robert Fulton's 1807 introduction of commercial steamship travel between New York City and Albany, the Celebration built on Washington Irving's world famous history of Knickerbocker New York - here gloriously illustrated by George Cruikshank, Maxfield Parrish and others - to create an Empire City whose past rivaled that of Boston and Philadelphia.

The backstory was more complicated. New York's great history parade advanced a confused social agenda bent on tutoring immigrants - New York was awash with them - in traditional American values while selling the public a raft of progressive programs. Electricity, used with manic zeal to illuminate every bridge, boat and boulevard in the five boroughs and beyond, was the Celebration's leitmotif.

Johnson'slively pictorial review makes outstanding use of the fine and popular arts produced by the Celebration, reproducing more than two hundred photographs, illustrations, and souvenirs of every variety, from medals and badges to sheet music, cigar box labels, china, silver, and needlework.

An expert on the material culture of Dutch and English New York, the author has an eye for telling detail. Dressed as Dutch girls or sailor boys, children marched in parades throughout the state in a quixotic display of cultural diversity. Barely recognized, writes Johnson, were African Americans, who had lived in New York since the early seventeenth century.

Art afficionados will likely recall the Hudson-Fulton Celebration for the pair of exhibitions Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum of Art organized in tribute. In the great international art grab of the post Civil War era, American wealth trumped European lineage. American financier J.P. Morgan organized the Met's spectacular Dutch paintings show, including thirty-four Rembrandts, twenty Hals, and five Vermeers, a staggering assertion of power even by today's blockbuster standards.

The Met's tandem exhibition is rightly considered pivotal. It marked the first time that American decorative arts were displayed by a major American fine-arts museum and validated the ensuing antiques collecting craze that continues today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Written in 1944, Original Romance Novel
This is another book that was one of the first of it's kind. There was not a book after this one; so it is not a series and you are kind of left wanting more. I liked reading this book, the heroine is a pain and you so want to shake her; but in the end you can't get enough of her. It's fun because it was written in 1944 and was the grandmother of Romance Novels; if you can find the book it's worth reading and owning for it's historical value. I wish the author had the imagination to finish Amber's story.

Love the book...Can't exactly explain why, but do.
Okay, Okay, I've read all the bad reviews on here, and I have to admit that this was NOT the book I would choose if I wanted a pick-me-up, light-hearted, fun read. But I would always reach for this book before picking up Gone with the Wind, and that's saying something since most reviewers comment on how much they like that book!
It really is along the same lines, and I don't know how you can like Scarlet O'hara without falling in love with Amber St Claire. Now, I have to admit, if I met her or someone like her in real life, I would hate her. The wonderful thing about this book, though, is you get an insider view on what's going on in her mind, the struggles she went thru, and the difficulty of being Amber St Claire. It shows you a side of her personality that I would never care to see in a real person I knew. I would automatically be obligated to hate someone like this, yet I sympathize with her, feel her pain, and understand that the one thing she really wanted, the one thing she dreamed of more than anything else in the world (Bruce), is the ONLY thing in life permanently denied to her.
I think people are being way too harsh on Amber though. No, she wasn't a MORAL character. There is NO redeeming moral to this story; but I challenge a reviewer to write a story about THEIR OWN life that is any better than this book--I doubt they will come up with any dribble worth reading, and the point of this story is not a divine moral or some reason for living that's universal--it's the personal life and struggle of a young girl thrust into society and forced to make something of her life or die trying. Amber is an entity that will live on long after her author is dead. She's like a force of nature--really--you can't stop her, and she dares you to try! Her life wasn't easy, and in a time when life for women in general wasn't easy, her courage and force of life is admirable! If anyone had a reason to just sit down and cry about how life was treating them, it would be Amber--but she's much too strong a person to do that. I doubt you could say the same if you were in her place, and I know that not many would go anywhere near as far as she did, even if she was a fictional character.
It amazes me that in a modern-day culture where women are supposed to be equal with men, and understand how far we've come from the primitive days where men could kill their wives and move on to the next pretty unsuspecting farm girl, wear her out, then kill her too,(which is not the plot of this story, but they do discuss just how bad things were for women back then and not one of these reviewers can honestly say they understand what life for them would have been like back then) a girl like Amber, who refuses to be used, and uses the only resources left to her to climb to a social and power status far beyond that which any mere man could have done in that day is worthy of respect.
... Read more

Product Description
A magic trick gone fatally wrong engages the talents of"one of the genre's most original and intriguing characters."*-NewYork City homicide detective Kathleen Mallory. (*Cleveland PlainDealer)

"One Of O'connell's Best." -Milwaukee JournalSentinel

"O'Connelladmirably treads the tightrope between appearance and reality, memoryand history, the magic and mundane."-AtlantaJournal-ConstitutionAmazon.com Review
There has always been a touch of magic, a whiff of deception and illusion about Mallory, the New York homicide detective who never lets anyone call her Kathy. In highly praised books such as Killing Critics, Mallory's Oracle, and The Man Who Cast Two Shadows, Carol O'Connell has wrapped her fascinating, frustrating character in a cloak of myth. So it's no surprise that in her fifth adventure, Mallory is literally surrounded by magic and magicians, trying to find out why an old illusionist was killed while re-creating a famous trick involving four crossbows.

All of the suspects are magicians themselves, connected to the past and each other by events in Paris during World War II. One of them, a self-declared madman named Malakhai, lives in a mental hospital and maintains an elaborate fantasy involving his dead wife. There's a marvelous set piece early on--a poker game at which this invisible woman not only takes a seat but also makes bets, wins hands, and smokes lipsticked cigarettes. Of course Mallory is largely on her own in the investigation: she insults her only two friends and alienates all her police colleagues with her weird, unorthodox methods.

O'Connell is a richly poetic writer who fills her books with fleeting samples of everyone from Rilke and T.S. Eliot to Billie Holiday. Even if you're not deeply interested in how magicians work their magic, you should find enough other pleasures here to enjoy the author's superb bag of tricks. --Dick Adler ... Read more

Customer Reviews (53)

my order didn't arrive!
It's hard to review something that didn't arrive. I will not be buying from this seller again. I have waited for almost three weeks for my book, and I am still waiting for a response to my e-mail.This is the first time I have had this happen from any bookseller at Amazon,

A step backwards...
I have enjoyed Carol O'Connell's Kathy Mallory series from the beginning.She got off to a great start with Mallory's Oracle, and each book just got better and better. But I thought that Shell Game was definitely a step backward.I persevered to the end, just hoping things would improve.While they did to an extent, I really didn't care who the murderer was--I just wanted it over.And at 402 pages of small print, I'm not sure it was a good investment of time.

Charles Butler is NYPD Detective Kathy Mallory's good friend.Butler is the younger cousin of Max Candle, one of the best magicians who ever performed.Candle has been dead for 30 years, but Butler inherited all his magic props.As a young man, Candle performed with a number of other young magicians in Paris during World War II.One of the magicians, Oliver Tree, is accidentally killed trying to recreate The Lost Illusion, one of the tricks from the 1940s.Of was it really a murder?And if so, which one of the other magicians is responsible for his death?Mallory is convinced that not only was Tree murdered, but also Louisa, wife of Malakhai, who died back in 1942.She has her hands full, fighting her boss at the NYPD and trying to deal with a number of magicians where things aren't always what they seem.

Unfortunately, I had too many "issues" with Shell Game.First, there were a number of magicians and it was hard to keep them all straight.Second, I thought the plot was just too convoluted.Third, The Lost Illusion was performed on a platform with crossbows, and it was almost impossible to visualize.The descriptions of the magic tricks were equally nebulous.And Malakhai performed with his dead wife, Louisa.Her shadow followed him around, her perfume could be smelled, her cigarettes appeared with red lipstick stains, wine disappeared from her wineglass, etc.It was just too much of a stretch.

While I didn't enjoy Shell Game as much as the other Mallory books, I will certainly not give up on O'Connell. Even though Shell Game was disappointing, O'Connell is still better than many of the mystery writers out there.

Fascinating as always
I have to differ with other reviews listed here about this book. As usual, I cannot put it down.Perhaps it is because I was born 8 years after WW2 ended.I find her storytelling suberb especially in terms of the WW2 stories told by her magicians. My dad was in the army and landed in Utah Beach on DDplus1.For me, this book is an ode to all those who fought evil in Europe. In my world, there are NO bad Carol O'Connell books.There are some very poignant Mallory moments too when her compassion slips past her hard veneer.I was thinking I might be disappointed because of other amazon reviews but I wasn't in the least. I find this entire book fascinating including the illusionist descriptions.Mallory fans, read the other bad reviews and simply say, Yeah, right.

I love the series as a whole, but this book was AWFUL.
I do love the Mallory series as a whole, and I've read enough mystery series to know that no author can be good every time.

But reading this novel was an exercise in dragging my eyes almost against their will across some of the most boring dialogue I have ever had to misfortune to witness.

Holy cow...over and over and over these long long looooooong dialogues between these old magicians...WTF? I could seldom figure out what the heck they were even discussing. What was the point??

And the descriptions of the magical equipment and set-ups...AUGH!!!

Methinks O'Connell loves magic and wanted to work her interest/hobby into a book. But sweet jayzuz, please, don't ever do this to us again.

I only kept reading in case there was something crucial to the later plots.

And I missed Charles. More Charles! More cowbell, and much more Charles!!!

Mallory is mythical, metaphysical, and mystical.
Carol O'Connell's character Mallory is the most fascinating creature at work in modern crime fiction today. If you have yet to discover Mallory,
do so at once! She is like a treasured gift you are afraid to open, lest there be no surprises in life yet to come. And what a gift she is! What pleasure she will bring to your life. Superlatives to describe her are yet to be writ. Stunningly Beautiful with an immeasurable IQ, it is a rare pleasure just to watch Carol O'Connell's creation at work. Alone in the world, she is fiercely loyal to those who've loved and love her. Fools enter at their own risk, she has no qualms at ending their lives. "Shell Game" is book 5 in the series, and while my friend said this was her least favorite book, I smiled with glee, because if this is the low point(and I don't think it is; this book is great), what dizzying heights yet await. Head at once to checkout with "Mallory's Oracle","The Man Who Cast Two Shadows","Killing Critics","Stone Angel", and "Shell Game" and settle in and enjoy the spring and summer for you will have found a new friend to spend it with. I highly recommend reading these in order - out of order just won't do. Enjoy you lucky Mallory virgins - great pleasure awaits. You cannot afford to wait. Thank you Carol O'Connell. I appreciate, but cannot comprehend, such genius as you exhibit. ... Read more

Product Description
This brand-new manual prepares fourth grade students in New York State to do well on the required Elementary-Level Science Test. The book presents four study units: The Living Environment, The Physical Sciences, Process Skills, and Performance Assessment. The Living Environment unit covers plants, animals, genetics, health topics, ecology, and humans in their environment. The Physical Sciences unit introduces students to the basics of matter, energy, magnetism, gravity, simple machines, astronomy, and earth science. Process Skills introduces children to the concept of scientific method and tools, and reviews measuring processes such as graphing and analyzing data. The Performance Assessment unit deals with scientific activities appropriate to the fourth-grade level. The authors include practice and review questions with answers and two model tests with answers and explanations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Great Elementary Science Book
This lovely book covers all the science topics that you would want your Grade 4 child to learn about, including: plants, animals, genetics, health, ecology, matter, energy, forces, astronomy, weather, water, erosion and the scientific method. Each chapter finishes with a revision test, and at the end of the book, there are two more full tests, answers and an index. ... Read more

Product Description
Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Faith Hill, Kathleen Howard, Maureen Forrester, Kathleen York, Kathleen Ferrier, Patsy Cline, Lisa Gerrard, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Marian Anderson, Emilie Autumn, Nathalie Stutzmann, Janet Baker, Ira Malaniuk, Tairrie B, Hertha Töpper, Helen Watts. Non illustré. Mises à jour gratuites en ligne. Extrait : Audrey Faith Perry McGraw, connue sous le nom de Faith Hill (née le 21 septembre 1967) est une chanteuse américaine de musique Country connue pour son succès en tant que chanteuse autant que pour son mariage avec son compatriote, le chanteur Tim McGraw. Sa voix est décrite comme soul et rauque et son choix judicieux en matière de morceaux lui a permis de vendre plus de 35 millions d'albums et d'accumuler neuf singles classés Numéro 1 au Country Charts. Faith Hill a été récompensée par la Country Music Association, l'Academy of Country Music, les Grammy Awards, les American Music Awards et les People's choice Awards. Sa tournée Soul2Soul II Tour 2006 en compagnie de son mari s'est hissée au rang de la plus grande tournée Country de tous les temps. En 2001, elle fut nommée l'une des 30 femmes les plus puissantes des États-Unis par le magazine Ladies Home Journal. Faith Hill voit le jour à Ridgeland, près de Jackson, dans le Mississippi, sous le nom de Audrey Faith Perry. Enfant, elle fut adoptée et élevée par un couple dans la banlieue de la ville de Star. Ses deux parents adoptifs ont élevé leurs deux fils biologiques ainsi que Faith dans une foi catholique très présente. Son talent vocal est apparemment apparu très tôt et elle fit ses premiers pas en public au déjeuner du 4-H alors qu'elle avait 7 ans. En 1976, quelques jours avant ses 9 ans, elle assista à un concert de Elvis Presley, au State Fair Coliseum, Jackson, ...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

Product Description
Surveys the history, economy, culture, and possible future of the Empire State. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A great introduction to New York for kids.
The "Portrait of America" series is a wonderful introduction for pre-teens to the 50 states and to the places and events that shaped the history of the United States. This "New York" installment is particularly good. The book is broken down into sections like "History", "Culture", "Economy" etc., and each section is thoughtfully written and edited. The "History" section is especially good and is very inclusive.

My only negative criticism has to do with the timeline at the end of the book; some things are included there that are very puzzling. For instance, it spotlights the election of Mario Cuomo to the governorship of New York. Why? Why did his election merit a spot on the timeline and not Nelson Rockefellor, FDR or the great Al Smith? Otherwise, this is a great book ... Read more

Product Description
Kadish and Clark present a delightful guide on how to enjoy New York City in style with a volume perfect for those who have a passion for shopping, dining or entertaining--or who simply prefer to experience extravagant lifestyles vicariously. Entertaining from cover to cover. ... Read more

Product Description
Shy and sheltered as a young woman, Kathleen Norris wasn'tprepared for the sex, drugs, and bohemianism of Bennington College in the late 1960s-and when she moved to New York City after graduation, it was a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. In this chronicle, Norris remembers the education she received, both formal and fortuitous; the influence of her mentor Betty Kray, who shunned the spotlight while serving as a guiding force in the poetry world of the late 20th century; her encounters with such figures as James Merrill, Jim Carroll, Denise Levertov, Stanley Kunitz, Patti Smith, and Erica Jong; and her eventual decision to leave Manhattan for the less-crowded landscape she described so memorably in Dakota. This account of the making of a young writer will resonate with anyone who has stumbled bravely into a bigger world and found the poetry that lurks on rooftops and in railroad apartments-and with anyone who has enjoyed the blessings of inspiring teachers and great friends.

"Norris's engaging memoir describes her coming-of-age as a college student in Vermont, and her subsequent immersion in the vibrant, often incestuous poetry world of Manhattan in the early 70's--a milieu that proved to be both suffocating and inspiring for the young poet...As Norris shares the lessons she learned in her younger years--among them, that boorishness and emotional suffering are not useful in becoming a poet--she offers valuable, practical advice on the art of writing." (Newsday) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

Yes, misleading, but...
I agree with many of the reviews in that the title is slightly misleading.This is half memoir, half tribute to Norris' mentor, Betty Kray.Nonetheless, this is a wonderful book, very well written, and a fabulous glimpse into an era that some of us were unable to witness.So don't dismiss it, just be forewarned.The memoir part of the book was a great coming-of-age story, and the tribute part was well crafted, well researched, and extremely touching.

Thoroughly Disappointed
I'm a huge fan of Norris and especially love Dakota and The Cloister Walk.I found this book to be boring and I was disappointed in Norris herself much to my own personal dismay.I agree with one viewer's comment that she found her voice in South Dakota.

not very interesting
I like her other books so I was fully prepared to enjoy this one....but I didn't. After the first part of the book, the bulk of it was an homage to her mentor. That is all very nice but I did not find it to be interesting and it was a chore to finish the book.

not so much what you think it is, a book about poets
With the title of The Virgin of Bennington and knowing Kathleen Norris as a contemplative Christian author, one might expect something of a coming of age memoir on the heathen campus of Bennington.After all, Norris has written The Cloister Walk.Some of that expectation is met as Norris describes how a not very worldly girl arrived at the very worldly New York City campus.But Norris also writes about how she was accepted at Bennington for who she was and her meeting other poets (Jim Carroll, Stanley Kunitz, etc) and how she wanted to be a poet as well.But, more specifically, The Virgin of Bennington is about poets and poetry and most of all about Betty Kray, Norris's mentor and a guiding voice in American poetry.

I held off on reading this for years even after I was enthralled by Dakota, The Cloister Walk, and Amazing Grace; and so I was pleasantly surprised by my enjoyment of the book.In a sense, it is nothing like her other non-fiction because it does not focus on religion or spirituality, but rather on the other love of her life: poetry.There is a major treatment of her relationship with Betty Kray and how important Kray was to the shaping of American poetry even though Kray was so unassuming that if you didn't know her you didn't know of her.

Think of this book as a prequel, of sorts, to Dakota.It tells of how Norris went to Bennington, was immersed in the poetry scene, but finally ended up at her grandmother's home in South Dakota and truly found her voice.I found it most interesting because I am already familiar with her other non-fiction, but this book lacks the impact of her other work.There is enough to interest those looking to read about poets and poetry, but not nearly as much for fans of Norris's non-fiction.Fans of her poetry may very well find value here.

-Joe Sherry

Essential reading
For admirers of Kathleen Norris' excellent "Dakota" and "The Cloister Walk," as well as those interested in the Academy of American Poets whose Betty Kray created the template for visiting writers programs, this is an engaging read.The principal attraction here is that of Norris's other books: she is very good company.When you read her work, you have privileged access to someone who leads a true life of the mind and the spirit. Her dedication to Kray is one of the book's major themes but Norris is also worthy of her mentor, someone who learned to stand on her own and create personal memoirs of a very high order. I would recommend Norris for anyone who wants a sane alternative to the values of American consumer culture. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Social Education, published by National Council for the Social Studies on October 1, 2003. The length of the article is 2915 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Gangs of New York.(Letters)
Author: Kathleen Conway
Publication: Social Education (Refereed)
Date: October 1, 2003
Publisher: National Council for the Social Studies
Volume: 67Issue: 6Page: 313(4)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more