Product Description
For many years, Marilyn Burns has produced a newsletter for teachers. Each newsletter contains classroom-tested activities from teachers across the country. This compilation presents the newsletters' best problem-solving lessons for grades 1-6. The lessons span the strands of the math curriculum and are illustrated with children's work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great resource
I love this book...I have used it with grades 2-5 and have found great success.As with all Marilyn Burns/Math Solutions publications, this is a must have resource for all teachers.

Hands On Multi Age Lessons For Learners At Every Level!
I have used this book as a teacher of Kindergarteners, 1st Graders, and 2nd Graders.I now use it as a Homeschooling mom of 3.It seems that chikdren no longer "learn by doing".Marilyn Burns reminds us that the "process" tells us as much as the final result when it comes to how children process math knowledge.You will not regret this purchase.

Teaching Math and Having Fun!
As a classroom special education teacher with 20 years of experience I have found this book to be a refreshing approach to teaching students. Marilyn Burns describes the lesson plans in this book as how they wereactually presented to the students in the classroom.Marilyn uses adialogue approach in showing teachers how to implement a given lesson.Shealso connects each math lesson to a writing exercise where the studentshave to explain the process that they used when solving the given mathproblem.Marilyn also gives examples of the students writing for eachlesson.The lesson plans in this math book are based on ConstructivistTheory.Jean Piaget's work forms the basis for Constructivist Theory.Ihave tried 10 of the Problem Solving lessons in my class from this book. Each lesson has captured the interest of the students and helped experiencea basic math concept.Usually after I have done one of the lessons fromthis book the students always tell me how much fun the math class was andthat they would like to do that given activity again.I also enjoyteaching the math lessons. Although as a special education teacher I didmake a few modifications to the lesson before I presented it in myclassroom.I highly recommend this book to any math teacher.

Overated former teacher tries to cash in.
The author sells herself as a concerned teacher but what is obvious from the book is that she is just another businesswoman trying to sell some vague pontifications to the general public. ... Read more

Product Description
America’s most provocative intellectual brings her blazing powers of analysis and appreciation to bear on the great poems of the Western tradition, and on some unexpected discoveries of her own. Combining close reading with a panoramic breadth of learning, Camille Paglia refreshes our understanding of poems we thought we knew, from Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 73” to Shelley’s “Ozymandias,” from Donne’s “The Flea” to Lowell’s “Man and Wife,” and from Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” to Plath’s “Daddy.”

Paglia also introduces us to less-familiar works by Paul Blackburn, Wanda Coleman, Chuck Wachtel, Rochelle Kraut–and even Joni Mitchell. Daring, riveting, and beautifully written, Break, Blow, Burn will excite even seasoned poetry lovers, and create a generation of new ones. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (40)

Kaleidoscope of white hot readings; some overpower the poems
When I first read that Camille Paglia was working on a book about poetry my mind screamed: "Nooooo!!!! What. Is. She. Thinking?" I had previously read rumors that she was penning a sequel to "Sexual Personae" that focused on contemporary society and the spectacle of paganism inherent in seemingly mundane events such as football games; I believe there was even a statement by her to that effect. But no, what she had been laboring on for years was not a tome-ish SexII but rather a slim pink book explaining poems from freshmen college courses. What. Was. She. Thinking?

"Sexual Personae" is one of the few books I have read that had a profound influence on me, more profound than Joyce's "Ulysses." I remember first reading "Sexual Personae" in my (then) Central Park West apartment on a sunny morning overlooking the park. I didn't move for hours, only the shadows in the living room did. I had come to the book via a professor at Brooklyn College who read an excerpt from the Emily Dickenson chapter and thought she was marvelous. I was not expecting the scope of the book, my mind was overloaded as I went from century to century, art movement to art movement, reading psychosexual analysis of influential artists and philosophers and, concomitantly, Western civilization itself. Absurd liberal vagaries of truth were blown out of the water on virtually every page. Paglia, although a liberal herself, is too much of a brilliant straight shooter to buy into liberal fantasies and chic victimology. I have had three copies of the book since it came out in the mid-90s. "Sexual Personae" is a book you don't just read, you live with it.

The two follow-ups, "Sex, Art, and American Culture" and "Vamps and Tramps" are by comparison essays cobbled together willy-nilly from the closet. They are fun, but reading them after "Sexual Personae" is like following up a dinner of filet mignon and dark red wine with pop-rocks. When I read that she was working on SPII, part of me did not like that she was going back to SP and simply rearranging the ivy of her laurels, but another encyclopedic pagan bible was preferable to another "Vamps and Tramps." What Paglia was really doing now seems to me in hindsight the only logical road to take: how do you follow up the sweeping, deep scarlet grandeur of "Sexual Personae"?

You don't.

"Break, Blow, Burn" made me fall in love with poetry again. I suppose I had never fallen out of love with it so let me put it this way: it put the passion back into my love for poetry. I read with trepidation the introductory sentence "I have tried to write concise commentaries on poetry that illuminate the text but also give pleasure in themselves as pieces of writing." Yes, "pleasure in themselves" while sitting alongside Donne's Holy Sonnets and William Blake's "London". Righto. My initial skepticism notwithstanding, she actually succeeded, and what a pleasure it is to read her commentary. Paglia's Apollonian/Dionysian eternal struggle is left back in "Sexual Personae." The scope here is not cosmic/historical struggle but individual vision. In this sense "Break, Blow, Burn" is microscopic, not telescopic, it is measured, not breathless. How refreshing to have Paglia turn her high-powered perception from something grand like Western history and Western sexual identity to something tiny, like a poem. For that the book is tighter, intimate, and not scattered like "V&T" and "Sex, Art, and American Culture". The poems are great and it's evident that she is phenomenal at explicating them. The poems, most of them no more than a page, are imbued with a richness that Paglia masterfully shines light on, fulfilling her goal to "illuminate" them.

If you had told me months ago that I would be reading a hot pink book about famous poems while on the subway to work I would've laughed. Far from laughing, I'm grateful to Camille Paglia. This book is a 180 degree turn from "Sexual Personae" and it's both brilliant and surprising for being just that. At the same time, it's a borrowing into the themes of "Sexual Personae" - it's the raw poetry of SP without crossing an eon of human history. The passion of humans is condensed here and it's wickedly beautiful. Paglia most certainly knows this and is hypnotized by it as much as you and I.

punishment
"Reading this book was like flipping through one of those pretentious, absurd catalogs you get when visiting an exhibition of the sillier kind of fashionable art.I even had a fleeting suspicion that the whole thing might be a spoof -- a send up of ponderous academic over-interpretation.No, the author is in earnest.Paglia has opened a window into the precious, self-referential little world of literary theorizing.

"For this poetry lover, it was a glimpse of Hell.And what is burning in that hell is our poetry, for a thousand years the greatest glory of the English-speaking people, but now dead, smothered under the horrid rotten mass of literary academicism.We must have done something very terrible to have our birthright taken from us, to see it suffocated in dust like this."

From John Derbyshire's (unpublished) review of it.

Wrong sample.
The sample shows no poem.I cannot tell at what font size the verse is properly shown.

a logical Next Step after Poetry for Dummies - and I mean that quite favorably!
My experience with poetry is probably quite common. I suffered through a few lessons in high school (Browning, Yeats, Shakespeare, Chaucer) and didn't give verse another thought for 20 years. I tried to add poetry back into my Reading Life because I would like to be able to enjoy language as an art, like a painting or music, and I am now mature enough to understand that language art is what poetry is, or should be. Since I've actively resumed reading poetry I have found most of it to be either banal, boring, lacking in rhythm, loaded with infantile reasoning on political or social matters, vulgar or some combination of all of the above. I have frequently been astonished and/or horrified that some of the writers are apparently able to earn a living as writing teachers.

Initially I thought that I was at fault, that is possibly I simply don't get it. Professor Paglia's book is a refreshing reminder that the readers are not the problem, the majority of the poets are. Break Blow Burn is a lesson in How to Read, and I found that the points in the book enabled me to learn how to better deconstruct, or analyze, the poems, and how to relate them to my experience with art and with life. I am now much better equipped to figure out what I like and enjoy, and quickly skip the poetry that I don't like.

Other reviewers here have critiqued the selection of poems - I agree with their points for the most part,however I suggest that the real value of this book is the opportunity to further develop the skill of reading poetry and selecting more poetry to read, more so than these particular poems. In spite of all the frankly silly things that get published under the banner of Poetry, we are fortunate to have enough wonderful poets and poetry that a perfect collection would surely weigh too much to print in one volume.

Great for Everyone
This book is great for students, teachers, and "general readers."The introduction alone is worth the cover price, but you might not want to listen to me.I strongly oppose jargon-filled "literary theory" and instead celebrate logical (and sometimes emotional) close reading.Therefore, the introduction something I'd be proud to write.

Paglia's readings of the poems are just right: clear, concise, and not overdone.The poems she selected are, for the most part, logical choices, although I don't think Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" is on the same level with "To His Coy Mistress."However, some of her more unusual choices are great, such as Blackburn's "The Once-Over," which is a severely underappreciated work by a too-little-known poet.

Overall, this is a great book to keep on the shelf for inspiration. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (19)

What a great book!
I received this book today.I had looked briefly through it at the bookstore but too expensive so I could not wait to get it.The instructions are easy and clear.She includes short stories throughout the book, ie 1941 Nine-Patch.1941 was when my sister was born so I am going to get this for her too as she will really enjoy it.I can't wait to make every square in this book.I have always wanted to make a sampler quilt and this is definitely the book I will be using.Fun for baby boomers like me (1950)!

charged for shipping
I should not have been charged for shipping as both books said free shipping. I did not notice that I had to check boxes at the end of the order.Please refund shipping.

Another great book!
I always like to have Eleanor Burns' books-this one has some trickier blocks and that's great as I have been strip piecing for about 20 years.My only criticism is that her blocks tend to be rather large, however, there are instructions for 6" blocks in this book-a great improvement!

Sharing skills and encouragement for a good cause
Eleanor Burns encourages us with her humor and talent.She shares her ideas for working more quickly and efficiently with joy.Her own life story is also inspiring.

Victory Quilts
Victory Quilts by Elenor Burns arrived in perfect condition.Sold as a used book, I could hardly believe it had been opened.All the patterns were intact.I am well pleased. JI ... Read more

Product Description
The lessons in this book present a series of explorations that introduce division to students by helping them relate division to multiplication and learn how division relates to equal groups. Students also learn how to recognize the two types of division problems, think about remainders in different ways, and use division to solve real-world problems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Introducing Fractions
I had used this book prior to buying it.It has an assortment of wonderful activities to use in order to help your students/children understand the concept of fractions.It also helps the instructor to know how to guide the discussion during the activities.

Wonderful approach!
We homeschooled for upper elementary grades, and my daughter simply did not "get" fractions.I tried several standard curriculums before investing in this book.By the end of it, my daughter was finally solid on fractions.

Although the book is written for classroom use, it is easily adapted to working one-on-one.It starts out by having the teacher and student create their own sets of manipulatives.These are used in subsequent chapters to illustrate and reinforce concepts.Multiple ways of looking at fractions are explained in each chapter, which helps a child find an approach that works for him or her.

I highly recommend this book for any parent wanting to help a struggling student understand fractions. ... Read more

Product Description
The Log Cabin design dates back to the time of the pioneers and is one of the most popular quilting patterns today with its traditional red center representing the heart or the hearth of the home and the stripes around the center representing the logs of the cabin. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (51)

soup to nuts
I did order the wrong edition but this book will also guide you from A-Z

Quilt In A-Day - Log Cabin
This is an excellent for beginning quilters.I belong to a quilting club, and we have an instructer who provides us with our quilt patterns that we decide to make, but they are always in black and white.She gives them to us a step at a time.I need to see them in color, as it gives me a better idea of what the quilt will look like when finished.I have now completed my quilt.The book gives beautiful instruction.

First-rate instruction
This instruction book is extremely well-written.The author clearly illustrates and describes every step of the quilt-making process, and anticipates any confusion which might arise on behalf of the novice with reassuring explanations and pictures.I am an experienced quilter, yet I can tell that someone with less experience would be able to make a beautiful quilt by following these instructions carefully.

Quilt in a Day by Eleanor Burns
Book was in excellent condition.Mailing time was great.Seller is an asset to Amazon.Would buy from again.Thank you.

Great used book!
I purchased this book used, but you can hardly tell it!
It is in great shape for a used book. I was very satisfied with my purchase.Thanks Amazon.com! ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (14)

Star Log Cabin
Was exactly what I wanted and came in the condition reported. Also it came in a timely manner before it was supposed to.

Book Ordering with Amazon Prime!
Fantastic! I love Eleanor Burns' Books. In addition, I get the specialty books I need or want quickly, and this Eleanor Burns book would not have been available locally without a 112 miles round trip if the book store or quilt store had it in stock. Amazon Prime gets the books to me quickly, and with less cost during the year than buying them individually in the nearest bookstore.

Star Log Cabin
I havent yet made anything from this book.Leafing through the book it looks very well put together, with simple layouts, cutting instruction, and how to sew togehter.

Great job!!
The quilting book was sent to a friend whom really like it.She received it in good condition and a timely matter.

Beautiful pattern, great instructions
This variation to the classic log cabin design is beautiful. As always Eleanor's instructions are clear, detailed and percise. She offers yardage and instructions for wallhanging, twin, full, queen/king and this is not always the case with other books. Also included are examples are the many ways to configure the blocks once they are sewn. The instructions are written step by step with diagrams the whole way through, plus tips. The book also includes iron on patterns for making the triangle pieces as well as instructions for penciling your own triangles.

I am a beginner quilter and made the regular log cabin pattern a few years ago. Star log cabin is definitely a step up in difficulty but completely do-able with the instructions in this book. I just completed the wall hanging and couldn't be happier with the outcome! ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Prrrrrrrinces of the Universe!
This poet exhibits the kind of solar flare that begets the Northern Lights.You're probably wondering if this man has had the, how shall I say, life-changing experiences that qualify you for fame in Scotland.Well, the answer is yes.In fact, two -- before the means for the second one were in the world.

The beauty of having open chakras is that high-quality thoughts come thick and fast.The downside is that these thoughts are pushed out by new arrivals before you can put them to paper.But I remember what it all came down to was, that if this country has elevated you to its ranks, you will like this book.

To the blue planet (the Sun will swallow)!:-)

fantastic!
I bought this version because we were having a "Burns Night" for Jan 25th, his birthday. This version is complete as far as we could tell & it does now has an 'active index'. There is a very interesting biography, as well. Be sure you understand though, that this is in the original language & part of our fun was trying to pronounce some of the words and figure out what other words might mean. For 99 cents, we sure had a lot of fun! "Thank you" to the person who made it available!!!

Wonderful
The previous reviewer's complaint no longer applies because the publisher has made the table of contents active. You can now click any poem in the table of contents and jump right to it. And what needs to be said about Burns' poems? Fantastic stuff...

Nearly unusable
I will be looking for a Mobile Reference version of Robbie Burns' poems. This is just extremely frustrating. The table of contents is more than 10 pages long with no links embedded. You must page through to the poem of your choice, with no page numbers for guidance. Not a good product for someone who wants to be able to quickly find a specific poem. ... Read more

Product Description
After narrowly escaping Rome with her mortality, vampire hunter Lady Victoria Gardella Grantworth de Lacey returns to London—where not even sunrise can stop a vampire’s carnage. Not only is Victoria unable to detect the vampire with her heightened senses, but she’s being framed as the prime suspect behind the killings.

Meanwhile, the legacy of a vampire’s touch has left his blood boiling in her veins and forces her to fight evil on two fronts—against the new breed of undead threatening London and the darkness within herself…. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Excellent serie
A absolute read before you read the next and last book. I had doubt about this serie, but so glad I went for it, if you like Jeaniene Frost you'll love this. For some reason this book was the hardest to find on bookstore's shelf!

Amazing fast-paced
I red all her books and I absolutely love them all. Once you start reading, it's hard to put the book down. It has interesting plot about strong heroine fighting vampires. I recommend to purchase Gleason's books, read them and keep them in the home collection.

Great fun!
This was a great edition to the whole Gardella series. Colleen Gleason knows how to spin a web and keep you wanting more. I very much enjoyed this book!

Good edtion
I continue to be amazed at the seemless flow of Colleen Gleason's The Gardella Vampire Chronicles.Individual books have good flow, but as a whole, the series is phenominal.

So happy I discovered this series and the author!!!
I'm not going to go into what the book is about because other reviewers have done an excellent job of that. :)
I had seen reviews of the Gardella Vampire Chronicles at different sites on the Internet, and finally decided to try one book. Needless to say after reading the first one, I immediately bought the rest of the books in the series.
Colleen Gleason knows how to write and knows how to keep the reader interested.
Loved this series! ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (6)

sandy n' sexy
From the moment I read the blurb for Mirage, I wanted to read it.The setting is awesome; there aren't enough stories set in the desert among nomadic people if you ask me.Alex Talbot is a strong willed, stubborn woman who meets her match and willing conspirator in Viscount Blakeney.The characters are searching for Pharaoh's treasure, but stumble onto much more than that.There is more going on than just finding a few dusty relics.From the beginning of their acquaintance, someone is out to stop Alex from finding the treasure her father knew existed in the desert.I liked Alex's spunk; she's an intelligent, stubborn heroine that has latched onto a dream and tries to see it through.She's not a bad-ass kind of woman, though she's more than capable of standing on her own two feet and it's her moments of vulnerability that endear her to you.It's the deception and lack of communication between hero and heroine that create half of the problems, and borders on the edge of monotonous.Okay, not really because there's so much else going on, but if the plot wasn't so rich and active, the lack of communication would seriously irritate me.I know this is a me thing, I'm a communicator by birth and I just don't get how people can't stop and communicate things.Bah!That said, the characters spark on paper is great; I'm a sucker for acceptance stories.One character with a blemish or a bad history or something that makes them shrink away from others being loved and accepted - yeah, I'm a total sucker for THOSE stories, and Mirage has that element in play.The one thing I didn't like was towards the end where the culmination of several non-communicated issues comes to a head - if I were Alex, there would be a bit more of hell to pay for the silver tongued Viscount.

Great Read
I think you can find yourself in this book and that is why I like to read it has to relate to me personally and this book did the romance the passion in the language and culture.

For The Price, Needs More Work
This plot offered a great gust of fresh air in current fiction.Mosteverything is taken over by the Urban paranormal, so I eagerly looked forward to this change.Disappointments were plenty, especially for an higher end trade paperback.The male characters were solid and followed their design all the way to a clever and tricky ending.The female lead could have fallen off a camel and made it a better story.Her incessant whining and insistence on NOT following the logical instructions of more experienced guides--her were also her love interest--didn't make her look independent as much as foolish.Wait for the Used book sale on this poor puppy.

Mirage
Alexandra Talbot is at the British Museum to see the Rosetta Stone, to help shore up research her later father and uncle did about the city of Per-Ramesses and the tomb of Nourbese, Pharaoh's beloved. But when she arrives, and the director finds out that "Alex" Talbot is a woman and not a man, she is refused permission to see the stone, until Lord Blakeney comes to her aid.

Half-Bedouin, half-British, Lord Blakeney has been corresponding with Alex's father for years. He's set to lead Mr. Talbot on an expedition to Egypt in search of Per-Ramesses, and is saddened to learn of the man's death. He wants to help Alex, who fascinates him, but having been introduced to her as Lord Blakeney, he doesn't quite know how to tell her he's also Sheikh Altair Mazir.

Alex agrees to let Lord Blakeney guide her on her expedition. She doesn't expect to fall in love with him, or learn the many secrets he hides along the way, but she does. She's also fighting against someone who wants her dead, and doesn't want Per-Ramesses found. Will Alex find her lost city, and will Altair protect her? More importantly, will they learn to trust each other?

I love all things ancient Egyptian, so I was fascinated by the blurb for Mirage. The story does not disappoint, and is full of wonderfully done research and fascinating adventure as Alex searches for Per-Ramesses. It was also delightful to watch Alex and Altair learn to love each other and deal with each other's strong characters.

Their love is strong, and it was a pleasure to watch it unfold. If you like adventure, romance and history then Mirage is the book for you.

Amelia
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

My opionion as half Beduin half Egyptian reader
In general, I liked this book. As a romance, it was nice, I enjoyed the plot. But I have to say, she could have put a bit more effort into her research of the language and culture. It quickly became very annoying to me when in arabic I would see something like "I princess bravery" for "My brave princess", or "I Princess stubborn" for "My stubborn princess". Altair means bird in arabic so that wasn't as impressive as her made up translation. In general, I started quickly skipping over anything in italics so I don't lose focus from the story.
The Beduin traditions, well, Ican't talk much about them, my beduin heritage came from my mom and my grandfather who was Shiek of the tribe of Awlad Ali in Alexandria, Egypt. He performed the duties of settling disputes and so on, but they were pretty modern. Her stories as a girl were from 40s and 50s and they lives in Alexandria which was (and still is) the second biggest city in Egypt. So I guess if we go deeper into the desert, things would be different.
My mother married my father who was a doctor working for the World Health Organization after they met, so no arranged marriage. He asked for her hand from my grandfather and no problems there about being married outside the tribe. My mother and her siblings all went to school, so no women staying home... Again, perhaps they were more modern than regular Bedu. And the story is in the 1800s.
Anyway, I hope Ms. Burns does more research and perhaps consider changing some of the arabic translations in newer editions. ... Read more

Product Description
An action-packed combat memoir by a veteran of the Pathfinders describes his role guiding helicopters into a landing zone to disembark troops, retrieve the wounded, or organize extractions, frequently under heavy enemy fire. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Riveting account from a unique point of view
I could not put this book down! I am so glad the author was convinced to write this book, it was an important story to tell. The story was told well, from event to event, and in a way that simply made me feel I was right there. The descriptions were vivid and understandable, and I was glad to learn about these heroic Pathfinders. What a remarkable thing that so many young men performed such amazing jobs under such amazing pressure. I'm glad I read about this unique segment of the Vietnam war - I'm continually amazed and humbled to read these accounts of a war that so many knew so little about at the time.

They didn't tell us they weren't going to let us win.
Good book. I didn't know the man but must have been a half step behind him at Ft. Benning in the 187th. I was in NAM as an 11B4Y (airborne-infantry-pathfinder) in 68/69. Although I operated in the southern half of the country, in III-Corps and IV-Corps, I can immediately relate to the experiences described here. I can't speak for the author but will say that there are probably many events that were left out because few would believe it and others wouldn't want to know about it. There's enough here to give an idea of the surreal existence of a Pathfinder in NAM. I don't talk about my experiences in NAM much but gave a copy of the book to my son and told him this was my life when I was his age. What a waste of life; they didn't tell me they weren't going to let us win.

childhood friend
richie was a friend first and later my brother-in-law. you need to read this book to understand what the brave pathfinders endured. i was very lucky to have personally know him before and after the war. writing this book was both theraputic and heart wrecthing for him but, he knew he had to write it. the big c took his life much too early. rest in peace brother.

Great Audio Book
This is one of my favorite audio books.The narrator does a fantastic job.

Excellent, excellent read
Great book. Absolutely loved it. Very sad he's gone and won't be able to follow up on the next tour he did. ... Read more

Product Description
Fourteen lessons explore estimation, word problems, multiplication, fractions, patterns, statistics, probability, geometry, and measurement. This book presents a lively, readable classroom vignette that describes Marilyn Burns's unique and inspiring approach to teaching problem-solving lessons. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Collection of Math Lessons From Grades 3-6
This was a very helpful book if you're looking for some hands on activities. It explains the activities very clearly and objectives are also clearly stated. I would recommend this book to all math teachers and interventionists.

Math lessons not so useful
This book has some good lessons, but there are only a few for each grade, so overall it was not that helpful. ... Read more

Product Description
Take one hunky private security owner, mix in one hunky police detective and you've started off on one hot manlove story.  Things get even better though when the detective is kidnapped and no one is 100% sure why. He struggles to save himself before his lover kills his kidnapper.

This story is high adrenaline all the way, and you won't want to miss the conclusion!

Customer Reviews (2)

Fever
This book is great for all y'all gay mystery fans. The plot is wonderful and the characters are HOT. You might however not like how easy it is to figure out who the bad guy is though.

read it! Promise you won't be disappointed!

;)

Burn Card
Gil Turko is growing stronger every day. Gil is the owner of Body Armor, Inc. providing bodyguards to the rich and famous. Gil is very protective over his lover and Cody's birthday Crime scene investigator Cody Baxter has a good job and his relationship withpresent proves it. It just might save Cody' life. When Cody is kidnapped, Gil tries to figure out why, but it might not be Cody the kidnapper really wants to hurt.

I love Gil and Cody. They are so obviously in love.I like that Gil is clearly the more dominant of the two but Cody is not portrayed as a wimp. The sex is sexy and the romance is very tender. I like how the storyline plays out. The kidnapper could have been a crazed lunatic or a psychopathic killer, I like who he turns out to be.Gil proves he really is a modern day knight in shining armor. Burn Card is a very good story with two great guys. I liked it a lot!

Nannette
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed ... Read more

Product Description
In this book, Marilyn Burns tackles the topic of how to teach students to multiply and divide fractions-and understand what they are doing. Students build conceptual understanding as they develop proficiency. Teachers using these activities have reported that for the first time, they themselves understand the underlying rationale, and how to teach it, for how we multiply and divide fractions and mixed numbers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Step by step instructions
Excellent for those of us who learned the algorithm but either did not learn to make sense of the division and multiplication of fractions or do not quite know how to explain it. Marilyn Burn's strategies allow students to make sense of these "difficult concepts." ... Read more

Product Description
Bored and dissatisfied with his life, a triangle visits a local shapeshifter to add another angle to his shape. Poof! He becomes a quadrilateral. But then he gets greedy and keeps adding angles until he's completely transformed. Kids will enjoy this boldly colorful introduction to shapes and basic math concepts.

Now available in Scholastic Bookshelf editions, the Brainy Day Books have been developed by nationally acclaimed math educator and best-selling author Marilyn Burns. Using entertaining fictional stories, these books dispel the myth that math is dry, inaccessible, and unimaginative. At the end of each book, there's a special section that further outlines math concepts and provides questions to further engage children. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (49)

Great Book
This a great book to use when introducing geometry to kids. The book delivers its lesson in an amusing way. My tens year olds loved it!

Kept kids' interest
I bought this to read to kindergarten and first grade students. It kept their interest. The first graders made many comments and were eager to answer questions after hearing the story.

Greedy Triangle or Not So Greedy?
The Greedy Triangle is an OUTSTANDING book that teaches basic math, specifically the names of shapes and has a moral to the story!The illustrations are clever and this book is one of the best math books I have come across to read to my four and six year old children.I strongly recommend purchasing this book if you are creating a personal library for your child/children and looking for a quality math book to add.Five stars or maybe five triangles! :)

Super!
This is one of my favorite books to use when teaching plane shapes to my students.They love it!

So-so
A bit of a disappointment.Illustrations looked good online.Construction is more flimsy than an activity book.I don't think it will hold up to a four-year old or younger, and that's it's audience. ... Read more

Product Description
As chairman of the Federal Reserve Board in the seventies, Arthur Burns had a unique view of the Nixon administration. Burns first joined the Nixon administration as an advisor in 1969 and was privy to the dynamics of the president's coterie over the course of six tumultuous years. Now the recently released secret diary of this top-level economist offers a surprisingly candid inside look at Richard Nixon's fall.

The diary tracks Burns's growing awareness of Nixon's behind-the-scenes maneuverings and worrisome behavior (such as "insane shouting") and reveals how such things undermined his respect and enthusiasm for the president. Perhaps even more telling, Burns's evaluations of his colleagues provide piercing insights into the president's inner circle, including Henry Kissinger ("a brilliant political analyst, but admittedly ignorant of economics"), George Schultz ("a no less confused amateur economist"), John Connally ("a thoroughly confused politician"), and the "vulgarians" H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman--the only people he thought Nixon felt relaxed around.

The Burns diary also offers rare and telling glimpses into the era's economy--particularly an account of how Nixon exerted political pressure to shape monetary policies that helped to fuel the stagflation of the 1970s. The administration sought to close the so-called gold window, an approximate valuation of dollars with gold bullion, by floating the dollar, and the consensus over many years has been that Nixon himself arranged this--speculation now confirmed by Burns's diary. It also underscores the growing pressure Burns felt to serve the needs of Nixon's reelection bid rather than the economic welfare of the nation.

Sequestered for decades and unavailable until 2008, this document reveals an honest and relatively apolitical man surrounded by partisans in top administrative positions who were dishonest, inept--or both. "The President has many shortcomings," wrote Burns. "He has few convictions, but now and then he gets into a euphoric mood where he wants to persuade himself that he's a statesman. But his sycophantic advisers cannot even recognize that."

Deftly annotated by distinguished historian Robert Ferrell, who provides effective historical context and perspective, the Burns diary is a potent--and poignant--testament to the Machiavellian and often Byzantine world of American presidential politics. ... Read more

Product Description
'Beautifully and sensitively written, her characters realistic and well-developed. Mary DeMuth has a true gift for showing how God's light can penetrate even the darkest of situations.' -- Chuck ColsonShe touched Daisy's shoulder. So cold. So hard. So unlike Daisy.Yet so much like herself it made Emory shudder.Burying her grief, Emory Chance is determined to find her daughter Daisy's murderer---a man she saw in a flicker of a vision. But when the investigation hits every dead end, her despair escalates. As questions surrounding Daisy's death continue to mount, Emory's safety is shattered by the pursuit of a stranger, and she can't shake the sickening fear that her own choices contributed to Daisy's disappearance. Will she ever experience the peace her heart longs for?The second book in the Defiance, Texas Trilogy, this suspenseful novel is about courageous love, the burden of regret, and bonds that never break. It is about the beauty and the pain of telling the truth. Most of all, it is about the power of forgiveness and what remains when shame no longer holds us captive. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (96)

Boring, bad, and slow, so a slow read, not just a slow burn.
No wonder why christian fiction gets a bad rap. If this is representative of it, it is almost surely deserved as this book was slow and boring. It just did not grab me, ever. I just could not get into it, and I am happy to read darn near anything. So keep that in mind before you plunk down some hard earned cash on this one.

Got bored
I LOVE book one of this trilogy and look forward to starting book 3 in a few minutes.But, this one got boring.This story only really needed 2 books.This middle one was just Emory's trouble repackaged 100 different times with Hixon in hot-pursuit.After a while, I started skipping pages because I got bored.Emory's a bad mother and drug addict and God told Hixon to marry her.Okay, I got it - tell me who the killer is!

Book 2 in the Defiance Texas Trilogy
Book 2 in the Defiance Texas Trilogy focuses on Emory (Daisy's mother) and Hixon - their lives and pursuits.

A story of pain and betrayal. Love and forgiveness. Anger, stubbornness, loss. Kindness, rejection.

A woman doesn't want to go on living; feels she has to pay for her sins -- in a deeper way than she already does. She's trying to run away from it all but finds she has friends who care about her. There's a man who doesn't know what to make of her. He cares about her and wants to obey God but he's torn in her rejection of him and of the pain and betrayal to him. Ditto for a female friend whom she also tries to drive away with her words.

In a way this story is a bit like Francine Rivers' Redeeming Love. However since there are other relationships entwined in the lives of the main characters, this one goes beyond Rivers' love story.

Heart wrenching and beautiful
Amazing book!!The characters are written so honestly and beautifully.I am waiting for the third book!

A Slow Burn
Emory Chance is determined to find her daughter's killer. An unforgettable journey filled with forgiveness, redemption, and sacrifice. Will Emory find Daisy's murderer? Will she ever find the peace her heart longs for?
Mary weaves in a powerful and brilliant message to her readers. A Slow Burn is a unique story about the power of forgiveness. A well written plot with much imagination!
... Read more

Product Description
·GPS chapter completely updated to reflect newer models and features of GPS receivers now available
·Expanded to include a section on routefinding on glaciers, along with additional information on changing declination
·Extensive illustrated examples of orientation and navigation

Proceed with confidence when heading off-road or off-trail with the second edition of Wilderness Navigation. Whether you are climbing a glacier, orienteering in the backcountry, or on an easy day hike, Mike and Bob Burns cover all the latest technology and time-tested methods to help you learn to navigate-from how to read a map to compasses and geomagnetism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

compass101
I wanted a book on map reading and this book is heavily weighted toward compass use.Even the GPS section is compass-centric.The maps used as examples were poor resolution and really didn't do a very good job of identifying features that you'd want to recognize on the map.I'm still looking for such a book, so if you've got a recommendation, I'd love to get it.

Good primer but please practice!
I've been looking for a good basic primer on the rudiments of navigation, primarily using a compass and a map, so that I have something for my children to refer to (and corroborate what I'm telling them...). This book serves the purpose. It is reasonably clear and accurate and makes its points quickly, so you don't have to wade through page after page just to get a simple instruction. But no book can teach you overland navigation, it can only get you started. This is just the same as when you learn to drive a car - you can read the books, but you have to get in and engage with the many different kinds of roads, drivers, and weather conditions before you can really become a competent driver. So the key to knowing where you are, and getting to your objective, is simply lots of practice plus some after-the-fact thinking about what you did out there.Would it have been better to follow the crest rather than dip down into the valley and then have to climb up again?Would it have been a good idea to traverse below the ridge-line in order to stay out of the wind a bit more?All these kinds of things affect how you will interact with the topology of the landscape, and consequently how you will read the map in order to plan your actual, as opposed to theoretical, course.Anyone heading out into the wilderness with this in their backpack and thinking that they can just refer to page 17 when they need to plot their course will, most probably, end up in trouble - not because the book will let them down, but because no book can encompass the hands-on experiential learning necessary to move from A to B cross-country in an efficient manner.

Not a good book for beginners
I can't really recommend this book unless you have a good grasp of the subject already. If just starting out and want to learn about navigating with a compass and map I suggest Wilderness Navigator. I couldn't really get out of the beginning of this book with a good comprehension of the subject.

good book
easy to read. really tries to teach you techniques. good advice on buying a compass.

I liked it
I thought the book had good information on compass navigation, especially good for novices.It is imperative that people be up on the use of a compass, GPS in remote locations can be a hit and miss kind of thing when it comes to satellite reception.Can't miss with a compass and it has gotten me home everytime. ... Read more

Product Description
"Are our schools safe?"

It's hard to turn on the news without hearing this question, and the answer is typically "no."This novel explores what happens when bullying escalates to violence, and it challenges our definition of victimization.

With thought-provoking prose, Suzanne Phillips explores the psyche of Cameron, a bullied freshman who ultimately does the unthinkable: he kills another student.As she did with Chloe Doe, Suzanne has found a way to make this seemingly dark story ultimately redemptive.But she also dares readers to look at the behavior that provokes violence as having the potential to be as dangerous as the violence itself.

It's Suzanne's hope that Burn will inspire readers to take a precautionary stance against bullying rather than waiting to react to it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great read, too bad it happens every day
Meet Cameron, he's a runner, a math wiz, and the victim.Due to one incident and mistake made by a teacher, his life in high school is horrible.He's teased, tormented and beat up regularly.This story is told by him and the author did a great job of making the reader love him.This is a very sad story that is more and more common.Cameron is the weak and Patterson is the strong.His grades will go downhill, his "best friend" leaves him stranded, and he soon discovers that he's disconnecting.It doesn't take long before he starts thinking of revenge.When it happens though, it's not against the monster that's been terrifying him for the entire year.

I was so hoping Cameron would get his revenge on the bully and was disappointed that he didn't.However, after living his life with him, I don't hold any ill will against him or his actions.This kid was hurting and bullies like the one he was dealing with should all be removed forcibly.It was great to see that no adult ever seemed to notice that Cameron needed help more than he needed scolding.Where exactly were all the adult figures when he was getting beaten daily?Why didn't his mother try harder to find out what was wrong.

Great book, sad story, and a page turner.I read it in a day.

Read this review after you read the book
This book started out strong but went a little too far past the point of believability.
The author does a good job of framing Cameron as a target, a boy who does not want to give in to the bullies yet has no way to fight back.The bullying, Cameron's feelings about it, and the adults' reaction to it (namely not wanting to see the severity of what is really happening in the school) all come off as authentic.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Even Cameron's attack of the boy even smaller and more helpless than he is is believable.However, the idea that the coach would leave Cameron alone in the locker room after what had just happened to him and Cameron's ability to ***SERIOUS SPOILER ALERT*** beat someone to death using only the lock from his gym locker was really hard to swallow.
The aftermath of the killing was well done, but I just couldn't get past the fact that after what happened to Cameron at the hands of Rich, the coach would leave him alone for so long and that Cameron even had the strength to do it seeing where such a big deal was made in the book about his small size and lack of upper body strength.
This one oversight kept the book from being great.

Powerful
In one word - wow!!!

Burn, written by Suzanne Phillips is one of the most timely books I have read in recent years.Although I don't have children in school, I have heard some absolute horror stories about students bullying and being bullied - it has become epidemic in some schools!

Of course, living in Montreal - the land of school killings - unfortunately, this subject matter was very close to my heart.

I instantly felt both sadness and horror for our main character who has been targeted by the "Red Coats" as beingan easy prey to bully.True to reality, Cameron keeps it all inside - and begins to slowly but surely disintegrates - until he ends up no longer living in the present.

As he disassociates more and more, he ends up committing the ultimate act.

Burn is written in a sensitive, but yet realistic voice - truly echoing the pain and horror that everyone involves experiences.

The author makes sure to portray all of the sides of Cameron and slowly guides us through his psychotic break.As I mentioned, I felt sorry for him, but I also hated what he did.

It must be very difficult for an author to write this type of book - the main character is far from being a hero or sympathetic - yet, all of the characters and the plot work extremely well together.

I loved this book.

Breathtaking!
What a powerful story of the result of bullying.The author's background as a special education English teacher in San Diego serves her well.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
"You're ours Grady.....This is just the beginning."

The horrors of high school are real; just ask Cameron Grady.

Freshman year at Madison High School has been the most miserable experience of Cameron's life.The bullying begins the first day of class.Rich Patterson and the rest of his jock friends zero in their radar and Cameron becomes #1 on their hit list.

The "Red Coats" taunt Cameron, calling him Cameron Diaz and stalking him in the hallways.High school becomes a war zone for Grady. The lines between reality and fiction begin to blur, and Cameron finds himself "checking out" from time to time.Cameron also begins to experiment with fire; an obsession that proves to be dangerous.

Unlike most stories, Cameron's does not have a happy ending, but it's real - it's life.Life is not always full of happy endings.

Suzanne Phillips has created a gripping novel that discusses extremely tough issues.Cameron deals with both physical and sexual abuse, bullying, and post-traumatic stress.Many teenagers may be unfamiliar with post-traumatic stress disorder, and this novel does an excellent job of shedding some light on the subject.

BURN is a well-written story that may be difficult to read at times, but the message is clear.Teenagers face hardships on a daily basis.These problems can range from getting into a fight with their parents to being subjected to some kind of abuse.They all want someone they can confide in - Cameron finds that person, but it's a little too late for him.

Reviewed by:LadyJay ... Read more

Product Description
The vivid voices that speak from these pages are not those of historians or scholars. They are the voices of ordinary men and women who experienced—and helped to win—the most devastating war in history, in which between 50 and 60 million lives were lost.

Focusing on the citizens of four towns—Luverne, Minnesota; Sacramento, California; Waterbury, Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama—The War follows more than forty people from 1941 to 1945. Woven largely from their memories, the compelling, unflinching narrative unfolds month by bloody month, with the outcome always in doubt. All the iconic events are here, from Pearl Harbor to the liberation of the concentration camps—but we also move among prisoners of war and Japanese American internees, defense workers and schoolchildren, and families who struggled simply to stay together while their men were shipped off to Europe, the Pacific, and North Africa.

Enriched by maps and hundreds of photographs, including many never published before, this is an intimate, profoundly affecting chronicle of the war that shaped our world.Amazon.com Review
History buffs, Ken Burns fans, and anyone whose life has been touched by war will be awed by Burns's new book, The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945, a stunning companion to his PBS series airing in September 2007. Focusing on the citizens of four towns, The War follows more than forty people from 1941 to 1945. Maps and hundreds of photographs enrich this compelling, unflinching narrative. Check out some of the photographs and read the first chapter below. --Daphne Durham

Exclusive Photographs from The War

---

Read the First Chapter of The War

A Necessary War
I don't think there is such a thing as a good war. There are sometimes necessary wars. And I think one might say, "just" wars. I never questioned the necessity of that war. And I still do not question it. It was something that had to be done. --Samuel Hynes

Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, began as most days do in Honolulu: warm and sunny with blue skies punctuated here and there by high wisps of cloud. At a few minutes after eight o'clock, the Hyotara Inouye family was at home on Coyne Street, getting ready for church. The sugary whine of Hawaiian music drifted through the house. The oldest of the four Inouye children, seventeen-year-old Daniel, a senior at William McKinley High and a Red Cross volunteer, was listening to station KGMB as he dressed. There were other sounds, too, muffled far-off sounds to which no one paid much attention at first because they had grown so familiar over the past few months. The drone of airplanes and the rumble of distant explosions had been commonplace since spring of the previous year, when the U.S. Pacific Fleet had shifted from the California coast to Pearl Harbor, some seven miles northwest of the Inouye home. Air-raid drills were frequent occurrences; so was practice firing of the big coastal defense batteries near Waikiki Beach.

But this was different. Daniel was just buttoning his shirt, he remembered, when the voice of disk jockey Webley Edwards broke into the music. "All army, navy, and marine personnel to report to duty," it said. At almost the same moment, Daniel's father shouted for him to come outside. Something strange was going on. Daniel hurried out into the sunshine and stood with his father by the side of the house, peering toward Pearl Harbor. They were too far away to see the fleet itself, and hills further obscured their view, but the sky above the harbor was filled with puffs of smoke. During drills the blank antiaircraft bursts had always been white. These were jet-black. Then, as the Inouyes watched in disbelief, the crrrump of distant explosions grew louder and more frequent and so much oily black smoke began billowing up into the sky that the mountains all but vanished and the horizon itself seemed about to disappear.

Read more from Chapter 1...

---

... Read more

Customer Reviews (71)

A good general history
I listened to the audio version while driving and found it excellent. I have read MANY WWII histories. One of my favorite types is the story of the common man. This is one such book. I found a few suspect conclusions stated without support, but generally found the book accurate. The general approach was to look at the war from the perspective of four different cities in the US. I liked the idea, but it was a little bit difficult to follow when the a story shifted among the four. The fact that the book was often depressing I found to be an indication that the book had met it's goal of telling a realistic story. ALL wars are depressing.

The War Book
This book preserves history for future generations...I gave it to a WWII full Bird Colonel and he became emotional while looking through it.

Misconceptions about the Second World War
Instead of a full book review, this is a response to one reviewer's notion about the US's role in World War II. It should bob up to the surface, I thought, rather than lie submerged as a comment, since such misconceptions are surprisingly widespread in some circles. I certainly wouldn't suggest, however, that the current author is so misguided: quite the contrary.First, note the dates in his book's subtitle: it's strictly about the US's involvement.Also, it focuses on photographs of the war, so it concentrates on the Pacific theatre and on the later stages of the European war, such as the liberation of concentration and extermination camps -- thereby graphically confirming several of my points below.

Some basic facts should help to correct the sword-in-hand notion by Mr Eskildson ("Pragmatist") about "...how lucky America was [upon entering WWII, at], having to throw our almost non-existent military immediately into total conflict against fully mobilized Japan, Germany, and Italy - yet managing to hold on until our military could be built up."Put briefly, luck had nothing to do with it, and there wasn't much that was immediate or total about the US's response to the war in Europe.

First, the US delayed entry while Australia, New Zealand, and Canada gathered upon the invasion of Poland, in 1939, long before '42, to join the Allies opposing Hitler. The US's two-and-a-quarter-year delay was at least partly the result of the strong influence of Nazi sympathizers within US borders - such as Ambassador Joe Kennedy and other prominent figures who resisted Roosevelt and what they only later came to call a just cause.

Less obvious than this vital issue about dates, though, is another overlooked circumstance worth considering. As historian Max Hastings has shown in his 'Armageddon' and elsewhere, the Soviets were the ones who bore the brunt of the Nazi war. Hastings is not the first to remark on this, although he may be the first in the west to show that it happened knowingly, cynically, through a deliberate strategy on the part of the US, Churchill and the Allies, and despite urgent cries for help from their Soviet ally (and Poland as well). Meantime, a horrific price was being paid in cities razed, lives lost, cannibalism and other desperate acts, while the Soviets wore down the formidable German war machine to more 'manageable' size for confrontation by the western Allied forces -- obviously including Britain, Australia, Canada, NZ, etc., not just the US forces.

To illustrate by turning to the war's crudest terms, in the end the US involvement meant about 300,000 dead souls. That's roughly the same as Yugoslavia's toll. The figure also compares with the 300,000 Soviet soldiers who died to capture the strategically insignificant port of Königsberg, capital of Eastern Prussia, before turning it into de-Germanized Kaliningrad. Granted, their leaders often treated Russian soldiers like cattle, and this attack was a case in point. Also, the soldiers' regard for the locals sort of confirms levels of civilization not far from the bovine ...but this digresses.

Soviet casualties, by comparison, are estimated to have reached around 27 million, including at least 9 million dead soldiers, or probably more like 15 million -- plus about as many civilian casualties. Meantime, as the war raged along Germany's dreaded eastern front, the Allied push to Berlin was delayed to ensure not only success but the least number of US and Allied casualties.

A less crude perspective on the matter is that, even _after_ German adjustments subsequent to the D-Day landings, the Axis powers devoted a total of 59 divisions to defend their western flank. Meantime, they stationed no less than 156 divisions on their far more dangerous, nearly 3,000-mile-long Soviet front.

So it was not especially 'lucky,' and the US's involvement was far weaker than that "total" commitment purported by this reviewer. On the contrary: taking along its western partners, the US was prudent, even canny -- so anything but noble about the ongoing slaughter of its presumed allies. During that dithering, and the subsequent one before advancing on Berlin (in both of which delays Churchill played a key role, according to John Lukacs) Warsaw was pummelled to rubble, London was fire-bombed and near ruins, the French were turned against one another, old Balkan enmities were twisted to Nazi advantage, Czech villages were flattened, Spain groaned under Fascism, and millions of Jews, Gypsies and others were incinerated in a frenzy of duty-driven technological efficiency, as if they were all so much unwanted subhuman dreck.

Without a doubt, even before 1940 many US citizens bravely enlisted in Spain, England and Canada, ready to die in the fight against Nazi tyranny.Also, US might was indispensable to the war prosecuted in the Pacific; the Brits certainly had no clout to defend their Empire. Besides, the US government covertly provided a real, and indeed truly tremendous leg-up (albeit on loan, only recently repaid by Britain) to the two countries bravely prosecuting the European war: massive contributions of materiel supported the British and Soviet war efforts, without which the Americas would be the next domino to fall to the new barbarians. And, to be fair, the Soviet regime was seen as deeply suspect, and with ample reason -- even if more by Churchill than by Roosevelt. On this point: in war, expediency and prudential thinking trump morality, and such decisions were made so the two mightiest armies would grind one another down, making room for the liberal democracies to come out on top. All of which is unimpeachable reasoning, in the circumstances: banal as it may sound, victory was crucial to the survival of western civilization as we know it. Just let's not call it luck, or the result of some swift military response.

The victors got to write the history: in the war's aftermath Hollywood and TV promoted the story that the US heroically stepped in and saved the day, often single-handedly. Ignoring the historical evidence served those industries very well, and audiences were massively misdirected worldwide, from Pasadena to Tasmania, Athens and Lima, Peru (where, as boys, my friends and I also cheered on those same GIs).

This provides a more accurate measure of the US's role, no matter how some prefer to regard its contribution. It's long past time to scrap the idea that it's the sole preserver of democracy, and the world's saviour from fascist regimes. After the deceptions unmasked about the US's own variant on fascism -- the militarist-corporatist, torture-supporting, early 21st century White House regime -- the time has surely come to re-appraise the historical record, and for facts to trump jingoism.

Wrong Description for Audio!!
The audio version is described as unabridged.Incorrect!!I'm holding it right now, and the ISBN number and cover price are identical with this Amazon entry, and the back cover says "This abridgment has been approved by the authors"!!

I'd have loved to have acquired an unabridged version, but this most definitely is not it!!

Inaccurate account of WWII
Too much narrative about what was wrong with the U.S. during the war vs. stressing the sense of duty and dedication to seeing victory.The book focused on issues such as Japanese detainment camps, woes of the blacks during the War, etc.Very little was mentioned about how the U.S. as a whole pull together to ensure victory.Instead of feeling uplifted by the monumental feat of pulling to country together to win the war, I walked away feeling depressed.Ken Burns once again wrote and directed with a leftist vs. American slant.All part of why this country is heading in the wrong direction. ... Read more

Product Description
The companion volume to the ten-part PBS TV series by the team responsible for
The Civil War and Baseball.

Continuing in the tradition of their critically acclaimed works, Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns vividly bring to life the story of the quintessential American music—jazz. Born in the black community of turn-of-the-century New Orleans but played from the beginning by musicians of every color, jazz celebrates all Americans at their best.

Here are the stories of the extraordinary men and women who made the music: Louis Armstrong, the fatherless waif whose unrivaled genius helped turn jazz into a soloist's art and influenced every singer, every instrumentalist who came after him; Duke Ellington, the pampered son of middle-class parents who turned a whole orchestra into his personal instrument, wrote nearly two thousand pieces for it, and captured more of American life than any other composer. Bix Beiderbecke, the doomed cornet prodigy who showed white musicians that they too could make an important contribution to the music; Benny Goodman, theimmigrants' son who learned the clarinet to help feed his family, but who grew up to teach a whole country how to dance; Billie Holiday, whose distinctive style routinely transformed mediocre music into great art; Charlie Parker, who helped lead a musical revolution, only to destroy himself at thirty-four; and Miles Davis, whose search for fresh ways to sound made him the most influential jazz musician of his generation, and then led him to abandon jazz altogether. Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Tatum, Count Basie, Dave Brubeck, Artie Shaw, and Ella Fitzgerald are all here; so are Sidney Bechet, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and a host of others.

But Jazz is more than mere biography. The history of the music echoes the history of twentieth-century America. Jazz provided the background for the giddy era that F. Scott Fitzgerald called the Jazz Age. The irresistible pulse of big-band swing lifted the spirits and boosted American morale during the Great Depression and World War II. The virtuosic, demanding style called bebop mirrored the stepped-up pace and dislocation that came with peace. During the Cold War era, jazz served as a propaganda weapon—and forged links with the burgeoning counterculture. The story of jazz encompasses the story of American courtship and show business; the epic growth of great cities—New Orleans and Chicago, Kansas City and New York—and the struggle for civil rights and simple justice that continues into the new millennium.

Visually stunning, with more than five hundred photographs, some never before published, this book, like the music it chronicles, is an exploration—and a celebration—of the American experiment.


From the Hardcover edition.Amazon.com Review
First off, let's get the kudos down: Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns deserve far more than simple gratitude for bringing jazz to the limelight with this lavishly illustrated volume. The book features among its 500-plus pictures many of the previously unseen shots of musicians and venues glimpsed in Burns's 10-part documentary, Jazz. (See our Ken Burns Jazz Store for the lowdown on the series.) Jazz: An Illustrated History follows the film episode by episode, and it's filled with rich historical detail in the early chapters. Like the series, however, the book trails off after a certain point in chronicling jazz's history. It gives background aplenty on early New Orleans music, the migration of jazz up the Mississippi to major urban centers, and the developments of swing and bebop. After bebop, the history gets a bit perfunctory. Dozens of major figures get mere sidebar coverage. Little is said of substance on Latin or Brazilian jazz, European contributions to the music, fusion, or umpteen smaller deviations from the mainstream. There are wonderful essays that highlight elements of jazz culture, particularly Gerald Early's consideration of race and white musicians in jazz and Gary Giddins's five-page essay on avant jazz. And there are fine sidebars as well. But developments during and after the 1960s are dealt with primarily in impressionistic guest essays rather than detail-oriented historical narrative. It is, of course, difficult to capture all jazz history in any single volume. So perhaps this ought to have been called Jazz: A Historical Appreciation, since the hundreds of images certainly create an intense sense of the music's milieu. --Andrew Bartlett ... Read more

Customer Reviews (30)

For Class
Used in class to accompany the video documentary. Mostly redundant information, but having it physically in front of you is nice for sections with lots of information crammed in.

A good, basic text with a little more
For those who know nothing about jazz but who want to learn, this book is a good introduction.Full of great stories and photographs, it traces the history of the music, mainly through the eyes of two musicians, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.I like how the authors inter-weaved the storylines of not only Louis and Duke but other musicians as well to show how the music developed and branched off into different styles and genres.

As with most Ken Burns material, the subject is told using race as its home base; jazz is rightly seen as the great desegregator.

Sometimes, though, the effort to find romance gets a little ahead of itself; for example, it's revealed that nearly blind pianist Art Tatum's hearing was so acute that he could tell the denomination of a coin just by the way it sounded when it landed on a counter.Big deal--anyone can do that!

The main beef I have with this book is that Ken Burns and Geoffrey Ward are two non-musicians, and non-jazz people at that. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but the result is a book with a lot of facts and very little soul. Some jazz writers contribute well-crafted essays, as does jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, but that's about it.

The reading of the acknowledgments at the end of the book is telling: outside of Marsalis, they did not credit a single jazz musician.Can it really be true that, in a book about the history of jazz, they interviewed only one jazz musician?

They really do in fact do a fine job, but I would have liked to have seen input from more musicians as opposed to critics.

"Jazz, A History of America's Music" - A superb journey of enlightenment of the American greatness that defied its contradiction
"Jazz," by Ward and Burns. In the foreword, Ken Burns cites essayist Gerald Early's quote that "Two thousand years from now, America will be known for three things: the Constitution, baseball, and jazz." And, so it is. This book is a sparkling, gleaming gem. I am a lifelong vocalist and music afficianado, and I tell you unequivocally that Ward and Burns have condensed the story of our need to explosively express ourselves into a digestible whole...America's venomous racism proved trumped by defiance and the will to be human and grow. It is a fascinating story they tell, and against almost unbelievable odds, jazz emerged as a link to all that is irreducibly real and a means of redemption for our errors. Everyone should read and savor this work; it is a triumph. Adisa Ben Achaki, 2009.

JAZZ: A History of American's Music
Ward and Burns have compiled a great deal of research about the origins of Jazz and made it quite interesting by weaving interviews and personal stories of Jazz innovators into the mix.

For instance, Louis Armstrong describes Funky Butt Hall, in Storyville, New Orleans where he grew up."It was a real rough place.You have to take your razor with you `cause you may have to scratch somebody before you leave.The men never put their hats down.They put it on their arm to dance slow with the chick.And nobody better touch it either.After the dance was over, they'd ask did you touch my hat, partner?Yeah!Wop.He'd hit `em in the chops and fight was on."

The pictures are marvelous too.Among them, the authors included Bix Beiderbecke's family portrait in 1904.Bix was probably one or two-years old at the time.There's a photo--actually several pages from the 1914 Ladies' Home Journal with step-by-step pictures of the Vernon Castles teaching the Fox trot to the American public.There's a great 1919 Duke Ellington ad for hiring his `Duke's Serenaders' to play irresistible `jass'.

All in all the book is a great ode to Jazz and its creators.

Great!
prompt shippping during holiday season, book was delivered exactly as description stated. I am very pleased. ... Read more