Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism

Book Description

No blacks allowed, especially after dark. This was the unwritten rule in a "sundown" town. In his trademark revelatory style, bestselling author James W. Loewen explores one of America's best-kept secrets as he unearths the making of sundown towns and discloses the fact that many white neighborhoods and suburbs are the result of years of racism and segregation. Anna, Illinois; Darien, Connecticut; and Cedar Key, Florida, are just a few examples of the thousands of all-white towns established between 1890 and 1968, many of which still exist today. White residents of these towns used any means possible -- including the law, harassment, race riots, and even murder -- to keep African Americans and other minority groups out.

Powerful and unprecedented, Sundown Towns tells the story of how these towns came into existence, what maintains them, and what to do about them. It also deepens our understanding of the role racism has played and continues to play in our society.

Customer Reviews:

I grew up in a "Sundown Town".......2007-09-20

I am African American and I grew up in one of the towns in the northeast mentioned in the book (I didn't read the book, my sister told me about it, she said it was very good so that's where my rating comes from.) This town was EXTREMELY RACIST. My siblings and I were the only African American kids in the local school and we went through hell. We were called "nigger" so many times that we lost count. I heard that this town "opened up" in the 1980's, but I still cannot bring myself to go back there.

Nevertheless, I don't hate white people or anyone else for that matter. I try to judge people as individuals, and have raised my children to do the same. In fact, I feel sorry for the people who were so hateful to us. What kind of person gets pleasure or satisfaction from inflicting pain on others?

I live in a large city that has its share of racial problems. However, I live in a very nice, integrated neighborhood. There are blacks, Asians, and Latinos. Many of the residents (including myself) are city workers. I have to admit that I would have not moved there if there were no other people of color there. At the risk of contradicting myself, I just would not feel comfortable being the only black person in an all-white neighborhood. Been there, done that, and it wasn't fun.

I just can't bring myself to read this book, though, because it would bring back too many painful memories.

Could have been so much better........2007-07-31

After the first one hundred pages, I was ready to give this five stars. I have lived or worked in most of the towns mentioned in Southern Illinois, and the book correctly presents a great deal of information. On the other hand, some of the oral histories were quite incorrect. Eldorado has not had a "sundown sign" since 1960 at least, if ever. But the author claims it had such a sign into the 1980's. The mayor of Benton, Illinois remarks were taken out of context and totally misrepresented her, and her comments. These errors and several similar ones could have easily been avoided, making the book much better. The tragedy is that his points are well made and accurate generally, but when errors creep in it allows those who are racist in their attitudes to mount a defense that the book is filled with inaccuracies. If this were the only problem, I would still give the book four and one half to five stars.
The greatest problem with this book is when the author allows his own political views to overshadow reality in assuming that race was the motivation for many southern whites to vote Republican for the past forty years. Saline County (Eldorado, IL), Franklin County (Benton, West Frankfort and Ziegler, IL) and Union County (Anna, IL) are some of the most racist communities in the United States. Yet, these communities rarely even have Republican candidates on the ballot for local elections. The Democrat Party reigns supreme in these communities. Party affiliation is not reflective of racist attitudes. This is the great blemish on what could have been a truly great book. It does shine light on a horrible problem. It is a common reality throughout the United States. Much of the analysis is excellent. But the author's personal biases tarnished the final product.

Get Over the Guilt!.......2007-05-26

More liberal hand-wringing about human nature. More guilt over the supposed special evil of white people.
First, if a group of white people wants to live by itself without seeing a black face after dark, why is that bad? Who does it hurt? Why would a black person WANT to be in that town,anyway? Second, I can name several "sundown towns" that exist today, where WHITE people are not allowed: Harlem, South Central Los Angeles, etc. And that's okay with me; that's their turf, and they deserve a white-free space and are welcome to it. Third, the idea that white people are especially racist, which this book promotes, is absurd in the extreme. India is 99% Indian. China is 99% Chinese. Mexico is 99% mestizo. Most sub-saharan African countries are 99% black. These appear to be "sundown countries." Very, very few European countries are today 99% white, or even 90% white, if that. Non-whites are flooding into Europe and America, a curious thing to do if whites there are so notoriously racist. Slavery is an ages-old institution which Europeans and Americans led the way in ending. We should be PROUD of our past, not ashamed of it. Books such as this try to exploit white guilt for various reasons, including envy for white success and and excuse for black failure; that's the agenda behind the "history." Ultimately this strategy will fail because it is contra human nature. My prediction is that in the future "sundown towns" will be back in America in a big way, and with no apologies.

Racism: Solving the Problem.......2007-05-21

Not only is this a book about the many subtle and not-so-subtle ways that minority groups (African-Americans, and to a lesser degree Asian- and Hispanic-Americans) have been kept segregated, it is a book about possible remedies that are practical in nature. There are many surprising facts, both to those who thought certain states were immune to the virus of racism that created segregated communities ("sundown rules in sundown towns") but also to those who felt some areas of the country had to be more frequently guilty of the practice of warning minorities to get out of town by sundown.

The author takes a sociologist's view of census reports about residential patterns. Some towns that might not appear to be "sundown towns" turn out in fact to be because the accidents of having a large minority population do not exempt a town from scrutiny (the presence of a prison system within city or county limits might skew the numbers, for example). This skewing effect might give one a false impression about the history and present practices of a particular community.

Reading this book is a real challenge to the assumption that housing and residential patterns in the U. S. are/were created through voluntary choices made by consenting adults. Some of the unlikeliest of places were sundown towns. Many readers may be surprised to find their own communities listed (I won't give away the real surprises). This is must reading for those who care about equality of treatment for all minorities.

A must-read for every American!!.......2007-02-13

This book is absolutely fascinating for anyone interested in our country's racial history, or race-relations today. After reading this book, I believe it should be required reading in high school government/politics/social classes. I cannot believe I was so ignorant of this entire dimension of our country's history, and many, many other people are, too. I am also amazed that it has never been comprehensively studied or written about before. Kudos to Loewen for bringing this to our attention!!

Average customer rating:

Just as good the second time
Scholarly writing
All things are revealed within
Badly dated
Down the drain

The Hidden Dimension
Edward T. Hall
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0385084765
Release Date: 1990-09-01

Book Description

An examination of various cultural concepts of space and how differences among them affect modern society. Introducing the science of "proxemics," Hall demonstrates how man's use of space can affect personal business relations, cross-cultural exchanges, architecture, city planning, and urban renewal.

Customer Reviews:

Just as good the second time.......2007-01-10

I read this book in the 70's and loved it. It was eye-opening, and I was astounded by his level of perception. I owned it, lost it in a move, and finally couldn't stand to be without it. So after 20 years, I got this book and a number of his other books. Edward T. Hall is an American gem, and all of his books are worth reading. His greatest works are roughly 30 years old, but I think the information stands up to the test of time.

Scholarly writing.......2006-04-24

A captivating scholarly writing on how human beings react to and make use of spatial distance from a physical and psychological viewpoint, i.e.. the study of Proxemics. The book also deals with cultural differences in the use of space. Hall examines the French, German, English, Japanese, and Arab world comparing each with the American context and with one another. The concluding chapters look at the world of 1950's and 1960's and seek to explain the ways in which we must design our cities to reflect proxemics values.

Many readers would immediately disagree with Hall's claims that there are inherent differences between the races that could not be overcome but Hall is rather persuasive. Though this is an old classic it is not outdated. This book is very different from "Management Science" books, as it requires broader general cultural knowledge from the reader by venturing into the domains of art, classical history and psychology. Students of international management and cross cultural studies should read this book.

All things are revealed within.......2005-10-11

This book serves as an introduction to the field of proxemics. Hall exams how people interact and how they live together. He begins with an examination of the animal world and how animals share space. Although not directly related to humans it is interesting to know that crowding among rats leads to massive population decline.

The book also deals with cultural differences in the use of space. Hall examines the French, German, English, Japanese, and Arab world comparing each with the American context and with one another. The concluding chapters look at the modern world and seek to explain the ways in which we must design our cities to reflect proxemics values. This is even more valuable advice today as American seeks to integrate more and more immigrants from very different cultures.

Although a little dated this book is worth a read.

Badly dated.......2004-08-07

It had been required reading when I was in college, but I found it hadn't aged very well on a second reading. Hall tried to make his case against urban overcrowding, citing the "behavioral sinks" that were being created in the 1960's. He presented numerous examples, starting with mice, that showed the debilitating effects overcrowding has on animals, and applied this to the overpopulated urban environments.

More interesting was the study he did on the way persons from different culture perceive space, drawing from American, European, Arab and Asian societies. Even between Americans and English the differences were startling, but it seemed to me that he made too much of these differences, that affluence has as much a role in shaping the way people perceive space as does culture, which Hall did not touch upon.

Hall was pessimistic of the modern cities in America, noting that the race riots, in his mind, resulted from the cultural differences between Whites, Blacks and Hispanics. I think it had more to do with social inequalities than it did race, but Hall seemed convinced there are inherit differences between the races that could not be overcome, which I found to be too deterministic.

Down the drain.......2003-05-05

Edward T. Hall's The Hidden Dimension, perhaps the scariest book (even scarier than 1984) I ever read. Scary, because it isn't fiction, but a rather elaborate essay on anthropology and proxemic behaviour. If Hall's right, things as disregard for other cultures, mindless urban development and demographic growth have generated a behavioral sink in which stress, crime, intolerance and physical and psychic disease grow everyday, and to make things worse, our governments take measures that only accelerate the process. We are all going down the drain.

The City Of Light: The Hidden Journal of the Man Who Entered China Four Years Before Marco Polo

Average customer rating:

many indications that this is largely a 20th Century work
Ian Myles Slater on: A Remarkable Book, as Memoir or Fiction
Excellent.
Boring!
Brilliant. ...One way or another.

The City Of Light: The Hidden Journal of the Man Who Entered China Four Years Before Marco Polo
Jacob D'Ancona
Manufacturer: Citadel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

In 1270 a scholarly Jewish merchant called Jacob d'Ancona set out on a voyage from Italy. A year later, he arrived in China at the coastal metropolis of Zaitun, the "City of Light" (now known as Quanzhou), four years before Marco Polo arrived at Xanadu in 1275. Nothing was known of this epochal journey until 1990, when David Selbourne was shown d'Ancona's account of his travels, a remarkable manuscript that had been hidden from public view for more than seven centuries. Eventually translated and edited by Selbourne and published in Great Britain in October 1997 as The City of Light, the account was praised as providing an unparalleled insight into life in the medieval world.

Controversy followed. Selbourne had pledged to the manuscript's owner that he would not reveal its whereabouts, and that raised doubts about its authenticity. As a result of U.S. sinologists' criticism of plans for American publication, the first edition was canceled.

Now, a year later, Birch Lane Press happily publishes the controversial work. Criticisms of the textual evidence of d'Ancona's account have been answered by Selbourne. Most notably, other academics--particularly and significantly, in China--have come to the support of d'Ancona's account. The work is to be published in a Chinese translation.

Vivid and insightful, this account has great historical significance. It not only describes the adventures of a medieval trader, but also comments on Chinese society and manners through the eyes of a European man of learning. The City of Light brings spectacularly to life d'Ancona's encounter with one of the world's great civilizations.

Customer Reviews:

many indications that this is largely a 20th Century work.......2004-05-27

This volume starts out as a plausable enough chronicle of a Jewish merchant from Italy who travels to China and so on, but very quickly it becomes apparent that this is just the setting for a series of philosophical debates that the merchant partakes in with other groups in the "City of Light".

It is written like no other narrative from the past I have seen and is quite long as well. Although I am no expert on that time and place, and there are none who truly are, what really makes it suspect is the fact that most of the work fails to give details of how people lived and what things were like at that time and place and instead concentrates on the dialogues that he is invited to and partakes in. And all of the matters that they discuss are those that would preoccupy the mind of a person in the late 20th Century. Which either means that people in the 13th Century had identical problems to those we have today, or that this was written by someone in the late 20th Century. He even forsees the Holocaust at one point.

There is nothing that would secure it as authentic and many indications that this is largely a 20th Century work, enough to make it well accepted as a forgery until proven otherwise (which I never expect to happen). As for what it contains and the value of its philosophical debates, it offers nothing in the way of secure arguments, unless you already accept the Jewish religious teachings as a source of unchallenged wisdom. It also was rather long without adding much. It might have been better to publish this as a modern philosophical novel, which would have permitted it to be a better novel, without attempting to mislead scholars, that can cause trouble for years. Although I realize that from a publishing standpoint, it gets more attention to claim authenticity.

Also, he (Selbourne) clips off the return journey, which might have been one of the only authentic parts in the book. I paid full price for this book when it was first published and I consider it was not worth it.

Ian Myles Slater on: A Remarkable Book, as Memoir or Fiction.......2003-10-17

I am glad to see that the (delayed) American edition of this book is now in paperback. It differs from the UK edition (which I have also reviewed) mainly by including "Remarks on The City of Light " by Wang Lianmao, in which modern Chinese scholarship is used to reply to some of the criticism directed against it by Westerners. Specialists in the history of the region find some puzzles, and probable errors made by a foreigner, but nothing to suggest a modern fraud. They seem willing to accept it as an authentic account of southern China by a foreigner, describing events shortly before the arrival of Marco Polo in the following of the Mongol (Yuan) conqueror. (Probably wisely, they do not seem to have offered an opinion on how authentic the foreigner -- an Italian Jew -- looks to them.)

Curiously, Frances Wood, whose "Did Marco Polo Go to China?" argues that the Venetian merchant stayed in western Asia, and got all his information from others, who left no record of their adventures, seems to have joined in denouncing Jacob of Ancona as a fabrication, even though this must have seemed like manna from heaven for her theory. (By the way, it seems clear to me that, despite various major and minor interpolations and deletions in the manuscript tradition, Marco Polo did travel in East Asia -- so maybe I'm gullible.)

I would add, from my own cursory research, that I have some problems with the supposedly convincing argument that the use of the term "mellah" for "Jewish Quarter" in Muslim lands is anachronistic. This argument depends on accepting one version of the etymology and history of the word. It is, however, less than completely certain; Roger Le Tourneau, in "Fez in the Age of the Marinides" (English translation 1961), reviewed the complicated evidence, and suggested that the consensus, including how long the word was in use and when and where it was adopted, might be wrong.

From a Jewish perspective, I can accept Jacob of Ancona as a plausible figure (and perhaps more typical than Selbourne, to judge from his notes, realizes). The combination of length and literary quality in a memoir seems unusual for the period, but the translator reports omitting some sections at the end, and felicitous translation can add charm without being unfaithful. Some medieval writings *are* inordinately long -- and long-winded.

Jaob's report of debates with Chinese officials leaves me wondering if both his contacts and his discussions were really on such a high level (especially with both sides using some sort of "trade speech" and translators), but self-congratulatory memoirs are not a modern invention.

On the basis of Chinese reactions, I am prepared to accept the work as authentic, although not completely reliable as a record of fact (is anything?). If it is a fraud -- and only an examination of the manuscript seems likely to prove it -- its creator would surely have been better rewarded by emulating Eco's "Name of the Rose," and publishing it as historical fiction of a high order.

Excellent........2002-04-11

OK, nobody else has seen the original, so there's no way of verifying if this is a true translation or a hoax. If it is a hoax, it's a danmed good one, written so well, with lots of research to back it up, that I for one don't care.
This is just brilliant, true or hoax, it gives a deep insight into the Jewish support network and all the opposition & prejudice that Jews had to deal with.
It knocks Marco Polo's account into a cocked hat; incisive philosophy, intimate desriptions of mediaeval life and trade are enough to grant this a place on anyone's bookshelf, true or not.

Boring!.......2001-08-03

In a word: BORING! This book would have been twice as good were it half as long. Selbourne has cut the end and would have done well to cut the middle as well. Jacob's incessant protestations of piety are tedious. He hypocritically condemns everyone around him for greed and self-interest but his own actions, though ostensibly high-minded, are also dictated almost solely by financial motives. For this reason his criticism of others rings hollow. His world view is remarkably narrow and parochial for someone so widely traveled. While he makes extensive observations of the conduct of others, there is no effort to appreciate their viewpoints. I am also skeptical of the provenance of this book. The social debates described have a very contemporary tenor and are relevant to our own times. If this were in fact an authenticated manuscript, this resonance would be remarkable. However, the provenance of the book is in dispute and much space is devoted to supporting its authenticity. The resolution of this issue must await examination of the original manuscript but in the meantime I am skeptical because the discussions seem too modern.

Brilliant. ...One way or another........2001-07-14

This is simply one of the best books I have ever read. And it is definitely, hands down, with a doubt, the single funniest book I have ever read... though it isn't actually intended to be. Until the actual Ancona manuscript itself is made available for scrutiny, we will never know for sure if this text is authentic or a stunningly brilliant, almost cruelly sharp-witted satirical hoax. If it is the latter, it is still extremely impressive, informative and entertaining. Nearly every sentence is punctuated by the author Jacob's constant use of "May God be praised" or "May God spare me", or, for those individuals and groups he really despises: "May God strike them down" or "May God shorten their lives". I just could not stop laughing! - nor could I put the book down. Mr. Selbourne, wherever you are, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, sir. One way or another you have given us an amazing piece of work. May God magnify and bless you, and may He extend your life! Amen, Amen, Amen!

Average customer rating:

pure david eddings-not such a good thing after a while
Gods, Spirits, Good and Bad Guys -- Again.
I still love Eddings, but...
Running Out Of Steam
Fantasy for people who don't read real fantasy ...

Hidden City (The Tamuli Book, No 3)
David Eddings
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0345390407
Release Date: 1995-08-01

Book Description

WAR TO THE DEATH
The Pandion Knight Sparhawk had bested the massed forces of the God Cyrgon upon the field of battle. But victory turned to ashes when the foul God's minions kidnapped Sparhawk's wife, the beautiful Queen Ehlana. Sparhawk must surrender Bhelliom, the awesome jewel of power--or Ehlana would die.
But Cyrgon's lackeys had misjudged their foe. Sparhawk fought on, and none of his companions flinched from the awesome struggle, though each must vanquish forces of evil from Tamuli's dark past, and from fetid places beyond human ken.
Still, the full magnitude of their peril was yet to be revealed...Cyrgon had dared the unthinkable: He had called forth Kleal, Bhelliom's opposite, to rend the very world asunder. Thus, as it had ever been decreed, would Bhelliom and Kleal contend for the fate of this world--even as the man Sparhawk must finally face the God Cyrgon, in mortal combat and alone...

Customer Reviews:

pure david eddings-not such a good thing after a while.......2006-05-14

David eddings is an extremely talented author in my opinion. I mean, the Belgariad was fantastic, being highly original and with a great plot.

Sadly, i cannot say the same with the Tamuli series. There were a few main problems that i just can't come to terms with. 1) the plot. Its basically a regurgitated version of the Mallorean, with the Bhelliom the Orb, and with the counterparts evil.

2) the antigonists. i suppose the author at one point was thinking "well, we just happen to have all these evil guys around. what can sparrowhawk do against all of them? Well, why not make them all stupid?" I mean, come on. the "evil god" is so outdated he loses to Sparrowhawk in swordfighting. Plus, his "evil minions" are bred for their stupidity. Their whole entire race is impossibly stupid. its like backwards evolution. To create warriors for his army, what does he do? he brings in armies from the past! what a wonderful idea, yes? Its just the fact that they're all outdated and are still wearing bronze armor. kind of unfair, don't you think. Okay. the protaganists come up against some minor hitch which they can't go across. No worries! Just give them a new power! I mean, every single detail in the plot is all there to help the protanganists. How senseless is that? You know from the start that Sparrowhawk will win, and even he knows it. He just calmly slaughters everyone in his way. Oh, did I mention? He's a god! (or something close to it anyway) So he can just blast everything in his path out of the way.

so, you see, everything falls perfectly into place for the good guys. It actually made me feel sorry for the bad guys. I'm serious.

3) the characters. A problem with Eddings is that his characters are too extreme. Do you ever meet anyone in your real life like any character in his books? Take for example Silk. I mean I love that character, with his personality and all, but its overdone. At first, I enjoyed his antics and all, but after the nineth book, I was utterly exasperated at him. Same goes for Sparrowhawk and his companions.

I didn't mind the overcomplicated plot, like some people. It seemed okay to me, actually.

So, you see, David Eddings can only write in one type of style. he never changes. Characters, plot, everything is duplicates. If you've read one series, you've read them all. Mallorean is an exact copy of Belgariad. Tamuli is carbon copy of Elenium. (with a few tweaks) Oh, and Elenium and Belgariad aren't all that different, either. In the end, you read the books just to see what happens to the characters, as you love them, but as soon as you realize they're fake and artificial, the game is over.

Gods, Spirits, Good and Bad Guys -- Again........2005-08-17

There's some sort of sense of accomplishment in reading sixteen books by one author one right after another. Either that ot it's a measure of sheer power of will. Will David Eddings, both statements are true. There are moments in his booths where he has repeated his plot for the umpteenth time when you just want to throw the book out the window. And then there are those times when he pulls something off perfectly and you have to admit to his talent.

The Hidden City is the last volume of the Tamuli, which is the second series about Sparhawk and Ehlana, and Eddings fourth series over all. After foiling several of Cyrgon and Zalasta's plans the bad guys kidnap Ehlana triggering a manhunt where every one of the home team is traveling under at least one layer of disquise. The must neutralize Cyrgon's plans for world conquest and find the road to the Hidden City, where Ehlana is being held hostage for Sparhawks good behavior.

This story shifts back and forth among the various players as they sneak, pose, fight, and steal their way across the lands of Berit. The make friends of enemies, stand of alien attacks and create general havoc, drawing steadily closer to the final conflict, where Bhelliom faces Klael and Sparhawk has one last fight with Cyrgon. This is a complicated story at this stage and Eddings' efforts to geep the threads in synch will occasionally leave the reader shaking his head.

Technically, this is Eddings best writing, but not his best plot (the Elenium owns that honor) or his most innovative (the Belgariad has that prize). But it never bogs down, although it takes a long time to unfold. Eddings is best at the interplay between his characters although they develop very slowly if at all. But at least they are strong and original characters that can last for a trilogy or two.

Fantasy has come a ways since the days of these volumes but they still display an ability to entertain and their occasionally wry humor brought a new vigor to a genre that was always in danger of slipping into overblown language or pure hack and slashery. Eddings is no Tolkein, nor does he use the tortured heroes of Michael Moorcock, but repetitive that he might be, it is himself that he repeats, not someone he is imitating. I like him (in small doses, so it may be a decade before I read these again) and I think most fantasy buffs will as well..

I still love Eddings, but..........2005-06-08

AmazonFox: For assistance in this review, I'm joined by my esteemed colleague, Bhelliom.
Bhelliom: It hath always been mine pleasure to lend mine opinion to any literary criticism.
AF: Uh, yeah. We're here today to review "The Hidden City", the conclusion to David Eddings' Tamuli series. Here's my assessment: It's a mess.
B: It doth displease me that thou hath dismissed this tome so curtly.
AF: Suck it up, Big Blue. I stick by my opinion. This book is literally a mess, cluttered with extraneous subplots, nonsensical plot twists, deus ex machinas, and irrelevant characters. Including you, buddy.
B: Be nice.
AF: No, I don't think I will. See, I LOVED the Elenium, the first trilogy in this series. I was so excited when the second trilogy, the Tamuli, came out. And then what does Eddings do? He proceeds to spend the next three books systematically undermining, negating, or otherwise rewriting the events of the Elenium
B: Yet doth not the plot, which doth pit the very forces of good against the wicked and foul forces of evil, somewhat redeem this over-complicated tale?
AF: Don't I wish. There's no real suspense! It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that Sparhawk and his friends will win this battle, and not only do we know it, but they all know it too. It's very, very boring to read about people saving the world when they're not even worried about it. And part of the reason they're not worried about it is that Eddings is frantically rewriting the rules in their favor at every turn. There's almost no struggle that's not solved by someone - or something - producing some mysterious new power or ability. Let's see, Xanetia glows, kills people with a touch, and reads minds. Hey, why not give her invisibility and the ability to turn into mist and float through windows, too? Why? *Because we can!* It reaches the point where you almost start to feel sorry for the bad guys. Come on, couldn't we at least give them *one* cool power that doesn't have a counter-spell or a solution Khalad can figure out in his sleep?
B: Thy simple speech and uncouth manner disturbeth me.
AF: Hey, let's not even get into how annoying all those `thees' and `thous' of yours are! I fell asleep every time you piped up for more than a paragraph. I mean, for the love of God...!
[Aphrael pops into existence]
Aphrael: Yes? You rang?
AF: Aaagh! STOP IT! Stop being cutesy! Stop the God puns! We get it, OK? It's not funny anymore!
[Aphrael vanishes in a huff.]
B: Ahem. It seemeth to me that a more deliberate examination of yon plot would serve better than this continued stylistic quibbling.
AF: Oh, you want to know about the plot? Fair enough - but which one? Here's Sparhawk desperately trying to save the kidnapped Ehlana - no, wait, he's plotting strategy with the Atans - no, hang on, he's talking philosophy with Bhelliom - wait, now he's battling other-worldly monster soldiers summoned by Bhelliom's archrival, Klael. You didn't know about Klael? Silly, of course Bhelliom has an opposite! Didn't you read the Mallorean?
B: Well, really!
AF: Oh, stop it, we all know you're just a prettier Orb of Aldur, enough with the vain protests.
B: Then it is thy contention then that Eddings hath, as they say, jumped the shark with this volume?
AF: You could say that. You could also say that he grabbed the shark by the nose and tail and proceeded to skip rope with it, and you wouldn't hear any argument from me.

Running Out Of Steam.......2005-05-14

The entirety of the Tamuli series is basically a rehash of its predecessor, which is generally regarded as being the far superior of the two. This is especially true of The Hidden City, which performs the incredible feat of being both glacially slow and pathetically rushed at various points in the novel. Cyrgon also fails miserably to make a credible enemy. He is arrogant, reviles intelligence, lacks subtly, and is, indeed, a blob of goop, at least most of the time. Klael is slightly more intimidating, but the god-rock still renders him rather unimportant. Indeed, Eddings struggles to come up with a credible reason disallowing Sparhawk from simply zapping around and annihilating most of his enemies with Bhelliom. Aside from these serious issues, the trademark banter between Eddings hero's (and I use this term loosely) is decidedly average, such that those who have extensively read his books before will be able to predict the use of certain popular one-liners far in advance. All in all, your time would be better spent reading (or re-reading) some of David's earlier books.

Fantasy for people who don't read real fantasy ..........2004-02-24

Well I did manage to struggle my way thru to the end - but then I was stuck in hospital with nothing else to read and at least Eddings' turgid prose took my mind off all the injections, crap food etc. My first impression was that this hodge-podge of characters, gods etc. was what you would get if you mixed together large snippets of Tolkein, Moorcroft, Peake, Chalker with perhaps a smidgen of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a blender. Ok to be fair it IS the third book of the series - perhaps if I'd read the first two I might understand the convulated rules governing the various gods/demons/heroes but even so I couldn't help feeling the story had plotholes a mile wide. For example, given the powers that Aphrael has why can't she help the human characters a lot more? Why do they have to plod around fighting all the time? Way way too many characters, too many silly names, confusing side plots, lack of coherent rules (vital in fantasy!) to say nothing of the fact that many of the 'heroes' are cruel and vicious and unfair. The ending was a damp squib and I felt sorry for any reader who had struggled their way thru the whole three books ...

Invisible Frontier: Exploring the Tunnels, Ruins, and Rooftops of Hidden New York

Average customer rating:

Horrible, horrible book.
disappointing
Well, there's four hours of my life I'll never get back.
Urban Exploration Farce
Minimal pictures

Invisible Frontier: Exploring the Tunnels, Ruins, and Rooftops of Hidden New York
L.B. Deyo , and David Leibowitz
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0609809318
Release Date: 2003-07-22

Book Description

In the shadows of the city waits an invisible frontier—a wilderness thriving in the deep places, woven through dead storm drains and live subway tunnels, coursing over third rails. This frontier waits in the walls of abandoned tenements, hides on the rooftops, infiltrates the bridges’ steel. It’s a no-man’s-land, fenced off with razor wire, marked by warning signs, persisting in shadow, hidden everywhere as a parallel dimension. Crowds hurry through the bright streets, insulated by pavement, never reflecting that beneath their feet or above their heads lurks a universe.

Led by its two founding agents, L. B. Deyo and David “Lefty” Leibowitz, Jinx is a stylish urban adventure out?t known for its daring—if sometimes ridiculous—forays into the hidden wonders that lurk above and beneath America’s greatest city, New York. In Invisible Frontier L. B. and Lefty chronicle Jinx’s dramatic—if sometimes absurd—exploration of a Dante-esque New York, from the depths of the city’s underground Hell (abandoned aqueducts and subway tunnels) to the pinnacles of its Paradise (rooftops and bridges) and everything in between, capturing the genius of the city’s engineering, the vibrancy of its found art, and the elegiac beauty of its ruins. Here is a true series of wittily narrated adventures into the hidden world beneath a great civilization.

Customer Reviews:

Horrible, horrible book........2006-09-28

As someone very interested in urban exploration (especially in the subways) I wanted to check this book out upon hearing of it. After reading many of these Amazon reviews though, I opted out of a purchase, and took it out of my Bronx library instead. Thank goodness as I only wasted valuable time, and not any money.

This book is a sham. It is obviously mostly fiction. And it's boring fiction at that. The book is divided into chapters, each chapter a new "adventure."

I read the subway one first, where the "explorers" take the 6 train around the loop at the end of the line, to see the City Hall Station, which opened in 1904 (NYC's first station) and closed in 1948. The station is located on the loop of the 6 train, that makes the southbound trains go back up north after the last stop, Brooklyn Bridge. First of all, anyone can go on this "adventure." Just stay on the train at the last stop, Brooklyn Bridge, and that's it. Despite the author's attempt to make this sound risky, no conductors walk through the train to see if anyone is on (like they really care), just sit down. The author created some "European tourists" that inadvertantly stayed on the 6 after the last stop, and the author even tries to create some mystery by saying "are we on the wrong train?" Well, unless all those huge "6" signs that are lit all over the train are difficult to read, then you probably got on the correct train. The author also fails to mention that the MTA used to give public tours all the time through this station (and others like the 18th street on the 6 and more) but stopped after 9-11. This chapter was a joke. (UPDATE: The MTA now gives tours through the original City Hall station again.)

I started reading the other chapters, and saw they were no better. I then started to breeze through the book. One thing that is very obvious - no photographs of the adventures are in the book at all. This, despite the fact that on page 67 the author states, "Josh takes out his camera and snaps away at every pipe and puddle..." But no photos of their "adventures" are in the book. Why? Because it's fiction.

There are photos of what they are supposed to be exploring, sure, that's easy. There's even one pic of one of these clowns hopping some fence somewhere, ooo. Buit no pics of the actual "adventures." I guess "Josh" lost all those pictures when he went to CVS to have them developed.

The funny thing is, you can save yourself a lot of time by just going online and viewing pictures of these things for yourself. Especially the City Hall station, there are tons of pictures of it available from the people that were in there during the tours.

Just stay away from this sham of a book, it's really a huge waste of time.

disappointing.......2005-07-13

If the writing and adventures could match the inflated perceptions that the authors have of themselves, this would be a great read. Unfortunately, the writing is downright pedestrian and the urban adventures are either lackluster and/or poorly described. Also, the flow of each chapter is interrupted with uninteresting asides and juvenile commentaries on a scattershot laundry list of topics.

A typical example of this is the uninspiring breakin of an abandoned Harlem row house. The author starts off with a truncated textbook-like history of Harlem that lasts a few paragraphs. Once that boring bit of exposition is done with the writer and his friends drive around a little bit and then enter an abandoned building. They look around a little bit (not exactly thrilling) and then attempt to leave via the fire escape. Here, we are presented with a another aside about the author's 'love' of fire escapes.. "What, in fire escapes, do I admire?... their constancy... firm as Gibraltar... like Ulysses to his barque.. supporting, as Atlas, the gravid snows of winter". Ugh, at times like this you wish the author would have consulted with an editor.

Not everything is terrible. Things pick up here and there, there are a few interesting tid-bits of history, but overall the book does not live up to it's potential.

Well, there's four hours of my life I'll never get back........2005-02-22

This book was a tremendous disappointment. Many of the "missions" are laughably boring and/or carried out in a stunningly inept fashion, much of the writing is markedly narcissistic in its tone and yet inconsistent in content, and perhaps most disappointing the descriptions of the places where the authors go are remarkably poor.

First, the missions. The mission to the UN mostly involves trying to get inside by asking for an interview. Wow, it's like working for my high school newspaper all over again. Once they're shot down, one member of the team briefly sprints past a barrier and `explores' a plaza outside the building for less than a minute (the main point of which is to hold up the Jinx flag while his friends take his picture). Another involves staying on the subway even after the conductor announces passengers should get off! - oh the bravery and cunning!. This is made all the more ridiculous when two non-English speaking tourists inadvertently do the same thing and when the authors do not even get off the train once it's stopped at the abandoned subway station they had planned to explore. Later, they go into an abandoned house, where they discover that a lot of other people have also done this over the years.

Second, the writing. Much of the text focuses on how cool they look in their "uniforms" (dark suits and sunglasses), how cool they look walking to their missions, how cool they look on their missions, how cool it is when they all get together and how everybody else in New York are mindless zombies who don't appreciate what is around them because they are trapped in their sad, meaningless lives. The whole uniform thing is particularly stupid. There's one throw-away sentence explaining that they wear these uniforms because otherwise "scientists" and "philosophers" will not take their "empirical data" seriously, but you simply can't shake the feeling that they just want to look like they're either in "Reservoir Dogs" or "The Matrix" (particularly when the ridiculous `uniforms' keep attracting attention when they're trying to sneak into some place.) Throughout the book the authors bounce between stressing that they explore places for the scientific, empirical value of doing so and that it is not at all for a sense of adventure, only then to talk later about how much fun the adventure of it all is (including one author's admission that he believes the other has a death wish and that is why he engages in so many dangerous activities while exploring). In addition, much space is taken up with various diatribes on the evils of modern life (including a particularly passionate rant against the United Nations that comes totally out of nowhere), and all the horrible twenty-somethings of the world who spend their lives drinking iced coffees (which is a particularly hollow complaint when - a few pages later - the Jinx crew sits down to iced coffees after having screwed up the UN mission). You almost get the sense that after trying in vain to improve the writing, the publishers finally decided to spin the writing as "witty" and hope that people fell for it.

Finally, the descriptions are no better than what you'd get if you wrote down what you think the locations look like without ever actually going. The Croton Aqueduct is dark and slippery. An abandoned subway station is eerie. When you're on top of the George Washington Bridge, the Hudson River looks a long way away. And that's about as good as the descriptions get.

Don't waste your time or your money.

Urban Exploration Farce.......2004-08-15

I was so excited to receive this book, and can not believe how dissapointing it is!! The people aren't urban explorers (UErs for short) - they are children who dress up in costumes and give each other "gang" names and then proceed to perform daredevil-like stunts which are not very impressive.
The book starts out talking about two of the teams failures - City Hall Place and the Croton Acqueduct, which makes you want to put it down and watch grass grow instead. I've been past City Hall Station many times on the downtown 6 train, even with my Mother, it barely even qualifies as daredevil. Their train stops while looping through the station and they are standing right there, but decide not to jump off - don't write a book about it then!! Croton acqueduct is equally as sad - they walk through the tunnels for hours, then stop before the actual bridge (the goal) because they are tired - go back the next day and do it right, or don't write a book about it!!
Any yes, there are no pictures, although they refer to their pictures all the time.
The writing is pretentious and annoying and pointless for the most part - I want to read about "Exploring the Tunnels, Ruins, and Rooftops of Hidden New York" not about your evening spent in twin donuts looking like freaks and scaring people!!
Do yourself a favor and don't buy this book - there are better books about urban exploration, particularly ones about the NYC area.

Minimal pictures.......2004-08-01

Very interesting subject; wish authors had provided more substance. Very disappointed with lack of photos especially with constant reminder of photographers who were amongst group of explorers. I too also have my doubts regarding editors/publisher of this book.

Would NOT recommend purchasing.

The Hidden War: Crime and the Tragedy of Public Housing in Chicago

Average customer rating:

a human disaster and tragedy!

The Hidden War: Crime and the Tragedy of Public Housing in Chicago
Susan J. Popkin , Victoria E. Gwiasda , Lynn M. Olson , and Dennis P. Rosenbaum
Manufacturer: Rutgers University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0813528321

Customer Reviews:

a human disaster and tragedy!.......2000-08-23

This research documentation chonicles the development, history, and failure of mass public housing in large urban centers, such as Chicago. The researchers give a detailed history on local, (Chicago Housing Authority), and Federal government policies which brought about the demise of mass public housing. Also, they timeline the drug epidemic and the organized gang involvement into the underground economy of drug trafficking, which is destroying the human fabric of these massive housing developments. The authors survey three housing developments, to give the reader insight into this tragedy and how the inhabitants are surviving this holecoust. There are times when the hopelessness of this delimma appears insermountable. The researchers attempt to give their insights on present government policies to SAVE the vulnerable population of young women and children who are the majority inhabitants in public housing. They acknowledge demolition of massive housing structures as the only viable alternative to combat the violence and gang dominance over public housing. This is very informative and insightful reading about public and social policies which control the lives of the disadvantaged. The researchers do not deny that its inhabitants are one of the major factors in which crime and violence are uncontrollable in public housing. The authors state that unlike wars in other countries, this war is not being fought for anything...there is neither a greater cause that the residents can use to justify their suffering nor any hope that the violence might lead to a greater good! This is a must READ!

Secret City: The Hidden Jews of Warsaw, 1940-1945

Average customer rating:

Objectivity
Author is naive about Stalin
Debunks Some Anti-Polish Stereotypes, But Parrots Others
Best book on the subject
Fascinating and intelligent

Secret City: The Hidden Jews of Warsaw, 1940-1945
Gunnar S. Paulsson
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0300095465

Book Description

Though the Nazis forced most of Warsaw's Jews into the city's infamous ghetto during World War II, some 28,000 Jews either hid and never entered the Warsaw Ghetto or escaped from it. This book-the first detailed treatment of Jewish escape and hiding during the Holocaust-tells the dramatic story of the hidden Jews of Warsaw.

Gunnar S. Paulsson shows that after the 1942 deportations nearly a quarter of the ghetto's remaining Jews managed to escape. Once in hiding, connected by elaborate networks of which Poles, Germans, and the Jews themselves were largely unaware, they formed what can aptly be called a secret city. Paulsson challenges many established assumptions. He shows that despite appalling difficulties and dangers, many of these Jews survived; that the much-reviled German, Polish, and Jewish policemen, as well as Jewish converts and their families, were key in helping Jews escape; that though many more Poles helped than harmed the Jews, most stayed neutral; and that escape and hiding happened spontaneously, without much help from either the Polish or the Jewish underground. He suggests that the Jewish leadership was wrong to dismiss the possibility of escape, staking everything on a hopeless uprising. Paulsson's engrossing book offers a new perspective on Jewish honor and Holocaust history.

Customer Reviews:

Objectivity.......2005-03-09

Steve Paulsson detached himself from biases, preconceived ideas and any political expediency and performed commendably objective scientific research of a very difficult subject.
Many readers may find his conclusions surprising or at least unexpected. But I find his logical approach based on solid data very convincing. A lot has been written about the heroic efforts of many Poles helping the Jews, and on the other end of the spectrum criminal elements killing or denouncing the Jews hiding from the Nazis. Secret City in a very logical way demonstrates that the vast majority of the Polish population of Warsaw, even if generally negatively biased towards the Jews actually did nothing to deliberately harm them.
The conclusions of the book are based on rigorous statistical analysis of the available documents and data.

Author is naive about Stalin.......2004-04-13

(...)

Steve Paulsson used to post regularly on H-Holocaust and he was a
peace-maker, trying to lower tempers of people discussing Polish
anti-Semitism.
His book, a welcome addition to the history of the Holocaust, holds
that many Jews survived the German attack on Warsaw, the forced
ghettoization, the revolt in the Ghetto and the doomed Polish
Uprising by hiding (openly or underground).
But he is still a peace-maker as can be seen in this observation
about why the Red Army did not cross the Vistula:
"With Soviet forces on the other side of the Vistula, no one expected
that more than three months would elapse before they were freed. (It is indeed a curiosity that it took the Red Army longer to get across the Vistula than to reach Warsaw from the pre-war Polish-Soviet border, or to cover the distance from Warsaw to Berlin.)"
Of course, Stalin was not Paulsson's subject, but the statement in
the quotation verges on naivete. We all know why the Red Army waited for the Germans to eradicate as many as possible "London" Poles.
_Secret City_ is a whole new chapter in the writing of the history of
the Holocaust. Paulsson takes particular aim at the work of Raul
Hilberg, whose work I blasted some 20 years ago in my "Mala's Last
Words," which is available on line at
http://www.ideajournal.com/articles.php?id=15
Unlike Prof. Hilberg, Paulsson does not rely on German records for
his finding that Holocaust historians have missed a significant
number of Jews who survived the German raids on Warsaw and outlived the Ghetto Uprising. They simply disappeared, both from the Germans and from the history books.
In "Mala," I listed the four aims of Jewish resistance. Foremost of
these was survival, if for nothing else than to say Kaddish for those
who did not survive. Not all who disappeared survived. But each

survival is a joy, not something to be bewailed.
Paulsson says that they were missed because historians could not wrap them in the flag of valor for armed resistance and because the
survivors themselves had guilty feelings about their survival.
According to Paulsson's careful data, some 28,000 Jews simply
vanished by hiding or by finding shelter on the "Aryan" side (usually
for a hefty fee). Complicating this is that many Polish Jews were
Yiddish speakers who did not know proper Polish, and for others, they "looked" Jewish.
But the careful data, alas, are one of the weaknesses of the book.
Paulsson offers up scads of statistical data to prove his thesis. He
even begins a chapter with an apology for the statistics that follow.
That does not mean that 28,000 survived the entire war. Paulsson
posits that 17,000 Jews survived to the eve of the Warsaw Uprising.
He does not know how many lived through the war.
But there are huge strengths, too. Paulsson drops little gems without trying to exploit them for better reading. For instance, Jews had to fear discovery because they were circumcised, but some were able to pass themselves off as Karaites and, yes, there were Karaites in Poland. Some passed as Moslems. It would be nice to know more about these, especially in view of the liturgical difficulties Paulsson lists for Jews who went to church while passing as Catholics.
Then there is the story of the Hotel Polski, a trap set by the
Germans to catch Jewish survivors. Paulsson estimates that 3,500 died because of it, but there is not even a touch of drama in his
retelling of this episode.
Throughout the book, even a peace-maker like Paulsson, could not hide the fact that many Jews were killed by Poles, even in the relative freedom of the Polish Uprising. He documents the blackmail and extortion by Poles, too. It does not emerge as a book that makes one love Poles.
One of Paulsson's stronger arguments is his use of the "dog that did
not bark," which, in this case, points to Poles who did not denounce
Jews, even when they knew where they were. He relates many such
instances.
But there are other weaknesses in the book too. There are maps that are useless because the type is too small, or because they do not explain points made in the text.

Debunks Some Anti-Polish Stereotypes, But Parrots Others.......2004-04-01

Paulsson mixes highly original and very unoriginal thinking. He uses quantitative approaches, backed by simple statistics, in order to avoid the selective quoting of anecdotes to support predetermined conclusions. He also factors what he calls "the dog did not bark" situations (where only atypical events were recorded).

Further development needs to be made of the theme, based on quotes from Germans (p. 240) that German hatred of Poles was natural, whereas German hatred for Jews was "according to orders". If accurate, it undercuts the special victim status that many Jews claim relative to Poles, as it underlines the eventual genocidal intentions that Germans had for Poles. Parenthetically, the sentiments are probably mutual, which helps explain why Jewish hostility towards Poles appears, to this day, to be much more common and intense than Jewish hostility towards Germans.

The belittling of Polish aid to Jews, typical of Holocaust materials and discussions, evaporates in the face of Paulsson's analysis, which indicates an unexpectedly high 7%-9% Polish participation rate in the substantial aid to Jews. Pointedly, this figure would be even higher had 1) More Jews fled the ghetto (p. 35, 248), 2) There been no death penalty for aiding Jews, and 3) The privations of Aryan Warsaw had not been so severe (p. 248). Oft-repeated insinuations that Polish indifference and/or betrayals (see below) had been THE limiting factors of Jewish survival are clearly incorrect and inflammatory, and must be withdrawn.

We keep hearing of fugitive Jews as having almost zero chance of survival owing to numerous fanatically anti-Semitic Poles determined that not a single Jew escape the Holocaust. By contrast, Paulsson estimates that 6 in 7 fugitive Warsaw Jews were NOT betrayed. Furthermore, he proves that most Polish blackmailers (szmalcowniki) just wanted money and that very few of them actually turned Jews in to the Germans. Moreover, the szmalcowniki comprised only 0.4% of Warsaw's Polish population. Poles who would actually murder Jews or turn them in occurred at a rate of one individual per many thousands (probably little different from the Polish-on-Polish fatal betrayal rate).

The gravitation of szmalcowniki to fugitive Jews (p. 162), rather than simply a manifestation of anti-Semitism, is readily explicable by blackmailers' natural preference for vulnerable targets. Also, Paulsson's claim that nearly all szmalcowniki were ethnic Poles is contradicted by Yitzhak Zuckerman, who, in his memoir, reported being accosted by Jewish szmalcowniki about as often as Polish ones.

The oft-repeated charge of the AK (Polish underground army) killing Jews is examined by Paulsson and, at least for the Warsaw Uprising, shown to be a very marginal phenomenon. Some 100 Jews were killed out of over 15,000 fugitive Jews. Less than 100 and probably less than 50 AK soldiers perpetrated the killings, a drop in the bucket of 42,000 armed men. In fact, one potential "rotten apple" (Stykowski's unit) is alone allegedly responsible for 23 Jewish deaths. Moreover, the Jewish deaths all occurred under unclear circumstances, and at least some of the killings were for legitimate reasons. Contrary to Paulsson's comments, Jewish espionage on behalf of the Germans, and enemy forces masquerading as AK units, were definitely real. So was Jewish banditry directed against Poles. Finally, the armed conflict between the patriotic AK and the Communist AL (the latter largely Jewish), incompletely submerged by their "alliance" during the Uprising, is not even mentioned.

Unfortunately, Paulsson cheapens his seminal work by lapsing into the simplistic generalizations that typify books on this subject. The customary reference to prewar Polish discriminatory policies against Jews, job-creating properties of Jewish entrepreneurship notwithstanding, neglects the magnitude of Jewish economic dominance. At 10% of the prewar Polish population, Jews owned over 40% of Poland's wealth, and were comparably over-represented at universities. The prewar economic boycotts and numerus clausus at universities were, using modern parlance, a form of affirmative action designed to get more Polish gentiles, recently emergent from peasant backwardness aggravated by 123 years of foreign rule, into Jewish-dominated institutions.

As usual, Cardinal Hlond's 1936 statement about Jews being "freethinkers, vanguards of atheism and Bolshevism" is presented unanalyzed. Rejection of the religious aspects of one's heritage, often with concomitant involvement in radical political-social movements, has always been much more common among Jews than Poles, and this was keenly felt in the mostly religious Polish society. Also, don't Hlond's sentiments find parallels to the opinions of many Orthodox Jews towards secularized Jews, notably in modern-day Israel?

Paulsson's almost obsessive focus on church teachings (e. g. "Christ killers") overlooks the virtual universality of religious prejudice of pre-ecumenical times. How many Jews, based partly on Talmudic teachings, looked down at Christians as deluded worshippers of a mere Bastard, and of three gods? Ditto for anecdotes of individual Poles regarding "deserved" Jewish suffering. Invoking Divine displeasure has always been a common response to tragic events. Remember Job's "friends"? Didn't some rabbis (e. g. Eliezer Schach) also suggest that the Holocaust was God's punishment for Jewish sins (e. g., for having become "too Christianized", insufficiently Zionistic, etc.)? As for some individual Poles found rejoicing at Jewish deaths, the sword cut both ways. Certain Jews, Polish and not, had rejoiced at Poland's tragic fate in 1939.

All the while, Paulsson completely misses the mark about the true source of Polish animosities towards Jews. He cites several anecdotal reports of Poles who regarded Jews as Poland's enemies. Contrary to his claim, neither church teachings nor prewar attitudes had been the primary root of these animosities. It was, instead, the large fraction of Polish Jews who had collaborated, in 1939-1941, with the Soviet invaders of eastern Poland, helping send hundreds of thousands of Poles to Siberia. Consequently, as is evident from some Polish statements that Paulsson quotes, more surviving Jews translated into more servants of the Russian Communists, a polemic that, unfortunately, proved prophetic in the immediate postwar years (1944-1947). Overall, though, Paulsson's work is a major step forward, and I trust that he will eventually acquire a more balanced view of mutual Polish-Jewish antagonisms.

Best book on the subject.......2004-03-04

This well-researched, well-documented and well-written book is a masterpiece. It is also unique in the way it deals with the subject of escape in Nazi-occupied Poland. The author desribes in great detail the life and experiences of those who chose evasion - hiding under false identities - as a response to the Holocaust. He also presents accurately and with an amazing perceptivity the relationships between the Jews in hiding and the Poles who hid them. As one who survived on the Aryan side of Warsaw, Paulsson's writings resonate with my own experiences. A terrific book!

Fascinating and intelligent.......2004-02-17

Paulsson has made an important contribution to the field of Holocaust study with this book. It is extremely well-written, making the rather complicated topic accessible to a lay audience. There is also a good deal of technical information, which will satisfy academics in its intellectual rigor. This book is unusual - it probes many of the field's accepted dogmas, and some of its conclusions are extremely original. I would recommend this book to any researcher in the area, under- or post-graduate student of history, or even any member of the public who has an interest in the area.

Hidden Utah: Including Salt Lake City, Park City, Moab, Arches, Zion, and Bryce Canyon (Hidden Travel)

Average customer rating:

From walking tours and resorts to indian reservations
A superbly presented, full-spectrum travel guide.

Hidden Utah: Including Salt Lake City, Park City, Moab, Arches, Zion, and Bryce Canyon (Hidden Travel)
Kurt Repanshek
Manufacturer: Ulysses Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1569755264

Book Description

Combining unique travel choices, outdoor adventures, and little-known locales into guides where vacations meet adventures, each title in the Hidden series also offers readers the comfort of detailed maps, Internet information for each listing, author picks, suggested itineraries, and walking and driving tours. In this guide, Utah-based author Kurt Repanshek leads to local hideaways like Dead Horse Point State Park, an isolated island mesa 6,000 feet above sea level surrounded by cliffs, buttes, and towering spires. His selective recommendations and opinionated reviews lead to pioneer history in Salt Lake City, Olympic ski runs in Park City, and scenic campsites in Canyonlands. Kurt Repanshek lives in Park City, UT. 34 maps are included.

Customer Reviews:

From walking tours and resorts to indian reservations.......2001-02-16

From walking tours and resorts to indian reservations and dinosaur quarries, Hidden Utah is an invaluable, "user friendly" guide to all beauty, diversity, and recreational resources that Utah has to offer.

A superbly presented, full-spectrum travel guide........2001-01-04

Hidden Utah adds to an inviting series, surveying less traveled hidden spots in Utah and providing keys to scenic drives, lesser-covered parks, Indian reservations and fossil quarries, and plenty of outdoors activities. Any considering a visit to Utah will find Hidden Utah packed with ideas from culinary adventures to hiking.

The Code of the City: Standards and the Hidden Language of Place Making (Urban and Industrial Environments)

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The Code of the City: Standards and the Hidden Language of Place Making (Urban and Industrial Environments)
Eran Ben-Joseph
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0262025884

Book Description

Standards and codes dictate virtually all aspects of urban development. The same standards for subdividing land, grading, laying streets and utilities, and configuring rights-of-way and street widths to accommodate cars (rather than pedestrians) have been adopted in many areas of the world regardless of variations in local environments. In The Code of the City, Eran Ben-Joseph examines the relationship between standards and place making. He traces the evolution of codes and standards and analyzes their impact on the modern city and its suburbs, arguing that it is time for development regulations to reflect site-specific and localized physical design.

Standards and codes were meant to bring order and safety to the city building process. But now, Ben-Joseph argues, these accumulated rules and their widespread application illustrate a disconnect between the original rationale for their existence and their actual effect on the natural and human environment. To discover how this separation of codes from local conditions came about, he looks at the origins of urban standards and their use, from early civilization through the rapid urbanization of the nineteenth century. He provides examples that demonstrate how standards have shaped residential developments and reshaped the natural landscape. And he considers alternatives for the future -- innovation and de facto deregulation by private developers, new design technologies, and place-based regulations reflecting local conditions. Standards, writes Ben-Joseph, will continue to shape the built environment, but they must be flexible enough to allow for innovation and contribute to the development of sustainable and desirable communities.

Secret London: Exploring the Hidden City, With Original Walks and Unusual Places to Visit (Travel)

Average customer rating:

A handy travel guide for the visitor who wants to see it all
guidebook to london's secrets

Secret London: Exploring the Hidden City, With Original Walks and Unusual Places to Visit (Travel)
Andrew Duncan
Manufacturer: Interlink Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1566565278

Book Description

Secret London is an essential companion for anyone committed to discovering the true heart of one of the world's greatest capital cities.

In more than 20 miles of original walks, distinguished historian Andrew Duncan uncovers London's best-kept secrets. From ancient waterways and the vast network of tunnels that weave their way beneath the city's streets to easily missed courtyards and gardens-each walk is full of surprises.

Andrew Duncan's fascinating text delves beyond the obvious to reveal both London's little-known gems and the remarkable histories of its most famous landmarks. Full-color photographs capture the treasures tucked behind every corner, while clear, easy-to-follow route maps highlight places of special interest. Secret London is without doubt the definitive guidebook to the private side of this very public city.

Customer Reviews:

A handy travel guide for the visitor who wants to see it all.......2004-06-13

One of the outstanding "Interlink Walking Guides" series, Secret London: Exploring The Hiddin City: Exploring The Hidden City, With Original Walks And Unusual Places To Visit is a travel guide especially for the walking tourist determined to explore the greatest sights of London, including obscure treasures such as rivers long buried, ancient buildings, and sites where anyone can enjoy free lectures. Full-color photographs, extensive descriptions, street maps clearly illustrating the route of the walk, contact and opening time information, and much more fill this handy travel guide for the visitor who wants to see it all.

guidebook to london's secrets.......2000-12-02

I love this book! It has detailed instructions to find (and history of) little known spots in London that are marvelous. There are several color pictures and hand-drawn maps to help guide you on your walk.

Some of the fascinating bits of London that you can track down with this book are the rooftop gardens in Kensington, the underground tube stations that are no longer used and the rivers that have been tamed and paved over but still peek out here and there.

Even long-time residents will find new insight into their favorite city. Every time I go to London I search out one thing from this book and I'm always glad I did. For tourists, if you bring this book and an A-Z, and a copy of the latest Fodor's or Eyewitness, you won't want for anything else.

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