ERA Reviews

A wonderful and mandatory book for any Mexican War enthusiast. The best article is from one of the two Mexican historians, Miguel A. Gonzalez Quiroga. He examines the humanity on both sides. Mostly ignoring whose fault the war was, he writes a beautiful eulogy of the dead of both sides. Wonderful! The worst article was the other historian from Mexico, Josefina Zoraida Vazguez. She beats a dead horse. Her argument has been argued by American historians since the 60's. However, Sam Haynes's article on relations between the US, Mexico, and Britain is superb. It not only discusses the almost inevitable conflict with Britain and the US prior to the fighting at the Rio Grande, but also points out the why the British were not coming in to help Mexico. Another superb article was by Michael Roth's article on Journalism in the war. Roth's work is a must for those interested in the cultural side of the American soldiers experience in Mexico. Overall and excellent collection of work.

Photographer Bill Ganzel grew up on the Great Plains and after seeing an exhibition of Farm Security Administration photos in 1970 had the unique idea of searching out the places and people of the original photos and photographing them again. This stunning book is the result of his quest. All the photos have detailed captions and also the thoughts of those Ganzel interviewed.

Of the hundred and eighty-nine photos in the book just over half are from the FSA files, the rest are the result of Ganzel's searching out the original locations over a five year period. Amazingly he found several people who had become famous (though still anonymous) because their photos were widely reproduced in newspapers and magazines in the thirties.

One of these was Florence Thompson who was the Migrant Mother in the world famous 1936 photo by Dorothea Lange. I think it is the greatest photo ever taken and Roy Stryker head of the FSA photo section said it was THE image of the collection. This is what he said in 1972 ...''After all these years, I still get that picture out and look at it. The quietness and the stillness of it...Was that woman calm or not? I've never known. I cannot account for that woman. So many times I've asked myself what is she thinking? She has all the suffering of mankind in her but all the perseverance too. A restraint and a strange courage. You can see anything you want to in her. She is immortal. Look at that hand. Look at the child. Look at those fingers--those two heads of hair.'' So it was a wonderful surprise for me to see the photo Ganzel took in 1976 of Florence and her three healthy grown-up daughters on page thirty-one facing the original Migrant Mother photo of her on page thirty.

He also found Darrel Coble who was the young boy running after his father in the well known 1936 Athur Rothstein photo 'Fleeing a dust storm', taken in Cimarron County, Oklahoma. Another unknown yet famous person who survived the Depression and prospered.

Other photos show railroad crossings, houses, tractors in 1936 fields with combines in 1977 fields, cowhands at dinner, churchs, gas stations, county fairs, court houses. Everyday life and people on the Plains separated by forty years.

This is a wonderful book capturing the feel of the thirties on the Plains and again in the Seventies. If you collect books of documentary photos this one must be in your collection. A gem.

Gradeschool children who read this story identified with the story characters. Students went away with appreciation for this time in American History. It was easy to read and informative. It made many students realize how fortunate they are.

Each chapter talks about a different subject in a clear, logical manner. I had this book for a class on History of American Technology, among others, and it trully was a favorite, one that I'll keep for my own personal use in the classroom.

It had everything i needed to know for my report on England in the 1660's

As a bilingual elementary school educator, I read much children's literature in both English and Spanish for personal pleasure. Frank Tashlin's portayal of a wild bear habitat being "gobbled up" by sprawl and big business, as well as the bear's efforts and the problems he faced proving his credibility and identity that he IS A BEAR hits close to home in the 2000s. Although Tashlin wrote this book in the mid-1900s, it is applicable to life in the United States today. The book gives an ecology lesson to children today, it allows children to see the difficulties others face - in this case the bear's problems, but most of all - it's just a darling read for children and adults in both Spanish and Engish, ( I read the book in Spanish first.)

Finally a book on copyright for the web written in right-brain language that a non-lawyer can understand.

The web is the modern day equivilant to the Old Wild West in which images are freely copied, modified and redistributed, all over the world, where they might be seen, and re-used by portentially millions of people. The rights of the individual author and artist are blatantly disregarded, to some extent because of willful disregard for the property of others, but mostly because of ignorance. The notion that the web is for everybody is all the justification some people need to plunder your images.

This book explains our rights and copyrights as artists, designers, and content providers and tells in plain words what we can do to protect ourselves from being the victims of web crimes.

Mary Carter's strength is in her ability to condense large mountains of infomation into small bitesized bits of information.

This book is extremely well written, and unlike most books written by lawyers, it is written with wit and charm.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Gary W. Priester Graphic Designer

This is a beautiful book. Mr. Florence out-did himself with this one! It is so easy to read, is laid out so beautifully, the information is complete and the photography is outstanding. I respect Gene Florence's expertise and would make this my "Bible" for information on Elegant Glassware.

En este libro, fácil de leer y entender, el doctor César Vidal nos muestra cómo se desarrolló la gran batalla entre el cristianismo, que depositó su fe en el Jesús histórico, y la Gnosis (vulgarmente conocida como gnosticismo), que trataba de desfigurar y corromper la figura de Jesús para adaptarla a su propia teología. El libro se limita a cómo se desarrolló esa controversia en el siglo I de nuestra era. Para ello se apoya básicamente en el Nuevo Testamento (Hechos, cartas de Pablo, de Juan, Pedro, Judas y Apocalípsis) ya que no contamos con textos "cristiano-gnósticos" hasta el siglo siguiente.
Especialmente interesante es el capítulo dedicado a la influencia recíproca posterior de la Gnosis en le cristianismo y viceversa.


Creo que es un libro realmente útil para estudiosos del cristianismo primitivo y, en general, para cualquier persona interesada en la fe cristiana.


Quizá alguien no entienda qué tiene que ver lo que hoy entendemos como Nueva Era con todo esto. La clave está en que la Nueva Era, a pesar de sus innumerables ramificaciones muchas veces contradictorias entre sí, no es otra cosa que un movimiento profundamente gnóstico. Por lo tanto, conocer lo que empezó en el s. I es básico para entender la controversia Nueva Era-Cristianismo bíblico en nuestro s. XX (y la que se dará sin duda en el XXI)

I was doing a research project on the McCarthy era and found this book at the library I couldn't believe my luck! This book has everything and everyone, from the major people like McCarthy himself, Alger Hiss, and the Rosenbergs down to the Cincinatti Reds (did you know they changed their name for a brief period during the McCarthy era?) If you would ever like to know more about the McCarthy era, look for this book.