Reviews (10)

Stunningly Bad
This book is not funny, insightful, interesting or well written. The style is like prose on speed but ultimately there is nothing here. As a long term traveler to Italy, I saw nothing familiar other than some of the obvious stereotypes. Tim Parks does it better and with style in Italian Neighbors.

Awkward format but an incisive and comprehensive dissection of Italians
While dining in a favorite restaurant recently, I congratulated the Italian proprietor on his country's recent well-deserved World Cup triumph."Yeah," he replied, shaking his head, "it was just too easy...I'm really not sure what they can do in 2010 because it's just too easy for us now."I scanned his face for any hint of his pulling my leg (are we talking about the same tournament here?).There was none.
Everything you always wanted to know aboutItaly, but nobody told you.
I think that this book is really well written, witty and serious at the same time. It is a balanced description of the Italian "real life", leaving apart emphasis or stereotypes. As a matter of fact the Author did not run after what most of the foreigners want to ear or read about "il Bel Paese" (the Beautiful Country). Mind the title. Severgnini goes beyond the behaviours of the people, he tries to analyze when, how and why the "Italian mind" acts in a specific situation. This is a complex matter (i.e. Italians are so different despite they share the same flag), but he succeeded to write a clever, deep and also funny book. I'm convinced that North Americans overall like the Italians. If you belong to this category, then go for this book, you may learn more, if not buy it anyway. You may change your mind ! AMust. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1945-    2. 20th Century Description And Travel    3. Culture    4. Customs & Traditions    5. Description and travel    6. Europe - Italy    7. Italy    8. National characteristics, Italian    9. Social life and customs    10. Travel    11. Travel - Foreign    12. Travel / Europe / Italy   

Reviews (13)

This Book is Alright
Being an avid reader of Event Planning literature, I must say that this book is alright.

Packed with Knowledge!
Details, details, details. That's really what successful event planning is all about, and that's the key to this very successful event-planning manual. Author Judy Allen notes, lists, copes with and gives an example of virtually every detail in planning anything from a sedate corporate event in a major city to a huge celebration on a remote island. She provides examples galore plus tips, questions and answers, sample cost sheets and schedules. How much floor space does a person need to be comfortable in a tent? Answer: 20 square feet. How many bathrooms should be available for a party? Answer: One per 75 guests. And don't forget to ask about the stemware, adequate parking and even the photographer's back-up camera battery. This author seems to have thought every contingency, as the book's ambitious title promises. Her one glaring omission is that she does not include the party planner's fee - our guess is that she'd be worth it. We highly recommend this well-organized, very practical book to all event planners. Don't send out press releases for your party without consulting Judy Allen.

Great book
This is a great book for anyone interested in working in the event planning field. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business Communication - Meetings & Presentations    4. Business Etiquette    5. Business/Economics    6. Congresses and conventions    7. Customs & Traditions    8. Meetings    9. Planning    10. Special Business Operations    11. Special events    12. Budgeting & financial management    13. Business & Economics / General    14. Public relations    15. Service industries    16. Business Communication - Meeting Mechanics    17. Hospitality, Travel & Tourism    18. Entertaining - Party Planning   

Editorial Review

By a recent count, the continent of Africa comprises some 1,300 cultures. Some of them number millions of people, some only a few families; some are thriving, while others are in danger of disappearing, the victims of acculturation or, in extreme cases, of genocide. This diversity--and the dangers to it--is little known outside Africa. PhotographersCarol Beckwith andAngela Fisher highlight both matters in Read more

Reviews (12)

Book is good, but the supplement CD is...
There is no-doubt about the photos are more than good.
See it before it disappears
A beautiful look at cultural conventions that may soon be relegated to the quaint and unusual.

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
HOW CAN ANYONE SAY THAT THESE CULTURES DON'T EXIST ANYMORE, OR THIS IS AN AFRICA THAT NO LONGER EXISTS. THEY TOOK THESE PICTURESWITHIN THE LAST 10 YEARS.. DIDN'T THEY ? DUH ?EVERYONE KNOWS THERE IS A COMMON EVERYDAY AFRICA.. GOING TO WORK GENERAL LIVING ( JUST LIKE US HERE IN AMERICA FOLKS) BUT STILL THERE IS AFRICAN TRIBAL SPLENDOR. JUST LIKE IN AMERICA INDIAN'S GET TOGETHER FOR TRIBAL POW WOWS. THEY STILL EXIST TOO. THE PICTURES IN THIS BOOK ARE SHOCKINGLY GORGEOUS...AFRICAN PEOPLE STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL. PLEASE! THE MEN ARE HANDSOME, THE WOMEN WONDEROUS. IT JUST MAKES ME WONDER WHY THE EUROPEAN STANDARD, HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE "STANDARD" OF BEAUTY. THIS REVUE MAY SOUND SHALLOW, BUT IF YOUR INTO THE HUMAN HAS ART FORM ...BUY THIS BOOK!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Africa - General    3. Anthropology - Cultural    4. Customs & Traditions    5. Initiation rites    6. Marriage customs and rites    7. Photo Essays    8. Photography    9. Photojournalism    10. Rites and ceremonies    11. Ritual    12. Sociology    13. African studies    14. Anthropology    15. Customs & folklore    16. Photographs: collections    17. Religion / Ethnic & Tribal    18. Religious rites & ceremonies   

Subjects:  1. Children's 9-12    2. Children: Grades 4-6    3. Girl Scouts    4. Girl Scouts of the United States of America    5. Handbooks, manuals, etc    6. Junior Girl Scouts    7. Scouts and scouting    8. United States   

Editorial Review

Once upon a time, journalism profs duly instructed their greenhorn grads to seek out community papers and the obit pages as logical entrance points into the world of newspaper reporting. Working for cash-strapped local papers allowed novices to practice writing everything from hard news to lifestyle features. Obituaries, meanwhile, were a rung on the ladder of major publications, albeit the lowest. The musty, dusty obit pages also traditionally hosted aging reporters put out to pasture. Not any more, argues Marilyn Johnson in her unabashedly knock-kneed love letter to the obit pages, Read more

Reviews (23)

Moribund Portraits as Art Form
I will admit it.I am fascinated by obituary columns.
Good writing and a great subject
Marilyn Johnson is a connoisseur of obituaries. At once an avid reader and occasionalwriter of obits--her words have ushered out such luminaries as Bob Hope and Princess Diana--Johnson has now become, with The Dead Beat, a chronicler of the history of obituaries and of the subcultures of obituarists and obituary enthusiasts. In her perfectly titled book, in perfectly readable prose, Johnson discusses a number of topics: the difference between American and British obituaries, how various newspapers memorialized the victims of 9/11, the online haunts of fanatical obituary watchers, the "revolution" in obituary writing that took place in the mid-1980's, when obituarists--in particular Jim Nicholson of the Philadelphia Daily News--began to write up the lives of the ordinary departed. Johnson profiles a number of obituarists in her book--I found them hard to distinguish from one another after a time--but her portrait of Nicholson, now retired and caring for his ailing wife, is particularly affecting.
A Morbidly Fascinating Romp That's Equal Parts Entertainment and Instruction (with a dash of creepy thrown in for good measure)
"Selma Koch, a Manhattan store owner who earned a national reputation by helping women find the right bra size, mostly through a discerning glance and never with a tape measure, died Thursday at Mount Sinai Medical Center. She was 95 and a 34B."
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Subjects:  1. Customs & Traditions    2. Death & Dying    3. History and criticism    4. Journalism    5. Journalism (Specific Aspects)    6. Language    7. Language Arts & Disciplines    8. Obituaries    9. Sociology    10. Thanatology    11. Social Science / Customs & Traditions   

Reviews (1)

Miller shows a compassionate side in politics
Given today was Shabbas, I decided what better to do than read and relax. On Thursday, I recieved my copy of The Compassionate Community written by Kentucky State Treasurer Jonathan Miller.
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Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Bible - CriticismInterpretation - General    3. Caring    4. Christianity - Christian Life - Political Issues    5. Christianity - Christian Life - Social Issues    6. Compassion    7. Customs & Traditions    8. Religion - Christian Life    9. Religious aspects    10. Social Science    11. Sociology    12. Social Science / Customs & Traditions   

Editorial Review

In 1995 Gopnik was offered the plush assignment of writing the "Paris Journals" for the Read more

Reviews (132)

Love this book!
I wanted this book to go on forever.I found it to be a very comforting, curl up in front of the fire, listening to jazz kind of book.Maybe I relate to it because I have to boys and adore Paris, I don't know... but I really enjoyed it.
4.5 stars is a good read, as long as you are not expecting something it's not.
It's not an atmospheric travel memoir; it's not a memoir of youth (except in so far as a father relates to his young son); it's not "Almost French".
Beautiful writing, warm, personal narrative, intimate story telling
Contrary to many of the reviews provided for this book, I have cherished this book as one of my favorite books on France.I lived in Tokyo, Japan as an expat for five years and felt an immediate kindred spirit with the author.I found my own personal experiences to be not that different from his own and related to many of his experiences on a deep, personal level.His gift of prosaic writing is a rare and wonderful treat within the travel essay genre, and I was delighted to be invited in to such an intimate and personal account of life in Paris.While most travel essay books are written by amateur writers, offering shallow accounts of brief stays in foreign lands, this book combines the rare writing talents of Adam Gopnik along with a fascinating, intimate portrait of Paris, a city that offers so much but which reveals so little for most of us who don't have the time to absorb and observe and experience what he was able to enjoy and write about for the rest of us. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Americans    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Customs & Traditions    6. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    7. Europe - France    8. France    9. Gopnik, Adam    10. Homes and haunts    11. Paris    12. Paris (France)    13. Personal Memoirs    14. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions - General    4. Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions - Museum    5. Customs & Traditions    6. Design - Decorative    7. Design - General    8. Fashion    9. Product design   

Reviews (17)

Entertaining essays, dense critical theory
I was assigned this text as the final leg of a Greek and Roman Mythology course. Having no idea what to expect, I easily read through the collection of short essays and was thoroughly entertained. Even in translation, Barthes is graceful, lighthearted, and humorous in telling of the modern myths surrounding him in 1950s France. A very well-educated philologist, lexicologist, and sociologist, it wasn't until after writing the short essays here compiled that he rigorously developed his semiological/structuralist theories. Those with knowledge of structural linguistics and semiology and those without such a background alike will certainly enjoy every essay of this brief collection.
Myth as Ideology.
A problem with the take on myth that Barthes develops in his Mythologies is that he privileges the illusory distinction between myth and revolutionary speech. Myth for him is speech that naturalizes the ideology and relations of the bourgeoisie, while revolutionary speech upsets this. Both, however, are charged with producing the situation the present and interpret. Myth is productive. Myth is the revolutionary speech of bourgeois interests as seen from its receivers rather than its producers. Revolutionary speech is myth as seen by its producers. Producing his own myths is man inventing himself.
A must for old-school Marxists and modern rhetoricians
In Mythologies, Barthes offers a series of snapshots with titles such as "Plastic," "Striptease," "Toys," "The World of Wrestling," and "Operation Margarine."His aim is to reveal the ideological abuse hidden in these myths, which are manufactured to read as reality.
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Subjects:  1. French    2. Literature - Classics / Criticism    3. Literature: Folklore/Mythology    4. Semiotics & Theory    5. Social Science / Customs & Traditions   

Reviews (46)

a Cape Cod time machine
George Howe Colt has written an amazing book of a family hoping to hold on to the past through a home that truly is a "time machine." Things don't get fixed, or picked up or even updated for fear of changing what was into what could be.
The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer House
I loved the first part of the book describing how the house came to be and the great vacations spent in it. I was not hapy with the later emphasis on the elite Boston family from which the author is descended. I never could keep the ancestors straight! I love Cape Cod and that's why I selected the book.
The end of an era
"The Big House" is a delightful read for all those who have known (or wished they had known) the joys and magic of inhabiting for a time each season the classic shingle-style (or its equivalent)summer places. WASP's, that endangered species, will especially enjoy Colt's log of a century of family life on the shores of Buzzards Bay; and the traditions, habits, pleasures and sorrows of a large family struggling to keep up appearances as the world they have known crumbles around them. Clearly the end of an era and a way of life for the priviledged few, and perhaps a metaphore for what is occurring globally. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Customs & Traditions    3. Personal Memoirs    4. Reference    5. Social Science    6. Sociology    7. United States - State & Local - New England    8. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (7)

A challenging theory of sacrifice
In this book, Rene Girard tries to propound a new theory of sacrifice, religion, myth, tragedy, incest, and taboo. His basic thesis is that sacrificing a scapegoat was the way primitive societies overcame the natural lawless violence (mimetic desire) of their societies by re-directing it on a sacrifical victim.
Girard is wrong about sacrifice
When I first read Girard's book, I was impressed with his analysis of violence in relation to religion.I admit that his concept of mimesis is fascinating, although it is not particularly original anymore.I even referred to his theory in my own general book on violence and culture (titled, aptly enough, "Violence and Culture" (Wadsworth, 2005).
The Foundational Text on Religion and Violence - General Overview
By focusing primarily on Greek tragedy, "primitive" religions, and psychoanalysis, Rene Girard attempts to show the inextricable link between violence and the sacred. Mimetic desire, the scapegoat mechanism, and sacrifice produce a system in which unrestrained violence can be controlled.Through the sacralization of these elements, religion becomes a way for the community to maintain internal peace and harmony and prevent the recurrence of reciprocal violence.
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Subjects:  1. Customs & Traditions    2. General    3. Sociology    4. Business & Economics / Labor    5. Religion: general    6. Violence in society   

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business/Economics    3. Customs & Traditions    4. Industries - Hospitality, Travel & Tourism    5. Management    6. Management - General    7. Manners And Customs    8. Planning    9. Social Science    10. Special events    11. Business & Economics / Hospitality, Travel & Tourism    12. Business communication & presentation   

Editorial Review

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tony Horwitz returned from years of traipsing through war zones as a foreign correspondent only to find that his childhood obsession with the Civil War had caught up with him. Near his house in Virginia, he happened to encounter people who reenact the CivilWar--men who dress up in period costumes and live as Johnny Rebs and Billy Yanks. Intrigued, he wound uphaving some odd adventures with the "hardcores," the fellows who try to immerse themselves in the war, hoping to get what they lovingly term a "period rush." Horwitz spent two years reporting on why Americans are still so obsessed with the war, and the ways in which it resonates today. In the course of his work, he made a sobering side trip to cover a murder that was provoked by the display of the Confederate flag, and he spoke to a number of people seeking to honor their ancestors who fought for the Confederacy. Horwitz has a flair for odd details that spark insights, and Read more

Reviews (237)

Wonderful
This is a colorful search for answers to an enigmatic childhood fascination with the Civil War, the most calamitous in our history. Visits to battlefields are described with an outline history matched with what the current visitor experiences. Reenactors are profiled (the author embeds himself in one group). Southern locals also provide their views about the War. The result is an engrossing, comparative record of distinct perspectives (and motives). Our current identity as a nation, defined by the prism of the Civil War, is nowhere better examined. History, given omission or embellishment, can become myth to some: to others, truth.
So what's in *your* attic?
Tony Horwitz has created an enigma around a mystery, that mystery being our (that is, the US's) ongoing love affair with a horrific holocaust that just about gobbled us all up when it really did happen.Horwitz describes charmingly of his childhood, during which he obsessed, as many adolescents do, about the many batttles of the War Between The States, but he put aside those things--he thought--when he went to work as a war correspondent during the Gulf War.God, or fate, or what have you, had other plans, and he and his bride moved back to the states to literally find the Civil War, in the form of hardcore reenactors, in their backyard.
interesting, unfortunately missed a very southern corner of the country
Horwitz does a fine job describing how the Civil War still resonates in the life of many southerners (black and white) to this day. The story of the murder of a young rebel flag bearer in south Kentucky is by far the most interesting chapter in the book. About the same age as the Kentuckian, and growing up in Missouri and Oklahoma, this chapter really hit close to home as I recalled some of the hatred I'd witnessed along racial lines.However, I was disappointed that Horwitz didn't spend at least a brief part of his two year journey visiting states like Missouri and seeing how the war still resonates in that region on the edge of the "old south."Horwitz doesn't mention Missouri one time in his book, which is a real shame considering the extreme importance the state played in the war and the very southern mentality that currently resides in many parts of the state. Missouri, a state painfully divided in 1861, is third behind Virginia and Tennessee in the number of battles fought on its soil during the conflict. Missouri was a slave state and offered up many young men to the lost cause.Like Kentucky, Missouri had a star of its own on the rebel battle flag and did pass an ordinance of sucession (now viewed as a "mock" sucession by most historians). From the southwest corner to "little dixie" near the center of the state Missouri has plenty of those flag flying rednecks Horwitz so wonderfully describes. Horwitz claims to be "putting away childish things" at the end of "confederates in the attic." It's my hope that if this great author ever takes another journey across the wonderful south he'll remember that forgotten region of the war's western theatre and delve into how that brutal war effects the citizens of today. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1861-1865, Civil War    2. 1958-    3. Civil War, 1861-1865    4. Customs & Traditions    5. Essays & Travelogues    6. History    7. History - General History    8. History - U.S.    9. History: American    10. Horwitz, Tony,    11. Influence    12. Journeys    13. Southern States    14. United States    15. United States - Civil War    16. History / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877)    17. Reading Group Guide   

Reviews (6)

Was It Translated From French To Greek?
I went to a reasonably good university, and got 580 on verbalSATs, but I can't seem to put the words of this translation together in a way that makes sense. So just to let you readers of average intelligence, like me, know before you spend your money, read the sample pages first. I can't give this book any stars because I don't know if it's any good.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER OF TERRORISM
This book - whose subject is the tactics employed by those at odds with institutions physical and intellectual - offers profound insights not only into terrorism and the tools available to terrorists but also the deep philosophical and psychological rift between the Western and Arab worlds. It fact after reading the book I am convinced that efforts to combat terrorism are doomed to failure until the issues in this book are both discussed and absorbed by people in charge of counter-terrorism (on the policy level and on the enforcement side) and the public at large. Though it's not an easy read (What philosophical discourse is an easy read?), it is illuminates the battleground between the institution which imposes order (democracy for instance) and it's improvising enemy, who operates within the dominant force's own field of vision and seizes opportunities as they arise. It would give me great feeling of reassurance if FBI and CIA counter-terrorism officials used it as a practical guide.

Enigmatic and enlightening
Sometimes I am simply proud that I have read a book.This slim volume falls into that category.The fourteen short chapters explode with new ideas, fresh perspectives, and tantalizing viewpoints.To summarize these riches is unlikely to do them justice, yet I will try.Read more

Subjects:  1. Customs & Traditions    2. General    3. Social Science    4. Sociology    5. Sociology - General    6. Sociology - Social Theory    7. World - General    8. Cultural studies    9. Social Science / Sociology / General    10. Sociology, Social Studies   

Reviews (1)

Fantastic bilinqual book!
Having been born and raised in the Midwest, I've always had a fascination with Mexico's Day of the Dead. The idea that you could joyously celebrate the lives of family and friends who have passed on struck me as being unique and beautiful. Read more

Subjects:  1. All Souls' Day    2. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Nonfiction    3. Holidays    4. Holidays & Celebrations - Other, Nonreligious    5. Juvenile Nonfiction    6. Juvenile literature    7. Mexico    8. Social life and customs    9. Spanish: Grades 1-2    10. Spanish: Grades 3-4    11. Juvenile Fiction / General   

Editorial Review

In Read more

Reviews (19)

A Thomas Kinkaid painting in a book
This book made me feel so happy and peaceful everytime I read it.I just hate to finish it.It really gets into the detail of truly enjoying all the simple pleasures of everyday life.

not so good...
this book really isn't that good.for one, all this guy talks about is his restaurants and how they serve things this way and that way and always name drops.i don't mind it here or there, but every other page, come on, give me a break.the worst part is the way the book is written.this book is geared towards 65 year old women who are niave as hell and want to read a romantic book about how honey tastes from local farms in france and bs like that.save ur self some money and just take a trip to france to see how they live.this book really sucks...

Great Roast Chicken Recipe
The simplicity of the roast chicken recipe in this book for me personifies the lifestyle described herein. It's a book that made me think about the changes I needed to make in my own lifestyle. What price has my body has actually been paying for convenience. What is the true meaning of portion control: is it better to buy low-fat products full of the unnatural and eat a lot of it, or is it better to buy naturally-fat products and eat less. I vote for the second. I've made serious changes because of this book and others that I've read about European culture. There's a lot that they do that makes a lot of sense. There's a saying, what does it profit to gain the world and lose your soul. This book, and others like it, are helping me keep my soul and making me mindful of the important things in life, such as my life and my health. I can spend an hour preparing a simple meal for myself when I get off work (a chicken breast, some frozen green beans or broccoli, a small glass of wine), or I can spend it being sedentary in front of a TV set. I no longer stock the freezer for the next holocaust, but buy as I need, maybe a week's worth, that's it. The Splenda is gone in favor of real baker's sugar. Pitchers of herbal teas have replaced Pepsi. And I've rediscovered walking.
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Subjects:  1. Cookery, French    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Customs & Traditions    5. France    6. French cooking    7. General    8. Home economics    9. Regional & Ethnic - French    10. Regional & Ethnic - International    11. Social life and customs    12. Cooking / French    13. General cookery   

Reviews (1)

A strong in-depth history of Chinese home architecture
China has seen many social, political and economic changes over the centuries, yet surprisingly, has managed to preserve excellent examples of changing architectural home styles throughout these years, as Chinese Houses: The Architectural Heritage Of A Nation presents. Packed with color photos of both interior and exterior d�cor, Chinese Houses also presents an in-depth survey of the rituals, culture, ornamentation influences, and floor plans of homes across China, from urban to rural dwellings. If it's a strong in-depth history of Chinese home architecture which is desired, look no further than the gorgeous Chinese Houses: it's much more than the coffee table picturebook it appears a first glance.
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Subjects:  1. Architectural Detail    2. Architecture    3. Architecture, Domestic    4. China    5. Customs & Traditions    6. Decoration & Ornament    7. Domestic    8. Dwellings    9. History - General    10. Interior Design - General    11. Residential Buildings Architecture    12. Residential buildings, domestic buildings    13. Theory of architecture   

Reviews (3)

Gifts and giving
People living in the modern world often have an impression of life being simpler, easier, and less complicated in primitive, tribal societies, especially those without money, credit cards, mortgage bills and other forms of financial exchange.Those who think so should read this book by the French anthropologist Marcel Mauss.