Senin, 22 Desember 2014

^^ Ebook Free The Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf, by William C. Davis

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The Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf, by William C. Davis

At large during the most colorful period in New Orleans' history, from just after the Louisiana Purchase through the War of 1812, privateers Jean and Pierre Laffite made life hell for Spanish merchants on the Gulf. Pirates to the U.S. Navy officers who chased them, heroes to the private citizens who shopped for contraband at their well-publicized auctions, the brothers became important members of a filibustering syndicate that included lawyers, bankers, merchants, and corrupt U.S. officials. But this allegiance didn't stop the Laffites from becoming paid Spanish spies, disappearing into the fog of history after selling out their own associates.

William C. Davis uncovers the truth about two men who made their names synonymous with piracy and intrigue on the Gulf.

  • Sales Rank: #354328 in Books
  • Published on: 2006-05-01
  • Released on: 2006-05-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 8.00" h x 1.38" w x 5.31" l, 1.54 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 736 pages
Features
  • ISBN13: 9780156032599
  • Condition: USED - Very Good
  • Notes: 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

From Publishers Weekly
Historian Davis contemplates the New Orleans privateers Jean and Pierre Laffite, who loomed large in Gulf Coast waters—and in history—from about the time of the Louisiana Purchase and into the 1820s. Although adding little new research, Davis (Lincoln's Men), director of programs for the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, does an admirable job of recounting the brothers' true story, separating fact from clouded legend. The senior brother and brains of the operation, Pierre, was born in Bordeaux, France, around 1770. His half-brother Jean followed about 12 years later. By 1803 the brothers were in New Orleans and soon embarked on careers as privateers with a presence extending as far as Pensacola and Galveston. Davis is particularly strong in revealing the brothers as complex if ruthless businessmen who, while savaging the trade of Spanish merchants on the gulf, formed the foundation for a profitable syndicate. Their associates included leading citizens and government officials on the take. The Laffites themselves, however, became notorious only when they courted the Spanish and betrayed their allies. Davis tells their story eloquently and with some admiration, while at the same time acknowledging that the freewheeling Laffites spent as voraciously as they earned and squandered their empire, leaving nothing behind but their legend. 8 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Most Americans familiar with Pierre and Jean Laffite associate them with their aid to American forces during the War of 1812. But the lives and exploits of these brothers were more complicated and interesting than a minor footnote of history. Davis, director of programs at the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies and a teacher of history at Virginia Tech, has written an engrossing and exciting chronicle of these men and their times. Their story ranges from their ancestral homes in southwestern France to the Louisiana bayous, and it includes privateering, piracy, and espionage as France, Spain, Britain, and the U.S. vie for control of the Gulf region. Like other historians, Davis never quite gets a handle on the "true" character of the Laffites. At times, they seem to be brutal, ruthless buccaneers. At other times, they appear as entrepreneurs and savvy businessmen who skillfully navigate the borders of legality. Davis also provides an interesting glimpse at the culture of early nineteenth-century New Orleans, where a diverse ethnic and racial population fosters a rich social milieu. This is an excellent examination of interesting, tough men who knew how to survive in an interesting, tough age. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
PRAISE FOR THE PIRATES LAFFITE

"This massive, tenaciously researched book . . . should prove the last word on Laffite. Or should I say the Laffites? . . . Davis has restored Pierre to his rightful place in the story and gives us a full account of 'les deux freres.'"--The Washington Post

"Separating folklore from fact, Davis debunks hoary myths . . . For those who want to understand how the Laffites' privateering operations worked, Davis's account is the best yet produced."--The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

Most helpful customer reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful.
History and Biography, not Folklore
By Jon L Albee
Here's the bottom line on this book: If you're looking for a colorful folk tale of these characters, with all the atmospheric (and largely fictional) accoutrements, you're going to think that it's an "unreadable, tedious, overly detailed" bore.

If you want a well-researched narrative, one in which the author leaves no stone unturned in his search for authenticity, you'll like this book with all its warts.

This is a history book. It reads like a history book, with its emphasis on details, which brings our attention to facts that seek the more mundane truth of the matter. The life of the Laffites is so distorted by folklore that Dr. Davis has taken a hard line on archival detail and ambiguity.

He won't give you the answers to the questions he can't solve, and he won't give you the romantic picture of the setting he can't control.

This is a book for people more interested in history than pre-conceived imagery. Dr. Davis is a prolific author, and we know he has a tendency to crank out the words. That makes him subject to a few grammatical blunders from time to time, as he immerses himself in the subject matter. I will never criticize an historian for getting into his subject at the MINOR expense of a few mis-chosen conjunctions and misplaced commas.

For portraits of early American New Orleans and colonial Galveston, this book is a valuable contribution to the literature. I should mention that its annotation is extensive, as is its bibliography.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent double biography, full of adventure and intrigue!
By Pam Keyes
In "The Pirates Laffite, the Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf," author William C. Davis presents an in-depth, thoroughly researched examination of the Laffite brothers' colorful lives, including new information about them discovered in archives of the United States and France. Davis separates the truth from romantic legend to reveal the Laffites as complex men adept at turning opportunities toward their advantage while skirting the edges of the law in the polyglot world of early 1800s New Orleans and the Gulf.

Written in an entertaining, chronological narrative style, this double biography is the most completely documented work ever written about Jean and Pierre Laffite. Most people are familiar with the legend of Jean Laffite and Galveston, or Jean Laffite and the Battle of New Orleans, but Jean's elder half-brother, Pierre, has received scant attention from previous historians and other writers. In "The Pirates Laffite," Davis aptly relates how Pierre was the mastermind of the Laffite brothers' operations, and that the brothers worked closely together for most of their lives, including the Galveston period.

Their true story, based on archival documents, letters and contemporary newspapers, paints a compelling portrait of enigmatic men on the edge of the new frontier of the Louisiana Purchase, seeking to make their mark on the world.

This book also sensitively tells the fascinating story of the Laffite's free black mistresses and children, carefully recorded from information in baptismal records, notarial archives, and other surviving documents. The women were involved in the then prevalent system of placage with the Laffites as their protectors.

"The Pirates Laffite" engages the reader magnificently, and even the sometimes lengthy footnotes are absorbing to read. A large book at 720 pages (with footnotes and index), it is a brilliant work about the Laffites' lives by a highly skilled historian. Davis, Director of Programs for the Civil War Center at Virginia Tech, is most well known for his numerous books about the Civil War. This finely polished double biography shows he is equally at home with the early national period of the southern United States and its people.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
Laffite
By Toxey M. Morris
As a physician graduate of Tulane, a former Naval Officer, a sailor, and a resident of the area. I found this book to be a treasure of information. Mr. Davis has done a remarkable piece of research, and his work reads like a textbook , done as seriously as any textbook of Surgery,and should stand as a reference for those interested in the area, the time, and its violent,colorful history and future, which persists into our century. I have given copies to others who study the history of that period. I have walked all those roads he names, and Mr. Davis is historically accurate, in my opinion. Enjoy the details of Gulf life.

Fair winds and following seas to you, Mr. Davis.

"Local knowledge prevails".

See all 36 customer reviews...

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Minggu, 21 Desember 2014

> PDF Ebook C. S. Lewis: A Biography,Revised Edition, by Roger Lancelyn Green, Walter Hooper

PDF Ebook C. S. Lewis: A Biography,Revised Edition, by Roger Lancelyn Green, Walter Hooper

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C. S. Lewis: A Biography,Revised Edition, by Roger Lancelyn Green, Walter Hooper

This account of Lewis’s life was written by two men who knew him well and remember him warmly. Photographs from personal albums and the Lewis archives. Index.

  • Sales Rank: #658050 in Books
  • Published on: 1994-07-01
  • Released on: 1994-07-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 1.07" h x 5.50" w x 8.12" l,
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 320 pages

From Library Journal
Although this "readable biography" does not attempt to determine Lewis's place in literature, LJ's reviewer found that he "emerges as a warm human being" (LJ 2/1/75). thanks to the 1993 film Shadowlands, there is renewed interest in him. This revised edition offers new information and photos.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Roger Lancelyn Green is a contributor for the following Houghton Mifflin Company Title: C. S. Lewis

Walter Hooper is a contributor for the following Houghton Mifflin Company Title: C. S. Lewis

Most helpful customer reviews

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Five Stars
By Amazon Customer
a well written comprehensive book about a man who truly has made a difference.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful.
An entertaining biography
By David Graham
Although I think George Sayer's JACK the best of the C.S. Lewis biographies available, Green and Hooper's book is also good, with the added advantage that both men knew their subject personally. Their book complements Sayer's and is worth obtaining for Lewis fans. It is certainly better than Wilson's biography of Lewis, though without quite the achievement of Sayer's book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
A Book Lover's Delight
By Dr. W. G. Covington, Jr.
Book lovers are introduced to the subject in an enticing way as Lewis' boyhood environment is described in the opening section:
"The house was full of books--I had always the same certainty of finding a book that was new to me as a man who walks into a field has of finding a new blade of grass--through all of these were the works of novelists, historians, essayists and biographers."
On researching their subject, the authors confess in the preface: "This colossal monument of paper contains many hundreds of letters from C. S. Lewis to his father, his brother, his close friend Arthur Greeves, and a few other family connections; it also includes dairies, sometimes kept with great minuteness, covering many years." So the challenge of condensing this data into book form was formidable. What adds to it is Lewis' quest for knowledge. He read widely and wrote prolifically. The result of this aim at telling the story of a masterful mind is successful, however. We know the essence of the man after having read this inspiring look at his life.

See all 9 customer reviews...

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Kamis, 18 Desember 2014

^ Get Free Ebook Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary History, by Milton Friedman

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Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary History, by Milton Friedman

Friedman makes clear once and for all that no one is immune from monetary economics-that is, from the effects of its theory and its practices. He demonstrates through historical events the mischief that can result from misunderstanding the monetary system. Index.

  • Sales Rank: #227972 in Books
  • Published on: 1994-03-31
  • Released on: 1994-03-31
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 8.00" h x .71" w x 5.31" l, .65 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 304 pages

From Publishers Weekly
From the Micronesian Yap islands' 12-foot stone "coins" to today's paper currencies backed only by fiat, Nobel-laureate economist Friedman ( Free to Choose ) here examines anomalies of world monetary history, including the effect of successive 19th-century gold ore discoveries and refining improvements on U.S. and British tender. He traces American currency's long, contentious gold-silver bimetalist saga, marked by the so-called Congressional coinage "crime of 1873" and ending with William Jennings Bryan's unsuccessful "Cross of Gold" presidential campaign in 1896. Friedman cites harsh lessons from postwar hyperinflation in many countries and declares that Roosevelt's 1933 silver-buying program may have skewed China's silver-based economy toward eventual communism. Uncontrolled money growth is the cause of inflation, the author stresses, and only monetary reform, despite undesirable side effects like unemployment, can cure it. Abstruse, theoretical and chiefly for the initiate, the book recycles parts of earlier works by Friedman, who himself suggests here that the general reader might wish to skip a particularly challenging chapter.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In this latest work, Nobel Prize-winning economist Friedman examines the role of money backed by gold and silver and our current world of fiat backed by faith. After an initial restatement of the essence of his monetary views, Friedman examines the historical impact of bimetallism in the United States and elsewhere. He devotes the remainder of the book to the principles and problems of modern money unlinked to any commodity. Often iconoclastic yet always persuasive, whatever Friedman has to say about money should always be read. Highly recommended for college and university libraries.
- Richard C. Schiming, Mankato State Univ., Minn.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
A lively, enlightening introduction to monetary history from the libertarian economist whose contributions to the quantity theory of money earned him a Nobel Prize in 1976. Starting from the premise that no society or individual is unaffected by monetary policy (which centers on control of a nation's money supply), Friedman (co-author, Tyranny of the Status Quo, 1984, etc.) offers a quick and simplified briefing on monetary theory that stresses, among other matters, one of his favorite themes--that ``inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.'' His stage set, Friedman ranges widely over time and place in demonstrating that there invariably is more than meets the eye to monetary events. He recounts, for example, how an 1873 coinage law had unintended consequences for American politics and economics over the next couple of decades. The author moves on to link the 1887 invention in Scotland of a process to extract gold from low-grade South African ore to the frustration of William Jennings Bryan's presidential aspirations in 1896 and beyond, moving smoothly into an accessible discussion of bimetallism. Friedman also makes a plausible case for the proposition that FDR's silver-purchase program during the 1930's hastened the Communist takeover of mainland China after WW II. Covered as well (in a prescriptive anti-Keynesian context) are upward price spirals down through the ages, the collapse of the Bretton Woods accord, fiat money, specie, the European Monetary System, and efforts by Third World countries to peg their currencies to the US dollar. Informed and informative perspectives from monetarism's most articulate apostle. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Most helpful customer reviews

150 of 155 people found the following review helpful.
The Power of Monetary Thinking
By Omer Belsky
In his best selling study, Robert L. Heilbroner calls Economists 'The worldly philosophers'. That description certainly captures what Milton Friedman does in this book - he takes the seemingly simple concept of money, the unit of exchange we use daily and rarely reflect upon, and demonstrates how complicated the issues regarding it are.

(As an interesting aside, Heilbroner's original title for his book was 'the money philosophers' - a definition that fits Friedman in this book even better then his chosen title, even if it is too narrow to account for all of economics).
More then half of this collection of essays is about the so-called 'Crime of 1873' - America's decision, following the issuance of fiat money (that is, money irredeemable in specie) during the Civil War, to peg the dollar not to both silver and gold, but to gold alone. This seemingly arcane and academic topic was a major political issue in the 1880s and 90s, climaxing with the nomination of the silver Democrat, William Jennings Bryan to the presidency of the United States in 1896.
As the Unites States, along with most other 19th century nations such as Germany and France, followed Great Britain in adopting the gold standard, the price of gold rose in terms of other resources, so prices went down. Therefore there was a severe deflation causing much unrest and discontent.
The cure to the deflation came not through political or monetary means, however, but because of an invention of a method to extract gold from low grade ore. This increased the supply of gold, lowered its prices. Hence stopping the deflation, and killing the presidential ambitions of William Jennings Bryan.
The rest of the book describes various issues, from FDR's decision to 'help silver' which helped Communism in China instead (by increasing the cost of silver, overvaluing the Chinese currency and thus hurting Chinese exports and undermining the Chinese economy), to the policy of pegging a currency to the dollar (not a good idea as it subjects the country to the whims of the world economy. The policy was a grave failure to Chile and a great success to Israel, due entirely to external changes in the value of the dollar).
The theme of the later parts of the book is undoubtedly inflation. Friedman demonstrates his claim that inflation is "always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon" (p.104). Inflation is caused by government increasing the money supply, although one time price increases may be caused by unfortunate outside events (like Arabs reduction of the exportation of oil in the early 1979s).
Although Friedman is well known as an economic right winger, there is nothing in this account that should be displeasing to anyone from the left - Friedman's case is against mismanagement, not for small or big governments. Nor is there any argument about whether government spending should go to the military, to welfare, or to any other cause. Although Friedman's book is filled with stories of the political economy, its moral is politically neutral. Indeed, Friedman clearly discusses how inflation is often used by governments because direct taxation is unpopular (p.205) - can you say "read my lips, no new taxes"?
Furthermore, the economic analysis of some reviewers in Amazon is shaky. Friedman writes "all these adjustments [the negative effects of inflation] are set in motion by changes in the rates of monetary growth and inflation. If monetary growth was high but steady... the economy would adjust to it. ... Such an inflation would do no great harm " (p.222).
Although Friedman does not like inflation, he actually makes a case for it, at least at a low single digit level. Since people are usually sellers of few things and purchasers of many, they are more aware of the increase in the price of the commodity they sell then they are of the increase of general prices, especially when those changes are low. People like to see their income go up, as they feel it is a just reward for their efforts (p. 70).
'Money Mischief' is an interesting, challenging book. Its chapters vary from the extremely technical and difficult, (notably chapter 4, a counter-factual exercise estimating the effect of continuing bimetallism after 1873), to 'pop economics' chapters which are no less enlightening and easier to read.
The book ends with a discussion of the new experiment started in the 1970s - currency which is entirely unredeemable by any kind of good. Earlier economists thought that this was impossible, and would necessarily lead to high inflation, but Friedman is optimistic - he believes that aware and well informed public and decision makers can pressure the government against unduly increasing the money supply. Thus, widespread understanding of economics is the real cure for inflation.

60 of 62 people found the following review helpful.
A great introdcution to the importance of monetary policy
By Craig Matteson
I must confess of my unbounded admiration for Milton Friedman. He has contributed so much to our understanding of the effects of monetary policy and has been such a tireless advocate for freedom that I must admit I am not impartial in any way, so readers beware.
This book examines 10 different episodes in world history in which seemingly trivial policy choices towards money had profound, unexpected, and unforeseen consequences (usually very bad). They make enjoyable reading and are most educational.
The discussions are not all that technical and, to me, sparkle with wit and insight. This book can serve as a great introduction to how gold and silver money was abused, the effect that minting rights can have, how technology changes in mining precious metals caused a crisis of devaluation, what the heck bimetallism is and what the issues around it were (are), and most important, the risks of the kind of money we have (fiat money - because it is not tied explicitly to some kind of commodity and is therefore at the risk of somebody running the printing press too much). This is all great stuff. Enjoy!
There are several useful graphs and tables. Also, a reference list in the back can act as a bibliography for further reading.

67 of 72 people found the following review helpful.
AIMED AT MONETARY ECONOMISTS, NOT A GENERALIST BOOK
By Denis Benchimol Minev
Many of Milton Friedman's previous books, especially "Free to Choose" are aimed at a popular audience, supporting the cause for freedom in many different aspects of society. With it, this book shares the brilliance and throughness of thought employed by Friedman, perhaps the most well known (if not the best) economist of the 2nd half of the 20th century.

In "Money Mischief" Friedman enters the realm of monetary economics, briefly telling a history of the different systems that have been employed through history for value conservation. Aside from perhpas the first 100 pages, the rest of the book relies on some notion of monetary economics and international trade and finance. Most of the book is devoted to the study of the old metallic or bimetallic standards and the early days of the fiat money system (the one most used today). An experienced economist will recognize the brilliance of the arguments linkings seemingly unrelated events such as the US elections in 1892 and the fall of the Chiang Kai-shek government in China (believe me, Friedman convinced me they were directly linked).

For a non-economist, the first one hundred pages may tell a brief history of money, so if that is your interest, stop there. Experienced economists will definitely enjoy the suddle linkages of events, such as deflations and the California gold rush and the development of the cyanide process for extracting gold. The book is aimed at a more knowledgeable crowd; with such an aim, it achieves its objective brilliantly.

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~~ Download PDF E.E.Cummings: A Selection of Poems, by E. E. Cummings

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Poetry & Prose

  • Sales Rank: #1179472 in Books
  • Published on: 1965-06
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback

Most helpful customer reviews

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Five Stars
By rich
Underrated poet, well-worth taking up again.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Exquisite - to say the least.
By Richard J. Matson
I gave this copy as a gift to a very good friend of mine on the East coast such that we could carry on a long distant "book study / appreciation" of cummings' poetry over martinis. I've carried this particular collection of poetry with me off and on over the course of 40+ years - it is a great distillation of his work - as I've also compared it with his complete work.
A literature prof? No, a retired physicist and philosophy prof. I just love his existential wit and exquisite appreciation of beauty - especially that of women and love.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
the content is wonderful.
By Spinknitty
A little more marked-up and battered than I would have expected from the product description. But arrived quickly, and of course, the content is wonderful.

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!! Get Free Ebook Hippo Eats Dwarf: A Field Guide to Hoaxes and Other B.S., by Alex Boese

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Hippo Eats Dwarf: A Field Guide to Hoaxes and Other B.S., by Alex Boese

Can you grow a bonsai kitten? Should you stock up on dehydrated water? Is it easy to order human-flavored tofu? Or is this all just B.S.?

In a world of lip synching, breast implants, payola punditry, and staged reality shows, it's hard to know the real from the fake. Hippo Eats Dwarf is the essential field guide to today's Misinformation Age. Whether you're deciphering political doublespeak or trying to decide whether to forward that virus warning, hoaxpert Alex Boese provides the guidelines you need. For instance, Reality Rule 6.1: Just because you read it on the Internet doesn't make it true.

With case files, reality checks, definitions, and plenty of doctored photos, Hippo Eats Dwarf is an entertaining guide to life, death, eBay, and everything in between.


  • Sales Rank: #1494807 in Books
  • Published on: 2006-04-01
  • Released on: 2006-04-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 8.00" h x .74" w x 5.25" l, .66 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 278 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Hoaxes are but one tile in the vast mosaic of mis- and disinformation detailed in this delicious compendium of fakery. The ones that Boese offers are a far cry from the classic deceptions spotlighted in his previous The Museum of Hoaxes; they're mainly smirky Internet pranks, like a fake CNN.com news report that fellatio protects against breast cancer. But Boese finds inexhaustible fodder for his theme of the ubiquitous fakery of modern life, including Enron-style business scams, lip-synching scandals, artificial flavors, mislabeled meats, doctored photos, covert marketing campaigns, celebrity plastic surgery and denials of surgery, breast implants, and that oldest of ruses, the fake orgasm. He also covers a smattering of conspiracy theories—from perennials like subliminal advertising and the "Paul is dead" rumor, to a recent Sudanese panic he dubs the "penis-melting Zionist robot comb"—proving that we are at our most gullible when we are most suspicious. Boese wittily tracks down the leads to establish the truth or—usually—falsehood behind the facade, and sprinkles in handy "Reality Rules" to bolster readers' defenses against nonsense, the most pertinent of which is, "[j]ust because you read it on the Internet doesn't mean it's true." Photos. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
From the author of the entertaining Museum of Hoaxes (2002) comes an even more entertaining follow-up. The book is a reasonably thorough, not to mention playful, guide to fakery. Advertising posing as legitimate news stories, nonexistent movie reviewers, fraudulent sales pitches, reality television, imaginary Internet bloggers, phony celebrities--they're all here, and plenty more, too. The book also features a series of "reality rules" (#5.2: should a suitably dramatic picture of a major event not exist, one will be created) and several "case files" that use real stories to illustrate various kinds of fakery (like the professor who fell for the Nigerian bank scam). Boese, a self--described "hoaxpert," keeps us on our toes by slipping in real-but-improbable events among the fakes and challenging us to see if we can tell the difference. All too often it's impossible to know whether something he describes is bona fide or bogus, and that's Boese's point: we need to stay on our toes, if we want to avoid getting fooled. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
PRAISE FOR THE MUSEUM OF HOAXES
"As entertaining as it is well researched." -ENTERTAINMENT TODAY

"This book is smart, well-written, and a helluva lot of fun." -CULTUREDOSE.COM

Most helpful customer reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Could have been good
By Bob
From the title and the info supplied from the publisher this book seems to be about urban myths however it soon branches off to cover everything from frauds to advertising and this is the main weakness of the book as it covers so much ground that the author does not develop any of the themes. He also makes statements that are opinion and cannot be substantiated for example he states that none of Amazon reviews are worth reading as some are written by authors to publicise their books , whilst it is probably true that some authors do this the majority of reviews are not by authors (I hope no one thinks that an author would write this one). It could have been a far better book if less subject matter was covered but more depth and subject matter for example source material. He mentions the "Nigerian" scam but gives no real examples he also states much as fact with nothing to back it up. If this was written as a humorous book it may have worked but it was almost text book in style and a poorly researched one at that.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Army Worm Wine, A Vacuum Bra, And Much, Much More
By Robert I. Hedges
In "Hippo Eats Dwarf" Alex Boese takes on a variety of hoaxes, frauds, distortions, and misconceptions that are to a large degree enabled by the Internet. I liked the book, but found it wandered off track on occasion. Most annoying, I found it physically difficult to read. In addition to standard black on white type, there is an abundance of brown and green which are distracting at best but when brown type appears on green background, which is quite common, it's fairly tedious to read.

That is likely not a decision Boese made, but the content is, and it's mostly good though some of the text is less hoax-debunking and more straight humor. My favorite example is the personal ad from the "Dublin News" reading "Optimistic Mayo man, 35, seeks a blonde 20-year-old double-jointed supermodel, who owns her own brewery, and has an open-minded sister." I was highly amused, although most people are sly enough not to need the questionable nature of the ad pointed out. I was also entertained by the prank product found online called the "Real Sheep" that it involves silicone and is listed as a romance product. That is all that need be said.

The real value of the book (besides entertainment, obviously) is in showing how easy it is to deceive people using fake Internet sites, elaborate schemes (and some fairly obvious ones, such as the famous Nigerian banking scam,) and digital photograph alteration. On that basis alone I found the book worth the purchase price. Frequently Boese punctuates points with outlandish true tales, my favorite of which involves the Klingon translation of "Hamlet." Really. Despite Klingons being wholly fictional, it may not surprise you that their language (started at the University of California, Berkeley, naturally) has now been given an official stamp of approval by the Oregon mental health authority, which in 2003 made it a patient right to have a Klingon interpreter present on demand. Some of us aren't surprised, but we all should be.

Ignoring the horrible typesetting issues involved, this is a generally informative and entertaining book, and I recommend it to open-minded readers looking for something a bit off the beaten path.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Entertaining Read!
By James N Simpson
Hippo Eats Dwarf picks up where Boese's former non fiction book The Museum of Hoaxes left off, like with that book it is a great read and isn't just limited to America like so many books in this genre are. The only criticism of this book that I have is that it repeats a fair number of hoaxes and other entries from the former book for example Tourist Guy at the World Trade Centre. If you are only going to get one of the two, I'd definitely get Hippo Eats Dwarf as it is a lot thicker and has obviously has more information inside.

In Hippo Eats Dwarf Boese tackles myths that are taken as fact in places such as the media and on the Internet. He explains how many photographs are doctored with programs like Photoshop, how people fake their deaths, how people manipulate the stockmarket, the unethical tricks of advertising and marketing. Con artist tricks used to get you to part with your money and a number of web addresses of humorous websites that have shocked and caused outrage to those who didn't bother to look closely where the sites told them it was joke are also included, although not all are still operational.

An interesting item from within Hippo eats Dwarf for those of us who participate in the review writing process on this site is that Boese points out that many reviews on Amazon are written by the authors, their families, friends and publishers. He obviously isn't the first to make this claim (one of Westlake's fictional characters, who is an author with writers block talks about writers and Amazon in one of his novels). Many of us have also noticed that often when you write a review that is not in favour of a book within a week you have one or more not helpful votes when no other reviews at all have been posted. Many rumours also abound (not stated in this book) that the top ranking reviewers are not real people either, as it is impossible to read the volume of books they claim to each and every day plus they seem to get elements of the plot wrong on numerous occasions. Whether they are a book lovers club writing under the one pen name or Amazon staff trying to set a high benchmark to encourage you to post more reviews I guess we'll never know. Well unless maybe this can be investigated for the next book in this interesting and entertaining series!

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The first in a famous series about the best-known nanny in children's literature. Mary Poppins comes to the Banks' household like a breath of fresh air (literally).

  • Sales Rank: #6207159 in Books
  • Published on: 1972-04
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 206 pages

Amazon.com Review
For all her offended sniffs and humphs, Mary Poppins is likely the most exciting nanny England--and the world--has ever seen. Young Jane and Michael Banks have no idea what's in store for them when Mary Poppins blows in on the east wind one autumn evening. Soon, though, the children are having tea on the ceiling, flying around the world in a minute (visiting polar bears and hyacinth macaws on the way), and secretly watching as their unusual nanny pastes gold paper stars to the sky. Mary's stern and haughty exterior belies the delightful nonsense she harbors; her charges, as well as her literary fans, respect and adore her.

Grownups who have forgotten Mary Poppins's true charms will be tickled pink to rediscover this uniquely unsentimental fantasy. Younger readers will walk into Mary's world without batting an eye--of course the animals in the zoo exchange places with people on the night of the full moon. Certainly a falling star landing on a cow's horn will make her dance ceaselessly. Why wouldn't one be able to enter into a chalk picture? The only disappointing aspect of this classic is that it doesn't go on forever! (Ages 9 to 12) --Emilie Coulter

From School Library Journal
Gr 3–6—The tale that has captured the imaginations of generations of children and spawned a beloved and classic motion picture starring Julie Andrews as well as a dazzling Broadway musical, begins with the eponymous nanny blowing in to Number Seventeen to care for the Banks children just in the nick of time. From a tea party on the ceiling to riding on peppermint horses, rather unusual and surprising adventures await Jane and Michael whenever Mary Poppins pops in. This 80th anniversary edition includes the four original books, Mary Poppins (originally published 1934), Mary Poppins Comes Back (originally published 1935), Mary Poppins Opens the Door (original published 1943), and Mary Poppins in the Park (originally published 1952) grouped into one convenient volume. Beyond the handsome package—a rich brick red cover accented with black and gold spot-gloss decoration—the deeper gems of this edition are the extras. There's a foreword by Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked (HarperCollins, 1995) and Egg & Spoon (Candlewick, 2014), that relates the story of his nerve-wracking, but ultimately illuminating, meeting with the great P.L. Travers when she was in her nineties. Maguire accurately captures the difference between the silver screen versions and the original tales: "The books…show glimmers of a far more mysterious and even dangerous world. For thirty years before the nanny began to sing on the screen, she stalked the pages of these books with ferocity, vanity, and power." At the end there's a brief excerpt from a talk Travers gave at the Unversity of Connecticut in 1974 entitled "On Not Writing for Children." Librarians and students of children's literature would do well to think on Traver's reluctance to call herself a "children's book author," for, as she states, "every book is a message, and if children happen to receive and like it, they will appropriate it to themselves no matter what the author may say nor what label he gives himself." A must-have for diehard fans and, though a tad bulky for little hands, nevertheless an excellent addition to home, library, and school collections.

Review
'Like all great children's classics Mary Poppins is frightening and sad as well as magic and very funny.' The Observer 'Absolutely alive, and aglint with magic.' Walter de la Mare

Most helpful customer reviews

263 of 270 people found the following review helpful.
a classic - almost
By Kathy
Reading the books that I loved as a child was wonderful - until I realized that it had been edited to make it more socially acceptable. The chapter called "Bad Tuesday" involves a magical compass that transports the characters all over the world. The original work used the author's vision of what the people would be like, and had used some pretty offensive stereotypes of the time. But the altered version completely changed the story, not only using animals instead of people, but changing even the storyline. Would have liked to be able to see the original work also, or at least been warned that the newer version was altered to that extent.

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful.
Mary Poppins Pops In For Parties in the Park
By Lynn Bulmahn
When adults forget their childhood pals, daydreamers make foolish wishes and the wind blows unusually strong, it always leads to something quite out of the ordinary -- that is, whenever Mary Poppins is around.
In this, the final Mary Poppins book that P.L. Travers gave us before her death at age 90, we share the five Banks' childrens' adventures. Besides Jane and Michael, who were in the classic Disney movie, there are also toddler twins John and Barbara and infant Annabel.
A big departure from the Disney flick is Mary Poppins herself. Here, she is not the smiling, syrupy sweet nanny that young Julie Andrews portrayed; rather, the book's title character is strict, stern, often sarcastic and very taken with herself. Her strong personality makes her a unique storybook character and readers will find this Mary Poppins more of an enigma. Which, frankly, makes for better stories.
Everything in this book is G-rated but not preachy. Travers gives her young readers many fascinating, but never frightening, fantasy situations. Or are they real? Jane and Michael can never quite tell. The lines between what's real and what's not always blur around Mary Poppins.
This book is a series of unrelated chapters, self-contained stories, all dealing with the same main characters. Nothing is ever as it seems in the nursery of No. 17 Cherry Tree Lane -- or in the nearby park.
On a hot summer's day, Mary Poppins tells the children a tale of a hobo who was an angel in disguise, shedding his rags and growing wings as he flies away.
In another chapter, Michael, upset that he's caught a cold, finds that some days when everything seems to be going all right, it's actually going all wrong. He's taught a valuable lesson on a planet full of cats.
Later in the book, the children find messages on falling leaves. And witness a delightful, but not frightening, Halloween shadow dance in the park.
The nanny's magical cousin, Mr. Mo, is introduced. Jane finds the little toy figures she's created and destroyed do have lives of their own.
Around Mary Poppins, adults -- including favorites such as Admiral Boom, Miss Lark and her two dogs Andrew and Willoughby, the Bird Woman and Bert -- are caught off balance. Zookeepers, policemen and taxi drivers react to a flurry of frenzied events. Characters pop out of storybooks, out of Jane's mind, and off ceramic bookends. Lions and unicorns and even Indian chiefs prance through the park.
We are taken to worlds that exist between the blades of grass in the lawn, and up in the sky, to where felines and children disappear. There are traffic snarls, wedding breakfasts and birthday parties. And through it all, stalks Mary Poppins, with not a hair out of place. In very short order, characters get what they deserve, if not what they expect, and things are set right.
How does she do it? No one knows. Mary Poppins, you see, never, ever explains. But, she always entertains. Have some fun in the park with this magical nanny.

89 of 98 people found the following review helpful.
Magical.
By Amazon Customer
The entire Mary Poppins book series by the wonderful P.L. Travers is fantastic. I'm so glad to see they have finally arrived in hardcover with the original covers. No, this is not the sugary Disney movie--but this, the original story, will take your breath away with its magic and wonder. Give it a try. I think if you take these stories for what they are you will appreciate the wit and the adventure.

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Kung Fu High School, by Ryan Gattis

Wear your gear. Bring your blades. Back your family. Fight for your life.

MLK High School has collapsed into Kung Fu High School--where Jen B. and her brother, Cue, belong to one of two gangs still standing against the puppet principal and the drug kingpin who pulls his strings. Cousin Jimmy--a world-champion martial arts master of mythic stature--arrives in town after swearing to his mother that he'll never fight again. His rep precedes him and everyone's itching to see him "kicked in"--Kung Fu's brutal initiation ritual. But he won't break his vow and defend himself, so Cue steps in when things go too far. Soon, a surprise counterstrike sends Kung Fu spinning toward one final, raging battle. Teachers flee, students break out full weaponry, and Jimmy must make a decision that will brand him a coward--or a hero.

  • Sales Rank: #2106454 in Books
  • Published on: 2005-09-05
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: .65" h x 6.28" w x 8.32" l, .60 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 288 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The student body of the titular high school is armed, girded with armor and versed in martial arts in this ultraviolent, dystopian debut novel from Gattis, the spawn of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Cormier. With a corrupt, ineffectual administration, Kung Fu High has become a prisonlike society ruled by gangs and neglected by the law. The novel's teenage warrior narrator, Jen B., tells the story of her cousin Jimmy Chang, a world champion martial artist and hero to his peers who vows to his mother that he'll never fight again after he's arrested for drubbing a band of thugs. But Jimmy faces a brutal initiation ritual when he transfers to Kung Fu High, a beating he takes without resistance until Jen's brother, Cue, attacks Jimmy's tormenters. Cue, in turn, is murdered, and Jen must negotiate complex school politics while fighting for survival and trying to avenge her brother's death. Jimmy, her only trusted ally, must break his pacifist vow or see his cousin destroyed. With clinical detachment, Gattis splashes graphic descriptions of violence and gore throughout the novel. The " 'gangbanger' Armageddon" final chapters of this story may feel predictable, but the martial arts mayhem is as detailed and balletic as a John Woo movie. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
"Nobody wanted to believe it was real . . . that a school like ours could actually exist." Since its takeover by Ridley, a fifth-year senior who uses the school (and its administrators) to run a drug operation, MLK High School has become a "seventh ring of Hell." Daily survival depends on students' combat training, weapons, and custom-sewn, protective clothing, which Gattis illustrates in frequent drawings. Sophomore Jen describes Ridley's demise, which begins when her cousin, Jimmy, an international martial-arts champion, arrives. The inconceivably graphic violence (organs are ripped out, bodies split open) explodes with the feverish pace and clarity of a video game, but Gattis anchors the bloodshed with Jen's story at home--her sexually charged relationship with Jimmy and grief over her torn family. The gore and horror are gratuitous, but Gattis creates a nightmarish, confrontational, and fascinating world, drawing from the mystique of martial arts and comic books, that forces readers to consider societal fears about youth and violence. Like Brett Easton Ellis' American Psycho (1990), this may well attract a cult following. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"A modern, violent epic, Kung Fu is a bloodied white-knuckle ride that never forgets the consequences of its actions." (The List (Scotland))

"Brett Easton Ellis is about to be eclipsed by another young American, Ryan Gattis." (Time Out London)

"You feel every blow, every break. Wnderful, tragic and ultimately cathartic." (Independent on Sunday)

"KFHS borrows its cartoon violence from Kill Bill, its urban decay from Fight Club, its mythic timelessness from The Crow." (Big Issue)

"[A] tense, vicious, and heartfelt affair." (Arena)

"Gripping-it feels like reading a scene from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon so intricate and graceful is the fighting description." (Latest)

Gattis [is] the spawn of Tarantino and Cormier. Martial arts mayhem as detailed and balletic as a John Woo movie. (Publishers Weekly)

"Action packed and emotionally charged. In step with Chuck Palahniuk and just as damn good." (Tara O'Donnell Living Read Girl)

"Inconceivably graphic violence explodes with the feverish pace and clarity of a video game. A nightmarish, confrontational, and fascinating world." (Booklist)

"For those who love martial arts movies, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon… exhilarating." (Rocky Mountain News)

Most helpful customer reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
(3.5) "You're new: you lose. It's that simple."
By Luan Gaines
This is a very graphic novel, in both language and violence. Martin Luther King High School is not for the faint of heart, or, as the students call it King Joony or King Joo. "Asian, Latin European, African, Indian and every other American thing in between" contribute to the mix of students. But all of them are the color of poor, any logos that make you a target taped over or torn out. Everybody has an angle, even Principal Dermoody, who makes kickbacks to Ridley, a fifth year senior and drug lord planning a school takeover. When Jimmy Chang comes to MLK High School, he changes all that in a plot that becomes increasingly confrontational.

There is a survival list for students: get kicked in (unavoidable), don't complain, join a family, stay loyal and learn how to sew (to add Kevlar and other types of body armor worn to school for protection). This Brave New World scenario is a cross between superhero comics and a video game, saturated with brutality and vivid descriptions of injuries sustained. Jimmy Chang, known for his martial arts skills, at first refuses to engage, but is drawn into battle to protect his cousin. Jimmy thought he had seen the last of fighting, but he steps up to protect his cousin and the family.

Although the excessive violence and everyday battle for survival becomes a parody of guerilla warfare, the message is clear, a society defined by tribes that rule by force. These kids endure their high school years, one day at a time. The protagonist, Jimmy Chang's fifteen-year old cousin, has been hardened to this life of constant menace, armor-lined clothing, martial arts training, the conditions at MLK fast reaching a boiling point. Finally, there is a massive and bloody showdown, bodies flying, broken and bleeding. Only Jimmy, with his superior fighting skills can save the day, an exercise that results in a virtual Armageddon.

This is civilization at its most primitive, where everyone is diminished by the violence, which is so over the top that it becomes a caricature, a Tarentino-esque drama of flying arms and legs, a teen Kill Bill. Young adult readers will either be horrified or excited by the non-stop action, as mesmerizing as a video game that takes out the players one by one. Gattis never romances the truth, each page like a fist in the face, drawing blood. The problem is desensitization. Does this violence dull the senses, rationalizing a way of life, or does overkill prove the stupidity and hopelessness of such a world. Filled with graphic violence, death and despair, the author never romances the truth, but the martial arts scenes do read "cool", maybe too cool. Parental oversight is needed to determine whether this book is appropriate reading for their young adult. Luan Gaines.2005.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
A Little Bit of the Old Ultraviolence
By A. Ross
First time author Gattis has taken every parent and teenager's worst fears about high school to their dystopian extreme in this explosion of exploitation ultraviolence. The combination of Columbine massacre, and films like Battle Royale, Boyz in the Hood, Bloodsport, and every Hong Kong chop-socky flick ever, would make for hilariously campy fun were it not for the relentlessly grim tone and absolutely brutal violence. Unlike most teen violence films, where the carnage is distanced through the use of guns, knives, and other tools, here the violence is almost entirely fists and feet, and the ultrarealistic effect of every single blow is detailed in almost fetishistic detail.

The dehumanized teenagers of Martin Luther King High School have no dream other than surviving from one day to the next. The kids are a complete ethnic stew, whose only common feature is that they are too poor to escape being sent to MLK. Each belongs to one of six families (gangs), no one goes anywhere without a family member watching their back, and everyone is constantly trying to improve their martial arts skills. Going to school is an exercise in vigilance, as these kids literally dress for battle and everyone wears plain, all black clothing in order to disguise their affiliation from outsiders. Their school is run by Ridley, an eighth-year senior drug lord who controls four of the six families and has the school administration and teachers in his pockets.

The story is narrated by Jen, a sophomore whose brother is the leader of the "Waves", and whose cousin Jimmy is a world-renown grandmaster who has just returned from living in Kong Kong. His arrival coincides with Ridley's move to absorb the other two families and assume ultimate control, enabling him to expand his operation. Jimmy is a kind of classic martial arts character, the heroic good guy who has pledged never to fight again -- but of course, is forced to by the Darwinian world around him. Most of the book is a kind of slow burn of escalating violence leading to an inevitable massive bloodbath at the end. There are some other little glimpses into Jen's seeded throughout, her heartache for her dead mother, her attempts to deal with her invalid father, her forbidden yearning for Jimmy, and friendship with the cool free clinic doctor who patches up the family after their various fights. But these are all rather thinly done, and are mere background to the showdown with Ridley.

There's a lot of nice detail sprinkled throughout, such as the specifics of how to sew unobtrusive body armor into your everyday clothing, how to make four-edged knives, and so on. Much of this is illustrated through nifty rough diagrams and drawings inserted amidst the text. The most striking stylistic element of the book, however, is Gattis' ability to describe martial arts combat. You don't need to be a practitioner to follow the various moves as the bodies fly, skin is shredded, and bones break. It's all vividly done to well past the point of excess. It could easily be argued that all this graphic detail serves a raw, cautionary function, or one could just as easily argue that it desensitizes the reader. Either way, it'd be hard to argue that the scenes involving Jimmy aren't pretty cool, as he balletically devastates his teen opponents one after the other in the climax. Ultimately, the book doesn't leave the reader with much -- it's more of a concept with a thin thin story than a really engrossing tale. It the kind of material could make an excellent film in the right hands, but it could also make a really horrible film in the wrong ones.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Dark and semi-sweet, like blood, not chocolate
By Jillian Perkins
Most teenagers would tell you that high school is about survival. But at Kung Fu High School, that imperative becomes literal. Drug kingpin and evil genius Ridley has created a community of ultra-violence, where everyone from cops to teachers are corrupt. Survival for students means learning to fight and joining one of the six "families," like mob gangs, who can watch your back. Strange heroes Jen and Jimmy are cousins who have no choice but to fight, and fight superlatively. The battle is for revenge, for fun, for survival, for family, and for life. Gattis captures the wild spirit of kung fu fighting, which is at once painful, awful, beautiful, and exhilarating. Choreographed as cleanly and elegantly as John Woo or Quentin Tarantino ever produced, the violence is graphic and vivid. His characters have depth and are surprisingly unpredictable. Like the blood that is so abundant throughout the novel, it is a dark exploration of what it feels like to fight for survival, but with unexpected warmth and sweetness. Kung fu movies are a genre unto themselves; Gattis has created a new genre of kung fu novels. And it is a great beginning.

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