Book Description
“Liberals’ loyalty to the United States is off-limits as a subject of political debate. Why is the relative patriotism of the two parties the only issue that is out of bounds for rational discussion?”
In a stunning follow-up to her number one bestseller
Slander, leading conservative pundit Ann Coulter contends that liberals have been wrong on every foreign policy issue, from the fight against Communism at home and abroad, the Nixon and the Clinton presidencies, and the struggle with the Soviet empire right up to today’s war on terrorism. “Liberals have a preternatural gift for always striking a position on the side of treason,” says Coulter. “Everyone says liberals love America, too. No, they don’t.” From Truman to Kennedy to Carter to Clinton, America has contained, appeased, and retreated, often sacrificing America’s best interests and security. With the fate of the world in the balance, liberals should leave the defense of the nation to conservatives.
Reexamining the sixty-year history of the Cold War and beyond—including the career of Senator Joseph McCarthy, the Whittaker Chambers–Alger Hiss affair, Ronald Reagan’s challenge to Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall,” the Gulf War, and our present war on terrorism—Coulter reveals how liberals have been horribly wrong in all their political analyses and policy prescriptions. McCarthy, exonerated by the Venona Papers if not before, was basically right about Soviet agents working for the U.S. government. Hiss turned out to be a high-ranking Soviet spy (who consulted Roosevelt at Yalta). Reagan, ridiculed throughout his presidency, ended up winning the Cold War. And George W. Bush, also an object of ridicule, has performed exceptionally in responding to America’s newest threats at home and abroad.
Coulter, who in
Slander exposed a liberal bias in today’s media, also examines how history, especially in the latter half of the twentieth century, has been written by liberals and, therefore, distorted by their perspective. Far from being irrelevant today, her clearheaded and piercing view of what we’ve been through informs us perfectly for challenges today and in the future.
With
Slander, Ann Coulter became the most recognized and talked-about conservative intellectual of the year.
Treason, in many ways an even more controversial and prescient book, will ignite impassioned political debate at one of the most crucial moments in our history.
From the Hardcover edition.
Download Description
"Liberals' loyalty to the United States is off-limits as a subject of political debate. Why is the relative patriotism of the two parties the only issue that is out of bounds for rational discussion?"
In a stunning follow-up to her number one bestseller Slander, leading conservative pundit Ann Coulter contends that liberals have been wrong on every foreign policy issue, from the fight against Communism at home and abroad, the Nixon and the Clinton presidencies, and the struggle with the Soviet empire right up to today's war on terrorism. "Liberals have a preternatural gift for always striking a position on the side of treason," says Coulter. "Everyone says liberals love America, too. No, they don't." From Truman to Kennedy to Carter to Clinton, America has contained, appeased, and retreated, often sacrificing America's best interests and security. With the fate of the world in the balance, liberals should leave the defense of the nation to conservatives.
Reexamining the sixty-year history of the Cold War and beyond -- including the career of Senator Joseph McCarthy, the Whittaker Chambers-Alger Hiss affair, Ronald Reagan's challenge to Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall," the Gulf War, and our present war on terrorism -- Coulter reveals how liberals have been horribly wrong in all their political analyses and policy prescriptions. McCarthy, exonerated by the Venona Papers if not before, was basically right about Soviet agents working for the U.S. government. Hiss turned out to be a high-ranking Soviet spy (who consulted Roosevelt at Yalta). Reagan, ridiculed throughout his presidency, ended up winning the Cold War. And George W. Bush, also an object of ridicule, has performed exceptionally in responding to America's newest threats at home and abroad.
Coulter, who in Slander exposed a liberal bias in today's media, also examines how history, especially in the latter half of the twentieth century, has been written by liberals and, therefore, distorted by their perspective. Far from being irrelevant today, her clearheaded and piercing view of what we've been through informs us perfectly for challenges today and in the future.
With Slander, Ann Coulter became the most recognized and talked-about conservative intellectual of the year. Treason, in many ways an even more controversial and prescient book, will ignite impassioned political debate at one of the most crucial moments in our history.
Customer Reviews:
Can liberal bias be this longstanding and this deep?.......2007-09-16
The most important thing for you to know is, Ann Coulter, the woman you see on tv is not necessarily the same Ann Coulter who authored this book. Depending upon where you have seen her, and what she had to say, you may have one opinion; as an author, she is something else. Now, both personas can be very funny, but Ann Coulter the writer is very precise and very careful.
I was raised a liberal and I was taught that McCarthy was some kind of a mad demagogue who was out to ruin the lives of any Democrat that he didn't like, as well as the destroyer of the lives of hundreds of people in Hollywood. It was what I was brought up to believe. When I began to read Ann's book, I must admit to being taken aback by some of the things which she said. Over and over again, I'd think to myself, "Now, can that really be true?" And then, like she read my mind, she would supply additional information to explain, justify and prove her points. In all my liberal education, it never occurred to me to ask, "Were there actual Communists in government positions during the McCarthy era?" Never occurred to me. I assumed all this time that these were simply "armchair socialists" who at most gave lip service to the party line, but had no ill will toward our government. I must admit that Ann changed my mind. After reading this book, I see things in a whole different light.
Now, you may not like Ann Coulter, her politics or her persona. However, this book will thoroughly engage you. She is funny (although I can understand how a liberal might read some passages and not find them as funny as I did). No matter which side of the aisle you are on, you will be kept interested, you will see things in a different light, and, if you are closed-minded and from the left, she will make you want to find the nearest conservative and rant for 5 minutes; and then you will go back to reading her book.
One more thing: I don't recall reading any book with this many footnotes. They don't get in your way; they do not interfere with your train of thought; but, whenever you wonder, "Can this be true?" Ann footnotes it--again and again.
Great book; I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you are uncertain whether you will like it or not, read 2 or 3 of Ann's columns; she is logical, engaging and funny...these are important attributes when reading a book of nonfiction.
The troublewith Ann???.......2007-08-29
Ya, the trouble with Ann is that she speaks the truth and she has fact to back it up!
An eye-opener.......2007-08-21
Ann put together much information that has been buried or distorted. I've come across much of this same info in my history research but of course the media doesn't make a big deal out of it. What are they going to do, admit that not only were they wrong but that they were serial liars for over 40 years?
If you only read one conservative book this year make it this one.
Ann's Best Book.......2007-08-20
Bottom Line: A fascinating reassessment of the McCarthy era.
What You Will Learn: Turns out those crazy charges about communists holding powerful offices in the Department of State and other important government agencies were... true! One can critique Ms. Coulter for her signature harsh bluntness of people's motives, but it not going to be possible to refute her careful review of now declassified documents which clearly show communist spies working on the U.S. government payroll during the cold war.
Parting Shot: Ann has written a serious book on history that makes a strong case that the conventional wisdom on the McCarthy era is largely mistaken.
Who's treasonous?.......2007-07-28
According to Coulter, it's anyone who doesn't think that Joseph McCarthy was a sage and patriot, rather than the drunken demagogue that history reveals him to be. Ms Coulter oversimplifies the world into discrete black and white false dichotomies. Those who agree with her hateful, narrow-minded viewpoint are correct-thinking, upstanding citizens. Those who find her venom-spewing diatribes distasteful are terrorist-loving traitors who want nothing more than to see their nation crumble.
Please!
Isn't way past time that divisive voices like hers are shown up for what they truly are? How can anyone (even those with half their brain tied behind their backs) condone calling the majority of their fellow Americans traitorous? Coulter's book isn't humorous or witty. It isn't anywere in the same universe with accurate, either.
Coulter writes: "To hear them [liberals] tell it, in the forties and fifties, anyone who read the Village Voice was liable to be hauled before a congressional Star Chamber and forced to "name names" --- presumably of other Village Voice subscribers." Well, no. First, after Sen. McCarthy was censured by the Senate in 1954, his career was pretty much over. No one was being hauled into Congress on a Commie witchhunt after that. And then there is another factual problem: The Village Voice wasn't launched until 1955 --- long after McCarthy's crusade was ashes.
So, do yourself and your country a big favor: pass on this poorly written screed. Coulter offers nothing but hate, flavored with a dose of paranoia and a cupful of inaccuracy.
Amazon.com
Integral to most crime tales is the unearthing of concealed and unfavorable facts about suspected malefactors. But the mother-son duo who write under the nom de plume "Charles Todd" are particularly adept, in their historical novels featuring Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge, at exploiting painful secrets as tools in developing both character and plot. It's rare, in a Todd tale, that even the innocent should escape unscathed. The authors demonstrate their skills once more in A Cold Treachery, which sends the shell-shocked and lonely Rutledge to probe the winter massacre of a sheep-farming family in northern England, at the same time as he searches for the missing and only witness to that chilling savagery.
"It was beyond comprehension," we're told of the December 1919 violence, near the rustic Lake District town of Urskdale, that left Gerald and Grace Elcott and three of their progeny shot to death. A fourth child, 10-year-old Josh Robinson, is nowhere to be found. He's thought to have fled from the scene, only to have perished in a recent blizzard. Coming off the grim proceedings recalled in A Fearsome Doubt, Rutledge--shackled as always to the nattering ghost of Hamish MacLeod, a Scotsman he'd ordered executed on a World War I battlefield--must determine whether the murderer was a passing stranger, or a local who'd previously concealed his or her aptitude for barbarity--and might kill again. Gerald Elcott's less-successful brother, Paul, has ample motive (he's next in line to inherit their clan's farm), as does Grace's sister, Janet Ashton, who just happens to arrive in Urskdale with a gun in hand (supposedly to protect her sibling from Paul's anger). Yet there's another, more frightening possibility--that Josh, Gerald's stepson, upset by the breakup of his parents, committed these atrocities. Desperate for clues, and with his impatient superior threatening to replace him on this case, Rutledge still can't claim to know who, or what, was behind the carnage.
After their disappointing standalone, The Murder Stone, it's a relief to see the Todd pair return to the "gloomy, defeated and exhausted" postwar England of Ian Rutledge, where no end of dire dramas appear to lurk. Like its half-dozen predecessors, stretching back to A Test of Wills, A Cold Treachery satisfies with its copious period details, characters traumatized by fate and failures, and a bedeviled young protagonist who must solve other people's problems before his own. And even as Hamish seems here to slip further into the background, there's finally the prospect of Rutledge finding companionship of a more corporeal sort. --J. Kingston Pierce
Book Description
Charles Todd returns to the world of Scotland Yard’s Inspector Ian Rutledge in a series that the New York Times Book Review called “harrowing psychological drama” and the Washington Post Book World hailed as “among the most intelligent and affecting being written these days.” This time the embattled Inspector has met his match hunting a brutal killer across a frozen hell and the one witness who may have survived a crime of…
A COLD TREACHERY
“You’ll hang for this–see if you don’t! That’s my revenge! And you’ll think about that when the rope goes around your neck and the black hood comes down….”
Called out by Scotland Yard into the teeth of a violent blizzard, Inspector Ian Rutledge finds himself confronted with one of the most savage murders he has ever encountered. Rutledge might have expected such unspeakable carnage on the World War I battlefields, where he’d lost much of his soul–and his sanity–but not in an otherwise peaceful farm kitchen in remote Urskdale.
Someone has murdered the Elcott family at their table without the least sign of struggle. Was the killer someone the young family knew and trusted? When the victims are tallied the local police are in for another shock: One of the Elcotts’ children, a boy named Josh, is missing.
Now the Inspector must race to uncover a murderer and to save a child before he’s silenced by the merciless elements–or the even colder hands of a killer. Haunted and goaded by the soldier-ghost of his own tortured war past, Rutledge will discover the tragedy of war that splintered one marriage–and pulled together another.
Love, jealousy, greed, revenge–or was it some twisted combination of all of them? Any one could lead a man or woman to murder. What had the Elcotts done to ignite their killer’s rage? With time running out, Rutledge knows all too well that such a cold-blooded murderer could be hiding somewhere in the blinding snow…
preparing to strike again.
From the Hardcover edition.
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CHARLES TODD is the author of The Murder Stone, A Fearsome Doubt, Watchers of Time, Legacy of the Dead, A Test of Wills, Wings of Fire, and Search the Dark. He lives on the East Coast, where he is at work on the next novel in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Cold Treachery.......2007-09-23
This entry in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series, set in the immiediate aftermath of World War I, is very satisfactory in spite of something of a hole in its structure. The Lake Country dominates the novel--not the pleasant walking and sightseeing country of the summer tourist season, but the unforgiving, rugged terrain of the depths of winter. A young family of five, including two infants, has been murdered on an outlying farm, and Inspector Rutledge has been dispached through a blizzard to assist the local police in finding the murderer. Rutledge, haunted by his own personal demons, must battle severe weather and townspeople who have no desire to see one of their own accused of murder to bring the criminal to justice. And as so often his superior is looking for him to be the scapegoat should things go wrong.
Atmosphere, setting, and interesting characters trump the plot in this outing--you may well spot what Rutledge repeatedly misses--but as a window on a vanished world of a cold, isolated, but beautiful part of Great Britain it is very enjoyable.
Murder in the Fells.......2007-09-21
`A Cold Treachery' (2005) is Charles Todd's seventh Ian Rutledge mystery novel, but the first for this reviewer. Rutledge is a Scotland Yard detective who is haunted by his service in the bloody trenches of the Great War. Rutledge hears voices - more precisely he hears one voice that of Hamish MacLeod, a soldier in Rutledge's unit who died in the war, but lives on in Rutledge's head. Hamish acts as his conscience and advisor. Bit odd, but an innovative story-telling mechanism. The first seven Rutledge stories all take place between June and December 1919 as Rutledge struggles to live with his memories.
The story opens with this line: "You'll hang for this-see if you don't! That's my revenge! And you'll think about that when the rope goes around your neck and the black hood comes down...."
In the midst of a fierce blizzard, a family has been slaughtered at an isolated farm in the remote north of England. No sign of a struggle, the Elcott family has been gunned down; father, mother, their young twins and his daughter. The 10-year-old son of Elcott is missing.
Is the missing Josh another victim? Or is he the perpetrator? Or might it be one of several likely local residents? Or perhaps one of the several outsiders who now live in the isolated Lake District village of Urskdale? A relative perhaps?
Todd crafts the tale so that any of the suspects might have uttered that phrase and he plausibly maintains that suspense throughout. An intriguing subtext: "Charles Todd" is actually a mother/son team of Charles and Caroline Todd and the story centers around mother/son and father/son relationships.
`A Cold Treachery' is more a suspense/psychological mystery than a thriller. The setting is grim, many of the characters are grim, Ian Rutledge not the least among them. It makes for interesting read, if not especially a fun one.
Satisfying mystery.......2007-04-20
Another good mystery from Charles Todd - the unnamed character in this story is the heavy atmosphere of the North of England, from the storm that impeded Ian Rutledge's entry into the Urskwater valley to the overhanging crags covered with sheep that reminded him of his claustrophobia. I keep wishing that poor Ian would find a woman and I think he almost did until she got shot. She survived however and may appear in a future novel. Hamish is even more present than ever and I am beginning to despair that Rutledge will ever be "normal." This is still an excellent series. Can't wait to see where Rutledge goes next.
Todd cannot churn these out fast enough for me..........2006-05-30
And that is part of the problem...readers want their good authors to write more, so they can read more of their books and their plots and their characterizations. But then if our authors do write more, their writing often goes downhill and the plotting gets lazy, the characterization more sloppy. Authors can't win no matter which way they go!
I find it hard to believe I missed writing a review for this book. I read it quite some time ago when I was going through as many of Todd's books as I could find. Todd's shell-shocked survivor of WWI who was and is a detective is still dealing with his inner voice (who happens to be the man he was called upon to execute during wartime for refusal to obey orders...in this case to take another group of very young men over the trenches and into a war with the Germans for which there is no good reason). Rutledge becomes involved in the wintery murder of a family, except for a missing 10 year old boy who is suspected of doing the murders, simply because he is missing and the easiest person to blame such an atrocity on. Rutledge needs to find out the truth, whatever that may be, and if possible find this boy, if he is still alive...before the real killer does.
Todd's books are based on an innate sadness that came over England after she lost a whole generation of young men to a war played by generals safely behind the scenes. Almost every family was impacted by the war, either by a direct loss of a son, a husband, a father...or from the vast changes that were made on English social structure when women had to make up for the battefield losses in the agricultural and business world, as well as deal with their own personal losses at the same time. Life was not easy anywhere in England, but especially on the bleak farms. The psychiatric toll taken by all this was immense, and was too much for some people to take.
Todd is one of the better finds of the last couple of years. Surprisingly enough, he is an American, but he writes like he had training in the British school system and not ours. His books are smart, and thoughtful, and the language used is beautiful.
Karen sadler
What a Find!.......2006-01-02
If you like good edge of your seat whodunits set in quaintly atmospheric British locales, if you like a story where every character may have ample reason to have done away with the deceased, if you like a yarn that brings in some psychology and even some of the "big questions" of life, if you like eccentric but believable supporting characters, if you like to be entertained and at the same time, learn just a bit about a time gone by, if you like to see justice done and all of the loose ends tied up by the last page, look no further than here, and at all of the Charles Todd, Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries.
Having cut my teeth on Agatha Christie and then savored the elegant sophistication of Miss Dorothy L Sayers, I have been -- how shall we put it -- eager for mysteries that come up to those high standards. Often disappointed. Until now.
Charles Todd's multi-dimensional, flawed Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge is appealing, endearing and real. He is not a caricature detective, nor a foil for red herrings and twisted plots (even though they abound in Todd's works). His persona is such that we would enjoy a book about his life that had NO mystery to it... Not that I am suggesting such a move to the authors....
Speaking of authors... Yes plural. Having read one book, I kept thinking, who is this author. Turns out that Charles Todd is American, not British, and Charles Todd is actually a mother and son team, writing together to create these wonderful books set in post W W I Britain.
And then there is Hamish, Ian's ghostly alter-ego, traveling companion, and imaginary friend. When my local bookstore owner told me the basics about Ian and his now-dead Scottish sergeant, who likes to ride in the back seat of Rutledge's car and "back seat drive" the investigations, I thought this was all too droll. Well, droll it is but it works--surprisingly well. To the point that the reader finds himself or herself wondering what Hamish thinks of this or that turn of events, even when Hamish is silent.
This is the first of Charles Todd's Rutledge mysteries that I read--and then I went on to the first in the series: Test of Wills. I enjoyed reading them in this way, and in fact was hooked. (And then went on to the others). But the reader may want to read them in order. Test of Wills, Wings of Fire, Search the Dark, Legacy of the Dead, Watchers of Time, A Fearsome Doubt, A Cold Treachery, A Long Shadow. There is also a stand-alone Todd mystery called Murder Stone. Read more about them at: www.Charlestodd.com
Todd intertwines the supporting characters from book to book, so that Rutledge's and Hamish's friends and family appear in more than one book, at some times, mentioned and other times, key to the story.
This book, about a missing boy and his murdered family in a lonely spot between the Lake District and the Dales, is well worth your time and attention.
If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews, including those on subjects ranging from biography to architecture, as well as religion and fiction
Book Description
This digital document is an article from National Observer - Australia and World Affairs, published by Thomson Gale on December 22, 2005. The length of the article is 2568 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The rehabilitated reputation of senator Joseph McCarthy.(Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism)
Author: I.c.f. Spry
Publication:
National Observer - Australia and World Affairs (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 22, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Issue: 65
Page: 24(7)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
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Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism.(Book Review): An article from: National Observer - Australia and World Affairs
Charles Francis
Manufacturer: Council for the National Interest
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ASIN: B000ALPLLC
Release Date: 2006-07-14 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from National Observer - Australia and World Affairs, published by Council for the National Interest on September 22, 2005. The length of the article is 1308 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism.(Book Review)
Author: Charles Francis
Publication:
National Observer - Australia and World Affairs (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2005
Publisher: Council for the National Interest
Issue: 64
Page: 67(4)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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The definitive video plus 96 page book.
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Multiple books shipped as one item for your convenience. Save on Shipping/Handling charges.
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Multiple books shipped as one item for your convenience. Save on Shipping/Handling charges.
Book Description
BEYOND AURORA AWAITS A BRAVE NEW WORLD....OF ROBOTS
A man without a memory is stranded in a world-enveloping city filled with robots gone wild. At his side is a mysterious young woman who claims to know who he is but refuses to tell him. According to The Three Laws of Robotics,"A robot may not injure a human being," which narrows the suspects dramatically when the robots find a dead human body.
The man calls himself Derec; the woman is know as Katherine. Their real identities, along with that of the murder victim and the murderer, are just a few of the life-and-death mysteries the unlikely pair are forced to solve to survive on the fantastic streets of Isaac Asimov's Robot City.
The late Isaac Asimov challenged a talented group of science-fiction writers to resolve the conundrums he set for them in this complex robot mystery set early in the timeline of his robot and Foundation universes.
Customer Reviews:
humans and robots? thats unheard of!.......2002-08-12
to a person outside looking in, it seems like a typical robot book. humans and robots trying to co-exist, but things are thrown in the mix to make the overall journey a bit more interesting.
Isaac Asimov gave the authors a set of rules to live by when writing this book. certain behaviors that govern the behavior of the robots. which creates dilemma and affects certain behaviors of the main character, derek.
throw in amnesia, a few aliens and a girl, you got yourself robot city.
Fantastic piece of reading.......2000-07-16
Absolutely brilliant, in my humble opinion. I picked it up to read one night in bed, and apart from sleeping & eating, I didn't stop till the next evening. Through Asimov's helpful attitude & guidance, these authors have turned out an excellent read, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm potentially worried about diffferent authors doing a story along the same lines, while it allows for changes & invididualism, sometimes reading a series of books means you'll get the same 'writers attitude' whereas with this series you'll encounter a few different 'attitudes'... if this was anything to go by though, I have no concerns. :)
Robot City book 1 & 2.......2000-05-25
What can I say 4 of the best stories I have ever read I am a long time asomov fan and thought after his death nothing would be as good but I have been proved wrong these stories could have come right out of asimovs own pen GREAT FABBY FANTASTIC if you havn't read them then I sugest you do you won't be dissapointed...
An excellent book.......2000-05-07
Many years ago, I read this series of books when they came out in paperback, while Asimov was still alive. I had forgotten how entertaining they were. All the classic elements, including continuity between different authors in the series exist. A must read for people who like a substantial, yet easy to read book. Definately not for those with a short attention span or someone who would rather see the movie then read the book.
Asimov gave them permision.......2000-03-17
First of all you have to understand that Asimov had planned for this book to be written and set out guidelines for the authors to follow. Michael P. Kube-McDowell and Mike McQuay have done an excelent job of honoring the foundation/robot universe and their interpretations only improve the depth and color of the story. I think Asimov is smiling on this one.
Book Description
A man without memory, tied by blood to a city of robots. At his side, a mysterious woman whose life and memory he saved, whose love he has won for a second time. His name is Derec; hers is Ariel. And their story has only begun to be told. . .
Customer Reviews:
absolutely marvelous!.......2001-10-21
this really captures the feeling of asimov's laws of robotics and provides an interesting glimpse of what happens when aliens are entered into the equation. Bravo, Leigh!
wonderful evocation of asimovian robots.......2001-10-17
stephen leigh's contribution to the asimovian Robot City is splendid--convincing aliens, lots of thoughtful interaction and robots who respect the Three Laws of Robotics. Not to be missed.
Hardly New - first published in 1989.......2001-10-04
If you are expecting a new book based round the 3 laws of robotics, by hte great writer Isaac Asimov, whoops. Each book has a different writer, Stephen Leigh the first, and COrdell Scotten Book 2.
A man who has forgotten his name, a city that changes itself to fit the occupants, a robot form shifting robot. A tower that holds the keys to Perihelion, which is a stop in a galaxy wide warp point instantaneous transport system. This will certainly stretch your imagination.
Book One starts off OK, but by book 3 you're getting bored and confused. It never seems to be going anywhere or to get tehre. I have all 6 books in hte series, but have never botehred to read past book 4.
It's a shame that he has allowed this.
The parallel series which is just called RObot City was better, but that was also published some time ago, and I never found beyond book 3 of 6.
Average customer rating:
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The Tailor's Thread: An Italian American Legacy
Vincent Rocco Saladini
Manufacturer: Authorhouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
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ASIN: 1410795829 |
Customer Reviews:
excellent book!!.......2004-06-21
this book brought back memories as the daughter of an italian immigrant whose life paralled that of the author of this book.
Customer Reviews:
A book about family unity........1999-06-17
In the famous Buscaglia style, Leo writes about his childhood with humor, love, and PASSION! Its about a time gone by that perhaps we all wish we could have had. A Fathers Day tribute!
A wonderful look into a child's eyes about growing up.......1999-04-16
a fablous book wirtten with the outmost love and feeling. Leo captures the image of the Italin father perfectly. Amazing, heartwarming, perfect. A must buy!!!!!
Amazon.com
Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito is best known for his short-lived reality TV show The Restaurant, which chronicled the start-up (and disintegration) of DiSpirito's Manhattan dining spot, Rocco's 22nd Street, whose menu was partially devised by his mother Nicolina. Rocco's Italian American offers 150-plus recipes--restaurant-connected dishes like Nicolina's much praised meatballs plus her Eggplant Rollatini and Pizza Fritta, among others. Worthy versions of old favorites include Spaghetti Carbonara, Linguini with Clams, and Stuffed Artichokes. Requiring fewer than ten ingredients, the recipes are as tempting as they are approachable.
But recipes are only part of the package. Following the introduction (a bumpy start, as DiSpirito writes that "every American has in common... one émigré in his family who started it all by coming to America," a statement that Native Americans, among others, will find objectionable) the book offers "Nicolina's Story" and "Rocco's Story," 60-odd pages of detailed reminiscence that some readers will welcome and others find excessive. Photos throughout illustrate the dishes; the chef and his clan (this reader stopped counting shots of DiSpirito at 22); and, unaccountably, portraits of common ingredients like lemons, walnuts, and red pepper flakes, among others. This lavish "editorializing" means recipe squeezing, resulting in the use of a very small font that makes reading the methods, especially at "cooking distance," difficult. There are other problems as well, including the "loss" of recipes promised on the flyleaf and in the seafood section intro.
These objections aside, the book promises much good eating--including "dolce" like Elena's Ricotta Grain Cake and Chocolate Walnut Budino--and for DiSpirito fans, another chance to learn from, and gaze at, the master. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito is best known for his short-lived reality TV show The Restaurant, which chronicled the start-up (and disintegration) of DiSpirito's Manhattan dining spot, Rocco's 22nd Street, whose menu was partially devised by his mother Nicolina. Rocco's Italian American offers 150-plus recipes--restaurant-connected dishes like Nicolina's much praised meatballs plus her Eggplant Rollatini and Pizza Fritta, among others. Worthy versions of old favorites include Spaghetti Carbonara, Linguini with Clams, and Stuffed Artichokes. Requiring fewer than ten ingredients, the recipes are as tempting as they are approachable.But recipes are only part of the package. Following the introduction (a bumpy start, as DiSpirito writes that "every American has in common... one +migr+ in his family who started it all by coming to America," a statement that Native Americans, among others, will find objectionable) the book offers "Nicolina's Story" and "Rocco's Story," 60-odd pages of detailed reminiscence that some readers will welcome and others find excessive. Photos throughout illustrate the dishes; the chef and his clan (this reader stopped counting shots of DiSpirito at 22); and, unaccountably, portraits of common ingredients like lemons, walnuts, and red pepper flakes, among others. This lavish "editorializing" means recipe squeezing, resulting in the use of a very small font that makes reading the methods, especially at "cooking distance," difficult. There are other problems as well, including the "loss" of recipes promised on the flyleaf and in the seafood section intro. These objections aside, the book promises much good eating--including "dolce" like Elena's Ricotta Grain Cake and Chocolate Walnut Budino--and for DiSpirito fans, another chance to learn from, and gaze at, the master. --Arthur Boehm
Customer Reviews:
ROCCOS ITALIAN-AMERICAN.......2005-12-15
The book is like a treasure,it has all the italian dishes that my family has made for years, but never wrote down.All are very easily explained and simple to follow,I am no where a good cook but these receipes sure make me appear to be a professional.Thanks Mama and Rocco for taking the time to put these together. And,the stories make me feel closer to both of you, thanks again for sharing your family memories.This is a definite, for all who love italian cooking. Cynthia M.
Mixed Review.......2004-12-01
I just bought the book and haven't tried the recipes yet. I'm sure they're good, because they look like the Italian home cooking I was raised on. To be fair, those holding it up to the standard set by "Taste" are comparing cutting edge restaurant recipes to "just like mama used to make." That's apples and oranges.
I find one glaring shortcoming in the book already though, which is that it seems to have been poorly edited (sloppily or hastily assembled). Some recipes list the same ingredients twice. Some names are almost comically misspelled. The dust cover lists Classic Tiramisu - its not in the book. The fish section says "a dozen recipes" - there are only ten. And on and on. They probably wanted this one on the shelves for the holidays, but if I could find these errors in a half-hour, how hard could it have been for them to pick up on the fact that featured recipes aren't there?
Italian-American Culinary Autobiography. Good, not Great.......2004-11-17
`Rocco's Italian American' by Rocco DiSpirito, his mother, Nicolina DiSpirito, and freelance writer Nina Lalli screams CELEBRITY CHEF Cookbook with the number of pages dedicated to current and historical snapshots of the principle authors, Rocco and Mama. This book was also almost a certainty after the featured role of Mama's meatballs in the two Mark Burnett `The Restaurant' reality shows. You just knew that there was a book in the works that featured a recipe for these meatballs.
Rocco's principle premise for these recipes is that `Italian-American' cuisine is no less genuine and involves no compromises of `genuine' Italian cooking because it is not exactly the same as that done in Campagnia or Apulia or Lazio or Tuscany or the Veneto. In fact, Rocco claims to have very little knowledge of native Italian cuisine compared to Marcella Hazan or Food Network colleague Mario Batali. I really have no difficulty whatsoever accepting Rocco's position here, and, neither to a lot of respected cookbook authors, as such leading names as Lydia Bastianich and John Mariani have written important books on Italian-American cuisine.
Before the book gets to the recipes, it spends the better part of seventy pages giving us brief memoirs from both Mamma and Rocco. As Nicolina can write neither English nor Italian, I am sure that one of Ms. Lalli's principle jobs was to transcribe and edit Mamma's oral history. While Mamma concentrates on the truly difficult childhood due to poverty of their family in 1930's Italy, followed by the premature death of her father, Rocco's story concentrates on his experiences and enthusiasm for food starting at a very early age. Both stories are interesting, but they lack the kind of spark that enlivens the best memoirs of childhood and the struggle to survive in difficult circumstances. Unlike tales of childhood memories of Jacques Pepin in `The Apprentice' and of Gennaro Contaldo in `Passione', there is practically no art and little intellectual interest in these stories. Rocco has done very little to repair the opinion I formed of him in the course of viewing the two `The Restaurant' shows where he was seen as a self-absorbed, inept manager who probably lied and certainly acted petty in dealings with his financial backer. Not that his backer was a model of probity, Rocco did more to create drama for the camera than he did to rescue the fate of his `Rocco's on 22nd' restaurant. He tried to play to the house like Emeril or Wolfgang without the business sense both of these men seem to maintain.
Since there are several important books out on the `Italian-American' cuisine, it is very easy to evaluate Rocco and Mama's recipes against an independent standard. The obvious place to start is with Mamma's meatballs. But, to make this recipe, you need `Mamma's sauce' made primarily with Red Pack tomato puree, sugar, chicken stock, garlic, onions, and tomato paste. I confess I find this sauce a weak entry compared to Mario Batali's basic sauce which uses whole tomatoes, carrots instead of sugar, and no stock, and can be completed in about half the time, 45 instead of 90 minutes. Mamma's meatballs themselves are very similar to my favorite recipe in `Italian Classics' by `Cooks Illustrated' except that instead of chicken stock, it uses buttermilk or yogurt and instead of bread crumbs, it uses torn white bread. Against this standard, I find nothing special in Mamma's recipe. Rocco's Puttanesca recipe is also nothing special when measured against `Cooks Illustrated' and other models I've seen. It's weakest point is that Rocco requires that you use 2 cups of Mama's Marinara which takes 90 minutes to make plus 20 minutes of cooking for the Puttanesca itself. All other recipes are self-contained, starting from pantry ingredients and often taking little more than 15 minutes from prep to finish instead of Rocco's 20 minutes of cooking. Rocco's spaghetti Carbonara is an odd mixture of influences. He is cooking Italian-AMERICAN, but he is insisting on pancetta that I suspect was hard to get even by most poor Italian-Americans in a Queens Latino neighborhood. On the other hand, this is a Roman dish and Rocco is using Parmigiano-Reggiano instead of including the more traditional Pecorino Romano.
On the other hand, Rocco's recipe for Caesar Salad is about as true to tradition as you can get with raw egg and anchovies and all. I especially liked Rocco's recipe for Mama's everyday bread prepared using the well technique in much the same way as one may make fresh pasta. This yeast recipe is both very simple and economical with the use of yeast, unlike Jamie Oliver's recipe using three packets of yeast. Both are good, Rocco's is simpler.
Rocco and his designers at publisher Hyperion have chosen a very odd arrangement for the color pictures depicting various cooking techniques, in that they have put them all together in a single `rotogravure' section in the back of the book. I'm sure this was done to maintain a very nicely modest list price, but it doesn't help the cook who is trying to follow a procedure and must switch back and forth to make any sense of the text and the pictures together.
The final section on `The Italian-American Pantry' is pretty good. I did find it odd that there are no stock recipes in the book, and no comment about using canned stock. Especially missing is a recipe for a mushroom stock, although several recipes call for this ingredient and I have never seen this ingredient in my local megamart.
Aside from the inconvenient picture layout, this is a very good autobiographical cookbook by a very talented professional chef, but if I were to want a reference on `Italian-American' cuisine, I might prefer Lydia Bastianich's much larger and more professional offering on the subject. If I wanted Italian home cooking, I think `Eleanora's Kitchen' by Eleanora Scarpetta may be just as good.
Interesting and worthwhile if you don't already own a lot of Italian cookbooks.
Average customer rating:
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The Mafia Cookbook: Killer Recipes from Gangland Kitchens
Barbara La Rocco
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Book Description
This digital document is an article from Italian Culture, published by American Association for Italian Studies on September 22, 2000. The length of the article is 998 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Adjusting Sites. New Essays in Italian American Studies. (Book Reviews). (book review)
Author: Tullio Pagano
Publication:
Italian Culture (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2000
Publisher: American Association for Italian Studies
Volume: 18
Issue: 2
Page: 225(4)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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