Blood Stripes: The Grunt's View of the War in Iraq

Book Description

A sometimes harrowing, often humorous, and occasionally tragic look at the Marine Corps from the inside out in its struggle with the insurgency in Iraq. Drawing from personal experience in the confusing, deadly conflict currently being fought in the streets and back alleys of Iraqi towns and villages, Danelo focuses on the young Marine leaders--corporals and sergeants--whose job it is to take even younger Marines into battle, close with and destroy an elusive enemy, and bring their boys back home again. Sadly, there are losses, but true to the Marine Corps spirit, they soldier on, earning their blood stripes the only way they know how--the hard way.

Customer Reviews:

Real People, Real War.......2007-10-13

BLOOD STRIPES, as you learn in the book, are the red stripes that an NCO in the Marine Corps is permitted to wear on the outside of their blue pants. You also learn how they came about - and I'm not going to give it away. What I will say is that this book teaches you things about the Marine Corps and the men who are the backbone of the Corps - the Grunts - that you could only learn by going through boot camp. You feel like you are living the war with them and you come to care deeply for and about them. These are REAL People, with all their bravado, fears, warts and deep humanity. You come to understand the "brotherhood" of the Corps. Most of all you understand the disconnect between those who politically support or oppose wars and those who fight them.

The best book I have read in a long, long time. Buy it - READ it!

Bobby Michaels

blood stripes.......2007-06-02

the best book on the realities of marines fighting in Iraq. A gripping account of NCO'S living and managing a war in a hostile environment

A Moving, Gritty, Inspiring Book.......2007-03-25

Read this book, and you will have a better understanding of why the warriors who make up the United States Marine Corps are the elite fighting force they are. After reading this, I came to realize that I could never fully understand what it takes to become the "true" warrior, but it also made me thank God that we have them, and that they are there ready at all times to fight for us. This book is hard to read, in that the true lives of Marines in battle, under fire in less than optimum conditions, with brothers wounded or dying with alarming frequency, are all right there for the reader to deal with. It can sometimes be informative, even funny, but mostly heart-wrenching as the battles, which are being fought for us, hit home. Read this book, but be prepared to deal with emotions you maybe didn't realize existed within yourself.

A fascinating read.......2007-03-02

This gripping book brings the reader straight onto the ground in Iraq. A timely and important story, and a great read

A worthwhile read........2006-09-25

I picked this book up because Steven Pressfield's name was on it (he wrote the foreword). It's no Pressfield novel and I can't say that it's a particularly well written book, but Danelo does offer an important perspective - that of combat marines during the first battle of Fallujah. He relates the lifestyle and experiences of marines on the ground in Iraq and touches briefly on the effect of media and politics on the early stages of the war. I had hoped that more stress would have been placed upon the latter, but Danelo's book is primarily a relation of various marine's accounts of life and battle in Iraq. Throughout, he paints an admirable and fairly candid picture of marine combat forces. All in all, it's a decent book, though a little heavy on comparisons to scenes from movies.

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On our second copy
On the Creepy side
Great But Can Frighten
My 5-year old loves it
Bad Case of Stripes is a great case of giggles

A Bad Case of Stripes
David Shannon
Manufacturer: Scholastic Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Humorous | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0439598389

Book Description

Category: Making Friends"What we have here is a bad case of stripes. One of the worst I've ever seen!"Camilla Cream loves lima beans, but she never eats them. Why? Because the other kids in her school don't like them. And Camilla Cream is very, very worried about what other people think of her. In fact, she's so worried that she's about to break out in...a bad case of stripes!"Shannon's story is a good poke in the eye of conformity...and his empathetic, vivid artwork keeps perfect pace with the tale."-Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Customer Reviews:

On our second copy.......2007-08-27

This is a gently funny book about the pressures of conformity and the virtues of lima beans. Camilla Cream is a pretty good kid, with two loving parents and a nice life. She has this little problem with trying to be everything everyone wants her to be, and it manifests in fantastical ways.

The industry reviews above mention how scary the illustrations are, but my kids (2 and 4) love them and find them funny.

On the Creepy side.......2007-08-06

My seven year-old daughter and I found the book a little creepy. It gave her nightmares.

Great But Can Frighten.......2007-07-25

This book has awesome illustrations, but some of the pictures might scare little ones.

The book is about a girl who loves Lima Beans, but she is so worried about what others will think of her that she refuses to eat them. Everytime someone says something to her that might be wrong with her or anything. She turns into what they say.

In the end, she gets up the courage to be herself and eat lima beans and is cured of her "bad case of stripes".

My 5-year old loves it.......2007-06-17

We picked this book up at the library today because it was on the suggested summer reading list for my daughter (who enters kindergarden this fall).

She loves it! We've read it together twice and she's gone through it herself several times. Although some kids might find the illustrations and concept scary, she thinks it's pretty cool.

The books message, about the importance of being true to your feelings, is a bit sophisticated and I don't know if she really gets it. But I know at least one 5-year-old who doesn't think it's too scary.

Bad Case of Stripes is a great case of giggles.......2007-05-07

This well-written story shows that no matter how much peer pressure weighs on you, you still have to do what you enjoy regardless of what others think. The illustrations are bold and intriguing for children and adults alike. Many of the characters look as if they've been captured in mid sentence, bringing the illustrations to life. Although the protagonist, a young female, shuns peer pressure, she is stereotyped as a weak female in some aspects. First of all, she's worried about her clothes and what she will wear to school. Secondly, she is too insecure in her own taste to ignore what other people think about her. In addition to this, most of the doctors and specialists are men in the story. The only female in the story that has any knowledge of helping, is of course "an old woman who was just as sweet and plump as a strawberry." It's credible that the woman is able to solve Camilla's problem, but she stereotypically solves it with a plate of food. On the contrary, this tale is quite exciting and humorous for elementary aged children

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A Book for All Types
Classic reference work from a pioneer in the MBTI field
People Types and Tiger Stripes by Gordon Lawrence
People Types and Tiger Stripes
Applications of People Types and Tiger Stripes

People Types & Tiger Stripes
Lawrence
Manufacturer: CENTER FOR APPLICATIONS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0935652167

Book Description

People Types & Tiger Stripes is a classic general book on the use and application of the MBTI® instrument as well as the definitive book in the field of education and type. In the third edition, Gordon Lawrence doubled the content, reflecting the work he has done over the past 15 years. People Types & Tiger Stripes also includes two writings by Isabel Briggs Myers.

Customer Reviews:

A Book for All Types.......2003-02-28

People Types and Tiger Stripes. Gordon Lawrence. Gainesville, FL: Center for Applications of Psychological Type, Inc., 2000. 222 pp.

Dr. Gordon Lawrence's, People Types and Tiger Stripes, published by the Center for Applications of Psychological Type, outfits the personality Type practitioner with an easy to grasp discussion of Personality Type theory (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) that specifically illustrates its usefulness in the educational arena.

In less than 100 pages, anyone interested in the subject of Personality Type Preference, pioneered by Isabel Myers Briggs, will discover the basic concepts of Type Theory and learn to recognize their own kind of Type behavior. Part 2 delves deeper into the dynamics of type, particularly how the mental processes of Type function in individuals, and the application of Type. The book is filled with understandable charts, practical exercises, and helpful explanations. This book will prove a useful resource for those who are interested in the learning process and designing curricula that capitalizes on the knowledge of Type Preference.

I have especially appreciated Dr. Lawrence's approach to the Mental Processes as "habits of the mind" and his explanation of Type Dynamics, a particularly difficult concept to grasp when explaining Type. Practitioners will also find new ways of illustrating Type and explaining its many nuances.

Lawrence, (an ENTP) goes out of his way to practice what he says about learning styles. This book is for all Types. He has something for the linear learner, as well as "a-linear" learners, those "Intuitives" and "Perceptives" who like to jump in the middle of it.

I use my copy of "Types and Stripes" frequently. I have found it a ready resource when explaining Type to organizations and in my instructional role as an adult teacher.

Classic reference work from a pioneer in the MBTI field.......2003-02-26

"This book presents ways to recognize the basic ingredients in behavior that make up a motivation pattern, and then to make an educated, shortcut prediction about what strategy will work best with...the wide variety of...people we teach and supervise."

Dr. Lawrence was a close associate of Isabel Briggs Myers, who with her mother Katharine C. Briggs developed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) based on the work of Carl Jung. This work is an excellent layman's introduction to the MBTI. It is written in an intelligent yet eminently readable style, with a plethora of practical examples. The included self-tests were especially helpful as I prepared for my week of training at the Center for the Application of Psychological Type (CAPT).

The MBTI has a broad range of applications, including career guidance, personal counseling, team building, etc.
Dr. Lawrence's long experience in the field of education makes this book of particular interest and usefulness to all levels of educators. He also provides worksheets to assist in the classroom analysis of learning styles in relation to type.

Despite the massive quantity of useful information packed into the over 200 pages of this work, the writing style is conversational and easy-to-understand. I managed to read it on my flight from Charleston to Gainesville, FL (granted, I had a two hour layover in Atlanta).

As a supervisor (and former teacher), I highly recommend this work to other supervisors (and current teachers).

People Types and Tiger Stripes by Gordon Lawrence.......2003-02-25

I first read the book in 1988 or 1989 and found myself not wanting to put it down. I used it to help me facilitate a group of senior leaders in the military. I observed the leaders and found that my type was so much different that it was causing poor communications (I was a Maximum Scale "E" and they were Maximum Scale "I"). The book helped me to recognize the strengths and weaknesses in understanding types. It also guided me to using type more frequently in the workplace.
After retiring from the military, I started using type again in my first job as an Elementary School Teacher. I read Dr Lawrences' book again...this time with more enthusiasm. The book helped me to work better with my teaching team, students, and of course the staff. The differences appeared to be more similar as I applied People Types to Tiger Stripes. I actually found myself laughing at the way people (in general) behaved and how similar they were in their behavior with type.
I am currently working for the Government teaching adults. Most of my job is about behavior change processes. I use the book today (2003) to assist me with the Myers Briggs Type Instrument (MBTI) in large groups. Groups learn in a Cognitive environment (usually 100 participants) and after a 4 hour lecture they move to small group (groups of 12 to 15) to apply type to the small group and behaviors that appear typical to the type. The book is also a reading source in our Institute and is frequently read by students. Applying the principles of type are more easily defined in People Types and Tiger Stripes. It is written for the basic level of knowledge used in type and can be quickly applied to any given group.
I have a personal copy and encourage anyone to purchase and read the book. I will read it over and over again for my job and my personal life.

People Types and Tiger Stripes.......2003-02-24

This book is an excellent resource when consulting with groups regarding personality preference styles. It has great exercises that show type differences. It also discusses our type and how engrained it is in each of us. It discusses how we can develop all of the types and make the most of these assets. The book also gives great summaries of each of the 16 different types. An awesome tool for teachers and consultants to use as a reference when working with type. I'd recommend it!

Applications of People Types and Tiger Stripes.......1999-11-24

This book is an excellent resource for classroom teachers who want ways to apply the concept of personality types to their instructional planning. It contains a quick and dirty survey for students use that identifies 4 out of the 8 preferences of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. I have found it extremely useful in my work with pre-service and in-service teachers.

Stars, Stripes, and Italian Tricolor: The United States and Italy, 1946-1989

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Stars, Stripes, and Italian Tricolor: The United States and Italy, 1946-1989
Leo J. Wollemborg
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This groundbreaking review and analysis of relations between the United States and Italy since the early postwar years is distinguished by the author's use of a unique combination of sources: hundreds of reports and analyses published by the author in U.S. and Italian dailies and magazines as events unfolded; his frequent interviews with ranking politicians and other leading figures in the two countries; U.S. and Italian government documents to which he has been the first outsider to gain access; and reports and comments by other journalists and students of Italian affairs and Italo-American relations. The result is the most comprehensive and balanced study of relations between the two countries published to date. Demonstrating that the U.S. media has often conveyed a view of Italian politics that does not correspond with reality, the author argues that the roots of Italian democracy have proved to be less fragile than most observers thought. Students of European politics will find Wollemborg's analysis a welcome counterweight to those who have frequently forecast impending Communist takeovers, military coups, political anarchy, and economic collapse in Italy. Wollemborg asserts that most U.S. observers have badly underestimated the resources and resiliency of the Italian economy as well as the Italian people's capacity to stand up to and defeat such threats to their democratic institutions as the surge of terrorism in the mid-1970s. He also shows that at some critical junctures, the U.S. government's approach was badly out of step with Italian developments, most notably in the late 1950s when they opposed the inclusion of Socialists in the ruling coalition. Both the U.S. and Italian media, Wollemborg shows, have contributed to strains in the relationship by portraying the other country unfavorably or by ascribing the wrong motives and beliefs to political parties and actors. Finally, Wollemborg explores present-day relations, demonstrating that cooperation between the United States and Italy is closer now than at any time during the postwar period--reflecting both the weakening of Communist influence in Italy and the rise of the Italo-American community in the United States.

Money for Nothing: A History of the Music Video from the Beatles to the White Stripes

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A 'must' for any collection strong in media history
Never thought I would use the words "thought-provoking" and MTV in the same sentence
Your cortex will thank you
Groundbreaking Work for Music Video Fans

Money for Nothing: A History of the Music Video from the Beatles to the White Stripes
Saul Austerlitz
Manufacturer: Continuum International Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Direction & Production | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 082641818X

Book Description

With the music video at a historic turning point, caught between its television-fuelled past and a still-unformed Internet future, it is an ideal time to look back at the life of this mutant art form - one that united the two most influential media of the last 50 years.

Money for Nothing begins with the earliest days of the music video, when Hollywood musicals, experimental animated films, Soundies, and Scopitones fused music and image in ways that would presage the eventual form of the MTV clip. By the time A Hard Day's Night was released in 1964, the combination of pop music and short films was ready to sweep the world. It didn't take long for other acts to see the possibilities of promotional films - the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and Bob Dylan had tried their hand at videos by the end of the 60s. The 1970s brought further rapid development. Artists as diverse as Queen, the Residents, Devo, and Elvis Costello all experimented with the form, establishing the boundaries of the nascent genre. By the time MTV debuted in 1981, the music video was ready for the spotlight. There were artists who construcetd whole careers around it (Madonna, Duran Duran), some who seemed occasionally flummoxed by it (Prince, U2), and those who did their best to subvert it (the Replacements, the Smiths).

In the 1990s, the music video reached its apogee, with enormous blockbuster clips from acts like Guns N'Roses, Michael Jackson, and Aerosmith marking the last moment of the video's cultural centrality. At the same time, the rise of alternative rock and hip-hop ushered in a renewed golden era of video, with big-name directors like Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Hype Williams, and Paul Hunter redefining what a music video could, or should, be.

As MTV and VH1 have morphed into lifestyle channels, the video no longer has the cultural impact it once had, but our era of YouTube and bloggers has revitalized the form, sparking a video resurgence among bands, directors, and fans. Money for Nothing is a smart, informative, and affectionate history that shows artistry and commercialism clashing, fusing, and occasionally creating works of real beauty.

Customer Reviews:

A 'must' for any collection strong in media history.......2007-04-19

MONEY FOR NOTHING: A HISTORY OF THE MUSIC VIDEO FROM THE BEATLES TO THE WHITE STRIPES is a 'must' for any collection strong in media history. Such collections will find the narrowed focus on music videos to be involving: it covers the earliest days of the music video when fusions of animated films, Hollywood musicals and more preceded MTV clips. The blend of pop music and short films fostered by the Beatles would sweep the music world - but had its roots in early Hollywood history. From the development of music-backed promotional films to 1970s alternative experiments with the medium, MONEY FOR NOTHING is packed with insights perfect for college-level media history holdings.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Never thought I would use the words "thought-provoking" and MTV in the same sentence.......2007-01-29

Austerlitz is an insightful and funny guide through the world of music video, and it's a tour worth taking. I spent a good portion of my adolescence looking on in horror at the flopping fish in Faith No More's "Epic," taking style cues from MC Hammer, and watching the worms crawl around Peter Gabriel's head, but my middle school eyes didn't see much past the flash. For those of you like me who loved it (but maybe didn't get it) the first time around, this book is an eye-opener - as when Austerlitz takes points to the beginnings of music video in WWII "Soundies" - while still holding on to the fun and nostalgia of an afternoon (or maybe a good, solid year) watching VH1. There's plenty in here for cinephile, music geek, or the merely curious. In short: buy it, read it, and enjoy.

Your cortex will thank you.......2007-01-23

The history of music videos is unwritten, even though the appeal of this strange, incandescent art form should be just as oversized for people of all ages as it is for those of us who grew up in the eighties and nineties. Austerlitz is a witty, thoughtful guide who writes with a gentle mix of scholarship and loving irreverence. Read this book no matter who you are--and then go to YouTube and burn his top 100 videos into the back of your brain.

Groundbreaking Work for Music Video Fans.......2007-01-20

As a child of the 80's who grew up in front of MTV, I have been waiting for a book like this to arrive. Music videos have been one of the most innovative and influential forms of media for the last twenty years, but there has been surprisingly little scholarship on the genre.
In that sense, Austerlitz is breaking new ground with this book. He is a savy tour guide for the visual landscape we all share. From the music video's early days, to the hair metal 80's into the ganster 90's, he manages to articulate in witty and insightful prose the nuances and salient features of the genre as a whole, and specific high points in particular.
With the explosion of youtube, and other self produced video formats, its about time we have some serious thinking published on the subject. Austerlitz does just that. At the same time, this is a book for the music video fan. Those of us who remember the glory days of Motley Crue's reign on DIAL-MTV, or that graffiti set of Parents Just Don't Understand, upto the great Guns and Roses triology will be thrilled to hear a wise and equally passionate voice take us back through these videos.
I only hope the sequal will shed some light on Trapped In the Closet.

Communicating with Pattern: Stripes (Communicating With Patterns S.)

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An inspiration

Communicating with Pattern: Stripes (Communicating With Patterns S.)
Mark Hampshire , and Keith Stephenson
Manufacturer: RotoVision
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2940361150

Book Description

Unique showcase exploring the use of stripes for visual communication across design disciplines.

The fact-packed Communicating with Pattern series presents designers with a complete vocabulary of pattern as visual communication. Stripes is a stunning collection of striped design from the worlds of textiles, fashion, interiors, architecture, graphics, product, and industrial design, together with comments from some of the featured creators, giving designers an understanding of the graphic language of stripes.

From Adidas sneakers to City pinstripes and share-dealers' shirts, from barcodes to soccer shirts, stripes signify membership and allegiance. But also the opposite: in nature, stripes communicate danger. Stripes can be bright, childlike, and bold, but also sober, conservative, and exclusive. In art, stripes stimulate the eye in the work of artists such as Mark Rothko. In fashion, they can be formal or strident witness brands as diverse as Jean-Paul Gaultier, Mary Quant, Gucci, and Paul Smith. All this and more is covered in this indispensable book.

Customer Reviews:

An inspiration.......2007-07-28

I was fascinated by this book. I already owned Circles and couldn't wait for Stripes to come out. I thought it would be very difficult to fill a whole book with stripes but the author managed it, finding stripes in unexpected places. It's the sort of book you can just dip into, look at a few pages and then view the world in a different way. There is a good balance between stripes used by designers, past and present, and those found all around us. I learned a lot and found it inspirational in my artwork.

Lots and Lots of Zebra Stripes: Patterns in Nature

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A Fabulous Teaching Resource for all Elementary School Grade

Lots and Lots of Zebra Stripes: Patterns in Nature
Stephen R. Swinburne
Manufacturer: Boyds Mills Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1563979802

Customer Reviews:

A Fabulous Teaching Resource for all Elementary School Grade.......2001-10-31

I use this book in elementary classrooms as an anticipatory set for thinking about patterns before we make a math pattern game. It works as well with 6th gradeers as it does with 3rd graders. They begin to look at their surroundings using a different paradigm!

How Chipmunk Got His Stripes (Picture Puffins)

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The Native American legend of how Bear gave Chipmunk his stripes

How Chipmunk Got His Stripes (Picture Puffins)
Joseph Bruchac , and James Bruchac
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0142500216

Book Description

Bear brags that he can do anything-even stop the sun from rising. Brown Squirrel doesn't believe him, so the two wait all night to see if the sun will rise. Sure enough, the sky reddens and the sun appears. Brown Squirrel is so happy to be right that he teases Bear. What happens when a little brown squirrel teases a big black bear? Brown Squirrel gets stripes and is called chipmunk from that day forward . . . Joseph and James Bruchac join forces to create this buoyant picture book, based on a Native American folktale.

Illustrated by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey.

Customer Reviews:

The Native American legend of how Bear gave Chipmunk his stripes.......2006-01-05

There is an entire sub-genre of myth and folklore consisting of stories that explain the distinctive qualities of animals. "How Chipmunk Got His Stripes" is a Native American story told along the East Coast, and in the Author's Notes for this volume we learn that while there are Cherokee, Abenaki and Mohawk versions, the earliest written one to be found is of Iroquois origin. What the father and son team of Joseph Bruchac and James Bruchac provide here is a longer and more detailed than what might be found elsewhere, the story having grown in the telling over the years.

The story begins with Bear out walking and bragging that he is the biggest, strongest, and loudest of the animals. Hearing his boasts, a little Brown Squirrel asks Bear is he can really do anything. Bear insists that he can, and so the little Brown Squirrel asks Bear to tell the sun not to rise tomorrow morning. Bear has never tried this before but is sure he can do it and tells the sun in the western sky not to come up tomorrow. The sun disappears behind the hills and Bear is sure that the sun if running away from him because it is afraid.

That night the Bear turned towards the east and instead of sleeping spent the night saying "The sun will not come up, hummph" over and over again. But as the night went on the little brown squirrel began to say "The sun is going to rise, oooh." This goes on and on all night long, and while the Bear and little Brown Squirrel keeping saying the same thing over and over again, the other animals gather around them to see who would be right. Now, whether you are a young reader or an older one, you might be able to figure out what is going to happen next and how that might end up with the chipmunk getting his stripes. Think about how you ancient storytellers could begin with the distinctive stripes of the chipmunk, come up with a perfectly logical reason for the look, and then have to invent a story that provides the motivation.

This charming story has colorful pictures by Jose Arugeo and Arianne Dewey ("Mushroom in the Rain," "We Hide You Seek") done with pen-and-ink and watercolor that was then scanner-separated and reproduced as red, blue, yellow and black halftones. I especially like their use of orange in the artwork, especially when it serves as a background to their pictures of Bear. As for the Bruchacs, they have also collaborated on "Native American Games" and a collection of Native American monster stories, "When the Chenoo Howls."

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An ode to stripes
Way Short of its potential
Lost opportunity for ILLUSTRATIONS
A unique and unusual history of stripes and striped fabric
Lingering Questions

The Devil's Cloth: A History of Stripes
Michel Pastoureau
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0743472578

Book Description

To stripe a surface serves to distinguish it, to point it out, to oppose it or associate it with another surface, and thus to classify it, to keep an eye on it, to verify it, even to censor it.

Throughout the ages, the stripe has made its mark in mysterious ways. From prisoners' uniforms to tailored suits, a street sign to a set of sheets, Pablo Picasso to Saint Joseph, stripes have always made a bold statement. But the boundary that separates the good stripe from the bad is often blurred. Why, for instance, were stripes associated with the devil during the Middle Ages? How did stripes come to symbolize freedom and unity after the American and French revolutions? When did the stripe become a standard in men's fashion? "In the stripe," writes author Michel Pastoureau, "there is something that resists enclosure within systems." So before putting on that necktie or waving your country's flag, look to The Devil's Cloth for a colorful history of the stripe in all its variety, controversy, and connotation.

Customer Reviews:

An ode to stripes.......2006-10-04

Within western history, clothing fashion changes century to century as various styles go in and out of vogue. One of these styles is the stripe, whether it be vertical or horizontal. This book covers the use and misuse of stripes in clothing of all sorts from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. Concentrating mainly on Western Europe with some forays into the Middle East and the US, this author tells a brisk tale of how stripes went from being a mark of outcasts in the high days of the Catholic Church, to its triumph in fashion by the late 1800s, to its now universal presence around the world in the 20th century. The book is written in chronological order, and the author shows how stripes were present or used to identifiy various individuals as belonging to certain castes, groups, professions or religions. Likewise, the words for stripes in various European languages are inter-related, and share interesting relationships with other words. The central point of the book is that stripes went from being a perjurative symbol hundreds of years ago to now a commonly used symbol in everyday fashion and style. Overall, a quick and interesting read.

Way Short of its potential.......2006-08-19

This book has great potential but doesn't quite live up. Perhaps something is lost in the translation. In reading, I felt the author was referring to things but didn't completely explain himself. Here's a sample, p74: "The relationship between the child and the stripe is very old. Some medieval pictures already show infants wrapped in strips of cloth forming a striped structure meant to hold on their diapers. Later, under the ancien regime, in aristocratic circles, when striped clothes are the fashion among adults, they are also the fashion for children." So we've gone from medieval swadling clothes to the seventeenth century with the blink of an eye, and no explanation as to what he's talking about! How about some evidence? Maybe more explicit references in the text of the book and not in footnotes. Absolutely more illustrations. How can a book about a visual experience get by with no pictures?! I'm glad this was a library check out, because if I had purchased this book I'd be very disappointed.

Lost opportunity for ILLUSTRATIONS.......2005-05-20

Informative, well researched little book. I so wished for more pictures of the many stripes and striped items described!

A unique and unusual history of stripes and striped fabric.......2001-10-15

Michel Pastoureau's The Devil's Cloth is a unique and unusual history of stripes and striped fabric will appeal to the interested needlecrafter, costumer and quirky artist, as well as anyone else who would receive insights into fashion, styles or changing clothing. From a medieval scandal revolving around striped habits to national stripes and displays of stripes in clothing, The Devil's Cloth is an impressive and scholarly work which is informative reading and an enthuiastically recommended survey.

Lingering Questions.......2001-10-12

Prostitutes, bastards, traitors, Beelzebub, Cain, jugglers, clowns, hangmen, lepers, heretics, adulterous wives and non-Christians were all depicted as wearing and sometimes actually required to wear stripes in the Medieval era. A Middle Ages black hat designation as it were, striped clothing served as a visual shorthand judgement of the person donning such garb. Before eyes could discern more subtle notations, stripes announced a lack of cherished virtue(s), marking the wearer as a person at best on the fringes of the mainstream social mores. Such were stripes-barres.

What did striped cloth and clothing mean? Why, indeed, would it mean anything?

In the first chapter, Pastoureau muses `The problem of the stripe does indeed lead to pondering the relationship between the visual and the social within a society. He then poses the questions `Why does the West, over the very long term, have the majority of social taxonomies expressed through visual codes? Does the eye classify better than the ear or sense of touch? Is to see to classify? Why is the derogatory sign system-the one that draws attention to outcast individuals, dangerous places or negative virtues, more heavily stressed than the status-enhancing systems?' The questions are disquieting, staccato, sometimes painful.

About 225 years ago, the American Revolution's use of stripes was adopted in Europe's changing fashion and social mores. But the pejorative striped garment remained alongside the playful and fashionable stripe as a mark of the social outcast, the inmate, the madman, the thief. What does that say about Western culture? Did we, and do we continue, to use stripes to hold at a safe distance the questionable? Do we use barred barriers to allow us to peer safely onto the unclean, the disturbed without being subject to the reach of their conditions? Is the stripe a visual sign of our attempt to control our surroundings?

While pondering the author's questions, the notion of sacred geometries and M.C. Escher returned time and again. Try as I did to expel the distractions of what seemed only marginally related, the nebulous concepts persisted. The unsettling truth is that stripes are an "uncontained," open-ended geometry. Escher's birds and lizards were closed systems, stripes have no end, even when severed, the stripe marches beyond mere visual boundaries. A geometric renegade, stripes defy enclosure in any manner. And we react to them with both caution and delight.

This beautifully designed little book falls short only in its visual delivery once opened. I was left wanting full-color plates of the black and white given examples of striped clothing since about 1240.

This is a book worth reading and adding to one's library, worth mulling over the questions it asks. Again and again.

Average customer rating:

Nice Set

Chocolate Dots & Stripes Write Away Stationery
Galison/Mudpuppy
Manufacturer: GMG Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0735305072

Product Description

This is not your grandmother's stationery! Command attention with Chocolate Dots & Stripes Write Away sheets, envelopes, and colored dot seals. 10 pink envelopes, 10 blue envelopes to mix and match. 20 5-7/8 x 8-1/4" letter sheets 2 complementary designs 20 matching envelopes with interior designs 20 colorful seals Sturdy string-fastened acetate case

Customer Reviews:

Nice Set.......2007-06-13

The quality is very good. Sheets and envelopes made from a nice paper weight, not too thin. Beware that the plastic envelope it comes in is wedge shaped, expanding only at the bottom, so it cannot lie flat for storage.

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