Product Description
From floating barges of urban refuse to dung-encrusted works of art, from toxic landfills to dirty movies, filth has become a major presence and a point of volatile contention in modern life. This book explores the question of what filth has to do with culture: what critical role the lost, the rejected, the abject, and the dirty play in social management and identity formation. It suggests the ongoing power of culturally mandated categories of exclusion and repression.

Focusing on filth in literary and cultural materials from London, Paris, and their colonial outposts in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the essays in Filth, all but one previously unpublished, range over topics as diverse as the building of sewers in nineteenth-century European metropolises, the link between interior design and bourgeois sanitary phobias, the fictional representation of laboring women and foreigners as polluting, and relations among disease, disorder, and sexual-racial disharmony.

Filth provides the first sustained consideration, both theoretical and historical, of a subject whose power to horrify, fascinate, and repel is as old as civilization itself.

Contributors: David S. Barnes, Neil Blackadder, Joseph Bristow, Joseph W. Childers, Eileen Cleere, Natalka Freeland, Pamela K. Gilbert, Christopher Hamlin, William Kupinse, Benjamin Lazier, David L. Pike, David Trotter. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

If publisher has to apologize for quality of reprint I don't need.
Let it be known that Kessinger Publishing sourced this reprint from Google Books.Every page has Google printed at the bottom.Why they chose this particular edition to reprint eludes me.It isn't the most complete or a first edition or the most beautiful or cleanest scanned or superlative in any way. It has all the faults of the original scan such as underlined words, plus some defects of their own printing process added.Also the binding appears to be just glued together.

The publisher states that "This important reprint was made from an old and scarce book.Therefore, it my have defects such as missing pages, erroneous pagination, blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, marginalia and other issues beyond our control."This information should have been made available before purchase.

"...a faultless piece to see..."
With a small quote from Alexander himself as the title I clearly state my approval! His works are unlike anything I have read in early English Literature. His very original attitude and way of speaking his mind makes him who he is. A must read for any reader who wants to be entertained! ... Read more

Product Description
Black Mafia The Secret Society is a gripping tale of the Michal Donaldson-William Johnson American crime family in the world and their power struggle to maintain co ntrol over the Pennsylvanian/Jersey illegal drug trade. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Slow to... Captivating
Initially I thought the book moved at a slow pace, but that slow pace didn't last long before I was staying up late at night waiting to see what happened next.A truly enjoyable book.If you like gangster stories then I would definitely recommend this book.

A nice Short Surprise
The book wasn't very long it was a very nice and well put together book. I would ask that everyone sit and read this ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
First-century Smyrna comes alive as the scene of a horrific murder.Pliny the Younger, Tacitus, and Luke, travelers in a caravan bound for Rome, become investigators when no Roman magistrates are available. Suspects abound: gamblers, arcane priestesses and Christians.What is the secret of one of the victim'ss own slaves, a beautiful blond, and the German giant shadowing her? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

A case from the notebooks of an indignant Plinyist
It can be hard, being a fan of Pliny the Younger, who, having left us a collection of dainty and gentlemanly correspondence and an embarrassingly fulsome panegyric of the emperor Trajan, has long considered the lightweight of early second century Latin prose.

It is even more difficult for would-be Plinyists in that Pliny himself makes much of his friendship and literary co-equality with Tacitus: next to that hard-nosed and cynical chronicler of imperial Roman history and the decline of the senatorial class, Pliny, with his loving catalogs of his villas and careful cultivation of aristocratic friendships, only looks worse.

I spend so much time on this background because it is the best way to understand Albert Bell's rather startling premise for his mystery series: Bell's young Pliny the Younger is actually a brilliant sleuth à la Sherlock Holmes; his sidekick Tacitus is a rather dim, superstitious, and conventionally loutish exemplar of the Roman upper class, a surprise to anyone who has read even a translation of any part of the historian's works!

Bell uses the conceit of "lost notebooks" of the Elder Pliny (he of the "Natural History" to give his hero (the Younger Pliny) access to forensic ideas and techniques that would never have occurred to an ancient amateur detective, but he turns backflips in order to present Pliny as older, wiser, more socially prominent, and more advanced in his career than Tacitus (the opposite appears to have been the case, to judge from the (admittedly) scanty evidence of Pliny's own letters).

The mystery itself involves murder, missing wills, long-lost heirs, and -- for Bell is by profession a scholar of early Christianity -- encounters with St. Luke and a party of Christians.Here, too, Pliny turns out to be surprisingly interested and accepting of Christian doctrines, when one compares his attitude here to the one expressed in his famous Letter on the Christians.The mystery is not as clever as many, and, while there is a great deal of attention to period details of life and mental habits in many respects, Bell too-often drops out the 1st century when he really wants to make Pliny shine with modern virtue.

It is not surprising, then, that one turns to the acknowledgments and finds that Bell is proud to tell us how much his friends compare him to Pliny the Younger!And indeed, this sort of casual, apparently obliviously-naive self-promotion of quite mediocre and unexceptional "virtues" is precisely the version of Pliny that Bell is fighting against.

slogging thruslops in old smyrna
I am interested in classical civilization and i have enjoyed previously the spqr series. I thought i'd give this author a chance. I'm sorry i did. There is absolutely no mystery involved; rather, the author uses this as a vehicle for a set-up plot: Pliny the Younger and young Tacitus (The Clueless, or perhaps The Hardy Boys) meet the Christians (Luke and Timothy, no less) and together vanquish the Bad Guys (various pagan Romans).Every single plot point is telegraphed and Pliny and Tacitus behave in ways that have little resemblence to what might have been expected of young men of high Roman birth in the first century. The jokes are lame and much of the book involves Pliny pining for his father's books, thinking beautiful thoughts about the Christians, or having dinner conversations whose only purpose appears to be to delineate differences between Roman and Christian practices.

All that having been said,if you are a young Christian, say about 19, and have no knowledge of the period, this could be a valuable starting point for a more serious investigation into the early history of your faith. If so, I give you all best wishes for a happy journey.

atlee

Roman road trip
"All Roads Lead to Murder" has some interesting story ambitions--the murder of a wealthy traveler in Smyrna to be solved by two prominent figures in Roman history before they achieved their fame.A sub-theme is the contrast of two religions of the period--the cult of Hecate and the growing cult of Christianity, the latter featuring the Apostle Luke.

Author Albert Bell develops a plausible, if somewhat convoluted, plot, but is less adept in his portrayal of believable characters.He aims to make the dialogue between his characters snappy repartee, but somehow they don't often come off that way.I suspect that this partly because he has chosen to put his protagonists, Pliny and Tacitus, in their early twenties.They seem to lack both consistent wit and gravitas.The secondary characters are also given less than credible dialogue and personalities as well.

I couldn't help but compare this book to Lindsay Davis' excellent Marcus Didius Falco series which takes place in roughly the same time period, but somehow makes murder and humor work well together.In this book, Pliny does not touch the hem of Falco's tunic.

A later book in the Pliny series is better, in my judgement, than "All Roads...". I would start with that book and skip this one.

Interesting plot, terrible character development
Bell has come up with an interesting story line but downright silly character development.He presents Pliny as some sort of modern day "touchy-feely" metrosexual and this spoils what could have been a good historical mystery.Pliny's attitudes toward slavery, Roman justice and his falling for a slave girl are an excellent example of the worst sort of writing error - giving a first century Roman character a 21th century mentality and ethos.Honest to goodness, by the time I was halfway through the book I expected Pliny to be spouting theories of modern forensic science, DNA testing and possible slavery "reparations."This book doesn't even begin to compare favorably with the writings of Davis and Saylor.

Ok for a light read
Not up to par as a mystery but a colorful array of characters. It was a fair read. I never got the flavor or could picture the place in my mind, it had great characters but I think there could have been more about their surroundings so that you could better feel at one with the story, ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
Essentials of Organic Chemistry is a new textbook written for one-semester and one- or two-quarter organic chemistry courses for non-majors. Its goal is to facilitate the learning of organic chemistry for students who need an overview of the subject in order to support study in their chosen career field (such as nutrition, nursing, biology, psychology, etc.). The approach taken in this text is to limit the content and present only that material which is essential for understanding the elementary workings of organic chemistry. As part of the overall teaching and learning program, Essentials of Organic Chemistry makes full use of today's teaching and learning technology. A text-specific web site, called Organic On-line, contains a variety of student resources that have been designed to provide them with the opportunity to become active participants in the learning process, capturing their interest as they learn. In addition, a unique instructor resource, called the Instructor's Tool Kit CD-ROM, features several different tools designed to make your lectures the very best they can be. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Invitation to Organic Chem
The 'How to Solve a Problem' sections are the best I have ever seen.Concise, lucid and packed with information valuable to every student in the life sciences. ... Read more

Product Description
A National Book Award finalist, this novel relates the events of four crucial days in the lives of four people sharing a rambling Victorian house, "lying low" and harboring secrets not meant to be shared.Theo Wait, a middle-aged former ballet dancer, and her brother, Anton, have taken in two boarders: beautiful Lynn, who never receives mail or visitors; and energetic and effusive Ouida, a Brazilian student and illegal alien who won't let complicated bureaucratic wrangles and constant fear of deportation taint her vision of America as the land of opportunity.A faked identity, a search for one of the FBI's most wanted escaped prison convicts, and a Brazilian feast that spins out of control kick the plot into high gear. While each of these characters has been plagued by a sense of impending disaster, the terrible thing they've all been fearing comes from an entirely unexpected direction, shattering all of their lives.
• Johnson's most recent novel, Le Divorce, was a phenomenal success.
• The thousands of new fans Johnson made with Le Divorce will be eager to read other books by this witty and delectable writer.
• Lying Low was nominated for a National Book Award. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Well executed novel
I have been reading Diane Johnson's work beginning with her last three bestsellers, Le Divorce, Le Mariage and L'affaire.I went on to Persian Nights, The Shadow Knows and finally Lying Low.The earlier works are more introspective and reveal the darker side of human nature--fears, regrets, obsessions, wounds.Granted, her most recent works are more humorous but they lack the depth of her earlier work.These older novels delve into the reality of American life as seen from the inside.The new novels examine the American psyche as compared to that of the European.What is consistent in her work is the portrayal of the American as naive, the individual who that assumes everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. That everything has a purpose. In Lying Low she introduces a foreign spectator, Ouida, the illegal Brazilian immigrant.Enamored of the freedom provided by the American way of life she realizes at the end that the complexity of the expectations this freedom entails is far less joyful than the simple traditional village life she left behind.

Incredibly Well Written!
Lying Low exemplifies Diane Johnson's ability to reveal the inner dialogue of her characters with witty detachment. Johnson's accuracy in exposing individual human thought processes is engrossing and laugh-out-loud funny; one forgets she is quite cleverly weaving a tantalizing plot through the twists and turns of her character's thoughts. Spending four days in the lives of Ouida, Marybeth aka Lynn, Theo, and Anton is an absolute delight. The innocent Ouida isthe star of this comedy, with her perpetually muddled English perception. But all of the main characters have a sweet naivete, perhaps truly found in every person's core. The fact that Johnson reaches so deeply into her characters is a testament to her gifts. Lying Low may be her greatest accomplishment.

The publisher obviously didn't read the book.
I turned the last page in the book and, to the chagrin of fellow commuters, found myself saying, "What the hell?" It wasn't the sort of disappointment that comes from being left hanging at the end of the story, but more the feeling that if the author DID bother to wrap up the story in some cohesive manner, the publisher must have accidentally chopped out the last chapter.

This choppy plot is full of half-characters with disjointed lives and relationships. There's always a referrence made to the past, with just enough to tantalize you and keep you reading because you're convinced the big, awful secret will at last be revealed. When the "big, awful secrets" are revealed you find yourself scowling. "That's it? That's the big deal? That's why I've been speed-reading through the past 80 pages?"

Granted, "Le Divorce" was no great literary accomplishment, but it speaks to most women and their sense of adventure. This book didn't even try to strike a chord with me and while I'm disgusted I bought it (rather than checking it out from the library), I'm even more sickened to admit I read it all the way through to the end.

This book goes to show that you can't judge a book by the author's previously-published works!

half of this book was enough
i loved diane johnson's other books
this one i couldn't even finish
although i lived through the period depicted, in today's world it seemed dated and irrelevant
halfway through i didnt know where the plot was going and didnt care
i felt no sympathy for the characters who seemed to be in messes of their own making, although everything was so vague it was hard to tell what was going on
i felt no sense of urgency or suspense about the story
how this could have been a national book award finalist is beyond me
i agree it was pretty awful

Awful. Just pure awful.
Its a sad comment on the state of our intellectual life that a book this trite gets accorded any serious notice. ... Read more

Product Description
"A Measure of Malpractice" tells the story and presents the results of the Harvard Medical Practice Study, the largest and most comprehensive investigation ever undertaken of the performance of the medical malpractice system. The Harvard study was commissioned by the government of New York in 1968, in the midst of a malpractice crisis that had driven insurance premiums for surgeons and obstetricians in New York City to nearly $200,000 a year. The Harvard-based team of doctors, lawyers, economists, and statisticians set out to investigate what was actually happening to patients in hospitals and to doctors in courtrooms, launching a far more informed debate about the future of medical liability in the 1990s. Careful analysis of the medical records of a representative sample of 30,000 patients hospitalized in 1984 showed that approximately 1 in 25 patients suffered a disabling medical injury, one-quarter of these as a result of the negligence of a doctor or other provider.After assembling all the malpractice claims filed in New York State since 1975, the authors found that just one in eight patients who had been victims of negligence actually filed a malpractice claim, and more than two-thirds of these claims were filed by the wrong patients. The study team then interviewed injured patients in the sample to discover the actual financial loss they had experienced: the key finding was that for roughly the same dollar amount now being spent on a tort system that compensates only a handful of victims, it would be possible to fund comprehensive disability insurance for all patients significantly disabled by a medical accident. The authors, who came to the project from very different perspectives about the present malpractice system, are now in agreement about the value of a new model of medical liability. Rather than merely tinker with the current system - which fixes primary legal responsibility on individual doctors who can be proved medically negligent - legislatures should encourage health care organizations to take responsibility for the financial losses experienced by all patients injured in their care. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The empirical research that tort law needs
For me as a European law professor this - admittedly somewhat outdated book - was very helpful in many respects: it showed me how thorough research on the tort process and its shortcomings is performed and it also convinced me that medical malpractice is quite different from say automobile accidents as far as the role of tort law is concerned. I think that this is a good book to read for anyone studying the tort process and evaluating the arguments for and against alternative patient insurance arrangements. I was a bit disappointed by the final chapter ('Ruminations for the future'), because the policy statements and suggestions for reform in that chapter are in my opinion not really firmly backed by the empirical evidence of the previous chapters. ... Read more

Product Description
This new text provides the student with an in-depth coverage of all phases of air cooling from window air conditioners to large chilled water systems. Clear and detailed illustrations enhance text descriptions. The accompanying lab manual offers real world exercises relating to the text theory. ALSO AVAILABLE Lab Manual, ISBN:0-8273-7603-0 INSTRUCTOR SUPPLEMENTS CALL CUSTOMER SUPPORT TO ORDER Instructor's Guide, ISBN:0-8273-6815-1 ... Read more

Product Description
The most comprehensive book available that deals specifically with writing sociology papers, this updated reference/manual helps both beginning and advanced sociologists learn how to research and write in sociology, and how to improve their writing ability in general. Teaches the basic skills of writing—formatting, source citations, grammar, sentence structure, research, and utilizing available sources—in sociology. For practicing sociologists and those in training. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Extremely useful in my university writing assignments.
The Sociology Student Writer's Manual is an excellent resource.Every student, major and minor, in the discipline will benefit from a close study of each chapter.Following the instructions will make citations and referencing a cinch!All the tips and clues necessary to provide your instructor with perfect copy, both in content and in form, are included.There is even a chapter on the www. This offering is both a writer's manual and a model for doing research, with examples in all areas of the sociological endeavor.IT IS WELL WORTH THE INVESTMENT! ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
Louisiana State University, New Orleans. New edition of a concise textbook on the concepts of biomedical statistics, for medical and nursing students. Previous edition 1987. ... Read more

Product Description
Surveys the life of African-American artist William H. Johnson as his young niece might have told it. The artist's paintings provide the illustrations. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
Bill Johnson's poems recreate his world in the Pacific Northwest where wild rivers, steelhead, moose, and lightning are common sights.Whether beholding the Northern Lights, painting the trim on his house, or staring into a high meadow where the dark shape of a bear "lumbers through patches of late melting snow," Johnson pledges his allegiance to the indescribable joy we find in creation.He uses even the most homely objects in his poems--a worn out pair of work boots, a collapsed barn--to embody the past and unite it with the present. In doing so, he leads us out of the ruins along the path to love and redemption. ... Read more