N Word, The: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn’t, and Why

Thursday, July 31st, 2008 by Book Guy | No Comments »

N Word, The: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn’t, and Why

"…clear, engaging writing…."–Publishers Weekly

"Informed, sensible and impassioned."–Kirkus Reviews

"He is most eloquent when relating how African Americans have been characterized in our
culture; how the word nigger has been employed to oppress, belittle, dismiss, humiliate,
and ridicule black people; and how they themselves have increasingly used it to satirize
and oppose that oppression."–Library Journal

In The N Word, a renowned cultural critic untangles the twisted history and future of
racism through its most volatile word.

In 2003, the book Nigger started an intense conversation about the use and implications
of that epithet. The N Word moves beyond that short, provocative book by revealing how
the word has both reflected and spread the scourge of bigotry in America.

Asim claims that, even when uttered by hipsters and hip-hop icons, the slur helps keep blacks
at the bottom of America’s socioeconomic ladder. But he also proves there is a place for this
word in the mouths and on the pens of those who truly understand its twisted history–from
Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle to Mos Def. Only when we know its legacy can we loosen this
slur’s grip on our national psyche.

Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc
Author: Jabari Asim
Narrator: Mirron Willis
ISBN: 978-0-7861-6851-4
Download Price: $19.95

Posted in Self Help | No Comments »
Tags: Asim, Bigotry, Blackstone, Dave Chappelle, Epithet, Hipsters, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, Mark Twain, Mos Def, N Word, Narrator, National Psyche, Nigger, Oppression, Provocative Book, Publishers Weekly, Scourge, Slur, Word Moves

Four Days of Naples

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 by Book Guy | No Comments »

"Based on personal interviews and previously secret U.S.government archives,
this well-written account is fascinating."–Library Journal

In September 1943, Naples lay devastated by incessant bombardment from Allied planes.
The city, under an iron occupation by the Germans, was without food. During the bombardment,
the famed scugnizzi–the street boys–of Naples grew increasingly exasperated by the
passiveness of their elders. Known for centuries for their daring, verve, and enterprise, the boys
staged an incredible revolt against the occupying Germans on September 28, 1943. Dragging
furniture into the roadways, they built barricades and shot at the enemy with stolen guns,
inspiring many adults and Italian army deserters to join their ranks. Three days and hundreds
of deaths later, the Germans left the city for good.

Author and novelist Aubrey Menen was in Naples in 1948 and heard the story of those historic
four days first-hand from the scugnizzi themselves. Here he has recreated the battle
–street by street, house by house, of this extraordinarily compelling human drama.

Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc
Author: Aubrey Menen
Narrator: Nadia May
ISBN: 0-7861-0921-1
Download Price: $19.95 Discover this audio book

Posted in Historical | No Comments »
Tags: Allied Planes, Aubrey Menen, Barricades, Blackstone, Bombardment, Elders, Four Days Of Naples, Germans, Government Archives, Human Drama, Italian Army, Library Journal, Nadia, Narrator, Novelist, Passiveness, Personal Interviews, Revolt, Roadways, Street Boys

Daniel Deronda

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 by Book Guy | No Comments »

"Daniel Deronda is a startling and unexpected novel it is a cosmic myth, a world
history, and a morality play."–A. S. Byatt

"Nadia May meets the strenuous demands of Eliot’s narration with easy assurance."–Library Journal

One of the masterpieces of English fiction, Daniel Deronda tells the intertwined stories of two different
characters as they each come to discover of the truth of their natures. Gwendolen Harleth is the high-spirited
beauty of an impoverished upper-class family. In order to restore their fortunes, she unwittingly traps herself
in an oppressive marriage. Humbled, she turns for solace and guidance to the high-minded Daniel Deronda, an
adopted son of an aristocratic Englishman who is searching for his path in life. But when Deronda rescues a poor
Jewish girl from drowning, he discovers a world of Jewish experience previously unknown to himor to the
Victorian novel. Dismayed by the anti-Semitism around him, the tragedy of the lovely Gwendolen begins
to fade for Deronda. When he finally uncovers the long-hidden secret of his own parentage, he must confront his
true identity and destiny.

Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc
Author: George Eliot
Narrator: Nadia May
ISBN: 0-7861-1327-8
Download Price: $49.95 Find out more…

Posted in Drama and Culture | No Comments »
Tags: Anti Semitism, Author George, Blackstone, Byatt, Cosmic Myth, Daniel Deronda, English Fiction, Englishman, George Eliot, Jewish Experience, Jewish Girl, Library Journal, Morality Play, Nadia, Narration, Parentage, Solace, Strenuous Demands, True Identity, Victorian Novel

Raoul Wallenberg

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 by Book Guy | No Comments »

“A thorough, careful and gripping recapitulation of Wallenberg’s life.”
Library Journal

Now an international symbol of twentieth-century humanitarianism, Raoul Wallenberg,
a Swedish diplomat, issued countless “false” visas and other documents which were
virtual life certificates that saved approximately 100,000 Jews from the Nazis in wartime
Hungary. Then in 1945, as the war drew to a close, he disappeared after being taken into
custody by Soviet military police. Today Wallenberg’s fate remains unknown.

This authoritative biography discusses previously sealed prison records and archives, reports
of sightings of Wallenberg, the Wallenberg family’s historic multi-million-dollar lawsuit against
the former Soviet Union, and the worldwide activities in honor of this great man who refused to
be a bystander.

Harvey Rosenfeld teaches at Pace and St. John’s universities and is the editor of Martyrdom and Resistance.
Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc
Author: Harvey Rosenfeld
Narrator: Michael Kramer
ISBN: 0-7861-5116-1
Normal Price: $34.95
Download Price: $23.95 Continue…

Posted in Biographical | No Comments »
Tags: Authoritative Biography, Blackstone, Bystander, Dollar Lawsuit, Former Soviet Union, Great Man, Harvey Rosenfeld, International Symbol, Library Journal, Life Library, Martyrdom, Michael Kramer, Military Police, Prison Records, Raoul Wallenberg, Recapitulation, Swedish Diplomat, Virtual Life, Wallenberg Family, Worldwide Activities

Boys of Everest, The: Chris Bonington and the Tragedy of Climbing’s Greatest Generation

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 by Book Guy | No Comments »

"Riveting, detailed, and full of insighta refreshingly honest perspective on the tragic, selfish nature of our sport."Climbing magazine

"A death-haunted saga of the scalers of heaven…the same class and caliber (as) Into Thin Air." Kirkus Reviews

"A dramatic and romantic look at the greatest generation of climbers."Library Journal

"[A] gripping adventure sagaof life spent teetering on the edge of the abyss."Publishers Weekly

This gripping story of courage, achievement, and heartbreaking loss tells of Bonington’s Boys, a band of climbers who reinvented mountaineering during the three decades after Everest’s first ascent. Chris Bonington’s inner circle included a dozen of the most renowned climbers, who took increasingly terrible risks on now legendary expeditions to the world’s most fearsome peaks, and paid an enormous price. Most of them died in the mountains, leaving behind the hardest question of all: was it worth it?

Based on interviews with surviving climbers and others, as well as five decades of journals, expedition accounts, and letters, The Boys of Everest provides the closest thing to an answer that we will ever have. It offers riveting descriptions of what Bonington’s Boys found in the mountains, as well as an understanding of what they lost there.

Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc
Author: Clint Willis
Narrator: James Adams
ISBN: 978-1-4332-8519-6
Normal Price: $49.95
Download Price: $29.95 Find out more…

Posted in Biographical | No Comments »
Tags: Blackstone, Chris Bonington, Climbers, Climbing Magazine, Clint Willis, Closest Thing, Edge Of The Abyss, Enormous Price, First Ascent, Greatest Generation, Heartbreaking Loss, Inner Circle, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Scalers, Selfish Nature, Teetering On The Edge, Thin Air, Three Decades