Average customer rating:
- The Soul of War
- Charlie Rose Interview
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They Drew Fire
Brian Lanker , and
Nicole Newnham
Manufacturer: TV Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
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United States
| Regional
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Themes
| History & Criticism
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Home Front
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Similar Items:
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They Drew Fire - Combat Artists World War II
ASIN: 1575000857 |
Customer Reviews:
The Soul of War.......2001-10-17
This collection fills a small void in WWII history. To this point we could read stories, hear stories, read books on campaigns,look at photographs and film, and even watch full color film of battles (see WWII in Color DVD, Lost Color Archives DVD, Mein Krieg DVD), but none of these mediums can convey the things that painting can. Paintings speak to us without words. They need no translation. This is the soul of WWII and should be part of anyone's collection.
Charlie Rose Interview.......2000-05-19
This book is meant to accompany a documentary, and when I saw the director and two of the combat artists on Charlie Rose (5/19/00?), they showed several of the drawings from the book, and they were pretty amazing.
I think it's true that we think of WWII as primarily a photographer's war, but some of these paintings give a new feeling (one driven by an artist's emotion) to the war that isn't quite the same as through photography.
Even though I only saw a few of the paintings on the interview, it was enough for me to plan to buy the book.
Book Description
Here are the inspirational life and teachings of Awa Kenzo (1880–1939), the Zen and kyudo (archery) master who gained worldwide renown after the publication of Eugen Herrigel's cult classic Zen in the Art of Archery in 1953. Kenzo lived and taught at a pivotal time in Japan's history, when martial arts were practiced primarily for self-cultivation, and his wise and penetrating instructions for practice (and life)—including aphorisms, poetry, instructional lists, and calligraphy—are infused with the spirit of Zen. Kenzo uses the metaphor of the bow and arrow to challenge the practitioner to look deeply into his or her own true nature.
Customer Reviews:
A pearl of wisdom.......2007-07-17
Don't miss this book if you are interested in "Zen in the Art of Archery" and "The Method of Zen" by Eugen Herrigel.
The teaching of Awa is a pearl of wisdom.
Bullseye.......2007-05-07
John Stevens produces another one of his find vignettes of prominent Japanese martial artists. The field of Kyudo is not well known in the U.S. and anything that can be done to remedy that should be. I believe this book is best read alongside Herrigel's "Zen and the Art of Archery."
A wonderful introduction, or re-introduction, to Awa Kenzo's life and philosophy.......2007-02-27
Informative, readable and inspiring account of Kenzo's life as well as an excellent anthology of his actual teachings. I loved John Stevens' way of explaining complex Zen terms in simple English: e.g., kensho - "see your nature" or "look into your nature;" jobutsu - "become Buddha;" and the ultimate Zen experience, satori, which Stevens explains means literally "remove distinctions," and which he, along with many others, translates as "enlightenment." This is great stuff for anyone interested in Japanese language and culture as well as providing a springboard for deeper investigations of Zen, of archery as a form of "practice" and of martial arts in general. Includes detailed notes on sources and an excellent bibliography. Highly recommended.
Average customer rating:
- Plotless Character Study
- Documents Kenzo Kitakata as a world class literary talent
- SiCi Mafiosi with Soy Sauce
- Chewier than I expected
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Ashes
Kenzo Kitakata
Manufacturer: Vertical
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Contemporary
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Similar Items:
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Winter Sleep
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All She Was Worth
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Sayonara, Gangsters
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Out: A Novel
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Strangers
ASIN: 1932234020
Release Date: 2003-06-01 |
Book Description
What The Sopranos does for the American mafia, Ashes does for the yakuza.
Customer Reviews:
Plotless Character Study.......2005-11-27
I've read a lot of crime novels from around the world, including several from Japan: Miyuke Miyabe's "All She Was Worth", Natsuo Kirino's "Out", Akimitsu Takagi's "The Informer", and Seicho Matsumoto's "Inspector Imanishi Investigates". And it has to be said that this slim, terse book from the man considered the grandmaster of Japanese hard-boiled is a disappointment. Originally published in 1990 and turned into the film "Like A Rolling Stone" (unavailable in the U.S.), it's a virtually plotless character study of an ambivalent mid-level yakuza named Tanaka. Kitakata's framework is somewhat unusual, the first half of the book, Tanaka is observed from the third-person, and the second half of the book is written from Tanaka's first-person perspective. Despite the different perspectives, the prose remains flat and dry, stylized to the point where it has no life whatsoever. This may also be an issue of poor translation, either way, it's not particularly engaging.
In any event, Kitakata seems to be trying to draw parallels between the life of a yakuza and the life of a typical Japanese salaryman. Tanaka is in the midst of a classic mid-life crisis, he's worked for the same boss for twenty years (including eight lost years in jail), and lives an emotional vacuum, has no home life, and has devoted his adult life to professional advancement. And like many men is such situations, he spends a great deal of time in a haze, questioning himself: "Sometimes I wonder why I've stayed in [the yakuza] world for so long.... There's a part of me that resists being a real yakuza. . .Why did I become a yakuza? Maybe I'd had no choice." Amidst all this angst, there's a bare bones plot involving the boss ordering Tanaka to branch off from the main clan and run a little crew on his own. We see Tanaka being violent, cruel, manipulative, and scheming as he plots his way into becoming the next boss. It's pretty standard issue yakuza stuff, with the attention to ritual and brand names one expects.
But without any action to move the story along, the book merely seems like an impressionistic collection of related vignettes. As a character study, it's just far to elliptical to have any power. A much, much better Japanese book about the inner life of an outsider is Akira Yoshimura's "On Parole."
Documents Kenzo Kitakata as a world class literary talent.......2003-09-15
Superbly translated into English by Emi Shimokawa, Ashes is a gritty, hard-boiled mystery written by Kenzo Kitakata, a Japanese author who is so popular in his native Japan that not one of his more than one hundred novels has ever gone out of print! Presenting the mind and thoughts of a middle-aged gangster in Tokyo's multilayered underworld, Ashes depicts yakuza (Japanese mafia) life with a unique understanding and edge-of-your seat reality. Highly recommended reading for mystery/suspense enthusiasts, Ashes clearly documents Kenzo Kitakata as a world class literary talent.
SiCi Mafiosi with Soy Sauce.......2003-09-08
Picture yourself in Japan, in Kyoto on a downtown sidewalk flooded with pedestrians and your eye catches two men, slipping through the crowd, walking with the uptempo of L.A. crack dealers, one having a pompadour "do," the other, you notice, missing a knuckle on one of his fingers. These are yakuza, a Far Eastern edition of The Sopranos, or SiCi mafiosi with soy sauce. ASHES by Kenzo Kitakata takes us into the world of yakuza Tanaka-san, a forty-ish mobster, who is either in a mid-life crisis or about to realize his life's ambitions.Author Kitakata, known primarily as a mystery novelist (he's a past president of the Japan Mystery Writers Association) has stepped outside genre fiction to write this absorbing character study, part Spillane, part Dostoevsky, but always hard-boiled.A big risk Kitakata takes in this novel is dividing the book into two parts: "The Man Within" and "Within the Man," and telling the story in two voices. The first part is authorial third person, with expressionistic revelation of character in scene details reminiscent of good Hemingway. For example, sitting on a park bench, yakuza Tanaka shows us beyond-redemption cruelty by plucking feathers out of a live pigeon he's grabbed.In the second part, we've jumped inside the mind of Tanaka with first-person narrative piling up the rest of a compelling portrait of our outlaw anti-hero. Somehow the jump from exterior to interior point-of-view--in that order--works because the gangster we get to know, while not without repulsive traits (the sexist observation, All women are the same once you've had them, is typical), also has an appealing samurai-like code. For example, real yakuza do not go to a doctor for knife wounds. With needle and thread, Tanaka stitches bleeding wounds closed himself.Moreover, ASHES is anything but a stop-and-drop action yarn. As might be expected in formal Japan, the yakuza have their share of well-observed rituals too (Pico Iyer has pointed out even yakuza carry calling cards). Much of the drama in Tanaka-san's struggle has to do with the Boss's decision to allow Tanaka to splinter off from the main clan and start his own gang. Relations among gang members--who may address the other as "Brother," who deserves to be called "Uncle," and other niceties give this novel texture. That's yakuza honor--on the surface. That Tanaka is a survivor owes quite a bit to his manipulative skill at bluff and exaggeration as he gets the better of his fellow gangsters.Tanaka comes across as tough to love, not capable of compassion for women, in particular, or helpless animals (pigeons and goldfish fare badly here). So in a bit of a surprise, Tanaka shows emotion crying in the presence of the ailing Boss of the main clan. As if Tanaka can only respond emotionally to the father figure, who would have to do, in this life.While ASHES doesn't measure up to that master of the hard-boiled, American James M. Cain (who in turn influenced French Albert Camus), this is also not genre fiction one finds in supermarket or airport fiction racks. No, it makes for a compelling portrait of a rogue, nihon-style, living out a few twisted premises.
Chewier than I expected.......2003-08-12
I read about this novel in the Village Voice and bought it expecting a regular crime story, only set in Japan. It was a little confusing at the beginning, but by the end I thought it was the most literary crime novel I've ever read. Tanaka, the hero, is cool; he had my attention from beginning to end. Although he's somewhat misogynistic, one of the women in the novel is so wacky that I think there's more to it than just sexism. It's a trip and I recommend it.
Book Description
Kazuya Takino leads a quiet life running a supermarket in the Tokyo suburbs. But when an extortionist tries to force him out of business, he finds himself drawn into the yakuza underworld-a world he once called home and thought he had left behind. Pursuing him is Detective Takagi, an aficionado of French cigarettes and modernist poetry, the most decorated inspector on the Tokyo police force. As the shadowy Maruwa gang engages Takino in an escalating cycle of violence and retaliation, Detective Takagi can only stand by and watch as the beast within Takino is lured further and further out of his cage.
A towering masterpiece of the hardboiled genre, The Cage is at once a searing portrayal of the violence of the Japanese underworld and a tender mediation of the ties of love and friend that can save men from madness-or plunge them deeper into it.
Customer Reviews:
A Yakuza Story With Depth.......2006-09-25
The two main characters, one a gangster, the other a cop, are both just going through the motions of living. Their emotional lives are a barren wasteland. They are heavy drinkers, they have mind-numbing hobbies, and families that hold no interest for them. The cop feels he has great insight into the gangster, but that is only because the gangster's behavior is so overt. He doesn't recognize the same traits in himself, which makes for a nicely complex cat-and-mouse game.
The narrative tension builds gradually, but continues building right to the very last page. Along the way, we are served up a compelling plot, as well as rich insights into the details of life and crime in Tokyo. I caught myself humming audibly with anticipation as events came to their very satisfying conclusion.
I was extremely pleased with this book, as I was with "Ashes" and "Winter Sleep" (of which I am still the only reviewer as of today - hasn't anyone discovered Kitakata yet?) Please buy this book to encourage his publishers to hurry up an translate more of his work!
Average customer rating:
- Inside Someone Else's Head
|
Winter Sleep
Kenzo Kitakata
Manufacturer: Vertical
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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General
| Mystery
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Similar Items:
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Ashes
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All She Was Worth
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The Cage
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Strangers
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Naoko
ASIN: 1932234136
Release Date: 2005-01-01 |
Book Description
A story of an ex-con painter who, in searching to elevate his art, takes on two students to literally explosive effect.
Customer Reviews:
Inside Someone Else's Head.......2005-04-22
I was fascinated with this book, as I was with ASHES. Each took me into the life and thoughts of someone I would never expect to identify with, and I was completely absorbed. I appreciated sharing the most mundane moments in first person with the principal character, as well as his high and low moments. In a way that Takeshi Kitano did with his early gangster films, I felt that I had been given an important insight into what it could really be like to be an artist.
The characters were very interesting and complex, each with a mysterious history, and their interactions were highly unexpected right to the end. The plot moved forward in a logical manner, and the ending was satisfying, something I can't say for many Japanese novels I have read.
Kitaka seems to be known as a crime writer, but crime didn't seem to be the main emphasis here. A good book!
Average customer rating:
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Kenzo Tange
Robin Boyd
Manufacturer: george braziller
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Literature & Fiction
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| Authors, A-Z
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| British
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| Erotica
| Essays
| Foreign Language Fiction
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| History & Criticism
| Large Print
| Letters & Correspondence
| Poetry
| Short Stories
| United States
| Women's Fiction
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ASIN: 0807601969 |
Average customer rating:
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Kenzo: Memorie de la Mode (Universe of Fashion)
Ginette Sainderichin
Manufacturer: The Vendome Press for Universe
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Fashion Design
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Similar Items:
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Sonia Rykiel (Universe of Fashion)
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Gres
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Yohji Yamamoto (Memoirs)
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Donna Karan
ASIN: 0789303825
Release Date: 1999-10-15 |
Average customer rating:
- The Best images of Katura
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Katsura
Kenzo Tange
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
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Residential
| Building Types & Styles
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
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ASIN: 0300015992 |
Customer Reviews:
The Best images of Katura.......2002-03-26
All black and white pictures, little bit unclear, has taken from good angles. There are many books about Katura, but this may be one of the best.
Average customer rating:
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Architect 5
Kenzo Tange
Manufacturer: l'Arca Edizioni
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Criticism
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| Architecture
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General
| Architects, A-Z
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ASIN: 8878380644 |
Book Description
The architecture designed by the Tokyo-based firm Architect Five brings together technical expertise and poetic imagination, serving society and analyzing forms.
Average customer rating:
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Until the Full Moon Volume 2 (Until the Full Moon)
Sanami Matoh
Manufacturer: Broccoli Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
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Until the Full Moon Volume 1 (Until the Full Moon)
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Man's Best Friend: Inu Mo Aruke Ba Fall in Love (Yaoi)
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Wild Rock
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Shinobu Kokoro: Hidden Heart
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Skyscapers Of Oz (1)
ASIN: 1932480897 |
Book Description
Who would have thought that there was anything worse than changing into a woman on nights of the full moon? Marlo certainly didn't. But now his engagement to David Vincent, the handsome skirt-chasing vampire, has been jeopardized by threats from the past. When one of David's former flames sends for him, begging for help, she neglects to include all the details. then a glass of "special" wine causes some childish complications. And to make matters worse, it seems that David's father has a few secrets of his own that may very well tear David and Marlo apart. Can Marlo and David overcome these pitfalls, or is their love doomed to fail?
Customer Reviews:
Is it Marlo or Marlena?.......2005-11-18
Well,
This is yet another gorgeously drawn funny manga by the awesome Sanami Matoh.
This is the 2nd and last volume and follows the story of Vincent, a vampire and a lady's man, and Marlo, a childhood friend who turns into a woman on a full moon!!!
In this volume, Vincent and Marlo work through some misunderstanding (Vincent and past female friends) and some freak accidents (Marlo drinking wine that turns him/her into a child)!!!
Also, Vincent's mother's story is revealed...And finally, their wedding day is crashed by the most surprising visitor.
All in all, a great book with great artwork to add to your collection!!!!
Book Description
A 32-page primer of advice for career women who must look absolutely fabulous at all times--even when fashion emergency strikes-paired with cute mini sizes of proven elements for fashion first-aid: a lint brush, wet nap, a black marker, a mini sewing kit, and double-sided tape, a fashion designer's secret for keeping wayward clothes in place.
Books:
- Tristan and Isolde: A Casebook (Arthurian Characters Andthemes)
- Type Design: Radical Innovations and Experimentation
- Vertigo: The Strange New World of the Contemporary City
- Visual Literacy: Writing about Art
- Wet: On Painting, Feminism, and Art Culture
- What's So Funny About Science?: Cartoons from American Scientist
- Winning in One-designs
- Wisconsin Folk Art: A Sesquicentennial Celebration
- 100 Boots: By Eleanor Antin ; Introduction by Henry Sayre
- A Child's Garden Of Verses Baby Book
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