Variations III: Emerging Artists in Southern California

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Variations III: Emerging Artists in Southern California
Melinda Wortz
Manufacturer: Fellows of Contemporary Art
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 091129113X

Book Description

Los Angeles in the decades after the Depression was a smoldering powder keg of vice, corruption, violence, and some of the most sensational crimes in American history. The Black Dahlia slaying, the Onion Field murder, film star Thelma Todd's mysterious death, the killing of Kansas City gangsters "The Two Tonys" by Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratiano: these are but a few of the cases that once riveted the nation's attention and were captured in striking crime-scene and forensic photographs for the Los Angeles Police Department.

Long forgotten in a warehouse, these recently discovered photographs from the LAPD archive form a powerful visual history of the underbelly of Los Angeles from the 1930s to the 1960s. Although disquieting and often brutal, the images have an atmospheric, eerie beauty that belies their documentary purpose. They are accompanied here by captions from police logs and original newspaper accounts, along with an introduction by James Ellroy, the leading practitioner of the Los Angeles noir genre, and an essay by curator Tim B. Wride discussing the archive's importance to social history and the history of photography. AUTHOR BIO: William J. Bratton is the 55th chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and has also served as police commissioner for both the Boston and the New York City police departments. James Ellroy's books include the international best-sellers The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, White Jazz, and American Tabloid. Tim B. Wride is associate curator of photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Customer Reviews:

COOL.......2007-02-04

This book is a really fun source of dead people photos. Crime scene photography has a very creepy, eerie aspect to it, that I dont think the photographers themselves think about, but anone who buys the book definetly will. A really nice addition to my library.

Good, But Lacking In Comparison.......2006-12-04

Scene of the Crime is the latest in a recent influx of collections of crime scene photography, and it has added appeal in that some of the images are of famous cases, such as the Black Dahlia murder and the Manson Family slaughterhouse. The book is laid out in the same manner as most of these books, with black and white images presented in the first half of the book, and information for each photograph at the back. Unfortunately, many of the photographs piqued my curiosity, only to find a sad, unsatisfying, "case information unavailable" comment awaiting me in the back of the book. Still, many of the images are so well-composed and interesting that they could be seen in art museums rather than cold case files, so this is a minor quibble.

However, there are also quite a few lesser and uninteresting images as well, which left me feeling a bit cheated given my suspicion that the LAPD coffers are overflowing with many more graphic, historic, and fascinating images. Comparing this book to the classic LA crime gallery Death Scenes: A Homicide Detective's Scrapbook serves to further point out this collection's shortcomings. There is nothing in here as punch-in-the-gut brutal as the image of the decapitated baby on the cutting board or as surreal as the peaceful head sitting in the middle of a road after a traffic accident, both from Death Scenes. Taken on its own merits, I might have given the book a five skull rating, but in comparison with its more amazing brethren I'd have to rate it a four.

Excellent collection.......2005-01-16

I am sure everyone is aware that Scene of the Crime is not the first collection of police archive photos to be released. The past few years have seen the release of many collections of such photos; the most well known being New York Noir, Evidence and Death Scenes. New York Noir and Death Scenes have a common thread in their use of well-known writers in their introductions. Luc Sante the noted New York historian collected the photographs for Evidence and penned the introduction for New York Noir. Katherine Dunne, the author of Geek Love is responsible for the intro to Death Scenes. Scene of the Crime follows that tradition; drafting the modern master of Los Angeles noir, James Ellroy, to pen the introduction to this collection of archival Los Angeles crime photos. Much as Luc Sante was the ideal choice for New York Noir, Ellroy is perfect for this collection of photographs from the city that has been his muse.

Some may be inclined to compare collected archival crime scene and police photos to the work of Weegee, but to do so would be a mistake. In his time Weegee photographed to satisfy tabloid papers and their readers. Don't get me wrong, I love the photographs he took, but the police photographer is not in it for the same thing. The crime scene photographer is there for documentation. It's his job, no different than taking portrait shots of unruly and unkempt children in a corner alcove at the local mall. However, there is art to be found in crime scene photos, it is not just point and shoot. The angles, the shadows, the composition of the photos, why some have the faces of the victims shown and why some do not, these are all aspects of the art behind the documentation of the crime scene.

After the introductions and essays the photograph collection is shown with no documentation other than the notes of the photographer written on the image. This technique forces the viewer to look at the photos and imagine the stories behind them. How and why did all the subjects living and dead end up facing the lens of the Los Angeles Police Photographer? The two suited men shot over dinner. The man shot dead in an open doorway. An empty room with an open door. Bloodstains on the floor. Cheesecake photos pushpinned to a panel wall. Cigarrette cartons and bottles strewn across a wood floor. Heads resting in puddles of blood. Knife and razor cuts. Bodies laying in doorways, on steps, in cars, on streets, face down, on their backs, partially dressed, fully suited, naked and cut into pieces. Bodies lying in tubs, lying in shallow graves, shot, beaten. Dead and beaten women who would be beautiful if it were not for the blood that has run from their mouths, noses, and ears. Sharp dressed men, with their suits covered in their own blood. Ah, the good old days...

After the collection an index tells as much of the story behind each picture as possible. It is interesting to look at the index and see how close your imagination was to the reality. How close were you to deciphering the scenes? Did you nail the stories behind the SLA note, the suicides, the lovelorn, the rejected, the beaten, the famous, the unknown, the riots, the drunks, the mobsters, the stars, the starlets, the starry eyed, or the Manson family?

At first I did not appreciate the layout of the book, photos with no captions. Without the background you are forced to study the scene more intently than you would if all the details were given to you. What happened? What time did the crime take place? Why did the crime take place? Who would commit such a crime? Who's body are you looking at? In effect, you become a detective, arriving at the scene of a crime, knowing absolutely nothing other than what you are staring at. In the end, this is a perfect layout for a collection of crime scene photographs. A book that becomes more revealing and more interesting every time it is opened.

Good but not great.......2004-11-21

Scene of the Crime was a bit disapointing due to the fact that the readr must go back and forth from the photos, to the captions, which are compiled at the end. Quite a few of the cases have no information available at all, as the other reviewers have mentioned, and although the LAPD has done a great job maintaining paper on most of these cases, some details are bound to slip through the cracks.

A few of the cases depicted in "Scene of the Crime" are also depicted in Huddleston's "Death Scenes", though nowhere near as graphic. Many of the locations found in the book are still standing, as a matter of fact, I often pass by the building shown on pgs 52-53 (traffic collision at 1st and Boyle) though now its an apartment building but still featuring the unique parapet up top.

Overall a pretty good read.

LAPD Scene Of The Crime (captions).......2004-11-18

Just a note on other reviews in regard to the lack of captions. The LAPD negatives are not kept with the case files. There are very few case files even available, as they have been destroyed due to lack of space. There is a normal descruction process within the LAPD for paper files. The cases researched in this book were taken from old homicide log books. Also newspaper databases were used. If you would like more details on the LAPD Archive please visit fototeka.com

Book Description

In the tradition of Lord of the Rings and The Sword of Shannara, Gree is a workaday Orc without many aspirations, as greedy and nasty as they come. But soon, after he and his fellow orcs lay siege to a human castle, Gree comes upon a hidden treasure, one more precious than mere gold... and one which will change his life forever.

Book Description

From Pulitzer Prize award-winning historian James M. McPherson comes a thrilling account of America's westward expansion. In this sweeping tale of one of the most exciting and colorful periods in our country's growth, Dr. McPherson interweaves the nation's attempts to bind its Civil War wounds through Reconstruction with the triumphant and tragic taming of the American frontier.

Into the West contains personal narratives from settlers and soldiers as well as profiles and accounts of the actions of many historical luminaries involved in Reconstruction and the movement west, such as President Andrew Johnson, General George Armstrong Custer, Sitting Bull, General William Tecumseh Sherman, Geronimo, and Wild Bill Hickock. Dr. McPherson also explores the role of women and the development of the arts on the frontier, the role and legend of the cowboy, and the destruction of the Native American way of life in this thought-provoking companion to the bestselling Fields of Fury.

Filled with maps, period photos, illustrations, and anecdotes, this vivid retelling of America's journey, Into the West, will fascinate readers, young and old.

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A must read

Much more than a story . . .

An Amazing Story!

To the Korths

Final Frontiersman

The Final Frontiersman: Heimo Korth and His Family, Alone in Alaska's Arctic Wilderness
James Campbell
Manufacturer: Atria
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Arctic Homestead: The True Story of One Family's Survival and Courage in the Alaskan Wilds

Shadows on the Koyukuk: An Alaskan Native's Life Along the River

One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey

On the Edge of Nowhere

Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness

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philosophy hope in a jar daily moisturizer

ASIN: 0743453131

Book Description

In the bestselling tradition of Into the Wild and The Last American Man, an intimate portrait of how one man and his family thrive in the most remote of American landscapes: Alaska's Arctic wilderness.

Hundreds of hardy people have tried to carve a living in the Alaskan bush, but few have succeeded as consistently as Heimo Korth. Originally from Wisconsin, Korth came to Alaska in his twenties, and he never left. Across the years, he's carved out a subsistence life like no other--a life bounded by the migrating caribou herds, by the dangers of suddenly swollen rivers, and by the very exigencies of daily survival.

Journalist James Campbell has spent two years documenting the lives of Heimo, his wife, Edna, and their teenage daughters, Rhonda and Krin, and he paints their portraits in vivid detail: evenings listening to the distant voices from the radio's Trapline Chatter show; months spent waiting for the odd small plane to bring supplies; years relying on hard-learned hunting and survival skills that are all that stand between the family and a terrible fate. But it's a complicated existence, too, of encroaching environmental pressures and the fear that this life might be disappearing forever--and how will his two teenage daughters react when one of them goes back to "civilization" for her high school years?

But always at the center there's Heimo Korth, a man who escaped a tough father and a circumscribed life, then reinvented himself in the Alaskan wilderness, only to witness the most unbearable of tragedies, a tragedy that keeps him and his family tied to this inhospitable and beautiful land forever.

By turns inspiring and downright jolting, James Campbell's extraordinary book reads like a rustic version of the American Dream--and reveals for the very first time a life undreamed of by most of us, outside of the mainstream, alone in a stunning wilderness that for now, at least, remains the final frontier.

Customer Reviews:

A must read.......2007-06-09

If you love adventure. If you love Alaska. Then you will love this book. A story that has it all. What an amazing family. I feel like I know them. A great story of sacrifice and adventure.

Much more than a story . . ........2007-02-28

Campbell's style of intermixing different time frames is most enjoyable, and kept reminding me that this wasn't just a tale, but about real people. It holds interest like the tales of the other frontiers people that we all know and love, but with much more reality - perhaps because it contains so very many of the human attributes - frustration, love, beauty, solace, tragedy, hardship, all interspersed with some extreme 'highs' that tend to remind us (me) how much our choices bring those same things, in greater or lesser degrees.

An Amazing Story!.......2006-05-16

The Final Frontiersman is a fascinating story of one man's personal journey from a difficult background in Wisconsin to the freedom and challenges of life in the most remote region in the U.S. The man, Heimo Korth, unexpectedly finds romance and a life partner - and establishes a close knit family while living outside the margins of what some call "civil society." A clear and wonderfully told story which unapologetically describes how Heimo and his native spouse, Edna, live a subsistence lifestyle - primarily on freshly killed, free-ranging caribou and moose. It also describes how swiftly tragedy can strike.

Beyond the surface, Frontiersman raises an interesting question about whether living a subsistence lifestyle - normally associated with destruction of wildife - is "bad" in the overall context of the ecological health of wildlife on the planet. This book caused me to reflect on the impact we urbanites have on wildlife as compared to the Korths: from bushmeat trade, to feed lots, to marine destruction caused by the use of fossil fuels. And yes - packaged meat is dead too.

It is an excellent read for anyone who wishes to understand how difficult, rewarding, and tragic frontier life can be - and how it can forge human relationships.

To the Korths.......2006-04-17

I just finished reading "The Final Frontiersman" and would recommend it to anyone. It's well-written, entertaining, and truly educational, not only about the hardships and joys of life in the Arctic bush but about the politics of Alaskan wilderness "preservation."

To the Korths: I admire your courage, sheer physical stamina, know-how, and determination to live life on your own terms. Would you be willing to provide an eiplogue to the book -- let your fans know how you're doing in town (Fairbanks or Center?), how the girls are doing in school and their path to adulthood, what Heimo is doing instead of trapping, how's Firth, etc. I am really rooting for your successful transition to town life and wish you the very best.

To Krin [assuming that the real Krin Korth wrote the last review about the bleeding hearts who are bothered by the concept of animal trapping]: Please don't take people's comments as a personal attack on you and your family, although I'm sure it's hard not to. People can be embarrassingly quick to rush in and judge things they know nothing about. You have lived more in your 17 or so years on this earth than people like that manage to live in 80. Be proud of all you learned in the bush from your amazing parents, because you'll carry that knowledge with you always.

Final Frontiersman.......2006-04-05

Most people do not understand what it is like to live in the bush, they are city people who just stay indoors most of their lives, they believe that people should not hunt or kill animals for their fur or for their meat, they read a book but dont like it becuase someone killed an animal in it, boo hoo.They are simpleminded people who dont know any better, natives and residents in Alaska do this everyday, and it most likely will no be changed for a long time, since they grew up around such things and live to do it every day. This book shows what it is really like in the Alaskan bush and if you dont like it, does it look like we care?

Penetrating Missions' Final Frontier: A New Strategy for Unreached Peoples

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Penetrating Missions' Final Frontier: A New Strategy for Unreached Peoples
Tetsunao Yamamori
Manufacturer: InterVarsity Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0830813705

Book Description

Many governments around the world still do not allow the gospel of Jesus Christ to be preached freely. Even in open countries, many people groups still strongly resist outside influences and hold tenaciously to their traditions.Is there a way to reach across these barriers with the light of truth and a heart of love? Yes. In this fast-paced book, you will get a whirlwind tour of the world that remains virtually untouched by Christianity. In addition, the author offers creative stragies for penetrating those parts of the world that have been most resistant.It is exciting. It is practical. And it is a grand venture that you can be part of.

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Tell It Like It Is!
It was very impesring and got down today's world.

The Final Frontier
Richard Crisco
Manufacturer: Destiny Image Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Teenagers today are eager to hear a prophetic voice that will give them guidance and protection through the many pitfalls that await them in life. This collection of youth revival messages delivered by Richard Crisco are among the favorites of the youth of Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida.

If you are tired of cutesy youth messages and are ready to take on the challenge given by our Commander, Jesus Christ, then this book is for you!

Customer Reviews:

Tell It Like It Is!.......2004-02-06

Bro. Richard has a HEART for the youth of America. This book compiled some of his best sermoins, preached to youth groups across the country. He is a true Scriptural shepherd. I sat under his teaching/preaching for two years before he became the President of BRSM and was challenged to the core many times. What a man of God! I highly recommend this book to any youth leaders, teenagers, and students who want to hear the TRUTH.

It was very impesring and got down today's world........1999-02-10

Bro. Richard I was at one of your youth confrences and you are a very talented man. The book to me was all most as great as It's Time. I loved your book it was one of the greatest and powerful book I have ever read. Well I must go now thank you and God Bless!

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At Final Anchor--Glengary
Dorothy L. Nelson
Manufacturer: Ye Galleon Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Final Challenge the American Frontier 1804-1845

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Final Challenge the American Frontier 1804-1845
Dale Van Every
Manufacturer: Ayer Co Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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can there be more stars for this gem of a book?
VERY FUNNY!!!!!!!
Carl Kozlowski is a Comic Genius!
Recommend HIGHLY :)

Life: The Final Frontier
Tim Joyce , and Carl Kozlowski
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Parodies | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0740715224

Book Description

Life: The Final Frontier is a compilation of humorous advice for those who have recently cut their apron strings and are facing the daunting uncertainty of the "real world." The book includes tongue-in-cheek essays, comedic lists, funny and insightful quotes, and fictional histories of how famous people coped with their first days on their own. Each chapter in Life: The Final Frontier focuses on subjects that are important to every early-twentysomething.

Customer Reviews:

can there be more stars for this gem of a book?.......2007-03-15

carl kozlowski brilliantly combines his impeccable writing and comedic skills. it's a laugh-out-loud read for sure - you can't get funnier than this one! and i'm so thrilled there's a follow-up book, "seize the day job!" buy now - or better yet, buy like eight!

VERY FUNNY!!!!!!!.......2001-06-08

This book is one of the funniest books I've read this year ranking up there with David Sedaris' NAKED. The book starts off hilariously and doesn't let down. It is a cynical look at post-college life and pokes fun at the Don't Sweat the Small Stuff type of advice books. This is truly a very funny book that will make you laugh out loud heartily... It is a MUST read!!!

Carl Kozlowski is a Comic Genius!.......2001-06-08

Carl Kozlowski has done it again with his wit and style of humor all his own. This book is the antithesis of all of Oprah's Remembering Your Spirit shows. (How approppriate that both these authors, also, come out of Chicago.) This book leaves the reader laughing so hard that he/she is crying, because of its nonstop irreverence. It is a MUST READ!

Recommend HIGHLY :).......2001-05-26

Tim Joyce just ROCKS! Okay, flattery aside, this book is full of witty and pithy observations that will help the naive people bravely entering the world for the first time as a young adult really "get it" and gives some very helpful survival insight.

Oh, yeah, it is FUNNY too!

I expect this book to become THE standard fare as a graduation gift for high school and college grads alike. This book picks up where Dr. Suess with his "Oh, the Places You'll Go" leaves off. It is also a great read for anyone about to face new challenges.

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