Julia: Her Life

Book Description

Julia Roberts represents a return to the glamour of the great Hollywood stars of another era. Fans flock to her movies, and she's a staple cover subject of People magazine and every entertainment show imaginable, but her real life has only been seen in tabloid glimpses until now. James Spada has gone back to Julia's beginnings in Athens, Georgia to unearth fascinating facts about her family and her early dating life. And he's followed her career from movie to movie-both on screen and behind the screen-to show fans what the private face of Julia really is. As an artist, Julia has changed dramatically from the talented but sheltered girl who found fame first with a role in the independent movie "Mystic Pizza" and became the exuberant star whose "Pretty Woman" delighted audiences everywhere before becoming an Oscar-winning actress capable of taking on the toughest roles. As a person, she's grown from a skittish and gangly girl moving through relationships with co-stars to become an assured woman making her own bold decisions about how to live her life.Julia will delight fans with its level of detail and fresh information, as well as its thoughtfulness about the life and career of a truly vibrant and complex star.

Customer Reviews:

Great book on Julia =-).......2007-08-09

This is a very good biography on Julia. Packed with tons of info and good pictures. If you're a fan of Roberts, this is the book for you. Definitely worth it!

Julia's life. .......2004-08-27

When I read this book I realized that her life was very complicated. Julia's father died at an early age, when she was about 9. Her only brother Eric, did not get along and still does not talk with their mother.

Her mother remarried a man who abused them, especially Eric. There is one sister, Lisa and they have a step sister Nancy, (Motes). Neither of them were interviewed for this book.

Eric Roberts was interviewed and expressed his anger about his mother.

Julia seemed to be looking for a father figure, with many of her relationships being with actors.

If you are a fan of Julia's, I would recommend this book.

Hopefully, her happiness will last with her present husband.

Good luck and best wishes to you, Julia.

Very detailled!.......2004-07-21

Beginning with the birth of her father James Spada is writing about the life and career of Julia and her family. This is indeed very interesting to read - and it is written in a very gripping way, but it is irritating, that this all happens without an official agreement of Julia herself. The main emphasis of this book is on Julia's private life and the sources the author names for this are persons who surround Julia or would like to do so - Julia herself didn't seem to be ready to contribute to this book with statements from her behalf. This is the biggest drawback of this book and one should blame that on the author. Because, what gives him the right to write detailed things even about Julia's love life, when he never has spoken to herself? Only the fact that the book became very extended (almost 500 pages) leaves space enough for Julia's work in movies - the things we actually love her for. Less private stuff (and so something which is none of ones business!!!) would have been better! Merely the stories that tell something about Julia as a human being are interesting. For instance when she saved a car driver, who met with an accident, or the story when she danced with a fan in sort of a pub... These stories are wonderful to read, because they show, what a great and normal woman Julia has kept to be over all times - in spite of all the trouble with paparazzi and with authors who feel they have the right to write even books about her, without having talked to her a single once. Summary: just still recommendable, but you're left with a very bad taste after reading...

Revealing!.......2004-07-03

This book is highly enjoyable and a page turner if you are intrigued by Julia Roberts. It starts at the beginning growing up in a family separated with anger and distrust. It goes on to show her moving out of Georgia and living with her brother Eric and sister Lisa in New York. It talks of how she broke into acting and fame. It really gets into her relationships with men and her interactions with male co-stars. After reading this book I have a somewhat different view of the actor. I used to wish I had her life and envied her tremendously. It seems like she has difficulties with men, possibly falling in love with love and when it begins to get deep and intimacy is the next step forward, things start to get rough. It seems like anger and distrust keep coming up in her life and at least in her relationships with men. It does not really go into many female friendships, touching on Susan Sarandon and her sister Lisa. The author does a good job of tieing his research together to make a cohesive picture of Julia. He had a little bit of help, from private sources and her brother who send emails of info to him. It is interesting to me as to why she and her brother are still estranged. It seems as if something big must have happened to create such a chasm. It also seems as if Julia has followed her mothers and Eric's abandonment of each other on in her own life, I think this is sad. I see her as an open, say what's on your mind person, yet this may be because she is a hot commodity and can do this without as many repercussions as some of us have to contend with. If she was getting shunned for this behavior, and maybe she has, I don't know if it would be so quick to happen. It seems like an exciting life but with addiction of some kind having to be there is it really being enjoyed as completely. Is love being enjoyed completely if both partners can speak the truth without fear of some form of abandonment. Oh well, I had alot of thoughts come up from reading it and am grateful. I am glad I read the book. I do not feel the envy that I had once felt and see Julia as much more human, which I would think the author would want you to walk away with.

Lisa Nary

Balanced biography of a superstar.......2004-06-03

As a typical movie fan, I had to idea what was behind the appealing, beguiling screen presence of Julia Roberts. I only saw the incandescant smile and the undeniable charm of this young actress. James Spada has done his homework and he uses multiple sources to put together the story of this complex, often insecure woman. In the early part of the book, the reader learns that Julia's parents created and directed a children's theater in Atlanta, Georgia. They were some of the first people to cross the color line, and their clients included the four children of Martin Luther King. Julia's father was charismatic, but troubled, and ran the gamut from charming to abusive. Her mother had her own problems and was unfaithful to her husband. Julia and her estranged brother seem to hold divergent opinions about their parents, but clearly this was a dysfunctional family. Spada chronicles Julia's school days, during which she considered herself an ugly duckling. He follows her during the lean early years of her acting career and traces her meteoric rise from a walk-on part in "Firehouse" in the mid-80's to her first big break in "Mystic Pizza" in 1988 and "Steel Magnolias" in 1989. During this time Julia began the pattern of pursuing men, falling in love with them, and then leaving them which repeated itself countless times in her life. The book continues through the 2003 release of the "Mona Lisa Smile" and the projected 2004 sequel to "Ocean's Eleven". Although there is no evidence that Spada spoke directly to Roberts, he manages to assemble a lot of information which he shares with the reader. This book shows all sides of Roberts, some which support her charming on-screen persona and some which are a lot less charming. Kudos to him for a job well done.

The Woman Who Cut Off Her Leg at the Maidstone Club and Other Stories

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WOW!
Bizarre but entertaining.
Funny, sometimes a little more. It's standup.
You won't be able to put it down.
Original, edgy short stories

The Woman Who Cut Off Her Leg at the Maidstone Club and Other Stories
Julia Slavin
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0805060855

Amazon.com

Julia Slavin likes to start off her stories with wayward body parts. "I once loved a woman who grew teeth all over her body," begins "Dentaphilia." Things are no more comfortable in "He Came Apart": "His hair comes out in my hands." And the title story kicks off, "Word spread down East Beach that a woman had cut off her foot in front of the Maidstone Club." Slavin's people dwell in the suburbs, midway between city and country, realism and surrealism. In the title story, her cast of characters, sprouting names like Pasty Plugh and Skimpy Pimscott, watches with well-bred lack of interest as Maisie Haselkorn saws away. Slavin creates a sharp little drama here, achieving the absurdity that is her quarry.

But it is the stories that demonstrate less showmanship and more sensitivity that make Slavin a writer to watch. "Painting House" finds two hormone-addled step-siblings minding the house while their parents are away. The boy makes a gift of a pretty dress to the tough-talking girl narrator, and Slavin gets just right the way a teenage girl's sexuality is channeled through her clothing: "I felt the dress grazing the back of my thighs, the material clinging to my waist." The dress is not like a lover; it is a lover. "Pudding" mixes satire and realism to fine effect, limning the travails of that family we all know--the one that can't bear to impose rules and so lives in chaos, represented here by a glob of dessert that resides for months on the kitchen floor. "The top of the pudding is smooth and cool like marble, something children love to touch." When she goes for spectacular effects, Slavin is good. But when she goes quiet, she's even better. --Claire Dederer

Book Description

An edgy, comic, and disturbing debut-a hip Diary of a Mad Housewife.

Julia slavin's tales are bulletins from the front. Suburban young marrieds, the narrators have been stranded by their careers, their homes, their lives. Amidst the punishing schedules dictated by daily demands-baby-proofing the house, folding laundry, steaming carrots, taking clients out to steak houses-they live by their fantasies. Julia Slavin conjures a world that is both familiar and limitless, where daily the banal and the unimaginable brush up against each other. A housewife swallows the shirtless adolescent boy who cuts her lawn. Strolling down the airport corridor to catch his shuttle home, a businessman risks everything to save an eight-pound lobster from certain slaughter and consumption. Maisie Haselkorn of the Eastport Haselkorns, a decent upper-middle-class woman, cuts off her leg-at a posh private club. And something as innocuous as pudding spilled on the kitchen floor might be grounds for divorce. Riotous and inventive, The Woman Who Cut Off Her Leg at the Maidstone Club and Other Stories is a riveting read by a surprising new talent.

Customer Reviews:

WOW!.......2003-03-12

I first had these stories read aloud to me by a friend and I could not believe what I was hearing. Slavin writes the most imaginative and original stories ever, on the verge of the sick and twisted, but she manages to do so with both taste and tact. I have honestly never read anything so shocking and amazing in my life. Her short stories actually leave you wanting more. My favorites are Swallowed Whole, Dentaphilia, Blighted and He Came Apart. Get this book!

Bizarre but entertaining........2003-02-13

Bought it for the title, which was catchy. Let it sit on my bookshelf for months before I got around to reading it. Didn't realize it was short stories when I bought it, but it made for a quick read.

My first impression was: What a WEIRD book. Which it was. That said, it was an interesting read, made for a few entertaining evenings. It's not literature or anything-- I don't think there's any deep new-age wisdom lurking in stories about people who eat the Lawn Boy, or anything like that, but it was nonetheless an ok means of passing the time.

This is the sort of book I'd recommend to friends if they didn't have to pay for it: good for galloping through, but not worth seeking out or pondering over for any period of time.

Funny, sometimes a little more. It's standup........2002-08-29

Slavin is a performer and the stories here are all just a little too easy for my taste--people inside of people and the like, all that clever sophomore magic. A couple stories are pretty nice and mean, but on balance it is not her best work, it's her only work.

You won't be able to put it down........2002-03-16

Each short story is a wonderful work of imagination and creativity. The reader is taken into the lives of very bazaar individuals afflicted with such things as teeth on their body, bodyparts falling off, or those inanormed with the tree outside the bedroom window. Very fun to read if you are in the mood for something out of the ordinary.

Original, edgy short stories.......2000-03-14

A collection of wacky and sometimes grotesque short stories that really move the genre into the 21st century. At times touching, at times amusing, but always compulsively readable. One of the more memorable books of 1999.

With Her Own Eyes: The Story of Julia Smith, Her Life, and Her Bible

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With Her Own Eyes: The Story of Julia Smith, Her Life, and Her Bible
Emily Sampson
Manufacturer: Univ Tennessee Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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General | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1572334460

Anna Tells Her Story: From Caroline Richards' Village Life in America

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Anna Tells Her Story: From Caroline Richards' Village Life in America
Julia Eiche
Manufacturer: Vantage Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000FJCR2A

Product Description

Pre-Civil War diary of a young NY State girl.

Aunt Rachel, and her godson George: A reward book for Sunday school scholars

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Aunt Rachel, and her godson George: A reward book for Sunday school scholars
Julia Attersoll
Manufacturer: Printed for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, sold at the depository, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, and 4, Royal Exchange, and by all booksellers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Issues | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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Jewels Treasured by Her Family
Julia Johnson
Manufacturer: PublishAmerica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1424179041
Release Date: 2007-08-13

Book Description

Womenself-esteem.com highly recommends Jewels Treasured by Her Family. Filled with a unique reality, imagination & humor, it is a must for readers, young and old. -Dorothy Lafrinere, Editor & Creator of www.womensselfesteem.com I was hooked after the first couple of pages. The author has a unique way of bringing the characters in her book alive, making it an enjoyable read. -A. W. Nutter, Author of Daddy's Game and Shimmer A wonderful book filled with stories inside of stories. Fanciful, heart-warming and intriguing, I highly recommend it to readers of all ages. -Susan Beth Nemitz, Author of Yours Truly This book takes the reader into the life of the Flynn family from the eyes of the youngest, Beth. The family is so real you will feel that you have met them on the street or at the store. A very good read any age would enjoy. -Maryann Nooner, Avid Reader/Writer/Author/Book Reviewer I didn't want to leave the loving atmosphere of the Flynn ranch, and as each page turned I was more captivated by this story. The reader feels deeply for the Flynns as they face each obstacle that defines their lives. I found myself rooting for them to conquer each of those obstacles and to see that the love of family is all you need to face anything in life. -BJ Myers, Author of Justice is Served A story that everyone should read, it seems so real you feel as if you were being swept off you feet, becoming one of the characters. It is more than a great read; it is one of the best. -Tabitha Robin, Author of The Burning Bush

Julia Chester Emery: Being the story of her life and work

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Julia Chester Emery: Being the story of her life and work
Margaret A Tomes
Manufacturer: Woman's Auxiliary to the National Council Protestant Episcopal Church
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Julia Margaret Cameron. Her life and photographic work. Introduction by Clive Bell. 1º edition

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Julia Margaret Cameron. Her life and photographic work. Introduction by Clive Bell. 1º edition
H. Gernsheim
Manufacturer: Editions by The Fountain Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000V4A95G

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Julia Margaret Cameron: Her life and photographic work
Helmut Gernsheim
Manufacturer: Aperture
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0912334509

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Julia Marlowe, her life and art,
Charles Edward Russell
Manufacturer: D. Appleton and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006AJT06

Book Description

Note-for-note transcriptions for Billy Gibbons' guitar parts on 22 rockin' classics by this Texas trio. Includes: Burger Man * Cheap Sunglasses * Doubleback * Give It Up * Got Me Under Pressure * Gun Love * La Grange * Legs * Pearl Necklace * Rough Boy * Sharp Dressed Man * Stages * Tube Snake Boogie * Tush * TV Dinners * Velcro Fly * more. Includes a special full-color photo section.

Customer Reviews:

Greatest Hits - ZZ Top's finest up to 1992.......2000-10-24

This magnificent book includes information and extras which can only be described as inspirational. ZZ Top have carved their names into history as 3 of the greatest ever rockers!

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Zz Top Greatest Hits

Manufacturer: Warner Bros Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0897240146

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ZZ Top Greatest Hits

Manufacturer: Hamstein Music Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HXESXA

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Greatest Hits
ZZ Top
Manufacturer: Warner Reprise Video
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KYT0XO

Book Description

Profoundly original discussion of pawn play isolates its elements and elaborates on various aspects. Basic relationships of one or two pawns constitute winning strategy. Multitude of examples demonstrate paramount significance of elements of pawn manipulation. 182 diagrams. Index of games.

Customer Reviews:

A serious book........2006-03-07

This book treats chess as treating science, just as Nimzowitch's "My System". It is definitely a monograph. Some definitions are given first, then some theorems (or general idea) are proved through examples and some exceptions are also shown. I don't deny it is an instructive and helpful book, but reading over 300 pages of dry words is a tantamount job to most readers. However, after reading the excellent review by other people here, I decide to give another try. The point is: study hard and dig deep!!

Worthwhile chess content, creepy jargon.......2005-07-16

As you may be aware from the other reviews, this book suffers from a peculiar tic that is practically unique in the literature: the author indulgently and compulsively concocts new terminology page after tiresome page. There are at least eighty new terms, most coming in the first two chapters. Apart from one or two terms, they have never penetrated the mainstream of usage; in fact, the author himself doesn't even use most of them but a few times. Some are never used! Thus the mental energy you invest in memorization is utterly wasted. If you are the sort of person who gets annoyed by these abuses, then you should skip this book, or skip the jargon and work directly from the diagrams and moves. Honestly, I have to tell you that this was the single most maddening chess book I have ever worked through. By the middle of Chapter 3, I wanted to shave my scalp with a cheese grater, dunk my head in battery acid, then toss my body into a live volcano. Oh - you kids should also be aware that the book is in descriptive notation.

On the positive side, the chess content itself is worthwhile. In short, it is a complete and rigorous treatment of the pawn in chess: its peculiar features as a maneuvering unit, how it interacts with other pieces, how groups of them are utilized in the context of a game. All of the essential ideas, I am sure, are available elsewhere in bits and pieces - a game collection here, a middlegame tome there. But it helps to have it all in front of you, systematically and thoroughly presented.

OK in its time however better books are out there now.......2004-03-25

OK In life its necessary to be honest even if it's not popular. So here goes my 5 cents. In its time this was one of the few if not the only book on pawn structures. A lot of veteran masters used this book so it's well known. However it's still using an obsolete notation (You are going to go crazy! its like reading old time English). Kmoch also uses phrases and names pawns using proprietary words/names that no one else uses. Many of the openings reviewed are not popular or obsolete so much of the material is of little practical use over 60 pages are devoted to Benoni formations, have you ever played that opening? The dynamic isolated pawn structure, defensive value of the doubled pawn, rigid pawn structure versus piece mobility, white and black square control, compensation and how to meet the minority attack. All these concepts came out after this book was written. In a simplistic and historical way this is a classic book. It's just not correct to think that a 1940s book is going to give you modern practical knowledge. Its tough to read, tough to understand and takes a long time to go through. Use one of the modern books, Soltis's Pawn structure chess or one of the other modern books on pawn power will get you there faster and better. However if you have a lot of time and want to experience an historically important book that most players of the 40s, 50s and 60s would have read on their way to the master level then this book is fine. You will still have to read one of the modern pawn structure books to understand how modern masters view pawn structures. A little about me, I am close to IM level so know a thing or two about chess books.I enjoy playing on ICC and my computer. May start to take part in tourneys again. I have limited time so take a practical approach to maximising the use of my study time. Have over 200 books not 1000 lol.

Essential.......2002-12-15

This book is essential for serious understanding of chess, of the 16 pieces in your army 8 are pawns. Knowing how to use them and how they can help you achieve victory is useful for any serious chess player. Get this book and improve your game. Recommended for 1600+ rated players.

Classic is too mild a word.......2002-04-30

First, I have to get something off my chest: why do people have trouble with descriptive notation? It takes like what, 45 seconds to learn? Chess players are normally pretty smart people, and they have trouble learning descriptive notation? Perhaps chess isn't for you if you have trouble with that. Maybe take up basket weaving, which is very challenging in its own right, but does not use language. This book is one of a treasured few that makes my "desert island" list. I often felt before reading this book that chess was like a foreign language to me. I heard with envy that Reti said about Capablanca that "chess was his mother tongue." I wanted that so badly, but I still felt, no matter how much I studied, that I was missing something essential about chess. This book, Pawn Power in Chess, changed that for me. The more I study this book (which has been off and on for about 5 years), the more I learn about chess, and the more I "feel" chess on an intuitive level. Kmoch uses the device of creating his own vocabulary to bring concepts to life for you, and I always found this useful, though some readers do not like it. The examples are brilliantly annotated and selected. My only complaint about this book is that I wish it were ten times longer. I wish Kmoch had written about all of the openings, explaining them in light of the principles he sets out in this book. A major part of this book is the incredible conviction that he brings to his work. He brings enthusiasm, which is key, but many writers (Motwani, Silman, Seirawan, Alburt, Watson, Yermolinsky) bring enthusiasm. That in itself is not enough. Great conviction is also required. This is what impressed Petrosian so much about Nimzowitsch: the almost religious conviction with which Nimzo presented his ideas, his system. Kmoch is, to me, on a similar level. In fact, I think this book makes a perfect companion to My System. On top of that, work through Kmoch's earlier works, Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces and World Championship in Battle Royale (about the 1948 championship tournament), for lots of great games to flesh things out. He annotates those works more conventionally, but those works become more interesting after reading Pawn Power. I cannot say enough good about this book. It can be obtained cheaply, and it should be treasured.

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Pawn Power in Chess
Hans Kmoch
Manufacturer: David Mckay
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ILKLT6

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Pawn Power in Chess

Manufacturer: Tartan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GYVVXK

Average customer rating:

Yes, pawns can be lethal! Very good book for low intermediate players.

Pawn Power (The Batsford Chess Library)
Angus Dunnington
Manufacturer: Henry Holt & Co (P)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0805035788

Customer Reviews:

Yes, pawns can be lethal! Very good book for low intermediate players........2006-02-12

I remember reading this book in I think 1997 or 1998 when I was in the USCF 1000-1300 range. The moniker "short and sweet" applies to it well.

What Dunnington has basically done is choose many examples of positions and games where pawn play has decided the day. For advanced players, the book is more entertaining than educational, but for fairly new tournament players, it shows that pawns should not be taken lightly. I would even say that this book has left some lasting influences on my play today, as I gained an appreciation for pawns--the pawn is my favorite chess piece. I am not claiming to be a pawn-play expert, but it does strike me how poorly some Class B and A players use pawns in their play!

Imaginative pawn play can definitely make a difference in your results. This is not an indispensible work, but it is well done if you choose to get it. In general, I think Dunnington is a good (though not great) chess author.

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Pawn Power in Chess
Hans Kmoch
Manufacturer: David McKay
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O5Y5JS

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Pawn Power in Chess
Hans Kmoch
Manufacturer: Tartan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TYV3KS

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Pawn Power in Chess
Hans Kmoch
Manufacturer: David McKay
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0713506334

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Pawn Power in Chess (Tartan #12)
Hans Kmoch
Manufacturer: David McKay
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TZDOSG

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PAWN POWER IN CHESS.
Hans. Kmoch
Manufacturer: American Chess Promotions,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O10BQ8

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Pawn Power In Chess
Hans Kmoch
Manufacturer: DAVID MCKAY COMPANY, INC.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OJYVIO

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