5 comments about Theatre for Children: A Guide to Writing, Adapting, Directing and Acting.

1. I found the book to be essential to anyone who wants to go into playwriting whether or not Children's Theatre would be your major. It is clearly written, easy (and enjoyable) to read and just a great tool and reference.



2. Excellent book! Gives real specifics about playwriting for children, i.e., must have lots of action, lots of "suddenlies", clearly defined characters, etc. Also, how to incorporate audience participation. I was so inspired by Wood's book that I ordered his musicals from Samuel French and directed "Hijack Over Hygenia" for our elementary school production. He is far and away better than most of the stuff you find for children's productions. Since he has experience in writing, directing and acting these plays and musicals (he's written 40!), he brings tons of examples into his book. He's good, he's funny, and children respond to his material. Good section on writing a play snopysis before you write any dialogue. Here's a little dialogue: Rupert: Hello, Squirrel. How are you? Squirrel: Fed up. Rupert: Fed up? Squirrel: Me nose is froze, me teeth are chatter-chattering, me paws are freezing and I keep sneezing. Atishoo! Rupert: (handing her a hanky) Use my hanky. Squirrel: A hanky! Thankee! (She plows loudly into the hanky held by Rupert).



3. Who is David Wood? "National Children's Dramatist" or not, I'd never heard of him. But I decided to give "Theatre for Children" a shot based on its subtitle (A Guide to Writing, Directing, and Acting) and positive reader reviews. I was looking for a book that would give me basic tips on getting started and avoiding the pitfalls of writing stage plays for children. There is that sort of information buried in "Theatre for Children", but unfortunately the reader has to wade through such a relentlessly pounding sea of personal anecdotes and name dropping (again, mostly of Mr. Wood's own works and of other people I'd never heard of) that one's ability to salvage such practical information is called into question. This is not a beginner's guide to children's theater, but rather a professional memoir thinly disguised as a "how to" book. The writing style is dense and stuffy -- not "highly readable" as claimed in the cover blurb.

   If this book wasn't so darned expensive, I'd be tempted to let it slide. ...(!) I felt I had to give fair warning.




4. I love this book. I have written several children's shows for our local children's theatre, and reading over David Wood's text only helped me improve my scripts and fed my imagination. Yes, there are sections that I scimmed through, but most of it was very helpful. I highly recommend it.



5. Walter Piston is a composer, but in his music theory textbook, he can bring in samples from the work of other composers. Why, then, can't David Wood bring in samples from the work of other playwrights?
   
   Incidentally, don't buy this book if you are interested in theatre for children as actors. This book is about theatre for children as spectators.

No comments about Grant Wood, American Gothic (Let's get lost in a painting).

5 comments about Reason in Revolt: Dialectical Philosophy and Modern Science.

1. This book is probobly the most important work ever published within the last 50 years. Grant and Woods lucidly explain from the most recent discoveries of science and technology what humanity's possibilities are, but also what present day restrictions will ultimately impede real progress. A must read for anyone either concerned with the current quasi-religious direction of scientific endeavor or about the state of the world in general today. Again, it would be completely valid to say that Reason in Revolt is one of the most important contributions to science since the publication of Engel's 'The Role Played by Labor in the Transition from Ape to Man.'



2. i first read this work in one sitting off a computer screen
   A clear and unmudled view of reality is a necessary component for any one seeking to bring about true and profound change for the benefit of all mankind. Reason in revolt openly defends the gains of humanitys attemts and successes at further understanding this world (universe) agianst those forces capitulating to conservitism and reaction with in the various branches of science its self, however as any marxist knows these atacks of mysticism are only but a deeper reflection on currantly prevailing economic/productive relations between men.
   Alan Woods and Ted Grant in the great traditions of Marx, Engels,Lenin,Trostky... keep on the fight for a society based on "each from his own abilities, to each from his own need" in a scientific fashion dealing with concrete realistic terms, dialectics defended in this book is a most necessary tool to not only understand the world but to actualy change it through conscious activity.
   i recomend this book to anyone how seeks to join in the fight for a truely better society.



3. Ted Grant and Alan Woods have created yet another masterpiece! The book is dense, yet very readable and highly illuminating. If you're like me you'll find that you have to keep putting the book down to think about the concepts. I'm a philosophy major and this book has made me rethink all of my old ideas. Break free from metaphysics, the dialectic is much more accurate. I'd recomend this book to anyone.



4. When I was a graduate student in Philosophy the academic line was that Engels's writings on dialectical materialsim were of purely historical interest. His examples of the dialectical nature of material reality reflected the limits of scientific knowledge of the late-19th century, at best. Well, Ted Grant and Alan Woods have written a book that not only makes the basic "laws of the dialectic" intelligible to any reader, but grapples with the most current developments in the sciences from "punctuated equilibrium" in evolution, to chaos theory in physics, the big bang and relativity in cosmology, to an excellent chapter on the Human Genome Project. As nonacademics, Grant and Woods's style is straightforward, lucid, and unencumbered by the referential shadows of the "current discourses." As long-time revolutionary Marxists in the tradition of British Trotskyism, Woods and Grant have been through the wars (in Grant's case since the '30s). They are the rare working-class autodidacts who manage through sheer guts and fortitude to cut through the prevailing rubbish, get to the essence of things, and make abstruse ideas clear without watering them down. In fact they both challenge and excite the reader. This is the most exciting book I've read since I encountered Marx and Engels thirty-five years ago. I think I get it now.



5. Highly recommended for anyone interested in socialism, science or why capitalism is in such decay.

No comments about Main Street.

No comments about On the Border: Society and Culture between the United States and Mexico (Latin American Silhouettes).

No comments about Mam Tor Event Horizon.

3 comments about American Gothic: The Biography of Grant Wood's American Masterpiece.

1. This book is interesting but seems to have been rushed into print. Parts of the text seemed like a draft and one of the photos was printed reversed (Parson Weem's Fable.) The paper is very cheap with resulting muddy pictures. Hoving seems to have negative comments about most critics and art historians that he mentions while congratulating himself on his perception. I expected better; his King Tut book was fantastic.
   
   I would recommend American Gothic by Stephen Biel as the first choice but at least this one is cheaper.



2. I am in complete agreement with the one other customer review that has appeared to date for this book. The information offered is interesting. However, this book was cheaply produced and apparently rushed into print to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the creation of Grant Wood's masterpiece. The illustrations hardly merit the name, so murky they completely obscure the author's points. And there doesn't seem to have been even the most cursory edit. The frequent typos, grammatical errors, jumbled words are a major distraction. Quite honestly, someone of Thomas Hoving's stature should be embarassed to have his name attached to this.



3. While I agree about the typos and bad photo reproduction (which are the publisher's fault, not the author's), the insights to this famous painting, the reactions to it, and Grant Wood himself make for some excellent text. It's a very quick and fun read.

5 comments about American Gothic: A Life of America's Most Famous Painting.

1. The mis-matched couple in the painting with the dour expressions are slightly off center on the cover (must have been at the Art Institute of Chicago), the way I usually hang my paintings. I was asked by the librarian in Giles County if the picture she was hanging was level. I told her she had asked the wrong person, as all my pictures are leaning. All these years, I thought this was a real farm couple, though most of the Tennessee farmers I knew as a child were fat as they had the food and milk the rest of us had to scrounge for; oh, I know it is hard, never-ending work on the farm, but...
   
   Written by a historian, we get a different view of the actual painting and how it was done, as a pretense on life in Iowa, considered backward from the rest of the country. He actually made a road trip to find the house with the Gothic window (thus, the name, not for the pose). From the side, it could be any house in rural Alabama with the exception of that window. Actually, the real house had two gothic windows in each of the two bedrooms. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and was declared a historic site by the state of Iowa in 1991. Now, that is funnier than the picture itself, to put such an ordinary, low-class structure in such an elevated status. We have those signs on old brick buildings all over town. That historic business has gotten out of hand. Who choose those with the markers and on what basis? Some of ours in Knoxville 'hit the dust' marker and all.
   
   At 'A Century of Progress' fair in Chicago, more prints of 'American Gothic' were sold than even 'Whistler's Mother,' the main attraction. This fake-posed (like the song "You Don't Send Me Flowers" by Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand pieced together was never intended as a duet) with the painter's own sister using family heirlooms and his dentist who was sketched at his office. They appear together for a showing of the painting after Wood's death at the Art Institute of Chicago.
   
   Many parodies have been made of this pose using real and ficitonal people holding different things. Most don't have the Gothic window after which the painting is named. It's been the subject of newspaper cartoons and some of Johnny Carson's ribald humor on his late-night television talk show. The only thing I really appreciated about this book was getting to see the rundown, crude old house used, as it is so different from the painting and the unhappy 'couple' -- never a spot you'd think would become a historic site. Perhaps, that was Wood's joke on the American people!



2. Steven Biel's "American Gothic: A Life of America's Most Famous Painting" is amusing, informative and anecdotal. This book provides a broad view of one of America's most well known paintings, Grant Wood's American Gothic. The painting has become a part of America's cultural identity.
   In the first chapter, Biel discusses Grant Wood driving by the house in Eldon, Iowa, and stopping the car to get out and sketch. He elaborates on how Wood imagined the home's inhabitants. In the second chapter Biel examines the response of the painting from Iowa's citizens. The views of the citizens ranged from those who hated it because they thought it was a cruel caricature and to the rest of the country who enjoyed it for the same reasons. Biel discusses how some were offended by the age difference of the couple. The third chapter discusses the painting on display throughout the nation, and the response it received. The fourth chapter examines parodies created as a result of the painting, stretching from Barbie and Ken to the nations Presidents and First Ladies.
   Biel shows just how deeply this image has worked its way into the American consciousness. Biel provides a thorough analysis of the painting American Gothic. He provides an extensive history to a painting most Americans instantaneously recognize but whose artist, they can rarely name.



3. American Gothic the book is as enigmatic as the painting it purports to chronicle. The author while quite well versed in literature and history, shows a definite lack of chops when it comes to Art History.
   
   At times the book reads like a drunken pointless ramble by a highly educated man. You hang on and try to make order out of the meanderings, but in the end there is no point. Which is a shame considering the deluge of cultural minutiae thrown at you.
   Minutiae that often has no real connection to the painting in even a tangential fashion.
   
   This book is a discussion of how a painting can be used as a cultural weapon, and how that weapon can and does change hands over time. It's all a matter of perspective and the way a static object that is somewhat enigmatic can reside on one side of the fence today, and the other side tomorrow. After 172 pages Mr. Biel seems incapable of nailing down the crux of the situation.
   
   It's pointed out repeatedly that Grant Wood's American Gothic couple has countenances that defy interpretation, yet there is not one word of mention in relating it to the Mona Lisa, and the age old question of what she is thinking. The dust jacket photo shows American Gothic hanging next to the Mona Lisa, so obviously SOMEBODY thought of this connection. Maybe the Dust Jacket Art Director should have proof read the book....
   
   Mr. Biel talks about how the use of the word 'heartland' was used by both sides in the last presidential election.... not that this has spit to do with Grant Wood's painting.
   
   And yet he's managed to fill 172 pages in discussing ONE painting without even so much as noticing that the woman's apron/dress is billboard flat. Mind you this is a rural/farm setting.... such blatant lack of fecundity/sexuality doesn't strike you as a tad weird Mr. Biel???
   
   How about the snake like wisp of hair pointed up at her right ear?? Or the way she's not so happy, and has her gaze fixed on something off to the right of the picture frame, and out of our field of vision. Looks more like the 'thousand yard stare' than anything else. And how her dress/apron pattern echoes the drapery pattern in the 'Gothic' window... and what does that say???
   
   If you ask me, this old maid is worldly weary of dear old Dad scaring off all the suitors with his hay fork and psycho gaze. She's either gonna bust loose, and be free somewhere else, or she's going to stay under Dad's oppressive thumb and be an old maid for the rest of her life. Judging by her weak chin, she's probably not quite up to the task... which has probably lead to her predicament in the first place.
   
   Are we going to talk about this sort of stuff?? Noooooooooo... we're going to talk about campaign slogans in 2004.... sigh. Please, spare me.....
   
   Mr. Biel also discusses at length how American Gothic has been parodied over the years... and yet not once does he broach the subject of how other paintings such as the Mona Lisa, or Rockwell's Freedom From Want paintings are also parodied in similar fashion.
   
   American Gothic the book is painfully well researched, and yet oh so lacking. In my opinion this is one book that really needed a co-writer.
   
   It's worth reading, just don't read it thinking you're getting the whole picture.



4. This is one of those books to use when you have to do an essay/report about Grant wood.



5. I was excited to read this book because I have long considered American Gothic to be one of my favorite paintings. While there are other works that may stir me more emotionally, or I might find more artistically astounding, I like American Gothic because of its back-story and its humor. The figures seem so stern and judgmental, yet the models were just playing a role. Grant Wood had seen the American Gothic house in Iowa and tried to imagine what kind of people would live there.
   
   In some ways it is less the painting itself, but rather all of the stories and history that surround the work that make it so interesting. This is the story that Steven Biel tells in his book. He starts with the house itself, and then explains the other ideas that influenced the work, the initial reception, subsequent interpretations, and the work's eventual status as an American icon. What is enjoyable about the book is that it provides lots of interesting factoids about the painting. What is disappointing is how little the book seemed to hold together as one narrative. With as much material as Biel had to work with, I didn't find American Gothic to be a particularly compelling read. It seemed short and disjointed, and was easy to put down. It was fun to find out so much about the painting, but in the end I found it unsatisfying.

No comments about Grant Wood.

1 comments about The Borderlands: An Encyclopedia of Culture and Politics on the U.S Divide.

1. The Borderlands: An Encyclopedia of Culture and Politics on the U.S.-Mexico Divide, edited by Andrew G. Wood, is a reference gem for anyone professionally or personally interested in the border. Covering "the border" in the broadest sense, including the northern colonial frontier of New Spain and the contemporary states of Mexico and the United States that abut the border, The Borderlands encyclopedia is a massive undertaking and wealth of information. The 300 pages of topics expertly covered by 151 different authors include names, places, and events relating to culture, politics, economics, art, and literature, as well as phenomena particular to the borderlands, such as maquiladoras, agribusiness, and cuisine. A detailed four-page chronology is provided as is a 250+ source bibliography. For teachers, students, scholars, and historical aficionados of `Mexamerica', this encyclopedia is a must.