Institutes of the Christian Religion (2 Volume Set)

Customer Reviews:

Calvin is the best personal theological trainer I have ever found. Don't listen to the naysayers!.......2007-05-07

What can I tell you? John Calvin helped me get my spiritual compass pointing north again! He got the flab and plaque out of my man-centered doctrine and whipped it into God and Christ-honoring shape! Reading his 'Institutes' was like getting a top-flight seminary-level education for fifty bucks. (except that unlike seminary, Calvin will strengthen your faith, not undermine it)

There are those who pick up the 'Institutes' for the first time and read it in the same way they pick up a Bible for the first time and read it. With preconceived notions and without the right historical (and spiritual) context. "It's too hard to understand. Too many words. Not relevant enough! Doesn't help me with my immediate problem(s). Doesn't add to the discussion (or debate). What is he talking about here, and why? He sure sounds intolerant! Have you got anything else?"

The Bible was not written in a vacuum and neither was Calvin's Institutes. When you realize the unbelievably adverse historical and personal circumstances Calvin did his pastoral and theological work under, you marvel that he even had strength or will to write letters to his friends and even to princes, let alone lengthy biblical commentaries and bulky catechetical tomes (which is what Institutes is). So it's only natural that his works have frequent references to some of those volatile situations and events and important, paradigm-shifting movements going on at the time, and the persons living (and dead) who were his most vociferous enemies. Read Paul's and Peter's epistles and the Gospels (and even the Psalms!). They are peppered with denunciatory remarks aimed at their enemies. Biblical faith and Christianity are not for pansies, cowards or the faint of heart. Straight talk and direct verbiage based on unchanging truth will defeat error, heresy and the wiles of the devil to encourage struggling believers and bring comfort and relief to sincere seekers.

If you have eyes to see, ears to hear, and the patience to remember that Calvin's Institutes was written first in Latin, then in French, then translated into English (and several other languages later)--and written nearly 500 years ago in a world much different from ours--then you will find an endless supply of useful and supremely-relevant spiritual wisdom and supernaturally-profound insights that will strengthen your faith and deepen your understanding and appreciation of the Scriptures and the unfolding of God's revelation to man throughout history, much more than you thought possible, and probably more than with any other book on systematic theology, ancient or modern.

Let it never be said that Calvin's Institutes should be placed on a par with the Bible or that it is free of error and infallible! I do, however feel totally confident in saying that, for a better understanding of the historical development of Christian doctrine, especially during that epochal and turbulent period called "The Great Reformation," and for a more established perception of what is biblical and unbiblical in a world of proliferating opinions and conflicting positions on matters of religion and faith, Calvin's Institutes is invaluable. It belongs in every Christian's library, period!

Disappointment.......2007-05-01

I feel like Institutes was a major let down for three reasons.

#1 Calvin does not add any value to the ongoing theological conversation
Please, please, please provide any comments to the contrary. I would love to hear them. But from where I stand, I fail to see where Calvin brings anything to the table in terms of thorough research, wrestling with issues, and trying to discover the true meaning of the text. Maybe I'm spoiled in that I went from reading N.T. Wright's COQG series to Institutes, but whereas I feel that Wright has actually advanced the conversation including doing the hard digging for evidence, I feel that Calvin has taken the easy way out and given us a meandering polemic full of speculation.

Most of the book is a rant against various heresies of the day but he rarely provides quality reasoning that makes any sense. I believe this is because the Bible doesn't address all the issued that Calvin wants it to address. But that is, I think, the number one mistake of biblical interpretation: Forcing the Bible to address issues it was never meant to address.

In business they have the phrase "to add value." A product goes from being manufactured to being in a warehouse to being sold in a retail store. The manufacturing plant and retail store are general considered to add value to the product. The warehouse is not. The manufacturing plant adds value by putting various zero-value parts together to make something of value, thus adding value to the parts. The retail store adds value to the product for the consumer by getting it to them in an efficient way. The warehouse is just a place where you store extra product while waiting for retail to request it. Value got added on the assembly line, then it was in a holding pattern in the warehouse and then value got added at the retail point of sale. I see Calvin's Institutes as a warehouse in the production of theology. He adds nothing to the conversation.

#2 Calvin is an expert at saying a lot without really saying anything
This particular problem makes a review especially difficult. During my reading and as I think back, I'm trying desperately to see somewhere that Calvin has actually done the work of a theologian and helped readers to understand God better. I can't come up with a single quote, passage, chapter, or part that I would recommend to anyone. I can come up with more than a few where I just have to stop and say, "Where the hell is he getting this from. Here is a quote from Book I chapter 15 that sounds like it is right out of Plato, not (Sola) Scriptura,

"Furthermore, that man consists of a soul and a body ought to be beyond controversy... Now I understand by the term `soul' and immortal yet created essence, which is his nobler part. It is of course true that while men are tied to earth more than they should be they grow dull... Now the very knowledge of God sufficiently proves that souls, which transcend the world, are immortal, for no transient energy could penetrate to the fountain of life."

Beyond controversy? Nobler part? More than they should be? Sufficiently proves? Transient energy? Clearly this is straight out of the 16th century. If you talked this way in today's theological discourse you wouldn't get published, but rather laughed at.

And by the way, forget Plato. That quote sounds like it is straight out of the newly released Gospel of Judas and fits in line with nearly every one of the Nag Hammadi texts (sometimes called extra-canonical gospels such as Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Mary, etc.). Compare Calvin's quote above with this one out of Judas, "But you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me." It seems the Calvin had fallen back, at least partially, into the Gnosticism that the early church fathers had battled so hard to avoid.

This is obviously an example of something I just simply disagree with Calvin on, but the point is that Calvin assumes all this but provides no support. The larger point is perhaps that he doesn't provide much of anything I can either agree or disagree with. He just doesn't say much. Any support he does provide is in the form of proof-texts stretched way further than they were ever meant to go. To sum up this point, Calvin reminds me of those professor's (we all had at least one) in college who would talk for like an hour and a half, and after you got out of the class, you'd ask yourself, "Did he actually say anything whatsoever in all that time?"

#3 Calvin addresses issues that are irrelevant today.
Throughout the book, Calvin addresses numerous little "disagreements" he is having with what he would consider fools. The majority of these not even considered issues to be debated any longer today. Though in the 16th century he may have been arguing against real person, his book today argues against a straw man, or I should say an army of straw men. This goes along with point #1.

Calvin Institutes.......2006-03-15

very good volume of the Institutes with lots of footnotes. a must for any Calvinist or those looking to broaden their knowledge of Calvinism and what it is all about

A Brilliant Christian Thinker.......2006-03-06

John Calvin is a controversial figure in the history of thought. The main intellectual architect of the Protestant Reformation, his influence casts a shadow over everything from the Wars of Religion to the English Civil War, to the bitter split in Western Christendom between the Catholic Church and Protestantism, which continues today.

However contemporaries describe Calvin as a fairly meek and mild figure; prone to poor health and fits of coughing, Calvin died at a fairly early age by modern standards. Yet during this time he was remarkably productive, producing his brilliant magnum opus 'The Institutes of Christian Religion', his commentaries on the Bible, creeds and catechisms, as well as taking a very active life in the form of both theologian and public administrator.

Calvin's controversy comes from a certain part of his systematic theology, predestination. The logic of predestination is this; if God is omnipotent and omniescent, it is a logical necesscity that God forsaw the fall of Adam and Eve and of all of humanity. Since the Bible seems to indicate only those in Jesus Christ will be saved, it seems God has pre-destined most of humanity to eternal damnation to hell for original sin, even before they are born.

Predestination in fact does not form the central focus of Calvin's theology itself, at least as much as it did in later Calvinists. However Calvin simply felt he was returning to the theology of Augustine, which he felt (asides from the unhealthy influence of Platonism and Manicheiasm on his thought) largely got Christian theology correct. Similar positions to Calvin can also be found particularly in St Anselm and also in Jansen, before the Reformation.

Whatever the role of predestination, Calvin aimed to produce a new systematic theology which was truer to the Bible than corrupt scholastic Catholicism had been, in much the same spirit as Luther, though Calvin is more logical and systematic than Luther, having recieved a far better liberal education in the form of his humanistic studies and Law background. He is also an excellent biblical exegete, and one of the first modern exegetes who pays close attention to the original Hebrew of the text and its literal meaning, something neglected since the time of Origen and St Jerome. It is no doubt in the spirit of Calvin that Protestantism produces some of the greatest bible scholars and commentators who healthily remind other Christians to pay close attention to the Bible and its context, before wandering off into other roads.

Yet I also feel Calvin's legacy has some great weaknesses; his attachment to Augustine's rigid predestination is hard to defend when now we know the majority of the world's peoples don't know or never knew Christ at all, and that many religions have very different concepts of God or reality than the Christian one. His instances of religious intolerance and bigotry, particularly towards Catholics, and his brutal heartlesseness towards the 'heretic' Michael Servetus (noted with particular disgust by the Protestant historian Edward Gibbon) in allowing him to be executed, are certainly not in my view exemplars of behaviour to be allowed in society today. He was also in many ways blind to the beauty and power of Philosophy, seeing that humanity was hopelessly lost and corrupt in ignorance outside of what revelation could teach, a position I find hard to accept given the remarkable progress the human mind has made in understanding our own nature and that of the universe.

Despite these reservations, Calvin is a brilliant mind who sheds much new light on Christian theology and is a pivotal figure during the time of the Reformation, and cannot be ignored by any student of this period of history.

Please read why I give this book one star (it deserves less).......2005-11-30

I have the Institutes and I have read with careful atention Calvin`s Doctrine of Salvation. He teaches pretty well some christian truths. He uses the bible and the church fathers, but when Calvin gives his (or Luther`s) peculiar teachings, he shows how unchristian his doctrine really is by NOT quoting a single NT text or church father to support what is nothing more than an heretic view. Just to give an example: he teaches in this book that the good works of the christian stink, smell horrible, but Calvin doesn`t give a single quote from the NT or the fathers to support this view. His teaching is clearly anti biblical. One more: When he teaches about Righteousness he never quotes Matthew 5:20. In this text Jesus tells us that if our justice is not superior than the scribes' we won`t enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Justice for Matthew is good work of love for God and the needy (Mt 6:1). Calvin simply doesn`t quote this biblical text, and just read his commentary on his "Harmony of the Gospels" and you will see how in some 29 lines Calvin just run from the simple sense of this text, and that`s because Mt 5:20 goes against his doctrine (salvation by faith alone).
Calvin taught that salvation can`t be lost, even tough this doctrine wasn`t taught by the church fathers (not even by Augustine). Read Daniel Corner`s Conditional Security of the believer"
Yes you will find in this book his classic insult to God: that He has predestined some people to hell. And Calvin`s use of violence to support his views is well known. Let`s reread the Bible without Calvin`s lens.

The Whiz Kids: The Founding Fathers of American Business - and the Legacy they Left Us

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A Must Read for MBA-Finance
Whiz Kids and the Holding Companies
Military Industrial Complex Explained
Don't lose humanity in IT world
Lessons we would do well to heed

The Whiz Kids: The Founding Fathers of American Business - and the Legacy they Left Us
John A. Byrne
Manufacturer: Currency
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0385248040
Release Date: 1993-08-01

Customer Reviews:

A Must Read for MBA-Finance.......2006-12-30

This is by far one of the best business books I've ever read (top ten). Anyone interested in: Ford Motor Company, the automobile industry, American business history, or the world of finance/accounting will enjoy this work. If you're a MBA-Finance the Whiz Kids does a great job of showing the development of modern financial analysis - its advantages as well as its shortcomings. It also deals with Robert McNamara's role during the Vietnam War and Tex Thorton's creation of Litton Industries. It's kinda long but I've read it cover to cover twice. A few of my friends have also read this one and they all really liked it.

Whiz Kids and the Holding Companies.......2003-06-05

This is a great read for today's corporate watchers (think Enron, Qwest, Tyco, WorldCom). After WWII, the early speadsheet types, geeks, nerds and whiz kids went on a roll in the 1950s and 1960s. They created holding companies (we call it today "synergy") like the electrical and railroad guys did a generation (30 years) earlier. The names were great: Teledyne, Litton, LTV, etc. The holding company or parent owned lots of divisions or profit centers. Think of it as a mutual fund, like the Sage of Omaha has today. Government contracts, the cold war, all helped them grow. They flew Braniff 707s and AA Convair 990s between LA and Dallas and NYC, drank martinis, dressed like the movie "Down with Love." They used computers to figure out market share and P&L, big IBM and Sperry Univacs. Like all parties it ended with Vietnam going south, Nixon taking away the punch bowl and the NYSE dropping. Like the 1920s, the 50-60s needed this book and many will be done, all the same as this one, on the Roaring dot.com 1990s, with the same nonsense: holding companies, synergy and over paid executives. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Military Industrial Complex Explained.......2001-04-26

This is a convincing look behind the scenes at Ford, as Robert S. McNamara makes his mark in big business, after figuring out how to manage logistics for the U.S. Dept of Defense during WWII. It was novel of these guys (the Whiz Kids) to insist that they all be hired by Ford as a group. Kind of a Japanese team spirit at work. Then different ones fell by the wayside, and one even committed suicide (no Japanese connection intended).

The counterpart to any given U.S. whiz kid for the British during WWII was one Lord Leathers, appointed as material and logistics chief by the war cabinet, whose exploits were referred to by Churchill in his 6 Vol. history of WWII.

For the Germans, we had Albert Speer, seeking to wring gasoline form coal while still promising the Fuhrer that he could still have his new boulevards and buildings in Berlin. I'm not sure who ran this end of things for Stalin, but whomever that was, they must have been pretty smart as well.

The interesting thing is the way the Whiz Kids took what they had learned about moving material to feed soldiers and blow things up, and transferred those skills to rescuing Ford from the predations of Henry I just in time to save the industrial neck of Henry II (since in this tragedy we skip over Edsel I as irrelevant, since Henry I pretty much snuffed him out, emotionally anyway).

This is all living history, and envy of the Whiz Kids is probably what drove GM to hire Peter Drucker from Vienna to analyze itself, leading to Drucker's first major work describing management of a major public corporation. This in turn egging on Alfred Sloan to reply with his less readable "My Years with General Motors."

So a lot happened after these Whiz Kids hit the scene in Detroit. Overall, their quantitative streak seems to elevate them well above trivial "guru" status achieved by so many modern management consultants. McNamara had an interesting feedback into government, by rejoining DOD as a Kennedy guy, from which I guess he repented after the fact to assuage whatever damage he did to his soul by egging on JFK and LBJ beyond the limits of American power, if not authority. That's a lesson for businessmen, too.

Don't lose humanity in IT world.......2000-09-28

I was pondering when I read this book. I have read this book for many times. Every time I got different feeling. From this book, you can feel the cheer, and the tear of them. These guys, we can call them "Blue Blood". They got the power of how to control this world, changing this world. The problem is, some of them, for example, Robert Mcnamara, was plug into the data, statistic data and lose humannity. That is why he loose in Vanem. That is also a lesson to all of us, who are at the edge of IT evolution. Don't be a robust, computer is only a tool, there is a lot of beautiful things outside this data matrix. Don't be slaved by it.

Author did give a clearer picture of this ten guys. And intrigue me to know more about them. This is a rather interesting books, also a good lesson to those in "Internet" fever.

Don't lose your humanity!!!

Lessons we would do well to heed.......2000-04-07

Just ten men -- all relatively young during the war -- were responsible for Corporate America's decline after the post-war boom? "Yes -- to an extent." is John Byrne's answer to that question in this unflinching look at how the "whiz kids" (originally called the "quiz kids" for reasons explained in the book) landed jobs at Ford Motor as a group and then proceeded to skillfully consolidate their power by using "new" numbers-based analytical methods to promote their agenda and dismiss others'. Eventually, as they occupied executive suites at Ford, several went into other business and government postions, spreading the "gospel" of "if it's not in the numbers, it's not real." As we now know, this "dispassionate" method's shortcomings become painfully evident when a field is open to increased competition (the auto industry) and/or faces an adversary who doesn't desire to "play by the rules" (the Viet Cong). Byrne takes the time to tell the story of all 10 men to varying degrees, and lays out a vivid picture of how we **will** fall short if we mindlessly follow management styles that have been around for so long that they are ingrained in some companies' cultures, but still are no more effective today then they were 30 years ago.

The Ford that Beat Ferrari: A Racing History of the GT40

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The Ford that Beat Ferrari: A Racing History of the GT40
If you are going to buy a book on the GT40, this should be the one.
Porscshephile GT40 fan

The Ford that Beat Ferrari: A Racing History of the GT40
John Allen , Gordon Jones , and Jacky Ickx
Manufacturer: Haynes Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1844251136

Book Description

When Ford's attempt to buy Ferrari fell through, the US car giant embarked on a program to beat the famous Italian marque at the world's most prestigious race, the Le Mans 24 Hours. It was quite a battle. Ford's challenger was the GT40, which placed 1-2-3 at Le Mans in 1966 and won the next three consecutive years. This classic book about the GT40 - fastest sports racing car of its day - has been redesigned, expanded and updated to meet pent-up demand that has pushed the value of the original 1985 edition higher and higher.

Customer Reviews:

The Ford that Beat Ferrari: A Racing History of the GT40.......2007-08-23

This is a good book, but not a great book. I own several other books by the author, John Allen, on similar subjects and there is a definite bias towards a british view of the subject. I have read about every book available about the mid-sixties era of racing, especially the Ford contribuiton. Although I feel very knowledgeable on the subject, this book still filled in many empty areas I have on the subject and did it in a fairly enjoyable fashion. Having already stated I own many books on this subject I still am happy that I purchased this one. It is one of the better books on this subject. Enjoy

If you are going to buy a book on the GT40, this should be the one........2006-12-20

There are a couple of other great books on the GT40, but this one has some of the best period photographs along with its well written text. Other books also spend a lot of time covering the 1966 LeMans MK11s and the Gulf liveried LeMans winners of '68 and '69. This book does cover them as they are historically important cars, but the privateers like Comstock and Scuderia Bear are also covered.
Chapters cover construction and testing, races such as LeMans, Sebring, Daytona, and the many private GT40 teams and cars.
This book should be on every racing enthusiasts shelf.

Porscshephile GT40 fan.......2006-02-17

The book in question..."The Ford That Beat Ferrari: A Racing History" turns out to be exactly that...as well as all that was implied by by Amazon's outstanding website. I know that this sounds like a " so what " statement, but it's not. I find most things do not live up to thier hype. So, when something does, it IS note-worthy.
As a side-bar, I am not your usual Ford fan. I am a die-hard Porsche nut...six real cars, hundreds of models and a complete library of all books ever written on the subject. So, why the deviation? Easy! It seems that a great many of the best drivers of Porsche race cars came over from Ford...and this fact provides me with yet another perspective. I highly recommend other Porschiphiles do the same. As Paul Harvey says, It just might give you " the rest of the story ".

Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford

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The movies were different
John Ford: From Maine to the Movies to Cinematic Glory!
Biography that's a page turner!`
Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford
Comprehensive almost to a fault...

Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford
Scott Eyman
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0801865603

Amazon.com

Borrowing his title from dialogue in John Ford's classic Western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ("When the legend becomes fact, print the legend"), Scott Eyman heeds this advice in his splendid study of Ford, finding a convincing balance between the gruff image Ford cultivated and the sensitive artist that Ford truly was. The result is a to-date definitive biography, occasionally prone to indelicate critical assessment while benefiting greatly from Eyman's full access to the Ford family archives. Arguably the greatest American filmmaker of the 20th century, Ford protected himself with a façade of belligerence yet engendered more loyalty among his crew and stock players (notably John Wayne and Ward Bond) than any other director. Eyman illuminates the Ford legend while focusing on fact--on a complex genius who would berate even the most vulnerable actor and then "apologize without apologizing," a binge drinker who never let alcohol interfere with his closely-guarded artistry, and a stalwart Navy captain whose service in World War II became his primary source of pride.

Print the Legend essentially confirms Ford's brief affair with Katharine Hepburn, but Eyman emphasizes Ford's deep, abiding affection for his wife, Mary, who valiantly tolerated his absolute devotion to filmmaking. While hundreds of interviews yield a comprehensive account of Ford's working methods (which the director was loathe to discuss), Eyman expertly navigates around Ford's own penchant for autobiographical embellishment. What emerges is likely to remain the most thorough portrait of a cinematic master who recognized his own greatness without parading it, and whose human flaws were ultimately forgivable by those--and they were many--who loved him. Readers should look elsewhere for more astute studies of Ford's films, but Eyman has captured Ford the man with lasting authority. -- Jeff Shannon

Book Description

Brilliant, stubborn, witty, rebellious, irascible, and contradictory, John Ford remains an enduring symbol of Hollywood's Golden Age and one of its most respected directors. Through a career that spanned decades and 140 films -- among them such American masterpieces as The Searchers, The Grapes of Wrath, Stagecoach, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance -- John Ford left a cinematic legacy that few filmmakers will ever equal. Yet Ford himself was famously reticent about his personal life, often fabricating details and events. In this definitive look at the life and career of one of America's greatest directors, Scott Eyman offers a remarkable portrait of the man behind the legend that reveals how a saloon keeper's son from Maine helped to shape Hollywood's idea of America.

Customer Reviews:

The movies were different.......2006-05-14

Many books were written about Jonh Ford.
All of them tell the story and the profile of the man.
But John Ford was more than that.
His life is the beginning, but the book doesn?t take it as a experience or example for his films.
The exploration is a long trip in this book.
The readers are going to find the artist who control
everything around and his mind to think faster than others.
He made no more than one take, sometimes to have completely control about the film, not suffering the torture of the film process and the editing.
It?s a strange story about the man who won four Academy Awards?
for Best Directing but he never won an Oscar for one of his western films.
The book explores how he created the images and how he felt involved in those stories so different from cowboys, horses and
shots: 'The grapes of Wrath', 'How green was my valley', 'The informer' and 'The quiet man'.
His camera was different in all these ones.
But finally you can see the horizon, the actor,
the music and the ending.
It is a film directed by John Ford.
Thanks to him, the movies were different in style.
He had the conception of an artist.

John Ford: From Maine to the Movies to Cinematic Glory!.......2005-05-16

Scott Eyman has written an outstanding book on John Ford! Ford
was the second generation son of an Irish bartender from Portland Maine who followed his brother Frank to Hollywood.
In over 130 films from such silent classics as Iron Horse to
his four Oscars for best director: The Informer; How Green Was My
Valley; the Grapes of Wrath and The Quiet Man Ford chronicles
the life of ordinary people living in extraordinary circumstances.
Ford made Westerns better than anyone as witness his classic
cavalry trilogy: Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon; Rio Grande and the peerless The Searchers.
John Ford was a bristling porcupine guy who could dish out insults, reduce strong actors to tears and cover his sensitive,
melancholic, brooding intellectual Irish soul with a veneer of
toughness and macho maleness.
Ford was a complex man isolated and in conflict with famly who made great films for over 50 years in the Hollywood jungle.
He was an admiral who loved the military serving with distinction in World War II.
You may not like Ford after reading this fine book but you will be in awe of one of Hollywood's giants.
Eyman gives a sketch of each of Ford's top films and charts the choppy waters of his long marriage to wife Mary and the difficult relationship he had with his daugher and son.
John Ford will always ride tall in the saddle of Film History
as we travel with him to Monument Valley, meet such Ford stars
as John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara and the other excellent actors in the Ford acting troupe.
Anyone claiming to be knowledgable about film who does not know about John Ford (1894-1973 should read this fine biograhy.
Readers may also wish to peruse Joseph McBride's lengthy biograpy of Ford "In Search of John Ford." Both books are well
done.

Biography that's a page turner!`.......2004-11-16

Having read a fair number of biographies in my time, in subjects from Science to American and military history, this book is as fine a work as I've seen. It is quite probably the best work of its kind on John Ford and pulls few punches when presenting the dark side of this complex man's character.

Genius often goes hand-in-hand with madness, and the odd juxtapositions of cruelty and sensitivity, visciousness and generosity within in the same man leaves it difficult for the reader to like him, much less understand the deep love so many of his peers and actors had for him.

The vast limits of his brilliance as a film maker are far clearer to me now and the more so since reading other works on the man's work and times ("Tis Herself" by Maureen O'Hara and "John Ford, the Man and his Films" by Tag Gallagher, to name two).

I am a recent "student" of film after years in other pursuits, and I have always considered Ford's pictures to be the best of the best, among which are "The Grapes of Wrath", "The Quiet Man" and "The Searchers".

It is apparently popular for current budding directors to attempt to attempt to emulate the work of the current crops of popular directors (generally those of the preceding five years or so) without paying sufficient attention to the classics; perhaps even trying to ride their stylistic coattails to success.

I believe that in order to be successful in any discipline, it is imperative to study closely the great works of past generations, just as most successful musicians should have a background in classical music.

I can recommend this work unreservedly both to the casual film fan (it's a damned good read!) and to the serious film student.

Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford.......2003-06-27

I've read other books on this great Hollywood director, and while I can't comment on their relative accuracy, I can say that Eyman's book is the most readable I've found. He writes with a wonderfully fluid style, finds exactly the right balance between enough detail and too much, and mixes in some penetrating observations about the films and their style. He really captures that curious paradox of how artistic genius and personality disturbance can coexist within the same mind.

Comprehensive almost to a fault..........2002-08-22

Unless you are old like me and remember many John Ford movies from their original 50's release dates, or you have a semi-professional interest in film directing, this book offers more than one needs to know about a complex, often unlikeable, sometimes generous, routinely selfish genius. It isn't just a bio of John Ford, respected director with a 40-year career...it also functions as a partial history of movie-making itself, since Ford began before 1920, when films were silent, and ended up in the mid-60's, when wide screens, technicolor, blatant sex and violence and changes in how movies were financed stranded him in a very different professional atmosphere. To a person with a more casual interest in Ford and his films, like me, the book had many surprises. Ford was cruel on the set to many actors whom he befriended away from the cameras, John Wayne and Hank Fonda included. Ford was a binge drinker, and kept his sprees separate from his duties until the mid-1950's, rather late in his progressive alcoholism. Ford was capable of great kindness, generosity and loyalty, but also held grudges for decades. He was not only personally brave in World War II while filming the real battle of Midway, he was tuned in enough to have joined the Navy and prepared for documenting the war on film a full year before Pearl Harbor. He also showed courage in standing up to the Communist witch-hunts in the early 50's. He was sometimes a liberal Democrat, sometimes a conservative Republican. His final decade was full of illness and idleness and loneliness and undoubtedly some bitterness. If you are a lover of "American" movies, John Ford's story will be essential for you. I'm glad I read it, but I don't think I'll ever need to read it a second time, or keep the book in my personal collection.

Haynes Repair Manual, Ford Escort and Mercury Tracer, 1991-2000

Average customer rating:

not quite Chiltons

Haynes Repair Manual, Ford Escort and Mercury Tracer, 1991-2000
John Haynes
Manufacturer: Haynes Manuals, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Product Features:

Hundreds of photographs
Step-by-step instructions
Written from actual experience

ASIN: 1563923920

Product Description

All Ford Escort and Mercury Tracer models (91 - 00) Haynes offers the best coverage for cars trucks vans and SUVs in the market today. Each manual is written and photographed from "hands-on" experience gained by a complete teardown and rebuild of the vehicle. The first Haynes manual was written this way 40 years ago and all the manuals continue to be produced this way making Haynes the world leader in automotive repair information.

Customer Reviews:

not quite Chiltons.......2001-06-01

This book has helped me save some serious time, as I am not an automotive guru. It has also cut down on the amount of trips to the parts store. It could have been organized better, and it should have gone into more detail.

Average customer rating:

Soft Sift: Poems
Mark Ford
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 015100949X

Book Description

There are curved stories here, intrigues and quests whose exuberance of plot and sense of farcical immersion in the world of appearances is rendered with a light touch and a sure command of tone, staging the conflict between the mind's drift and the "inflexible etiquette" of form (Gerard Manley Hopkins's "soft sift / In an hourglass"). The making of these condensed dramas is often the unmaking of the person speaking, whose "frets and fresh starts" reveal an original sensibility concerned not with self-display but with a general comedy of wrong moves. Intrepid, cross-pollinated, oblique, Mark Ford has been called an American Philip Larkin and an English John Ashbery, but in fact he is like no one else, and only occasionally like himself.

A Just Defense of the Natural Freedom of Slaves: All Slaves Should Be Free (1682) by Epifanio De Moirans, a Critical Edition and Translation of Servi Liberi Seu Naturalis Mancipiorum Libertatis Iusta

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A Just Defense of the Natural Freedom of Slaves: All Slaves Should Be Free (1682) by Epifanio De Moirans, a Critical Edition and Translation of Servi Liberi Seu Naturalis Mancipiorum Libertatis Iusta

Manufacturer: Edwin Mellen Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0773455043
Release Date: 2007-02-15

Product Description

Awarded the Adele Mellen Prize for Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship This book offers a critical Latin text with English, facing-page translation of Epifanio de Moirans's "Servi Liberi" seu Naturalis Mancipiorum Libertatis Iusta Defensio". The events described in "Servi Liberi" occurred in Havana, Cuba toward the end of 1681 and the beginning of 1682. It was then that the author, de Moirans, a Frenchman from Burgundy, along with Francisco Jos?? de Jaca, a Spaniard from Aragon and fellow Capuchin, did what was most impossible and subversive at the time: he condemned the very institution of slavery. The only extant copy of "Servi Liberi" is in Seville s Archivo General de Indias, which, though formerly a stock exchange, became the official depository for Spanish colonial documents over two hundred years ago. "Servi Liberi" has survived because of the Archive; had it perished, we would have no knowledge of these events, no awareness of these campaigns, and no idea of how two Capuchins struggled with all the established political, economic, and religious interests of their time to change the widespread and destructive practice of slavery.

Iron Fist, Lead Foot: John Coletti and Ford's "Terminator"

Average customer rating:

Iron Fist, Lead Foot: John Coletti and Ford's "Terminator
Great book
For every Cobra driver
A must for 03 Cobra Owners
Great book!!!

Iron Fist, Lead Foot: John Coletti and Ford's "Terminator"
Frank Moriarty
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0595409709

Book Description

"Like every other Mustang fan, as soon as I heard about this supercharged car I couldn't wait for it to be built."
-William Clay Ford, Jr.
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Ford Motor Company

A factory supercharged Ford Mustang had long been on the wish list of muscle car fans, but it took the passion of a single man to make it happen: O. John Coletti. Coletti? That was one name in the Ford Motor Company phone book guaranteed to stir up differing opinions among the huge auto manufacturer's upper management. Maverick or visionary? Tyrant or leader?

One thing was certain about the mercurial Coletti: he had an unswerving faith in the value of high performance. And after almost single-handedly rescuing the Ford Mustang from discontinuation via a covert, renegade program, Coletti had ridden his notoriety into his own throne within Ford-as head of the elite Special Vehicle Team. But in late 2000, Coletti stretched the boundaries of his own legend, abruptly canceling the division's highly-anticipated 2002 Mustang Cobra while disrupting marketing plans and enraging SVT's network of dealers.

This is the untold story of how Coletti's performance mandate led to the creation of a car known as the "Terminator," the 2003 Ford SVT Mustang Cobra. It's a tale of closely-guarded secrets and daunting challenges as a small, elite team struggled to create a car that will long stand as an icon of American muscle. With interviews ranging from company chairman Bill Ford to the assembly line workers of the historic-yet-antiquated Dearborn Assembly Plant, Iron Fist, Lead Foot takes readers behind the scenes of this breakneck program and brings them face-to-face with the towering presence of an auto industry legend, John Coletti.

Customer Reviews:

Iron Fist, Lead Foot: John Coletti and Ford's "Terminator.......2007-09-02

Great Book!

If you own one of these extraordinary cars this is your chance to enjoy the inside story of how a close knit team of gifted men and women brought a car back from the edge and then set a high water mark that will endure for years to come.

It is a story of vision, passion and absolute commitment to creating the best. You get an inside peak at Detroit and Ford in particular, the politics the extraordinary capabilities of the institution and the people inside. You get to see the birth of a modern day supercar from concept to delivery and meet the people and inparticular the one man who made it happen against all odds.

If you are lucky enough to own or have owned one of these cars this book is a must have addition to the history you are part of. Even if you don't own one of these cars the book and its story is special. Get it, you won't be disappointed, it is documented proof that one man with his beliefs, talent and conviction can make not just a difference but an extraordinary difference even in the face of what seems like impossible odds.

Great story and high drama.

Great book.......2007-04-20

This was an excellent book that gives you a behind the scenes look at the making of an American icon. John Coletti was man who made the SVT Cobra great

For every Cobra driver.......2007-03-08

The Cobra is a very underappreciated car and this book brings it all to the surface. The 03-04 Cobras are a special breed and you can't fully understand just how special they are until you read this book. All the work and dedication that was poured into these cars is all revealed. This is the official baby book of the SVT Cobra giving every ounce of information you could ever want/need to know. If you don't gain a better understanding and appreciation for 03-04 Cobras after reading this book, you shouldn't be allowed to drive one!

A must for 03 Cobra Owners .......2007-01-19

This is a great book for those Ford Mustang car buffs. It answers a lot of questions and misinformation that came about with the introduction of the 2003 Cobra. I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves cars.

Great book!!!.......2007-01-12

There is a lot of information in the book I didn't know. This is a must have if you own a 03/04 cobra. The only negative thing I have to say is the pictures are in black and white. Color photos would have made it much better.

Average customer rating:

A CELEBRATION OF WESTERN MOVIES

John Ford and the American West
Peter Cowie
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Direction & Production | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0810949768

Book Description

Legendary filmmaker John Ford made some 50 Westerns in a career that spanned more than half a century. From the silent classic Straight Shooting in 1917 to 1964's Cheyenne Autumn-and including such cinematic gems as Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache, and The Searchers-Ford's Westerns have entered movie history as imperishable examples of the human spirit. This groundbreaking book is the first to take a visual approach to these films, relating them to the paintings and sculptures of Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell, and other artists.

Ford also drew inspiration from the primal beauty of the American landscape; so many of his films, such as She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Wagon Master, are set against the untamed wilderness of the Southwest's Monument Valley that the area came to be known as "Ford country." Author Peter Cowie shows how this master filmmaker used a variety of visual sources to create his idealized view of frontier life, crafting films that capture the enduring essence of the national character and epitomize the mythology of the American West. AUTHOR BIO: Peter Cowie has written more than 20 books on the cinema, among them The Cinema of Orson Welles and biographies of Ingmar Bergman and Francis Ford Coppola. He is the founder of the International Film Guide, which he edited for 40 years. Cowie is sometime Regents Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Customer Reviews:

A CELEBRATION OF WESTERN MOVIES.......2004-12-19

Western movie fans, here's the book for you. And, it's a beauty with some 125 illustrations from John Ford's greatest films. Characteristically modest, the legendary film director once introduced himself by saying, "My name is John Ford. I make Westerns." What an understatement. He is arguably the best and most prolific director of Western films in the history of Hollywood.

Who can forget "Stagecoach," "Drums Along the Mohawk," "Fort Apache," "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon" to mention only a few? He was and is the quintessential director in this genre, working with such film greats as John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Henry Fonda. He drew inspiration from a variety of sources, the pulp fiction of the 19th century as well as the stunning paintings by Remington and Russell. As is noted regarding the jacket front, "Ford's use of pale sunshine yellow and sunset red in "The Searchers" (1956) recalls the paintings of Frederic Remington."

Generations of us were enthralled by his films at Saturday matinees; today legions discover him on DVDs. Whatever the case, his legacy is unquestionable.

Chapter headings include:
The Myth of the West
History Transfigured
The U.S. Cavalry and the Scars of War
Ford and the Native American
Monument Valley and Ford's Expansive Vision of the West
The Telltale Signature

Author Peter Cowie is the former international publishing director of Variety, and has penned over 20 cinema focused books, including "The Cinema of Orson Welles" plus bios of Ingmar Bergman and Francis Ford Coppola.

- Gail Cooke

Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique Automotive Repair Manual 1995-1998

Average customer rating:

Picture of the Ford Mondeo in the UK
ALL FORD AND MYSTIQUE

Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique Automotive Repair Manual 1995-1998
Mark Jacobs , and John H. Haynes
Manufacturer: Haynes Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Transportation | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1563922886

Customer Reviews:

Picture of the Ford Mondeo in the UK.......2000-01-23

Given that the Ford Mondeo is actually a Ford Contour of the UK, there was no information about the pictures that were used. In the section were they talk about changing the radio, the picture shows the climate control dials aren't the same as the Contour's, but of the Mondeo. They should have mentioned that the picture didn't match

ALL FORD AND MYSTIQUE.......1999-04-16

ITS INFORMATION TO REPAIR ALL FORD AND MYSTIQUE. NOTES PROCEDURES ETC

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