Customer Reviews:
Prepare to be boarded!.......2007-02-22
Know this first: I'm a huge fan of all things Disney, especially POTC the ride.
Imagineer Surrell's book is very well-done. This is one of those (along with his earlier work on the Haunted Mansion) that I go to again and again, like watching a favorite movie or listening to a favorite album. Maybe I'll notice on the 50th reading ONE MORE DETAIL I somehow missed...
I especially enjoyed the look at the other parks' version of the ride. Rock on, Jason!
Con: Woulda liked it in HARDCOVER.
Now, as with any OTHER topical subject, some of the info goes out of date the day the book is published, and will continue to "go stale". The 2nd, 3rd, and even talked-about 4th movies are, of course, not included. The much-publicized ride rehabs are not either. This is the same with Jason's earlier Disney's Haunted Mansion book (a good companion piece, by the way). That said, the HM book goes off into a hopeful description of the actually-miserable HM movie, touting it as the best thing since Bela Lugosi. This was written well in advance of the actual public release of the HM movie, I guess, so they were gambling the public would love what turned out to be a huge embarrasment. ( When I need cheering up, I sometimes imagine HM Director Minkoff at what I hope is his new day job, asking people if they want to add a cherry turnover to their order for just 50 cents more ). Okay, here's your soapbox back.
They shouldn't have pushed the HM movie so hard in THAT book.
Not so in THIS book: Because they "got burned" on the HM movie, there's a decidedly less-throat-cramming push for Curse of the Black Pearl, which, of course, in hindsight, they could have laid on thicker, now that the movie has generated some kind of Star-Wars-level cultural shift.
Buy the book. You know you want it.
I know I want more books on CLASSIC Disney attractions, and I only want 'em writ by Jason Surrell. Amen.
Daughter loves it!!!.......2007-01-12
My daughter just loves all the background information. She's very happy with it.
Updated version now available!.......2006-12-12
As of November, 2006, a newer, updated version of Mr. Surrell's book is now available! Look for the version with the compass rose in the upper right corner of the cover.
Cheers!
Beck
BIG BIG BIG BIG fan of the movies :).......2006-10-01
I love Disney world and I love love The Pirates Of The Carribbean! Great if you like both!
Fascinating read for Disneyland fans.......2006-09-13
I really enjoed the first chapter on how the concept translated into the final product of a ride. Amazing how these things come together. The second chapter comparing the ride throughs between the four parks I found a bit frustrating - hard to really picture it unless you're there (for me). I was more interested in the ride portion than the movie chapter myself. Worth the buy (though I bought it used).
Book Description
Jamaican dancehall has long been one of the most vital and influential cultural and artistic forces within contemporary global music. Wake the Town and Tell the People presents, for the first time, a lively, nuanced, and comprehensive view of this musical and cultural phenomenon: its growth and historical role within Jamaican society, its economy of star making, its technology of production, its performative practices, and its capacity to channel political beliefs through popular culture in ways that are urgent, tangible, and lasting.
Norman C. Stolzoff brings a fan’s enthusiasm to his broad perspective on dancehall, providing extensive interviews, original photographs, and anthropological analysis from eighteen months of fieldwork in Kingston. Stolzoff argues that this enormously popular musical genre expresses deep conflicts within Jamaican society, not only along lines of class, race, gender, sexuality, and religion but also between different factions struggling to gain control of the island nation’s political culture. Dancehall culture thus remains a key arena where the future of this volatile nation is shaped. As his argument unfolds, Stolzoff traces the history of Jamaican music from its roots in the late eighteenth century to 1945, from the addition of sound systems and technology during the mid-forties to early sixties, and finally through the post-independence years from the early sixties to the present.
Wake the Town and Tell the People offers a general introduction for those interested in dancehall music and culture. For the fan or musicologist, it will serve as a comprehensive reference book.
Customer Reviews:
Comprehensive Dancehall Reference!.......2003-08-27
This is an excellant book, written by a genuinely knowledgeable scholar of dancehall music and Jamaican popular culture. Dr. Stolzoff has done an incredible amount of research for this book and puts it altogether with Wake The Town. A must for all reggae and dancehall afficionados. This book will be a classic for a long time.
Exceptional Research Study.......2001-02-28
I would like to commend Mr. Stolzoff for an in depth and enjoyable study of dancehall reggae. Being a dancehall fan for some time now, it's wonderful to see the music and culture being taken seriously. Ready first hand accounts of artists like the great Tenor Saw was an unexpected and exciting part of the book. Mr. Stolzoff goes indept as he discusses the origins of dancehall back to Africa right up to today with the top artists like Buju Banton, Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Sizzla, etc etc. As Ricky Trooper says in the begining of the book, if you haven't been to the dancehall before, you wouldn't understand it, dancehall it something that you have to experience. Great reading!
A Whole New Insight to Jamaican Music!.......2000-10-06
As a lover of the creative, colorful and very controversial culture known as Jamaican dancehall, I received this book ecstatically, but I wasn't quite sure of what to expect. I mean, this is a world that changes so rapidly that any attempts to document it have felt outdated even before their ink dried. I thought Stolzoff would play it safe and keep his approach as superficial as possible-a nice coffee table book perhaps, filled with eye-pleasing full-color pix of scantily-dressed dancehall queens, posturing dapper dons, maybe even the occasional text paragraph with amusing tidbits like, "Whatever happened to Wayne 'Sleng Teng' Smith?" Instead, I found a meticulously researched study packed with so much detail that several times I had to "wheel back and come again" (re-read pages) in order to digest it all.
Of course, this isn't the first piece of writing to cast a critical eye on dancehall; but past discussions (helmed mostly by staunch roots reggae apologists who make no bones about expressing their view of the subject as an anti-musical ebola responsible for devouring the innards of upright, "real" reggae as exemplified by the likes of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Burning Spear), irrespective of whether they have been pro- or anti-dancehall, have all revolved to varying degrees around the old dancehall "reggae" vs. "traditional" reggae issue.
Stolzoff distinguishes himself from the pack by sidestepping that stumbling block altogether: In (what I think is) a revolutionary move, he posits ALL Jamaican music, in essence, as dancehall-from the creolized drum and fiddle music of 18th century slave frolics to the thundering amplified bass blaring from contemporary Kingston sound systems. In short, he sees dancehall not as a distinct genre of music, but as an interactive method of experiencing music that might be specifically Jamaican.
Stolzoff's an anthropologist, not a rock critic, so rather than examining the music in isolation, he reconstructs the world that is dancehall's context, starting from the beginning with the sound systems, the cornerstone of the Jamaican music world.( Stolzoff scores a major coup by including extensive interviews with sound system pioneers like Hedley Jones, who provide a lot of insight into the Jamaican music experience prior to the birth of the local music industry-all other books on reggae up until this time have summed the whole era up in a sentence or two). Upon that foundation, Stolzoff layers the various social and ideological trends that have shaped the dancehall: rude boys, Rastafar-I, fashion, technology... You come to see that as chaotic as the dancehall universe appears to be, it is a well-ordered cosmology where everything has its place: sexuality, piety, violence, flamboyance, humility... They can all co-exist.
What I really, really love is the "career trajectory" Stolzoff maps out from his observation of the dancehall field. Using many of the aspiring and established dancehall stars he befriended, Stolzoff illustrates the stages of a career as a performer in the dancehall economy-which is an actual economy that employs millions of Jamaicans in various capacities.
I think this is definitely an important book and a complete must-read not only for fans of Jamaican music, but for anybody interested in the way that music and culture intersect with the daily lives of its participants.
The Definitive Book on Dancehall Music.......2000-09-26
This book is too incredible to believe. For those of us who are into dancehall, when we are in the midst of it, study and academia seem so far away. I never thought it was something that someone could record on paper and carry the true vibes of the whole thing. Stolzoff has not only captured the vibes of the dancehall itself, but also the vibes of life for the dancehall community, the economy, and the realities of Jamaica today. For anyone who ever wanted to get away from the tourist fakeries of what you think Jamaica and reggae music are all about, this book is for you. Of course there is nothing like the true experience of the dancehall itself, but outside of that, this book is the next best thing. Buy this book, you won't regret it. Even most of us Jamaicans, can learn a thing or two from it. And for my anthropologists out there, this book is the most gripping, meaningful ethnography since Bourgois' "In Search of Respect : Selling Crack in El Barrio".
Wonderful book for scholars, students and fans.......2000-07-26
As funky, ferocious, and fun as any big beat coming out a sound system in downtown Kingston on a summer night, this book brings Jamaican dancehall to life with some scintillating prose 'riddims'. A sensitive and vivid writer and a longtime student of all things Jamaican, Stolzoff goes everywhere, knows everyone, and brings it all together in the best book on popular culture that I have read in years. A must-read for anyone interested in contemporary music, African-American studies, or the Caribbean. Kudos also to the publisher for creating a beautifully designed book, with many superb photos from Stolzoff's camera. This book will be a classic for many years to come.
Randy Lewis Assistant Professor of American Studies University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma
Average customer rating:
|
Roots (Ann Arbor Paperbacks)
Kamau Brathwaite
Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Popular Culture
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
African-American Studies
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| African American
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Classics
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
African American
| History & Criticism
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Literary Theory
| History & Criticism
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Native American
| History & Criticism
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| Classics
| Contemporary
| General
| Historical
| Humor
| Letters & Correspondence
| Middle
| Old
| Poetry
| Renaissance
| Shakespeare
| Short Stories
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Criticism & Theory
| History & Criticism
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Caribbean & Latin American
| History & Criticism
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Entertainment Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Fiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0472065440 |
Book Description
A compelling foray into the character of Caribbean literature and the formidable role of African expression in its development.
Book Description
Images of Jamaica and the Bahamas as tropical paradises full of palm trees, white sandy beaches, and inviting warm water seem timeless. Surprisingly, the origins of those images can be traced back to the roots of the islands’ tourism industry in the 1880s. As Krista A. Thompson explains, in the late nineteenth century, tourism promoters, backed by British colonial administrators, began to market Jamaica and the Bahamas as picturesque âtropicalâ paradises. They hired photographers and artists to create carefully crafted representations, which then circulated internationally via postcards and illustrated guides and lectures.
Illustrated with more than one hundred images, including many in color, An Eye for the Tropics is a nuanced evaluation of the aesthetics of the âtropicalizing imagesâ and their effects on Jamaica and the Bahamas. Thompson describes how representations created to project an image to the outside world altered everyday life on the islands. Hoteliers imported tropical plants to make the islands look more like the images. Many prominent tourist-oriented spaces, including hotels and famous beaches, became off-limits to the islands’ black populations, who were encouraged to act like the disciplined, loyal colonial subjects depicted in the pictures.
Analyzing the work of specific photographers and artists who created tropical representations of Jamaica and the Bahamas between the 1880s and the 1930s, Thompson shows how their images differ from the English picturesque landscape tradition. Turning to the present, she examines how tropicalizing images are deconstructed in works by contemporary artistsâincluding Christopher Cozier, David Bailey, and Irénée Shawâat the same time that they remain a staple of postcolonial governments’ vigorous efforts to attract tourists.
Book Description
"Now everybody loves Puerto Rican culture," says a Puerto Rican schoolteacher and festival organizer, "but that's exactly the problem." Thus begins this major examination of cultural nationalism as a political construct involving party ideologies, corporate economic goals, and grassroots cultural groups.
Author Arlene Dávila focuses on the Institute for Puerto Rican Culture, the government institution charged with defining authenticated views of national identity since the 1950s, and on popular festival organizers to illuminate contestations over appropriate representations of culture in the increasingly mass-mediated context of contemporary Puerto Rico. She examines the creation of an essentialist view of nationhood based on a peasant culture and a "unifying" Hispanic heritage, and the ways in which grassroots organizations challenge and reconfigure definitions of national identity through their own activities and representations.
Dávila pays particular attention to the increasing prominence of corporate sponsorship in determining what is distinguished as authentic "Puerto Rican culture" and discusses the politicization of culture as a discourse to debate and legitimize conflicting claims from selling commercial products to advocating divergent status options for the island. In so doing, Dávila illuminates the prospects for cultural identities in an increasingly transnational context by showing the growth of cultural nationalism to be intrinsically connected to forms of political action directed to the realm of culture and cultural politics. This in-depth examination also makes clear that despite contemporary concerns with "authenticity," commercialism is an inescapable aspect of all cultural expressions on the island.
Customer Reviews:
One of the best books on Puerto Rico, a must read........2001-08-01
This is a very acute study of cultural politics in Puerto Rico. The author exposes the dynamics that make culture such an important forum to debate identity among Puerto Ricans on the island and abroad. It is an excellent book and a must read for anyone interested in contemporary Puerto Rican studies.
Offers a good case study of state sponsored culture........1998-07-11
After reading this book I can say that Davila offers a good case study of the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture has historically acted as an authority which sanctions specific cultural products/practices as Puerto Rican. Her description of the struggle over authenticity at the Bacardi Festival is excellent. However, her analysis of how identity/ies are negotiated and framed suffers for lack of theoretical rigour. Her understanding of nationalism and her notion of nationalism as somehow inclusive is a case in point. This book also betrays a lack of historical knowledge about Puerto Rican political history as a number of errors concerning political party history appear in the text. The main value of this book is as an empirical case study on which others can build a serious analysis of how culture and identity are contested in Puerto Rico.
Average customer rating:
|
Culture and Customs of Chile (Culture and Customs of Latin America and the Caribbean)
Guillermo I. Castillo-Feliu
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Chile
| South America
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| South America
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Social History
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Cultural
| Anthropology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Customs & Traditions
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Culture
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Ethnic Studies
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside History Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0313307830 |
Book Description
Chile's natural beauty, fascinating history, cultural traditions, and warm people are uniquely evoked in Culture and Customs of Chile. Chilean American Castillo-Feliu effectively conveys how Chile's geography has helped to shape it into a modern, socially responsible model in Latin America. Students and other readers will learn how this small country has contributed to the hemisphere's stature, from a stable political scene to seafood-inspired cuisine. Chile's lively history forms the backdrop for a survey of a wealth of social riches. The literary lion Pablo Neruda, Andean music, and fine wine are just a few of the highlights found herein. Because it has been such a model country, except for a troubled period in the 1970s and 1980s under the dictator Augusto Pinochet, Chile often stays out of headline news in the United States. Through chapters on history and people, religion, social customs, broadcasting and print media, literature, performing arts, and the arts and architecture, Culture and Customs of Chile will introduce Chile to a wider audience who can appreciate its understated charms. A chronology and appendix of the Spanish of Chile are indispensable aids.
Average customer rating:
|
Tropical Kitsch: Media in Latin American Literature and Art
Lidia Santos
Manufacturer: Markus Wiener Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Popular Culture
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Media Studies
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Central America
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Caribbean & Latin American
| History & Criticism
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Entertainment Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside History Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Fiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1558763546 |
Book Description
Review of the Spanish Edition: "Santos takes a keen look at the way mass culture has influenced artistic production in Latin America during the past 40 years. Santos maintains that the use of kitsch, camp, and cursi ("ostentatious") devices by certain writers and artists in the form of mass media products like romance novels, radio and telenovelas, tangos and boleros, and `40s and `50s U.S. films, has helped them surpass realism…. Santos explores the social and political implications of art, music, and literature by using theoretical frameworks of cultural studies and queer theory. The author provides a detailed table of contents with extensive notes, a bibliography, a discography, an appendix with song lyrics, and b&w images. This ambitious and fascinating work is also a wonderful read. In addition to being an academic, Santos is a creative writer with two books of short stories published, and her writing skills are fully in place here. A significant contribution to the study of Latin American literature and art, queer studies, and cultural studies, this book is highly recommended for academic libraries and bookstores." —Criticas
Book Description
Like many Caribbean nations, Trinidad has felt the effects of globalization on its economy, politics, and expressive culture. Even Carnival, once a clandestine folk celebration, has been transformed into a major transnational festival. In Trinidad Carnival, Garth L. Green, Philip W. Scher, and an international group of scholars explore Carnival as a reflection of the nation and culture of Trinidad and Trinidadians worldwide. The nine essays cover topics such as women in Carnival, the politics and poetics of Carnival, Carnival and cultural memory, Carnival as a tourist enterprise, the steelband music of Carnival, Calypso music on the world stage, Carnival and rap, and Carnival as a global celebration. For readers interested in the history and current expression of Carnival, this volume offers a multidimensional and transnational view of Carnival as a representation of Trinidad and Caribbean culture everywhere.
Contributors are Robin Balliger, Shannon Dudley, Pamela R. Franco, Patricia A. de Freitas, Ray Funk, Garth L. Green, Donald R. Hill, Lyndon Phillip, Victoria Razak, and Philip W. Scher.
Book Description
The language of Jamaican popular cultureâits folklore, idioms, music, poetry, songâeven when written is based on a tradition of sound, an orality that has often been denigrated as not worthy of serious study. In Noises in the Blood, Carolyn Cooper critically examines the dismissed discourse of Jamaica’s vibrant popular culture and reclaims these cultural forms, both oral and textual, from an undeserved neglect.
Cooper’s exploration of Jamaican popular culture covers a wide range of topics, including Bob Marley’s lyrics, the performance poetry of Louise Bennett, Mikey Smith, and Jean Binta Breeze, Michael Thelwell’s novelization of The Harder They Come, the Sistren Theater Collective’s Lionheart Gal, and the vitality of the Jamaican DJ culture. Her analysis of this cultural "noise" conveys the powerful and evocative content of these writers and performers and emphasizes their contribution to an undervalued Caribbean identity. Making the connection between this orality, the feminized Jamaican "mother tongue," and the characterization of this culture as low or coarse or vulgar, she incorporates issues of gender into her postcolonial perspective. Cooper powerfully argues that these contemporary vernacular forms must be recognized as genuine expressions of Jamaican culture and as expressions of resistance to marginalization, racism, and sexism.
With its focus on the continuum of oral/textual performance in Jamaican culture, Noises in the Blood, vividly and stylishly written, offers a distinctive approach to Caribbean cultural studies.
Book Description
The pictorial genre known as casta painting is one of the most compelling forms of artistic expression from colonial Mexico. Created as sets of consecutive images, the works portray racial mixing among the main groups that inhabited the colony: Indians, Spaniards, and Africans. In this beautifully illustrated book, Ilona Katzew places casta paintings in their social and historical context, showing for the first time the ways in which the meanings of the paintings changed along with shifting colonial politics.
The book examines how casta painting developed art historically, why race became the subject of a pictorial genre that spanned an entire century, who commissioned and collected the works, and what meanings the works held for contemporary audiences. Drawing on a range of previously unpublished archival and visual material, Katzew sheds new light on racial dynamics of eighteenth-century Mexico and on the construction of identity and self-image in the colonial world.
Customer Reviews:
A gem of a book!.......2007-02-07
This book is written very nicely. The tone is very personnal and to an extent intimate. The difficult subject is treated very well. The painting reproductions are of great quality. The research is very complete.
the best casta painting book in english.......2005-01-27
I had been waiting for years for someone to put together a comprehensive book on the casta painting genre. The book contains many, many beautiful reproductions and there are even ones that I had not seen before. And Katzew's thesis on the subject puts together every other piece of information I have ever been able to find in one place and weaves in her own views. In todays society we can learn a lot about how we work in regards to race politics from casta painting and this book in particular.
Books:
- Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture
- Prince of Persia(R): Warrior Within Official Strategy Guide (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames))
- Quilting News of Yesteryear: 1,000 Pieces and Counting
- Race Series Collection (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, 3 Book Slipcased Set)
- Renegade Kids, Suburban Outlaws: From Youth Culture to Delinquency (Contemporary Issues in Crime and Justice Series.)
- Resident Evil 4 Official Strategy Guide (PS2) (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames))
- Retrofitting Blade Runner: Issues in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and Phillip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back
- Self-Working Card Tricks (Cards, Coins, and Other Magic)
- Shadowrun, Fourth Edition
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Think Like Your Customer: A Winning Strategy to Maximize Sales by Understanding and Influencing How
- Plantation Homes of Louisiana and the Natchez Area
- Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography
- Looking for Love in All the Small Spaces
- Second Life: The Official Guide
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
- Rocky Mountain Flora: A Field Guide for the Identification of the Ferns, Conifers, and Flowering Pla
- Study Guide, Volume I Chapters 1-12 for use with Fundamental Accounting Principles
- Ibbotson Associates Stocks, Bonds, Bills and Inflation 2003
- Superman: Birthright
The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies
Imagineering Field Guide to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, The
Imagineering Field Guide to Epcot at Walt Disney World, The
Modern Marvels - Walt Disney World (History Channel)
Walt Disney's Legends of Imagineering and the Genesis of the Disney Theme Park
