"With more than 400 spectacular colour photographs, this lavish volume provides one of the clearest pictures ever of Art Deco"

BRITISH ART DECO CERAMICS (with Price Guide) by Colin Mawston is a major new reference work on the Pottery produced during the 1920/30s, by British designers. Published by Schiffers in luxurious format, It is a hardback Book with 178 pages and over 400 colour photographs. The Book features the work of Clarice Cliff ( with over 150 photos), Susie Cooper, Shelley, Myott, Sadler, Crown Devon, Carlton Ware, Burleigh Ware, and many other lesser known Potteries. Included are Chapters on "The contribution of British Art Deco", "Introduction to Art Deco", and "Collecting Art Deco Ceramics". The Book will serve as an Introduction to the subject for the new collector and act as a valuable reference for the more seasoned collector. As well as a vast array of photographic examples, it covers the practical side of collecting including where to buy, how to buy and how to identify British Art Deco Ceramics. Dynamic and beautiful Art Deco ceramics blazing with eye-catching, bold--even confrontational--hand-painted designs on innovative vessel forms, produced by some of the most influential potteries in Britain during the 1920s and 1930s, are featured here in the many colour photographs. Spectacular dinnerwares, vases, jugs, face masks, coffee and tea sets appear in abundance. A thorough text provides brief histories of the makers, explanations of the origins and development of the Art Deco style, and valuable tips for today's enthusiastic collectors. Values for the wares displayed are given. This reference will be enjoyed by both art and ceramics enthusiasts the world over.

This is the most complete Royal Commemorative book I have yet to come across. It shows color and black and white photos of Royal Commemorative collectables past and present. With descriptive information and value. I am a avid collector and I consider this book to be my Bible. A must have for anyone who collects or is simply interested in the British Monarchy.

If you have any interest in the Royal Family, in history, or in items commemorating significant events relating to the Royal Family, then this is a book you simply can't do without. Whether you're a collector, an enthusiast, or simply curious about the vast spectrum of items available, you will find this book a sheer delight. Color plates and an extensive black & white collector and price guide make this book invaluable for collectors, appraisers, or anyone interested in the growing fascination with the Royal Family - and the investment opportunities associated with commemorative items. Doug Flynn and Alan Bolton have set a benchmark that others will struggle to ever improve upon. Highly recommended.

A very original way of binding to keep the idea of a scroll. The quality of the paper and images is very good. A book to be collected.

While not a textbook or a 'fieldguide' to Buddhist practice and belief, THE BUDDHA SCROLL is an amazing visual treat, a fantastic technical achievement and a delight to all those who enjoy the study of iconology. Image after image unfolds before the eyes revealing Buddhas,Bodhisattvas,Dieties and Notables from every school of Buddhism- from the most familliar (Avalokisteshvara) to the more obscure (White Leaf Buddha Mother). An eclectic collection of imagery with a fascinating history which is well expounded in the consise introduction... you get more than you would expect from the price.

I'm not a practicing Tibetan Buddhist, but I've acquired a fair amount of knowledge through osmosis: I do volunteer work for a Tibetan refugee relief organization. One slow afternoon in our shop, I picked up this book to improve my knowledge of the iconography in the graphics we sell, and was blown away. Not only has the author written a clear, readable explication of the symbolism, but the book is also a terrific introduction to fundamental Tibetan Buddhist beliefs. The average Tibetan may not be able to elucidate the intricacies of the sacred texts, or practice the stylized form of debate that forms an important part of a monk's training. But the book gives great insight into what this average Tibetan actually believes. Now I feel I have a better understanding of how the Tibetans' Buddhism has sustained them through persecution, exile, and attempts by the Chinese government to stamp out their culture. (And the Fur-Bearing Fish isn't a refugee from a Dr. Seuss book, but a symbol with profound meaning.) This is a great little book, and I recommend it enthusiastically.

I'm 52 years old and was fairly smug about what I had learned after 20 years or so of pretty serious reading. Then into my life, through the miracle of "amazon.comm" comes by Dagyab Rinpoche: hold on to your beliefs folks: get ready for a roller-coaster ride through Tibetan philosophy as translated from that philosophical language: German. And at the end there are instructions on how to take care of and treat the book and other books of similar nature. Scary

I love this novel. It's a panorama of life in China as seen by an American missionary from 1906 until the 1950s. The author was the son of a China missionary and most of the events in the book are historical -- althought the main character, Treadup, is fictional -- a composite of sorts for all the missionaries in China. "The Call" achieves a feeling of absolute authenticity.

This is a long exhaustive book. The first hundred pages or so are devoted in Treadup's early life in upstate New York and the reader may be forgiven if he is impatient with the plodding pace. The story picks up when Treadup gets to China as it details his adventures, doubts, and misteps, all worked into the political and social framework of the time. Treadup's journeys -- both physical and spiritual -- are long and arduous and ultimately this is a sad book.

Missionaries are out of fashion these days, but their cause -- the spread of Western civilization -- is still alive. If he lived today, Treadup would not be a missionary, but rather an activist for Tibetan independence, a friend of Bono, a board member of Amnesty International, and a tireless crusader against gender inequality. Will today's secular "missionaries" succeed where Treadup failed?

I don't know of any other novel that probes more deeply and seriously into the life, times, and mind of a China missionary. We live intimately with Treadup and when his life is over, we wonder, as he did, whether it was all worth it.

"...Yes, there on the embankment outside the compound I had a small boy feeling. Chores were over. Only now, aged 65, do I realize how sweet the chores had always been. Inside the barn, inside the compound wall, I had been free -- busy, orderly, useful. Released, I felt at loose ends. A great deal had happened to me in Yin Xin camp, and now all I could feel was a paradox: the loss of the freedom of confinement." p.698

When I first picked up The Call, I fully expected a well-crafted, rich historiography of China; a novel concentrating on the time period at the turn of the 19th century, through five decades of foreign influence & interaction that finally shaped the terms on which the Communist Revolution was founded. What I did not expect, and was pleasantly surprised to find, was the philosophical depth of Hersey's characters; they were vehicles of an evolution of human thought. Hersey explores both the spiritual and the applied philanthropy of Christianity. Spiritually, the main character David Treadup was a General of the Lord whose application was saving souls: an idyllic gift between humans. Hersey questioned the application, and uncovered its shallow areas. The dilemma of belief without evidence. In response, the character of Treadup tried to justify Christianity with evidence; he used science lectures as his conveyance. There was terrific interest on behalf of the Chinese. Treadup felt that by awakening the Chinese to the laws of science, he was awakening them the laws of the Lord. His fantastic success with the lectures brought on self-doubt. He questioned purpose. Was he a science professor or a missionary? Science ceased to be an acceptable role for him to wear if that wasn't what he was about... there was no connection between his lectures and spiritual redemption. He questioned what he was actually bringing the Chinese, science or religion,... but most importantly he questioned what he wanted to bring.

As the novel develops, Treadup gains experience and insight, he shifts his focus from science lectures to a literary campaign. With fantastic energy and zeal, he rolls up sleeves and takes on the task of teaching the peasantry to read and write. All over the countryside he sets up local schools. After the literary campaign Treadup introduces agricultural reform. He continues to answer the noble call, but by serving functional needs he is moving further, and further away from addressing spiritual ones. As he was with the science lectures, Treadup is again plagued with doubt. He is not saving souls, and in fact is questioning the legitimacy of his religious calling when so many greater needs stand out.

It is not until Treadup is a Japanese POW that he begins to answer the questions that have plagued him for years. In the prison camp he belongs to a group. The camp depends on him like it depends on all the individuals that make up the whole, the goal is survival. Treadup doesn't have to identify need, need has identified him. From his fellow prisoners he hears the Call, and realizes his original draw to Christianity was not religion, or saving souls, but being needed and employing his extraordinary ability to successfully meet that need.

If you're into movies like Good Will Hunting, you'll like this book. The author walks us through the lives of his fellow prisoners while he relats his time spent in the prison. It was Cultural Revolution, many of the prisoners he came across were highly intelligent and well educated. Yang therefore made the best out of the time he had to spend there by learning English, Algebra, and Calculus from his fellow inmates. It's a tragic tale that so many people were jailed because their political views sway a fraction away from that mandated by the government, yet they were exactly the ones who have the knowledge and know-hows to improve the country's economy and living standards. It's also a uplifting tale because you see Yang dug himself out of the troubles he encountered, made it out of the prison, and now became an established economist. He has not let his past kept him hostage like many dissidents Chinese who migrated to the West. A fine tale about humanity and the will to survive that's inside us all. The chinese version of this book is also published by OUP.

One of the most famous Chinese novelist BA Jing was also a "captive spirit" during the "Great Cultural Revolution". He kept reciting Divine Comedy in order to help himself endure the adversity. He always believes, there must be a new Dante some day to write a new Divine Comedy. Now I finally find this new Divine Comedy. Please have a read and get to know what is the Inferno in the communist China. You'll find the reason why the communism has to die.

Because U.S. Corporations has invested billions of dollars into joint ventures in China, they feared change. An overthrow of the Communist regime might cost them billions. As a consequence they appealed to Bush Senior to do all he could to defeat the democratic movement. CIA agents spied on the students and reported their findings to the Chinese Communist leaders. It was an ugly married between big business and the Chinese ruthless dictatorship. The author documents this well. One cannot doubt the accuracy of the book. I was there. I saw the massacre at Muxidi. As an eye witness I can vouch for its accuracy.

Good book ! its incredibal what happened to those
students in China , they thought Bush would help them,
but Bush and his busness partners were more interested
in looking after there own interast s . My heart goes out to the students . I liked how the book was written .

Charlie Two Shoes is a fascinating story of one man's friendship with a group of US Marines and his incredible perseverence in getting re-united with them. Peterson and Perlmutt tell the story through Charlie's eyes and those of his Marine pals. They give us an intriguing look at life behind the Bamboo Curtain. More amazing than Charlie's budding friendship -- he was around the Marines for about four years as a teenager -- is his enduring perseverance in keeping his dream of a reunion alive. The dream survived decades, including years in a Chinese prison and more under house arrest in his small village. After all that, his eventual reunion in the U.S. had drama of its own. One Marine buddy turned out to be more interested in his own fortunes than Charlie's,and Charlie's efforts to stay got mired as much in domestic politics as international. A good read by gifted writers.

Charlie Two Shoes and the Marines of Love Company is not only an inspiring story about friendships and loyalty, but also an excellent retelling of some little known American history. Set in Northern China starting at the end of World War II and continuing to recent times, the reader will learn about the atrocities visited upon the Chinese peasantry by the Japanese, the communist take over of China and America's futile efforts to stop it, the severe poverty and starvation the Chinese people endured, and the political repression and corruption that continued for years. Into the shadows of these desolate and hopeless conditions, the warmth and charity that the American Marines and missionaries brought with them to China and to a young boy, nick-named Charlie, shine brightly. The reader is invited on a journey through Charlie's life of joys and travails, but is pulled aside by the authors from time to time for some excellent and concise description of the historical context. Thus this true tale of friendship and suffering also enables the reader to also learn the larger story of the historical events which ultimately were its cause.

As an amateur historian, I like to read books about historical events that are to the point, without belaboring details, but that read "like a novel". Children of the Dragon opened my eyes to the Tiananmen Square incident in a big way with personal accounts of many of the Chinese who were actually there and involved in what happened, and with many photos that captured the action and emotion. This book is a must-read for complacent Americans to learn to appreciate their own democracy, and to support those who die to have one. My heart went out to China and those brave, idealistic students who tried to change it.

This compilation of eye-witness accounts gathered from students, foreign and domestic journalists, professors, PLA men, and workers serves as a memorial for the Tiananment incident, and provides the reader with a minute-by-minute chronology of events. Some of those events are the hunger strike, Gorbachev's visit, student meetings with the leadership, and power struggles within student factions... "Children Of the Dragon" also has printed many of the statements and declarations made by members of student and government factions. This is an excellent, riveting account of the events surrounding the massacre, from Hu Yaobang's death on April 15th to the CCP's crackdown and pursuit of "instigators" through June 5-6.

Everyone who wants to really understand modern China should read this book. The author captured the political turmoil and tragedy of culture revolution, and the everyday Chinese life with many captivating human stories from all walks of Chinese society. The book was published in 1982. I wish the author could go back to China and write an update book on the changes in the last twenty years.

I also suggest reading Ayn Rand's Anthem together with this book

The magnitude of suffering that the Chinese have endured this century is truly inconceivable. This book helps one to relate to it through the stories of those Chinese that Mr. Butterfield was able to talk to, not too long after the Cultural Revolution ended. It really makes one think: How does such a period of mass cultural insanity happen? Is it just a result of economics and youthful demographics? Could it happen anywhere? Was it no different than the nazis or the Khmer Rouge or the Inquisition? Are we even in such a period now, and dont know it? Mr. Butterfield does a valuable service in preserving this record of human suffering and endurance.