Westerns Books

I received these cds well on time, and upon discovering they were the wrong cd set the return also took place quickly.

If you're a music student at almost any major school (I just finished my undergraduate at Indiana University, for example) you'll most likely need to take a course that uses these CD's as part of its history survey. For that purpose, this set is an excellent collection. These, with their companion Norton Anthology of Western Music, and in conjunction with Grout/Palisca's History of Western Music, make for a thorough survey of the roots and history of Western music. Both the History and the Anthology use these CD's, and make constant references to them. (At least, up until 1750, after which you'll need the second volume)

Having said that, however, i'm afraid that these CD's are limited to their intended purpose. Obviously, there would be absolutely no way to have a comprehensive collection of music and text be affordable to an average college student. As it is, the Grout, Norton, and CD's total about $200 total. However, for that cost they provide an extremely good survey of Western music. A student can follow historical developments through the music, and learn an enormous amount from these CD's. They provide a fairly good cross-section of different styles of major composers, and even a few examples of lesser known composers. One is far less likely to criticize the music of the twentieth century, for example, if one finds that Gesualdo (of the late 16th century) was writing music that was MUCH stranger than anything before the turn of the twentieth century.

For someone outside of the music school (who will most likely be required to buy these anyway), these are also an excellent (and comparatively affordable) way to survey the mainstream and less-mainstream trends in Western music. The recordings are all relatively high-quality, often using historical instruments and interpretations (something important to a student of musical history) and providing a good introduction to classical music.

For that reason, then, i recommend these to the casual listener as a good introduction to Western music. If you seek a "greatest hits" album, these are not that; go buy those Time-Life things they advertise on television. This is rather a serious collection of music from as many different styles as allowable while still maintaining some depth. The only thing that keeps the fifth star empty is the lack (by necessity, though i must admit) of a more wide-ranging selection of music. Despite that, they are still an excellent buy. The casual listener of classical music should find these to be a valuable introduction to the well known, and also the more obscure realms of early music.

The CDs in this set are not packaged in standard jewelboxes nor even in cheap sleeves, but are mounted directly atop a printed surface. As a result, when I purchased the set from my school bookstore, I found that several of the CDs had dried flecks of ink on the data side that made it impossible to play or rip certain tracks. Beware.

I recommend this book to professors and students for its clarity, conciseness and simplicity. Russano-Hanning's "Concise History of Western Music" serves well as a stimulus to inspire questions, discussion, and interactive teaching which ultimately leads to the best learning. Her books on Music History convey that music is not and has not been created in a vacuum but is a reflection of the cultural ambience and events of society. She teaches that music reflects philosophy and politics, that it mingles with art, literature, and sciences, and that music expresses the biology, environment and relationships of the composers. Barbara Russano-Hanning is one of the most intelligent professors at The City College of New York and certainly the best in Music. I have taken several of her classes and her teaching inspired me to make Music History a focus of study for a great understanding of life and the world in general. Don't expect all the answers about music in one book but expect to be very inspired to seek more and more knowledge about music as an expression of life. I highly recommend this professor's books and lectures.

I know the author of this book and took a class with her. She is quite knowledgable. This book goes well as a compliment to the Western Anthology of Music to expand upon the scores and history. There are many pictures within this book that help to visualize the feel of the time periods and movements in art. It can be useful to see the parallels in music and visual art.

I chose this title because I wanted to get a sense of the history of classical music, its development and the lives of composers. I like classical music but my knowledge of it is sporadic at best, so this book seemed like a good starting point to build up some more structured knowledge, and to be introduced to music previously unknown to me.

While quite informative, I was disappointed by the book. The writing is really rather dry, and failed to convey any enthusiasm about music. This, I think, is a crucial lack. Music is intended to animate, not to bore. I expected to be inspired, and get lots of ideas about what music to explore, but sadly I wasn't. Has it not been shown over and over that one can write academically sound works without presenting the material in a clear but emotionless manner?

There are also some strange omissions in the book. For instance, Bach's Goldberg Variations are mentioned, but why they are called this is not in the text. Finally, I have the distinct feeling the book also sometimes presents information of questionable accuracy as true. Composer's lives tend to spark many legends which, though amusing, are usually completely false. The story that Rameau was such a nag that he reproached the priest who came to his deathbed for poor chanting is presented as true, but I would guess that it has the status of an emblematic anecdote, not historical fact.

If anyone knows of a book which gives a slightly more inspiring history of western music, please let me know!

I've used this book for Music History 1 and 2, and after having spent the past year studying from this book regularly, I have to say it is one of the worst textbooks I have ever used. When reading, it becomes obvious very quickly that the text has been condensed from a much larger work, and the author has very little knowledge about the material itself. The language is flowery and vague, and the author spends most of her time simply praising the composer or the work as "wonderful", "influential", "brilliant", and all kinds of other useless adjectives. I've spent hours reading this book only to begin a test that asks for an essay on Brahms and realize how painfully little I actually know about him. You will read through several pages on a composer only to learn the most basic facts about his life, and a short list of works he composed. The rest is garbage. The accessibility of the language is tempting, but save yourself hours of wasted time and find a different book.

I have been using Hanning's Concise History Vol. 2 in my Music History classes. I have found it an excellent tool. She uses standard excerpts often throughout the text with original manuscript citings and easily understood analyses. Each of the chapters begins with an excellent overview and ends with a review. Both are a strong broad cross section of historic context. Excellent period artwork in full color is included.

The teachers manual gives a good overview and can be used in class to teach from. The quizzes are appropriate and emphasize material that is most significant to each chapter. If I were to write a manual I would want to include what she has.

The anthology, CD and print, are well done and affordable. I have found the recordings she uses to be excellent in quality and fitting to each of the periods. I have struggles with this in other publisher's works especially with regard to the price. My students have told me they listen to these CDs long after the class has ended.

I do wish there was more from the current period, especially with regard for Rock, Pop and Contemporary Christian Music Culture. That said I think Hanning has done an exceptional job in capturing a concise history of western music culture.

All I can add to the many thoughtful reviews here is this:
I've read very few works of fiction that have provoked a profound paradigm shift. This is one of the ones that did.
I couldn't look up from the pages and the story will stay with me for life.
I feel I owe a debt of gratitude to the author for her glorious writing and for helping me to see out of the eyes of someone from another culture. Not an easy book at times, if you're someone who can be caught up by a good writer's story. But not to be missed.

A serious and special read -- highly recommended for the spirit seeker or the simply interetsed in a tale of soul searching.

Stepping Off the Edge: Learning & Living Spiritual Practice
A classic in Native American literature, Ceremony tells the story of Tayo, a young Native man who returns from W.W.II with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Silko's masterful writing interweaves the personal, social and societal causes for Tayo's illness with traditional Native legends and cures. Beautiful, inspiring and very harsh. Like Tayo's life. A stellar book. I have a list of study questions our Book Review used in examining this book. E mail me if you want them.

It is beautifully written. The main character becomes someone you want to know and love. It fills your heart with sadness and hope.

Tayo is a half-white Laguna Indian suffering from the after-effects of his experiences in WWII. When he returns home, he is unable to find his place among his old friends or his family. Over time and with the help of a medicine man Tayo discovers his connection to the land and to ancient rituals. I liked the interspersed myths/poems (which are mixed into the narrative), but the landscape descriptions became tedious over time for me.

My stats professor used the 2nd edition of this text for my MBA statistics class. It's a very readable book that explains the topics clearly and simply. You can almost teach yourself the material from the book without need of a professor. I recently re-read portions of the book for another class and found it easy to pick up the topics again. I wish that all of my texts were this well written. If you need a great book on statistics, then this is the one.

My experience was great, I got the book I needed at a great price and got it quickly!!

it's a text book. i needed it for class. if you need it for class too, then i'm sure it'll work out great.

I ordered this book because it was cheaper then on other sites. I bought it new for the purpose of not having to buy an additional access code for my online class. Since when bought new the access code to WebCT should come in the new book. I received the book with no CD. So after all that, I still had to pay an additional fee for a code when it should have came with the book. A very big hassle. I called customer service and all they said they could do was send me another book if I returned the book I had purchased to them. That would be an 8 week turn around, and by that time I would have been half way through my class. So instead I had to purchases the code on my own. I will not buy books from Amazon again. There are other text book web sites that understand the demands of buying books for schools.

I found the text to be well written. Mr. Tucker is very thorough and yet concise in his layout of the chapters and it is very easy to read. The charts and graphs really illustrate what is being discussed and each section has a review section to reinforce what you have just read.

As a student who regularly fell asleep over most textbooks, I was really surprised to be able to read through this book feeling like I was reading a magazine. It was actually kind of fun. It's very well-organized, but I was able to skip around to the topics I most needed to know about in any order without feeling like I'd "missed" something. BUSN provides a very complete introduction to many business topics, and the examples and scenarios are very timely and relevant, very "now." The graphics, colors, and layouts are super too. I didn't feel like I was reading something meant for my parents. I wish more textbooks and business books were available in this format; check it out!

Easy to follow, interesting to read. BUSN is one of the best textbooks I have had in university. This is broad in its scope, but addresses important business topics and terminology in sufficient detail that allowed me to confidently go on in my business studies. It didn't seem like a textbook, but more like an informal meeting with my professor during office hours. I especially liked the graphics and capsules in each chapter; these demonstrated the business concepts in real life examples, and made them visually interesting.

I wish my other textbooks had been more like this one!

Another intro to business textbook? Yes, but this one is different. The examples are up-to-date, the writing is crisp and catchy, the pages are visually interesting and the overall effect is entertaining! Best of all, it's concise. What I particularly like is that the shorter "magazine feel" of the book allows the entire text to be covered in one semester. Take a look! You'll be pleasantly surprised. A refreshing change to the standard 400 page+ book.

I wanted to know more about business in general - finances, marketing... and a friend suggested this new book. What a pleasure it is to read. Edgy, funny like the author was talking directly to me. Textbooks were never like this in my school years. The book was organized, logical, FUN to read and easy to remember. The feature boxes on many pages were full of fun, up-to-date facts that added to the text. I was so impressed with this book. Other textbook authors can take lessons from this woman.

This book is supposed to be an accurate refutation of "the Bell Curve", but there is truth to the arguments in both books. The only question is to what degree do nurture and nature effect human intelligence?

Are there entire populations of people who are born with an innate, quantifiable intelligence greater than others? Can intelligence even be quantified? According to Gould, science has not yet arrived at a meaningful and scientifically legitimate understanding of this concept of intelligence, nor a way to measure it, nor any proof that certain races are naturally smarter than others.

I would expect an eminent evolutionist to spend his time making a case for how biological diversity lends itself to multiple levels of mental ability through natural selection. But instead Gould puts on a turtleneck and tweed and plays historian--quite well, too! His scientific background gives him the credibility to explore this topic like no historian could.

Gould walks through the history of science's attempt to quantify human intelligence and demonstrates how and why each method eventually failed. But of course this type of science exists today in various types of IQ tests, bell curves, all of which are used to not only measure this thing we call intelligence, but also by some to argue that some groups are naturally superior to others. Gould analyzes the history, methods and underlying theories behind these contemporary incarnations.

The book is readable, well illustrated, well documented, and has a lot of solid historical analysis.

This is a necessary book during the current climate of high-stakes testing as mandated by No Child Left Behind. No Child Left Behind stipulates that test results should be publicly reported for each subgroup (i.e., African American, Hispanic, White, etc). What is not being discussed though is how the current test results might be influenced by the culturally and linguistically biased nature of the tests. Gould's books serves as a reminder of the historical misuse of culturally and linguistically biased tests, and how the tests have historically been used to "prove" the inferiority of African Americans, immigrants, etc. The current mandate that "subgroup" test results are to be publicly reported reeks of the era of using the measurement of skulls as "proof" of African American intellectual inferiority (as delineated in Gould's book).

Regarding Stephen Jay Gould's book "The Mismeasure of Man," it seems to me that a recurring theme can be found in many of the negative reviews. The theme is a variation of the claim: "Gould allows his ideology to get in the way of his analysis." Putting aside, for the moment, the question of whether or not that particular criticism has any basis in fact, I find it remarkable that the progenitors of such a claim do not (will not?) consider the possibility that the scientists, scholars and social scientists who hold views antithetical to those of Gould's--e.g. intelligence is largely genetic and heritable; the gap in I.Q. test scores between whites and blacks is due to innate genetic differences--may be guilty of committing the same malfeasance for which Gould is being accused.

Moreover, one has to wonder if the prime reason for all the strong negative criticism is not necessarily a general disagreement with the printed facts, but rather a personal, visceral rejection of the perceived incompatibility between the conclusions Gould recovers, on the one hand, and the chosen ideology of the critical reviewers themselves, on the other.

Given the plausibility of such a scenario, I believe a healthy dose of introspection and sincerity is in order, lest one proceeds to "cast the first stone."

It is rare that you find a book that makes you feel smarter and inherently worthwhile as a person just because you read it: this is one of those books. A great behind-the-scenes read of some of the history of statistics, IQ, and the advancement of science. Well worth it!

My textbook was in a great condition and when they said fast shipping, they meant FAST SHIPPING! I recommend this seller to everyone because they are excellent in providing the best service that I have ever encounter on the website. Thanks!!!

The book was damaged but it looks like its the post office job because the envelope used to cover the book was damaged as well. Besides that, the transaction was good

This text offers great details, but I did not rate it as 5 stars because (1) when searching for content, it is difficult to see the key words in the text and (2) the case studies are well selected, but since they are inserted throughout the chapter, it is challenging to determine where the case ends and the author's content begins.

Overall, I would recommend the Jennings text and will keep a copy on my shelf.

I ordered the book from them on Nov1. On Nov 15 I called and they told me they didn't have it. The money was returned by Amazon.

This book was assigned to one of my MBA classes. The book itself was a good source of reference not only for my business law class but also to other two classes. The book's language is simple and easy to understand. The only flaw I found about this this book was that some cases were complex and I had to refer to actual law books and regulations. Overall, I recommend this book.