Michael Burns

The Dreyfus affair — the infamous account of Jewish army officer and French citizen, Alfred Dreyfus, unjustly convicted of treason in 1894 — was the most significant political and social crisis of fin-de-siècle Europe. In the first book designed to introduce students to the broad outlines and significant legacies of the affair, the author deftly interweaves text with documents, tracing the course of events. He highlights the many issues connected with the case, including anti-Semitism, militant nationalism, socialism, the birth of modern Zionism, and the separation of church and state. Sixty-six documents are embedded in the narrative, offering students a broad range of sources to examine, including newspaper editorials, letters, trial testimony, and diary entries. A list of the principal characters is included in the appendices.

A Brief Documentary History

France and the Dreyfus Affair

Thanks to his discovery of a collection of scrapbooks and memorabilia, writer and filmmaker Michael Burns is able to relate for the first time the remarkable story of Surrey and England cricketer Jack Crawford. A schoolboy prodigy who took Edwardian cricket by storm, the amateur all-rounder became Surrey's youngest ever centurion and, at 19 years and 32 days, England's youngest Test player. However, a row over captaining a weakened team against the Australians led to a spectacular fallout--and a life ban by his county. Emigration to Australia ensued, where Crawford established himself as one of the world's great all-rounders; yet controversy dogged him, on and off the pitch. Having married and deserted an Adelaide teenage beauty, Crawford then dodged involvement in World War I. He returned to England to divorce, remarry and fade into middle-aged obscurity, but not before playing two of the most remarkable innings of his life.

The Chequered Life and Career of Jack Crawford

A Flick of the Fingers

On April 26,2001, Michael Burns left his home in California. In July, after a journey that took him across the United States, he returned home. Michael is a paraplegic. He cannot walk or stand. He has used a wheelchair since 1967. His van was his only constant companion. His writings speak of landscapes and towns, and the people he met, the ordinary yet fascinating people of wisdom, courage, humor and practical nature. He found the places where many live and dream; where the history is rich; the resources many; the traditions unyielding; and the beauty magnificent. It is about small towns where he tried to understand the context in which people live in very small places. It is about campgrounds and the day's journey, and observations at stops along the way. It is about the perils of the solo journey of a middle-aged paraplegic as he makes his way across the country and back. At times it is a very personal trip, but it is always the observations of a man, traveling alone in extraordinary circumstances trying to be quite ordinary.

Memories and Musing from America's Roads

Into the Blue Far Distance

The unjust conviction of French Jewish Captain Alfred Dreyfus on charges of treason started the Dreyfus affair, a major event in European anti-Semitism. “This documentary history is designed to introduce the broad outlines and significant legacies of the Dreyfus affair, from the captain’s arrest in 1894 to the 1998 centennial of J’Accuse, Émile Zola’s scathing indictment of the French military... This volume, fashioned for a weeklong assignment in a college course, reproduces the affair’s most celebrated texts, as well as less familiar, but no less telling, documents. Presented as a chronological narrative, it charts Captain Dreyfus’s case as it unfolded in time, and summarizes the major issues and debates that have survived for the past century.” (From the preface by Michael Burns) “A fresh and compelling study of the turn of the century affair in a concise and readable book... A fine compilation of well-chosen documents and lucid analysis... Beyond making this frequently told tale come to life once again (I literally could not put the book down), Burns has given it historical and cultural context.” — Donna F. Ryan, Gallaudet University “Michael Burns’s volume is imaginatively written, with a keen eye to the drama and desperation of the Dreyfus affair. Its special strength is its learned attention to the political, military, and cultural contexts. Weaving the author’s own commentary together with documents from the period, this volume is a splendid guide to one of the most important historical landmarks of our time.” — Michael R. Marrus, University of Toronto “In both his analysis and his choice of documents, Michael Burns has brilliantly captured all the complexity and the passion of the Dreyfus affair. I salute his achievement.” — Benjamin F. Martin, Louisiana State University

France and the Dreyfus Affair: A Documentary History

In the year 2006, the earth's climate suddenly becomes hotter & it's evident to scientist Jonathan Holmes that the earth is in the grip of a powerful runaway greenhouse effect. As Christmas approaches, America is barren of snow. Instead, strange summer-like thunderstorms appear around the country. When the U.S. Navy reports that the icepack of Antarctica is melting & that America will lose its coasts including many major cities, the President orders the Pentagon to initiate Operation Safeharbor, a top secret global warming contingency plan. As America's military forces move into action, a group of radical environmentalists called the Defenders of the Planet embark on their own violent mission. Jonathan Holmes warns that the earth faces even more drastic changes & supports the need for radical action. Believing he is connected to the environmental terrorists, the FBI arrests him. Later released from jail, Holmes faces danger from an entirely new direction & as he escapes from his pursuers he is helped by the one group of people who know he is telling the truth. HOT PLANET is an action-packed serious novel for readers of all ages. Distributors: THE BOOKPEOPLE (800) 999-4650; PACIFIC PIPELINE (800) 444-7323.

Hot Planet

A former United States poet laureate, winner of a Pulitzer Prize, and recipient of numerous grants and awards, Mona Van Duyn has been hailed as one of our greatest living American poets. To help broaden and uniquely inform our understanding of Van Duyn's work, editor Michael Burns has gathered ten essays, a poem, a succinct biographical sketch, and Van Duyn's own laureate address to the Library of Congress. Filled with keen prose by distinguished poets and critics, this collection is not only a resounding tribute to one poet's body of work, but also a timely pulse-taking of the literary scene surrounding Van Duyn's poetry.

Essays on the Poetry of Mona Van Duyn

Discovery and Reminiscence

George Cairns

This text provides readers at any level with all the information and inspiration they need to create a complete DVD from start to finish. It demystifies the jargon and explains technical issues in terms that are easy to understand.

How to Create Professional-looking DVDs

Designing DVD Menus

Into the Dark Forest is a therapeutic storytelling text that presents a unique method of using relaxation and mindfulness, in combination with specially adapted versions of ancient myths and folk tales, to assist children and youth experiencing a wide variety of social, psychological, and emotional problems. These stories, when read to children using the techniques outlined, can produce powerful changes in the lives of their listeners. This storybook will make an excellent addition to any CYC library.

Therapeutic Storytelling

Into The Dark Forest

Visions of future worlds have always captured the imaginations.Images of towering cyber-cityscapes, awesome uninhabitable planetary worlds, sleek super-cars and space cruisers, strange mutant beings, and terrifying alien life forms have spilled from the feverish minds of fantasy sci-fi illustrators for as long as the genre has existed. Today, as more and more artists are switching from traditional media to the digital world of computers, the images being created are breathtakingly realistic. Featuring works from the world’s best sci-fi artists, Digital Sci-Fi Art begins with an examination of the traditional styles and sources of sci-fi imagery then analyzes the new digital tools available to today’s illustrators. The heart of the book comprises a detailed survey of the key techniques involved in creating digital sci-fi art -- with step-by-step walkthroughs showing how specially-created pieces are produced. The book ends with a showcase of some of the best contemporary work being produced anywhere in the world.

Michael Burns

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