About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherUniversity Press of the Pacific

ISBN-101410206890

ISBN-139781410206893

eBay Product ID (ePID)6049440

Product Key Features

Book TitleJoseph Stalin on Chinese Revolution

Number of Pages160 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2003

TopicGeneral

GenrePolitical Science

AuthorJoseph V. Stalin

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Weight3.2 Oz

Item Length8 in

Item Width5 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

ReviewsTitle: For Tampa, Some Old Signs Of The Time Author: Michelle Bearden Publisher: The Tampa Tribune Date: 2/13/09 Delia Cinchett, widowed 10 years and in ill health, could tell that her son John had something important on his mind when he burst through her door. "Remember all those pictures you took of the signs Dad made?" he asked her. She had almost forgotten about them. It was a lifetime ago — 40, 50 years — when she stood on bustling street corners in Tampa with her little black Yashika camera, proudly snapping photos of each new neon sign her husband crafted. Puzzled by her son's sudden interest in the old pictures, Delia thought about where they might have ended up. Try the attic, she told him. John headed up and a few minutes later, Delia heard a shriek of joy. "Actually, Johnny went wild," she says with a chuckle. * * * Delia didn't know it then, but every time she peered through the viewfinder and snapped a picture, she was recording history. Her scrapbook showcase of her husband's talent would become an unusually rich treasure trove of Tampa history. The photos are published in John Cinchett's new book, "Vintage Tampa Signs and Scenes" (Arcadia Publishing; $21.99). The softcover book includes more than 200 vintage photographs — most never seen by the public — of local landmarks, businesses and street signs that defined Tampa in the 1950s and '60s. "Without my mother, this would never be possible," Cinchett says. Neon signs ran in the family. His grandfather, Frank Cinchett, operated a neon sign company in Philadelphia until 1947, when he visited Tampa and fell in love with the emerging Southern city. He moved here a year later and set up shop at 4707 N. Florida Ave. Frank's son, John F. Cinchett, married West Tampa girl Delia Collera and eventually took over the business. They raised two children and faithfully attended St. Joseph's Catholic Church. John V. had an artistic flair that came across in his larger-than-life glowing signs; Delia handled the books and took photos of his creations. The pictures were family mementos, but also served as a portfolio to show prospective clients. There were hundreds over the years, from the first Lowry Park Zoo entrance to the curvaceous crowned Burger Queen beauty in Seminole Heights heralding "broasted chicken" for 79 cents. Cinchett neon signs lured customers to everything from nightclubs to Baptist churches, motels to pharmacies, soda shops to neighborhood banks, jewelry stores to dry cleaners. It was an era of new names: the Fred Astaire Dance Studio, Publix Supermarkets, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Dairy Queen. Giant-sized bottle caps stamped with the Pepsi Cola logo beamed from rooftop perches. Maas Brothers, Wolf Brothers, Kinney Shoes, Mary Jane Shoes, JC Penney, Stanley Jewelers, Woolworths all beckoned shoppers to visit downtown. The neon signs drew them like moths to a light. "Tampa was changing all around us," Delia recalls. "But I knew it wouldn't look like this forever. I knew it would change again." And in time, it did. * * * John V. Cinchett died in 1997. Delia and son John, who had worked alongside his father for several years, closed the shop then, too. Business had slowed over the years as neon's appeal faded with the advance of digital technology and plastic. And many of John V.'s creations already had disappeared by the time he passed away, gone like the businesses they touted. "Unfortunately, neon signs are made of metal and glass," says John, who sets up software programs for credit-card terminals through Sterling Payment Technologies. "Metal rusts and the glass breaks. They've all ended up in junkyards, I'm sure." <b

SynopsisCONTENTS The Prospects of the Revolution in China Questions of the Chinese Revolution Concerning Questions of the Chinese Revolution Talk with Students of the Sun Yat-sen University Revolution in China and the Tasks of the Comintern Notes On Contemporary Themes: China About China The Political Complexion of the Russian Opposition