Focuses on an everyday item - blue jeans - to learn what one simple article of clothing can tell us about our individual and social lives and challenging, by extension, the foundational anthropological presumption of the normative.

The Blue Jean is a long-overdue appreciation of this iconic piece of clothing, sure to appeal to anyone who's ever worn a pair of jeans. That means young and old, male and female, famous and normal alike. Ranging from the early days when miners wore them for protection and durability to today's hottest movie stars and singers, jeans have always covered our asses with practicality, style, and affection. It would be ne'er impossible to find the world over a single person who doesn't own at least one pair of dungarees in one form or another. Whether worn by presidents or punks, cowboys or congressmen, actors or contractors, hippies or hard rockers, blue jeans have steadfastly continued to symbolize all-American virtues: freedom, independence, and the pursuit of self-expression. The Blue Jean proudly celebrates this magnificent heritage with 135 stunning color and black-and-white documentary, fashion, and art photographs (many rarely seen before) of demin-clad personalities and cultural giants and picotal milestones from the forties up through today. The Blue Jean is a fascinating journey of rediscovery, in pictures and words, of our history with jeans and our love affair with them. Includes pictures by: Peter Beard; Ellen Von Unwerth; Danny Lyon; Bruce Weber; Helmut Newton; Ansel Adams; Santo D'Orazio; Bruce Davidson; Edward Weston; Lauren Greenfield; David LaChapelle; Larry Fink; Dorothea Lange; Kurt Markus; Eve Arnold; Mike Disfarmer; Wayne Miller; Harry Benson; Edward Steichen; Charles Peterson; Robert Mapplethorpe; Jack Pierson; Mark Shaw; Carter Smith; Gordon Parks; and, Larry Sultan, to name but a few.

The story of denim's rise from modest workpants to high-fashion statement. Ever since Levi Strauss made the first blue jean pants in California in the 1870s, everyone has wanted a pair. No one imagined America's love of denim would travel around the world, yet jeans remain an essential part of our lives. The Blue Jean Book chronicles this love affair. Researchers suggest we're happiest when we're in our jeans. They express our personalities: compare the person who wears the latest designer label to someone who prefers the thrift store variety. The Blue Jean Book takes you deep into the world of denim. Chapters include: The Birth of the Blues: 1870 to 1900 -- Levi Strauss and the origin of jeans Movers and Shakers: 1900 to 1940 -- From workpants to play pants Blue Jean Time Machine: 1940 to 1970 -- From WWII wear to the trademark of teen rebellion The Jean Scene: 1980s -- Jeans go designer Borderless Blues: 1990s -- The politics of pants: sweatshops, ecological impacts Panting for Perfection -- 21st century jeans From their origins with hardscrabble miners and cowboys, to their popularity among laborers, rebels, and the incurably hip, The Blue Jean Book is the perfect fit for anyone who wants to know the story behind the seams.

Poet-philosopher and Zen Priest Tai Sheridan's 'Buddha in Blue Jeans' is an extremely short, simple and straight forward universal guide to the practice of sitting quietly and being yourself, which is the same as being Buddha. Sitting quietly can teach many ways to accept life, meet pain, age gracefully, and die without regret. The book encourages sitting quietly every day.Topics include: Sit Quietly; Care For Your Body; Accept Your Feelings; Give Thoughts Room; Pain is Natural; Be Who You Are; Live Each Moment Well; Love Indiscriminately; Listen to Others; Be Surprised; Wonder; Live gratefully; Do No Harm; Benefit life; A Wish for The World. The book is for people of any faith, religion, race, nationality, gender, relationship status, capacity, or meditation background

Losing everything can be the beginning of something great. As he approached the age of 40, Charles Whyte lost his marriage, his income and everything he'd worked his entire life to build. This book is the story of rebuilding a life and shows how you can have joy even in the midst of the most trying times. Now a millionaire, Charles reveals the mindset and mental tools he used to recover from devastating loss and create a wonderful and fulfilled life. Blue Jean Millionaire speaks to those people who have struggled and haven't had many of the advantages some see as vital to success. Charles is living proof that even those from humble beginnings who may have made mistakes in the past, can still rise above the chaos of everyday life to achieve success. He is a wonderful example of how one person can live life in an unassuming, yet very rewarding way. The ideas and techniques described give a unique perspective into the mindset of wealth and what the real meaning of success can be and shows how anyone can achieve their dreams.

After years of pursuing a denim design career, Maris Carrington never imagined trading her Chicago studio for a New England shingled cottage. But when her life sketch takes an unexpected shape--smudged with a pastel seaside setting, rendered with pencil strokes of her father's estate shading family secrets, and inked with silhouettes of old friends reconnecting on a weathered boardwalk--nothing is what is seems as illusion blends with reality.