The very best of mountain foods with excellent bibliography

Morgante stands with Orlando Furioso (Ariosto) and Orlando Innamorato (Boiardo) as one of the great Italian Renaissance romance epics. Morgante, however, is often overlooked, and has only recently been made available in English. Pulci's work has all of the elements that made the genre so popular: romance, action, chivalry, rivalry, magic, and intrigue. Pulci mixes the tragic and the comedic, the epic and the burlesque, and the reverent and the sacrilegious to give the reader a story that is extremely beautiful and always entertaining. Although he lacks some of the subtlety of Ariosto, he has nonetheless created a masterpiece in twenty-eight cantos. We follow Orlando, Rinaldo, Astolfo, Ogier the Dane and the other paladins of King Charlemagne's court through countless adventures in Saracen lands with beautiful women, wicked leaders, grotesque giants, and mythical beasts. It seems that the characters almost inevitably engage in sword fights, convert the Muslims and fall in love. The stories are similar to those of the Arthurian legends, only with the addition of Pulci's grand sense of humor. It all culminates in the Battle of Roncesvalles, where the Christians (betrayed by the wicked Gano) are treacherously attacked by Marsilius and his pagans. This is the story narrated in the Song of Roland, but it comes alive through Pulci's creativity.

The translation by Joseph Tusiani is in verse and has been rendered in dignified and eloquent English. Still, it is easy to read and remains lively and never pedantic. Perhaps the greatest feature of this edition is the many annotations provided for each chapter and the scholarly introduction (all by Edoardo Lebano) on the life and works of Luigi Pulci. There are over 200 pages of annotations that help illuminate passages in each canto. This makes the book ideal for students and scholars of both Pulci and the Renaissance.

I highly recommend this book. For readers who are unacquinated with Furioso or Innamorato, perhaps you should read those works first to get an idea of the genre, especially since this edition of Morgante is rather pricey. Also, chronologically, Morgante contains stories relating to the end of Orlando's life. However, for those (like me) who have read Furioso and Innamorato and found them to be splendid works, Morgante will be a fine investment.

The author, a noted American anthropologist, explodes previous stereotypes among anthropologists of the Andean Aymara Indians. Finding a proud and basically decent people behind an exterior of toughness, he penetrates their inner culture by comprehending the importance of the mouintain as a metaphor for meaning and hierarchy in the lives of the Indians. Focusing on the mountain-centered rituals, Dr. Bastien leads us to fresh knowledge not only of the Andean peoples but ultimately of ourselves

Don't let the subtitle, "A Phonics Reader," scare you. Your kids will love this book. This action-packed, sound-effect filled, little book will delight as well as instruct. I have given this book as a gift and my friends tell me that their kids (2 and 4) ask for "mouse" again and again. They love to identify the moving letters and to repeat the new rhyming words. It is a wonderfully simple book for children who are just beginning to read on their own. I highly recommend it. I am excited to see that another book with the same character is coming out soon. I am looking forward to being able to give more "mouse" books as gifts in the future.

"Move Your Shadow" is one of the very best journalistic/popular accounts ever written on South Africa, or any other part of the continent for that matter. I was momentarily shocked to learn that this moving and insightful book is now out of print, until I recalled how ruthlessly the bottom line increasingly determines publishing these days. Lelyveld was a NY Times reporter in South Africa in the early 1980s, thoroughly exploring the most important issues throughout that bitterly divided country. Few works convey so well the routine indignity and daily horror imposed on black South Africans by the white-supremacist regime from 1948 up to the 1994 elections achieving majority rule. Perhaps the best chapter is on the long-distance bus rides erquired of migrant workers forced to live far from their jobs, by laws mandating residence in impoverished rural "homelands" (read: dumping grounds for unwanted "surplus" population).

The major omission in this book is the relative lack of coverage of the political resistance to apartheid. Though it gets a 5-star rating to highlight its merits, the missing political dimension means that "Move Your Shadow" probably deserves 4 1/2 stars. While Lelyveld's insight and compassion make this a superior account, one must turn elsewhere for fuller treatment of the African National Congress, Pan-Africanist Congress and other less formal movements. For a similar journalistic account also encompassing politics, read William Finnegan, "Crossing the Line." There's also Tom Lodge, "Black Politics in South Africa Since 1945," Stephen Davis, "Apartheid's Rebels," and Allister Sparks' exciting if overdramatized "Tomorrow Is Another Country." But for the best understanding, one must read what BLACK South Africans have written, including Mamphela Ramphele, "A Bed Called Home" and Elsa Joubert, "Poppie Nongena" among many others.

Excellent, practical guide to MS-Dos! You can't find many books as intelligibly written as this one. Mr. Johnson has valuable insight.

Multicultural Mathematics is a fantastic book. Here is a way to expand any classroom's or individual child's learning. I recommend this book to any parent or educator.

Museum New York is a fresh look at the incredible variety of both cultural and artistic exhibits available in the New York area. I have visited NYC many times and seen many museums but with this book I was able to make informed descisions regarding where to spend my time. Delightful in its honesty and incredibly intelligently written, I beleive this book is a must for anyone visiting NYC.

After years of searching secondhand stores for "My Baseball Diary," I was delighted to find it back in print after a long hiatus. Farrell takes off his novelist's hat and delivers a straightforward homage to the game. Unlike George Will and others who have exhibited an unfortunate tendency to overanalyze baseball and lace their writing with social commentary, Farrell reminds us that we attach ourselves to the game as kids, and forever after our love for it comes from childhood.

Most remarkable are Farrell's clear and unadorned memories of the White Sox games that he saw as a boy growing up on the South Side of Chicago. He devotes a great chapter to detailing a no-hit game he saw pitched by Ed Walsh, one of his many childhood heroes. You feel with him the mounting excitement as Walsh approached recording the final out of his gem.

Farrell also brings vividly to life the 1917 White Sox, the "No-Hit Wonders," who batted just .228 as a team but who went on to win the World Series handily. His admiration for the team is plain (and he writes convincingly of the strengths of individuals on it), but he doesn't back away from expressing the disappointment the infamous 1919 team delivered him. At the same time, we get from Farrell the point made much later by Eliot Asinof in "Eight Men Out": that owner Charles Comiskey's economic abuse of the team contributed to the decision to throw the Series.

Fans of the White Sox will appreciate the portraits of Ray Schalk, Eddie Collins, Joe Jackson, Buck Weaver, Nick Altrock and many others. Farrell shows he was a close observor of the nuances of the game from a young age and never slips into mere idolatry.

Overall the book is a fine evocation of baseball when the game and its players were more tightly integrated into the communities it served and fascinated. Farrell turns his writer's eye to the past and returns with memories bathed in the light of childhood.

For those early readers and up to the 5th grade, this simple little book has every prayer a young catholic should learn. The typse size is perfect (not too large) and the illustrations are 50's style with children shown at 4 to 12 years old.