Although we should all be grateful to have WH Auden's thoughts on the Bard - and they are very novel observations - I can't help but feel slightly disappointed by this collection of lectures. It is amazing that his students took such diligent notes and that Arthur Kirsch managed to transcribe them so that we can almost feel Auden talking to us. However, I was forced to give it three stars because (and this is irrational) I just didn't feel like I connected with his ideas. His analysis of the characters is very modern and is definitely a new and refreshing perspective from what we all learned. His lecture on the Merchant of Venice, I thought, was the most interesting. However, I think that it was maybe a little too novel and provoking, a little too detached from the actual symbolism of the plays. I enjoyed this book, but I'm just not sure I have been convinced or particularly impressed with these lectures. Maybe it's just me...

Reading each of Auden's lectures will not make you an expert on any aspect of the plays or poems - he doesn't aim to be comprehensive. Instead, Auden engages you in one or two key aspects from each play. Subsequently, the book could have been called "Conversations about Shakespeare."

Occasionally, as in "Julius Caesar" or "King Lear," Auden is direct and focused. Here you will get a good, general view of these plays. But more often he dives into a theme, leaving the specifics of the play far behind. Reading some lectures I would ask myself, "Is he going to talk about the play or is he going to stick with this?" In the lecture about "As You Like It," he goes on for the first seven pages about the pastoral play. You would think this would be annoying, but Auden's easy manner keeps you hooked. Then in the end you will have learned something new, something special to Auden's perspective.

Some of the themes can be pretty high brow, but usually the are educational and entertaining. And this off-the-beaten-path approach is what makes the lectures unique.

If you're looking for the exact historical context of a play or a lengthy essay about some character, read the introduction from a paperback copy of a play. Auden's lectures will teach you a little extra you won't find anywhere else.

Imagine trying to assemble lectures made close to 50 years ago from assorted notes and other papers. This is what Kirsch has managed to achieve in an excellent book that is superbly edited and written. W.H. Auden appears as a sensible and balanced critic of Shakespeare and his observations are always telling. I really like his chapter on Macbeth even though Auden claims that he has nothing to offer. I am just so pleased that Kirsch took the time to research and compile this book. An intense labour of love that will repay countless readings.

What could have driven Edmund Wilson to betray his friend Vladimir Nabokov? Why was Mark Twain so remarkably mean-spirited toward Bret Harte, going to great lengths to ruin Harte's reputation?

Why did F.R. Leavis indulge in character assassination of C.P. Snow? How could a man so celebrated, so revered as Ernest Hemingway let himself be upset by Gertrude Stein, an old woman who had once been his mentor and friend?

What demons drove Truman Capote to the miserable death that Gore Vidal called "a good career move"? Why did Lillian Hellman bring a libel suit against Mary McCarthy, accusing her of slander and defamation of character? What caused Norman Mailer to physically assault Gore Vidal at a cocktail party in 1974?

Anthony Arthur's latest work, Literary Feuds: A Century of Celebrated Quarrels from Mark Twain to Tom Wolfe, is filled with gossip and vitriolic attacks.

Some of our most illustrious writers have tried to destroy the reputations of their enemies, using wit, humor, sarcasm, invective, and the occasional right cross to the jaw.

For example, consider these quotations taken from Arthur's work:
Ernest Hemingway: "Gertrude Stein was never crazy/Gertrude Stein was very lazy."
Sinclair Lewis: "I still say you [Theodore Dreiser] are a liar and a thief."
Theodore Dreiser: "He [Sinclair Lewis] is noisy, ostentatious, and shallow. . . . I never could like the man."
Mary McCarthy: " Every word she [Lillian Hellman] writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the.'"
Gore Vidal: "It is inhuman to attack [Truman] Capote. You are attacking an elf."

It would be a mistake, however, to think Literary Feuds is only a book of juicy gossip. Anthony Arthur, an accomplished literary historian and critic, demonstrates his expertise in literary history and criticism.

Arthur, who was a Fulbright Scholar and for many years has taught writing and literature at California State University, Northridge.

In the eight essays of this book, Arthur draws on a lifetime of reading and teaching the works of 16 cantankerous writers whom he describes.

Arthur scatters insightful comments throughout the work. For example, "As every teacher of literature knows, comedy and satire are harder to teach than tragedy and melodrama; everyone can feel, but not everyone can think."

Provocative quotations also abound. For example, Gore Vidal, a "born-again atheist," opines, "The great unmentionable evil at the center of our culture is monotheism."

One should not be too eager to search for "opposites" when investigating literary feuds. It does seem, however, that many of the literary artists described in this book are "opposites" in their temperaments, worldviews, politics, or aesthetic tastes.

Those who espouse "realism" or "naturalism" are at cross-purposes with those who champion "idealism" or "romanticism." Rural sentiments clash with urban mentalities; elitism and populism collide.

The outstanding cause of these feuds, however, was pride and the competitive spirit. Mark Twain knew he was a better writer than Bret Harte and could not abide critics who lumped them together as belonging to the same echelon.

Of course, one must not discount that green-eyed monster of envy--the jealousy and bitterness of an outdistanced rival over the fame and financial success of a rival.

Commendable for their style and substance, these true tales of feuding wordsmiths are fascinating, behind-the-scenes glimpses of our (mostly) 20th-century American literati.

Anthony Arthur is the author of Deliverance at Los Banos and Bushmaster, both narrative histories of World War II, and of The Tailor-King: The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptist. He lives in Woodland Hills, California.

Anthony Arthur presents eight literary feuds in chronological order: Mark Twain and Bret Harte, Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein, Sinclair Lewis and Theodore Dreiser, Edmund Wilson and Vladimir Nabokov, C.P. Snow and F.R. Leavis, Lillian Hellman and Mary Mccarthy, Truman Capote and Gore Vidal, and Tom Wolfe and John Updike.

Arthur is an excellent writer, and it is great fun to read his elegant prose about badly behaved literary types. I was familiar with some of the authors discussed but not all, as I was familiar with some of the animosities but not all of them. Arthur turns a beautiful phrase and has a knack for finding illustrative, sometimes toxic quotes. One good thing about fights between scribes -- they leave lots of luscious things in writing!

The eight disputes are interesting by virtue of the characters or the topic or both, and the author does a fine job of describing the people involved and laying out the foundation and history of each quarrel. Moreover, he makes insightful comments about the disagreement or the relative merits of the protagonists. I thoroughly enjoyed these tales of intelligent people behaving poorly.

--That is, resplendently at their conniving, back-stabbing, vainglorious best.

Anthony Arthur's polished and scholarly accounts of eight famous literary feuds beginning with Mark Twain and Bret Harte, and ending with Tom Wolfe and John Updike, come across as fairly expressed and finely observed. True, with my fabled ability to read between the lines, I can see in places where perhaps the good professor favors one side or the other. Indeed, part of the fun of reading a book like this is discerning where the author's sympathies lie. (You might want to discern for yourself.) But for the most part Professor Arthur lets the chips fall where they may and keeps a balanced keel through the straits of the tempest-tossed tussles while knavishly enjoying himself like an after-the-fact provocateur.

Notable are Arthur's physical descriptions of the gladiators, usually quoting contemporary sources. Thus the young Truman Capote, who is squared off against Gore Vidal, is "unnaturally pretty, with wide, arresting blue eyes and blond bangs" (p. 161) while Vidal is "Tall and slender, Byronically handsome...luminous and manly" (p. 159). (Uh...nevermind.) Sinclair Lewis, who fights with Theodore Dreiser (physically on one occasion--or at least Dreiser is reported to have slapped Lewis), has a "hawkish nose" and a "massive frontal skull...reddish but almost colorless eyebrows above round, cavernously set, remarkably brilliant eyes..." (p. 49) Dreiser, self-described, has "a semi-Roman nose, a high forehead and an Austrian lip, with the edges of my teeth always showing...." (p. 56) The effect of these descriptions along with Arthur's bright and lively (and very careful) style is to make the literary warriors especially vivid and to impress upon us just how human they are.

Arthur however is at his best in coming up with really juicy quotes to illustrate the matters of contention. Thus Lillian Hellman dismissed Mary McCarthy (Chapter 6) as merely "a lady magazine writer" (p. 141) while McCarthy charged in an interview with Dick Cavett that Hellman "is tremendously overrated, a bad writer, and a dishonest writer..." whose every written word "is a lie, including AND and THE" [my capitalization, p. 143], causing the fur to fly. More civilized was the exchange between Edmund Wilson and Vladimir Nabokov where Wilson expresses his disappointment with Nabokov's novel, Bend Sinister: "You aren't good at...questions of politics and social change, because you are totally uninterested in these matters and have never taken the trouble to understand them." Nabokov replies: "In historical and political matters you are partisan of a certain interpretation which you regard as absolute." (pp. 90-91) (They're just sparring: it heats up later on.)

One of the most interesting bits in the book is from page 32 in which it is asserted that Ernest Hemingway learned part of his style from Gertrude Stein (feud number two) by copying her gerund-driven, run-on sentence constructions. What is especially amusing is that Arthur gives a sentence from Stein and then a similar one from Hemingway--"ing's" flying. The effect was bad in Gertrude Stein, and, although improved in Hemingway, it was still bad. Arthur's book is full of these delightfully sly bits of satire.

He also likes to slip in a few literary jokes. For example, British Don F. R. Leavis, who is in combat with C.P. Snow over the famous "Two Cultures," is characterized as saying of his "fellow Fellows": "They can all go to hell. Of course, some should go before the others. One has a responsibility to make discriminations." (Quoted from Frederick Crews, p. 116) Also: "J.B. Priestley...called Leavis a sort of Calvinist theologian...who makes one feel that he hates books and authors...not...from exceptional fastidiousness but...[as a] result of some strange neurosis, as if he had been frightened by a librarian in early childhood." (p. 118)

All in all, a most entertaining and informative read from a fine prose stylist.

When the Great War broke out in Europe in 1914, most Americans were convinced that the fighting had nothing to do with the United States. There were precious few with the foresight to demand that America enter the war on the side of the allies. Arthur Guy Empey wrote OVER THE TOP to show his countrymen that the battle that the allies were fighting was our battle as well. His book, which reads like a novel, is more of a personal narrative in which he describes his volunteering to join the British Army and fight 'over there.' Much of his book deals with the daily dreariness of the horrors of trench warfare. Empey skillfully draws a composite picture of the average Brit soldier, whom he nicknames Tommy. His book is at once brutal, comic, and mundane--much like trench warfare had to be. By the end, the reader becomes convinced with the justness of the British cause, which true enough and soon enough, became the American cause. A very fine book.

I was loaned a copy of this book a few years ago by a co-worker who is almost as nuts about military and industrial history as I am. Though his reason for having me read was for the human aspect, not the technical.

Now, I have read many personal accounts of soldiers and sailors in wartime, from the American Revolution, the War Between the States through Vietnam, Beirut, and the Gulf War, some well written, some just interesting, and some frightening.

This book is all of those. It is well written, informative, and scary. Not having ever been exposed to hostile conditions, I cannot directly relate to what the author shares, but I am definately deeply affected by the emotion and imagery portrayed therin.

The Mr. Empey joined the Royal Army while he was still a recruiting Sergeant in the NY National Guard in 1915. Unable to convince Americans that we were destined to fight in the European War raging overseas and needed trained, disciplined and motivated troops, he did the next best thing by going "over there" himself.

After completing his training then being assigned to a replacement company in France his real adventures began.

The trenches of the western front had been in place for some time when he arrived and they were replacing the casualties of
stagnated lines. Regular artillery barages, probing raids, snipers, dysentary, trench foot, disease and madness all took there toll.

Mr. Empey tells the story from a persanal point of view sharing his insights and observations. You almost feel icky from the cold,oozing clay, and catch a chill from being wet all the time as though you were there in the mud with him.

I was impressed with his inclusion of all the activities in the field. He even describes the primitive sanitary conditions at the rear while on rotation from the front. In spite of the prescence of the International Red Cross, conditions at the front (and in the rear) were atrocious. many casuaties were from the inadequate sanitation... and not from enemy fire.

I applaud Mr. Empey for publishing this book when he did, for even after being invalided out of the British Army, he was still thinking of the naive American Boys who would follow soon in 1917. He tried to share his experiences so that others would benefit.

I do not know how well recieved this book was with Mr. Empey's contemporaries, or how well the book sold, but I think this book should be recommended reading for all military personnel...

This is a very good read for anyone with the strength to stomach it.

This book is fast reading because it's so hard to put down. It was written when America's entrance to the Great War was imminent, though uncommitted. Moreover, it was written by an American that joined up with the British forces via Canada. The author had vast combat experiences as an infantryman, machine gunner, bomb thrower, and artillery observer. It's hard to imagine that the author would have survived the War if it wasn't for a wounding that sent him to 'blighty' for good. Empey's writings are about daily life within the Western trenchs; the obvious, the unthinkable, and the overlooked. Further, Empey's writing style is fluid and crisp making the work much more than a diary or a guidebook. Definately a fine piece of literature to hold to and not "lend to a friend".

The information presented is fairly easy to understand, interesting, and seems to be thorough. So what's the problem? I have to say, I would absolutely love the textbook and its corresponding workbook if it wasn't for one truely frustrating aspect - there are way too many errors. It's incredible! Here's an example - a question regarding roman numeral conversions (pg 38 wkbk)- what is 14 in roman numerals? well, anybody who's gone through grade school could tell you it's XIV - the answer key tells you it's CIV (104!!). How about this one (pg 85 txt) - convert 1mg to g: ok, i'm thinking - DUH - .001g - correct answer, according to the answer key is .011g -- Now, this is not quite a big deal when it's very easy to tell the book is wrong (yet, again) - but then, when you get into more difficult calculations and you can't trust the answer key, it becomes very frustrating. When you take into account the fact that you've spent over $60 for the text and workbook and you can't count on the information to be correct it becomes enraging. There are also a plethora of idiotic typos to furthur insult you for sending these people your money. Example (pg 108 txt) convert 120 mcg to mg - answer according to the key: 120 mcg = 0.12 mcg - that's 0.12 MCG not MG. Or, how about his - convert 50% to a decimal. Answer according to the key: 50/100. Now, the last time I checked that was something called a fraction - a decimal looked more like this: .50 - This isn't even the tip of the iceberg. I just have one question for Morton Publishing Co...Do you guys happen to employ anyone there called an EDITOR? I just hope to God you all don't have anything to do with the answer keys the PTCB is holding in their possession. If you do, I quit now.

If you have never worked in a pharmacy before and want to pass the pharmacy technnician certification exam, then you need more than just a certification review book. You will also need a textbook that explains comprehensively pharmacy laws and the operating procedures of a typical pharmacy. Because it isn't a certification review, be aware that it doesn't have enough practice problems. Overall, it is an excellent textbook to use with a workbook.

This wonderful book combines text and visuals to provide the most complete Pharmacy Technician book ever written. The authors of this book have done an outstanding job in bringing us an easy to read, easy to understand book on this subject. Take it from me a Pharmacy Technician student if you buy only one book BUY THIS ONE !!

My 2 stars rating doesn't mean that Reblitz's book is not good; in fact, it's a perfectly fine and authoritative book if---and I stress IF---you are already a professional technician with an understanding of piano tuning and its many intracasies. Reblitz makes the mistake so many knowledgeable writers make, that is, he explains concepts and ideas as if you, the customer, were already in the know. In fact, I think many have traditionally confused the encyclopedia-like character of this book with it being a good teaching aid but it's much overrated in this department. In fact, I found the instructions to being often overly complicated, sometimes vague, incomplete, and not very emphatetic to the reader, as a student. In short, buy this book if you want a professional referecence. But spend your money on a correspondence, or other course if you really want to learn piano tuning.

I purchased this book several years ago subsequent to acquiring a 1919 Howard baby grand. This fantastic book enabled me to do some minor examinations and repairs, and gave me a much better appreciation for those truly skilled piano rebuilders out there.

If you've ever wondered just what an upright or grand piano action really did, or why all those levers, pinioned joints, felt pads, etc. needed to be there, or what that third pedal is for, this is the book to own. The piano is the last great analog machine out there, and I hope it remains with us for generations to come.

This 6-star book is an encyclopaedia of piano repair/rebuilding/tuning. Without any previous knowledge of piano mechanics, I have managed to repair an old disintegrated German upright piano (ca.1900-1910) following Mr.Reblitz's instructions. I've found answers to all of my questions there. No "empty" paragraphs. Frankly, if I myself wrote such a book, I would feel that I lived my life not in vain.

I use this book to teach business process management for the MBA class. It does not have the depth or rigor of a textbook, but does a decent job of addressing the major issues.

I got this book based on a friend's recommendation because I was struggling with a process design application called iGrafx Process (also available from Amazon).

I learned that there is much more to process design than basic models based on entry, task, validation and exit criteria. For example, performance measurements and performance efficiency were two areas where this book strengthened my understanding of process design and implementation. They also and enabled me to effectively use iGrafx Process to its fullest.

Other chapters that taught me a lot addressed improvement planning, continuous improvement and process benchmarking. I was able to immediately incorporate the knowledge gained into processes that I was developing, and it made a significant difference in the quality of my work.

The best chapter, in my opinion, was in installing the improved processes. I gained a lot of knowledge and techniques for overcoming barriers and how to objectively measure the degree of improvement. This was reinforced by material that is provided in the appendices, including case studies and an excellent description of Six-Sigma analysis.

Overall, this is a valuable book to anyone who designs or implements new processes, or reengineers existing ones. Most of my work is new design and implementation, so that was the context in which I read the book. If I were assigned to a reengineering project this would be the first book to which I'd turn for guidance and information. It earns a solid five stars and a permanent place in my professional library.

Extremely useful as a practical implementation guide

This is the perfect book for people who want to do something to promote human and community values based on feelings other than greed, self-interest, or the affirmation of ethnic identity. There's a lot to do...every good thing in the world that individuals cannot do for themselves and that does not have a profit attached to it!...and Arthur Blaustein has as clear a notion of what these tasks are as anyone going. Both in government and in teaching, he's had a hand in showing what can be done... and the gratification and human connection that can come from this kind of action. Without it, our society struggles to find its soul and preserve its democratic feeling. But these possibilities are no secret. Where, in fact, would the world be without them?...or without Arthur and people like him who patiently and steadfastly draw them to our attention?

I find myself giving lip service to my desire for community involvement and feeling genuinely grateful for our environment and freedoms--yet not putting my thoughts into action. With MAKE A DIFFERENCE, I can finally begin to search for ways to contribute. It provides contact information and an overview of many organizations, whether they are year-long commitments or just several hours a month. I appreciate the resources it provides--the list of important and wonderful novels and the information resources. The author's impassioned plea to us to be responsible citizens is heartfelt and inspiring. It reminds us that those who give are the true receivers...of the gift of meaningful experience.

I find it interesting that the above reviewer gave this book 1 star for not being more even-handed, saying it's too left wing, then went on to write a review that is so blatanly biased and right wing! As a Republican I'm disgusted that this person has such narrow tunnel vision and a laughably bad radar for hypocrisy. The book supports good causes, and not just the ones used as soapboxes by either political party. If you're looking to do something more with your life then you'll find it useful and enjoyable.

...but the short-story "The Nine Billion Names of God" is my favorite of all time.

11 pages, five minutes. Well worth the price of the entire book.

Arthur C. Clarke, though known primarily for his novels, started out as a writer of short stories, and his best (the title short, The Star, The Sentinel, etc.) are regarded as some of the best in the field. This now out of print collection gathers together many of his greatest short works, and is a worthy addition to your collection if you don't own them already in some other form. There are a lot of Clarke short story collections out there (including the newer and more comprehensive Collected Stories), so if you already have a number of them then you don't really have any incentive to get this (if you can find it), but if you are lacking in Arthur's short stories this book, if handy, is a good place to start.

Arthur C. Clarke really shines in this collection of short stories... It makes you want to read more; I would also suggest Tales from the White hart, Expedition to Earth, and many more!

This book is about him, this is not about tortures, nore the Argentina's dictadure in the seventies. He does not Know what torture is or what was be in jail in those days. He took advantage of The situacion of those days in the country to discriminate against everybody using his heritage in a very inteligent way I am not Nazi nore Marcista, I am PERONISTA. He is not an Argentinian, He is lucky to end-up with the militars and not with the Revolutionaries. This book is about Mr. Timerman religious believes.Nothing else

Este libro es un resumen de un pais de tristeza. Anarchia, luchas, gobiernos coruptos, y la militaria- es lo mismo ahora en este pais bella y riqueza. Los maleducados hay un nivel de estupidez - ellos solo quieren el pavo, el dinero - la renta sin pensar de la gente.

Tienes que leer este libro!

Jacobo Timerman has written a gripping and terrifying account of his experiences at the mercy of Argentina's Peronist regime of the late 70's. A well respected, professional journalist in Buenos Aires, he was editor of the major newspaper La Opinión until he was kidnapped by the military for publishing articles critical of their terrorist tactics. He details how as a political prisoner, and more signifigantly as a Jew, he was held and tortured by a military carried away by their own delusions and rationalizations of violence - and by their virulent anti-semitism. Timerman displays a penetrating insight into the mindset of his captors and of a society that tried to ignore what was happening. A must read.