I should have looked at the physical size of the book before I bought it. It is a coffee table book. The pictures are all drawings and water colors of artists who travelled in Egypt, no photographs. Although they are mostly beautiful, it was not as I expected. Each "traveler" gets about 6 paragraphs, hardly an in-depth history of Egyptian exploration. I can't recommend anyone spend this kind of money on the book.

This large book invites opening on a coffee table and simply spreading oneself across its pages of magnificent illustrations to pore over their exquisite detail and colour. We can be transported back several centuries and share the wonder felt by the various artists as they strove to conserve, with meticulous care, copies of the ancient hieroglyphs and awe-inspiring sculptures for us to enjoy. This book is a great supplement to my present extensive library of Egyptology (I confess deep wonder and fascination for the civilisation of that place and period in human history). Much of what is shown in this book has since disappeared - demolished, decayed further, vandalised, removed piecemeal to museums far afield - other sites have been excavated from the encroaching sands or transposed to other locations. Hence it is interesting to compare today's photographs of these sites with the drawings and paintings of a century and more past of the same locations. I'm sure anyone with a feeling for the people who lived so long ago, and who worked hard to produce these enduring monuments to their culture, will not be disappointed with this superb collation.

Some north americans (europeans usually like) dislike to buy books full of color pages. My idea of a book on Arts, Minerals, Precious Stones and Jewelry is that it has to have all pictures in color and, if possible, full color pages. I have to see its colors, the colors the artist wants to show in his art. I like very much when I find "coffee table books" to be bought, because only this kind of books bring the same vision we see the world around us (in color).

This is a big, general overview of many different forms of Mexican folk art. An artist is profiled with a few examples of their work, a write up, and photo portrait. Everything is reproduced in color, glossy paper, a large sturdy book that's a nice general survey.

My main interest in Mexican folk art is the woodcarving from Oaxaca. The cover of the book is of a Oaxacan carving which drew my attention the book. However, for those interested in Oaxacan folk art, this book only profiles a few artists of the genre (the Jimenez family being one of them).Out of the 500+ pages there are maybe 20-30 pages on the painted woodcarvings and for that reason I only gave the book 2 stars. For a broad, general survey of Mexian folk art this is a good book. Those looking for in-depth examples of Oaxacan art won't find much in here.

This important coletion of items brings forth the vitality of present day Mexican art. The traditional techniques being applied to the new expression is facinating. Even the most rudimentary objects become important works of art in the hands of the artisans whose work is exhibited in this book.
I have personally seen some of these objects being manufactured. That was also memorable, the presentation in this book is a veritable tribute to the artisans that preserving their traditional manufacturing are making art with some of the most menial substances.

We were having a look through the book, checking out whom we had in our collection, whom we had met on various trips to Mexico.
The book brought back a lot of good memories, and wetted our appetite for more exploring and meeting craftspeople in Mexico.

It is an enjoyable read, with great photographs and information on the craftspeople.

For anyone who collects Mexican folk art, this one is a must have, in my opinion.

I did find this book to be very interesting and badly needed in Chile. So much upper middle class denial in youth of the reality that is present all around them. It approaches pathological proportions in Chile. The narrative style did seem similar to Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis which was published in 1985. Fuguet's novel was published in 1991. I wonder if Fuguet has read Ellis's novel?

Fuguet is the first author of a new generation of Chilean novelists who do not refer explicitly to our recent political past. Although many elements of the society of those years appear in his first novel, the plot is constructed along much wider concepts. The story evolves around the typical problems of a western teen ager, aggravated by his dismembering family. If one excludes the continuos references to places and people of early 80's Santiago, it could be said that the story is pretty 'universal'. As to Fuguet's influences, he recognizes his indebtedness to JD Salinger's 'The Catcher in he Rye' and Marcela Paz's Papelucho saga. On the whole, Mala Onda is a very good novel (with a great ending) that offers a different point of view and writing style to Latin American literature. If you like this one, you should definitely go on to Fuguet's later works.

Leí mala onda hace poco, y luego, impulsado por severas críticas a la versión inglesa -bad vibes-, leí tb menos que Cero y American psycho y el guardián entre el centeno; y, en verdad, aunque les enconmtré la constancia de narrador (el tiempo usado), no creo que este libro sea una copia de menos que cero, teniendo en cuenta que mala onda su publico un par de años después de estar escrito y salió a la venta casi a la par con el libro de ellis; o sea, éste sería algo más antiguo... Pero es bueno, no sé si lo entendí más porque soy adolescente o qué, pero el hecho es que ,e llegó de una manera distinta a los de Vargas llosa, siendo que me identifico con los libros de ambos (como que en, por ejemplo, la ciudad y los perros uno se ve reflejado en las acciones, mientras que en mala onda, yo, al menos, me sentía identificado con las "ideas" que llevaban, finalmente, a esas acciones). Fuguet recién esté empezando, y si de verdad quieren comprenderlo, DEBEn leer por favor, rebobinar, Tinta Roja, Sobredosis y mala onda, porque no es un escritor de un sólo libro.

I got a copy of the Rising Revival with genuine openness to the present progress to the revival that has been going on in Argentina since the 50s. After reading the book, I was convinced that something is terribly wrong with what is going on there. The message was clear, but somehow people are reading this book without picking up the strong clues. Example: "Never before has the occult thrived and proliferated in Argentina as it has in recent years. Deeply entrenched in some rituals of the Roman Catholic Church, the occult has multiplied through sects and new religious movements, especially among the spiritualist Afro-Brazilian cults and Afro-Caribbean cults and within most of the indigenous religion of Latin America." The Rising Revival, p. 81 If this is what the present emphasis on Spiritual Mapping, Spiritual Warfare, etc., is bringing to Argentina, do we really want to import the same thing to different countries all over the world? Hundreds of thousands of demons cast out of people and a revival of the occult? What's wrong with this picture? In Christ, Rev. Greg Robertson, Jakarta, Indonesia

I found this book to be inspiring and illuminating. Not only does this book explore the revival sweeping the land of Argentina through the instruments God has choosen to use, but it also gives the reader practical application for partnering with God to bring revival to other parts of the world. As a personal fan of Wagner, I find this book to be one of his greatest. With collaboration from other writers Wagner gives insight on how to keep the "fire" burning and how to keep the "fire" growing. I challenge all non-believers and strict dogmatic christians to "taste and see that the Lord is good" in the Rising Revival!

The Rising Revival is various accounts of what has been happening (and still is) in Argentina. Each of the 12 chapters is written by a different pastor, so you get 12 different testimonies of God's mighty hand in salvation, signs and wonders. This book inspires me to believe the same things can happen in the U.S., and shows what can happen when people not only believe God's Word, but act on it.

I am a big fan of Moravia, but I consider this to be one of his worst novels. There are only 5 characters and the novel is 300+ pages long, which makes reading it sort of a bore. Not a complete failure, worthy of one star, but seems to be far inferior to everything else written by the author.

Five people of the Roman middle class interact in this novel. Mariagrazia Ardengo, the mother, will not give up her pretensions though financially ruined and without hope for the future. She has two children, both in their twenties. Carla, who is bored with her present life, wants to change it drastically and overnight. Michele, who shows the indifference of the book's title, cannot get aroused by anything or anybody. Lisa, the mother's friend, has sunk to the level of a fat, penniless tramp, searches desperately for somebody to love her - or to at least pretend it. And then there is Leo. Leo used to be the lover of Lisa, until Mariagrazia took him away from her. Leo is the source of their financial ruin. Leo has money. Leo wants something fresher, younger, unspoiled. Leo goes after Carla. And he succeeds. After Mariagrazia and Lisa spend their time fighting over Leo, they are now left out in the cold. Michele cannot be touched by any of this but hopes that, one of these days, he can get a real life.

Moravia started on this book when he was eighteen and it was published in 1929 when he was twenty-one. He did not have the life experience he so stunningly shows in his later work. I get the impression that he studied too much of the French literature of those times and tried to follow it. That makes this novel less than perfect and somewhat outdated.

A couple of excerpts:

"Dirty tricks, little acts of baseness, little falsities - who was there who did not collect such things in every corner of his existence, as though in the corners of some big empty house?"

"The pavements were crowded, the streets crammed with vehicles, for it was the busiest moment of the afternoon. With no umbrella against the rain, Michele walked slowly along as though it were a day of sunshine, looking idly at the shop windows, at the women, at the electric signs hanging in the darkness. But however hard he tried he could not manage to take any interest in the well-known spectacle of the street; the anguish that had taken possession of him, for no particular reason, as he walked away through the empty reception-rooms of the hotel, did not leave him; the image of himself as he really was and as he could not forget that he was, pursued him. He seemed to have a clear vision of himself - alone, wretched, indifferent."

Some people find this style of writing out-dated. But if you have ever felt this way yourself then Alberto Moravia, and this novel in particular, will come as a revelation. For me Michele is one of the great characters in fiction; bored, indifferent, unable to act, yet immensely sympathetic; a man desperate to believe in something, but trapped in a society where graft and corruption, and the money culture that inspires it, makes belief impossible. A lot like our own contemporary moment in fact.

Before the second war.A young italian man and a german womanbegan a sexual relationship that seems to be a swingers relation.Thaeslightly graffic relationship is not what it seems.The german woman makes the first moves in the surprising history.The best Moravia you can read.Shocking or surprising.You can also like "lúomo che guarda" END

Just before the second war ,an young italian man loking for his way in tha wordl what seems to be love with a german woman.It seems to be a swinger thing.She ,most of the time is the acting part in the sexual ,slightly gtraffic ,relationship.This clueless intelectual and antifacist man and his german lover will shock or surprise you.But you wont be dissapointed.One of the best Moravia you can read.You could also like "l'uomo che guarda",.Also" the country woman",taken to the screen with Sofia Loren

uno de los trabajos mas intimos sobre el mitico Che Guevara, un libro exquisito que se disfruta de principio a fin.

quiza un d los trabajos mas intimos sobre el mitico Cehe Guevara, un libro exquisito que se disfruta de proincipio a fin.

Alberto O. Cappas, a Puerto Rican poet, writer and thinker, has captured and is able to transmit the soul of being BORICUA with his latest work, Dona Julia And Other Selected Poems (112 Pages), published by 1st Books Library - July 2002.

As the global village prepares herself to embrace the last trimester of 2002, a year after that somber morning of September 11, 2002, I read Alberto's latest collection of poems amidst the noisy and tranquility of Central Park's 59th Street and Fifth Avenue Pond. Amidst the escape of a jungle made of concrete, smog and stress, I read and savored his poems slowly...Alberto's latest collection of poems are electrifying and a wake-up call to all New Yorkers -- not just BORICUAS.

I heard, one after the other, the voices of BORICUAS in the mainland calling things, events, places and people what they are-with the charm and openness of el Jibaro (countryman) of Puerto Rican mountains. Objects and players are what they are---without masks and presumptions. His poetry is amazingly vivid and extremely descriptive. In "Her Borinquen" he shares the ingenuity and beauty of being a Boricua in the United States:

Dona Rivera bought the moon and the best part is that it is tax-free...

The essence of the Puerto Rican experience against the callousness and coldness of the mainland experience, only in America someone will sell the moon. Back in Puerto Rico the moon belongs to everyone: the jibaros, the coqui, and of course all Puerto Ricans. Her Borinquen captures the Puerto Rican experience versus the cold Corporate America reality. Corporate tendencies reflected in the way we live, where greed and dishonesty rule.

Poem after poem characters become real people, fiction is a concern of Hollywood. Alberto really captures and shares the urban BORICUA experience in his Images...

Morning unfolds
Urban concrete jungle
Far from tropical images for tropical people
Weekend----leisured stretch
Engraved scars
Visible to the gringo eye
Gilbert exploring with coke
His introduction to
"Being cool"
Overdosed into wasteland
"What a story!"

Every poem in his Dona Julia And Other Selected Poems represents the BORICUA experience in the mainland, where despite the colonial experience and presence of Uncle Sam, many Puerto Ricans work hard to cherish, treasure and preserve the pride, and joy of being as BORICUA as El Coqui. Cappas and his Ganas capture the warrior spirit in every word.

Alberto's work reflect the angst of being Boricua in a non-Puerto Rican Universe, where humans are not seen nor treated as equals. Thus, being Superheroes is out of the question. His To the Batman Man evokes the pain of being regarded as a commonwealth citizen:

It's time you open your eyes
To the world and see for yourself
I know that you can hear
But refuse to listen
I know that you can feel
But refuse to touch...

He does the same for the female struggle and the Puerto Rican women experience in Lady in Red:

Your smile
Haunted with painful thoughts
Darkness can not conceal your light

Read them, live them, enjoy them and most importantly share them. To me, particularly Dona Julia evokes a reflective soul with a poignant mind. A humanist calls for generations to follow in the voice of Alberto O. Cappas.

His voice, vision and passion transcends race, gender, and affiliation barriers. There is nothing, which escapes him or alludes him. Cappas and his Dona Julia And Other Selected Poems reflects the whole world of being BORICUA, an urban warrior, a hummingbird of hope, dreams and love.

Dona Julia And Other Selected Poems is a must have and a gem to share.

A friend of mine gave me a review copy of the book and I was completely surprised that such a talented and gifted poet exist. I've read Pedro Petri, Victor Hernandez-Cruz, Peri Thomas and other Puerto Rican poets, but this poet/writer possesses a cultural insight that brings the reader into his poetic characters. Dona Julia is pure honesty at work. The work here, although poetic, are also poetic short stories. This is one of the best book of poems I've read in a very long time. The poems are deep and relevant to today's society. Cappas is very talented and gifted. I do plan to make the book a holiday present for many of my friends. I recommend it highly.

I bought this book because I was writing a research paper on the Italo-Ethiopian War, and seeing as this humongous volume was written all about it, I was thrilled.. and I wasn't disappointed. It has lots of information about the war and was a great help in helping me narrow down my topic; it also covers background to the war, etc. However, I only found about half of the book at all relevant to what I was trying to find. Nevertheless, this fault does not affect the usefulness of the book, except that it just makes it a whole lot heavier. Not my choice for a light afternoon read, but very good for research.

The author presented how the mighty European powers sacrificed Ethiopian independence in a clear and unambigous manner. All the relevant facts and supporting documents were apppropriate.

But I am NOT sure why, Mr. Sbacchi failed to mention that The Pope's tacit support of the camapaign. In fact to set an example,he donated the Papal ring to help finace the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. This act by the Pope infuriated a number of Eritreans, who then not only converted to The Ethiopian Orhtodox faith in protest, but also deserted Italy, and joined the Ethiopian patriots. The Pope's act left one of more Legacy of bitterness, since most thought that a Christian can not be cruel to another Christian. And they found out that European Christians are never meant to be equal with African Christians. Overall, it is a comendable work and I hope to see more like it.

After i review it and i'll type what i feel!