Much has been published in the suicidology field and with great value but the Comprehensive Textbook of Suicidology comes to fill a gap in comprehensivness.

Encyclopedic, this book is surely an excellent resource for those who are engaged in suicide prevention and also for all health professionals who may encounter in this book the answers to some of the questions raised when confronted with a suicidal patient.

The merits goes to the three main authors, Dr. Marris, Berman and Silverman but also to their contributing authors for this excellent work.

As Director and Project manager of the Suicide & Parasuicide Web Site - The Suicidology web, we have awarded this book the title of "Book of the year 2000".

Great tragedies afford men insights into mysteries otherwise unfathomed. This unusual volume reveals a panorama of one of literature's great dramatic art forms--the tragedy--as it has developed from Sophocles' time in Greece to the twentieth century of Eugene O'Neill. It provides penetrating insight into the nature of tragedy and the changing points of view held by eminent dramatists through the ages. Some of the world's greatest dramas unfold on these pages. The three editors of the book hold PhD's from Harvard University and now teach in colleges.

"The Genius of the Early English Theater" presents the complet texts of seven classic plays representing medieval and renaissance English drama. This involves three anonymous medieval dramas: the miracle play "Abraham and Isaac" is symbolic of medieval theater which focused on praising God, dramatizing the story set forth in Genesis 22. "The Second Shepherds' Play" is an example of medieval comedy, most of which is a mock nativity or a parody of the Nativity. "Everyman" is probably the most famous medieval allegory, telling the story of mankind battling the sins of his nature and confronted by Death. Representing the English Renaissance are Christopher Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus," William Shakespeare's "Macbeth," Ben Jonshon's "Volpone," and John Milton's "Samson Agonistes." These play clearly continue the religious theme since "Fautus" involves a wager with a devil, "Macbeth" reflects Christian morality, while "Samson Agonistes" is another of Milton's attempts to explain the ways of God to his fellow mere mortals. In contrast, "Volpone" is a dark comedy

This volume also includes essays taken from a period of several hundred years by Sir Philip Sidney, Thomas Heywood, Alfred Harbarge, Thomas De Quincey, T.S. Eliot and James Agate. Eliot's essay on Shakespearian criticism has long been considered insightful and Agate detailed criticism of a London production of "Volpone" provides an example of a 19th-century dramatic review of the Renaissance comedy. The chief value of "The Genius of the Early English Theater" is that it collects in a single volume a clearly representative sampling of plays from these two periods. Having the three medieval plays in one book justifies its inclusion in a class dealing with English literature/drama from that particular period. There are certainly other Shakespeare plays you might want students to read, but besides being the shortest of the Bard's dramas "Macbeth" has the virtue of creating a nice analog with Marlowe's "Faustus," since both deal with succumbing to satanic temptation.

This book was very useful for my Introduction to Literature class. (Naturally) Contains works from many of the great authors.

I am VERY,VERY disapointed in the overall quality of the book. DON'T BUY THE PAPER BACK EDITION. Get it in hard back if you can. With my copy of this book, as well as, the copies that belonged to several other members of my Lit. class, the binding broke and the book fell apart. Now I can't resell it.

Currently a college student who is currently using this book for the third (last year) quarter of english. This is what i would consider a great anthology filled with many literature. How this differs from other books is that it contains a ton of plays, drama, rather then just short stories found in other anthologies. For mostly short stories divided into major sections, i recommend a book called An Introduction to Literature by author, ABACARION. It has poems, short stories, plays, and essays divided into major topics including "culture and identity, conformity and rebellion, and innocense to experience which are major topics covered in college."