This book is one of the 2 most desirable and collectible books on classical guitars (the other one is: Collection of Fine Spanish Guitars from Torres to the Present by Urlik, Sheldon). The figures are superb and the text informative. The hard cover edition is better in the following senses:

1. The hard cover edition is a limited edition (6000 copies only).
2. It is like a textbook which can be opened fully on its back. Easy for reading and scanning.
3. It's got a hard protective slipcase

However, getting the softcover edition might be your choice for its price and availability.

If you are a lover of guitars, specifically classical guitars, you owe it to yourself to purchase this book. There is nothing else like it. Great photography, details on some of the best guitars from some of the best makers...Romanillos, Smallman, Bernabe...They are all here. Inclusively, the book covers players (Williams, Bream, Segovia) as well as an in depth look at wood and the guitar market today. Great stuff and at ..., an incredible bargain.

Any lover of the classical guitar cannot help but appreciate this gorgeous collection of instruments, as well as the way in which they are displayed on the pages. Filled with information about the guitars and their construction, the luthiers, and which players'CDs you can hear them on, I highly recommend this fine edition. I take issue only with the subtitle "A Complete History", as the guitars are based on a single collection of instruments, owned by Russell Cleveland, and not necessarily what any other person would consider "Complete". That fact does not diminish my enjoyment of this exquisite book one bit.

As the various reviews point out this book is a blaze of color. Excellently photographed and excellently printed this volume gives a good impression of how beautiful petrified wood can be. This work is perfectly suited as a coffee table book.

As a wood anatomist I cannot help feeling that an even more beautiful book could be produced by shifting the focus to anatomy: when magnified these woods would look even better. I guess a palaeobotanist would agree with me that this would make for, from a scientific point of view, a more usable and valuable book.

Nevertheless this is a magnificent piece of work: there are some quite stunning pictures in here.

The best photographic presentation of petrified wood I have every seen. Frank Daniels' love of the subject can be seen in his work as laid out between the covers of this superb book. I totally enjoy showing non palaeontologically minded people this book when they visit. If a person is looking for a photographic presentation of petrified wood, then this would have to be the book. I heartily recommend it. Congratulations Frank on a terrific book.

I am using a part of this article for my dissertation writing. Please let me know the the location of publisher, the town and state. Thank you very much

Published at the time of the Kienholz Retrospective Show at the Whitney Museum in 1996, this book not only documents that show with over 400 illustrations (many in color), it is also a tribute to Ed Kienholz, who died in 1994. Contributions by art historians, artists, friends and most importantly, Nancy Reddin Kienholz, make up a history that spans 4 decades. It begins with Ed's solo work in the Beat Era of the 1950s and continues with the collaborative work done by Ed and wife Nancy from 1972 to 1994. Even those who are not artists cannot help but be moved by this book. The stories are interesting, often funny and always personal. From collages to life-size environments, the work is not afraid to confront issues of cruelty or to embrace the forgotten in society. Unique vision, artistry and the materials of everyday life (collected at flea markets and junk shops) combine to make art that can be quiet with despair, cry out in anguish, or even make us laugh. Considered by some as ugly, this work is never dull or without compassion. As art historian and curator Walter Hopps says on the book jacket, "The work of Edward and Nancy Reddin Kienholz has had an enormous impact on the development of contemporary sculpture." I recommend this book to anyone interested in contemporary art or social science -- or who just appreciates a beautiful book and fascinating story.

Mithril is an excellent first sourebook from Sword and Sorcery. It gives a good overview of the city itself (although the city map is of at best average quality), provides details of the church of Corean (with new rules for paladins and monks as well as one new prestige class), and includes excellent regional material for the northeast portion of Ghelspad.

Specifically, the book gives us a map and description of Mullis Town (as well as a few adventure hooks), and shows a map detailing the human, titanspawn, and orcish areas of influence in Lede. The adventure hooks are well done, as they incorporate sufficient detail to make "filling in the blanks" easy, but remain concise. The descriptions of the various orcish tribes and their political/social environment is a great jumping point for a campaign that could treat orcs as more than faceless cannon fodder.

Equally important, Mithril itself, despite its lawful good character. has a wide variety of options and tensions within that can lead to all manner of adventures - ranging from exploring the ancient catacombs beneath the city to ethnic human/half-orc conflict to political and religious intrigue.

Overall, a good book and a great buy. Although, like most S&S products, the art is all monochrome (and frequently not up to the standards of Wizards of the Coast products), this is a minor complaint because the content is great.

"All politics is a fad," President Richard Nixon informed the president of the Sierra Club in the spring of 1970. "Your fad is going right now. Get what you can and here is what I can get you" (p. 102). Despite this characteristic cynical approach or maybe because of it, Nixon approved of or signed off on more important environmental legislation than any other president in history. How this came about is the subject of J. Brooks Flippen's fine study, Nixon and the Environment.

Flippen's well-researched book, which had its origins as a dissertation at the University of Maryland under Keith Olson, is the first scholarly monograph on the subject. Considering the cottage industry that has developed around the examination of most every aspect of the life and times of Richard Nixon, it is surprising that we have waited so long for such a monograph. Indeed, although, as the author points out, Nixon took little pride in his environmental record, it may well turn out to be a far more important part of his legacy than his ballyhooed trip to China or his ending, albeit rather belatedly, the Vietnam War.

Flippen, who teaches at Southeastern Oklahoma University, mined the rich materials in the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Materials Project at the National Archives as well as the papers of two Democratic environmentalists, Senators Edmund Muskie and Henry Jackson. He also put to good use oral interviews, including sessions with Senator Gaylord Nelson, the organizer of the first Earth Day, Walter Hickel, Nixon's controversial Secretary of the Interior, and especially, John Whitaker and Russell Train, two of the key environmentalists in the administration. The outline of the story is simple -- Nixon had the misfortune to arrive on the scene just when the modern environmental movement took off. He was even more unfortunate when it turned out that the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 1972 turned out to be Muskie, Mr. Environment in the U.S. Senate. Thus, a president who had wanted to devote most of his time to international affairs and who had never given the environment much concern, found himself a reluctant protector of the air, water, and forests. Flippen takes us month by month through the strategy sessions and meetings in the White House as Nixon "carefully crafted and cunningly planned" approaches to keep one step ahead of the environmentalists in Congress, while protecting as best he could his business-oriented party from what he considered the most economically unsound legislation (p. 62). Although the president saw the environment as a political issue, Hickel, Whitaker, and Train, and even John Ehrlichman who oversaw environmental affairs for the administration, were all to some degree true believers.

Flippen does not look at green issues in a vacuum. Throughout his volume, he alerts the reader to other matters on the president's agenda as he tried to catch the various environmental waves. One can almost sympathize with the beleaguered Richard Nixon, concentrating on international crises and related domestic turbulence, when he generally goes three-quarters of the way to meet the demands of the environmentalists, only to see the Democrats in Congress receive all the credit. Even more stinging was the rhetorical assault he faced from activists in the Sierra Club and other organizations who complained that he had supported only half-measures. No wonder, as Flippen demonstrates, by 1972, as the original enthusiasm for Earth Day and other such projects began to subside, Nixon turned his back on the movement and even planned to eviscerate it (it has "gone too far" and was "destroying the system" (pp. 136, 142)) as part of his move to the right on domestic issues during his second term. Thank goodness for Watergate!

Nonetheless, beginning from the premise that the president is responsible for whatever legislation leaves his desk with his signature, Nixon's environmental record is lustrous. On his watch, he and Congress approved the establishment of the EPA, Clean Air Act Amendments, the Population Research Act, an extension of the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and the dramatic extension of the National Park System, among other acts. That his motivation was almost always pragmatic and often cynical should be irrelevant to those who today breath cleaner air and who enjoy the glorious Golden Gate National Recreation Area. In an amazing coincidence, Nixon died on April 22, 1994, the twenty-fourth anniversary of the first Earth Day (and also Lenin's birthday).

Flippen has told the story well. Perhaps he should have wandered more frequently out of the White House to examine in greater detail business concerns about the new legislation and, on the other side, the political calculations of the environmental lobby. In addition, the author incorrectly has Daniel Patrick Moynihan leaving the Senate to join the Nixon White House and errs somewhat in his brief explanation for why Vietnam peace talks broke down after the 1972 election (p. 188). But these are very minor quibbles that always appear just before the end of favorable reviews. It took a while for a scholar to get around to writing a solid book on Nixon and the environment -- it will be a long while before someone will find the need to do another one.

Reviewed by Melvin Small, History Department, Wayne State University

Copyright © 2000 by H-Net, all rights reserved.

This book was out of print for a few years, but Cambridge Univ Press has issued a revised edition. This is my favorite book for real analysis, measure theory, and probability theory. The book is very self-contained and rigorous, and develops probability theory abstractly enough for advanced work in the field. If you are interested in empirical process theory, this text can be followed by Dudley's book on Uniform Central Limit Theorems.

An excellent visual coverage of the controversial exhibition of Young British Artists. Includes a few essays at the beginning of the book, and a few photo examples of each artists work. I would have liked a bit more information on the artists, under each of their names for easier reference. Overall an excellent catalogue of one of the best exhibitions of the decade. Artists included are Jake and Dinos Chapman, Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin.

Great piccies...plenty of authority types spouting about art...a key catalogue on yBa's...especially recommended for art students desperately seeking quotes from the stuffed shirts of art, on Saatchi's girls and guys...don't get hung up on the media controversy...it's only art...it can't bite you...and if you don't get it, then 'Sod You Gits!'...as Sarah Lucas says.

I went, if you didn't, buy this. Lots of love, Liz Delag xxx (young, British and an artist...shouldn't I be famous by now?)

Recommended for any serious artlover, especially those with good taste. Oh yes.

This entertaining and highly readable account of British Naval Brigades not only covers the main operations through the Victorian period but also goes into considerable detail on the organisation, armaments and tactics employed. The term "Naval Brigade" is somewhat deceptive since it was applied to units ranging from a few bluejackets with small arms landed close to the coast to substantial forces, including heavy artillery detachments, operating far inland for significant periods. The earlier part of the book is dominated by the Royal Navy's major commitments ashore in the Crimean and Indian Mutiny campaigns and the later by the equally significant roles in the Boer War and Boxer Uprising. The intervening chapters detail a huge range of operations ranging from landings in Japan to nightmare close combat in the Gold Coast bush, via sometimes ferocious fighting in Zululand, at the Taku Forts, up the Nile and Irawaddy and inland from the Red Sea. The section on the capture of the Suez Canal in 1882 provides an early and indeed near-perfect example of inter-service co-operation. The specialist weaponry carried by many ships of the period to allow projection of power ashore is well detailed. A particularly interesting insight is the extent to which the Navy led the Army in deployment of machine guns in land operations, and skilful handling of Gatlings, Nordenfeldts and Gardners figures prominently in the story. Mr.Brooks has an easy and readable style and the narrative never flags, the more technical sections being skilfully spaced between the chapters covering specific operations. The book is enlivened by extracts from many first-hand accounts of the period, from the lower deck as well as from officers. In summary, this work is an enthralling read for anybody interested in Victorian Naval or Colonial History.

Mr. Brooks has captured all the rich details in this epic account of the Royal Navy and its intrepid sailors and marines. Each section is filled with some amazing tales of courage and clever practices in warfare.
The book is very readable but not for the novice Victorian era reader. There are a great number of terms that many may not understand, but the style of writing allows the reader to follow the various conflicts and the daring sailors as they endure horrible climates, savage battles, disease and some very hostile tribesmen around the globe.
The tactics, personnel, weapons and commanders are laid out making the book very well rounded. I wish the book had been twice the size and hated to see the book end. The author should be commended for fleshing out a little known aspect of the Victorian time period. Check it out