Great book! If you're a big fan of The Wild Wild West as I am, You'll love this book.

"Inside the Wild Wild West" is simply a marvellous book. I have ordered it in September 1999, and keep reading extracts from time to time. It is so easy to pick up the best articles or find the ones you would like to read again. Everything is indexed, classified & presented in a beautiful manner, with previously unpublished photographs from Richard's private collection. Cangey has a talent for writing, he's passionate, and each word is very adequately chosen. It is almost as if we can re-live the action now (the show dates back from the 1960's). I would highly recommend this book; it is a bible for all the Wild Wild West fans. It is a privilege to be able to live the experience through the eyes of one of the most talented stuntmen. Cangey is a very busy man, but he is spending a lot of time replying to fan mail, questions, gives more details about the stories, which I find quite remarkable from him. I am forever grateful to him for communicating his thoughts on the Wild Wild West through his book, but also for the time he devotes caring about the fans. It is a masterpiece from a genuinely kind & dedicated individual."

Any book is worth the price if I pick it up and never want to put it down. Such was the case with Richard Cangey's "Inside the Wild Wild West", a subjective behind-the-scenes look on one of the most offbeat yet fun-to-watch series of the 1960's. As a fan, it's a must-read, a thorough and honest account of Cangey's career from boxer to bumps-and-bruises man on this classic series. Cangey treats the writing as a labor of love, there is a sense of fun and admiration in the company of people he kept, from stuntmen to the series's stars, Ross Martin and the action god himself, Robert Conrad whom Cangey had the privilege of working closely with for nearly ten years. Clearly, this is a book that gives every fan a look into the people who put the show together but it is also a careful look into what it takes to keep such a vigorous show going. As a fan, I must say Cangey and his fellow stunt performers were the unsung heroes of WWW, the series simply couldn't be what it was without them and Cangey clearly makes note of that. The book is also indepth at giving a close look at the complex man that is Robert Conrad, a honest and appealling look at this diehard performer with whom competition was practically a religious experience. I urge any fan of WWW to purchase this book, for the insights, the humor, the appeal of the comraderie that made this show work, the overall story behind the story of this not-quite western that continues to entertain so well after more than thirty years. Good job, Cang.

One of my students brought this book in to share.We do an extensive rock study in grade two, so I read this book. It is informative, and very well written. The children LOVED it and now want to see the famous "rock" at the museum in New York. I think it's a wonderful book for any grade 2-3 teacher to use.

This is one beautiful book! Look at the pictures to see why they say "...illustrated with museum-quality paintings by Caldecott winner Richard Egielski..."These are big 8"x10" prints very suitable for framing. I would buy two copies - one to frame the pictures and the other to read to a young person. My mother did that with my first reading books and I loved to enjoy the illustrations as framed art for years to come. There is one picture with Matt Henson in it, but they forgot to credit it. This is a truly massive meterorite, 70,000 pounds and still today an amazing specimen. Henson and Peary had a heck of a time moving this thing and it's two smaller pieces on a ship - it took several expeditions to finally move the main mass onto a ship. Peary made a sensation in the press when he brought the meteorite to New York. Today it is still a main exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in New York City. I know, because as a child I used to climb on it ! when on special days my Mother would drive us in to New York from Connecticut for a day of exploring the great museum. I still recall it's great metallic mass with crater like holes in it's cold, smooth surface. Great first reader, great introduction to Peary & Henson - the most amazing and famous of all Arctic explorers who went on to reach the North Pole in 1909. I hope these authors choose to illustrate that story some day. I'll buy one just to frame the prints!

This book is just perfect. It's very well written. Conrad shows an understanding of the predicament of women of his time. Conrad advances the plot though the voice of the characters, who tell a story, which involves another character telling a story, etc. At one point the tale is six levels deep; but such is the skill of Conrad that you do not notice and are never lost. One of Conrad's two or three best. A book I was sad to end because I was enjoying it so much.

I cannot believe that there are no customer reviews already for this spectacular novel - full of intruiging situations and wonderful characters - certainly the best Conrad female character I have read. Conrad is a wonderful writer in style and the manner in which he tells a yarn - how then has this novel become so 'lost'? It has wonderful lines ('Don't be in a hurry to thank me,' says he. 'The voyage isn't finished yet.' p22 Oxford World Classics), great insights (women respond to the smallest things, which immediately had me nodding in agreement from my own experience), spectacular descriptions ('Yes, I gave up the walk [along a cliff top with the intention of killing herself],' she said slowly before raising her downcast eyes. When she did so it was with an extraordinary effect. It was like catching sight of a piece of clear blue sky, of a stretch of open water. And for a moment I understood the desire of that man to whom the sea ans sky of his solitary life had appeared suddenly incomplete without that glance which seemed to belong to both of them. p231). The characters are admirable in behaviour sometimes, victims sometimes, regrettable in behaviour sometimes, or just plain confused - just like real people. But one thing I really like is the way the narrator of the story is an observer, barely a participant of the events being described.

This may not be the perfect novel, but I urge you not to miss it. The chapter 'On the Pavement' by itself is worth the read!

I confess I read the other review of this book before I wrote mine and I should just say "ditto". This book is absolutely beautiful. If you are looking for a book loaded with photos this is the book. Some of the captions are a bit pretentious and I would love to know what Buster would think. Look past the comparisons to Magritte and take this book at face value. The book is out of print but Amazon found it in about one week and it was well worth looking for. If you are a true Keaton fan you will spend hours looking at this book over and over.

This book is extremely hard to find. A library book edition of it I once found had photos actually cut out of it!
The only other time I've seen it was in the movie "Benny & Joon", in a short scene on a train. Johnny Depp, whose character imitates Buster Keaton, is reading it.

Written by a Frenchman, the text is adulatory and pretty existential, but it does point out in a cogent way that BK was one of the sole comedians of any age, gender or style to possess bona fide sex appeal.

The photos are the bulk of this large book, and the reason why collectors would want it in the first place. Beautifully reproduced, of satisfying size and resolution, the pictures in The Look of Buster Keaton constitute the best collection in one volume of rare studio shots like Hurrell's glamour photo of Buster, stills from various films, and family photos not often seen.

For an in-depth discussion of Buster Keaton's importance as an artist, his massive influence on Europeans, and the stunning array of photographs it contains, this book cannot be beaten.

The reviewer below got it right....this is a beautiful, inexpensive edition that houses two fine, fine novels.

This is a truly excellent edition (and compilation). It may seem like a small point, but I really love the typeset used. And the prefatory material, especially that of Robert Kaplan, is particularly good. The selection of Lord Jim and Nostromo was also well done, for it juxtaposes two of Conrad's best and, perhaps, most representative works. On the one hand, there's Lord Jim, largely psychological and personal, in which the title character struggles with, and constantly returns to, a trying moment in which he acted questionably. On the other, while no less psychological, there's Nostromo, which enters the realm of politics, revolution, and ideology--a more mature Conrad and certainly much more complex, stylistically and thematically. The works themselves, of course, deserve five stars, but so, too, does this stunning Modern Library edition.

The only thing missing is "the nigger of the Narcisscus", but you can't have everything. As complex as "the heart of Darkness" is, you may be better served by starting this book with "The end of the Tether", it is great in its apparent simplicity, yet it has its own complexity.

I first read "Youth" in my own youth, over 25 years ago. It has haunted me ever since. That it is difficult to describe why is, I believe, more a testament to Conrad's subtle skills than to my own undoubted incompetance as an expositor. On one level, "Youth" is little more than a tale of a ill-fated sea voyage, but its poignancy is unmatched by any work of short fiction I've ever come across. Good or bad, pleasant or horrific, our youth is what we all miss. The inclusion of this great novella and the magically exotic "End of the Tether" ought to be more than justification enough to buy this book--even if it didn't also include the justly famous, if sometimes obscure, "Heart of Darkness". No one should think he or she is familiar with Joseph Conrad who has not read all of these three wonderful tales. (If you can find a collection that also includes "The Nigger of Narcissus," even better.)

Composed of myriad primary sources, Conrad prefaces each document with a description, date and summary of the following text. Organized topically and then chronologically within each section, the format perfectly suits the researcher. Interestingly, (for my purposes) the text contains numerous accounts of quilombos in Palmares, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and others. The documents date from 1550 (approx.) through the final proclamation ending slavery in Brazil in 1888. Outstanding research tool, as well as an interesting read for those wishing to learn, first hand, about slavery in Brazil.

Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski
lived as a child amongst revolutionaries in Poland,
but read about the sea and dreamt of wild adventures.
He watched his mother die in exile in Siberia
and his father follow her to the grave soon thereafter.

Seasons of the mind can be taught to rule the heart.

Joseph Conrad survived a life of tedium and hair breadth escapes at sea,
but dreamt of understanding what drives and saddles men's souls.
He is rumored to have killed a man in a barroom brawl

and then escaped to England to take on a new identity.

There is very little time for true understanding.

Father and author Conrad lived quietly in a London suburb
and wrote in epic stretches that left him sleeping on the floor.
One day he emerged from his writing studio
and did not recognize his own son in the hallway.

Life stumbles on through fields of crowded emotion.
There is no loss of honor in fearing life's many deaths.

After 5 years on the Planning Commission, I got hooked on land use policies and controls. This book has given me an authoritative overview that would have helped me in so many ways as a Planning Commissioner.

For the first 150 or so pages of Nostromo, there were several times when I almost quit. The amount of detail about the political and social organization of Conrad's imaginary country was so dry and technical that I felt like I was reading an encyclopedia. But, the strangest thing happened on about page 151. . . I started to get into the book! Then, I couldn't stop. In retrospect, I believe that the exposition at the beginning of the novel could have been dispersed throughout the narrative, rather than shoving it down the reader's mouth at the beginning.

Nevertheless, Nostromo is a stunning and extremely pessimistic examination of the "heart of darkness" within all humans. Virtually all the characters are driven by self-interest and greed, and even our "hero" (Nostromo), is at times bestial and self-involved. But, I still loved this book! Joseph Conrad is like the literary equivalent of Paul Verhoeven- an extremely bitter artist whose dark view of the world serves to shed light on the audience. I know it sounds strange, but I mean exactly what I say.

Conrad is my favorite 20th century author, so I am biased. The reviewer who compared him to Tolstoy was on the money. Both lived lives that gave them fodder for their fiction; Tolstoy as a soldier in the Crimean war, an aristocrat facing the turbulence of the political and social upheavals of fin-de-siecle Russia, and Conrad as a mariner and a Polish transplant who carved out a language and a career for himself in England. Nostromo contains some of the most vividly realized characterization, plot, and sensory detail of any novel ever written in the English language, period. Do not pay any attention to a customer whose review is based on listening to the audio tape version. It doesn't do the book justice and is indeed labored to the extreme. I would also hope that readers do not form their opinions from the BBC film. It is infinitely shallow by comparison to this rich work. While the "eponymous" character remains purposefully enigmatic, the other inhabitants of Costaguena are stereoscopically fleshed out. We are on intimate terms with the Goulds. We know Decoud's innermost thoughts. It's true that Decoud is the central character of this novel. His isolation and mental defragmentation is Conrad's arguement for and refuation of existentialism. We are all islands, yet no man is in island. Take your pick. This is a very large piece of fiction. Do not approch it as you would some best seller. It's not going to entertain you on every page. What it will do is reward you in riches that can never come cheaply. Yet it is not like Finnegan's Wake, where you have to have your Boedekker's guide to see you along your journey. It's also a great adventure story, with a larger than life hero. If I could suggest one book to represent the most finely crafted novel of its era, this would be it.

Joseph Conrad is one of the most effortlessly cosmopolitan writers in the English language, and "Nostromo" finds him in a fictitious South American country called Costaguana whose mountains are a bountiful resource of silver. And Conrad is probably the only writer who can transform his novel's hero from an all-around tough guy to a heroic savior to a sneaky thief to a tragic victim of mistaken identity through plausible twists of fate without ever letting the story fall into disarray.

The main action of the novel takes place towards the end of the nineteenth century in a town called Sulaco, which is the base of operations for the San Tome silver mine up in the nearby mountains. The administrator of the mine is an Englishman named Charles Gould, whose primary challenge is to find American and European speculators to invest money to keep the mine in business. The other problem he faces is a civil war between the present government and a faction of rebels led by a general named Montero. Gould's wife Emilia is a prominent figure in town, an elegant matron with a philanthropic attitude towards the downtrodden native mine workers and townspeople.

The hero, Nostromo, is an Italian sailor who settled in Costaguana for more lucrative work and is now in charge of keeping the dockworkers -- the "cargadores" -- in line. When Montero's troops invade Sulaco, Nostromo and Martin Decoud, an aristocratic Frenchman who runs Sulaco's newspaper, escape on a boat with the town's silver treasury to protect it from the marauders. Their boat is sideswiped and damaged by a ship commanded by a rebel colonel named Sotillo, and they are forced to moor on a nearby island and bury the treasure there. This island is the future site of a lighthouse to be maintained by the Violas, an Italian family whose patriarch, Giorgio, once supported Garibaldi and still reveres the man like a deity. There is obviously much more to the plot, too much to reveal in this review, and there are many additional important characters, but these are best left for the potential reader to discover.

Narratively, Conrad keeps the story moving with plenty of action and suspense combined with the typical excellence of his prose. Structurally, though, is how Conrad's novel intrigues its reader: He frequently shifts viewpoints, in both place and time, to give the effect of different perspectives of both the immediate events and the long-term history of Sulaco. Contemporary reviewers of the novel apparently saw this technique as an artistic flaw; in retrospect, it seems well ahead of its time.

Thematically, the novel presents a debate about the benefits and problems of imperialism and colonization, using Costaguano as a model colony and the Gould Concession as model imperialists. When Sotillo accuses foreigners of robbing his country of its wealth, Gould suggests to him that a country's resources (i.e., Costaguana's silver) can be used as an asset only from the cooperation of the native workers and the capital and technical knowledge of the colonists. Such a concept seems relevant to global economic development throughout the twentieth century.