It seems the most popular budget classical music label, Naxos, not only makes most of the Western musical output available at very reasonable prices (no top stars who demand absurd fees make this possible), but it has also issued three very nice boxed sets of recordings on cassettes and CDs (I have the latter) that together give you a quick, fairly accurate, and quite enjoyable survey of three major topics. Perry Keenlyside's (NA 314412) is on three tapes or CDs and more or less delivers what the title promises in about 3 hours and 40 minutes. The text is considerately divided into sections--"Mozart, the child prodigy," "January 1762, the first journeys," "Paris and London, 1763-4," and so on--with tracking cues for each section. The narration and quotations from letters and journals of the time are accompanied by the appropriate music drawn from the bottomless Naxos catalogue. Nigel Anthony is the narrator, aided by Paul Rhys (Mozart), Edward de Souza (Leopold Mozart), with David Timson and Anna Patrick in "other parts." I have not seen the original books to see how much of an abridgment this is, if at all, but that is immaterial. The voices are personable, the information digestible, the whole project very worth while, especially at the price. Those last two sentences are true for the other setsas well. Richard Fawke's (NA414012) and (417612) are both on 4 tapes or CDs and read solo by Robert Powell. I am afraid that just a little five hours is not enough to handle the first topic with any satisfying degree of completeness; but it does give a 'Monarch Notes" glance at an enormously wide and complicated topic and is just enough for anyone who wants a head start before plunging into longer works. On the other hand, I greatly enjoyed the Opera set, timed at only 5 minutes more than the other recording. Trying to cover less, it does it better; and it even has room for some amusing incidents such as the one about the famous one-act opera that was entered into a contest (which it won) by the composer's wife who had more faith in it than did the composer. [No, you listen to the recording to learn which opera I mean.] My only objection to the Naxos recordings of books in the low recording level that makes it a bit difficult to hear on a walkman set up on (say) a noisy train. But this should offer no problem to home hearing or even in your car. These sets are really perfect listening for long trips.

From Gregorian Chant to Henryk Gorecki (the first living composer to get into the pop album charts), Richard Fawkes' The History Of Classical Music presents the fascinating and informative story of more than a thousand years of Western classical music and the composers who have sought to express in music the deepest human feelings and emotions. Welsh also explains polyphony, sonata form, serial music, and other musical expressions with a text that is illustrated by performances from some of the most highly praised recordings of recent years. Fawkes' superb text is ably narrated on in this four compact disc collection by Robert Powell (Running Time: 5 hours, 20 minutes). The History Of Classical Music is also available on audio cassette. Also highly recommended is the unabridged Naxos Audiobook edition of Richard Fawkes' The History Of Opera.

With all the polysyllabic terms in French, Italian and German, and the dozens of East European composers and conductors, I would like a "dictionary" of music to show me how to pronounce them. If the standard Webster's dictionary assumes I cannot pronounce c-a-t, why does their dictionary of music assume I can pronounce Dvorak, Kuijken or ripieno?

I found that this dictionary, just from a quick glance at it in a store, was perfect for what I needed(which was both studying, and composing). It gave great information on composers, theory, and the ranges of most instruments(including ethnic instruments such as the er-hu and sitar).

Use of this book requires a basic knowledge of statistics and the tests you will be performing. Don't use a test if you don't know the theory behind it. What's great about the book is the no-nonsense explaination of default data analysis output tables. Every user of SPSS will eventually need to wade through these complete, but poorly organized tables.

There is an enormous amount of detail in some apparently unimportant topics (for example on how to get a green card for your maid) and very little on very important ones (for example on labor certification). The topic of labor certification is a subsection in the chapter for "Live-In Domestic Workers" !

This book may be good if you are trying to get a green card for your maid, though.

i wish going to usa to be with my brother hosam

I believe this book may be of interest to many readers.
First of all, it explains how visitors from abroad can legally prolong their stay in the USA. It's possible to apply for an extension of one's visitor's status without leaving the USA. And this book guides well through this procedure.
Secondly, those who are interested in applying for a green card, should find the most suitable category if they want to succeed. The book describes qualifications and outlines the application process for each of them.
Many people don't know that they may be inadmissible for one or another reason even if they otherwise meet all the green card applicant requirements. Someone already in the US, and still may not be allowed to proceed if he or she falls into one of the inadmissible categories - as a violator of immigration rules in the past or for health reasons, for example. Some people find this out only after passing a medical exam. But you may want to learn about the regulations in advance. The book covers this issue in detail, including who and how can apply for a waiver of inadmissibility.
Another sensitive chapter is on cancellation of deportation. How and in what cases this may be done...
Also, you'll find some important information on how and who is eligible to claim status as a refugee or political asylee.
In all, I think the book is pretty informative and filled with practical advice. It's also easy to read and understand.

All reliable evidence indicates Sacco and Vanzetti are emblematic of rather low-level, low-life anti-intellectual types. They were clearly guilty but unfortunately (for them) they committed their vile murder in a time when decency still reigned (even in Massachusetts) and fair trials were still the norm of the day. Lost in all of this is the name of the poor victim. You can read entire essays railing against the evils of racism,etc. and not find the name of the victim. The poor fellow is lost in the fray of leftist babble. In the end, justice was served and the two immigrant anarchists who, after all, sought the destruction of American society were put to death for their evil actions. Still, reading this compilation of their letters serves several useful purposes: 1) it clearly indicates how stupid they were; 2) it reminds one that even evil nuts have families whom they care about (can one imagine reading the prison letters of Dr. Joseph Goebells "I love you, deary and the little kidders too."); it demonstrates once and for all the boorish mentality of the nutcase (admittedly a redundant phrase)leftwing; 4) it demonstrates that liberals have always been stupid.

Polenberg of Cornell University The introduction to The Letters of Sacco and Vanzetti (Penguin Books 1997) by Professor Richard Polenberg is richly informative. The publication is timely and useful. Readers must ask whether these letters offer a clue to the moral character of convicted murderers Sacco and Vanzetti. John Nicholas Beffel, radical journalist who roomed with chief defense counsel Fred Moore during the Dedham trial, declared in “The New Republic,” December 29, 1920, that Vanzetti was a “philosophical anarchist.” In “The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti” (March 1927), Harvard Law School Professor Felix Frankfurter called Vanzetti “a dreamy fish peddler” (p. 101). Bruce Bliven, “managing editor of the liberal New Republic” (a phrase from American National Biography), wrote of Sacco and Vanzetti: “Their faith is philosophical anarchism.” See TNR: June 22, 1927, p. 121. When an unknown reviewer in the April 1929 issue of the anarchist journal “The Road to Freedom” argued that Upton Sinclair’s novel “Boston” was the work of an unfit historian, Sinclair replied angrily in the June issue: “It is a fact that Sacco was a ‘Militant Anarchist.’” Anarchist editor Hippolyte Havel agreed. In the August 1929 issue of “Lantern” Walter Lippmann wrote: “By every test that I know of for judging character, these are the letters [The Letters of Sacco and Vanzetti] of innocent men.” Note: The brackets are by Lippmann Frederick Allen (Only Yesterday, 1931) said Vanzetti was “clearly a remarkable man--an intellectual of noble character, a philosophical anarchist of a type which it seemed impossible to associate with a pay-roll murder.” Alfred Jules Ayer, Professor of Logic at Oxford, reviewing Francis Russell’s 1962 book on Sacco and Vanzetti, wrote: “Both men were active anarchists of an idealistic kind.” Ayer said the letters of Vanzetti revealed “a man of great swetnesss and nobility of character.” See New Statesman: 5 July 1963. Sacco-Vanzetti scholars who met at the Boston Public Library on October 26 and 27, 1979, reminded readers that time is a great corrective. Professor Nunzio Pernicone, on the second conference day said: “ . . . these men [Sacco and Vanzetti] were not philosophical anarchists; they were genuine, militant revolutionaries.” See “Sacco-Vanzetti: Developments and Reconsiderations--1979,” the 1982 publication by Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston. In “Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background,” a 1991 publication by Princeton University Press, Professor Paul Avrich wrote: “Both [Sacco and Vanzetti] were ultra-militants, . . .” See p. 161 for Avrich’s citation to Sinclair’s letters that acknowledge the militancy of Sacco and Vanzetti. On page xxxix of his Introduction, Polenberg calls Edmund M. Morgan a historian. In fact, Morgan is called Royall Professor of Law at Harvard University on the back cover of the 1978 reprint of “The Legacy of Sacco and Vanzetti,” that 1948 book by Joughin and Morgan that Tom O’Connorr said had educated a generation of college students and professors. Polenberg’s assertion (p. xxxix) that Joughin and Morgan, . . .believed Sacco and Vanzetti innocent, . . .” must be severely qualified. Morgan said Ehrmann’s book, “The Untried Case: The Sacco-Vanzetti Case and the Morelli Gang,” failed to convince him that the Morelli gang, not Sacco and Vanzetti, had committed the crime at South Braintree. Morgan also said that if Sacco and Vanzetti “were alive today [1934] and were to be tried again, . . . and if a verdict were returned, it could not be set aside as contrary to the weight of evidence, at least against Sacco.” See Harvard Law Review, January 1934. Morgan has more telling concessions in the book he and Joughin published in 1948. On pp. 55-56 he calls Vanzetti’s Plymouth trial fair, the verdict just. On p. 46 Morgan writes: “ . . . this cross-examination, taken alone,

tends strongly to show that a group of Italians had framed an alibi for Vanzetti and had coached this bright youngster [Beltrado Brini] to tell his story with details which would tie in with the incidents related by other witnesses.” On pages 48-49 Morgan says Vanzetti’s statements on the Plymouth trial are suspect. A handbook on the two disputed trials is “Kill Now, Talk Forever: Debating Sacco and Vanzetti,” an ebook by 1stBooks Library. Soft cover issue will be available before the end of summer....

This is the most important testament to a now largely forgotten tragedy of American politics. Sacco and Vanzetti were essentially convicted and executed for being unpatriotic foreigners, regardless of the crime they were accused of [for which no specific evidence was presented against them]. They waited for seven years in prison before their execution, during which time they wrote these letters. Their English, though it improved through the years, was never fully accomplished. But the results are extraordinary. The letters express ideas about life, society, faith, politics and human feelings, and the often clumsy and misused language actually makes the expression more lucid and more beautiful. The path of trial, appeal and final sentencing runs through clearly, and as the end approaches the letters are inexpressibly heartbreaking, as when Sacco asks his wife to tell his daughter "that I love her so much, and again, so much." This book has been in and out of print since the late 1920's, and is often unavailable in libraries because patrons steal it. It is a blessing that Penguin has brought it back.

I have been in the field of music education for over 35 years, earning two Ph.D.s and an Ed.D. This wonderful dictionary, originally published as Dr. Theodore Baker's, "Pocket Manual of Musical Terms", (©1933 by Schirmer) was in use by most of my own piano instructors as a valuable tool for both students and teachers alike. And, the subsequent editions up to this one, were able to maintain that same high level of authorship without sacrificing what the book was used for, namely-- a quick "look-up" dictionary. However, Ms. Laura Kuhn, the "new" editor, has managed to destroy through her ignorance of classical music and political correctness, so many of the classical terms and has deleted a great many others using a method I am unable to fathom.
After teaching thousands of piano and music theory students in the private sector and in universities, I can no longer recommend what was a fine work. Please---do yourself a favour--at least purchase the Alfred Pocket Dictionary, small---but at least accurate---or find an older Baker edition (like the 4th edition) but don't waste your money on this !

If you're looking for the perfect little music reference book, look no further. Not only does it define musical terms, it tells you how to pronounce them properly, too. Handy "Rules for Pronouncing German, French, and Italian" are found the Introduction, and each non-English musical term listed in the manual is followed by a phonetic pronunciation guide. A useful Comparative Table of Tempo Marks and basic music theory information (clefs, the circle of keys, etc.) are also found in the Introduction. As an added bonus, a surprisingly comprehensive Biographical List of Noteworthy Musicians (including dates) appears in the back. Whether you're looking for a small music dictionary to stash in your instrument case or a handy reference to keep on your desk, you can't go wrong with the Schirmer Pronouncing Pocket Manual of Musical Terms.

This book is a very good comination of two of the greatest works by William Faulkner. The Sound and the Fury is carefully written using stream of consciousness refering to a sibling of the family. Even the very last sentence can easily take the reader back to the very first sentence. It is beautifully written, as well as As I Lay Dying. As I Lay Dying is written in many perspective's of each person in the family. The full story is obtained through reading through each person's mind and opinions and happenings. A suprise ending adds to the punch of this book. Both of these novels (combined into one book) are stories that critics and others seem to love, cherish, and remember for a long time.