An excellent history and detailed analysis of the classic painting by John Singer Sargent. Although known mostly as a nineteenth century portaitist, Sargent's depiction of a Spanish dancer in El Jaleo received much critical acclaim. The book traces Sargent's artisitic influences and fascination with Spanish culture which inspired him to paint El Jaleo. There is also a great section featuring many of Sargent's early sketches and design studies. This book is a great reference for anyone interested in Sargent or this masterpiece of his early works.

Crawford's reframing of gender makes this text her landmark feminist theory contribution to feminist gender studies. By regarding gender as "processes by which differences are created and power is allocated"(13), Crawford offers the critical tool for decentering the primacy of gender as a system of domination in society, culture, interactions, and individuals. She deploys this tremendously useful framework to analyze popular talk and academic discourse.

If you're looking for the antidote to "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" or Tannen's equally sexist "Talking from Nine to Five," analyses of "sexes" talking, this text will likely provide the cure. Mary Crawford's feminist psychological critique of the essentialism of "sex" differences teases open the "complex system of classification and social control operating at social structural, interactional, and individual levels,"(xi) for all to easily see and appreciate.

Her presentation is engaging, humorous, right on point, and reader-friendly for a wide audience. Strongly recommended for graduate scholars in gender studies, psychology, feminist studies, women's studies, communication studies, and socio-linguistics. (But also for Tannen and Gray ::winking subversively::).

QUEEN'S PLAY was the first Lymond book I read--stumbled across it at the public library about 20 years ago. I then had to ransack the rest of Washington,DC's branch libraries to get my hands on the other books in the series, and ever since, Dorothy Dunnett has been my favorite historical fiction writer. She is not for the faint-hearted: you must be literate (in several languages if possible)and well read in history of the period if you are to appreciate the books to the fullest. Or, if you come "cold" to the book, the kind of person for whom a novel opens a door through which you begin to learn about the real contemporary history. Her characters are so well-educated and well-bred that I have no problem picturing them at the various European courts where Mrs. Dunnett places them. Modern politics seem very dull indeed in comparison (Tony Blair vs. Mary Tudor!) Mrs. Dunnett writes a beautiful, lush English--one of my major fantasies is inviting her to tea in ! order to find out if she's anything like one of her creations.

I love Dunnett books because the characters are so well developed, and the plot so intricate yet discernable, I read in awed admiration. I have been fooled by the plot twists so many times, I have now come to expect it, and just smile when I see that I had been totally wrong yet agian. Dunnett has such a profound understanding of history and the human nature of both her characters and readers, that the story lives in my mind stronger than any movie that I have ever seen. I recommend this series to everyone, even if you don't speak French and Latin. It's worth the effort.

A friend lent me her much loved copies of "The Disorderly Knights" and then "Queen's Play" and I've been hooked on this series ever since. It has a richness of prose and depth of character that set it apart from the average hero story. It also has an intriguing plot line and an interesting view of Renaissance politics. All six books fit smoothly together with a tasteful use of foreshadowing. This is perhaps the slowest moving book of the series, but I find that each time I re-read this I enjoy it more. I would recommend starting at the beginning (with A Game of Kings) instead of in the middle and out of order, as I did. While each book is self-contained, there are enough references to previous incidents to make following the series order worthwhile. This is the series I always recommend when a meet someone who TRULY loves to read. I can't say enough good things about it.

There really is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I bought The Game of Kings after reading the recent article on Dorothy Dunnett in the NY Times Book Review. I couldn't believe that anything as good as they described could have escaped by attention--I've had life long love affair with historical fiction. But it had escaped by view and I'm almost giddy with the knowledge that there are five more in the Lymond series, then I can begin the Niccolo series.

I recently read Timeline by Michael Crichton, a story premised on 20th century scientists going back into medieval France. It was a bad book and I never felt that the characters had gone back or that Crichton had any idea what life was really like back then. Dunnett, on the other hand, not only convinces you that she knows the past, she transports you there. Crichton's book probably would have been quite good if Dunnett had written it.

Dunnett's prose is not easy to read--it requires your absolute attention and a good dictionary close at hand, but the rewards are enormous.

My biggest dilemma right now is whether to re-read this book and thereby unpeel the onion some more or plunge into Queen's Play, the second Lymond book (I'll probably do both simultaneously).

While there are innumerable things I liked about this book, I'll focus on three of them:

1. The characterizations. Rather than simply paint a character as good or evil when we first meet them, Dunnett slowly unfolds them a layer of time through what they do and say (and often by what they don't do or say). In the end, the characters feel like real life humans, with both flaws and strengths. I found the young blind woman, Christian Stewart, to be both complex and wonderful. And Lymond has more layers that a wedding cake.

2. The prose. Yes, it's difficult. Yes, it's often ambiguous. Yes, it's filled with obscure allusions and foregn phrases. You don't need to understand them all the first time through. But in the end, Dunnett is quite simply a wonderful stylist of the language. One of the characters said this about a coming war: "I don't like this war. I don't like the cold-blooded scheming at the beginning and the carnage at the end and the grumbling and the jealousies and the pettishness in the middle. I hate the lack of gallantry and grace; the self-seeking; the destruction of valuable people and things. I believe in danger and endeavour as a form of tempering but I reject it if this is the only shape it can take." That is great writing and very wise.

3. The Plot. In the end, it's simply a great story, with more twists and turns than can be fully comprehended in one reading. I read the last 150 pages in a big gulp.

This is a great book--I'm sure it's a great series, one that will be right up there with Aubrey/Maturin. The thing that will now keep me up nights is the question whether there is another great series out there, wonderful but undiscovered.

Dorothy Dunnett is an adventure writer squarely in the Scottish line of Sir Walter Scott (whose ancestors appear in several of the Lymond Chronicles) and John Buchan. Like them, she embraces derring-do, shrinks not from melodrama and thinks nothing of sacrificing plausibility to the cause of excitement. The series starts a bit ponderously--Ms. Dunnett was learning on the job--but readers who make it through The Game of Kings will find each successive book more breezily written and more surely plotted. Readers who love the period details in Patrick O'Brien's sea novels will enjoy Dunnett's erudition and the knowlegeable presentation of an earlier world--the series is set all over Europe and the Mediterraean in the lively but difficult years between the death of Henry VIII and the ascension of Elizabeth I, a time when Spain was the important power in Europe and intrigue was everywhere. Wonderful set pieces and engaging minor characters brighten the later books particularly. A warning: if you get through the first two of this six-book series, you won't be able to stop

I picked up the first of this series because a note at my favorite bookstore said, "These are the best books in the world." I read Game of Kings and did not think it was the best book I'd ever read but was willing to try another one. By the end of the second book I couldn't put them down.

But they are not easy to read. Game of Kings, although the only stand-alone of the series, is particularly difficult because of the quotes in antique foreign languages. I didn't try to decipher them, and by the second book they all but disappear.

All I can say to those readers who found the series difficult to read is that reading it is worth your patience. If you like authentic historical fiction, exciting action, and compelling characters, plough on ahead! Lymond as a character is not easy to understand, but rest assured that most of your questions will be answered by the end of the series.

When I was taking Cosmetology back in the 2000-01 school year, they recommended to purchase this version of Milady's Standard Textbook of Cosmetology. They were only available new in Canada and cost [money], and came with the theory book as well. Our teacher also had the old 1996 version of this textbook for sale, used. However, this is a better purchase. There are more pictures and colors, its not as drab as the previous version. I have to disagree with reviewers who said this is not a detailed book, I found it to be quite detailed and informative in its information. The book meant to be used in a classroom setting, where an instructor teachers and elaborates from this book. You cannot read this book and automatically cut hair, that is where the practical aspect of cosmetology comes in, when you are doing it hands on instead of reading. But this is a helpful tool for aspiring apprentices or students in cosmetology, whether you want to learn about Coloring, Perms, whatever the case, this is definately a worthwhile tool to have.

I bought the 1996 version of this book in June of 2000 and within one month I was signed up for cosmetology school. Then I got to school and they used the 2000 edition so I was already prepared. For those who think this book doesn't go into detail please realize that this is a textbook and it is part of a series of books for teaching. There are 2 workbooks that go along with this book. One for Theory and one for Practical. I was given a 1990 edition of this book as well by a friend of mine. The most noticable change between the 3 editions is that the 2000 edition has more actual photographs and fewer illustrations. If you are using this book for school study then I do recommend you buy the state board exam review booklet. Then when you have free time you can quiz yourself. Just remember that this book is meant to be used along with an instructor. If you are looking for a haircutting book only then I don't think you want this one. It only has a few pages on haircutting and about 12 pictures of haircut instructions.

I bought the 1996 version of this book in June of 2000 and within one month I was signed up for cosmetology school. Then I got to school and they used the 2000 edition so I was already prepared. For those who think this book doesn't go into detail please realize that this is a textbook and it is part of a series of books for teaching. There are 2 workbooks that go along with this book. One for Theory and one for Practical. I was given a 1990 edition of this book as well by a friend of mine. The most noticable change between the 3 editions is that the 2000 edition has more actual photographs and fewer illustrations. If you are using this book for school study then I do recommend you buy the state board exam review booklet. Then when you have free time you can quiz yourself. Just remember that this book is meant to be used along with an instructor. If you are looking for a haircutting book only then I don't think you want this one. It only has about 12 pictures.

I am a descendant of one of the women in this book (Penelope Stout). The book is apparently supposed to be a children book, but I found it remarkably informative and interesting. The author takes the stories of four women and brings them together with some historical background to present a fun to read narrative. Along the way are many unobtrusive but (to me) immensely interesting side notes (including origins of place names and historical tidbits).

This book is generally good, unfortunatley the class I took that used this book was not good. So I'm having trouble separating the book from the class. Taken by itself the book is informative and I feel does a good job of covering the various expiriences of women. The book, of course, does take a liberal slant but the attempt to be balanced is there and should be appreciated by readers of a more conservative slant. The authors do have an agenda, as do most liberal feminists, and they make no apologies for their ideas. The best sections are the ones dealing with women and sexuality. The authors are sensitive and try to go beyond mere male-bashing. The authors also stick to significant issues, (something the class didn't do), and to keep the book from getting to boring they insert cartoons, usually Doonsberry, to illustrate their case. The cartoons are appropriate and add to the work.