Oxford is in the process of re-issuing these Davidson anthologies. The anthologies on truth and action do not have much new material. This anthology has some excellent previously published articles on self-knowledge/epistemology and rationality, which has become necessary reading on these respective topics.

Also, look out for new stuff in Vol. 4 and 5 in this series.

I also recommend Stroud's work on Davidson, which can be found in both of his recent collections (Oxford UP).

This is certainly not my favourite book by B. Traven, and critics have often described it as "inconsistent." That said, it is still probably one of the best attacks I've ever read on corporate American culture.

It's about a U.S. oil company that's quickly expanding its drilling rights in Mexico, but is stopped short when it cannot purchase a key piece of land from a small Indian community. The rest of the novel details how the oil company tries to claim this land for itself, first by legal means and then through violence and corruption.

Thematically, this novel parallels Traven's short story "Assembly Line" -- in both narratives there is a clash of cultures between the technocratic Americans and traditional campesinos. And in both narratives, capitalism is depicted as force that promises great wealth for everyone, but at a great expense -- total dehumanization and the loss of traditional knowledge, values and customs.

Traven's sympathies are with the Mexican Indians, of course. But by no means does he portray the oil executives as "flat" or two-dimensional characters. One of the great strengths of this book, in fact, is that it shows how a wealthy oil president finds himself trapped in a cycle of overspending -- overconsumption -- and is therefore forced to pursue bigger business ventures, all in attempt to stave of insecurity and personal financial ruin.

The few inconsistencies in this novel -- which are minor and have to do with Traven's poor use of American slang -- do not detract from "The White Rose." His attacks on big business are incisive to say the least, and his description of rural Mexican life is vivid, realistic and flawless.

This English-to-Spanish dictionary includes what are supposedly the most frequently used words in English, and gives basic definitions for them that would be useful for beginning ESL students or for young bilingual children. Still, the limitations might be frustrating for anyone else:

1) many definitions omit whole parts of speech. For instance, "affect" is defined only as a verb, when it can be a noun, also; and "air" is defined only as a noun, when it has several meanings as a verb.

2) the dictionary is ONLY English-to-Spanish. For those wanting to know what the Spanish verb "intentar" means in English (to try), one of the thousands of two-way dictionaries out there would be a better buy.

3) these are supposedly the 2500 most frequently used words in English, and yet the frequency order isn't given: there is no number next to "affect" to tell us it's the 10th or the 402nd or the 2033rd most common word in English. If these words really are the 2500 most common, then the actual order ought to have been known to the authors. Including that order would have been a selling point for the book; without it, there is really nothing that distinguishes this book from the herd.