D. R. and Quinch originally appeared in a British comic book/magazine called "2000 AD". (The same publication that spawned "Judge Dredd", among others.) It was written by Alan Moore, one of the better comic book writers of all time. (He is known for such comics as "From Hell" and "League of Extrordinary Gentlemen" (both made into films), as well as "The Watchmen", making "Swamp Thing" into an interesting comic, among others.

This is one of his lesser known works.

D. R. and Quinch are a couple of alien juvenile delinquents that make anyone out of the "Wild Bunch" look like Prozac munching vegitarians. They maim and kill entire civilizations just for the fun of it. However, the destruction is so over the top and the targets of satire so broad that it is not just mayhem for the sake of mayhem.

Alan Davis' art adds to the atmosphere. His aliens are all bizzare creatures that have traits that you will still recognize. (There is a pretty savage parody of Marlin Brando in one of the stories.)

Highly recommended. I am glad these stories are still in print.

I found this to be a great book for the person who loves to draft patterns. Being a costume/fashion design student and an excellent pattern drafter, the books instructions are very easy to follow and understand. Although it gives somes tips on contstruction in certain areas of the garment, I wish books of this nature would offer more construction information.

I was very excited to get this book as there doesn't seem to be much written on period menswear.This is an excellent book for theatrical costumers (the section on pattern sizing is particularly useful). However, the serious student or historic re-creator will be frustrated by the theatrical conventions of some of the patterns...the 18th century breeches come to mind. For these, I would recommend _Costume _Close_Up for graghs of actual 18th century garments. Still, with this caveat, this is one of the books that I have been "hanging out with" lately.

This book was horrible. I was forced to use it in a mandatory brainwash...er, history course for school. The book essentially goes like this:

We settled Massachusetts, and the indians, blacks, gays and women were persecuted.

Then, we started a westward expansion which led to persecution for indians, blacks, gays, and women.

During the revolutionary war some white guys fought or something, but it is important to note that the indians, blacks, gays...

This book is a proselyting tool, a transparent piece of propaganda. I didn't convert.

This book tries to teach history without actually including any concrete information. It outlines general trends without emphasizing the historical facts on which the trends are based. While it's certainly important to recognize progressions in history, it's extremely difficult to learn about them based only on the text's vague, 50-page summaries, all of which fail to mention any form of historical evidence.

As a student, I found this book's approach to teaching history disastrous and mildly insulting. First of all, it fails to convey even the most cursory knowledge of history by shunning, at all costs, cruel Old Regime teaching methods that might require DATE memorization or familiarity with historical FACTS. With nothing to "Lock On" to, it's very hard to retain anything. Even worse, however, are the implications of the book's approach. I like History because I enjoy being able to look at a set of evidence and trying to figure out, based on otherwise stale information, what *actually* happened, what life was like. Somehow, I got the sense that by describing outright "what life was like," the book implies that to force students to learn INFORMATION is useless, that students are unable to think for themselves and interpret historical information with any accuracy.

I think I should comment, also, on one reviewer's dismissal of this book as "Nouveau History." I come close to BEING one of the "Tenured Radicals" this reviewer had so much disdain for, and I still hated this book. I would hate it if I were communist. There's so much wrong with it that to criticize it for its left-wing perspective is plain silly.

I would recommend "The American Promise," by James L. Rourke, Micheal P. Johnson, and a few others instead.

This book provides a balanced overview of U.S. History up to 1877. The treatment of social and cultural history is particularly stong. The prose is, for the most part, quite lively.