Studying women's studies was, for me, a very attractive option when I first went to college and was exposed to feminist ideas for the first time in my life. But I believe that it remains the case that women's studies is a complex area of study which can dramatically affect a young woman's life and career, depending upon how she studies it, where she studies it, and what she does with it. This book, because it contains the experiences of women's studies graduates in their own words (including yours truly), is of great use to women considering minoring or majoring in women's studies. It is not a path to be chosen lightly. The stories in this book will enlighten you as to its unusually personal nature as a field of inquiry and its impact on the lives and careers of its majors. Read this book!

The software with this book was totally unacceptable, and I returned the book. It would not work with the font size settings I normally use, and even when I changed the settings it first demanded I put a floppy in my A: drive and then wouldn't work anyway.

I cannot comment on the book's content, but I can note that my wife has not asked me to order a copy of either the cassette version or just the book.

I received the book with CD as a gift because I will be entering the field of medicine. The book and CD are easy to follow and I have learned more than I ever expected in medical terminology.

The book is easy to follow and prepares you to read medical reports and to learn thousands of medical terms, including diagnostic, symptomatic, and surgical terms. The pronunciations help me pronounce words correctly when I talk to the medical staff at the hospital.

I recommend this book highly.

I find that this first-year college level French text to be an adequate introduction to the language. I expecially appreciate the wide-array of authentic examples of francophone culture presented throughout the text. It is through these examples, that the student is able to apply to concepts and vocabulary in everyday situations. My only complaint with the book is the fact that in several of the short essays, many words are introduced but without any translations either in the essay or the glossary. Many times this is frustrating to students. However, the cassette tapes that accompany the text are a beneficial tool to the mastery of proper pronunciation.

Good for school instruction about diversity inUSA

While originally written to help advanced ESL students, this book offers a comprehensive reading skill review for middle schoolers or junior high students. If a teacher is hoping to prepare students for achievement tests in reading, this book will help

I read this book because I am an adoptive parent and a (volunteer) co-facilitator of a new support group for adoptive parents. I was delighted to know of the comprehensive educational/support services for adoptive families provided by VanSlyck and colleagues through their "parent" organization, Parenthesis Family Advocates. VanSlyck, et al., do an excellent job of making a case for the availability of such services and provide a useful model for others seeking to develop such programs.

I was also very interested in the data gathered through the youth support groups, offering insights into the adoptive experience through youngsters' point of view. The advice they offer adoptive parents is interesting and thought-provoking.

The real heart of the book is the personal stories of adoptive parents who have been long-term members of an adoptive support group. When I got to this section, I couldn't put the book down. I appreciated the openness and honesty of these folks, with their disturbing stories of the pathological behavior they experienced in their youngsters (the majority of whom got into major trouble in school and with the law and/or needed out of home placement at some point), the failure of professionals and social service systems to offer them real help, and their intense pain at the unraveling of their relationships with their well-loved youngsters and the chaos of their personal and family lives. The authors do a good job of identifying common themes among the stories and the experiences of other adoptive parents they have served.

Stylistically, there is some repetitiveness in the opening chapters, and the book was poorly proofread-- there are many typos. More subjectively, I was dismayed at one couple's "writing off" of their lesbian adoptive daughter as "lost" to them, simply because of her lifestyle. An editorial comment, such as those included with others' stories, might have pointed out that the gay or lesbian lifestyle is not universally recognized as unhealthy or dysfunctional, that many gay or lesbian people enjoy close relationships with their parents, and that this family may develop stronger ties in the future.

I would NOT recommend this book to prospective adoptive parents any more than I would advise couples expecting a baby to read a book about inmates of death row who were raised by their biological parents. These families' experiences are the extreme-- hardly the norm for adoptive parents and adoptees. This book, thus, lacks a larger perspective and could have benefitted from any of the following additions: stories/case studies of adoptive families served by the agency who did not experience crises of the magnitude conveyed in the book; stories/case studies of other adoptive families who constructively dealt with adoption issues at different developmental stages but whose children never acted out pathologically; a discussion of risk factors which may increase the changes of serious behavior problems in an adopted individual (such as a diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndome, or multiple pre-adoptive placements).

I WOULD recommend this book to adoption professionals and others working with adoptive families; it is quite an eye opener for those who believe a child who acts out is a product of a dysfunctional family. With some discretion, I would also recommend this book to some adoptive families-- the few who, like the parents in this book, are going through Hell with their kids and would benefit from knowing they are not alone; and others, like me, who are experiencing some bumps along the road but can say, after reading this book, that our kids and families are much healthier than we sometimes fear.

I am extremely grateful to the parents and youth who courageously shared their own stories and to the authors for making this book available.

In reading this diatribe, I learned two things. First, Jane Ellen Wayne is in love with the memory of Robert Taylor. Secondly, Jane Ellen Wayne hates everything about Barbara Stanwyck. That's about all that this little book has to offer. I don't think I've ever read a more one-sided characature about anyone. I hope Miss Stanwyck never read this tripe. We'll probably never know what exactly happed between Stanwyck and Taylor in their marriage and maybe that's as it should be. To quote Miss Stanwyck, "The more you kick something that's dead, the more it stinks." Rest in peace Stany. I hope her ghost doesn't haunt me because I bought this book!

To evaluate this book, one must first know the one that preceeded it. Soon after Robert Taylor's death in 1969, Jane Ellen Wayne began writing an admiring biography of the actor. Her heart was obviously in her work. Her anti-Stanwyck bias was equally obvious. During the book's early chapters Wayne presents Stanwyck favorably, as befits the woman that Taylor was to fall in love with. But later on, as their marriage begins to crumble, Wayne attempts to justify Taylor's wandering eye by turning Barbara into the kind of woman with whom the reader can't sympathize.

Fourteen years later, on the heels Stanwyck's resurgence (an Honorary Oscar, and an Emmy for "The Thornbirds"), Wayne reached into her trunk and turned her Taylor biography into a STANWYCK biography ---- but in doing so (her animus now more profound than ever) she omitted whatlittle of value the first book contained. Furthermore, when drawing on material from other books, Wayne's tactics are stunning in their audacity. Here are just two examples: Wayne takes Frank Capra's affectionate story about meeting, working with, and falling in love with the young Stanwyck (as told in his autobiography "The Name Above the Title") and systematically deletes everything except his first NEGATIVE impression. Then there's the story (from Ella Smith's excellent "Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck") told by a witness to Barbara's first screen-test (which was sabotaged by a vindictive cameraman whose advances she had rejected). Here, Wayne has STANWYCK appear to be telling the story, which not only makes it sound self-serving but also allows Wayne to omit the gentleman's other admiring remarks. This is the kind of book for which the term "hatchet-job" was invented.

IN SHORT: THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NOTHING OF VALUE IN THIS BOOK.