Norrie Epstein's "The Friendly Shakespeare" is written in an, easy flowing style that will draw you in and make it fairly painless to absorb the wide research she presents. Her book, a tour de force comprised from many sources, never fails to entertain as it informs. The illustrations and photos, depicting the plays as they were performed through the centuries, are wonderfully lively. Many voices speak as you read---actors, critics, other playwrights, academic authorities; these differing points of view contribute to a complete picture that will help the reader appreciate the greatest writer in the English language. Highly recommended.

I've gone through a public school education that absolutely killed any interest I might have had in reading Shakespeare, even though I was a total bookworm. Sure, biographers would say that he was the greatest writer ever, but all that I saw was a melodramatist with a big vocabulary. My opinion is completely changed after reading The Friendly Shakespeare. More than an anthology of play summaries, this book goes into who the man was, and what his work has become over time. It trashes the "imitate Olivier" acting style that too many actors lapse into, and explores the problem of how to teach Shakespeare in the classroom. The only thing missing from the contents in my view would be more commentary on Kenneth Bragnagh's movies of Shakespeare's plays, since I think that he is the best Shakespearian of all. This complaint is moot, really, as the book was published before many of his movies were released, so no matter. This is an amazing book, and having read it gave me an honest admiration and appreciation for the Bard.

"Shakespeare is very good in spite of all the people who say he is very good": Epstein thus quotes Robert Graves in her preface and notes that she wrote the book for people who are not familiar or comfortable with Shakespeare. Fortunately, this companion is delightful for longtime fans as well. Epstein discusses twenty-three of Shakespeare's thirty-six plays (unaccountably skipping 'Julius Caesar' because, she says, "I don't like it and felt it was time to give the play a rest". She offers the most insights into the best-known tragedies (35 pp. on Hamlet, 24pp. on 'Othello', and useful thoughts on the difficult 'Tempest'), and discusses film adaptations, actors, the cult of Shakespeare, puns, sex, and the Elizabethan era. In short, she provides wonderful, readable color to enhance plays that many have read over and over and others have avoided all their lives. Divided into a series of accessible articles of a few pages each, the book need not be read in any particular order. Thumb through and you'll find something to catch your fancy. Thumb through again tomorrow, and you'll find something else. Epstein is a great place to start before seeing or reading a play, and if you don't have tickets for a nearby production, reading this book will induce you to fall in love with Shakespeare or remind you why you fell in love the first time.

Dr. Epstein indeed delivers a scathing review of the state of social science supporting (or rather, failing to support) social service interventions in child protective services in the U.S. His point that researchers have been complicit in the failures of the service system by not asking or researching the "true" questions is an important one.

However, the tone of this book is inflammatory rather than helpful. The author has plenty to criticize, but reports no real research of his own to counter his attacks on the current state of "bulk cargo" research. Fish or cut bait, Epstein.

William Epstein begins by taking the reader on a dark journey through a young girl's life. From abuse by her father and her mother's religious blinders, to further abuse by peers and those designated to care for her, we watch as this child is wrung through the system of child welfare. Epstein draws our attention to the numerous social science research projects conducted on child welfare, all with the same basic conclusion: the impossibility of social research to efficiently reduce subjective information into qualitative data. As the author points out several times, it is nearly impossible for social research to adequately measure the quality of care given to a child or whether the child would have been better off in another environment. Much of the child welfare system is reduced to availability of programs which are already overcrowded, understaffed or inefficient to meet the physical, mental and emotional needs of the child. Whether you agree with the author or not, this book is a must read for anyone involved in the child welfare system in America.

As a die hard Redskins fan, I was very sorry to see this excellent concept so badly muffed. The idea behind this book is to cash in on the Washington Post vault, providing great photos and articles combined with new pieces by long-time Skins beat reporters to tie it all together. Sadly, whoever edited and proofread this thing reeeally dropped the ball. Sentences at the bottom of the page are repeated at the top of the next, photographs are mislabeled, pieces of sentences are missing, words are chopped off in the middle. Probably still of some value for the die hard Skins fan, but a real black eye for the Washington Post. If their newspaper were produced as shoddily, Richard Nixon would have finished his second term.

Yes, there are some typos and such in the early chapters but the book isn't as lousy as described in the 2-star review. Most of the problems are hyphen-ated words that are not at the end of a page or line. It is like the typeset was changed but the book was not reproofed.

Still, there is a lot of good information in the book. I think it covers items that Loverro's book (very good as well) ignored or glossed over-- how Gibbs wanted to sign and trade Riggo and how Joe Jacoby ended up sticking around in that first camp. The Times summary makes it sound like Gibbs and Beathard were geniuses building a team. This book shows that they were also lucky geniuses. If you are a Skins fan, you should own this book.

I see there is also a newer edition out with the Synder years (ugh).