Apart from a TWO PAGE section headed "Reading Hindi Script" in which the Hindi alphabet is presented, this book does not teach you how to read or write Hindi! This little book of 143 pages of big type teaches conversational Hindi with transliterations (into the English alphabet) only. After completing this course you will not be able to read any Hindi signs, menus or periodicals, and you will have no clue as to how to write Hindi.

This book would be useful only for someone who just wants to be able to exchange a few phrases with Hindi speakers during a trip to India. Only tourist-oriented situations are presented in the dialogs, and even then the vocabulary and the total amount of material presented is extremely small. The tapes are relatively good because the native speakers read each dialog once at a normal pace, then they read the dialog slowly, line by line, so that the learner can repeat and learn pronounciation. Unfortunately, the tapes also contain a lot of filler in English that becomes annoying after repeated listening, and worse yet, in an effort to "simplify" the grammar, the tapes (and the book) will teach you some sentences that are not entirely grammatically correct.

This book seems to be meant primarily for travelers who need some basic street Hindi to be able to communicate with native speakers easily. The Devanagari alphabet is ignored entirely, and grammar is not emphasised any more than is necessary. What the book does give you is a very solid and basic grounding at basic communication skills. The conversations on the tape are very useful in practical situations such as at the airport, marketplace or so on. But the book doesn't get very in depth, so if you want anything more than a casual introduction to spoken Hindi, you will need additionall resources. but as a starter course, this book can't be beat!

It is hard to talk about Chavez without emotion, without passion for me. I left Venezuela over three years ago because I decided I didn't want my family to be raised in what was to come (and I don't regret having left), so I will not deny that I am an open anti-chavista. Now, on to this author and his views...

First of all, the period covered in the book (before 2000) could be a pretext for the author's views, since (like he did in his book), many intellectuals, leftwing and not-so-leftwing too, were supportive of the Lieutenant Colonel back until 2001 even: after all and although I did not like him from the start, Chavez could have been a true alternative to decades of corruption and traditional politics in Venezuela. Also many, many middle-class, educated people (to my dismay, some still to this day) supported him. I emphasize the word "educated", because it is no surprise that his demagogical approach results appealing to the lower-income strata of Venezuela, much like it was the case with previous Presidents.

On a side note, I saw the reaction that a figure like Castro provoked in the media in Venezuela (in case you're wondering, I am from Venezuela) during the visit for the ceremony where Carlos Andres Perez took on the presidency for the second time: they were running around Castro like puppies, fascinated my the "comandante". Therefore, it doesn't surprise me that Gott acknowledges that "reporters have always been susceptible to the charms of Latin America's radical strongmen, and I am no exception".

What's my point here? Gott's views cannot be excused as being accidentally biased in this book, simply because Chavez had not taken his mask off by the time he wrote his book, allowing the unaccounted deaths of dozens of his opposers, the looting of the country's main industry (PDVSA, the Venezuelan oil company), and the gradual shut-down of the economy leading to shortages in basic foods and medicines. Gott's views (is it coincidence that his last name means "God" in German?) had not changed much by early 2003....

This book is just another leftist manifesto, supportive of the barbaric attrocities of a regime who is perfectly willing to say with a straight face that the country cannot be in better shape and blame the opposition for everything, while inflation, unemployment and several other macroeconomic indicators are at their worse levels in over a century, in spite of the fact that the country has over $16 billion in international reserves. Sadly, I can't say that I entirely support the work of the opposition either, one that has come out of the struggle against Chavez as a fragmented block, and one that doesn't show enough signs of acknowledgement that politics-as-we-know-it will no longer work in Venezuela after this past few years of political and social nightmare.

Knowledge of a country or expertise about a region doesn't give the author's opinion any more credibility than the opinion of any of the government's spokespersons.

As the author says, few books have been written in English about contemporary Venezuela, and a lot of what is being written in Spanish, for readers abroad, is too biased, incidental and poorly researched to be of any help in order to understand the deep political changes that are taking place in Simón Bolívar's nation. With his book "In the Shadow of the Liberator, Hugo Chávez and the Transformation of Venezuela" Professor Gott contributes to foster an objective and deeper knowledge of the Venezuelan political process led by President Chávez. Gott analyzes Venezuela's recent history;the Carlos Andrés Pérez's Presidency and the "Caracazo" of 1989, the military rebellions of 1992, the Rafael Caldera's government, the fall of the Ancien Régime and the election of Hugo Chávez as President, the formation of the Constituent Assembly and the future of the Bolivarian dream that Chávez endorses, the economy, the Legacy of Bolívar, and the impact of Chávez in Latin America, in a well docummented story enriched with on-site experiences and interviews with leading Venezuelan politicians. Gott also writes about the Reform of the Judiciary, the rights of indigenous peoples, the military and civil society and other changes that Chávez is pushing through his political agenda to conclude, as a majority of Venezuelans do, that President Chávez is an honest man "with the interest of his people at heart" It is an excellent book, not the last word in English - I hope- about a history that is still being written, but a first and rather good approach by an English writing scholar that will undoubtedly help in understanding the present and future of Venezuela.

This book is pretty true to the Venezuelan political system. Although no one likes to admit it, one of the main things that worries the racist "middle class" (as is typical of Middle classes in Latin America, they consist of about 10% of the population) in Venezuela (perhaps the only middle class that lived for much of its life supported by the incumbent, plundering governments, until Chavez arrived: hence one of their reasons to hate him) is the fact that Chavez is not "white, blonde, and green eyed". The truth of the matter is that Chavez has not wrecked the Venezuelan economy. The people striking and closing down other's businesses at gunpoint have. And yes, history has already told: he's the only president (perhaps in the world?) to have won 5 consecutive elections by landslide in 2 years. It's funny how his opposition have gone from calling him a Hitlerite to a Castro-Communist (do these supposedly intelligent people realise that they are opposite ends of a political spectrum?!)

I am an avid fan of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables and have read it countless times.After I had read it the first time I was dying for more and so I ordered this book.I forced myself to read it and have not touched it since.The author's first mistake was to rewrite the end of Hugo's masterpiece.She doesn't have nearly the depth that Hugo had.Her next mistake was the plot.In it she makes Cosette and Marius undo everything Valjean spent his life doing in Les Miz.Also, she was not alive in 19th century France and cannot know what it was like to live then and therefore cannot give a convincing account of it.In all it is a disapointment after Hugo's Les Miserables.

This could be possibly the worst book I have ever wasted the time to read. There are so many bad things about this book I don't even know where to begin.
The beginning, in which Ms. Kalpakian pretty much rewrites the ending of Les Miserables, is at least somewhat believable, if not an already weak spot, to leap from. The fact that Ms. Kalpakian claims that this book is a sequel was enough to make me want to read it. Unfortunately, the author had miserably failed to even attempt to live up to the original. I wonder if she has even read the book, or if she is just basing her characters on the ones in the musical, since there seems to be a quote from the musical on every page. The dialogue is weak, and in my opinion, more of what was said here was in modern dialect, certainly not the language used in the time period the book is supposed to be taking place. The profanity in the dialogue also greatly separates this piece of trash from what was a masterpiece of literature. About the only thing that even remotely relates to the original story are the names. The author tries to recreate the characters entirely. Cosette is suddenly a brash, loud woman, not the innocent, vulnerable, and loving creature she began as. Marius is portrayed as a sexually frustrated ..., always wanting to have sex, whenever, wherever. As for Azelma, the passive Thenardier sister, well, she ruined her character also. By not sticking to the original characters, Ms. Kalpakian has basically written a trashy Harlequin romance, using names created by Victor Hugo. The story is weak to begin with and goes downhill from there. If you liked Hugo's original work, don't even bother with this. I'm sure when this was published he was spinning in his grave. It makes me wonder where Ms. Kalpakian gets the nerve to call herself an author. She has mercilessly plagarized Victor Hugo's beauthifully written characters, and done so without shame.
I think Laura Kalpakian should be shot at the barricade.

This book is supposed to continue the masterful story written by Victor Hugo. However, I feel it fell well short of this goal. The story included many of the main characters as Hugo's but the characters did not have the same depth and I did not feel the same empathy for the characters in this book. Neither does the story told by this book come close to the depth and quality of Hugo's story.

Having read Les Miserables it is hard to separate this book from Hugo's masterpiece, especially since it was supposed to be the sequel. I suspect that if I had not read Les Miserables, then I would have felt this book was not bad. I think it was a mistake for the author of this book to have attempted to write a sequel to Les Miserables. She probably should have stuck with writing her own original stories.

If you like Laura Kalpakian's books and have not read Les Miserable, then I think you will probably enjoy this book. If you love Les Miserables as much as I do, then I would not recommend this book; it can only be a disappointment when compared to Hugo's work.

I was extremely disappointed when I bought this book and therefore would not suggest it to anyone. I had previously studied some Classical Arabic and I desired to brush up on my knowledge especially in regards to speaking. Unfortunately, this book only uses a transliteration system. Therefore, it becomes difficult (or at the very least a big headache) to match the words and phrases taught with standard written Classical Arabic. Admittedly, the point of the course is to teach spoken Arabic and not written Arabic, but I think it would be useful for the student to see the written Arabic alongside the transliterated text. However, I do not believe that this work would be useful for an absolute beginner either. Since the book uses its own transliteration system and not an international linguistic system, the student will not be able to progress beyond this course should he or she ever finish it. Finally, I found the vocabulary and the phrases to be very random. There were very few recorded conversations, which I thought was strange considering it is trying to teach conversational Arabic. Furthermore, I found the tapes rather hard to follow and not well done. Usually, the books and tapes of the Hugo Language series are very well done, however, this one seems to be a very bad exception. I would recommend instead the "Teach yourself Arabic" book and tapes by Jack Smart and Frances Altorfer. While not perfect, it is a much better system.

This book throws random words and phrases at you without building up any sort of consistent vocabulary or grammer. You'd be better of buying a tourist's phrase book. At least it would have categories.

As a previous student of classical Arabic who had always wanted to learn from a cassette/book course the rudiments of colloquial Arabic, I really found this course superior to other "tourist-oriented" courses. One can learn how to compose one's own thoughts instead of simply memorizing set phrases. The slant on spoken as opposed to written Arabic sets it apart from other courses I've taken as well. Bravo, Hugo!When I get back from Tunesia, I'm going to brush up on my command of German with your colloquial German cassette/book course...

It's not bad for a child's book on kimono but it could be better. The information on early kimono is scant to nonexistant.

He traces the history of kimono adequately. However, the vast majority of the pictures are black-and-white, and the main pleasure of viewing kimono is the intricate colors and textures. Also, he spent far too much time on kabuki kimono rather than on formal women's kimono, which are much more beautiful and interesting.

I was shocked upon opening this book to find that the one example provided of a "shunga" print (p. 88) had been censored. In discussing Utamaro's prints, the text reads, "...a large part of his work is devoted to this type of subject matter, and it has often been said, with some justice, that he is probably the greatest master of this genre in the entire history of the Japanese print (Plate 36)" Plate 36 then has a large black bar running across the print from left to right, blocking out about 25%, and leaving heads and feet. The caption reads, "Lovers. Shunga, shown here partially masked. About 1790. Ronin Gallery, New York." I find it difficult to trust the judgement of someone who advocates studying an art form "partially masked". If someone is not able to honestly address these prints, s/he may avoid them, but I can`t recommend a critic who feels that s/he has the right to deface them.

Yes, there is the one censored plate, and the author is prudish throughout about shunga prints in general. However, anyone who is purchasing this book for the illustrations will be severely disappointed. There are some color plates in the middle of the work, but the vast majority of plates are reproduced in black in white. This is not a coffee table work with large, full-color illustrations. Nor is it a scholarly treatise on Japanese woodblock prints or a critical appraisal of why certain artists are held in higher regard than others. What it attempts to do is provide a brief overview for the general reader of the careers of the major artists and a historical guide detailing the development of the medium, and within the scope of its modest ambitions it actually works fairly well as an introduction to Japanese woodblock printing.

As stated, this is not for the specialist or the serious collector. The historical details are very general, and it is difficult, based only on this book, to differentiate between the stylistic differences between the various schools. Likewise, the critical evaluations are generally rather vague, and though the book attempts to describe the artists as major and minor, it often does little more than repeat the general wisdom without clearly explaining why an artist is held in such high or low esteem. As far as coverage, the work slants heavily toward 18th century artists and prints, which is a perfectly acceptable bias, but a new collector might be disappointed to find that many of the artists and prints discussed in length are actually generally unobtainable in good condition for those who are not either affiliated with museums or super wealthy. A more serious quibble with the work is that some of the prints (not the majority however) chosen to illustrate examples of the various artists' work are rather idiosyncratically chosen and not terribly representative.

Overall, this isn't a bad place to start for the beginner. There are much better introductions to the medium, but few at this price. The plates, though the majority are in black and white, are easy to see, and the reader gets a fairly serviceable historical overview. One caution however: though the paper is thick, glossy, and generally high quality, the binding is a little flimsy. If you are hard on books, this might not be the one for you.

After the Spanish conquest of Peru noblemen (encomenderos) responsible for administering the land were granted the labor of an Indian community. Minor judicial officials (corregidores) were supposed to defend Indian rights. In practice, the encomenderos and corregidores, and later the mestizos seized the lands. They indentured the Indians as tenant farmers, sold them into slave labor, or drove them out of the fertile river valleys into the mountains. By 1964, 200 years of Spanish rule had cut the Quechua population in half and the large landholders (gamonales or hacendados) that constituted only one percent of Peruvian farmers held 62% of the land.

Peasant land invasions in the sierra began in 1952; the first peasant union (sindicato) was formed in 1957. The formation of sindicatos, peasant strikes, and land invasions in the sierra continued through the 1960's and marginally improved the peasant condition. (Ibid.)

In 1958, the charismatic Hugo Blanco, a Quechua Trotskyite educated in Argentina, began organizing peasant strikes in Cuzco. About four years later Blanco and a small band of Indians formed a militia and engaged in guerrilla warfare in La Convención and Lares provinces near Cuzco. On Christmas day 1962, thirty peasants and five policemen died in a clash. The government formally charged Hugo Blanco for the deaths. In May 1963 troops consisting of Guardia Civil and Peruvian Investigative Police (PIP) encountered Hugo Blanco and his militia group. Fortunately for Blanco, a PIP officer discovered him first as the Guardia Civil officer had orders to assassinate him. The government held Blanco for three years before judging and sentencing him to twenty-years in prison. The Velasco government exiled Blanco in 1971. He published Land or Death the following year. In late 1992, Hugo Blanco was in Mexico recovering from a brain hematoma. (Hugo Blanco, Land or Death and various other sources.)

I read this book while researching the politics of Peru in the 1960's for a novel I am writing. Unless you have a similar interest in these peasant uprisings from the point of view of a Trotskyite fomenting revolution, or Blanco's candid appraisal as to why revolution failed, or insight into the mind of a Communist revolutionary, do not waste your time with this book. It is poorly written, or badly translated, or both, and the Communist rhetoric is tedious.

I would strongly recommend that you NOT buy this book. It's an utter waste of time. The biology review section is hardly comprehendable, and concentrates on such minute and ridiculous details that it's far more frustrating than productive to read. The organic chem review section is a joke, and is only a few pages long. The practice tests have questions that are not representative of those appearing on the actual exam. The only section in the pratice exams that MIGHT be remotely useful is the verbal section. But even here, while the passasges are okay, the questions are not very representative of those on the actual exam. With horrible review sections and practice tests that are even worse, this book is a complete waste of your money. I got duped into buying it becasue the price was so much lower than the price on other review books. Now I know why. You'd be much better off paying the ~$50 for the Kaplan MCAT review boook, which is far more comprehensive and useful.

This book is a complete waste of time and money. The review section is way too general, and the four "model" examinations are both too easy and do not accurately reflect the actual content of the real exam. For example in the biological sciences sections, there were no organic chemistry questions at all, but instead an overwhelming majority of questions about human physiology. Anyone planning to take the MCAT would be better served by buying A) the released MCAT tests available from the AAMC and B) a better review book like Kaplan.

This book was a joke; if you plan on doing poorly on the MCAT waste your time learning from this book. I especially loathed the practice tests. I would suggest Kaplan for the 2000 MCAT.

Notorious for his attempts to be different, Fletcher succeeds in this book. Utterly disappointing and entirely uninsightful. One expects much more from a Columbia Law School "scholar" but is left unsatisfied as so often is the case with Fletcher. Better legal insights from the Bernhard Goetz trial could be had from reading old newspaper articles.

This book utterly disappointing and uninsightful. One would expect more from a "scholar" who sat in on the trial. Unfortunately, as is too often the case, Fletcher fails to measure up.

This book doesn't teach you the Arabic language. It rehashes the complex grammatical concepts that make up the language. It does not use the Arabic script at all. Unlike other Hugo books I've used, this one is more ABOUT Arabic rather than how to really use it. Unfortunately, most of the Arabic instruction books I've purchased are similarly flawed. Any 6 year old kid in Palestine knows how to speak the language, but I'll bet he wouldn't have clue as to what diptotes are and I doubt he has memorized the 10 derived verb forms or the innumerable patterns for broken plurals. He just parrots what he has heard from his parents and learns to associate sounds with objects, concepts and actions. Hopefully someday someone will get a clue and produce a book based on the simple, natural language acquisition method we've all used to speak our mother tongue.