I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The way that it intermingled history of the time period, geography, strong moral values, and the tale of the quest for gold held my interest throughout the book. It even threw in a few unexpected twists and turns in the high seas adventure.
This book is appropriate for adult readers and young readers alike. It has spurred me to want to read more about history and ocean adventure of the time period.

Dr. Evans in this book teaches on the Doctrine of God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Man, Salvation, Church, Scriptures, Angels, Satan, Last Things. There is also eighty additional entries by Maxwell Coder. I particularly enjoyed the doctrine of God (about 50 pages) wherein he argued not only the characteristics of God but also the existance of God using a view philosiphical arguments. It is however clear from reading the book that it is quite old and it's theology the same - written in the beginning of this century. For those looking for a more modern approach I would not recommend it, but for general study, looking for a good supply of scripture references and sufficient notes on different doctrines, this book is worth having.

This book offers a look at ancient civilizations like no other I've read. What the author writes about Mayan civilization is facinating! Anyone interested in history would enjoy the book and learn a lot. Also, the price is hard to beat being paperback.

interested in this particular subject. This book does talk about romance in Hollywood comedies of 80's and 90's. Sometimes parallels are drawn with the older films. All argumemnts are based on classical film theory. Interesting book, but not the most essential on the subject+ too expensive, in my opinion.

Evans is the only author ever to conduct historical research on the ancestors of the present-day Lumbee tribe at a professional level of ability and accomplishment. Other authors writing on the Lumbees have been either anthropologists (such as Sider and Blu) or else amateurs in either status and/or ability. Evans researched a plethora of primary sources, and his historical fact-finding will probably never be surpassed. Evans has written a competent and well-sourced narrative.

But there are serious flaws. By beginning the book with the murder of the Lowry relatives, Evans contextualizes the gang's story as a revenge tale. The book's organization thus obscures the fact that the Lowrys had already committed two murders themselves, prior to their enemies' murder of their father. Obviously there is more going on than a simple revenge motive. Evans fails to make clear that the Lowry gang episode is really about Radical political terrorism in opposition to the Conservative political terrorism of the KKK. While Evans does report elements of the Lowrys' political motivations (although he missed a number of sources that would have expanded this aspect), he emphasizes the revenge motivation. Ultimately, Evans has succumbed to and is reproducing stereotypes of "Indian" violence. Evans never acknowledges that there is little to no evidence that the Lowrys saw themselves as Indian warriors. In fact, the Lowry gang was a multiracial political coalition--not an outbreak of ethnic conflict.

Those caveats aside, this is the most professional work ever done on Lumbee history, and certainly the best researched. All the pieces of the story are here, and it is a fascinating story indeed.

Roasts are notoriously frightening. You assume that the roastee will enjoy being roasted but you're not always so sure. This book gives some great quips to start you out. I thougt most of them were on the tame side, a few were a little dated ( kind of reminded me of Johny Carson jokes - which would be fine but I'm not exactly Johny Carson). That could be because I'm a Gen-Xer. If you're trying to roast the CEO and not the CIO, this would probably help you more than it did me. One of the best features was the indexing which was very well done.

This book manages to make a funny, sexy and irreverent movie sound like a bout of trench mouth. The author is obviously yet another victim of gender studies who keeps weaving and unweaving his text to distract us from the fact the he's writing about a pop movie without having anything like a pop sensibility that might make his opinions mean something. He weighs down a movie that is lighter than air by imposing cultural "significance" where none is needed. There are the usual genuflections to Sirk and Hitchcock ("Rear Window" is mentioned but the more appropriate "Rope" is not) but no mention of Oscar Wilde, which seems like a huge oversight given that the movie is essentially a drawing room comedy (complete with servants and young lovers) unfolding instead in a penthouse. The BFI Modern Classics series can usually be counted on to be informative and entertaining but this is the worst one I've read. It skirts by the actual production of the movie with very few anecdotes but offers up alot of tired theorizing on gender and family romance. His derogatory comments on the physical makeup of most of the actresses is my idea of poor taste; he is judgmental about them but Almodovar's camera never is. The book is a perfect example of film criticism as taxidermy.

A short, but informative critique on one of the classic gems of Spanish cinema, the BFI essay on "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown," is an excellent, and well-researched study. Focusing mostly on the importance of the film in the context of history (e.g. the film veered away from the censorship once imposed by the Franco Regime) and its' artistic composition, author Peter William Evans does a magnificent job in discussing the film.

The part I like the most was his tribute to the greatest modern day Spanish actress, Carmen Maura, who radiates the screen as the betrayed, confused Pepa. It was Maura who carried this movie on her shoulders, and her ability to express emotion and utilize the sexuality many Latin possess was essential for the film's success.

This book makes great reading due to its' compact size. If you liked this book, please read "Almodovar on Almodovar," which features the master Spanish filmmaker talking about his works and his reasons for doing what he does when behind the camera.

The movie plays just as well as the book reads. The movie is often haphazard and makes the watcher interested to learn more about the characters. The book was a very quick read. I had to reread it again, slowly, poring over each of the words. It's a small book, but its significance is made greater by reading it over slowly.

From these short stories I got the feeling that William Spencer is good game for taking the place of Ira Levin in popular fiction: Great premises, underdeveloped plot and characters, and plain jane prose.

The man CAN write, I'll admit to that. He drops ingenuous metaphors and literary references. But the stories hardly feel as a whole, just some witty tidbits tied together in a bundle.

Frankly, Spencer sets the trap for himself with his introuction, where he analyzes the state of short fiction as a playground for writers, where stories are used as prose exercises of preciousist writing, with little fun in the tale to tell. He admits by the end that some of his own stories can be held for having the same (un)qualities... but it seems they had a lot more of it than he expected.

So, this is my scorecard:

"The Entomologists at Obala" is, arguably, the most enjoyable of this stories. A minimalist reworking of Romeo and Juliet, with young lovers fighing through family feuds over exotic insect and aracnid species.

"Looking out for Eleanor" is a psychological suspense story, and the lenghtiest story in the book. That may be key to its success, for it allows the characters to develop their traits and the plot to move at a pleasurable pace.

Spencer adds three literary exercises in character description through metaphor: "The Wedding Photographer in Crisis", "Pep Talk" and "Snow". They may need to be read more than once to sink in, because they somehow feel flat.

There are also three tales I could envision featured in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", exercises in twist ending: "Haunted by the Horror King", "The Return of Count Electric" and "Best Man". Sadly, by the time the twist came I was expecting it, and failed to shock me.

Lastly, there are "Graven Images", "A Child's Christmas in Florida" and "Daughter Doom", tales where several elements are left intentionally obscure, and which I found to be the most disappointing from the whole lot.

As I said, Spencer can write, and this book may keep you entertained as you read it. But you shouldn't be surprised if, like me, you finish it feeling nothing really happend while you were at it.

This guy is really funny and dark at the same time. His style flows and is really easy to read. I don't usually like stuff that's this 'normal' but I plan on reading everything this guy has. By normal I don't mean boring I mean there were no 'fantastic' elements in it like magic or monsters, just people and situations. I thought almost all the stories were very original but the last two were definitely the worst. I think I will like his novels even more than his short stories.

Faraway Blue is based on the true life episodes of Buffalo Soldier, Moses Williams who won a Medal of Honor for his service in fighting the great Apache Chief warrior Nana; a subperb tactician, leader and protector of his small band of people. The time period is from 1866 to 1895. Sgt. Williams of the Ninth Calvary is an ex-slave who fought in the Civil War and is now fighting one of the last holdouts of western expansion, the proud and tenacious fighter and Warm Springs Chief, Nana, on Nana's own territory: the Black Range or the "faraway blue" mountains of southeastern New Mexico territory.

Williams has been fighting the old fox for years and feels as though he is finally closing in on him. Both warriors have a healthy respect for one another, but neither is willing to give in to the other. Williams has a reason for wanting to put an end to the final struggle...he wants to marry Sheela Jones, a beautiful mulatto he save from a life of certain prostitution when her adopted white family was killed while Sheela hid in the near-by woods and heard the slaughter. His commanding officer has withheld the prize of marriage to Sheela until the "Apache problem" is under control. This is the first western I've read and I must say it was pretty good. Some of the situations were a bit too pat, however, I would recommend it to anyone wanting to get their feet wet reading westerns.

Although knowledgable about Bunuel's films, Evans' writing is so overly intellectual that it is almost impossible to decipher his ideas. The book is burded by his devotion to the French analytical style of Foucalt and others, and thereby he fails to communicate the beautiful and alarming lucidity of Bunuel's actual work.