My wife already made 3 meals from this book, and they were all fabulous! But beware, this is not for an amateur cook. If you have a passion for cooking, and now the tricks of the trade, then this book is a must for you.

I love all Hayde Ardalan's drawings of Milton the Cat - humorous and unusual, they never fail to cheer me up. This address book has many pictures of Milton having fun (a picture for each letter of the alphabet, plus tiny vignettes on 'notes' pages). Standard address book layout with enough space for even the longest addresses and e-mails. What's really nice: this address book has a cloth binding and the pages are sewn in - not glued - so it should last well.

Dobranski and Rumrich have gathered an eclectic array of authors from around the world. The work includes authors from Wales, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. Dobranski and Rumrich note that modern critics of Milton often either explain away Milton's unconventional beliefs so as to create an orthodox Milton. Contributors in this work seek to place Milton within his historical context, whether in political or theological terms (Dobranski 1). All contributors have the common assumption that Milton wrote de Doctrina Christiana (6-7). The collection is separated into four parts: "Heretical theology," "Heresy and its consequences," "Heresy and community," and "Readers of heresy."

The first section seeks to define heresy. Janel Mueller's "Milton on Heresy," examines Milton's use of the word heresy. Mueller notes the first century use of the term. "The binary that constitutes the term 'heresy' in its first-century Christian sense is not truth/error but church/sect, with the further associated oppositions of wholeness versus divisiveness, community versus splitting into groups" (25). Mueller argues that Milton uses the word heresy to refer simply to "choice" early in life (22-23). However, Milton changed his view of heresy later in life to fit shifting needs. The other articles in this section round it out well.

The second section, "Heresy and consequences," laments the downplay of Milton's heresy in recent critical works. The Introduction states that each chapter of this section "focuses on a single heresy-Arianism, Arminianism, and monism" (13). Rumrich exposes Milton's Arianism in his compelling article "Milton's Arianism: Why it Matters." Rumrich asks the question, "[. . .] how is it that so many early readers identified the epic as Arian, when most twentieth-century readers, despite the added evidence of de doctrina, have accepted the claim that Paradise Lost conforms to orthodoxy?" (77) He lists several people who identified Milton's Arianism previous to the finding of De Doctrina Christiana in 1825. Among these people are Daniel DeFoe and Thomas Macauley (76). Rumrich concludes that Milton's silence is due to Arianism carrying civil penalties, including burning at the stake.

Stephen. M. Fallon's 'Elect Above the Rest': Theology as Self-representation in Milton" examines Milton's shift from his Calvinist upbringing toward Arminianism. Fallon employs limits those terms to describe opposing views of soteriology. Fallon proves how Milton's Armianism goes against the grain of the 1619 Synod of Dort. The synod, defending orthodox Calvinism, "warned against 'curiously scrutinizing the deep and mysterious things of God'" (93). Fallon shows how Milton believed that, aided by the Holy Spirit, man could use reason to understand these deep mysteries. Fallon errs in a passing comment about Paul Sellin, another critic. Fallon writes, "He writes de doctrina Christiana is supralapsarian-and thus closer to Calvin than Arminius [. . .]" (98). Fallon falls prey to the common error that Calvin was supralapsarian. On the contrary, Calvin was an infralapsarianist, although the infralapsarianism/supralapsarianism debate occurred after his lifetime. In addition, all major Reformed creeds are explicitly infralapsarian.

The final article in this section, William Kerrigan's "Milton's Kisses," is a beautifully written and entertaining piece on lyrical kissing in the seventeenth century.
A sample of this prose will help express the style. "I think of Milton in Book 4 of Paradise Lost as a great film director. Satan has arrived. The camera has discovered Adam and Eve. It is time to shoot the kiss" (126). The problem with this essay is it fails to explicate what the Introduction says it does: monism. Lyrical kissing is hardly heresy.

By the time one reaches the second half of the book, organization begins to break down. However, Stephen B. Dobranski's article fits well into the third section entitled "Milton and Heresy." The article, "Licensing Milton's Heresy," examines Milton's career as a licenser. Dobranski shows how Milton was very tolerant for the seventeenth century by analyzing what books Milton chose not to censor. Dobranski notes Milton's participation of passing the The Racovian Catechism. The Racovian Catechism explicitly adopts the Socinian heresy. Dobranski suggests, "Perhaps Milton's announcement to Parliament that he approved The Racovian Catechism, as reported by Aitzema, was a conscious attempt by the poet/secretary to create the perception of himself as an independent freethinker" (148). However, Dobranski does not believe his own suggestion. Furthermore, widening the scope of heterodoxy would eventually lead to the acceptance of Milton's own heresies. "Milton may have nominally served as a licenser, in other words, but he still objected to pre-publication censorship and would have helped to draft the new, more lenient registration" (148).

Part four, "Readers of Heresy," contains only two chapters. The first chapter, Joan Bennett's "Asserting Eternal Providence: John Milton Through the Window of Liberation Theology," seems irrelevant to the book. Although Bennett does not call Milton a liberation theologian, she implies it. This article explains how liberation theology contains many inconsistencies and focuses on political action. So does Milton. The article is by far the longest in the book, but also speaks of Milton the least.

Joseph Wittreich's "Milton's Transgressive Maneuvers: Receptions (Then and Now) and the Sexual Politics of Paradise Lost," demonstrates the variety of reaction in early Milton critics and contemporary Milton critics. He gives particular focus to the sexual politics of contemporary criticism. Wittreich notes that contemporary critics assume universalism in their criticism. "Typically, Bennett's allies presume that Milton's values are identical with their own, though occasionally a voice is heard saying that, whatever the enlightened values may be today, Milton's were the values of yesterday. In this latter regard, especially when the issue is Milton's misogyny, both sides in the debate [. . .] can agree" (255-256). Wittreich's impeccable logic exposes the biases of modern critics by laying bare their claims of neutrality.

In addition to sometimes having chapters that do not seem to fit, the book does contain a few typographical errors. Quoting Milton, Corns uses "perfeted" for "perfected" (47). In addition, William Kerrigan uses the word "entirety" where "entirely" should be used. Despite these errors, Milton and Heresy is an entertaining and informative collection.

This book gives an excellent overview of early small town history. The author gives us insight into the lives of Miltons residents and takes us on a visual tour of our hometown. It's wonderful to see how "our" houses have changed over the past century. The chapter on The New hampshire Farm Museum made me want to tour this amazing set of early farm buildings again, with new eyes. Miss Ricker made me feel like I knew Emma Jones. Excellent book, Highly recommend.

Anyone who has seen Milton Avery's work knows why he is called the American Matisse. He still has an American flair in his color choice and extra simplicity. This book is an important addition to any art history library. Professor Hobbs did the world a great service in documenting the life and work of Avery,
who is becoming more and more well known following his death. There are many color pictures throughout the book.

Lemme tell ya, this book deserves 5 stars just for Uncle Miltie's graphic depiction of his steamy affair with evangelist Aimee Semple MacPherson ... not to mention a ton of other raunchy Hollywood gossip. Way to go, Milt! Let me know when you're available ...

This volume in a series of key figures in counseling and psychotherapy features the work of Milton H. Erickson. Readers are blessed with the writing of Jeffrey Zeig and W. Michael Munion. It is at once: engaging without hype, informative without being boring, and challenging to the imagination. The work is divided into five chapters covering Erickson's life, contributions, technical orientations, criticisms with rebuttals, and overall influence. There is also a very helpful bibliography of Erickson and Erickson-inspired books which can be useful for planning a library. This is an honest, mature work that successfully balances facts and creativity and is one of the best introductions to and overview of M. H. Erickson's work I have ever read.

This book turned everything around when it seemed that Milton's poetic reputation was unsalvagable. Ricks can see more in a line of verse than any other critic, and he writes like an angel. Simply the best work of criticism ever written about this great poet.

I was lucky enough to take Tayler's Milton course in college. You think you know how to read but you don't until Tayler lets you in, slowly, on what reading Renaissance poetry requires. It's not about plot; it's not about suspense. With Milton, as with Shakespeare, you knew the end before you got to the beginning. So something else is going on. Find this book and read it.

This is a fascinating pictoral history of Milton
that shows the town's history and development
in a photographic style. Though there are
well crafted captions, the photogreaphs speak
for themselves!