This updated, expanded edition celebrates Dylan's 60th birthday and includes writings by some of the notables of his time, from Ken Kesey and Joan Baez to Simon Winchester and Bruce Springsteen. Essays offer insights on his life and influences and provide a personal overview of music and history.

While this books is easily worth the cover price to any Madonna fan or pop culture theorist, as it contains dozens of articles and texts that would be otherwise largely inaccessable, the editorial work is horrible. There are several transcription mistakes, which are painfully obvious even on a cursory reading. There are also many mislabled items, most notably pictures. The worst is a series of articles that are from USA Today dated 1996 - that discuss Madonna's "new" video, "Like A Prayer",which premiered seven years earlier. The articles are obviously mislabled, and no one caught on.

A recomened book for the content, but not for it's shoddy editorial job.

Being an extrememly dedicated Madonna fan, I am inclined to like almost any book about her. This was no exception. My favorite parts were towards the beginning because there were a lot of interviews, which I love. There were a lot of articles on other people's opinions of her work and although they were enjoyable to read for the most part; some times it would get a little monotonous. There were also some parts where it seemed many articles in a row would be negative, and that was a little annoying to read over and over. But that's what opinions and commentaries are for, right? That's definitely what this book is!

Academic scholars and fans will eat up this book of popular articles and critical essays on the queen of pop music. Anyone interested on the phenomenon of "Madonna" should definitely read this. This book provides valuable insight on her career, artistry and impact on on society, (whether you care to admit it or not.) Feminists, gays and lesbians should take note, there is plenty of material here to generate tons of debate on Madonnna's impact for years to come. A VERY VALUABLE AND FAIRLY RECENT RESOURCE!!!!!!!!!!

Most of the book is written in a expository way, but some chapters and all the appendices are useful for reference. The example MMX programs are great and the accompanying CDROM is more than worth the price of the book. One drawback is that the book needs to be updated for the Pentium Pro and Pentium II vagaries.

Given this book, I was able create several MMX routines for performing high-speed bitstream compression. Each instruction is discussed in great detail with clear diagrams and examples. Useful rules are given for calculating the exact timing of MMX instruction sequences so that you can optimize the u/v pipeline pairing of instructions. An excellent choice.

Crimes of War does what few books of its kind manage to accomplish. It is a well-researched and scholarly compendium of the various crimes of war with expert background information on the various legal instruments that prohibit these acts. At the same time, however, it a visually riveting -- and often shocking -- photographic compendium of war crimes ranging from disappearances to death squads to starvation. I had the impression that, judging from its pocket-size edition, Crimes of War was published with the intention of serving as a field guide to journalists and NGO/IO staff who wish to have ready access, written in plain English, to the legal predicates that prohibit war crimes. However, after reading Crimes of War, it seemed to be more the kind of book that should be required reading material for high school, college and law students who wish to have a basic grasp either of the history of war crimes or the legal basis for their prohibition. This book is in a class all its own.

This book is the best introduction for the general reader on the important (and currently "hot") subject of war crimes -- that is, actions that violate the Geneva Conventions and the other rules of war. The book is laid out in alphabetical order, with short, punchy chapters describing different kinds of war crimes and setting forth the basic background information needed to comprehend this challenging subject. Highly useful for the general reader and as an introduction to the subject for undergraduates and law school students. Well-written and edited, handsomely presented, it deserves a place with "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Red Badge of Courage" as an introduction to these difficult issues.

"Crimes of War" should be required reading during senior year of high school. Written by journalists, scholars and law experts, this book not only details the wrongs committed in recent wars, but who committed them and under what laws the perpetrators can be prosecuted. The photographs are often shocking and force the viewer to face the truths in the text, which is well written by men and women who either witnessed the atrocities or are working to bring war criminals to justice. "Crimes of War" clearly shows that there are binding laws of warfare, and those who break these laws must be held accountable for their actions.

Israel is not singled out for criticism in "Crimes of War". There are two chapters under the letter A (it is arranged like an encyclopedia) and if a reader only get to the letter B they may feel Israel gets the bulk of criticism. However, the reader who reads the entire book will see Israel is fairly criticised.

Also, China is not condemned for Tiananmen Square in this book because this book is about war, war crimes, genocide, and international law. Tiananmen Square - while tragic and unforgivable - was a State using lethal force against its own people in a police action. Tibet could bear mentioning, but even prior to China's invasion Tibet was a remote society, hence the lack of coverage by outsiders.

The scathing reviews of this book probably say more about the "issues" within the reviewer than the contents of the book: The truth can hurt and denial is an easy trap. Scores of countries are mentioned in this book (the US being one) and it's the facts that sting here - not "agendas". In the end, "Crimes of War" succinctly and logically reinforces the point that there are no excuses for crimes against humanity.

This interesting collection of interviews, reviews and articles takes a look at Bowie's career as it was in the early 90s. It includes pieces from the US and UK pess and considers Bowie from all angles, including his stage and screen work. In the main, it avoids showbiz gossip and concentrates on his artistic contribution, although this can get a bit academic at times. Lindsay Kemp talks about his years as Bowie's mime teacher, while Ann Rice and Jon Savage discuss the gender issue. Craig Copetas' observations on Bowie and William Burroughs are fascinating, while the best quotes come from Lester Bangs (on Bowie's fear of flying), journalist Adam Sweeting and the man himself: "I usually don't agree with what I say very much, I'm an awful liar" confesses Bowie. The Bowie Companion is a valuable and interesting contribution to the literature on Bowie as multimedia artist.

This book is great since it doesn't just talk about Bowie, but also about the world around him and what other people were doing. Some of the essays are a little too academic, but they do give some insight into his albums and individual songs. This book is best read after you have listened to his early albums carefully, so that you have your own opinions and can understand what the authors are talking about.

As the other reviewer simply put it, this book is "Interesting, but not essential". That basically sums it up, but if you can find it, I would definately buy it. There's tons of interesting facts on the music and David himself. It's all very interesting material, but I would much rather own an actual biography, such as Loving the Alien.