Joy! Shakespeare--undiluted--for everybody, either kids or adults! The layout of this book couldn't be more helpful. After a brief introduction, the compiler gets down to business. Each speech or poem is preceeded by a brief explaination, and after the selection, a small word-list to aid understanding. All are swathed in beautiful, dramatic paintings that are truly helpful for comprehension. All the famous lines are here, from Henry V's Agincourt "St. Crispin" speech, his inly-ruminating soliloquey about the nature of power, scenes from Macbeth, Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, and a couple of sonnets, and much more.

There are two things that are very impressive about this book. First, the compiler manages to introduce very adult themes about power,loyalty, etc., as well as the vocabulary of 400 years ago,even a brief explaination of iambic pentameter in a tone so chatty that you hardly realize you are learning. Second, the rich pictures impart a thirst for MORE Shakespeare. You'll hear, "Can we hear more? What's the rest of this story?" often!

Any publication that presents the Bard as accessable and enjoyable deserves a place in every school or public library, and certainly every home. Add this to Charles and Mary Lamb's "Tales of Shakespeare" as a new classic.

A perfect selection from Shakespeare's greatest plays with gorgeous artwork. An ideal introduction to Shakespeare for young people. With a smart and easy to read preamble describing Shakespeare's life and work and wonderful introductions to each poem, the book does a fantastic job of explaining how Shakespeare's work is both drama and poetry.

America has always been cursed with opportunists willing to do business with dictators. The current crop of people willing to profit from China - from President Clinton's apparent cash payments from the Chinese secret police to Republican businessmens' use of near slave labor to boost their profits - have their antecedents in William Rhodes Davis, who made a fortune supplying Hitler with the oil to launch World War II. There were many mysterious things about Davis - his relationship to FDR, his role as a Nazi agent, even his death. Mr. Harrington doesn't, can't give us the answers to everything, but he does a brilliant job laying out the facts that are known. The author is both an investment banker and a sensible man. Both are necessary skills to bring to a book like this. As an investment banker, he is anexcellent guide through the thickets of financial manueverings. As a sensible man, he weighs the information carefully and allows the reader to draw his own conclusions. I have only one quibble: he mentions that Sir Harry Oakes became associated with Davis shortly before Davis' strange death. Oakes himself of course figured in a strange murder case in the Bahamas shortly thereafter. I would have liked the author to see if there was any connection between the cases. That is the minorest of quibbles, however, and readers of this book will be able to reflect on just how many facets history has.

Good overview of packaging requirements for different types of foods.

When President Franklin Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor moved into the White House, it was a shabby place to live. The furniture and curtains were old with most needing replacement, but with the country deep into the Depression, Congress refuses to authorize funds to redecorate the President's home. Thus the Roosevelts do the best they can with what they have.

While the President is a movie with an aide, someone tries to assassinate him, but kills a police officer instead. The First lady theorizes that the killer ran away when he heard voices in her husband's bedroom, not realizing that the sound came from the movie. Obviously, White House security is lax and anyone who knows the layout of the place can easily enter and leave without detection. Eleanor, DC police Lieutenant Edward Kennelly, and the White House police join forces to ferret out the identity of the perpetrators.

MURDER AT THE PRESIDENT'S DOOR is the latest Eleanor Roosevelt mystery in this long running series that provides a fascinating look at the 1930s White House. In this age of terrorism and Pennsylvania Avenue cordoned off it is difficult to fathom the Presidential home lacking security measures, and containing broken down furniture and torn curtains. Though the who-done-it is short on action, history buffs will enjoy the late Elliot Roosevelt's latest homage to his parents early years in the White House.

Harriet Klausner

The phrase, "period piece" could have been coined to describe this book, as all the principles are presented in a realistic historical setting. Elliot Roosevelt is the son of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the setting is the white house during FDR's first term. A security man is efficiently murdered outside the door of the room where FDR was staying and it is obvious that it was a professional job as there was no struggle. It is also clear that it was a foiled attempt to assassinate FDR.
While the murder is of course the main point, I was more fascinated with the interactions between all of the historical figures. Joseph Kennedy and his current consort Gloria Swanson; General Douglas MacArthur and his current consort; J. Edgar Hoover and his longtime consort Clyde Tolson; Eleanor's close friends as well as Franklin's longtime companions all play roles in the story. There are also interactions with the current crop of mobsters as well as brief appearances by Harry Truman, Harry Hopkins, John L. Lewis and other figures of significant importance at that time. This lends a backdrop to the story that thrilled my historical roots.
As a murder mystery, this is not an edge-of-your-seat thriller. However, as a story placed in an accurate historical context, there is none better. This is one of the best murder stories that I have ever read.

In this novel, it is revealed that a young Columbo was one of the detectives who put Charles Manson behind bars. Now, he's back investigating the murder of a cheating wife and her lover. Her husband and his model lover were the murderers, who have cleverly framed one of his employees, a Manson girl once pregnant by Charles, with overwheliming evidence. As Columbo later comments, if they hadn't made so much evidence against her and left some work to do, they might have gotten away with it. Charles Manson himself appears in one chilling scene behind bars. Recomended to fans of Columbo, but a slight warning: Harrington added a few modern elements: sex (the pair are murdered in bed), language (seriously, it's a bit excessive!), and gore (described in detail the Manson murders and Khoury murders).

This book is not quite as good as "The Hoover Files" but it is definetely worth getting. For all of the Columbo fans, this is a worthwhile book to purchase. It first takes you all the way back to the Tate-LaBianca murders and then jumps to the present when an astoundingly simlilar murder occurs, or at least made to look that way. The Murderer in the story has a perfect framing operation. Since one of his workers was one of the original Manson girls(who was not tried in that case), everyone will undoubtably suspect her; that is, everybody but one certain leiutenint.

This book was extremely mesmerizing. It was THE most twisted and terrifying book I've ever read, fiction or non-fiction. As long as your not squeamish, you will love it.

Film director Gunnar Svan has made many enemies in his lifetime. Even his spouse, magazine owner Ai-Ling Cooper-Svan, who calls him "Top Gun", is irate with him. It is bad enough that he has affairs with half the Hollywood starlets, but the Chinese-American woman is livid because her accountants confirmed that Gunnar embezzled, cheated and conned money out of her. Other people were also taken for a ride. So it is not surprising to anyone who knows Gunnar that he is murdered. Los Angeles homicide Lieutenant Columbo, along with other police officers and forensic experts, is at the murder scene where the corpse of the film director lies. Everyone, except for Columbo, is in agreement that this is an obvious case of a robbery gone bad. The detective starts questioning his list of suspects, hoping to trap the killer in a paradoxical lie. If Columbo fails to uncover the truth, this case will go down as an unsolved robbery-murder. William Harrington is a very good mystery writer, who in his fifth Columbo novel successfully sticks to the Columbo script of telling who the killer is early in the book and allowing Columbo to match wits with the murderer. COLUMBO: THE GLITTER MURDER is an interesting tale, but like the previous four Columbo novels, the book lacks Peter Falk who is Columbo. Though the novel is well written and enjoyable, this reviewer suggests you watch the TV re-runs if you want the true flavor of Columbo. Harriet Klausner

You really think this is going on now given the old spy vs. spy, east vs. west game is over. This may be pulled from CIA case files for all we know. The book has a new twist on the old favorite espionage thriller. The author does a very good job of making it believable. The story keeps moving though out the book. You really get to know the main characters of the book and you also get a good feel for Berlin. The book is not bad and is worth the time.

The 240 pages in this very readable book cover the highlights in the career of Detective First Grade McKenna and his thirty years in the NYPD. He shares his thoughts while discussing many of his interesting cases. The book reads like a TV series waiting to happen. The 14 chapters tell of the events behind the newspaper stories.

Chapter 1 tells of the Central Park Jogger attacked in April 1989. Page 9 tells that if a suspect denies being at the scene of the crime, he has something to hide. Perhaps there's another reason for not getting involved? Detective McKenna got a confession that resulted in a conviction. But in 2003 the DNA evidence caused their release from jail, and exoneration. "There was no physical evidence". Is there a lesson to be learned? Should anyone be convicted on a disputed confession when there is no other evidence? But it happens.

When crimes occur, Detectives show up after to gather the statements of eyewitnesses, and begin their investigation. Sometimes they get information from people who were not there. After spending hours and days the facts emerge to point to the suspects. They are tracked down, arrested, then convicted. Detective McKenna emphasizes that "police work is all teamwork". Many of the crimes just happen by opportunity; there are few masterminds in street crime. One exception is on page 40. After you read this book you can turn to the classic Hammett and Chandler short stories with a new viewpoint.

The 240 pages in this very readable book cover the highlights in the career of Detective First Grade McKenna and his thirty years in the NYPD. He shares his thoughts while discussing many of his interesting cases. The book reads like a TV series waiting to happen. The 14 chapters tell of the events behind the newspaper stories.

Chapter 1 tells of the Central Park Jogger attacked in April 1989. Page 9 tells that if a suspect denies being at the scene of the crime, he has something to hide. Perhaps there's another reason for not getting involved? Detective McKenna got a confession that resulted in a conviction. But in 2003 the DNA evidence caused their release from jail, and exoneration. "There was no physical evidence" (p.13). Is there a lesson to be learned? Should anyone be convicted on a disputed confession when there is no other evidence? But it happens.

When crimes occur, Detectives show up after to gather the statements of eyewitnesses, and begin their investigation. Sometimes they get information from people who were not there. After spending hours and days the facts emerge to point to the suspects. They are tracked down, arrested, then convicted. Detective McKenna emphasizes that "police work is all teamwork" (p.77). Many of the crimes just happen by opportunity; there are few masterminds in street crime. One exception is on page 40. After you read this book you can turn to the classic Hammett and Chandler short stories with a new viewpoint.

excellent courtroom drama made all the more fascinating in that it is told from the perspective of a fair-minded small town judge.interesting reflection on the use of cameras in court. a socialite's mores are weighed by jurors who are not her peers in the fast lane.