I have used the Harbrace College Handbook for 31 years. My first was the 5th Edition, which I keep on the top in one of my desk drawers. I used it throughout college. I bought this edition for my father, who gave me the first one, and seems to have lost his own copy (he's 86!). This edition is much thicker than the 5th one -- these books are not exactly "reading material," but a reference guide; so I haven't read it from cover to cover. This book comes with a computer CD to install the entire book on your computer.

Excellent reference if it is necessary to constantly bibliograph infomation off the internet and other electronic sources

With all the books published on the Civil War, it's hard to
find something NEW, but this book brings to light a collection of soldiers' letters unpublished since the Civil War. Not only are the letters themselves new and fresh to
Civil War scholars and enthusiasts, but Bill Styple has done
an excellent job of editing them. The Civil War is presented
in a new light. One of the best Civil War books in many years; if you like to read about the Civil War, buy this book!

This book is a great addition to the serious Civil War reader's library. Being able to read the battle descriptions, thoughts and feelings of those who actually participated in the war is always enlightening, bringing the reader a different reality than that of the historian who writes about the Civil War with the benefit of hindsight and without the benefit of personal experience. The compilation of letters in this book - in chronological and logical order - brings alive the crucial battles in the Eastern theatre of the Civil War. The only slight deficiency is that very few letters from the Eastern soldiers fighting in Western armies are included. My suggestion: have this book at hand and read what the soldiers had to say about a specific event or battle immediately after reading narrative descriptions of the same event or battle by today's leading historians, for a complete view. Overall, a wonderful book and highly recommendable to the "advanced" Civil War reader.

The first time I visited the Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona, I had dozens of questions about saguaros. I wanted to know why their arms grow down toward the ground sometimes and why some of them have a brown woody bark and why some of them have ripples and what happens to you if you get caught shooting at a saguaro. This book answered all of my questions and then some!

I found out that the arms sometimes start to grow downwards if there is a cold spell right as the arms start to grow. Only very old saguaros get the woody bark and they become more like a regular tree as they age. The ripples are caused by droughts and rainy years during growth cycles and you'll be fined very heavily if you shoot at a saguaro because they are protected under state law.

It's a thin, paperback book and it's written in a manner that it would be interesting to children as well as to adults but it's definitely aimed at an older reader. Tons of beautiful desert scenes!

The author, a black freeman and a prominent figure in Boston Abolitionist politics, published this remarkable work in 1827 not only as a handbook for servants but as a guide for proper behavior by masters toward their employees.
The recipes given are practical and detailed, and the editor believes "still useful today", but some ingredients may prove inconvenient, (bullock's gall) or downright dangerous (mercury) and adding live eels to a master's libations to discourage intoxication seems more a prescription for brief employment than a useful intervention.
Quibbles aside, Robert's work stands as a readable and useful view into an era little known to most Americans today.

(The "score" rating is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)

Here is a terrific reference resource for anyone who frequently composes letters, e-mails, reports, etc. That is, for just about everyone. Even with various aids provided within software (eg to correct spelling), basic mistakes of grammar go undetected...and "send the wrong message" (both literally and symbolically) to recipients of what you write. Inside the front cover, the authors provide an especially handy detailed index (for questions concerning writing, grammar, effective sentences, diction, punctuation, and mechanics as well as glossaries of usage and terms) which directs their reader to the appropriate page or pages in the Handbook; on the back inside cover of the book, they then provide an equally handy list of checklists (also with page references) followed by a list of revision symbols. There are several such reference resources which will serve you well. In my opinion, this is the most comprehensive...and the easiest to use on a regular basis. I also urge you to check out Strunk & White's The Elements of Style and Stephen King's On Writing.

This is the Revised Brief Thirteenth edition, not the full edition. The paperback version comes with a plastic ring binder that is not suitable for heavy use. In short, this is not the version that a professional editor would want, although it might be fine for students.

I found this book to be a wonderful reference when writing anything from a short paper to a forty page research paper. Neither would have been possible without this text. A great buy!

The only reference you will need for everyday professional and proper usage of the English language. Very well organized and extremely easy to use. I highly recommend this book.

This book was about the brave life of a french peasant Joan d'(of) Arc. The story explains how the voices of god (angels and saints) told her that she was the one who needed to save France. Knowing that the king of France would not take a women seriously much less a peasant Joan cleverly disguised herself as a male and goes to confront the king. Impressed with Joan he gave her an army and a horse and told her to defend her country against England. Joan bravely led her troops in the name of god and his messenger. Soon after her charge on the English Joan was captured and put on trial for her charades and was sentenced to death by burning on the stakes. No one took this women seriously, much less believe that she had been chosen by god to fight for his message. After her death Joan was deemed a saint and forever known as the brave Saint Joan d' Arc.
I like the authors way of simply telling the story. The pictures in the book vividly displayed emotion and showed the trial wonderfully. Depicting the judges anger, the juries humor and Joan's undying passion and courage.The author shared with the readers the courage Joan had. Inviting the readers to fight for what they believe in and never give up on their values no matter what. A wonderful story of bravery and courage.

I was impressed with the look of this book as much as with the content. Both the author and the illustrator have created a lovely retelling of the story of Joan! And when my, then 6 year old, daughter brought it home from her school library, I could see her spark of interest in St. Joan coming to life. One year later, she brought up the notion of finding this book again. She hadn't seen it since the one time she had checked it out at school, last year. That is what convinced me to purchase it for our home library. It trully is a book you'll want to read and look at over and over!

I just don't know about this book. ... I got it out of library, started reading it and came across this passage:

"For example: 'Everyone this autumn is wearing amusing antelope-skin gloves.' This may have been true in 1934 of every woman, or almost every woman, of a certain income level in certain London districts; elsewhere it was demonstrably untrue. Fashion notes of this sort ... historians will find them most misleading."

Are these guys for real? Two distinguished authors, one a professor of English literature, apparently totally missing the point and purpose of "Fashion notes". It hardly needs to be said that historians are probably the last people for whom these fashion notes are written, at least if my own experience of historians' dress-sense is anything to go by.

And then there's this example from a letter by an evacuee girl in the second world war:

"'The old cat was on to me yesterday about being careful with my crusts. I bet she's careful enough with hers, the old ... I don't suppose she'd give one to a beggar-child, not if it was starving. I must waste not and want not and put everything in the savings bank ... I must bow down to her as if she was a little tin image. I must get out of this place before I go potty.'"

Here is Graves and Hodge's analysis:

"Great care must be taken to let the reader know just when the ironical note is sounded and just when it ceases ... The three 'I must's here are not parallel. The first is the reported advice of the Old Cat; the second is the writer's ironical deduction...; the third is the writer's practical decision, given without irony."

Now, what exactly do Graves and Hodge intend by presenting this example? Are they saying that the girl's letter does NOT make it clear when she's being ironic? Coz frankly I think it's stunningly clear. To anyone. I think it's a remarkably well written letter, lucid and eloquent -- which is why Graves and Hodge were so easily able to explain the precise function of each 'I must' in the first place.

Graves and Hodge have themselves been guilty of a lack of clarity here -- are they criticising the letter or not? -- and for a book about good style in written English this is unforgivable.

Robert Graves was one of the best writers of his era, but as this book shows, he was also a Puritan when it came to language. While this book contains many useful tips, it is also pedantic and argumentative. As many of the reviewers noted, Graves and Hodges often illustrate poor writing with examples that seem, in an initial reading, to be sound. Perhaps this merely shows that modern readers are being anaesthetized by bad prose, but I don't think so. If Graves and Hodges loosened up a notch or two they would have written a much better book.

The authors leave the topic of style a little too early for my taste, making the book more of a guide to editing than a guide to writing well.

Still, the book focuses on developing a prose style that is logical, clear, and succinct--the backbone of all good prose.

THWACK! Down comes the headmaster's birch-rod on the sensitive knuckles of the bumbling pupil. Botch that passage again, lazybones, and I'll have your hide!

Poet-novelist Robert Graves and historian Alan Hodge have written a delightful book containing a very quirky 126-page critical history of English prose, a few short chapters listing every conceivable principle of clear & graceful writing, followed by some 200 pages of the most carping, anal-retentive editing & revising you've ever seen. Unlike most style-book authors, who criticize hypothetical or anonymous examples of bad prose, Graves & Hodge courageously tackle many of the biggest names of their era (Hemingway, Aldous Huxley, Bernard Shaw) and relentlessly pick, pick, pick until the carcass is clean and the bones lie strewn about the lair. Then they put it back together again PROPERLY, the way the author should have done it the first time. As G&H themselves note, the book might as well be subtitled "A Short Cut to Unpopularity".

Of course, if any headmaster ever treated me the way G&H treat their victims, I'd be outraged. Luckily, we are not one of their hapless victims suffering under their harsh tutelage; so, although we wince in sympathy with those being raked over the coals, we can also profit greatly from their chastisement. "The Reader Over Your Shoulder" is the most painstaking and explicit guide ever published on the craft of revising one's prose. Ideal for self-study. But beware: G&H get under your skin and stay there. Even as I write this review I can sense these two meticulous sadists hovering over my shoulder and I ready myself for a thrashing.

This review refers to the out-of-print, unabridged 1944 edition.

As with other titles in this fine series, the poems are presented in roughly chronological order, and are interspersed with a running narrative of the poet's life. Vivid readings are delivered by actors and actresses.

Browning is an excellent lyric poet (e.g. Meeting at Night/Parting at Daylight) but he was best known for his dramatic monologues. The recording emphasizes the monologues, which is good because I doubt I would have ever read them otherwise. The downside is that some of the monologues, especially those Browning wrote later in his career, seem to drag on, with the general idea of a "befuddled narrator attempting to sweet-talk a highly skeptical lover/policeman/critic" (hence 4 stars instead of 5). I expect I'll be listening mostly to the first of the two tapes. Incidentally "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" children's verse is included and is well done.

Most of the earlier poems appear in the Dover thrift edition of Browning's work (for a buck!). I find it easier to concentrate when I can read the poems while listening.

One of the best ways of internalizing a poem is to *hear* it, and this is especially true of classics. This audio presentation of selected poems by Browning is a great way for those familiar with his work to rediscover the poems' daring and mischievousness. The audio format is particularly apt for Browning in that it brings to life his use of dramatic monlogue. In that way, it can also serve as a good study aid for students who are new to Browning.