Wole Soyinka combines wit, humour and sarcasm to bring to the reader the clash between westernization and the tradition, age and youth, male and female elements in the village of Ilujinle. Lakunle represents the west with his attempts to copy western values. Because Lakunle only copied the superficials of the West, such as cocktails, ball room dancing and the likes, he was seen by many of the villagers as totally insane. Baroka, the Lion, on the other hand, represents the tradtional institution. This institution that Baroka represents is under threat from encroaching western ideas. The tradition is also preserved in the person of Sidi, the Jewel, who despite the impacts of the magazine and the teacher Lakunle on her comes out triumphant as culture is preserved in her.
Another prominent element in this enchanting and suspenseful play is the tension between the masculine and feminine aspects in this society. Here also, Baraoka represents the patriachal dominance that characteriszes this society. He has access to all the women and changes them for new ones when he likes. Sidi, challenges Baroka's position especially when the magazine opens her eyes to what she is and what she can be.

The clash between age and youth is typified in the challenge posed first by the young teacher, Lakunle, to the established traditional societal values and then by Sidi, who challenges the age-old traditional institution that Baroka epitomises.

In the end, the traditon of the people is preserved thanks to the wit and the sense of forsight of the clever Lion, Baroka. First, by feigning impotence, he draws Sidi close to him, who comes with the intention of lampooning him, and then by using west's own tools, i.e. by promising Sidi a place on the village's stamp, he brings her to inadvertently succumb to his ploy.

Other characters like Sadiku are delight to encounter. She represents that reality in every society. She is delighted at the news of her husband's predicament and went to share it with Sidi.

This play no doubt brings to the fore Soyinka's genius in writing satirical pieces. With each page, he brings you closer to the experience of the people of Ilujinle, indeed of the whole Yoruba Nigerian community, their encounter with modernisation and their struggle to preserve their cultural identity.

It really helped us know what a missionary does. A missionary needs people praying for him or her a missionary needs lots of thing if you want to be a missionary this is the book for you

Northern Botswana has a harsh environment, with torrid summers, chilly winters, unreliable rainfall, and infertile soils. Yet it is home to the Okavango Delta, which is one of the greatest havens for wildlife in Africa. Karen Ross has produced a wealth of information about the ecology, geology, and history of this important area.

My kindergarten class loved looking for the magic shamrocks and figuring out how many more they needed. Excellent addition to any library.

This book has a whole lot of eating going on, little content and no morals. If you want to learn to have (oral sex) this is the book for you. The book is about Rory wanting Clara to become the first school principal and he presents her to the board which is all male and Medlarkin doesnt want a woman principal but Rory mom has a secret for him and he has no other choice but to let Clara show her skills. In the meantime, the novel gives you a few twist and turns if Clara will be successful or fail, if Illique will learn to satisfy a woman with his tonque, if his escapade with two women will be fulfilling, if Medlarkin secret will be revealed and if Rory and Clara will be married. Throughout all this, sex is better than ever for all characters involved, a good read if your interested in (wild, fulfilling, good sex)!!.

Having read Ms. Jewel's more recent novel, "Lord Ruin" which is a fabulous read, I looked for anything else that this talented author had written and found this older (1991) book. I am still looking for an even earlier novel "Passion's Song" but no luck so far!

Elizabeth Willard had been a childhood friend of the very, handsome and dashing Nicolas Villines until the difference in their ages and fortune thrust them apart. Some four years later of having not 'seen' one another, Elizabeth, and her cousin Amelia Willard were being presented to Society. Both girls were expected to find husbands and with the fortune behind the very beautiful Amelia this would be accomplished in one season. Elizabeth on the other hand, the 'poor relation' would be reminded by her well meaning but clueless aunt that without a fortune her prospects would not be so bright. With her reticence, and charm though, it would be the more discerning gentlemen who would recognize her true worth including and especially, Nicolas Villines, the man who had stolen Elizabeth's heart long ago.

Elizabeth would soon find that the close childhood friend had changed from the secretive man he had become. Conversely, while Nicolas continued to think of Elizabeth as a child he would have to soon reconcile himself that she had grown up and the feelings she was instilling in him were not those for a child.

This was a very nice book, good dialog, interesting characterizations, but a rather simple plot that was easy to discern. Very pleasant book, but my one complaint would be that as the seduction is so tastefully, and sensually portrayed - you had to wait too long to get to it.

Desirable simply because it is alone in its field, Jewell's book is a decent how-to manual for those wishing to do light to moderate hop-ups on Japanese and Italain motorcycles. Hendricks is well qualified as hs is a former competiton technical inspector for the American Motorcyclist Association and has been revered in the motorcycle press as "the machinest to nearly everyone". Buy the book it is well-worth the price of admission. --Dean Adams, editor, American Roadracing Magazine.(forgive the typos)

These are imaginative, evocative pieces, the author reveling in the semantic and stylistic possibilities of the English language. She is unconstrained by conventional forms, although her work remains both accessible and lucid; indeed, her work is marked by a storn literary vision and confidence of expression that brings further meaning to the work. The writing is intelligent and thoughtful and the author switches between subject matter, styles and forms with considerable grace. Recommended!

"Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar" is the fifth book in the Tarzan series and is generally considered one of the better of Edgar Rice Burrough's tales of the Lord of the Jungle. Tarzan once again returns to Opar, the source of the gold for lost colony of fabled Atlantis. Ever since Atlantis sank beneath the waves, the workers of Opar have continued to mine the gold. Tarzan follows a greedy Belgian and Arab into the jungle, where the evil pair manage to stumble upon the lost city, at which point our hero loses his memory after a fight. This is good news for La, the beautiful high priestess who serves the Flaming God, because she has had that big crush on the apeman since their first encounter. However, while his amnesia opens the door for her amorous advances, her high priests are vowing that Tarzan will not escape their sacrificial knives a second time. Meanwhile, Jane is in trouble back at their African homestead. As you read "Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar," you will pick up on the fact that Burroughs liked the character of La a lot more than he did that of Jane Clayton Greystoke (who he would attempt to kill off in a few books). Of course, this second visit to the land of Opar is not as exciting as the first and the amnesia bit is pretty old hat, even for Burroughs. This is definitely one of the author's pot-boilers and for the pulp fiction era it is pretty solid stuff. Things get a bit predictable, but the tension between Tarzan and La gives the book a bit of bite. You just need to make sure you go through the first four Tarzan books before you read this one, or you are going to be a bit lost.

This volume is the third in a series offering reprints of two early Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan novels. "Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar" is the fifth book in the Tarzan series and is generally considered one of the better of ERB's tales of the Lord of the Jungle. Tarzan once again returns to Opar, the source of the gold for lost colony of fabled Atlantis. Ever since Atlantis sank beneath the waves, the workers of Opar have continued to mine the gold. Tarzan follows a greedy Belgian and Arab into the jungle, where the evil pair manages to stumble upon the lost city, at which point our hero loses his memory after a fight. This is good news for La, the beautiful high priestess who serves the Flaming God, because she has had that big crush on the ape man since their first encounter. However, while his amnesia opens the door for her amorous advances, her high priests are vowing that Tarzan will not escape their sacrificial knives a second time. Meanwhile, Jane is in trouble back at their African homestead. As you read "Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar," you will pick up on the fact that Burroughs liked the character of La a lot more than he did that of Jane Clayton Greystoke (who he would attempt to kill off in a few books). Of course, this second visit to the land of Opar is not as exciting as the first and the amnesia bit is pretty old hat, even for Burroughs. This is definitely one of the author's pot-boilers and for the pulp fiction era it is pretty solid stuff. Things get a bit predictable, but the tension between Tarzan and La gives the book a bit of bite. You just need to make sure you go through the first four Tarzan books before you read this one, or you are going to be a bit lost.

"Jungle Tales of Tarzan" is the sixth volume in the series and pretty much goes back to the beginning for a collection of short stories when Tarzan still lived among the great apes. Tarzan has learned how to read from the books he has found and it is opening his young mind to new questions, like where do dreams come from and where he can confront Goro, the supreme being that is the moon. There is also the love triangle between Tarzan, his first love Teeka, and their rival Taug, as well as his adventures tormenting the people of the local Mbonga tribe. "Jungle Tales of Tarzan" is actually a nice companion volume to the original "Tarzan of the Apes," provide more depth and detail to the early years of the Lord of the Jungle. It also marks a coda to what we would now consider the original story arc of the Tarzan novels. Burroughs would write another 21 Tarzan novels but they would become increasingly formulaic. In many ways this is the last time we would see the original Tarzan.