a must read for those considering travel to the polar regions. This unbiased and informative book will open your eyes to the risks you are about to take when going on one of these "safe" ships.

Ernest Shackelton is the hero of polar exploration. He would have given anything to have the advise given in this book.

This is a thoughtful and scholarly look at the history of the Black Shakespearean actor - a topic that will seem to many people to be thin and inconsequential, but which in reality is rich and varied in a long and eventful history. Illustrated by period photographs and drawings, Hill outlines the beginnings with James Hewlitt and Ira Aldridge in the early 19th century, moves to surprising discoveries such as the native performer Takatanke, up to the late triumph of Orson Welles' Voodoo Macbeth in 1936.

A must for those who admire the depth and passion of such performers as Paul Robeson, Earl Hyman, and James Earl Jones, there is also a videotape available based on this book, information for which can be found... In the tape, Hill's talk is based on this book, published by the University of Massachusetts Press. Professor Hill's brief talk is then brilliantly illuminated by the performances of black actors of today. Each takes a famous scene from Shakespeare and enacts it, introduced with a sense of its context by Professor Hill. Scenes represented are:

Hal Scott - Prologue to Henry V & Puck's Farewell
Charles Dutton - Finale of Othello & the meeting with Anne from Richard III
Lorraine Toussaint - Queen Margaret's disgrace from 2 Henry IV and
Juliet's anticipation from Romeo & Juliet
Earle Hyman - Prospero's Farewell from The Tempest
At the end of the performance, members of the audience pose questions to the panel, giving further insight to the subject.

A fascinating account of one of Australia's most colourful and controversial sons.