The music of Richard Wagner in the United States in the late nineteenth century is an unjustly neglected subject. This book strives to fill that void; it succeeds, up to a point.

Wagner reformed traditional opera and created the "music drama". The European reaction to this new concept was mixed. In America, however, the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. The Metropolitan Opera came into existence on the strength of Wagner's music dramas. So warm was the reaction, that Wagner even considered (as did his son Siegfried) emigrating.

The lion's share of this book is devoted to Anton Seidl, who championed Wagner in New York in the 1890's. For many years, he worked at Wagner's side in Bayreuth, learning his craft. In the United States, he championed Wagner's music. The American public loved it. The title of this book, Wagner Nights, is a reference to the summer Wagner concerts that Seidl conducted on Coney Island at Brighton Beach.

In the latter portion of this book, the author switches from chronicler to analyst. Here, you must take him with a rather large grain of salt. He performs a pseudo-Freudian analysis on both the Wagner fans and Wagner's operas. He also tries his hand with a bit of cultural anthropology. Here, the information is subjective and marginal. These latter chapters could have been deleted without losing any important information.

In spite of these weaknesses, this book is interesting and enlightening. I recommend it, but with the previously stated reservations.

My name is Diane Howard. I have been a dance instructor for over 10 years in the Northeast corridor. I take great exception to the negative reviews of Mr. Allen's book Quickstart to Social Dancing, especially in comparison to another book that I own by Mr. Stephenson called The Complete Book of Ballroom Dancing. Here is why:

1. Quickstart guides the beginner and helps develop the most important basic dance skills in systematic and incremental fashion. Foundational skills like correct postural movement with a partner, rhythmic movement, and leg action both for the smooth, swing, and Latin dances are wonderfully described in Quickstart. They are either completely omitted or where included, erroneously described the so-called Complete Book!

2. Quickstart guides you through a primary development with easy to use physical instructions and analogies with a direct goal in mind. That goal is to be able to dance, WITHOUT ERROR, the most fundamental patterns in six major social dances. The Complete Book starts at stages beyond the beginner with a syllabus that assumes that a dance couple already KNOWS HOW to move together. They do not and will not simply by reading a syllabus, all competent dance instructors know this!

3. Quickstart does a terrific job in addressing these primary and necessary functions. The Complete Book leaves you to your own devices.

4. The Complete Book designed for the next stage of dancing, diversity in patterns, unfortunately is laden with serious error that the beginner would certainly not be aware of in their attempt to follow its syllabus. Quickstart does not pretend to be more than it is, simply the best guide for the beginning stages of your social dance experience.

Perhaps these are the reasons why Quickstart to Social Dancing seems to be applauded by dance professionals and others who are willing to provide their names and email addresses for correspondence. I know I recommend it to students and teachers alike.

By contrast, you cannot contact even one negative reviewer of Mr. Allen's books nor can you find any reviews by competent dance professionals on the back cover or web page of Mr. Stephenson's book. In his book, Mr. Allen provides you with his contact information for questions and further help. Mr. Stephenson's book leaves none and suggests that you go elsewhere. You decide!

I have been taking ballroom dancing for almost two years. I started my study of ballroom dancing in Japan, and as a result of language and cultural barriers, I thought I needed a book, written in English, that would compliment my study of dance. So, I purchased this book. It was the worst purchase I have ever made! The pictures are not the least bit useful for learning steps. The description of the steps and the foot diagrams are confusing (and in some cases wrong). The only good thing about the book is the section on the history of ballroom dancing, but except for that the book is extreamely limited. Don't waste your money like I did, there are alot of good ballroom dance books out there, but it is certainly not this one!

This book is a perfect example of what is wrong with much of the dance instruction in the USA - anyone can teach, as there is no required credentialing or licensing to do so! Teachers answer to no one - no authority in dance or the educational system in general. If the packaging is "slick" enough, the unarmed and unaware public will by into it. To teach dancing and not error is a difficult profession. It requires years of experience. Unfortunately, to just show steps as this book does requires none. I find no credentials for the authors and no mention of any dance society that they have been tested by and this is reflected in the gross amount of error that exists in every single step pattern. This is probably why this book until now has not been reviewed by a competent professional ballroom instructor. A book as a tool for dance education is one of great value especially if it is reliable, not one like this, that conflicts with the accepted standards of every dance society that belongs to the National Dance Council of America and good principles of movement. It is apparent that the authors have taken someone's approved listing of dance steps called a syllabus and edited it without understanding leaving gross errors in footwork and complete omissions of how correct dance movement is created. This book leaves the unsuspecting reader with instructions that if followed, would produce flat-footed, awkward, unbalanced, non-musical, and non-rhythmic movement. But many so-called dance instructors quickly find out how easy it is to fool the consumer into believing that if the can dance a little bit, they must also be able to teach. The funny thing about The Complete Book of Ballroom Dance Error and what struck me immediately is that the couple that poses for the pictures throughout the book looks as awkward and uncomfortable as one would expect following this books directions.

Here are some of the many errors in technique found in this book that would create problems for the newcomer to dancing and needless to say any other level:

Throughout the book starting with the "Techniques," page 59, 62, 63, 64, 79, 81, 83, & on from there the Dance Positions are show with the man's right hand too low in the small of the lady's back against soft tissue. Two major problems can occur resulting from this improper arm & hand position. The 1st problem is too much hand pressure would have to be exerted to lead any rotation particularly in the rhythm or Latin dances because of the weak slouched position of the man's right upper arm which leaves that arm limp with lack of proper relationship to his own body's rotation. The 2nd problem is actually dangerous to the lady's health because that is the area of her kidney and the likelihood extending too much pressure over the period of several dances can have the same impact as a strong kidney punch in boxing. Done properly, at least the middle finger of the man's right should be place on at least part of the lady's shoulder blade and the elevation of his right elbow should be the same as his left. Good teachers stress that the elevation of the right hand and arm is MORE important than the left!

Another of the many glaring errors starts on the very first figure of this book in the Waltz section. This pattern has many errors and it, unfortunately for any reader, is the most fundamental in all of Ballroom dancing. For instance on step # 3 for the man the author writes: "Close left foot to right foot; transfer weight to left foot, continuing in rise position until end of Count 3. Any musician would have told these alleged dance instructors that Waltz begins its diminishment at the half waypoint of count 3 which is why many count Waltz: 1,2,3 &. Splitting the 3rd beat between crescendo and diminishment: The good news is that Ballroom dancers do the same thing! Done Properly: they begin a controlled lowering at the end of the third beat followed by a toe lead with the right foot to prevent any lurching backwards necessitating hanging on your partner. Then the authors tell us on step 4 to reach back (obviously from this risen position since they have already missed the moment of lowering) to the BALL of the right foot. This would have the impact of taking a backward step off a platform 2 feet from the floor (this error is repeated many times in this book of miss-instruction)! I can just see a Bride & Groom doing this on their 1st dance and the Groom hitting the floor with her on top of him! That would be one for video bloopers, in the same way this book is. If you can't get the descriptions right in the Waltz, the most fundamental dance, there is little hope for improvement from there. It would take another book to correct the errors of omission and commission this book contains and I've run out of space!

A lot has transpired since Richard Rovere died in 1979 that makes his book outdated and irrelevant: Venona and the disintergration of the Soviet Union, for example. Both have put paid to such questions as "if there were Communists in the State Department." Arthur Herman's book "Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator" --using the revelations and documents from the former Soviet Union-- clarified these issues once and for all. McCarthy may have been an eccentric demogogue and an alcoholic (so what makes him different from many other politicians?) but history shows that he got it essentially right. Diehard communists, progressive communist sympathizers and all those misguided souls that believed and still believe that it was a "noble" cause-- will never forgive him for getting it right.

Richard Rovere should consider himself a comedian. The book has so many flaws about Senator McCarthy that I can't believe Mr. Rovere can be classified as a legitimate historian.

Declassified Soviet documents are proving that Senator Joe McCarthy was right. Biased historians like Rovere should be academically scorned for thier years of lies and distortions.

No one will be offended by Rovere's much-racking depiction of Joseph McCarthy. Seriously, how many people are there left in America, or anywhere around the world, still willing to stand up and smugly look you in the eye and say Joseph McCarthy was a necessary man fighting for American freedom in a time when Communists were hiding in every shadow? But the book, written in 1959, just isn't all that up-to-date. Of course much of the information we now know was suppressed at that time and J. Edgar Hoover--viciously complict in the development of all the Red Scare and blacklisting craziness--was still in power at the time of publication. Nobody would want to make an enemy of Hoover, so anything dealing with McCarthy and Hoover's contact is treaded over very lightly. This, unfortunately, makes the book somewhat inaccurate, which is a shame because so many dark secrets and shameful public deeds are recorded with a passion and an obvious intense desire to destroy the image of the drunken old demogogue. In 1959, just three years after McCarthy's death, and five years after his disgrace, this was an important book because so many people were still unsure of their opinions towards Tailgunner Joe. I imagine that this book made quite a difference as even Hoover himself took the opportunity to smear the late Senator, drawing comparisons to Krushchev's posthumous denunciation of Stalin. The book is certainly worthwhile for anyone interested in a recreation of the terror of the 1950s, written from the perspective of the 1950s, but there are several more contemporary biographies of Joseph McCarthy and, regardless of the fact that this one is likely written with more beautific prose, in a case study like this, information beats out pretty words every time.--Lance Polin

What a disappointment! I managed to make it through 5 chapters before throwing it into the living room wall. I have read my share of mafia/organized crime books and for the most part if they are written by ex cops, or crime writers, they are usually well written. Unfortunately that cannot be said for those written by the "figures" themselves, and this little collection of "tall tales" is no exception. I simply couldn't find anything believable. Franco would have you believe that the labor wars were won with a stick of dynamite at every turn. The book reads like a John Wayne script, except this time Wayne is the "bad guy" getting the best of every situation. The only consolation is that I bought it used. And it's getting cool even in Texas, nothing like a little kindling for the fireplace.

Poorly written account of the life of Joseph Franco, basically spends the whole book tooting his own horn. He is "friends" with every one from politicians to movie celebrities...do we care? Other than using Jimmy Hoffa's name in the title to boost sales, the actual book has very little to do with JH.

Fascinating account of the history of the early labor movement. Great story telling from a man who was close to Jim Hoffa, Sr. His personal accounts take you back in time to an era lost forever.

The Manual of Emergency Medicine by Braen and Jenkins is a basic text for those interested in the clinical practice of Emergency Medicine. All the basic topics are covered, and the text is well indexed to find the information you need.

The scope of the book, however, falls short of that needed for medical students, interns, residents, and certainly practicing emergency medicine specialists who need a comprehensive text-it is truly just a manual. The information is generally collected from other sources and texts in general emergency medicine that also do not address evidence based emergency medicine practice. The book tends to make treatment recommendations that are useful but again are not evidence based.

The sections on trauma, cardiac emergencies, and pulmonary problems are good, but the areas pertaining to toxicology, environmental emergencies, ob/gyn, neurology, and medical-legal need improvement.

Two very good alternative references are Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide by Judith Tintinalli, et al (5 stars) OR Emergency Medicine by Rosen and Barkin (4 stars). With either of these, you will never need to buy another major text in emergency medicine for years.

101

I bought this (quite expensive and surprisingly small) book thinking I would learn how to use Authorware. The book is definitely not for beginners. It assumes you already are a skilled Authorware user, and discusses mostly advanced topics. Since I have no Authorware skills, I cannot comment on how well it handles these advanced topics, but I have read other reviews by advanced readers and they were none too impressed also. It is hard to say what exactly is the target audience for the book.

As an experienced Authorware user, I am continually seeking advanced material for the my trade as an educational resource developer. This book is perhaps the worst written and ill logically conceived book since Guttenberg. My advice, save your money. Mr. Schifman and Mr. Gancy should be ashamed of them selves.

Although I know something of authorware. This book left me in the dark at times. The book contains a number of words spelled incorrectly, which you would think, for the price, would have been edited more thoroughly. At times you have to read and re-read passages to try to figure out what is going on. The tutorials given are not thorough enough. It would be nice to know what one is doing and get into more detail. Most of the book is not really a tutorial, it is more informational.

I was required to use this book in a college class. There was nothing in the text I did not already know. The format is strange. There are very odd exercises in the book. This text is overly wordy, there is nothing educating in this text. This was by far the worst education text I have ever come across.