I read Vanity Fair a few months ago and loved it, so I thought I'd give something else of Thackeray's a try (even though I had never heard of The History of Henry Esmond) and I'm so glad I did. It's slightly slow going at first, but once the second Viscount Castlewood and his family take possession of the estate and provide Henry with his first real home, it becomes deeply involving. With every page, the Castlewood family becomes more and more complex. Some relationships are strengthened and some are slowly destroyed in such subtle ways that when catastrophe comes, it seems inevitable, and at the same time, surprising. Through it all, we have Henry's narration (although he speaks of himself in the third person), which casts a melancholy and lonely tone over all the events. A beautiful book.

I believe that penchant for the moralistic (and add here more than a snipett of post-modern political corectness)from English-speaking readers has slighted judgements about this novel, which is a novel about people with sloppy morals in a time of sloppy political intrigue and sloppy moral standards offering a contrast with the philistine ambience of Thackeray's own age. I found the novel simply _lush_, and think that Hollywood has in it a treat in store for any filmmaker of genius who wants to emulate Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. Get ahold of a copy and enjoy!

Although for some reason forgotten by the US public, "The History of Henry Esmond" is one of the finest books ever written in English language. May be it has lost its luster because it offers no excess of blood-spilling and sexual adventures, but instead finds its way to describe the deepest and most vulnerable chambers of the human heart. I have read a handful of books, be it in English, French, German or Russian, that described the human strengths and weaknesses while tying them to a character one can relate to with such skill. People who do not like it, it seems, are just shamed by the morals offered in such a book, and are quick to forget it. I read "Henry Esmond" when I was a young boy, and now, half a century later, it hasn't lost a beat.

Unfortunately this book has not been updated in over 25 years. Taxonomic changes in some groups of mammals have left this rather inadequate. The illustrations aren't bad except for sea mammals which have black and white sketches for illustrations. It may have been a decent guide when it came out, but I don't see the point in publishing a book which may not have the animal you're looking at in it! This book needs a revision.

This book was issued in 1976 not in 1998 as I was led to believe...... I just received my copy and it is a 3rd edition, clearly copyrighted in 1976. Apparently it was reprinted recently, but not updated. Who knows how much has changed on our knowledge of mammals over the past 25 years? Also, the binding on this paperback has left little space for the inside margin which will make this a little difficult to use and probably shortern its lifespan. RK

Peterson's field guide to mammals is one of my standard references as a mammology student. I constantly use the range maps,color identification plates, and animal descriptions. The book provides you with good identification characteristics indicated by arrows on the illustrations of each animal and a brief life history of every species north of the border. There are skull plates at the back of the book that are good for comparing different families but do not include every species and in some cases are poor positions to see defining attributes. The color plates for the most part have good illustrations but a few look hoaky like the Mountain Lion. Nevertheless, they all still provide good size comparisons and coloration of the animals. Consistant with other Peterson guides.

Book is informative with content of articles about the web but not really impressed with the collection of example websites or lack there of. The cover is nicely designed but if you are looking for a book with lots of examples and inspiration to draw from this book is not it. I don't recommend buying this book. Just hope that it is on someone's coffee table so you can browse it.

I'd agree with most of the comments above, I think the book is spread quite thinly across a number of areas, so perhaps doesn't give the depth some might need.

At the same time at least some of the content is quite technical and will go straight over the head of a real novice.

I think if you're a design student, a recent graduate, or someone attempting to get to grips with new media you'll probably benefit from this book.

For the chapter I wrote... I think it's really geared towards people with a pretty good understanding of typography already, and definitely slanted towards those building large scale sites on tight/continuing deadlines for a wide variety of systems and browsers.

And, for sure it'll be out of date pretty quick... but you can learn from our mistakes :-)

ad creation to typography to the latest lingo. With articles focused from beginner to advanced, print background to web design protégé, designer to project manager, "Websights" works well for that handful of jack-of-all-trades in the industry.

For the greater part of today's design world whom are specialized, they will find a number of articles that offer tremendous insight and fresh ideas that they can incorporate. Leaving a number of chapters that can be appreciated, but are of no real relevance to today's digital designer

A mismash of sociological, economic babble which doesn't seem to go anywhere. Are they trying to apologize for the shortcomings of the sectarian state or minimize them ? Their historical perspective is minimal. A complete waste of paper, ink and the readers time.

In this review, I will concentrate on the global approach of Bew, Gibbon and patterson on the Irish question. Their book itself is very good, especially their analyisis of contradictions within the unionist bloc. I recommend it to anyone interested in Northern Irish politics. But I think that what is highly contestable is their "red marxist" approach on the national question. in Ireland; they claim that the struggle for emancipation is opposed to the struggle for reuniting the country. They argue that "the democratic, that is to say the national stage of the Irish revolution seems to have been complete as it ever could in 1921." They claim elsewhere that recent "urbanisation and industrialization have relegated the national question to the margin of Irish politics" ; thus "there is nothing inherently reactionary about a national frontier which puts Protestants in a numerical majority". They even adavance that "Imperialism's real impact upon Irish society has not been a substantial one"!!! Thus, for them, the issue of partition has no substantial material basis, it divides catholic and protestant workers (thus hinders socialist struggle) they refuse to see it as a question of democracy and emancipation regarding it as an issue of "territorial completion". Socialists should work to democratize the two partition states and not concern themselves with national reunification as "reactionary nationalists" do. As to the mythical nature of the national question today, nothing could be further from the truth. Every single aspect of economic, political, and ideological life in the north of Ireland is overlaid, "overdetermined" by the national question. Until the national question is settled, there can be no "pure" class politics in Ireland. To presume that the left can organize solely on class issues is to judge that the national question will go away if we only ignore it. Or to presume that the working class in the north can forget about the national question and unite on social and economic isssues only is volontarism of the most crass kind. The conflict over territorial boundaries is not a question of some instinctual "territorial completion". It is not the struggle over the territorial extent of the NI state per se which, in an emancipatory perspective denies its legitimacy. The border is a geographical expression of the sectarian class relations through which the state operates, and on which its very existence depends. The border is the over-arching manifestation of the structural inequality between catholics and protestants. This is why socialists work to "smash the orange state", one of the main reasons being the irreformable caracter of the state. But, this is not to say that nationalism is suficient (or synonymous with) to bring socialism about. But, appart from their contestable views, it should be well stressed that the book is really worth reading, the authors are very rigorous in their analyses which attain a high level of quality, unfortunately abscent from most books relating to the questions relating to the north of Ireland. (For those who would like to have more bibligraphical informations on criticism relating to Bew, Gibbon, Patterson, contact me through e-mail). Liam O'Ruairc.

Henry Peter Bosse's exquisite photographs of the Upper Mississippi River, taken between 1883 and 1893, are little known today owing to their great scarcity. Fewer than two hundred of his images have ever reached the open market, and there has yet to be a major museum exhibition of his work. Despite this, Bosse's large cyanotypes currently sell in the twenty thousand dollar range and are much sought after by museums and discerning photo collectors. A first rate book on his career and images has been needed for over a decade.

Sadly, that need has yet to be fulfilled. Mark Neuzil's decidedly poor offering contributes only badly reproduced photographs and a text that, while eminently readable, is overshadowed by glaring inaccuracies.

Early on, Neuzil opines that Bosse "...was tutored in Greek and Latin and completed classical studies at Magdeburg (Germany) where he added courses in engineering and art..." (pg.7). But in the next sentence he notes, "There was no university at Magdeburg at the time...", and cites a sole obituary as a basis for his "facts" regarding Bosse's education. Since Neuzil also notes that there are no known historical documents pertaining to Bosse prior to his arrival in the U.S. this attribution seems something of a stretch.

On the next page he names Montgomery Meigs, U.S. Civil Engineer, as a possible photography tutor to Bosse, citing Meigs' experience with a camera and his own cyanotypes. A little rudimentary research on the author's part would have revealed that all of Meigs' known photos date from AFTER 1893, by which time Bosse had apparently stopped taking pictures.

Two paragraphs on, Neuzil emphatically states that, "In the floating office that was the BARNARD (a Corps riverboat) Bosse possibly enjoyed the company of Mark Twain...(because)...Some of the author's river travel in 1882 came via the BARNARD, ...captained...by a friend of Twain's."

This must come as a huge surprise to Twain scholars. The author's 1882 Mississippi River trip was fully chronicled by the popular press of the day and neither they nor any Twain historian since ever stumbled across this piece of information. Neuzil offers no source for the tidbit, and actually can't do so - for the simple reason that it never happened!

The author also claims that in 1878 Bosse began work for the Rock Island Engineer Office, "...where he was employed as chief draftsman until his death in 1903." However, Mary Forresta's introduction to Neuzil's book states (correctly) that F.S. Eastman was chief draftsman at Rock Island when Bosse arrived. Indeed, Bosse only achieved that position after Eastman left the job some years later.

An author's perceived veracity is of paramount interest to the reader, particularly when that author is writing history or offering himself as an expert on the subject at hand. The errors mentioned here occur IN THE FIRST TEN PAGES and only the need for brevity prohibits pointing to more. Add to the mix a collection of images that, while fascinating, are still bland and tepid versions of Bosse's originals and you have VIEWS ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

That said, buy it anyway. Henry Bosse's photographs deserve far wider circulation than they have achieved, which is a pity. His images offer us an intimate glimpse of Mark Twain's Mississippi River, up close and personal - or at least closer than anyone else of the period. If you enjoy Mark Twain and/or the Mississippi you'll enjoy Bosse's photos - but take the attached history with substantially more than a pinch of salt. Actually, take it with a great honkin' truck load.

Mike Conner

Mark Neuzil and Merry Foresta have brought back to life with this book a Mississippi River that has long since disappeared below the brackish water of the Big Muddy. Henry Peter Bosse captured on film the Mississippi River that Mark Twain navigated as a river boat captain, the Mormans had to traverse leaving Nauvoo, IL for points west and that Lewis and Clark travelled on the way to the west coast. He did this at a time just before it disappeared below the backwaters of today's lock and dam system. Bosse's photographs, while valued at over $1,000,000 are priceless to those of us that have looked out over the river as it exists today and wondered "What lies below the surface of that water?" or "What did the river look like before the lock and dams were built"
If you have ever lived on or loved "The River" this book is a must buy!

A well illustrated general introduction to the life of a great medieval king and his campaigns in Wales and northern France. Examines the battle of Agincourt -- including material on the nature of combined arms warfare in the high middle ages -- and the events leading to the Treaty of Troyes. The author is careful to place dynastic struggles in context and his inclusion of a detailed family tree for the house of Plantagenet is a welcome addition.

This is not really a "1999" book, in case anyone is looking for the latest from Castells--rather it offers a translation of a collection of essays published in Spanish five years ago (and written a year or two before that, judging from the references). One would think this information should be part of the bibliographic description of the title.

This is a collection of interesting, but largely unrelated, papers from a conference in Barcelona in 1994, which do not present a coherent analysis, and only marginally treat education in relationship to information technology. The title is misleading, and Castells is not the editor, but simply one of the contributors, writing on a topic alien to education. The reader from Atlanta writing a review on this site is absolutely right. Do not expect a book. Some of the articles, particularly the one by Freire, could be of your interest.

In this lusty tale of cape cod's lush countryside, Thoreaumanages to do everything wrong! I give it a two only because ofThoreau's thorough description of a beaver frolicking in a pond.

Rawlings introduction to the short fiction of Henry James diplays little more than plot summary. I was expecting to see a sophisticated discussion of themes and ideas in the books but found little more than I would expect in an undergraduate overview. Rawlings' oversimplifications offer nothing to the serious reader of Henry James. Definitely not for the scholar or dedicated reader of James. There is no indication here of any current critical theory--the ideas have all been rehashed a thousand times.

The Introduction to this book offers nothing new or interesting for the reader of Henry James. The ideas have all been stated many times. The introduction was very disappointing.