When Lord Strutt suddenly dies, a falsified will makes Philip Baboon the new Lord Strutt. Backing the rival claims of Esquire South, John Bull and Nicholas Frog begin court action against Lewis Baboon, the father of Philip Baboon. Though Humphrey Hocus, a brilliant attorney, wins case after case, the court action drags on interminably. As the court action drags on, Hocus assures Bull that Lewis Baboon is nearly finished and the next case must surely finish him. And worse, having been brought to the edge of bankruptcy, Bull discovers that Frog, et al, are ensuring that Bull pays far more than his fair share. Finally, when Bull decides to put an end to it, he discovers the depth of his fellows' dishonesty.

Now, swap Charles II of Spain for the late Lord Strutt, Philip of Anjou for Philip Baboon, Charles of Austria for Esquire South, the English people for John Bull, the Dutch people for Nicholas Frog, Louis XIV for Lewis Baboon, the Duke of Marlborough for Humphrey Hocus, war for court action, battles for cases, general for attorney [pant, pant, pant], and you have the War of the Spanish Succession! (At least as seen through Tory eyes.)

This series of five pamphlets were published in 1712 as an allegory of the War of the Spanish Succession. They have biting satire in them (Marlborough, and quite a few others are roasted quite thoroughly), and make an enjoyable read. I must state, though, that unlike some satires, these pamphlets will not prove terribly entertaining if you get an edition that does not include a good background, footnotes, and a cast of characters (i.e., it is a so-so story on its own, but a wonderful satire).

It is not necessary to know much about the War, so long as you are interested in the subject, and are willing to periodically flip back to the notes (as was the case with me). I would say that this book is an interesting historical artifact, and an excellent piece of literature. By the way, these pamphlets are the source of the character John Bull.

Haynes has always published fine manuals for the home mechanic and this is another. The layout is one that previous users are familiar with and new users will find easy to follow. The photos accompanying the text are well done and support the section explanations rather well. As is typical for a Haynes manual, though, is the assumption that the reader is beyond the "novice" stage of performing maintenance. Simple procedures such as changing plugs and oil are complicated on this model of Wing because of the intricacy of the fairings surrounding the engine and frame. Many of the tabs and posts used to secure the pieces require particular motions to unfasten. The manual merely states that one should take care so as to not break a tab or post during removal. The electrical schematics are quite good and make troubleshooting much easier. All in all, another fine product from Haynes.

"The Knights," produced in 424 B.C., is clearly an all-out attack on Cleon, the leader of Athens after the death of Pericles. As related by Thucydides, earlier that year Cleon had induced the Spartans to propose peace. Consequently, Aristophanes opens the comedy with two slaves of the crotchety old Demos ("the people of Athens") dressed up to resemble the generals Demosthenes and Nicias. The two slaves complain about how everyone is picking on Paphlagon, a leather seller who is the favorite of Demos and clearly intended to be Cleon. The oracles tell that Paphlagon is going to be replaced by a sausage seller named Agoracritus.

"The Knights" is a second-tier comedy by Aristophanes because it is devoted entirely to making fun of Cleon. Consequently, Aristophanes makes his point early on and by the time Agoracritus the sausage seller beats Cleon at this own game, the comic dramatist is beating a dead horse all the way into the ground. This comedy always struck me as being like a SNL skit that lasts the entire show. In the end Demos, rejuvenated by being stewed in a plot by Agoracritus, takes control and declares he will abolish all innovations and restore the old traditions.

The legend is that the mask makers of Athens, fearing reprisals from Cleon, refused to make a mask of the Athenian leader and that Aristophanes played the part himself. Of course, Cleon would have been in the audience watching the play at the festival that year, but unlike what happened when Socrates stood throughout the production of "The Clouds," we know nothing of Cleon's response aside from the fact that Aristophanes survived to write more comedies.

A wonderful pictorial of the windjammer's life! The black and white pictures show the beauty and the harshness of life aboard a tall ship, in great detail. The large size of the book is needed and appropriate for the photographs. Each photo is accompanied with an excerpt of Alan Villiers writing. Though not written for the pictures, the editors did an excellent job associating snippets of Villiers' writing with his photos. This is an excellent book to linger over on those rainy days that keep you from being out on the water, sailing yourself.

Coatsworth and Tayler have added a significant contribution to a field that have known, up to now, only individual monographies about the development of national economies in Latin America, not disregarding the excellent Victor Bulmer-Thomas "The Economic History of LA" or the more recent volume organized by Rosemary Thorp. The history of economic international relations of the Latin American countries and the region's insertion in the world economy is, of course, a chapter in the history of world capitalism, but we were still missing a comprehensive approach about the specific path of the economic modernization of the entire region, despite some general contributions, like Bradford Burns'"The Poverty of Progress" or the old books by Rippy and Platt. Now, the quest is (almost) over, at least from the point of view of "centric" economies. Coatsworth and Tayler add a new powerful academic tool for researchers and other people interested in better know how Latin America managed to become what Prebisch called "a periphery to the center". Perhaps the next significant evolution in this field would be to have a history of the economic insertion of Latin American countries in the world economy from the point of view of those countries. But, that is another story...

This book was extremely helpful to campers of all levels. I have been camping for quite some time and still learned a lot of tips on how to make your trip as enjoyable and environmentaly friendly as possible. Anyone considering a day hike or longer should read this first.

I have a first edition, signed copy, from Scribners (NY, 1951) which I acquired from a rare bookseller in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1987. The significance of this book is that it tells the story of the four-masted schooner Argus, one of about 30 of the last codfishing sailing vessels of the Portuguese fleet out of Lisbon, and which is still sailing in the Windjammer Cruises fleet as S/V Polynesia. I sailed aboard her at Christmas, 1985 from Sint Maarten, and the Captain told us about her history as Argus, and that Alan Villiers had sailed on her in 1950, then written this book about her. Villiers writes with a style that puts the reader in the scene ... at once descriptive with insider jargon, yet prosaic in construction which leaves no doubt of his mastery of both the pen and his subject. The quest describes the six-month trip to the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, and north along the west coast of Greenland, in search of North Atlantic cod, the salty gold of the European markets. The author sprinkles historical significance where appropriate, crediting the early Portuguese sailors and the adventurers who made an excursion like this possible, and profitable. He relates the events of the voyage in careful detail ... lost dorys, iceberg encounters, fog and rough seas, and I swear you'll imagine your comfortable reading chair swaying with Argus as she skims the ocean, and feel the salt spray she kicks up with ease. A wonderful read, quite informative...

At first glance, this Golden Book looked too cluttered and cheesey. Most pages contain "fact" secions with cartoon-type illustrations. The first reading with my four year-old son proved my initial impression wrong. Each of the cluttered, cheesy illustrations further explains a point in a way that was appealing to my son.

The book does a very nice job of explaining our solar system to a preschooler. It starts as describing our solar system as a neighborhood. It presents interesting information about our sun, moon, and space travel, including living in space. Limited information is presented on the planets, meteors, asteroids, and comets. Each planet is very briefly described in only one or two sentences. As an example, the infomation on Jupiter does not mention the red spot.

A two-page spread of cartoon does a good, age-appropriate job of explaining what we do and do not know about space aliens. It's presented in a question and answer format between a girl and a grown man.

Fast facts about the planets are contained on another two-page spread. A graphic displays the planets relative sizes and lists their sizes in miles and kilometers. For each planet, information is given under headings of: Big or small, Surface (rocky, hard, soft, etc.), Hot or cold, Interesting fact, and Moons. The number of rings on the gas giants is not compared, nor is the information on each planet robust.

The final two pages contain space related puzzles and their answers. All are appropriate for my four year old.

Because of the format and illustrations, this book is very appealing to my children. The cartoon illustrations provide a special appeal. The lack of actual photographs don't seem to bother them. For it's price, it's hard to beat the amount of interest my preschoolers have in this book.

This book provides accurate detail of the car. The pictures, drawings and diagrams are the very useful to both novice and seasoned mechanic. Unfortunately it specifically covers the 4A class engine. The 3A class which is used in the Corolla XL (in Asia) would have been a bonus.

My 1998 Yamaha Blaster broke down, and I didn't want to pay a dealership to fix it. It was going to cost me about three hundred dollars to fix. My dad and I are really into fixing our toys, so we decided to fix it ourselves. We couldn't find anything wrong with it ourselves, so I decided to buy the repair manual off of Amazon. We got the book in 3 days, and began immediately fixing my ATV. I was so excited that the book gave all the wiring diagrams and the specs on anything I wanted to know. I'm glad I used Amazon to get the book I needed, and in such a short time.