I think this would have been a better anthology if the editor had spent more time finding sources. It doesn't really seem like he searched lesser-known documents; just about everything here is pretty well known. The quality ranges from excellent to somewhat pointless.

I purchased this book without having any firsthand knowledge of it as a background source and I haven't been minutely disappointed. Kadzis assembled both primary and secondary sources either from the time of the Civil War or from more modern secondary source writings about aspects of that war. In any case the extracts were singularly well chosen and are valuable for my purposes. I would recommend Kadzis' compilation to any person searching for a single source of Civil War rememberances written at the time or of modern fiction writers using the events of that war around which to build their longer story. The writings he has selected are very useful and interesting.

This book is in a series put out by Adrenaline books and each book contains certain selections chosen by the editor. The selections are generally either excerpts from books, excerpts from diaries and journals, short stories, or an occasional essay. I look at how good the writing is, and how good the stories are.

This is a strong anthology in many ways. It had a variety of civil war literature that helps to give a fuller picture of the civil war experience. There are many letters, stories, and diary entries and even a copy of orders given by a General. We get a picture of the inner workings of the war by people directly involved, as well as a picture of the world outside the war and how it was effected. We hear aspects of the war from multiple points of view. A soldier's fighting experience, a General's commanding view, letters to loved ones back home, the viewpoint of a young southern girl, life in a military prison. The reader gets to see not just the war, but the world it encompassed.

The anthology is made even stronger by the selections of famous people's writings. We get to read the words of General Ulysses S. Grant, Stephen Crane, Generals Pickett and Sherman, Abraham Lincoln, and even Walt Whitman (who worked in the hospitals treating wounded soldiers from both sides).

The only negative thing about this book is that it has no amazing powerful pieces. Almost all the selections are good (with two or three exceptions), but none are outstanding, in terms of either the writing or the story. There are no exceptionally well written pieces and no really incredible stories. This is unfortunate, but does not detract too much from the overall book. And also this volume includes some fiction, which generally does not exist in these series of books. Other than that the book is good and worth reading.

I have to say I enjoyed this book very much, but I supposed I'm biased, since my background is Italian. The book is entertaining and very informative in regards to Italy, the Italians and their food. It's not a bad mystery but it is kind of confusing. I still can't connect the murder with the purpose of the Gourmet Detective of having to go to Italy to pick one of the three. It is seems to have been pulled by the hairs of some voluminous Italian donna

I suppose I am getting a bit tired of Mr. King's writing style. Once you read one of his books, you've read them all. There is no actual surprise in them because all of them follow the same pattern, and after a few books diagramed in this way, one gets a bit flustered at so much predictability. I would have enjoyed this book very much if it was the first one I read from within the series. It is certainly better than the first one - called, not surprisingly, "The Gourmet Detective" - but, being the fourth one in the series, it makes no diffenrece to me at this point.

Peter King's writing, like a fine wine improves with age. "Death al Dente" The fourth book in the Gourmet Detective series, is possibly King's finest work to date. The food descriptions make your mouth water and the information about Italy and Italian wines is truly enlightning. Combine the food, the wine and a multiple murder mystery and you have a book well worth reading. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with a penchant for culinary mysteries.

Well-written, physically beautiful, and without a lot of the information this DP tyro had hoped to find in a prepress handbook. I suspect that the writer has been in the biz so long that it's tough to put herself in the shoes of the beginner. So: nothing on PDF settings, little on trapping, nothing on bleeds, etc.

I'm new at all this. I had hoped to find that information in this book. I realize that all writers of technical manuals must decide what to include and what to omit -- Do you tell the reader how to install software? -- but I do think a handbook on prepress should have included much more than is included here. I learned nearly as much from the prepress section of about.com.

I recommend this book to people who don't need to read it: graphics professionals who will enjoy Sidles' smooth writing and amusing anecdotes. But if you want hard info, you'd better look elsewhere.

This is the most comprehensive work I've found on digital prepress yet! It clearly outlines every aspect of getting jobs printed from choosing the right papers that will be appropriate for your job, to running type over images, to knowing exactly how different types of digital press' work. It is the perfect book for all graphic design students as well as a bible for professionals wanting to know how the industry is changing, and how to avoid the hidden pitfalls that can ruin a job. Buy this book to aviod disasters on press.

Reading this book is like reading a transcript from a cooking conference. It might just as well be, since this time our flat Gourmet Detective (a.k.a. The Unnamed One) takes the place of an absent friend at a Swiss spa to teach culinary secrets in a conference that lasts a week (too long). This novel develops really slow, and it only picks up the pace of a mystery in the last four chapters. Unluckily for us readers, the book comprises thirty two of them.

I found this novel in particular the one which has the most flat, underdeveloped characters of this whole series. Nothing means anything. Sure, if you read it as a cookbook or as a compilation of suggestions from a very good chef, it is an interesting piece of advice; even witty. However, this book claims to be a mystery story; and a good mystery story must have an identifiable plot, which has to be twisted and interesting at the same time. Well, I cannot really identify a good plot here.

I can certainly tell that Mr. King has travelled extensively throughout Europe and certainly knows a lot of the idiosyncrases of the different nationalities. He is also a very good expert in his field, which is that of cooking methods, ingredients, rare foods and all the other qualities that make an excellent chef. He is not, however, a good writer. Unfortunately this last part is what it takes to produce a good fiction story, be it a mystery or any other genre.

Of all the Gourmet Detective books up to this one, this is the worst of them. However, Peter King still manages to write a captivating story about murders in the food industry. This time, giving classes in a Swiss health spa, the Detective leaves behind him an unusually coincidental trail of murder attempts. Filled with quips about the Swiss culture, this particular novel is your best choice of King's if you want to learn about food in any way. But, be warned of a sharp and anomalous ending.

I wish I'd read the customer reviews of "Gourmet Detective": if I had, I might have thought twice about buying -- and reading -- "Dying on the Vine." The good thing is, the book's so thin on plot and characterization, it takes very little time to get through it. Unfortunately, it's time you could spend on a better read. Besides the typos (which increase toward the end, as if the proofreader became too bored to bother reading it carefully), the book consists of a flat narrative, pale characterizations, awkward dialog and, perhaps oddest of all, lifeless action scenes. Can it be possible to write a story set in Provence and make it dull? While Peter Mayle (the reigning king of Provence-writing) may have thin plots and a feather-weight style, at the very least he's entertaining, something I can't say about Peter King.

Although Peter King is definitely not Peter Mayle when writing about Provence, I found this to be a very good mystery indeed, hard to put down. Thank God there is no female Sergeant helping our Gourmet Detective in his investigation. The chauvinistic remarks linger on however, but they are not so overwhelming as in the other two previous mysteries.

I loved the descriptions of life in Provence, as well as the food and the wines, which for me are the best in the world. It wets my appetite every time I read about this sumptuous food.

The ending is quite surprising and full of action. I was expecting to be just carried lightly through, but instead, is quite gripping and I definitely had to keep reading through the last chapters without stopping.

Visit Provence and its vineyards. You'll encounter lots of intrigue, excellent food and high class people.

The Gourmet Detective has been hired by Sir Charles Willesford to investigate why a small Provence, France vineyard desperately wants to purchase his family's much larger vineyard. The owners of the smaller vineyard remain unknown as they are protected by being incorporated in Monte Carlo. These unknown businessmen have offered to buy Sir Charles' properties for well above the market value worth of the much larger Willesford properties.

Upon his arrival in Provence, the Gourmet Detective is quickly greeted by a corpse, allegedly killed by wild boars. Soon, he is under attack from angry bees and the wild boars. The Gourmet Detective is also tossed into a vat of wine. As he travels the backroads, dining on mouth watering delights, The Gourmet Detective realizes that someone(s) wants to insure that he has his last meal.

Peter King's third Gourmet Detective mystery (see THE GOURMET DETECTIVE and SPICED TO DEATH), is a lighthearted romp through the culinary and other customs of Provence, France. The story line tastes more like watered down wine, but that shortcoming is overcome by the delicacy of great and eccentric characters, and a delicious locale. The vile villain is an especially delightful main course fit for a king. Fans of gourmet mysteries will enjoy this seven course meal, just don't imbibe on the plot.

Harriet Klausner

I had read the first book in this series and found it likeable. This one however, was very slow to read. I got tired of the unnamed detective coming on to every women he met. Some of the food descriptions were quite interesting.

The visit to Dr. Li seemed almost paranormal. By the time I got to the end of this book I couldn't remember reading about the murderer until near the end of the book. I decided to go back & read the book again to see if this was the case. However, it was so slow to read, I decided it wasn't worth it. I just didn't care. I wouldn't read another book in this series.

Lack of originality keeps popping up on this second adventure of the Gourmet Detective. This story is too long and too similar to the previous one which, although not in my list of favourites, was definitely better than this one.

In a mystery story the presence of red herrings is a must, however, Mr. King scatters them all around without much purpose, and also in excess. For instance, what was the point of the food fair so extensively described, (even if this is a culinary mystery? And the woman from the "Phoenicia Restaurant"? I thought this would have been a much more insterested relationship to develop than the one between our protagonist and the female Sergeant assigned to protect his back. This last instance is also the same one of the first novel when the Gourmet Detective developed quite a chauvinistic appreciation to Sergeant Winnie. Mr. King seems to have run out of ideas when writing his second novel of what appears to be quite a boring series.

As for the food comments, again, they are excellent as suggestions and will make anyone's mouth water. Which reminds me to keep suggesting to Peter King that he really should try the non-fiction genre and start that cookbook right away!

This book is aimed at "foodies", those of us who love good food, good wine, and good dining. Unfortunately for Mr. King, foodies also love authenticity. He calls Hunan Province an island, thinks hot rice cake soup is uncommon and new, (we've eaten in for years in St. Louis as Sizzling Rice soup), and thinks that an American serving a prison sentence could run for President of the U.S.

Mr. King's writing is pleasant, but he needs an editor!!

Pretty absurd plot. Lovesey is generally a brilliant author, but this novel is tiresome and implausible. Although the Bertie series is not his best, other stories in this series are far better. Unless you have an overwhelming interest in the parlor games played by Victorian royalty, stay away.

This is a hilarious mystery as Prince Albert tries to prove his deductive abilities by finding the culprit who is committing serial murders paced on the Monday's Child rhyme. Of coure, his reasoning is usually way off and part of the fun is watching others deflate his ego with the correct explanation of his deductions. Nevertheless, Bertie shows a penchant for relying on royal privilege to get his way. A great comic historical mystery.

The title is something of a misnomer because only six countries are presented (Germany, France, Italy, UK, Spain and The Netherlands. Europe is after all slightly bigger. The section on Germany is split in two, East and West, which is not bad, but the information on the former East Germany is by now pretty much out of date. The book is easily read and contains useful information but a little too much of the old stereotyping.

My only complaint about this play is that Shakespeare should have had some dialogues where the characters discussed crucial history before the play opens. Gloucester (murdered or dead before the play but mentioned several times) had tried to usurp Richard's crown too many times. History itself is not sure if Gloucester died or was murdered. Bolingbroke for a while conspired with Gloucester and now sees another oppurtunity to usurp the crown.The virtuous John of Gaunt served Richard with honor and integrity and eventually moved parliament into arresting Gloucester for treason. This would of made John of Gaunt's rages all the more valid. Otherwise this play is outstanding! Richard shows himself to be capable of ruling at times, but gains our contempt when he seizes his the honorable John of Gaunt's wealth. John of Gaunt's final rage in 2.1 is a passage of immense rageful beauty. Also, Shakespeare moves us into strongly suspecting that Richard had Gloucester murdered. However, despite Richard's crime, Shakespeare masterfully reverses our feelings and moves us into having deep pity for Richard when he is deposed. The Bishop of Carlisle (Richard's true friend) provides some powerful passages of his own. I can not overestimate the grace in which Shakespeare increases our new won pity for Richard when Bolingbroke (Gaunt's rightful heir) regains his wealth and the death of Gloucester is left ambiguous. 5.1, when Richard sadly leaves his queen and can see that Henry IV and his followers will eventually divide is a scene of sorrowful beauty. 5.4 is chilling when Exton plots Richard's murder. 5.5 is chilling and captivating when Richard dies but manages to take two of the thugs down with him. The icing on the cake is that Bolingbroke (Henry IV) can only regret his actions and realize that he has gotten himself into a troublesome situation. But that will be covered in "1 Henry IV" and "2 Henry IV." We can easily argue that it is in "Richard II" where we see Shakespeare's mastery of the language at its finest.

Richard II was incompetent, wastefully extravagant, overtaxed his nobles and peasants, ignored his senior advisors, and lavished dukedoms on his favorites. His rival, Henry of Bolingbroke (later Henry IV), was popular with the common man and undeservingly suffered banishment and loss of all his property. And yet two centuries later Elizabethans viewed the overthrow of Richard II as fundamentally wrong and ultimately responsible for 100 years of crisis and civil war. Queen Elizabeth's government even censored Shakespeare's play.

Shakespeare masterfully manipulates our feelings and attitude toward Richard II and Bolingbroke. We initially watch Richard II try to reconcile differences between two apparently loyal subjects each challenging the other's loyalty to the king. He seemingly reluctantly approves a trial by combat. But a month later, only minutes before combat begins, he banishes both form England. We begin to question Richard's motivation.

Richard's subsequent behavior, especially his illegal seizure of Bolingbroke's land and title, persuades us that his overthrow is justified. But as King Richard's position declines, a more kingly, more contemplative ruler emerges. He faces overthrow and eventual death with dignity and courage. Meanwhile we see Bolingbroke, now Henry IV, beset with unease, uncertainty, and eventually guilt for his action.

Shakespeare also leaves us in in a state of uncertainty. What is the role of a subject? What are the limits of passive obedience? How do we reconcile the overthrow of an incompetent ruler with the divine right of kings? Will Henry IV, his children, or England itself suffer retribution?

Richard II has elements of a tragedy, but is fundamentally a historical play. I was late coming to Shakespeare's English histories and despite my familiarity with many of his works I found myself somewhat disoriented. I did not appreciate the complex relationships between the aristocratic families, nor what had happened before. Fortunately I was rescued by Peter Saccio, the author of "Shakespeare's English Kings". Saccio's delightful book explores how Shakespeare's imagination and actual history are intertwined.

I hope you enjoy Richard II as much as I have. It is the gateway to Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2) and Henry V, all exceptional plays.

The thing with Shakespeare histories is that almost no one reads them, as opposed to his tragedies and comedies. I don't know why that is. The histories that are read are either Henry V (largely due to Branagh's movie), Richard III (because the hunchback king is so over-the-top evil), or the gargantuan trilogy of Henry VI, with the nearly saintly king (at least by Part III) who much prefers contemplating religion and ethics to ruling and dealing with the cabals among his nobles.

So why read a relatively obscure history about a relatively obscure king? Aside from the obvious (it's Shakespeare, stupid), it is a wonderful piece of writing - intense, lyrical, and subtle. Richard II is morally ambiguous, initially an arrogant, callous figure who heeds no warnings against his behavior. Of course, his behavior, which includes seizing the property of nobles without regard for their heirs, leads to his downfall. Nothing in his character or behavior inspires his subjects so he has no passionate defenders when one of the wronged heirs leads a rebellion to depose Richard II. But Richard now becomes a much more sympathetic figure -especially in the scene where he confronts the usurper, Richard acknowledges his mistakes, but eloquently wonders what happens when the wronged subjects can depose the leader when they are wronged. What then of the monarchy, what then of England?

On top of the profound political musings, you get some extraordinarily lyrical Shakespeare (and that is truly extraordinary). Most well known may be the description of England that was used in the airline commercial a few years back... "This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, ..."

If you like Shakespeare and haven't read this play, you've missed a gem.

The detail about the food and food triva gets it an extra star, but I'm not foodie enough to overlook the thin characters, incomprehensible plot, or meandering narrative style. If you really are that into gourmet cooking, there are many non-fiction books that will provide the research without forcing you to wade through a so-called detective story. Skip this one.

Following the lead of my old economics professor William Breit -- who, as one half of the pseudonymous writing team Marshall Jevons gave us a murder-solving economist in 'The Fatal Equilibrium' and other titles -- more and more writers have served up murder mysteries in which someone uses the particular skills of his line of work to unravel a whodunit and bring the killers to justice. Peter King makes a noble attempt in this first entry in his by-now-long-running series. But while parts of the story were quite good, as a murder mystery, it was ultimately unsatisfying.

Like the Continental Op, our hero is unnamed. But he (like his creator, clearly) is a fan of detective fiction. Much of the book has an oddly self-aware quality, therefore -- especially when the hero and his Scotland Yard counterpart compare their interactions to those of famous fictional detectives and policemen. It's amusing at first to see the detective asking himself how Peter Wimsey or Charlie Chan would handle a certain situation, but even that begins to grow old after a while. Similarly, though it's refreshing that the author rejects the convention of the omnicompetent and almost omniscient sleuth -- the hero frequently complains that Holmes would have done a better job understanding a clue, or Travis McGee a difficult situation -- the solution to the crime, when it comes, struck me as in many ways unrelated to what our hero had been doing for the last 200 pages. Had I been following the wrong character around London?

Still, this is a fascinating concept, and not too bad for a first book. Certainly, the author knows his food (or at least, can snow an amateur foodie like me). I'm going to give some of the later titles in the series a try, and see if maybe things don't improve a bit over time.

I must admit I have savored this book very much. The Gourmet Detective is definitely a "gourmet"; as for being a detective...well, even himself doesn't use the term. I find the story a bit flat, the characters are not fleshed out at all, and the cute Sergeant Winnie seems a bit chauvinist, like dragged from nowhere into the story just to satisfy our protagonist's necessity for a link between him and the Police, while at the same time fullfilling his manly ego. I want to say I'm not a feminist, but the book suggests it that way. It's too obvious.

Another cause for dissappointment is that we never know the real identity of the protagonist. We just know he is the Gourmet Detective. Minor detail, I know, but still exasparating.

The volume is, however, extremely informative, even creative, as a food manual. Peter King is definitely not an amateur in this area. But then again, he probably should have written a cookbook. All this vast information about food and the appropiate wine to go with it would make a marvellous gourmet-reference book; but for a mystery, more of a storyline is needed; without cliches, and definitely not sexist.