I could care less for any of these plays. The authors seem to try and create a new brand of Asian literature. With the plays that I've read here, I hope that won't happen. Some of them are badly written and the characters aren't all too complex. But, this book shouldn't be called "Asian American Drama." Because there isn't anything Asian about it, except that the plays were written by Asians. Aside note: David Henry Hwang writes, "Frank Chin's play The Chicken Coop Chinaman was criticized for reinforcing stereotypes of broken-English-speaking Chinatown tour guides." If you read Chickencoop Chinaman, there is no Chinatown tour guide! Anyway, If you want something distinctively Asian, you have to narrow it down somewhere. You can't make up something culturally phony like some of these authors.

I am an actor, and I found this collection, just outstanding! Every play is excellent and readable even on the page. Several plays by women as well. Read and Enjoy. Then go out and put it together and act, produce and direct it! I will

Anyone familiar with Henry Kissinger's fabled rise to preeminence as a Harvard professor to National Security maven to Secretary of State to international security mogul will find this overblown and egocentric effort at reconstructive twentieth century history amusing, frustrating, and absolutely self-serving. While Kissinger's personal biography is in fact a real-life Horatio Alger tale, ripped from the conditions, circumstances, and contradictions of this uproarious span of time, his own attempts herein to steer the reader toward a selective understanding of what happened and why profoundly misuses and abuses his insider's status in an all-too apparent attempt to reconstruct the historically verifiable facts of the situation pertaining to the sixties, the war in Vietnam, and his own efforts at establishing (along with his unindicted cohort in crime, Richard M. Nixon) a contemporary American realpolitick in world affairs.

Yet Kissinger is hardly what he purports to be. Far from flying with the angels, Kissinger attempted to simultaneously court the liberal press and the academics into believing he was a solitary voice of reason and moderation within the Nixon White House, while at the same time pandering to the President's worst impulses, insecurities, and vulnerabilities by exploiting Nixon's paranoia about his public image and his need for pseudo-macho persona with his colleagues. As Daniel Ellsberg described so well in his recent book, Kissinger adroitly attempts to consistently play all sides against the middle in an attempt to elevate his own position and allow himself the latitude to swagger into public prominence and the political stratosphere at the same time. Thus, while the book is well written and quite entertaining to read, it suffers from the meglo-maniacal effort Kissinger has made to consistently portray himself in a positive light, and so slants the nature of the interchanges, anecdotes, and occurrences I personally found quite frustrating.

In so doing he ultimately squanders any opportunity he had to help illuminate the nature of the many events he actively participated in and contributed toward, such that what other's refer to as a cogently written insider's take on the process of shutting down America's involvement in the long Southeast Asia conflict I find to be a cleverly attempted effort to marshal the facts in a way that dissembles more than it illuminates. The truth is that Kissinger, like Robert McNamara and others, was a superb politician, tactician, and game player, and one who enjoyed playing multiple political games on multiple levels with contradictory simultaneous outcomes all at the same time. Thus in the morning he could whine to his liberal staffers how the Neanderthals in the White House were misbehaving, and then engage in pseudo-macho asides with the same White House staffers he had just bad-mouthed to his associates. Kissinger played everyone, from the President to the Congress to Academia to the public. In this fundamentally dishonest and dissembling reinterpretation of the public record of what happened during those years and why, he continues to play us all. My advice is not to buy books like this, unless you want to see how cleverly and brilliantly someone as intellectually gifted as Kissinger is can engage in a campaign of boldface lies. Boycott this book!

I have been meaning to read some of Kissinger's work for quite a while. From the critic reviews of this book, I thought this would be a logical place to start because it encapsulates a large swath the Vietnam War writing Kissinger has produced over the years.

Personally, I found this book is an incredibly involving recount and analysis of the Vietnam War. I thought I had a fairly in-depth understanding of the Vietnam War beforehand, but quickly discovered that there was so much I was never aware of. Because Kissinger was part of the inner circle of powers that shaped the Vietnam conflict, he writes from a vantage point only an insider can lay claim to. The competing egos, opposing political agendas, infighting, confusion, hope and desperation-all these factors played a part in the conflict and Kissinger does a wonderful job of presenting how each influenced the Vietnam War.

I picked up this book one weekend and could not put it down. If you're looking for an engaging reading on the Vietnam War, you cannot go wrong with this selection.

Hyde obviously wrote this book because some constituent of his, probably as crooked as most politicians got taken to the cleaners. It is the unfortunate dilemma that we are in that people of power can get influenced so. My thoughts are that Henry probably felt he was next in line to get caught by the Feds and he figured he had better do something to limit his liability. Shameful I gave this two stars because he utilized proper english.

Hyde's disclosure of this little understood but heinous law is excellent. As Hyde explains, under civil forfeiture laws your private property can be taken without finding you guilty of anything. Sound unAmerican? You bet! But it is all legal. Hyde clearly discusses the background and current practices and recommends reform in this area.

This collection of letters makes Henry Miller look like a pathetic old geezer. Miller, who if you read multiple biographic works on him, never was much of a "real person", but some kind of morphic creature who would become fascinated with something for a while & his entire existence would be geared towards that thing. Sometimes it was UFOs, sometimes the idea of what he thought China was....seemingly anything and everything, just so long as Miller could run away & hide from being an actual individual. During the part of his life covering these letters, he was in his "Japanese phase". Hoki Miller was an attractive woman who was a cheesy lounge singer & wannabe actress working at a Los Angeles Japanese resteraunt. Miller fell in love with some image he concocted & Hoki saw him for the patsy he was. All this woman did was tease & lead on Miller, and like a fool, he went right along. She never gave him the sexual play he so longed for, but he bought her a new white Jaguar that she quickly smashed up. Miller kept tossing money at her, and even went to Japan with her to try to use his fame there to promote Hoki The Hack's failing acting career. The letters in this collection are no literary masterpieces, and would only be of intrest to hardcore Miller fans or maybe somebody looking for a laugh at a rich & famous old man's expense. If you're not really interested in Miller's personal life, I'd suggest spending your money on something else.

This is a great collection of letters that will give great insight to Henry Miller's fans. The letters follow this tumultuous relationship & show Henry Miller at his most childish and pathetic. Hoki was a scam artist extraordinaire & Henry went along for the ride, while paying for the car, the insurance, gas, food along the way, etc. This is a must read for any Henry Miller fan. Others will find it kind of pointlessly pitiful.

The female child of a white female outcast and a black freeman, the author gives a detailed account of what it was like being raised by a white family in the pre-Civil War North of the United States (a household where she was abandoned by her mother at 3). This biography gives a general idea of what a Negro's life in the North was like -- and it was not much different from that life of a slave in the South. The mistress of the house was brutal beyond measure, but many of the other family members were reasonably kind (though not kind of enough to put a stop to the abuse), and it makes one shudder to think of what could have happened in a family who had nothing but Negro-haters in it. Still, she recounts how she got a small measure of schooling, and how she eventually became a Christian (something which the lady of the house -- a Christian herself -- opposed) and her eventual marriage. An upsetting story, it is nevertheless of much more value than "Uncle Tom's Cabin" as it was told from the point of view of the victim and not a sympathetic white.

Writing is a cathartic process and Our Nig is the author's attempt to come to terms with her life as a second, no, fourth-class citizen in America. The author is a racially-mixed Black woman. The title reveals a lot. The main character is not called by her name, Frado, she was called "our nig," short for "our nigger." The book gives the reader an idea of the author's relationship to society at that time. The book shows that racism and cruelty was not a Southern experience. And that freedom from slavery did not mean that one was not treated as a slave.

The main character suffers abandonment, rejection, and cruel treatment by the many people who have power over her life. Or do they? She manages to survive many indignities inflicted upon her and leaves a written legacy for us today so that we can understand what life was really like back in the days of extreme ignorance. This story has much value in the same way that the poetry by Phyllis Wheatly and the essays by Frederick Douglas have value. It's a first-hand expression of how those who were oppressed truly felt at that time. While Our Nig is not technically an autobiography, it reveals much of the author's thoughts about herself and those who surrounded her. This is a book to contrast with Uncle Tom's Cabin, a book about slavery, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe who is white. The difference in perspective and the way characters are developed is monumental.

I'm so glad that Henry Louis Gates discovered this writing that was ignored for so many years. The story needed to be told and heard. Reading it, one will have a different version of "Once upon a time in America..."

The review says "Think of the food replicators in the imaginary future of Star Trek--with some basic chemical building blocks and simple rules, those machines can produce everything from Klingon delicacies to Earl Grey tea. If scientists can understand and apply the knowledge they gather from studying emergent systems, we may soon witness the development of artificial intelligence, nanotech, biological machines, and other creations heretofore confined to science fiction." -- What?? Like we are about to make food replicators because of the "deep understanding" that we now have of emergent systems??

I agree with the other reviewer who says the book is characteristically weak. The cover is prettier than Hidden Order. But so what.

There have to be better books on complexity than this for the average popular science reader.

Parts of this book were interesting, but overall it was much ado about not much, and what was done was often overdone (I agree with another reviewer on this point). I see that Amazon has coupled this book with Hidden Order. I can't see why. It would be like buying the same book twice. Anyway, so much of this has been warmed over so many times now that it's frankly a bit dry. I'd like to see a book that really breaks new ground in complexity without overusing buzz words or talking down to me, holding my hand through simple things. Here, the topic is more attractive than the content I'm afraid. Anyone really interested in complexity and emergence will need to go into technical details well beyond this book. Others, like me, will likely find the details that are here to be a bit tedious.

While the intended audience is the general interest reader, this book will be a bit complicated for most people who are unfamilar with Turning Machines, i.e., stack machines, etc.

If you have only boys in your family or have never put down money for a computer game, you probably haven't kept up with the brouhaha that has been developing over computer games for girls that has appeared in the last four years.

The focus on computer games for girls became a issue when it was noticed that while boys liked playing computer games and were more comfortable with computers; girls stayed away from these games. The result - girls would be computer illiterate and be unable to compete in the technical job market.

The book is openly feminist, dealing with how girls and women are represented in computer games; bringing in academic research into gender play, and interviewing the women in the game companies who are designing and producing the games. The interviews with the women in the game industry offers outsiders the rare opportunity to hear the opinions of the designers and developers. Some explain how market research determines what they produce, others provide a more personal view of what moves them to design. The word "empowerment" appears repeatedly.

The editors conclude with ideas for game play that gives voice and play space to both girls and boys. The book's inclusive points of view ends with a talk back piece by Game Grrls - women who enjoy playing action games to compete and win - often over men. The book provides a scholarly treatise on girls, computers, and society. Each of the academic chapters are followed by extensive bibliographies. For whose who are interested in the subject it is extremely valuable to have everything in one place.

Genevieve Katz © 1999, Games4Girls

I enjoyed this book very much, and am glad I own a copy. It addresses a fundamental problem in the computer industry: the fact that computer games are almost exclusively made by and geared towards men. The book addresses this question through a variety of articles and interviews. The best point of the book, I felt, was that it left you pondering a fundamental question: is the small gaming industry that caters to "Girl Games" a good one, even though it possibly reinforces gender stereotypes that can be detrimental? Or is it better for girls to play "male" games, and be forced to bear the homosexual tags that go along with it? The book strives to find a balance to this problem and makes the reader wonder what, indeed, that balance is. As an afterthought, the recent demise of Purple Moon, a company well documented in this book, question what the future for girls and computer games is. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who has played a computer game -- it quite possible might make you see them in a different light.

This collection is truly thought-provoking and insightful. It dares to tackle one of today's most challenging issues -- the relationship between gender and technology. The book is worth owning for the first chapter alone, Cassell and Jenkins' "Chess for Girls? Feminism and Computer Games."

For video game programmers and toy designers, this book should be required reading, especially for those who wish to be conscious of their contribution to gender differences in society. And a must read for parents and video game enthusiasts alike.

I agree with other reviewers that there is nothing new here. The disconcertingly hokey plot devices of Time Travel (better left to H.G. Wells) and the fictional apparition Sam Constant "public opinion incarnate" are needlessly sophomoric and annoying. The book poses many more questions that it answers.

I read a lot of "True Crime" books (See my List: True Crime 101) and I write this perhaps redundant review to suggest better books on the same topics: Drs. Lee and Labriola are too soft on former Boulder D.A. Alex Hunter's office (I suggest instead "JonBenet: Inside the Murder Investigation" by Steve Thomas, but NOT "mindhunter " John Douglas' argument for his former employers, the Ramsey's: "The Cases That Haunt Us.") On O.J, I suggest "O.J. the Last Word" by Gerry Spence - anything by Mr. Spence is excellent! Regarding the Sam Sheppard saga, there's his son's "Mockery of Justice" and "Scapegoat: The Lonesome Death of Bruno Richard Hauptmann" by Anthony Scaduto tells the Lindbergh Baby tale. Beacons in the JFK assassination labyrinth include "A Citizen's Dissent," by Mark Lane, Jim Garrison's "On the Trail of the Assassins," and Jim Marrs' "Crossfire: the Plot that Killed Kennedy."

A tour de force, this book is more gripping than any fictional mysteries including those of Sherlock Holmes and P.D. James. But it is the unaswered questions in each of he eight cases that Doctor Lee, America's pre-eminent forensic scientist, revisit that makes this work more thrilling and esciting than "The Hound of the Baskervilles." Most important the authors over and over again demonstrate how investigations by detectives over the years are flawed and how easily innocent people are caught in the web of injustice. So put on your deerstalker cap, take a magnifying glass in hand and be prepared for a roller coaster ride through the blood and gore of crimes in which verdicts, Doctor Lee suggests, also were influenced by public opinion.

Italian immigrant socialists were suspected and hated when Sacco and Vanzetti were captured. Anti-German feelings were sweeping the country when Hauptmann was charged with the Lindbergh kidnapping. Doctor Lee asks more questions than he answers. It's your call.

"What if the world's foremost forensic scientist could be transported back and forth in time at will, observing crime scene searches, examining physical evidence, bearing witness to famous trials in American history and offering commentary on the proceedings as they occurred?"

The answer to that 'what if' is a fascinating look at not only the details of seven of the country's most infamous criminal cases, but also at the history of forensics, police procedures and the moods of the American public over the past century.

Dr. Lee, who was either directly involved in the original investigations or consulted in official re-examinations of all of the cases covered, allows the readers to witness the dramas up close and personally through the use of dual literary devices-a time machine that whisks him back to each of the trials and the introduction into the proceedings of the character Sam Constant who represents the public opinion of the time.

If you're a true crime junkie looking for gossip, dirt or gruesome tidbits, "Famous Cases Revisited" is not going to be your cup of cocoa. The book Drs. Lee and Labriola have written has a very specific purpose, to show readers that forensic mistakes such as failing to secure crime scenes, being careless in collecting and preserving evidence and possibly suppressing or planting evidence are as prevalent today as they were back in the 1920's and that the most important thing that any of us, police or civilian, can do is to take a page from that history and learn from past mistakes.

As a writer and mystery/suspense fan, I found this book to be a gold mine of information, entertainingly presented, that not only gives the reader an inside look at the forensic particulars of some of the most captivating cases of the past century, but also a unique behind-the-chalk-outline education into how the mind of a top notch criminalist works.

Whoa. Ms. Fritz seems to have some issues with Europeans in general and Christians in particular. Here's a sample:<>(pg. 29). Here's another beaut.: <> .Apparently nobody ever told Ms. Fritz that the only reason we have copies of the Greek and Roman classics is because they were copied and preserved by Catholic monks. She has also never heard of Pope Gregory the Great or Thomas Aquinas, or figured out who opened the first universities.

According to Fritz, the Christians continued in their benighted state until they had the good fortune to be attacked by militant Muslims, at which point, <>
Jean Fritz needs to follow their example. This book is venomous, egregiously inaccurate agitprop garbage.

I have never come across such blatant hostility towards Christianity - and in a children's book to boot! The research is inaccurate and the writing poor. For example, the author writes about Prince Henry, "He was religious enough...." and then continues on to, yet again, put Christians in a tiny, mindless box. What does it mean to be "religious enough"? Don't make the same mistake I did by buying this book.

The inaccuracies which plague this book are many. The author has allowed a vitriolic personal bias against Christianity to take the place of historical accuracy. In addition to the stunning inaccuracies, the venomous, contemptuous tone of every reference to the Christian faith is problematic. In this day of tolerance, it is surprising that anyone would allow their personal prejudices to be so visible and so hateful, especially in a book for children! In a book which is supposedly based upon history, it is surprising that anyone would print out-and-out lies such as are found in this book. Why did I give it two stars? Because the text, when it is not too busy attacking the author's imaginary archenemy, is refreshing and useful. It is humorous, winsomely written, and fun. The illustrations are great, too. It's sad that the author's personal biases have marred this otherwise fine work.

Duane Gish isn't content to claim that the Bible says the earth is 6,000 years old. That claim alone is faulty theology - the Bible is chock full of references that state the Earth is extremely old (e.g., Hab. 3:6b), and the book of Genesis merely states that God created the world "in the beginning," without the Ussherite timetable Gish insists upon...

Gish - along with other Young Earthers - have confused the church of Christ for too long. The Bible doesn't teach that the Earth is 6,000 years old - Seventh Day Adventists teach that, and they're hardly reliable theologians. There is a marvelous resonance between what science now believes about the Big Bang, the nature of time, and other issues and what is taught in the Bible. As Christians, we should be rejoicing at the way in which modern science has, despite all attempts to the contrary, run smack-dab up against God in its equations. Physics, cosmology, astronomy, and other fields have all been shaken to the core by what they've found. The only reason Darwinian Evolution remains unscathed is because Darwinists use people like Duane Gish as red herrings to make it appear that all anti-Darwinists are Young Earthers who shouldn't be listened to.

Read Hugh Ross, Michael Denton, David Berlinski, and Michael Behe for more sound scientific analysis on these matters... Leave Young Earth Creationism for the sub-Biblical cults, where it belongs!

Creationists are fortunate to have such a highly qualified scientist as Dr Gish on our side. Even the famous evolutionary origin-of-life researcher and opponent of Gish, the late Dr Sydney Fox conceded:

'Duane Gish has very strong scientific credentials. As a biochemist, he has synthesised peptides, compounds intermediate between amino acids and proteins. He has been co-author of a number of outstanding publications in peptide chemistry.' [_The Emergence of Life: Darwinian Evolution from the Inside_, Basic Books, NY, 1988, p. 46]

This gives the lie to sceptical claims that no creationist has ever published in scientific journals, and there are many more. And it means that Gish is extremely well-qualified to discuss theories of the origin of life from non-living chemicals. But he is also widely read in many other fields.

The style is lucid, and the book is beautifully illustrated. This makes this book a good introduction, mainly for young people but good for all ages.

The book is about the biblical view of creation, get a clue! If you want to read about evolution, get a book on evolution! This is a excellent resource for homeschoolers and others who want to teach the creationists view of creation to their children. If you don't believe in the billions and billions of years thing, then this book gives a wonderful review of God's 7 day plan. The book is excellent even if you disagree with the thinking. It's a shame unethical people use a book review as a platform to promote their bias thinking.