This is another history concerning the SDS, or the Students for a Democratic Society. Miller admits in the introduction that he was a member of SDS and is sympathetic to what they did or tried to do. Not only is this book shorter than Kirkpatrick Sale's excellent history of SDS, but its focus is different as well. Where Sale focuses on the group as a whole, Miller provides more of an intellectual history of SDS. Miller provides exacting detail on the early period of SDS, especially the convention that produced the Port Huron Statement. For a much more thorough and detailed history of the SDS, please refer to Kirkpatrick Sale's SDS.

I still really enjoyed reading Miller's book. I like books that discuss intellectual development, and this one certainly accomplishes that. There is even an entire chapter devoted to C. Wright Mills, the radical sociologist that so many in the New Left idolized. Mills's idea of publics and his concerns about technology spoke directly to the alienation many young leftists felt. Miller points out that both Mills and the New Left shared a crucial weakness; both articulated problems without posing any effective solutions. This is most apparent in the idea of participatory democracy, the cornerstone of Port Huron. This idea, much touted by SDS members for most of its history, was never adequately defined in the document. Miller shows that many of the SDS projects, such as ERAP, were attempts to put participatory democracy into practice. The end result was failure because a concept such as this would probably only work on an extremely small level. As more people are brought into the mix, participation becomes problematic because so many different ideas are brought forth. Process and decisions become arthritic and meetings drag on for hours without results.

Miller seems to bog down considerably when he moves into the second half of his work. He provides four accounts of four separate members of SDS, one of whom is of course Tom Hayden. The problem with this technique is that none of these members had much to do with SDS after 1965. The later struggles of SDS are subsumed under these four accounts. Therefore, not nearly enough detail is given to the PL-SDS and Weather split in 1969. For description of the old guard of SDS, Miller is an excellent source. Just don't expect to find out much about late 1960's SDS.

While Miller is notably weak in is treatment -- and I would say understanding -- of the impact of the counter-culture and the civil rights movements, this is probably the most authoritative account to SDS, the student dimension of the anti-war movement, and the intellectual history of the New Left. His treatment is highly critical but born of a sympathetic hopes. He vastly overestimates the impact of the 1960s on American politics, and misses out of the opportunities to demostrate the lasting impact which developed through the "new social movements" of the 1970s and the present.

Final Justice is a remarkable act of story-telling. The characters are vivid, recognizable, and absolutely logical. The plot pulls the reader along, irresistably, unraveling a complicated storyline with simplicity and intensity.

Anyone familiar with the Kennedy Assassination knows that the official, i.e. the governmental, version is nonsensical. Final Justice offers a fictional explanation that is factual in principle.

The details are engaging (and impressive), and the over-all concept is compelling.

The only reason I give a 4-star rather than a 5-star, is I wanted more information at the conclusion. I suspect the author has heard that before...

If you love a good storyline, you'll love Final Justice. If you love a mystery, you'll love this book.

Unforgettable.

This novel is absoulutley brilliant! From the first pages when we get a glimpse of a special period of our nation's history to the final action packed sequences this novel kept me turning the pages. The heroine of the story, Samantha Wright, is a women we would all like to know and has a heritage that has captured our imagination since the 1960's. I hope we get to see more of Samantha and of author James Miller in the future. Final Justice is a classic adventure and thrill ride with realistic characters and many surprises. I highly recommend this novel to anyone. This is an excellent purchase!

I found myself picking up "The Four Hills of Sealoch" whenever I had an opportunity. The chapters are of a length that allows one to read one (or two or three) without the necessity of an afternoon or evening. I even skipped TV time! The book took me to another time and place every time I began reading. The characters became my friends and companions and I felt a sense of loss when I finished the book. My four star rating instead of a five star rating is only because I feel reserved about offering five stars. But I thought it was great entertainment, a wonderful escape, and I was moved as the story took me and the characters on a journey of epic struggle and achievement. A new roadblock at every turn and daring twists to the tale. In fairness, I should add that the author is my cousin. I began reading the book out of a sense of duty, but was soon absorbed. In the end, I was reading because I couldn't put it down.

The Four Hills of Sealoch was a thrill to read from the first two paragaphs until the last two of the 500 plus pages. Selodom do I have a book that calls me to duty to read every moment I can, but this one did. The descriptions and dialogue made you feel you were with all the characters and taking place in their adventure. All the characters were very real and could easily be related to. Readers who love Sci-Fi, Medieval, supernatural related adventures jump on this one. A surprise at every turn.

While the ending did lend some satisfaction, you are left craving for more in the further adventures of The Four Hills of Sealoch.

I also love books by King, Koontz and Rice and I certainly hope James Miller pubishes more.

This is collection of short stories that offers a wide mix of speculative genres. Fantasy, SF, horror, and just plain weird. The stories run the gambit and most are good. "Jeo Defined" and "Moon Warrior" were excellent stories and well worth purchasing the book. Even just the so-so stories were enjoyable and all the authors are names to keep a look out for. In the end, this is a book of up and coming writers and a few of them will no doubt be big names someday.

I didn't know what to expect from this collection of short stories but I was happily surprised. The stories cover a wide range from fantasy, science fiction, and horror to those hard to classify strange stories. Each one is worth reading. My favorites were the one about a radio personality who was singing the Siren's song and the one about a criminal who is forced to undergo "augmentation" to control him. Some wild stuff for a great read.

Well, it was a very interesting book from what i have read. Yet, I have an exam tomorrow and i need the summarization for it. So frankly i dont care about the book.

This book is great. Great book to read for the mellenium

-but more than that the entire book has a tone of respect, a reverence for life that rings very true. This book has been a gift to myself and my family. Unlike "Pop" psychology guides that might put someone "in their heads"(and out of their feelings), this is an artfully crafted piece that speaks to the heart and soul. Reading this feels like a visit with a wise old friend.

Mr. Miller has included profound quotes, from Helen Keller to Shakespeare, and also from the Bible. His collection of wisdom is from such varied sources that even this works for the reader in that it is apparent and comforting - that wisdom, like grief, cuts across time,gender,and social circumstance. It is wonderfully human. If you have a heartbeat you'll get this.

I ordered this book and have ended up giving it away to dear friends. It is perfect to replace the "SYMPATHY" card which often has briefly written comfort words that don't comfort. This book has so many thoughts to let the grieving know they are not alone, and that healing can be ahead. It goes through the seasons of grief and loss. I hope someone will send me one of these book when my turn comes to hurt rather than a card and flowers. I am glad there are comforters who write and understand.

Jennifer, period 3

This is a review on The turn of the Screw and Daisy Miller by
Henry James. The turn of the Screw is a haunting ghost story of this woman that is a governess and moves into an old English mansion to care for two children Miles, and Flora. The governess start seeing things and she realizes that these people are not human but ghosts and she thinks that they are going to possess the children. This short novel is a horrifying classic ghost story that was actually not bad. The short novel of Daisy Miller is a tale of a governess on vacation with her family in Italy and she falls in deeply in love with her employer. This is a sad love story that Henry makes you use your imagination on. She is swept off her feet by her employer, Frederick Forsyth. But his suspicions about her friendship with an Italian man lead him, and the rest of society, to abandon her. Only after she is dead that he realizes her actions were spontaneous and out of generosity.That is my review on these short novels by Henry James.

esta obra es una novela de ambiguedades, no como otras novelas de henry james que son de ritmo lento y hasta medio aburridas, esta obra es rapida y su brevedad la hace mas deliciosa. al final quedamos con las dudas sobre lo que paso en la casa con los ninos y la maestra. solo nos queda imaginarnos que paso al final y mas alla... muy buena. LUIS MENDEZ

I really enjoy books that revolve around science... especially when they were written during the 1800s and early 1900s. It is very entertaining to discover what these people believed and to compare their beliefs to ours in modern times. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea is entertaining in this fashion. Jules Verne is suprisingly accurate in his depiction of a modern-day electric submarine and its workings... although he doesn't go into the minute details that I was hoping for. The ending of this book is a tremendous let-down with regards to the character of Captain Nemo. Throughout the entire book, the Captain's background is built up to be a giant mystery... which simply begs for resolution. I couldn't wait to reach the end of the book in order to find out why Captain Nemo was the way he was. This resolution never comes. Never. This left me with the opinion that Jules Verne simply wasn't a talented storyteller, and never bothered to fill out and completely think about the character of Captain Nemo. Anyone can think up fantastic situations and theories... but the real talent comes in explaining them in a plausible way to the reader. It's akin to watching a movie where lots of incredible things happen to the main characters, only to have them wake up stating that it was all a dream.

This is Verne's classic novel about Captain Nemo and his submarine Nautilus. What really fascinated me when reading this story and other Verne novels was not only Verne's contributions to the science fiction genre, but his founding of a whole new genre, one that, as far as I know, he has never been given credit. I think Verne was one of the first to write the techno-novel, a work that is filled with technical details ala Tom Clancy. For this novel, Verne did considerable research to describe what was known as accurately as possible. Professor Arronax and his servant Conseil board a U. S. ship that is searching for a monster that has sunk a number of other ships. They discover that it isn't a monster at all but a submarine, captained by a mysterious man known only as Nemo (Verne will present readers with Nemo once again in "The Mysterious Island"). Arronax, Conseil, and an American harpooner named Ned Land travel with Nemo and see many wonderous things and have many adventures. Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" has gotten some very poor reviews over the decades since it first appeared in 1869. In many cases, it was because of the translation and not because of Verne. A number of the early translators inserted their own sections with their own ideas and opinions and deleted much of Verne's own words. So, readers should be aware of the translator. I read an excellent translation by Walter James Miller that was also annotated. Such an annotated volume can prove to be very helpful to teenagers getting acquainted with Nemo and his submarine.

This brilliantly crafted novel of epic proportions, tell of the adventures of Professor Pierre Aronnax, his servant Conseil, and Ned Land, a Canadian harpooner, as they are held captive aboard a submarine by a mysterious man who goes under the name Captain Nemo. Although they are in a sense prisoners, they are allowed to use all the facilities aboard the submarine. This submarine, powered by nuclear energy and christened the Nautilus, is one of Verne's many brilliant predictions of modern life made throughout many of his works. This like may others was correct. Through out the book, the reader gains a vast knowledge of marine life, and the lives of people in distant lands.

The book begins when Professor Pierre Aronnax, the narrator of the story, boards an American frigate commissioned to investigate a rash of attacks on international shipping by what is thought to be an amphibious monster. The supposed sea creature, which is actually the submarine Nautilus, sinks Aronnax's vessel and imprisons him along with his devoted servant Conseil and Ned Land, a temperamental harpooner. When they are returned to their senses, the find themselves inside a dark, gloomy, desolate, endless, predicament. They are locked in a cell. However they soon meet Captain Nemo who agrees to let them move about the ship freely on one condition. They must remain aboard the Nautilus. So begins a great adventure of a truly fantastic voyage from the pearl-laden waters of Ceylon to the icy dangers of the South Pole, as Captain Nemo, one of the greatest villains ever created, takes his revenge on all society.

The detail that Verne pours into this book is amazing. This is one of the few books that are capable of making the readers feel that they are actually there. His descriptions of how the Nautilus operates, how Nemo's crew harvests food and his account of hunting on Hawaii are excellent, and the plot never falters. The characters are wonderfully scripted; each one having their own unique personality, and they are weaved flawlessly into the awe filled spectacle.

This is the book that predicted that there would be submarines, and that submarines would eventually go to the South Pole. It predicted the development of the SCUBA suit; it even predicted nuclear powered ships. The technology used in this book makes it easy to understand even today. This book is widely recognized as a classic- in my view, correctly.

"Frankenstein" is a typical novel from the romantic period. The story is based on the conflict of a scientist with the results of his work. But Frankenstein is far more than that: It is the story of two individuals (Frankenstein and his "monster") and their acceptance and behavior in society, and of course, the novel contains a lot of latent psychological information (what would Freud have said about that?). However, it is typical for the age of romanticism that the feelings and thoughts of the individuum are at the center of the plot (see e.g. the works by Byron or by the German authors Eichendorff and Novalis). This holds as well for the music composed during that time (Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, ...). Mary Shelley describes in great detail the innermost feelings of Frankenstein and his "wretch" and how they changed from one minute to the other, and what made them change their moods, and why and how, and who was around etc. This actually - because presented through the entire book - makes the reading of the highly interesting story rather tedious. Story: 5 stars, Fun: 1 star

If you are expecting the novel Frankenstein to be like horror scenes depicted in the movies, you better think again. Instead, Mary Shelly allows the reader to create more images in his or her own mind. Today, we are so brainwashed to violence and gory images on television, that we sometimes forget what "real" horror used to be like. When you read Frankenstein don't forget that Mary Shelly wrote the book in the 1880's in a time of social unrest. The writing style is different, and the pace of the novel is not as up to date as modern books. Her descriptive words allow the reader to create the monster in his or her own mind, without actually seeing it. When Shelly writes, her words give such detailed images of what is going to happen next. For example, when something "bad" is going to happen, Shelly generates a spooky and mysterious setting.
One of the major themes throughout the book is science technology. When Victor creates the monster, he is challenging science, and therefore challenging God. When the creature awakes, Victor realizes that he has just done a "horrible" thing. He is disgusted with the thing he created, which led him to feel extreme guilt and compete rejection of the monster. Is it science that led him to self destruction? Shelly wonders how far will technological advances go before a man becomes too dependent on technology? Science destroys his life because the monster dominates him, and Victor winds up being a slave to his own creation.
What was also interesting about the novel was how Shelly made the reader feel sympathetic for the monster. After all aren't we supposed to hate this thing? She portrayed the creature as a "normal human", showing love and affection. The creature's ugliness deterred anyone from coming close to him, and made him feel like an outsider. This rejection from society made the monster sad and helpless. His only revenge was to engage in destruction. This is when the "real" monster is created. After reading parts of the novel I felt bad for the monster, in a way I never thought I would.
Although slow paced, Mary Shelly's style of writing will allow you to take on different dimensions and force you to develop your own profound ideas about the topics discussed in the novel. I think Frankenstein is a great Romantic classic for anyone who has a imagination.

The Frankenstein monster is truly one of the most tragic characters in classic literature. He is obviously quite brilliant, having learned to speak (rather eloquently, I might add), and to read simply by secretly watching others. He's sensitive, kind, and appreciative of nature's beauty-all of the most admirable characteristics of a wonderful soul. And yet, he is vilified by all who come in contact with him because of his physical repulsiveness.

His longing for love, especially from Victor, was so painful that it became difficult for me to read. I kept hoping he'd find someone to show him the littlest bit of kindness. His turn to violence is entirely understandable, and Victor's irresponsibility toward his creation is despicable. Victor, who is outwardly handsome but cowardly and cruel, is the story's true monster.

In addition to writing a captivating story, Shelley raises many social issues that are still relevant today, nearly 200 years later, and the book provides a superb argument against *ever* cloning a human being.

(Note: I have the edition with the marvelous woodcut illustrations by Barry Moser and the Joyce Carol Oates afterword - superb!)

You won't know exactly who to believe when you read this book, but in the end, it really won't matter. Yes, there are some oversights in the information here; the later seasons are given short-shrift, and, just as an example, Victoria Jackson gets what amounts to the last word on some in-fighting behind the scenes during her run. Some of these oversights you can chalk up to who was willing to talk in their interviews and who wasn't. Other times, it seems to be a fault of the editorial decision to move on to the next subject before the previous one is exhausted. And yes, the first five years get the bulk of treatment here, but that's to be expected, I think--they are, arguably, the most "romantic" of the periods, when it was less a business and more a crusade. And besides, people are a lot more inclined to comment on the [stuff] they pulled twenty years ago than stuff that's relatively current.

Still, this book is fully deserving of the perhaps too-often-ascribed label "page turner." You'll be able to put it down, of course, but you won't want to. You'll want to keep going, even if your head is swimming with factoids, innuendo, inside information, and some of the best tossed-off stories of famous people behaving badly. All the "dirt" aside, though, it's the more positive stuff I really relish about this book--the good stuff about Gilda, John, and the rest. There are some nice tributes here, and they really shine.

Of course, if you're a huge fan of Chevy Chase, you might avoid this book, because, as others have said, he gets torn apart pretty well here. To his credit, he admits that he's been a jerk in the past, but still, from year one to now, he's been reviled by most of the cast. For me, I'm still a fan of his work, but I don't think I want to be in a cast meeting with him. With all the stories, positive and negative, it comes down to who you're going to believe. For the most part, the editors let you decide, and haven't seemed to make a decision for you. And in the end, as I said, it won't matter. It's still a good, solid read.

This book is chockful of juicy gossip and backstage dish with interviews from cover-to-cover of SNL cast, writers, producers, and hosts. Interviews with SNL insiders are offered in a linear fashion from surviving "Not Ready for Prime Time Players", writers, producers, and hosts to current cast members and staff.
This isn't the authors' take on SNL, but the history of Saturday Night Live from people who lived through it.
Tom Shales and James Miller in a smart, smart move chose to have everyone speak for themselves. And how telling it is. : ) The editors keep introductions and explanations to a minimum.
I was surprised about how candid many of the SNL stars and hosts were about themselves and the show.
If you have ever watched Saturday Night Live, you'll enjoy this book. With its insider stories,
you'll find this book hard to tear yourself out of. It's apparent that many stories of SNL players' behavior outside of 30 Rockefeller Center are not in this book, but what's there is more than enough.
So get your hands on this book-- you'll find it definitely lives up to the hype.

For such a big book, this was a surprisingly fast read.

I love this book. I love the way this book is put together. I used to love the show... let's hope it improves. As this book shows, SNL has survived bad seasons before.

The most intersing thing I learned from the book revolved around the Dick Ebersol years. Even though they weren't the best, they seemed to have dissapeared from reruns. It's not my imagination. The book tells us that Lorne Michaels owns the rerun rights, an aside from an occasional Eddie Murphy sketch, we're not going to get anything from the Dick Ebersol- Eddie Murphy- Joe Piscapo years.

This is a great whatever-happened-to book as well. This book made the wise decision to not only include the better known cast members as contributors, but the lesser known ones as well.

Especially enlighting were cast members recollections as to who were good hosts and who were bad host. Guess they won't be asking Chevy Chase back to host any time soon.

This is a treasure trove of information and trivia for any TV buff.

Included are poignant reminiscants about former cast members who have left this world- Chris Farley, Gilda Radner, John Belushi and Phil Hartman.

Also- find out who said [the "F" word]... on TV first. Hint: it was on SNL and it wasn't Charles Rocket. Think bald bandleader.

Wonderful throughout.