Himmelfarb is a conservative ideologue who is extremely unsympathetic to Mill's liberalism, which she seems to view as the root of all cultural evil in modern America. Her thesis that there are "two Mills" (one a classical liberal, the other -- inconsistent with the first -- a radical feminist/socialist controlled by his wife) has been thoroughly discredited in the academic literature. It is simply a product of Himmelfarb's own confusions. The book is so misleading as to be worthless.

This book is an attempt by Ms. Himmelfarb to fit Mill into her vision of the 19th century. One only has to actually read On Liberty to realize that she hasn't suceeded. A more succinct (and less expensive) version of her thesis is her introduction to the Penguin edition of On Liberty. It is like having a creationist write an introduction to Darwin's Origin Of Species.

Yet another example of thorough and enlivened scholarship from this great historian! Professor Himmelfarb provides salient clues on the apparent dichotomy in Mill's thought, particularly in those areas of personal liberty and responsibility. Mill's abdication to his wife's opinions appears to be (unfortunately, in this case) the primary cause of the disconnect between the philosophy in most of Mill's work compared to that in his magnum opus, On Liberty. The supporting references on Mrs. Mill's impact are numerous and irrefutable, particularly Mill's own correspondence. This book is indispensible for those interested in Mill and his influence on Anglo/American thought.

This is a meandering, disappointing, misleadingly titled book. Clearly the author wanted to write a book about the Harvard modernists and their era, including exploring "Negro chic" and the homosexual culture of the period. This would be a harder sell as a mass-circulation book, and hence the device of recruiting FOUR SAINTS as a distillation of the world he is interested in.

But the result is that one does not get enough of anything, and too much of what you didn't buy the book for. Chick Austin, Muriel Draper, and the others may have provided physical settings relevant to the gestation of FOUR SAINTS, but they did not CREATE the piece. As such, the lingering over their particular biographies is excessive in a book purportedly devoted to the birth of the opera. Too often we get lists of celebrities present at this gathering or another, complete with fawning descriptions of what they were wearing and how they decorated their rooms -- but this stems from a fan's love of a period, not a chronicling of FOUR SAINTS itself.

Thus while we read through elegant page after page gushing about Mrs. Harrison Williams and Lucius Beebe, by the end we have little idea of what went on on stage in the opera, what more than a few of the lyrics were, or how the music sounded. If it is vital for us to know how Julien Levy founded his art gallery blow by blow, why so little info on black theatre in New York before and after FOUR SAINTS? Why spend a paragraph following up on, say, Alfred Barr after SAINTS but only brief mention of what happened to any of the SAINTS cast members? This is a book about art museums mispackaged as one about the theatre.

This book is a bit of a cynical hoax. You can just feel the editor "shaping" a book about largely forgotten arts administrators and critics, the parties they went to, who they slept with, and how openly, via hanging it all on an opera which fascinates in legend because of combining a black cast with Gertrude Stein's lyrics. In the end, this book is a collection of well-written personality sketches of pictorial artists and their patrons. The author clearly has but subsidiary interest in music or theatre -- fatal in a book purporting to be about an opera.

For those who know little or nothing about the Gertrude Stein/Virgil Thompson opera "Four Saints in Three Acts," this book will provide some basic information. Those searching for any kind of in depth analysis either of the libretto or the music will be disappointed, as I was. Long on the sexual preferences of the members of the 1930's modernist elite, short on any discussion of a landmark work of art. Listen to the original cast album instead.

I came to this book hoping to learn about the creation and production of Stein's opera, and I was not disappointed. I thought the book delivered that information, and more. Watson writes well, and he tells a fascinating story of the complicated network of interpersonal relationships that were finally led this unlikely opera into production. I think Watson understands the nature of Stein's as well as anybody, although the focus of the book was not on the way the opera was written. He manages to express the way that all the participants were inspired by Stein's words in different ways, the "miracle" of their all having "to create and all of them did."

"The Whitney Women and the Museum They Made" pays tribute to Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, who founded the museum through sheer force of will and social power, and Flora Whitney Miller, her daughter, who gave us the enduring legacy through charm and persuasion. It is mostly, however, a memoir about the author, Flora Miller Biddle who is Flora Miller's daughter and Gertrude's granddaughter. This is disappointing because Gertrude and Flora (mère) are fascinating people. Flora (fille) is decidedly bourgeois by comparison.

In the preface, Mrs. Biddle reminds us "...this memoir does what all memoirs do; it tells only part of the story. Don't memoirs allow writers to keep from revealing all they know?" The sad truth is a reader can learn much more about Gertrude by reading "Little Gloria, Happy at Last". Mrs. Biddle admits she barely knew her grandmother, but surely this doesn't mean there is little to know or tell about her.

The Whitney was a family institution. Gertrude built it and dared New York to defy her taste in art. Flora (mère) had the grace, the connections, and the remnants of the inheritance to ensure its place in history. They may have been rich and from one of the most socially important families in New York, but this is an astonishing accomplishment for that time. Women simply didn't do these things. Oddly enough, the book takes this achievement for granted.

Mrs. Biddle has seen - not steered - the museum through its most difficult times, albeit in a role less grand than her mother's and grandmother's. At the same time, Flora, like Flora (mere), has not lost focus of Gertrude's mission to serve the living American artist; not simply be a repository for early to mid twentieth century American art. We are all richer for this achievement.

It is quite an insight into a museum I have visited since I was a child. Who would have though how disorganized it was? How desperate at times! It is a tribute to the author and her family that they had the vision to recognize the Whitney could not survive as a family institution.

The relationship the author has had with so many of the artists is awe-inspiring. It is a gift so great she doesn't seem to realize it and these characters, which should fascinate, seem cardboard. The book is a strange combination of chronography and reminiscence; its structure is hard to follow. The author is constantly lamenting that her family is no longer fabulously wealthy (for the museum's sake, of course) which is tiresome. Mrs. Biddle makes quite a show of her rebellion against her parents' society lives and her strive towards 'normalcy'. Sadly, this does not seem to have made her happy.

I love the museum and learned much of the concealed history of an old friend. This got me through the book. If you're genuinely interested in the Whitney Museum of American Art you should read it. If you're looking for the story of four generations of women, for the drive and energy it took them to build and maintain this remarkable institution you may be disappointed.

Although I like this book for what it is, it isn't exactly what I expected it to be when I bought it. I expected the book to give much more insight into the actual creation of the Museum by Gertrude, but for the most part that aspect is just gleemed over. Also, as another reviewer has pointed out, the contributions of Julianna Force are barely even mentioned in the book. If you didn't know better, you'd think Julianna did next to nothing the whole time she worked there, which is more than a little untrue.

However, it must be noted that Ms. Biddle says first and foremost that her book is a "memoir," and as such certain factual omissions might be expected. Consequently, the book is filled from nearly beginning to end with quite a bit of gossip that those interested in the Vanderbilt or Whitney families or in museum politics will find terribly interesting.

What I got most from the book though is the wonderful sense of supreme devotion that Flora Whitney Miller must have had to the Museum and to her mother Gertrude's memory. This was illustrated time and time again when Flora donated more of her money and capital to keep the Museum functioning in a way that befitted her mother's name. As other members of the Whitney family have shown in recent times, a single painting of the calibur that Flora Miller sold for the Museum's sake could have set her heirs up for life, had she chosen not to sell it and had passed it on.

The book also seems to give insight into the recent controversies at the Whitney involving the display of Hans Haacke's controversial art display, with different members of the Whitney family taking different sides. After reading this book, it's obvious that certain ill feelings by some members of the family for others go back many, many years.

In summary, if you like gossip, then this book is for you. If not, there are other books about the Whitneys that might be of more interest to you.

While I certainly enjoyed the Vanderbilt and Whitney family backgrounds, I found nothing worth noting in this book regarding the early days of the Whitney Museum. I purchased the book because I am writing a research paper on the founding of the Whitney Museum. Alas, the book focuses much on the fate of the Museum after Gertrude Whitney's death. There is very little detail or specifics concerning her role in the Museum, nor that of the main catalyst, Julianna Force.

I will say that the book is a good, juicy look into the aristocratic Vanderbilt family, but that's about it.

There is focus on later years, but very few details concerning the early days of the Museum.

I'll shelve it for now and save it for a rainy day!

Completely manipulative, devious, dishonest drivel...

Please look at the facts, side by side, while reading this book.

This book is pure hagiography. Too uncritical to be of much value. Incidentally, passe what has been said elsewhere, the Nazis were not at all oppposed to the setting up of a jewish state in Palestine. On the contrary, it accorded with Nazi beliefs that Jews were "foreigners" in Germany and needed their "own" territory, being incompatible with any country they settled in. Although not true of Ben Gurion himself, many early Zionists were complicit with the Nazis.

This is the moving story of the man who secured for the Jewish people, rightfully, a homeland. The establishment of the state of Israel was trully miraculous considering the opposition by the Goliaths of the world, namely the Nazis and the inheritors of Nazi ideology, the Palestinians and numerous Arab states. Ben Gurion was a warrior poet.

This is the most boring book I have ever read! I loved the boxcar children books, and all of them I would rate better the 3 stars, but this one was so borring. MYSTERY ranch? What MYSTERY? The was no mystery in this book at all. The whole thing was just so borring. It's the worst boxcar book I have ever read, and I have read about 42 of their so far 87 books! It's just so borring.

This was the book where the Boxcar Children ate peas for dinner and went to bed at 8:00. They took an entire chapter to plan what they were going to do that day, instead of just doing it. I think this is the right book, but I don't remember because they were all so boring I forgot them. If you are looking for a series for your children to read, I would advise you to keep this out of children's reach. They may need psychiatric treatment after reading this bore of a lifetime. Nothing worth your time is in this book, except that going to bed at 8:00 was a good laugh. --Andy, 12 years old

Why isn't this book as good as the rest? I hated it when i was little, much as I loved the rest of the original series. Years have passed since then and I read it again and it's not so bad. But the other reviewers are correct in the fact that this is no mystery, really.

As for the purpose of this book in the scheme of the entire series, it's actually very important. This book is the important link between books 3 and the rest of the series. This book introduces Aunt Jane, a very important role in the future of the children, and it sets the groundwork for book 5, "Mike's Mystery", which takes place on the same ranch some time later. And book 5 is the springboard for Mike to be more important in later adventures. So there is a purpose to this book.

I can't really recommend it though. But any child who wants to read the whole series should not skip this book - it's still part of the experience, no matter how dull it may seem, and it's really not THAT bad.

This book was very good, but I think it needed more action in it. It got kind of boring, but it was a good book. It needed some more story to it to.

I really liked Benny uncovers a mystery and I think you will too. Just take my advice. Don't expect too much excitement. I recommend this book to kids who like excitement and surprises!

This book came to us as part of a Reformed homeschooling curriculum. My son was terribly pleased as there are pictures in this book. I was not so pleased as I found that I had to edit the stories early on. Also, the translation of the story of Esther is so questionable that the homeschool recommends we not read it to the children. I have dropped the book from our daily study and fortunately, so far, my son has not noticed. If you are looking for a Reformed children's bible try The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos. We have used that as part of our family worship time for several years and have not found any problem's theologically.

As a chidren's story Bible, this book has two strong points in its favour:

1. The pictures are respectful and faithful to the Bible. For example, care has been taken to ensure that there are no pictures of Christ's face, since this would portray an illustrator's imagination rather than Biblical truth.

2. The stories are faithful to the Biblical text, and do not contain exegetical errors or man centered theology.

However, these advantages are outweighed by a very large disadvantage: The story telling is very poor and dull. The way the stories are told is distinctly dull, and does not interest children. Our children lost interest as a result, and we were compelled to begin using a different children's Bible.

Recommended instead: The Children's Story Bible by Anne DeVries.

Although the effect was no doubt unintentional, reading an academic tome which attempts to make sense out of Gertrude Stein's writing is well-nigh hilarious. If you'd be interested in reading paragraphs of explanatory material regarding the statement "Peanuts blame, a half sand is holey and nearly", this is unquestionably the book for you.

An accessible look at a writer who is fascinating but often hard to follow.

"History or Messages from History" is a short work by the legendary Gertrude Stein. The back cover notes that this work was first written in 1930. It reads like an extended prose poem.

I found "History" to have an experimental flavor, but ultimately I found it largely incoherent. There are a number of cryptic or nonsensical statements on history. Examples: "In history one does not mention dahlias mushrooms or hortensias"; "Intention is not history nor finality finality is not history. Think what is history"; "What is history it does not leave dogs for cows."

Stein's language is occasionally whimsical, musical, and/or absurd. One fun snippet: "April is fully a holy day too / A holiday for a shoe." But overall, I didn't get much out of "History." Check it out if you're a hardcore Steinian.

Gertrude Whiting's work, originally published in the early 1920's, isn't what I would call a great work of historical documentation. While there are many wonderful pictures of antique needlework tools, there are rarely any specific dates or time periods (other than "ancient" or "old") assigned to many of them. One item is actually mis-identified...she includes a photo of a lucet (a two-pronged tool used to weave stout cords from yarn), and the caption describes it as a thread winder!

Mrs. Whiting's writing style is very similar to that of other books I have read from that time period. Her prose is flowery, and it reflects a very imerialistic mindset. She describes her adventures in the Far East with a very patronizing attitude. Her descriptions of Eastern needlework methods are adequate, but she sometimes does not differentiate between modern and historical techniques.

If you're really in to researching antique needlework tools, get this book for the pictures, but don't rely too heavily on the text for information!