"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is one of Shakespeare's most charming and intelligent comedies. Exploring with humour the theme of star-crossed lovers that he deals with tragically in "Romeo and Juliet," Shakespeare here takes three troubled relationships and has them intersect in the most amusing ways.

The impending nuptials of Theseus and Hippolyta set the background for the play, and are certainly the most distant, both from the immediate action, and in terms of romantic possibility. Theirs is a cool, rational relationship, seemingly devoid of passion. The already-married Oberon and Titania, king and queen of fairies, provide another marital backdrop. Both seem to be jealous of the other's chosen distractions, which deprive them of each other's company. Finally, the main action of the play concerns the love affair between Lysander and Hermia. Hermia's father, Egeus, wants his daughter to marry Demetrius, and does not approve of Lysander at all. Helena, Hermia's friend, is smitten with Demetrius, and so, the conflicts begin.

Oberon initiates the action of the play, goading his mischievous aid-de-camp, Puck, to stir up trouble with a love-inducing flower amongst both the human lovers and the fairy queen Titania. Foible and folly ensue when Puck starts into his work. Throw in some common craftsmen from Athens who are trying to put together a simple play for Theseus's wedding, and you have all the ingredients for enchantment.

In "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Shakespeare not only delves into the intricacies of human relationships on a romantic level, but also at the social, class, and interpersonal levels. He even critiques/celebrates the habits of his late 16th century audiences to intriguing effect. If you are tired of tragedy or think Shakespeare too distant or foreboding, pick up "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and you will find a solidly funny and endearing read.

Professor Murray has created a masterful volume cogently and concisely providing the principles of contract law. Murray on Contracts is a must read for any law student, practitioner, or business person seriously interested in a complete study of contract law. This volume contains abundant citations to case law and legal commentary that is valuable to any practitioner analyzing the state of a principle of contract law in his or her jurisdiction. In addition, Murray's lucid and facile style allows the layman and lawyer alike to learn the principles of contract law with pleasure and insight. This is a great contrast to the overly pedantic style of many academic commentators in various courses of study. In short, Murray on Contracts does what few other volumes of its kind can do: make a volume of complex and arcane legal principles read like an engrossing novel.

Murray's commentary on Romans is the best 20th century treatment of the work, easily beating Barth's earlier work. Tying in with his "Redemption Accomplished and Applied", Murray seizes the main theme of Romans, our justification, and carefully exegetes the book with a continual thought to the overall theme

I'm soooo looking forward to getting this terrific Economics Dictionary/Encyclopedia. Wonder what's taking the publisher so long to get it out? Price is about one-third what the original cost. I thought of getting that original one back in graduate school (Ohio State University). But now the softbound will do just fine, as a welcome addition to my library. Ohhh, Palgrave, where ***are*** you??? Come to my ***mailbox***. Quickly, please........

It's a good thing I do most of my reading on the toilet, because Murray made me laugh so hard I wanted to pee my pants. His quick wit and realistically eccentric characters keep you engaged, entertained, and give you a nostalgic sense of those crazy people who we may have forgotten who've touched our lives in poignant ways.

This book does an excellent job of serving as a primer for studies of the ancient Greeks.

This book is truely excellent. It is divided into catagories from community to place to stewardship, with quotations from well, and less well, known naturalists and other people like Thoreau, Emerson, Jane Goodall, Aldo Leopold, John Muir, Wendell Berry, Wallace Stegner, David Brower, Margaret Mead, Rachel Carson, Willa Cather, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, Darwin, Skakespeare, and so many more. There is an index, so you can look someone's name up and find quotations made by them. There is also a section called "Selected Biographies," which has short biographies of some of the people who wrote the quotations in this book. It is truely a pleasure to read, inspirational, and provides plenty of food for thought. A great book for "anyone who loves nature - birders, hikers, fisherman, gardeners, backpackers, adventurers..."

The essays in this volume examine the conflict of 'self' in society as a leitmotif in Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, Pinter's The Dwarfs, The Lover, The Caretaker, and The Homecoming, and Joyce's great modern classic, Ulysses. In his analysis, Murray discusses the ideas of behavioral and ideological conformity in Swift's work. He examines Poe's use of the grotesque to suggest correlations between the moral, physical, and spiritual degeneration of the characters, and the natural decay of their environment. Murray analyzes Pinter's dramas and suggests how the characters within the plays use language to create spatial boundaries to make themselves impervious to the language of their 'social others.' Murray's final essay concentrates on the use of role-playing and misidentification in Joyce's novel. Murray brilliantly bridges the generations and synergizes some of the most influential works of literature within his critical study. New readers and nonspecialists will find his essays to be accessible and well researched. Scholars and advanced students will appreciate his analyses of recent developments in literary theory. Murray presents a work that is at once authoritative, scholarly, and stimulating.

This little prayer book is thorough. It contains the Breviary, as well as prayers for all occasions. I especially like the commentaries on spirituality and prayer by those who have formed our heritage--Teresa of Avila, John Henry Newman, and many others. All of this in a compact little book.

This updated classic of Andrew Murray gives the reader a 31 day devotional study of John 15:1-16. Through it the reader learns the keys of abiding in Christ. This tiny volume was packed with material that challenged me to live out these verses in my daily life.