Murray Douglas is a scholar of historical design. She is keenly aware of the importance of using contempory trends to compliment culturally historic design. The book becomes a resource not only of the history of Brunschwig & Fils and its textiles, trims and wall coverings, but of how well-known designers have integrated the Brunschwig line with their own flair and client's needs. She gives a useful history of the manufacture and use of textiles, trims and wallpapers. Douglas and Irvine tell the story of McLean's photographs as they create a pallette of comfort and style with color and sophistication. I use the book as a text and photo resource for all of my design projects!

The photos are fantastic,the comments much more interesting,worth buying it.You can really understand why it is more than what you see at first in the movie.I loved it.

This is a must-have coffee-table book (it's also available in paperback) for all fans of Paul Verhoeven's brilliant, moving epic; it comes close to capturing the lush beauty of the movie itself. Anyone with taste, style, and/or half a brain will cherish both the gorgeous book and the inspiring, elegant movie. Thank you to the publishers of the book as well as the filmmakers.

What can I say about Showgirls that hasn't been said? I am sure I echo the sentiments of anyone who's seen this film when I say it's the best movie ever made. This book is also amazing. It features an in depth look at the talent that made this movie happen. Verhoven helps us to understand the seedy underworld of Las Vegas and why this movie is truly the story of a girl in search of herself. Where, oh where, is the sequel to this stunning masterpeice?

For those who have loved Jane Austen's more mature writings, this book is a must read. Compiled from Jane Austen's childhood notebooks, these stories are full of unmasked satire, and endless jokes, aimed to point out the absurdity of the novels of the authores' day. In her more mature years, Jane Austen learned to mask her satire and calm her wit. Such knowledge undoubtably made for better writing, but there is a great deal of enjoyment to be had from a younger pen, the open satire of a girl who was wise enough to see the folly of her times. Catharine and Other Stories will not make wise, or generally inspire, but it is delightful comic relief, as well as a window into the vivacious mind of Jane Austen, the girl.

This is a fascinating freshman outing from Douglas Murray and an in-depth examination of the figure at the heart of Oscar Wilde's fall from grace in England at the end of the 19th century. The photos are illuminating, and the text is authoritative. Everybody knows the story of Bosie and Wilde, and most are aware that Lord Alfred was the offspring of the litigious aristocrat who gave boxing its Marquis of Queensbury rules. That these two daffy nobs should have combined to bring down one of the brightest bulbs in the Empire is one of literature's great tragedies. If I have a complaint about the text, it is simply that Murray appears to have convinced himself that Bosie was a great poet and sonneteer, whereas he was actually nothing of the sort. His poetry is, typically, labored and often syntactically suspect. He had a few inspired moments during his association with Wilde, and these resulted in the production of a handful of modestly successful works, including his most famous, 'Two Loves,' with the line about 'the love that dare not speak its name.' Otherwise, Bosie dropped out of the limelight in the wake of Wilde's death, only to surface occasionally throughout the first half of the 20th Century, when his name was attached to various court actions for libel, culminating in his being sentenced to jail for six months in the '20s. It all makes for a fascinating study in self-flagellation. Douglas may have been a footnote character, but sometimes the footnotes are needed to illuminate the primary text. In this case, it is his relationship to Wilde that guarantees his footnote status and which, for better or worse, defined his life for the forty-five years he survived his better half.

Like everyone else I imagine who is interested in Lord Alfred Douglas; I was introduced to him through Oscar Wilde. First, as a villian, but after reading more work about him and Douglas' own accounts of his life, I am less enamored of Wilde than I was and more fascinated my this complex man. His poetry if wonderful and very hard to find, this side of rare book stores. That is why this biography is so special a read. It is well written, researched, and fascinating. If you are an Oscar Wilde fan, or simply interested in the figures of 1890's London; this book is an excellent resourse.

Douglas Murray has done what I had thought impossible - completely humanized Lord Alfred Douglas and made me forgive and love him.

Up til now I had regarded Bosie as a monster of selfishness and the nemesis of my idol Oscar Wilde. So great was my distaste for him that in my book collection I would not let his work rest on the same shelf as Wilde's.

But this tour de force of a biography, exquisitely researched and crafted without prejudice or partiality, has redeemed the most maligned personality of the Fin de Siecle. Lord Douglas is neither sinner nor saint but merely a man who was his father's son, a fine poet, and a partner in a tragic friendship.

This young author is one to watch. His talent is prodigious. I have been a Wilde fanatic for thirty years, and this book shook me. I read every word hungrily, and wept when I finished the final page. Bravo, Douglas Murray! Thank you for "Bosie".

This book was compulsory reading for my International Security Environment course. Whilst I found it useful for background reading I felt that it lacked something in accessability. The comparative approach is partly successful however I felt that the book would benefit from some kind of easy reference section through which the more technical information could be better assimilated. That said, it is a difficult task to form a comparative study based on the different styles of the authors.