Any potential buyer would be well advised to ignore the other review, which denied me the pleasures of this two-volume set for too long. While intended for the connoisseur or scholar, it has plenty of eye candy for the aficionado of glossy picture books and shelter magazines. Pavlovsk is the jewel in the crown of neoclassicism. Roughly contemporaneous with Monticello, it reveals Jefferson as a semi-talented, rustic amateur. By contrast, the buildings and park of Pavlovsk were designed by Charles Cameron, perhaps the greatest architect of the period. Pavlovsk's owner, the Empress Maria Fyodorovna, combined unlimited resources with exquisite taste and real talent as an artisan. The results are admirably documented in this two-volume set. Outdoors, vistas to delight from every vantage point; inside, one ravishing interior after the other, all filled with furniture, art and objects of the finest quality and often great historical interest. Best of all, the set captures the unique spirit of Pavlovsk. Opulent enough for a royal residence, the palace was nevertheless built on a sufficiently modest scale that even the twenty-first century reader can imagine himself or herself living happily ever after in its rooms and green spaces. A must for the library of any serious student of the decorative arts and architecture of the eighteenth century.

Very well written and researched. This book offers a great look at the manner in which stratification develops in societies, and not just in capitalist societies. Lenski starts with the hunter-gatherer societies and builds up to the complex structures that we have today. Necessary reading for anyone who wants to be informed on the subject.

Emmanuel Bove is certainly one of the most underrated French authors of the 20st century. This one is one of his last books, published after his death. Then nobody cared about this bleak tale of a Kafkaesque non-hero. Bove makes us feel the grey and oppressive atmosphere of the German occupation in France. The not-French readers will appreciate his asthenic style, the little realistic details, the absurd, pre-existentialist plot. The French title is "Le Piège", but "Quicksand" tells it all. Read it, and read also his other books translated in English.

The book captures the African rhetorical stance, and compares that with the Western European. Dr. Egar is so delicious to read, because he feels that language should be a site for social interaction. He also shows you how the African world view and the Western European seem to complement and yet explode each others ambiguities. I think because of the texture of his language, the book is most suited for graduate studies.

Now in a fully updated and expanded fourth edition, Ten Thousand Years Of Pottery continues to be a wonderfully lavish and illustrated history of pottery making from its antiquarian beginnings with the earliest Near East and Middle civilizations to the present day. A global perspective is taken with representations from the Mediterranean, Asian, Islamic, Meso American, neolithic Britain, to the Wedgwood and de Morgan factories, contemporary Africa, India, Scandinavia, and Australasia. Ten Thousand Years Of Pottery concludes with detailed and comprehensive analysis of the development off ceramics as a medium of personal expression by present day artists and studio potters. Ten Thousand Years Of Pottery is an essential historical, critical, scholarly, and very highly recommended reference drawing upon the immense informational resources and artifacts from museums, collectors, and practicing potters.

In any field, it is rare for a great master of his subject to write a lucid, book-length study that can be read and understood by comparative beginners in the subject. Here undoubtedly is such a book. Any serious student of the Old Testament knows the importance of making good use of the Septuagint. However, it has been more abused than used properly, especially for the correction of errors in the transmission of the Hebrew text. Tov shows how to get the maximum benefit from the Septuagint and carefully reveals all the pitfalls into which even specialists have blundered.

TIME AND THE OTHER was first presented as a series of lectures in 1946/47 at the College Philosophique, in the intellectually charged atmosphere of post-war Paris. Along with EXISTENCE AND EXISTENTS it represents the first book length formulation of Levinas's own philosophy of ethical metaphysics. It is not only a clear statement of his thought but is focused on the central issue of modern and contemporary philsopohy: the meaning and role of time. This volume also includes two important articles by Levinas on time, "The Old and the New" (1980) and "Diachrony and Representation" (1983). Reviewed by Richard A. Cohen (translator)

The little Trianon and gardens have been almost as legendary as it's designer-creator, Queen Marie Antoinette of France. It's here, in this paradoxical, magical realm, where the initial notion, the vicarious allure, for this oh! so tragic a woman has been forged. In this book the reader gets a unique and unexpected first hand gift from the so often missunderstood and enigmatic queen. For 'Views and Plans of the Petit Trianon at Versailles' is the work of Marie Antoinette herself. This one album she thought of, as she strolled about with Fersen or her beloved duchess of Polignac. Here is where she lived and entertained so memorably. The first Trianon was built by Luis XIV for Madame de Maintenon (for a great article on Maintenon look up Luis Auchincloss' 'False Dawn') the petit Trianon was built for Madame de Pompadour(who never saw it finished) by Luis XV. Though the chateau and gardens where re-interpreted by Marie Antoinette when Luis XVI offered it to her later. 'Views and Plans of the Petit Trianon at Versailles' with an introduction and content by Pierre Arizzoli-Clement, dedicated to the memory of Pierre de Nolhac (original Marie Antoinette biographer) is a curious book. As I waited for the postman I imagined the book was perhaps a good collection of modern photographs, and maps. It turned out to be so much more! It's a faithful copy of souvenier albums Marie Antoinette used to offer her most august guests. It contains copies of original XVIIIc graphic maps of the interior and exteriors and little theater, etc of the petit Trianon.Also water color expressions of the gardens, the belvedere, the hameau, etc. Beauty and talent rules here. There is a depth and an originality here that's at odds with the overall notion of the wretched queen. So often dissed as the 'feather head' spendtrift. What were Marie Antoinette's intellectual powers, one is bound to ask oneself, specially after admiring her taste and savvy in decoration and design? It's true her riches were wrought by the sweat of many. Was she consciously aware of it? Was she just following a pattern? Is there something she could have done to prevent her bloody end? How much did she understand of the government of France a dinnosaur about to dissapear in quicksand? Was she smart enough to foretell that an end to the feudal system would cause opprobium and death to her, her husband and children? What did she say to Mirabeau that fateful morning at Saint-Cloud, that had such an effect on him, were hers the words of a silly and fatuous woman? Her smooth machinations at the Tuilleries. As her spending, she spent no more or less than Pompadour, and she, not a noble, got to die serenely amid porcelain and lace. If Marie Antoinette would have died thus, I bet we wouldn't entertain the interest that so many of us have for her today. The preface is first class and offers many new pepper grains for us, watchers of Marie Antoinette. You'd get to know who got the album, what it looked like originally, who were her favorite brother and sisters, and what sister she didn't like. Buy the book. The tome is absolutely delicious and is the real work by the real girl. It could be treasured among your Olivier Bernier, Ian Dunlop, Stefan Sweig, Andre Castelot, etc, etc. Or could be given away as a smart wedding present, At first it seems somewhat somber though it soon emerges in triumph for it's originality and place in history. The direct, personal concept from one of the most

scrutinized and absorbing queens of all. For another good, if earthier, peek into her world, look up 'The Private Realm of Marie Antoinette' by Marie-France Boyer, a pictorial with photos by Francois Halard.

This book is ideal when you have very young children or await a baby. You learn the different phases in cognitive recognition (like pattern, speech, color or smell recognition), know when the children do really acquire their different senses and what is already "preprogrammed" when a child is born. This easy-to-read-book is a superb mix of daily language and photographs illustrating the major cognition experiments alrdeady done on little children. Last but not least, this book make you think about the way you cognitively developped yourself. It illustrates for instance why it is so difficult to speak perfectly a foreign language when starting studying it as a grown-up.

This play is truly a COMEDY murder mystery. The characters are defenitly colorful and full of surprises. There's everyone from two young rebels with a cause to a pshycic who goes into trances and a GHOST. The cast consist of an eight year old little girl and a dozen other characters ranging from their early twneties on up. ?Who Dunnit? was first produced in Houston, Texas and has since played various theatres. The audiences have compared this play to "The Foreigner", "Lend Me A Tenor" and "Moon Over Buffalo" for it's vigor and surprise. Don't miss this one. Try to read it or see it.