This history of the early years of the Dallas Opera covers the period from 1957, when the Dallas Civic Opera was inaugurated by Lawrence Kelly and Nicola Rescigno, to 1976, two years after Kelly's death. If nothing else, the profusion of production photographs, many rarely seen, would make this book worth perusal. Ronald L. Davis is a professor of history who has written about opera before. His workmanlike writing style cannot entirely avoid the occasional feeling of simply plodding through descriptions of the productions, with these singers, that producer, that director, et al. Still, overall, he manages to convey the excitement of these years, when the Dallas company brought stars of the caliber of Callas, Sutherland and Zeffirelli, in operas that the Met and other mainstream companies wouldn't touch, such as Alcina, Medea and L'Italiana in Algeri. The brashness and charm of Lawrence Kelly, whose vision started the company and whose charm and persuasiveness often kept it going through financial crises that would have sunk other organizations, emerges clearly as well.

This book is useful in that it lists all of Nostradamus's prophecies and that's what I wanted. A cross-index by what Nostradamus actually SAID as opposed to what the interpreter THOUGHT would have been nice (i.e. how many prophecies referred to "the great one" (Jackie Gleason?)). However, I perceive no rhyme or reason as to how it is determined that this prophecy relates to WW II, that one relates to the 18th century, another one relates to the future, at that one over there relates to something in Nostradamus's own time. The words "clearly" and "obvious" are used with far too little justification. Single terms ("great one," "eagle", etc.) are identified as different parties in different prophecies. No pattern of literal or symbolic is evident. No hint as to why one prophecy talks about individuals while another one discusses nations. Quite honestly, the space that was used in printing the original French phrases (which were pretty much useless to me, anyway) could have been put to better discussion of the interpretations. If you're interested in Nostradamus in a casual way, like I am, this is a place to start, I guess, but it's certainly not of much use for any serious study.

Actually, for the text itself, I give it four stars, while I only give the commentary two.

First, Nostradamus-- I'll admit that I'm more or less uninterested in the prophecy side of the verses. I was interested in reading them for their historical value. As such, it's a great read. Through the verses, you get a look at the period's preoccupations-- who is named pope, the future of France, alchemy, and the desire to distinguish prophecy from astrology. Nostradamus has had an enduring impact on writing since he put his prophecies on paper, and you can trace that legacy here from the original verses.

The commentary-- Henry C. Robert's interpretation taught me more about World War II than anything else-- he seemed determined to prove that a disproportionate number of the verses referred to the second World War. Probably unsurprising, given that he first wrote his interpretations in 1947. However, he stretched so hard to fit the words to his ideas, that it unfortunately made me suspect his translation. I also could have done with more of an effort for establishing on what basis he was assigning some of the meanings (explanation of period symbolism, the alchemical references, etc.).

If I get a chance to buy another translation version and compare, I probably will.

I thought I was buying a biographical if not auto- biographical text on Nostradamus. It turns out that this is a compilation of quotations by Nostradamus with interpretation and translation into English.

I'm an unusually short man (4'11"), so I find that "Institutions of Modernism" is the perfect book to sit on while I'm driving my car. I was using the phonebook for a while, but that was a hassle -- I mean, the phonebook actually has useful information it. But not this book, boy howdy. Thanks to Mr. Rainey, I can now view oncoming traffic.

TO characterize this treatise as soporific would be to devalue actual sleep, which any reader of this book- more of a phone book than a work of criticism- will experience in short order. This book makes narcoleptics of all of us: on the back cover should be a warning not to read it before operating heavy machinery, not to drive, etc. But Rainey doesn't just read modernist texts, he lists them. This book is what you would carry in your handback if you went grocery shopping for modernism late at night. Despite this fact, Rainey's prose remains remarkably listless. One hardly remembers finishing the previous sentence as one moves on to the next. I didn't know whether I was reading about Joyce or eating Chinese food. This book could do without punctuation- the book would then be shorter by 100 pages. But then again, those commas and periods are much needed- they are the generous pauses the author allows his reader,peaceful caesuras in which we are spared Rainey's unending siege. What a foul sleep this book puts us through. My advice is to put it aside: choose tranquility over Rainey's tranquilizer.

I couldn't put this book down. This is the BEST treatment of modernists in the marketplace that I've read. It was groundbreaking (a few years ago), darn eloquent, a great story.

I found this to be an annoying book. The subject matter is intriguing but the author's style is so highfalutin, verbose and academic that little real wisdom is effectively imparted to the reader. This is ironic since his subject is Henry David Thoreau who took great care to write plainly. The best writing in the book is in the notes which serve as a good bibliography.

Liddell's book is enjoyable and well-written. However, it was written prior before a lot of relavent material on T.E. Lawrence was made public. Mack's biography of Lawrence (PRINCE OF OUR DISORDER) is much more comprehensive. All in all, however, it is a book well-worth reading for anyone interested in tracing the entire evolution of T.E. Lawrence's legend/story.