High school history teaches who specialize in Ancient History are often hard pressed to locate good material for their students. Barter's book brings a sigh of relief for the period of the Late Roman Republic and Early Empire. Accurate, well footnoted, dramatic in its presentation, and well organized, Barter traces the antecedents of the great Roman civil wars culminating in the dictatorship of Caesar, his murder, and ultimately the fall of the Republic and the rise of the first Emperor, Augustus.

The Opera Journeys Mini Guide Series is just wonderful; it's like a "Cliff Note" of the opera, and extremely informative and educational. I particularly like the size; these guides are not cumbersome and fit right into my shirt pocket. The ladies will find sufficient room in their pocketbooks.

The story narrative with the music examples is excellent. I prefer it to a libretto; indeed, it's a much easier way to follow the essence of the story. The essay is magnificent; very well written, not pedantic, and extremely insightful and comprehensible. I congratulate Burton Fisher for a job very well done and Amazon for making these handy, information-laden booklets available. The Opera Journeys Mini Guide Series is a wonderful contribution to opera education and opera appreciation.

My tip: acquire the entire collection because you will be in easy reach of superbly presented opera guides consisting of story analysis, principal characters in the opera, story narrative with music highlights, background, analysis, and commentary.

Heinz Dinter, Ph.D.

With my own web site on Julius Caesar, I'm always looking for ways to introduce others to this remarkable man to others without clogging them with arcane details or insulting their intelligence by portraying Caesar as an Asterix character. Any book about Julius Caesar is also a book about the times he lived in; you can't understand one without the other. Since the average non-specialist reader has trouble absorbing all the ins and outs of the late Roman Republic, it's a remarkable challenge to present a clear, cogent biography of Caesar within that historical context.

Anthony Kamm's book splendidly manages this difficult feat and I applaud it. I read the book in an evening and I found he put no foot wrong in both portraying the necessary complexities of Caesar and his times, as well as making the story understandable and sharply focused. Kamm includes substantial quotations from men of the times which illuminate his subjects. The book is thoroughly researched and three-dimensional in its portrayal of the great general and dictator and his good and less attractive sides. Kamm's book races ahead as if you do not know the end to the story of this remarkable man. You end by wanting to learn even more.

I highly recommend this book for beginner or Caesarophile. It is the best short introduction to his life I have read.

Suzanne Cross, web author
Julius Caesar: The Last Dictator

If you believe in portents, soothsayers, and the like, then the auspices are not good for "Julius Caesar: Great Dictator of Rome." On the opening page there appears a bust of Julius Caesar and a quote from Shakespeare's play of that name, to wit "This was the noblest Roman of them all." The only problem, of course, is that the line is uttered by Marc Antony at the end of the play about Brutus, not Caesar; the compliment is that because of all the conspirators, only Brutus did so because he thought it was the best thing for Rome and not because it furthered his own political ambition. Still, there is reason to hope that those who put together this volume for the DK Discoveries series paid better attention to the historical and biographical details of their subject.

This book is as much about the transformation of the Roman Republic into an Empire as it is a biography of Julius Caesar. We begin by looking as Caesar's Rome and what the Roman world was like when Caesar was born in 100 B.C.E. Richard Platt provides the text and the book combines illustrations by John James and Jim Robins for the key events in Caesar's life while the margins are field with detailed notes and photographs of ancient statues and artifacts. As is usually the case, I like the combination of biography, history and archaeology. The book even puts its subject in the context of the Hero Through History and other Rulers of Rome.

Even if you know the basics of Caesar's life, this book still provides fascinating details. My favorite: The Roman Senate met in the assembly hall at Pompey's theater complex, Rome's grandest building. While Caesar was being assassinated, an audience of thousands of Romans was being entertained on the vast stage next door by gladiators (some of who were hidden in the Senate to help the conspirators). I had never heard that before, having assumed, like most people, that the Roman Senate met at the Roman Senate. There are other equally interesting tidbits (e.g., the Temple of Julius Caesar was built by Augustus on the site of Caesar's cremation). So, despite the opening gaff, this is a solid effort that will help students learn about Julius Caesar and the Rome he helped build.

I highly recommend this book. It is a great auto-biography of the brilliant actor Paul Henreid. It's a great and interesting book to read.

This book probably tells us all there is to know about the improbable career of Innocnzo Del Monte, who was the adopted nephew of Pope Julius III. In this book one can learn the youngest person ever named a Cardinal (he was appointed, not in the 1400s, but in 1735!), and the youngest cardinal ever in a conclave, and the last cardinal to be degraded and executed. But this is no National Enquirer type of book, but a meticulous examination of a fascinating episode in Church History, even though Innocenzo deservedly is forgotten today. I found this book a really fascinating one, and am grateful I learned of it.

Hardcover, 180 pages, 10.5" by 14.5" ...Yes, I said fourteen and a half inches tall!

Its a great book for children & adults who love famous palaces & castles of the world. Many color photos, history, floorplan, and a beautifully colored cutaway drawing of each of the 12 residences. They include: Windsor Castle(England); The Alhambra(Spain); Neuschwanstein Castle(Germany); Peterhof(Russia); Red Fort(India); Katsura(Japan); Versailles(France); The Doge's Palace(Italy); Royal Palace of Stockholm(Sweden); Topkapi(Turkey); The Potala(Tibet); Hearst Castle(California).

This book is for anyone who loves history or a great love story! This novel is based on a love affair between Sand and the pianist Chopin. This story has a great plot. It will hold your attention.

This is a first-hand observation of the author, a bussinessman who befriended Edison, Czajkowski and had a salon in St. Petersburg and Berlin.

OF MEN AND GODS, by Julius C. Bennett

Man is no freak. He is no accident of biological evolution. But what is the nature, the range and the scope of the force or power which brought him into existence? And to what end?

Is man isolated from that force or power? Can he hope to communicate with or influence it to his own purpose? If so, to what extent?

These and many more similar questions are explored in this book, all leading to definite but unusual conclusions, which in turn clearly point the way to a true understanding of the fundamental nature of man, his basic character, his ultimate destiny as an individual and as a race, his relationship to all other life forms and his position in the cosmos in the broadest context.