I loved this book. It was very touching to me. I feel sorry for Catherine McAuley because she moved a lot in her life. First her father died when she was two. Her favorite word was Jesus when she was young. For her birthday she wanted books and things about Jesus. Her mother said, "You should be more like your sister. When she moved her mother soon died. She lived with people who were protestants for a while then she moved to the Coolock house. Now she was seventeen. She was giving to the people who were poor. When the people she lived with died she had the house by herself. She made a house for the poor there so they can learn and eat. She met some people who wanted to help others who are poor so they became the sisters of mercy. The first place they went to was Pittsburg. I thought the story was very sad but it was getting happier right along.

I have read this book over twenty times. One major reason is that each time I get new insights into the life and genius of one of this centuries greatest and most brilliant American leaders.

The other reason is because I was priviledged to have worked beside Mr. Chavez during the time of this books writing. Every time I read it I can still hear the author, Jaques Levy, reading it in draft form to Cesar by flashlight as we traveled California and Arizona's highways and biways.

This is truly the closest Mr.Chavez ever came to writing his own book. Jaques Levy had a rare inside look at Cesar, his movement and his family. The combination of trust and journalistic integrity between Mr. Chavez and Jacques Levy made for a great book that covers and captures his actions, thoughts, ideas, trials, ambitions, hopes and dreams. Mr. Levy, together with Cesar Chavez, captures the essence of his formative years, those leading up to his becoming the first Mexican and American hero of this century.

Unlike any other author on Chavez, Mr. Levy captures several examples of Chavez's self taught brilliance and tenacity. He also clearly shows Chavez' ability to grasp any subject and his views on American and poor people's economics. I have read many of the others and having been on the spot while they were written can add that while most err somewhat to a great deal in covering basic facts, Jacques Levy's book is on the money.

If it is possible to get this book reprinted, it should be and I bet a Spanish version would sell a million copies.

Mr. Levy spent nine years researching, writing and editing this work that over time will come to be known as the basic foundation of Mr. Chavez's life

This wine-lover's guide to a beautiful wine-growing region of France, the Medoc, is a 'must' for any enthusiast of French countryside and wines. It provides a fine set of full-page photos by Peter Knaup as he travels from one chateaux to another, covering the wines and setting of over thirty estates. A revealing, wonderful guide for the traveling connoisseur.

Dear Sirs: I would like to know if you have the manual of maintenance for the Blazer 1997 from General Motors

As a child, my mother would read us the Nicholas tales but it was always difficult to make out the words between her laughter. We would giggle and roll around the bed, our stomachs aching. The humour easily managed to cross the age gap and is a clear display of Goscinnys comedy talent. The storys are highly descriptive looks into the minds of kids at a French school (English translation is as funny); narcissistic, self-obsessed, easily engrossed and overflowing with creativity. The adults are odd obstacles. The world the kids find themselves in is also odd. The author manages to capture both the childs' amusement at the strange reality we all find ourselves in and the childs vast lack of concern thereof. Like Adam and Eve, the children are free of guilt. And, like Adam and Eve, they couldn't care less.

I need of this boock quickly in english, J want only for a small citation. Thank you very much for your help. Omer Corlaix

EXCELLENT! EXCELLENT! EXCELLENT! Three enthusiastic cheers for the wisdom contained in this book, and of course its author, Jacques Barzun. Coming from the point of view of a thoughtful newcomer to the discourse of culture and society, this book is an eye-opening, and incredibly useful find. I must also acknowledge my gratfulness to the unknown reviewer from Dallas, Texas who recommended this book as further reading for those who had read THE ROOTS OF ROMANTICISM by Isaiah Berlin.

CLASSIC, ROMANTIC, AND MODERN grapples with the questions concerning Western Culture: "Who were we, who are we, and who will we be?," not only in the arts, but in history, politics, economics, science and society in general. The last chapter seems to predict the current post-modern culturual revolution, and not only identifies its impetus, but puts it in a context that is intelligible and sensible. Nihlism has a point. It has a motivation. And with this, Mr. Barzun gives us hope, with much evidence, that because we are human and carry with us the impulse to create, culture and civilization can never die. Out of the nothing will come something... new.

In order to illustrate to the reader the cycle of Western culture and history, Mr. Barzun first addresses the ill-labeled and misinformed opinions and meanings upon the term "romanticism." He shows in great detail how the word came to be used synonymously with the word "unreal," and goes on to demonstrate how romanticism, and its aims, is anything but un-real. He writes in eloquent detail how the Classicists and Rationalists of the Enlightenment were far more unrealistic and dreamy-eyed than the later Romanticists. Barzun shows how the Enlightenment was in fact the cause of Romanticism, and how Romanticism utilized and expanded upon the notions of the Enlightenment. The Romanticists did this not by rejecting reason, as some would lead us to believe, but by expanding the over-generalized and reductionistic definition of mankind and life from merely reason and ideas to also include emotion, instinct, faith, will, and all of the other aspects of reality (for the idividual and society) that the rationalists ignored. In short, Mr. Barzun shows us the bredth of history and attempts to correct our common misapprehensions. He seems to admire both the Age of Enlightenment and the Age of Romanticism, while at the same time recognizing their weaknesses. And lastly, he shows how the modern period direclty flowed and was influenced by both of the preceeding Ages. We are a product of history.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a comprehensive view of cultural history and philosophy, or to anyone who simpy wanted to know what "Romanticism" meant and how that age relates to ours. The book is especially useful for combating anti-romantic sentiment, and for putting so called "irrational" philosophies in a context that allows the reader to appreciate them and their alleged antithesis, the philosophies of Reason.

Well written and excellent. I can't praise this book enough.

It is a pity that Julie, or the New Heloise is neither better known nor more widely read. It is one of the great novels. Rousseau may be most famous as a philosopher and Julie includes many philosophical passages, discussing issues such as education, virtue and religion, but he shows in this novel that he was both a fine writer and an able storyteller. The ideas he puts into the mouths of his characters are interesting, the debates they engage in are continually fascinating, but it is the story he tells which is truly memorable for it is deeply moving.

The novel consists of a series of letters some quite short, some extending to many pages. The main characters are Julie d'Étange, a young Swiss girl of noble birth and her tutor who has the pseudonym St. Preux. They begin an affair and fall deeply in love. It is this initial relationship of pupil to teacher, developing into passion, which is supposed to remind the reader of the medieval lovers Abelard and Heloise. Moreover both pairs of lovers face difficulties and opposition from family. They experience the joys of love and suffer because of it. These parallels however, should not be overestimated, Rousseau is not retelling an old story and Julie's life is quite different from that of Heloise. The story has numerous twists and turns and many surprises along the way. Other characters interact with the young lovers write letters to them and to each other. Gradually over the course of a long novel one begins to care about these people. It is here that Rousseau's skill as a writer is most evident. I found myself emotionally involved in the story of Julie and St. Preux in a way which was quite unexpected. By the end I had felt much joy and not a little sorrow and had been touched by a novel that can bring forth tears.

The epistolary form works very well, and is used cleverly, even if sometimes a letter is so large it could scarcely fit into an envelope. It has to be said however, that this novel is difficult. It has to be read carefully as it continually refers itself back to previous letters, which means that one is constantly re-reading previous passages. Sometimes it is necessary to read a paragraph over again in order to fully understand it. This is not a novel that can be skimmed, but must be savoured and read over a period of weeks. This fact should not discourage anyone from reading Julie, for it is as rewarding as it is challenging. If it is hard, it is also a pleasure.

The edition of Julie published by the University Press of New England is scholarly and a stunning achievement. The translation of Philip Steward and Jean Vaché is the first full translation into English since the 18th century. It reads well and seems both accurate and fluent. There are over seventy pages of notes, which I found both essential for my understanding of the novel and interesting in the way they expand and explain the various obscure references in the text. Stewart writes a relatively short introduction, which is clear and comprehensible. It is neither overly academic nor dry. My only wish is that it were somewhat longer. Spread throughout the novel are twelve beautiful illustrations depicting scenes from the novel. Finally this edition includes a summary of each letter and a chronology of the events in the novel. I found these very useful as a means of finding my way through what can be a dense and complex correspondence. Julie, or the New Heloise is a truly great novel and this edition does it justice.

The Collins Bible Handbook is a wonderful way to introduce each book of the Bible. With summary text, pictures, and scripture, one open page gives the student a quick and precise over view of that Book. I first used it in 1990 while teaching an Old Testament class of 10th graders, and I still find the book valuable now that I am teaching middle school students.

While I was growing up in Chicago, one of my greatest pleasures was listening to classical music while reading the latest selection from the Readers' Subscription Club to which I belonged. That was almost 50 years ago (!) and yet how vividly I recall pouring over brief but brilliant essays in the latest edition of The Griffin (the monthly bulletin) to select titles to order and then, several weeks later, reading those selected as soon as they arrived. (By the way, I found Bach's "Goldberg Variations" to be an ideal companion to my reading, regardless of subject matter.) In this volume, with a Foreword by Jacques Barzun, followed by an Introduction by editor Arthur Krystal, we have a rich and varied selection of the uncollected writings of W.H. Auden, Jacques Barzun, and Lionel Trilling who, from 1951 until 1963, served as editors of the Readers' Subscription Club which later became the Mid-Century Book Society. As I began to read this book, I recognized only a few of the 45 essays which Krystal has organized as follows:

Biography and Belles Lettres (e.g. Barzun's "The Artist as Scapegoat")

History and Social Thought (Auden's "Apologies to the Iroquois")

Novels and Novelists (e.g. Trilling's "A Triumph of the Comic View")

Music, Theater, and Fine Arts (e.g. Barzun's "Why Talk About Art?")

Poetry (.e.g. Auden's "T.S. Eliot So Far")

A Round-robin (i.e. all three editors collaborated on "The New Auden Shakespeare" and "Jameschoice for January."

Krystal then provides an "Editor's Note," followed by two appendices: Complete List of Essays and Reviews from The Griffin and The Mid-Century, and, Essays from The Griffin and The Mid-Century Published Elsewhere.

After reading all of the selections in this volume, I now realize and appreciate what I did not (and probably could not) so many years ago: the three erudite and eloquent authors of the selections never "wrote down" to their readers while providing an intellectual, aesthetic, and (at times) social context for each of the authors and works discussed.

In the Foreword, Barzun explains that "As critics we had one trait in common: none of us applied a theory or system. Apart from this unifying mode, our tendencies and backgrounds differed widely, surely a desirable diversity for the purposes of the club." He goes on to point out that they were guided by "the principle of what Trilling was the first to call 'cultural criticism,' that is, criticism inspired by whatever is relevant to the work. Its genesis, form, and meaning have roots in the culture where it appears, and it is also unique through its author's own uniqueness. To us, none of this was new. We were cultural critics with no need of a doctrine, for the essence of culture is inclusiveness." In the Introduction, Krystal then provides a brief explanation of how and why the Club was founded, what happened throughout its eleven years and six months of existence, and what he views as its unique contributions. Auden, Barzun, and Trilling "were like those classical musicians who, upon leaving work at the symphony, head downtown to play jazz all night in a smoky club." No small part of the "pleasure they derived from playing together...lay in the knowledge that they were performing for a literate audience who had come expressly to hear them." This simile is apt.

Who will most enjoy reading this book? Certainly those who were once a member of either Club and have so many pleasant memories of their own associated with the monthly interaction with the three editors as well as with the subjects they discussed. But countless others, "non-members" if you will, who will also be intellectually stimulated while thoroughly enjoying the pleasure of the three editors' company. Jacques Barzun was right: "The essence of culture is inclusiveness."