Unlike Leo Fender,Orville Gibson or C.F.Martin not much is generally known about these D'Angelico or D'Aquisto even though they are regarded as the greatest archtop builders in history. This book individually traces the lives and guitars of each man and features many rare and beautiful photographs.I found this book to be a fascinating insight into lives and work of two men who could only be described as the true masters of their craft.

Here we have a text that was already very good. This edition is a thorough review of major contemporary approaches to adult development. As an instructor I tend to favor a contextual lifespan approach and I found the treatment of contextual lifespan psychology to be more than adequate.

The chapter organization is good and the review questions at the end of each chapter are very useful in the course. My students are college juniors and seniors, and they find it easy to read.

I tend to avoid texts that don't do an adequate job of presenting research. This text has a sound introduction to current research in the field, and is an excellent choice for me.

Instructors looking for a good presentation of work on cognition in Adulthood will find the associated chapters useful as both a text and reference material to keep on hand for other courses, such as a 'Lifespan Psychology' course.

The new edition includes more on women, cross-cultural aging, personality and clinical aspects of aging, grandparenting, as well as much new material on aging and adaptation.

I would certainly recommend this book for any solid college level course on Adulthood.

Suzanne Prescott, PhD Governors State University University Park, IL. USA

I bought this as an introduction to Arthur Ford, and it serves that purpose admirably. It is a shortish volume published by the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship, which Ford was instrumental in founding. It is, therefore, solidly pro-Ford -- but it doesn't ignore his personal flaws or the controversies surrounding his mediumship. It consists of passages from Ford's own writings as well as the writings of his closest associates. One particularly interesting part concerns an auto wreck in which Ford's sister and a friend were killed and he was left in a coma. Writing 25 years before anyone had heard the term "Near Death Experience," he described a classic NDE. In case you aren't familiar with Ford, he had nearly a 50-year career. Two of his main claims to fame were solving the riddle of the message Houdini had left for his wife ("Rosabelle, believe") and putting Bishop Pike in touch with his late son. I previously hadn't taken Ford seriously due to the controversy surrounding the Houdini episode and some of the other anti-Ford propaganda, but this book led me to do additional digging. Ford clearly seems to have had a great deal of genuine mediumistic ability (whatever that may be). He was also a complex individual who would make an interesting study even if he had been a complete fraud. I would recommend this as an excellent introduction to Ford (or a good summing up as to what he was all about, if you are already familiar with him).

For those who have wondered about the tradition of our nation's leader throwing out the first pitch of the season, here is your answer.

Authors Mead and Dickson have compiled this entertaining look at how each president, beginning with one of the most UNathletic chief executives, William Howard Taft, has related to the national pastime. For example, while rough- and-ready Teddy Roosevelt was not much of a fan, Franklin Roosevelt was instrumental in keeping baseball going during the dark years of World War II.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was a pretty fair ballhand, a minor leaguer who found greener pastures in military and political pursuits. And Richard Nixon was considered by some to be an astute student of the game.

The President's Game is well-illustrated with seldom-seen photos and would be a welcome addition to both the baseball and the political science fan's libary.

Barnett's book is an easy and enjoyable-to-read text on a subject that could easily become dry and uninteresting. Well-written and thought provoking, Barnett has done a good job of helping the reader come into the historical situation of first-century Jews and Jesus. He gives insightful commentary and well documented evidence of the atrocious behavior of King Herod, known in the Gospels as the killer of the Bethlehem infants. After reading Barnett's analysis one realizes Herod was totally capable of such a travesty. He also gives a good background to the parables of Christ, showing how Jesus' choice of topics blended well with the his small-town rural background.

Well done and I think, a quick read. Should be helpful to anyone wanting to understand the historical background of the New Testament more fully.

Birds in Brazil is a big book, beautifully produced on quality paper. It is exhaustive but never exhausting on the topic of Brazilian birds . The color illustrations are beautiful, but unfortunately they are separate from the text about the birds. That is the book's only fault. The text is in smooth and enticing English, and where the same birds are to be found migrating to the United States, the information is quite comparable in completion and interest to the American field guides of Roger T. Peterson. That leads me to believe that the information about birds that we don't experience will be equally accurate. This book is captivating and well worth the price. It is a coffee-table style book that we will be proud to use and to display.

Tassoni and Thelin (and the contributors) should be commended for their courage in challenging the dominant Horatio Algerian paradigm of celebrating only success and shoving to the margins the ways in which the rest of us blunder. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in a serious examination of resistance theory, where we have gone wrong and with some hints on where we might go right. Read this. If you don't, you're operating in the half-blind hero-narrative myth characteristics of academics.

Although my shelves are loaded with histories of the Broadway musical, there is always room for one more. So I really looked forward to reading "The Cambridge Companion to The Musical" (Cambridge University Press, 2002). When I saw there were only 265 pages of text (not counting bibliography and index), I doubted that they could adequately cover the field. Soon I began to realize that the "field" included American and British musicals, film musicals and film versions of stage musicals, and even recordings; and I just settled down to enjoy what amounts to a series of essays covering all these fields, none of them adequately but all of them interestingly.

There are fourteen chapters by various writers, organized into three parts. The first deals with "Adaptations and transformations before 1940" and includes essays on the early days of the American musical theatre in general, then in New York, operetta on both sides of the Atlantic, the Afro-American as depicted on stage, and the American musicals of the 1920s and 1930s. Part II covers the years from 1940 to 1970 and discusses the British theatre, Rodgers and Hammerstein, their successors, and Weill and Bernstein. Part III picks up the story with a disproportionately long chapter on Sondheim, the fully integrated musical, the film musical, rock, and the megamusical--which brings us into the present century with a lot of questions yet to be answered by way of projection.

In short, there are plenty of ideas packed into this short book and each one can lead you in several directions if you wish to follow up this or that idea. There are one or two piddling errors, such as calling "Yip Yip Yaphank" an "all-sailor vaudeville"; but in general what is said here is trustworthy, the opinions (mostly positive) about certain works and composers are informed opinions, the organization is very good. The few pictures, however, are not very helpful.

Yes, I would recommend this highly for those who want to begin to understand the complex evolution of the musical play by way of enough examples to form a solid basis before going on to books that deal with each of these topics in more detailed and expanded way.

In 1998, Paul McKaughan, executive director of the Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies (EFMA) with former missionaries William and Dellanna O'Brien published the results of an extensive research project "Choosing a Future for U.S. Missions." They brought mission agency executives, denominational leaders, pastors and theologians to a workshop and a series of focus groups around the premise that missions as now known is at a crossroads and needs to change if it is to be faithful to the Great Commission.

In this study an appeal is made for mission agencies and churches to recognize how 21st Century missions is changing. Among other things, local congregations are increasingly dissatisfied with simply being passive partners in fund raising appeals to send missionaries to other world areas where, in some instances, Christianity is now growing faster than in their own neighborhoods.

McKaughan and the O'Briens question whether the "missionary-drivenness" that characterized 19th and 20th century missions "will produce real missions" for the future. They suggest, "Real mission drivenness will help us escape the prison of dollars and finances, but a missionary approach may never do so." Missionaries as "professional Christians" are no substitute for the witness of mission driven local congregations. "The role of the mission agency has changed from being the 'door' of missions to being the 'facilitator' of local churches."

The authors offer an agenda for organizational and spiritual renewal that they believe has the possibility of joining congregations everywhere in a mission-driven church for the 21th century. A must read for those concerned about future mission efforts and the local church's chaning role in global missions!

Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first great Black poet; Booker T. Washington called him the "Poet Laureate of the Negro Race". Dunbar, the son of ex-slaves, grew up in Dayton, OH, where he was friendly with the Wright Brothers. He had a successful high school career--founding editor of the school paper and elected class president of the predominantly white school--but upon graduation, he was forced to work as an elevator operator. His second book of poetry was praised by William Dean Howells and by age 24, he was one of the most renowned Black literary figures in America.

Dunbar wrote in two different styles. On the one hand, he wrote straightforward classic verse that was filled with racial pride:

THE COLORED SOLDIERS

IF the muse were mine to tempt it And my feeble voice were strong, If my tongue were trained to measures, I would sing a stirring song. I would sing a song heroic Of those noble sons of Ham, Of the gallant colored soldiers Who fought for Uncle Sam!

In the early days you scorned them, And with many a flip and flout Said "These battles are the white man's, And the whites will fight them out." Up the hills you fought and faltered, In the vales you strove and bled, While your ears still heard the thunder Of the foes' advancing tread.

Then distress fell on the nation, And the flag was drooping low; Should the dust pollute your banner? No! the nation shouted, No! So when War, in savage triumph, Spread abroad his funeral pall-- Then you called the co]ored soldiers, And they answered to your call.

And like hounds unleashed and eager For the life blood of the prey, Sprung they forth and bore them bravely In the thickest of the fray. And where'er the fight was hottest, Where the bullets fastest fell, There they pressed unblanched and fearless At the very mouth of hell.

Ah, they rallied to the standard To uphold it by their might; None were stronger in the labors, None were braver in the fight. From the blazing breach of Wagner To the plains of Olustee, They were foremost in the fight Of the battles of the free.

And at Pillow! God have mercy On the deeds committed there, An the souls of those poor victims Sent to Thee without a prayer. Let the fulness of Thy pity O'er the hot wrought spirits sway Of the gallant colored soldiers Who fell fighting on that day!

Yes, the Blacks enjoy their freedom, And they won it dearly,too; For the life blood of their thousands Did the southern fields bedew. In the darkness of their bondage, In the depths of slavery's night, Their muskets flashed the dawning, And they fought their way to light

They were comrades then and brothers, Are they more or less to-day? They were good to stop a bullet And to front the fearful fray. They were citizens and soldiers, When rebellion raised its head; And the traits that made them worthy,-- Ah! those virtues are not dead.

They have shared your nightly vigils, They have shared your daily toil; And their blood with yours commingling Has enriched the Southern soil. They have met as fierce a foeman, And have been as brave and true.

And their deeds shall find a record In the registry of Fame; For their blood has cleansed completely Every blot of Slavery's shame.

So all honor and all glory To those noble sons of Ham-- The gallant colored soldiers Who fought for Uncle Sam!

WE WEAR THE MASK

We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,-- This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us, while We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries To thee from tortured souls arise. We sing, but oh the clay is vile Beneath our feet, and long the mile; But let the world dream other-wise, We wear the mask!

But on the other hand, he was a master of dialect poems:

AN ANTE-BELLUM SERMON.

WE is gathahed hyeah, my brothahs, In dis howlin' wildaness, Fu' to speak some words of comfo't To each othah in distress. An' we chooses fu' ouah subjic' Dis--we 'll 'splain it by an' by; "An' de Lawd said, 'Moses, Moses,' An' de man said, 'Hyeah am I.'"

Now ole Pher'oh, down in Egypt, Was de wuss man evah bo'n, An' he had de Hebrew chillun Down dah wukin' in his co'n; 'Twell de Lawd got tiahed o' his foolin', An' sez he: "I 'll let him know-- Look hyeah, Moses, go tell Pher'oh Fu' to let dem chillun go."

"An' ef he refuse to do it, I will make him rue de houah,

Fu' I 'll empty down on Egypt All de vials of my powah." Yes, he did--an' Pher'oh's ahmy Was n't wuth a ha'f a dime; Fu' de Lawd will he'p his chillun, You kin trust him evah time.

An' yo' enemies may 'sail you In de back an' in de front; But de Lawd is all aroun' you, Fu' to ba' de battle's brunt. Dey kin fo'ge yo' chains an' shackles F'om de mountains to de sea; But de Lawd will sen' some Moses Fu' to set his chillun free.

An' de lan' shall hyeah his thundah, Lak a blas' f'om Gab'el's ho'n, Fu' de Lawd of hosts is mighty When he girds his ahmor on. But fu' feah some one mistakes me, I will pause right hyeah to say, Dat I 'm still a-preachin' ancient, I ain't talkin' 'bout to-day.

But I tell you, fellah christuns, Things 'll happen mighty strange; Now, de Lawd done dis fu' Isrul, An' his ways don't nevah change, An' de love he showed to Isrul Was n't all on Isrul spent; Now don't run an' tell yo' mastahs Dat I 's preachin' discontent.

'Cause I is n't; I 'se a-judgin' Bible people by deir ac's; I 'se a-givin' you de Scriptuah, I 'se a-handin' you de fac's. Cose ole Pher'oh b'lieved in slav'ry, But de Lawd he let him see, Dat de people he put bref in,-- Evah mothah's son was free.

An' dahs othahs thinks lak Pher'oh, But dey calls de Scriptuah liar, Fu' de Bible says "a servant Is a-worthy of his hire." An' you cain't git roun' nor thoo dat, An' you cain't git ovah it, Fu' whatevah place you git in, Dis hyeah Bible too 'll fit.

So you see de Lawd's intention, Evah sence de worl' began, Was dat His almighty freedom Should belong to evah man, But I think it would be bettah, Ef I 'd pause agin to say, Dat I 'm talkin' 'bout ouah freedom In a Bibleistic way.

But de Moses is a-comin', An' he 's comin', suah and fas' We kin hyeah his feet a-trompin', We kin hyeah his trumpit blas'. But I want to wa'n you people, Don't you git too brigity; An' don't you git to braggin' 'Bout dese things, you wait an' see.

But when Moses wif his powah Comes an' sets us chillun free, We will praise de gracious Mastah Dat has gin us liberty; An' we 'll shout ouah halleluyahs, On dat mighty reck'nin' day, When we 'se reco'nised ez citiz'-- Huh uh! Chillun, let us pray!

Inevitably, in a Reconstruction America that was both nostalgic and regionalist, his dialect poems were wildly popular & tended to overshadow his more serious verse. As a result, he has always been a figure of some controversy in Black America; alternately dismissed for popularizing a derogatory stereotype of Blacks and hailed as a great literary figure. Dunbar captures this dichotomy in his own poem, The Poet:

The Poet

He sang of life, serenely sweet, With , now ant then, a deeper note. From some high peak, nigh yet remote, He voiced the world's absorbing beat.

He sang of love when earth was young, And Love, itself, was in his lays. But ah, the world, it turned to praise A jingle in a broken tongue.

Given the perspective of 100 years, it seems to me that he deserves to be read by all Americans.

GRADE: B+