I enjoyed, Coco Ways because it is a dynamic collection of poems from the heart and soul recognizing African American Women. The writing personifies the true beauty and strength of women. Trust me, after reading this book you'll have, a better appreciation of the women that influence our lives and make a difference in this world.

I enjoyed this book very much. This comes from an non poetry reader. The poems are easy to relate to and see what the author is trying to get you to see.

Mr. Reed brings the subtleties of the old school classics into being with new world soul. If I were to describe his style of writing it would have to be dubbed as hip-hop waltzing with elegance. This young man is destined to be recognized as a literary force in the future. The very near future! Langston has a son named Darren Reed.

In The PRS Guitar Book, Dave Burrluck describes in detail the evolution of PRS Guitars, the renowned company founded by expert guitar maker Paul Reed Smith in 1985. The PRS Guitar Book showcases every artistic and technical facet of these exquisite instruments that sold to an enthusiasts clientele for $2000 and up. The PRS Guitar Book is enhanced with lavish color photography, anecdotes and reminiscences from Smith, famous guitarists, and PRS employees, collectors and fans. The PRS Guitar Book is highly recommended, wonderful reading for all serious guitar enthusiasts, professional or amateur.

This numbered limited edition may not reach all audiences but it provides an excellent survey of the PRS guitar built by Smith for a range of famous players. Gorgeous full-page color photos abound as do engrossing technical explanations of the guitar's development and history. Chapters covering construction techniques are particularly involving. Highly recommended: any avid guitar player who appreciates books on guitar making should have this keepsake edition, enclosed in a handsome slipcase.

This is a very beautiful book - beautiful in itself and the PRS guitars showcased here. The photographs are large and clear. The PRS models are comprehensive. The quality of the book is very good. It's large-sized and it's thread bound in the spine. Unlike those bound with heat glue, this book will surely last. According to the publisher's information, it's a limited edition in quantities of 6000 only. This is a book that a PRS guitar owner should consider buying. For those who admire the workmanship and the beauty of quality guitars, this is a very good book to read. Shortcomings: the photos are up to a professional standard, but many of them are accompanied with a white bar in the upper body of the guitar due to shinny reflection. This effect can illustrate how shinny the guitar can be, but can be quite obstructive to the eyes. A final word of caution: Beware of the temptation that one would buy a PRS guitar right after reading this book - which can be far more expensive than the book itself!

This is a delightful book about the Carpatho-Rusyn people, culture and land. It is easy to read yet fully detailed about the major topics of this small but complex area of study. The author is the leading expert on Rusyn history and culture and this is his beginner's guide to this topic. The text is illustrated throughout with black-and white photographs, artwork, and maps and there is an eight page insert of color plates called "The Seasons of the Church" that illustrates the liturgical uniqueness of this group.

This year 2000 revision of a 1989 text brings a classic introduction to the Rusyn people back into print and up to date. I call it a revision rather than a new edition because the changes are actually quite minor. Five paragraphs have been rewritten and two new ones added. To reflect the passing of eleven years, a few dates and numbers have also been changed. Two pictures were replaced with new ones and the captions to three others have been enhanced. Also, the two maps have been redrawn. On the page called Further Reading, three items were dropped and two new items added.

The illustrations in this new printing suffer from a common problem with reprints. the photos are darker and less in focus than those in the original edition. If the illustrations are the important part of this book for you, then seek out the original edition rather than this updated revision.

The first chapter, "From a Little-Known Land", is an introduction to the geography of the Carpathian Mountain region which is the Rusyn homeland. A 1914 map of northeastern Austria-Hungary shows this land when it was last united in one country.

The second chapter is called "The Homeland" and follows the history of this region up to the mid-1980s when the book was written. This region is in the geographic center of Europe and has been at the divide between Eastern and Western Europe for centuries. This is the land where the Roman alphabet changes to the Cyrillic, and where western Christian and Byzantine Orthodox theologies meet. It is the home of the Uniate church, a curious compromise where Byzantine liturgies are performed in churches owing their allegiance to the pope in Rome. The language is a dialect of Ukrainian, but has been greatly influenced by the Polish and Hungarian spoken in the countries the land has been a part of for centuries. The cultural awakening of these people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the 18th and 19th centuries is outlined. The division of the land between Poland and Czechoslovakia at the end of World War I, and the later removal of a section into the USSR after World War II are outlined.

"Events of the Immigration", the third chapter, describes the conditions that led to a vast immigration of Rusyn people to the USA in the late 19th and early 20th century. This immigration was stopped by World War I and was reduced to a trickle after the war.
"The New World" describes the arrival of the Rusyns in the coal mines and steel mills of western Pennsylvania, and the factories of New York and New Jersey. The people brought their own Uniate priests who were often married and they built their own churches. They ran into misunderstandings with American Catholic bishops who had little knowledge of the unique situation of these eastern rite Catholic churches.

In "Assimilation and Adaptation" Magocsi tells the story of how these churches confronted their problems in various ways. Some of the early churches, led by Father Alexis Toth, converted to Russian Orthodoxy and built up that church in America. After World War I some churches formed a new church that was affiliated with the Greek Orthodox community. Of course, some remained in the Uniate churches of their ancestors, while still others started attending Roman Catholic churches. The Rusyn press and fraternal organizations in the USA are also described in this chapter.

The next chapter, "People of Prominence" , discusses some famous Rusyn-Americans and their contributions. Sandra Dee and Andy Warhol are the most famous of these but many others are also mentioned.

The last chapter, "Looking Toward the Future", describes the resurgence of interest in Rusyn heritage in America and mentions some of the prominent people and groups involved.

The illustrations in this book really make it outstanding. There are illustrations of major historic figures like Cyril and Methodius, Prince Fedir Koriatovych, Aleksander Dukhnovych, Adolf Dobriansky, Reverend Alexis Toth, and Gregory Zhatkovich. Also lots of pictures are of ordinary people, like young girls or children in traditional costumes, dance or choral groups also in traditional dress, immigrants arriving at Governor's Island, miners and factory workers, church groups, and family groups. The unique architecture of Rusyn churches is represented by eight pictures from both North America and the Carpathian Mountains.

If you have one book about the Rusyn people, this should be it.

The Carpatho-Rusyn Americans - Paul Magocsi
The best introduction to the Carpatho-Rusyn people and country

This is a delightful book about the Carpatho-Rusyn people, culture and land. It is easy to read yet fully detailed about the major topics of this small but complex area of study. The author is the leading expert on Rusyn history and culture and this is his beginner's guide to this topic. The text is illustrated throughout with black-and white photographs, artwork, and maps and there is an eight page insert of color plates called "The Seasons of the Church" that illustrates the liturgical uniqueness of this group.

The first chapter, "From a Little-Known Land", is an introduction to the geography of the Carpathian Mountain region which is the Rusyn homeland. A 1914 map of northeastern Austria-Hungary shows this land when it was last united in one country.

The second chapter is called "The Homeland" and follows the history of this region up to the mid-1980s when the book was written. This region is in the geographic center of Europe and has been at the divide between Eastern and Western Europe for centuries. This is the land where the Roman alphabet changes to the Cyrillic, and where western Christian and Byzantine Orthodox theologies meet. It is the home of the Uniate church, a curious compromise where Byzantine liturgies are performed in churches owing their allegiance to the pope in Rome. The language is a dialect of Ukrainian, but has been greatly influenced by the Polish and Hungarian spoken in the countries the land has been a part of for centuries. The cultural awakening of these people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the 18th and 19th centuries is outlined. The division of the land between Poland and Czechoslovakia at the end of World War I, and the later removal of a section into the USSR after World War II are outlined.

"Events of the Immigration", the third chapter, describes the conditions that led to a vast immigration of Rusyn people to the USA in the late 19th and early 20th century. This immigration was stopped by World War I and was reduced to a trickle after the war.
"The New World" describes the arrival of the Rusyns in the coal mines and steel mills of western Pennsylvania, and the factories of New York and New Jersey. The people brought their own Uniate priests who were often married and they built their own churches. They ran into misunderstandings with American Catholic bishops who had little knowledge of the unique situation of these eastern rite Catholic churches.

In "Assimilation and Adaptation" Magocsi tells the story of how these churches confronted their problems in various ways. Some of the early churches, led by Father Alexis Toth, converted to Russian Orthodoxy and built up that church in America. After World War I some churches formed a new church that was affiliated with the Greek Orthodox community. Of course, some remained in the Uniate churches of their ancestors, while still others started attending Roman Catholic churches. The Rusyn press and fraternal organizations in the USA are also described in this chapter.

The next chapter, "People of Prominence" , discusses some famous Rusyn-Americans and their contributions. Sandra Dee and Andy Warhol are the most famous of these but many others are also mentioned.

The last chapter, "Looking Toward the Future", describes the resurgence of interest in Rusyn heritage in the USA and mentions some of the prominent people and groups involved. However, since this book was written in 1989, years before Ukrainian and Slovak independence, the future described in this chapter appears a little dated. A new edition of this book has just been published, and hopefully will bring Rusyn history up to date with some information on the Rusyns of Slovakia and Ukraine.

The illustrations in this book really make it outstanding. There are illustrations of major historic figures like Cyril and Methodius, Prince Fedir Koriatovych, Aleksander Dukhnovych, Adolf Dobriansky, Reverend Alexis Toth, and Gregory Zhatkovich. Also lots of pictures are of ordinary people, like young girls or children in traditional costumes, dance or choral groups also in traditional dress, immigrants arriving at Governor's Island, miners and factory workers, church groups, and family groups. The unique architecture of Rusyn churches is represented by eight pictures from both North America and the Carpathian Mountains.

If you have one book about the Rusyn people, this should be it.

This is a delightful book about the Carpatho-Rusyn people, culture and land. It is easy to read yet fully detailed about the major topics of this small but complex area of study. The author is the leading expert on Rusyn history and culture and this is his beginner's guide to this topic. The text is illustrated throughout with black-and white photographs, artwork, and maps and there is an eight page insert of color plates called "The Seasons of the Church" that illustrates the liturgical uniqueness of this group.

The first chapter, "From a Little-Known Land", is an introduction to the geography of the Carpathian Mountain region which is the Rusyn homeland. A 1914 map of northeastern Austria-Hungary shows this land when it was last united in one country.

The second chapter is called "The Homeland" and follows the history of this region up to the mid-1980s when the book was written. This region is in the geographic center of Europe and has been at the divide between Eastern and Western Europe for centuries. This is the land where the Roman alphabet changes to the Cyrillic, and where western Christian and Byzantine Orthodox theologies meet. It is the home of the Uniate church, a curious compromise where Byzantine liturgies are performed in churches owing their allegiance to the pope in Rome. The language is a dialect of Ukrainian, but has been greatly influenced by the Polish and Hungarian spoken in the countries the land has been a part of for centuries. The cultural awakening of these people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the 18th and 19th centuries is outlined. The division of the land between Poland and Czechoslovakia at the end of World War I, and the later removal of a section into the USSR after World War II are outlined.

"Events of the Immigration", the third chapter, describes the conditions that led to a vast immigration of Rusyn people to the USA in the late 19th and early 20th century. This immigration was stopped by World War I and was reduced to a trickle after the war.
"The New World" describes the arrival of the Rusyns in the coal mines and steel mills of western Pennsylvania, and the factories of New York and New Jersey. The people brought their own Uniate priests who were often married and they built their own churches. They ran into misunderstandings with American Catholic bishops who had little knowledge of the unique situation of these eastern rite Catholic churches.

In "Assimilation and Adaptation" Magocsi tells the story of how these churches confronted their problems in various ways. Some of the early churches, led by Father Alexis Toth, converted to Russian Orthodoxy and built up that church in America. After World War I some churches formed a new church that was affiliated with the Greek Orthodox community. Of course, some remained in the Uniate churches of their ancestors, while still others started attending Roman Catholic churches. The Rusyn press and fraternal organizations in the USA are also described in this chapter.

The next chapter, "People of Prominence" , discusses some famous Rusyn-Americans and their contributions. Sandra Dee and Andy Warhol are the most famous of these but many others are also mentioned.

The last chapter, "Looking Toward the Future", describes the resurgence of interest in Rusyn heritage in the USA and mentions some of the prominent people and groups involved. However, since this book was written in 1989, years before Ukrainian and Slovak independence, the future described in this chapter appears a little dated. A new edition of this book has just been published, and hopefully will bring Rusyn history up to date with some information on the Rusyns of Slovakia and Ukraine.

The illustrations in this book really make it outstanding. There are illustrations of major historic figures like Cyril and Methodius, Prince Fedir Koriatovych, Aleksander Dukhnovych, Adolf Dobriansky, Reverend Alexis Toth, and Gregory Zhatkovich. Also lots of pictures are of ordinary people, like young girls or children in traditional costumes, dance or choral groups also in traditional dress, immigrants arriving at Governor's Island, miners and factory workers, church groups, and family groups. The unique architecture of Rusyn churches is represented by eight pictures from both North America and the Carpathian Mountains.

If you have one book about the Rusyn people, this should be it.

This book is very different from most other financial books in the sense that I was left with real life steps that should be taken. I felt I was more in control with my finacial picture. The book was fairly easy to read and I found very little fluff. I felt it was of help and I will use several of the strategies that Mr. Reed gives.

You are fond of the music of Benjamin Britten; you also collect recordings of his music; you also collect scores, programs of Britten performances, other ephemera. You may even be asked to write or talk about the music in general, or about a specific work.

In short, you are a Britten buff. And it would be nice if there were a complete, detailed, chronological list of all his works, together with information about first performances, or other useful background notes on the composition and its performance.

You need wish no more. Here is your book, the only one you'll need. Complete, detailed, chronological, including an extensive bibliography, a list of recordings, even notes on incidental musical and occasional works. It is a thorough, no-nonsense catalog, lovingly compiled by John Evans, Philip Reed, and Paul Wilson, and published by the Pears-Britten Library in Aldeburgh, the seat of the annual Aldeburgh Festival.

It is hard to imagine a more useful book. No Britten-lover can afford to be without it.

This book should be in every highschool library and every woman's bookshelf. The authors point out all the excuses men use for NOT wearing a condom and tell you how to argue convincingly. Great approach, and great writing. The

A young gay man's dream to find the life and love he wants takes him to gay paradise: San Francisco. Back in his small hometown, men were few and far between, but in SF, gay men are everywhere. Instead of finding the ultimate happiness, the young man finds that city life is so complicated. He finds that his large circle of new friends interfere more than they help. He learns that SF isn't really a better place for gay men, though it is a popular place.

If you're a cheerleader this is the book for you. Wan't to know how it feels to be a team captain. This is the book for you

Recently a British friend and I (Yank) followed one of the book's walks on the Somme. The details in the book helped greatly. Beyond the basic description, all the snippets of poetry, diary entries, official history, and photos of soliders and then-and-now battle sites added greatly to the walk. The only thing we felt missing is that the many walks so well described in the book and well-mapped individually are not shown together in one area-wide map, which would help orient the first-time visitor.

I started reading Candace Robb's Owen Archer series at the suggestion of one of my patients, beginning with her favorite The Cross Legged Knight. I was immediately entranced. The King's Bishop was my second visit to 14th Century York and the home of Lucie Wilton and Owen Archer. I was not disappointed.

Ms Robb is an historian just shy of her PhD and specializes in Medieval History. She is also a consummate storyteller. Her characters are multidimensional; their actions are plausible; and their setting is believable. As a mystery writer, she excels in complex motives. In the Cross Legged Knight, she was able to pull a Collin Dexter out of the hat by producing two possible endings. In The King's Bishop she is able to recreate the ambiance of court intrigue and the murders that arise when ambition is the ultimate measure of an individual and where everything rests on the success of plot and counter plot.

One of the things that took me a while to get used to was the ending to these tales. Not everything comes out happily ever after. The sleuth is not always able to denounce the villain at the end as one is accustomed to reading in stories of this sort. What the ending is, however, is very realistic. Even in modern times, the guilty are not always punished according to the dictates one would expect of "justice;" even justice itself is designed to support the class structure. It is precisely for this reason that we usually enjoy murder mysteries: the guilty are brought to justice, their crimes are made manifest to society, and they are punished accordingly. In Owen Archer mysteries, the guilty sometimes get away with their miserable acts just as they do in our own times.

The stories are wonderfully detailed with respect to historical accuracy, yet they do not overwhelm the reader. Ms Robb is not a pedant. She seeks to create a venue for the actions of her characters without making the reader feel as though there is a test at the end of the story! Most of the unfamiliar terms are understandable from context, although she does supply a glossary for those of us who like to have more information. She also includes a small bibliography and a short history of the period and the characters. And yes, many of the characters were real people from history. These short texts are generally at the end of the book so one needn't feel obligated to read them, but I've taken to reading them first. I enjoy a little background material before I get into the meat of the work.

Very impressive. I would recommend the book to anyone from advanced junior high to adult readers.

The fourth book in the series does not disappoint. It has an intriguing story line with one of Owen's friends falling and love, and murder ensuing...
My favorite is still no. 2, The Lady Chapel, with Nun's Tale and this one right close behind.
I cannot say enough about how well the author Candace Robb writes these characters. I am not only interested in the plot and mystery of each book, but also the continuation of the lives of Owen, Lucia, Thoresby, Sir Robert, Jasper, Brother Michaelo, Riverwoman, the kids and even Lucie's Aunt.
I am now reading A Gift of Sanctuary, having just finished the Riddle of St. Leonards. These books are delicious reads truly.

I have enjoyed all of her books. If you like historical fiction that is light reading but entertaining this is the book you want.