... if these are the new voices of American literature. Jason Brown is the only writer that seems promising, and is the only one with two stories in this compilation. His two stories are not great, but they show good craft. From other authors, "Like a Crossing Guard" is an interesting piece, but it does not completely satisfy. Such is the case with "White Flight", a piece dealing with school shootings. Problem with most stories in this collection is that they suffer from the same problems that plague recent short story collections from even well-known American writers. Lack of plot. And abrupt endings. We are witnesses to small events in some characters' lives, but these events never serve to shed light on the characters or the reader. I know this is a popular thing to do with short stories nowadays, but, personally, I find it a waste of my time. Call me old-fashioned if you want, but I much rather prefer the tales of old in which there was a clearly defined beginning, middle and end that explored a specific conflict. To me, that's the sort of stories that last generations. The ones that strike a chord in the reader. Those that not only comment on our society, but make a statement about it. Those that portray a specific aspect of humanity. Those that can do the above but entertain, too. Just compare these stories or most modern stories with the classics compiled in short anthology collections from all time and I'm sure you'll understand what I mean.

I found 25 and Under/Fiction to be a breath of fresh air. I love reading books of short fiction, but too often, the books are filled with authors that are already well established. This book is great, because it's filled with stories that are written by mostly unknown authors. My favorite story was "Flamingo." The mother in that story (she was an alcoholic) was very well written, and portrayed with a sense of brutal honesty. Go out and buy 25 & Under/Fiction. You won't be sorry.

As an aspiring short story writer, I first read this book when it was first published and I was 18. It amazed me to see people of my age bracket published and the talent I found within inspired me. Reading these stories shows the depth that some of American's youth possesses. While another reviewer scoffed at the "lack of plot" and "abrupt endings" of these stories, I would have to say that this is the essence of short fiction itself. Short stories are not meant to beat the reader over the head with a storyline. They are meant to be brief pieces that make you think and develop the larger story within your mind. Great pieces like "Naming the Baby" and "Flamingo" give brief character portraits that provide more of a message than a novel ever could. The best kind of short story is one that leaves you thinking of the characters and searching for your own interpretation. More than half of the stories found in this anthology left me wanting to read more work by the writers. If that isn't a testament to the talent displayed, then I just don't know what is!

This book handles its subject very well. It was the basic text for my 11th Grade history course, where it provided a good balance of mildly amusing wit and genuinely useful information.

The main advantage of "The American Pageant" is that the author is not trying to push a major political agenda. It lacks the patriotic drivel for which "traditional" history texts are often denounced. However, it also lacks the negative, depressing Socialist philosophy which makes Zinn's "People's History of the United States" so difficult to read.

The end result is a history text which does a history text's job: telling what happened. The book covers politics, economics, and major events in a style which is sometimes amusing and usually informative. Although not overly political, it also pays due attention to such important issues as race and gender.

Not a particularly "specialized" book, but an excellent survey text.

I read this book first in high school several years ago as part of an advanced placement U.S. History course. I hated it then - but love it now. Bailey captures the depth of the issues the nation faced in each step of its development. His accuracy and profound insight keep the subject matter from becoming too dry. What I loved most about the text is that it never over-simplifies the significant historical events such as the political struggles of the 1st and 2nd continental congresses, secession issues and America's position in both World Wars. He digs deep beneath the surface to paint a thorough understanding of what the root causes were of historic events. The 10th addition adds interesting subsections that profile the various immigrant cultures that influenced American history. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the nation's history and the people who made it.

I can quite clearly remember the amazement with which I first read the opening paragraphs of Bailey's American Pageant six years ago in high school; and even now, after graduating from college in a field completely unrelated to history, I return to this text to read in my spare time just for the sheer enjoyment of it. I hesitate to even call it a text: rather, it is almost a work of art. Personally, I am flabbergasted by some of the negative reviews I've read below. Of course someone will not like this book when they haven't read it all semester, and then they have an approaching final and try to quickly skim the text and learn all the "important facts" of this nation's history. This book isn't written to satisfy the poor study habits of a mediocre, disinterested student who could care less about history; it is written to express history as seen and studied and understood through the eyes of an absolute genius: Thomas Bailey. For those who believe the book is opinionated, I'll agree with that notion. That's what historians are supposed to do -- they shape and mold historical events into tangible, real entities that one can relate to, rather than just relate dry facts and statistics. (That's what an encyclopedia or government records are for.) If I could, I would give this book more than 5 stars -- surely it deserves as much.

Not recommended unless you are interested in hearing Schulman expound on the virtues of libertarianism. You'll learn more about Heinlein from Expanded Universe and Grumbles from the Grave.

The more Heinlein you read, the more you must read. Inevitably, your curiosity about who he was and how he became one of the world's most extraordinary writers begins to eat at your intelligence. Incredibly, J. Neil Schulman, a mere boy at the time, was able to gain Heinlein's complete confidence and trust. This text of the interview Schulman was able to arrange with Heinlein will answer a thousand questions for you. Schulman was as prepared to interview the great man as any person could have possibly been. Any consideration of Heinlein's life and work will be incomplete without including this small in size, but gigantic in significance, look into the mind of Heinlein, whose genius will only be regarded as greater with every passing year. The author, Schulman, went on to become a terrific science fiction writer himself, winning two Prometheus awards of his own.

The interview has a great forthrightness to it, like having lunch with Heinlein and listening to him hold forth. This is the only place I've ever seen his opinions on Ayn Rand, NASA and its incredible ability to make spaceflight boring, and why Heinlein couldn't like one of his characters better than the others. Schulman acquits himself well -- if he hadn't, Heinlein would not have spent an hour with him, let alone 3 & 1/2. I read the _Job_ review with interest, and found the analysis illuminating.
If Heinlein was your 'Dutch Uncle' too, you'll want this book.

"The James Dean Affair" is awful -- truly awful. Let me count the ways:

1) The plot is contrived. Its premise that James Dean is apparently alive and well and psychotic with a family of demented and murderous offspring home-based in Fairmount, Indiana is too preposterous to cause even dimwit readers to suspend their collective belief. Mr. Levinson tries to spice this tepid mess with frequent red herring climaxes and idiotic sidebars, such as a robery-rape attempt and a subsequent chase scene which have little bearing on anything, though the scene does give Stevie, the female protagonist, an opportunity to talk a bit slutty and titillate the reader.

2) In general, the prose is flat and repetitive. Mr. Levinson attempts to drape his deadwood in tinsel with frequent figures of speech which are supposed to convey showbiz glitz and glitter. For example, there is, "My heart was doing a rumba," and two or three pages later, "...my heart and head pounding like a drum duet by Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich." Oh please!

3)The stars of the show, Stevie and Neil, who are, of course, supposed to recall Nick and Nora Charles, are totally unappealing, as they hash and rehash the terms of their long-term dysfunctional relationship. Their IQs seem to be somewhere in the vicinity of 85 or 90, and they banter and coo in the most annoying ways. Their exchanges are filled with non-sequiturs and imbecilic illogic. In real life, I'd hate to do lunch with them.

4)The female lead, Stevie, is particularly loathsome. She's supposed to be a smart, independent woman, but throughout most of the novel she continually shows herself as totally vain, utterly stupid, and desperately clinging. In short, she's a real bimbo. Her quick wit is demonstrated early in the novel when, in a stoke of true Hollywood genius, she whips out her knockers in order to prevent further mayhem at a murder scene. Good thinking! One of her most annoying habits is her frequent mewing of the word "Daddy" to her paramour Neil. It appears that his bleating is supposed to indicate her need to be protected by her guy -- a very subtle psychological touch.

5) And, finally there is the obviously irritating intent of the novel to produce a sequel -- whether there is a demand or not. Maybe, Dennis Hopper will surface in the next one. He was conspicuously absent from the Dean clan's "A" list of film cronies-in-need-of-killing. Please spare Mr. Hopper the indignity.

Never have I been more tempted to contact an author directly to ask for my money back! If only it were possible to award a negative number of stars! I read -- on average -- four mystery paperbacks per week, everything from classic hardboiled to neo-cozies to regionals, and I have yet to slog my way through a muddier or more pointless story. Levinson's method for plugging a gaping plot hole or perking up a sagging storyline is to insert a burst of absurd and senseless violence. This novel would be a short story if all the characters weren't complete morons. The so-called "Tinseltown" nostalgia amounts to being cornered at a party by a boring drunk. Perhaps most annoying is the implication that Gulliver and Marriner are a latter day Nick and Nora Charles. Hardly! Gulliver and Marriner's dialog and their relationship have all the snap, sparkle and wit of a sack of wet sand. Presumably the ending is supposed to leave the reader concerned about the future of these two charmless amateurs and hungry to learn more about them. The only justification for their being a series of Gulliver and Marriner books is that someone at Tor wants Levinson's help getting a screenplay produced.

I've read all three books in this series, and while this is not my favorite of the three, it is still a far better read than much of what attempts to pass for reading material in today's throw-it-together publishing world.

Stevie and Neil remain fun, and the never ending action kept me turning the pages so that I wouldn't have to go to sleep without finding out what really happened.

You'll want to know too, I think, and like all series with developing characters it is a lot of fun to get to know them from the beginning.

Though I've studied under Bob Saucy and read this book for his class I confess that it is very poor. It is trite and simplistic in its approach and Anderson thinks everything is demonic and seems to have zero common sense about him. Saucy tries to add some theological substance but it is hackneyed and not well thought out. Don't waste your time with this book when there are countless others that don't hurt so much to read.

I have been a Christian for many years, but like so many, had really struggled with guilt, apprehension etc. as to whether I was "really saved". This book sums up the book of Romans; i.e. Salvation is a FREE GIFT of God. there's nothing you "have to do" (nor anything you CAN do) to "earn" salvation. In fact, it is referred to here as the Galation Heresy to somehow strive to achieve salvation. What Christ did He did for past sin, current sin, and future sin. All one "needs" to do is believe and trust. This is obviously an over-simplified synopsis, but it is just this knowledge that changed me from an anxiety-ridden, guilt-tripping Christian to a celebratory, thankful and victorious one. Read this book and it will change YOUR life, too! I cannot recommend it any more highly. God Bless you as you seek Him.

After teaching a course at the community college level using this book (which I inherited, on short notice), I can honestly say that there must be better options for learning music fundamentals. I am examining other textbooks for next year, and can guarantee that Ottman's will NOT be among them.

Ottman seperates elements that would be best be consolidated (i.e. rhythmic elements). While he suggests an organizational scheme to reorder the book and keep elements together, the way the text is written would obliterate any benefit from doing so. Ottman's writing style is dry, and tends to be overloaded with advanced detail that is best left to a 1st-semester theory class. At times, Ottman can also come across as condescending towards the reader, which irritated my students (and this instructor) greatly.

Ottman also makes the mistake of assuming that everyone who is learning music fundamentals is familiar with, or interested in, classical music. The musical examples included in the book tend to be as dry as his writing style. Some folk songs are simply labeled with the country of origin; without the lyrics, they are just boring. Many other textbooks successfully integrate examples from popular music with the classical examples; this book would benefit from such an integration.

Not all is lost, as Ottman does a decent job with the Appendix, which looks towards serious study of music theory. He also does well with repetition within exercises. The book also includes a detachable keyboard card, which visually links each key with its representation on the grand staff. But generally, these features alone do not merit a recommendation.

This book will teach the practicing musician everything you they could possibly need to know about music theory and notation. As a beginner of music studies, I found it all a bit mind bending at first. My advice is to just hang in there and before you know it, the long words and scary looking notation sections will all make sense. I borrowed this book and am now trying to find a copy to purchase (that doesn't cost over $100 aus) as I know I shall be using it as a reference tool for many years to come. For the serious musician, it's a must have.