Recently, my high school's performing arts department played this musical. It was fun, despite our long practice hours and unfriendly performance times. The lyrics and the general "feel" of the music is, of course, humorous. The first time we ran through it, the pit went hysterical. The only thing at fault with it is that at certain locations in the score, it contains errors.

I was the pianist for my high school's performance of this musical, and when I heard the music (the 1997 CD), I fell in love immediately. As the rehearsal pianist, I played through this book three hours a day for two months, but the original appeal has not faded! In fact, since I have to return the book (it's a rental), I plan on purchasing it as soon as the show's over.

I am in this play at a Performing Arts Group that I am in, and I think that this is one of the most hillarious plays I have ever done. This book is hightly recommened.

Earl Rogers's father was a preacher, and Earl would also hold an audience in rapt attention, listening to every word. His father saved souls, Earl saved men from the hangman. Earl first worked as a newspaper reporter, then learned law working for Senator Stephen M. White (another heavy drinker).

Earl Rogers invented many of the tactics that have become common criminal law stratagem. He was the first American lawyer to use the science of ballistics, and was at the leading edge of medical forensic science. Rogers assisted in performing over 30 autopsies, and been present for 70 others. He saved one client from hanging after an exhumation failed to find a shot to the head that several eyewitnesses testified to seeing. Rogers was among the first to use charts and blackboards in the courtroom, along with scale models, to get his point across to a jury. Out of 77 important murder cases he lost only 3. He always dressed in the height of fashion to make a good impression. The practice of law was like being an actor on a stage before an audience.

Rogers did extensive research into the background of the jurors. The practice of jury investigation was long in use by the early twentieth century; it is not a recent phenomenon. His father Lowell once rebuked him for any attempt to save a man, known by him to be guilty, by dishonest or deceptive means.

When Clarence Darrow was indicted for bribery, Earl Rogers (who had worked for the "Merchants and Manufacturers Association") defended him. Darrow's private detective bribed a juror, was arrested, then turned state's evidence. Later this private detective claimed the payoff came from Samuel Gompers himself! Page 189 tells how this detective previously worked with the US Marshals office, then went to the District Attorney's office before working for Darrow. When this detective left his meeting with the special federal prosecutor, he carried the bribe money (p.191)! (Was this detective a double agent? Did Earl Rogers learn this from his business friends?) Roger's defense was that Darrow was in the process of negotiating a plea bargain, and a stingy Darrow would not spend all that money on a bribe when the case would not go to trial: he had no motive (p.196)! The jury said "not guilty" after just 35 minutes of deliberation. Darrow had trouble on another case, and was forced to surrender his Calif. bar license, effectively removing him from any future cases.

As you read through these famous cases, how many of them remind you of stories seen on TV over the years? Adela R. St. Johns, eyewitness and journalist, wrote a longer and more colorful biography. Rogers could have gone on to higher national fame, except for his drinking and womanizing, Adela said. But given the scandals of Representatives, Senators, and Presidents, maybe it was only a lack of the right connections?

I have read all three of the Earl Rogers books out there I have found. "Take the witness" was very good and colorful. Earl Roger's daughter's book "final verdict" was endearing but overly sentimental.

"One upon a time" certainly has its strength in chronologically listing Roger's major trials and the tactics used.

The reader will be dissappointed if they are looking for much of the life outside of the courtroom of Rogers. Nevertheless, this book deserves a five star rating as it adds graciously to the very limited Rogers library. The author quotes Roger's cross examinations at length and matter of factly tells how Rogers skillfully defends his clients.

Once Upon A Time In Los Angeles: The Trials Of Earl Rogers by Michael Trope is an eminently readable account of a prosecutor whose Los Angeles career lasted from 1897 to 1918, and whose trials defending such notable figures as Clarence Darrow, heavyweight champion Jess Willard and United Railroad chief Patrick Calhoun contributed to his fame and celebrity. Once Upon A Time In Los Angeles is a fascinating look at the L.A. judicial system of a century past. Highly recommended for student of American legal history, as well as non-specialist general readers with an interest in the life and times of this famous lawyer, or the nature of the turn-of-the-century Los Angeles legal system he knew so well.

American theatre has been slower than any of the other arts to recognize the need to pay attention to what's going on outside the United States and Europe. Most introductory theatre texts make only passing mention of the theatres of Asia, Africa and South America. Anthologies of drama published in the States have likewise generally failed to address the dramatic literature of these regions. Consequently, most Americans, including theatre students, are woefully ignorant of the rich theatrical traditions of two thirds of the world's people.

In the context of this vast blindness, the Longman Anthology of World Drama is a milestone work. It includes both traditional and modern plays from China, India and Japan (integrated into the historical sequence rather than tagged on as appendices.) It treats of African theatre in connection with African-American diaspora theatre. It represents Latin and South American theatre with interesting works from the 16th century to modern Hispanic absurdism. On top of this remarkable diversity, it provides a very solid foundation in the traditional Western canon, with a particularly good sequence tracing the rise of modern realism out of romanticism.

There is an enormous amount of material in this tome, and much to commend. The only serious shortcomings are a sparseness and lack of clarity in the historical background articles (these will confuse students with no framework to build on), and some poor choices in excerpts of supporting criticism (the Victor Turner article will go completely over the heads of the uninitiated, and the excerpt by Zeami is a dull genealogy of the ritual roots of Noh theatre rather than any of the more interesting bits on the art of the performer.)

I'm very pleased with this anthology partly because of its international scope, but also because it provides useful theoretical documents that augment and support the plays the authors have chosen. The introductions to each period and country are detailed, interesting, and easy to read.

The students in my undergraduate theatre history course have almost unanimously agreed to keep this text as part of their permanent collection--a rare reaction indeed! The choice of plays was excellent, combining some wonderful translations of important Western European texts with interesting, hard-to-find world theatre classics.

I highly recommend it as a teaching resource--particularly for theatre history, world drama, and intro to theatre courses. Your students will thank you (and they'll keep this one!).

This is collection of short stories that offers a wide mix of speculative genres. Fantasy, SF, horror, and just plain weird. The stories run the gambit and most are good. "Jeo Defined" and "Moon Warrior" were excellent stories and well worth purchasing the book. Even just the so-so stories were enjoyable and all the authors are names to keep a look out for. In the end, this is a book of up and coming writers and a few of them will no doubt be big names someday.

I didn't know what to expect from this collection of short stories but I was happily surprised. The stories cover a wide range from fantasy, science fiction, and horror to those hard to classify strange stories. Each one is worth reading. My favorites were the one about a radio personality who was singing the Siren's song and the one about a criminal who is forced to undergo "augmentation" to control him. Some wild stuff for a great read.

One of the things I've always envied about learners of Chinese and especially Japanese, is the relative wealth and quality teaching materials. Would-be learners of Korean have far fewer choices, and most of what is available isn't very good. College Korean does something to alleviate that problem by providing a solid introduction to the Korean language. However, I feel that the book is relatively simple and more appropriate for a high-school-level class than a college one. A serious student of Korean will find it quite inadequate: the dialogs are rather short, it could cover more grammar and vocabulary, and the choice to include a small number of Chinese characters is questionable. I personally feel that the complexity that Chinese characters add to the Korean writing system warrants at least a separate supplement, if not a separate text entirely. Notwithstanding, College Korean does represent a relatively inexpensive and up-to-date choice for someone interested in starting to learn Korean.

If you are interested in learning Korean, this is a MUST HAVE book. You can find all Korean words written in Han-gul. Grammar structures were explained clearly. I wish there were cassette tapes to go along with the book.

First of all, I am not a college or high school student so I didn't get this book for some school assignment which meant I had to learn everything on my own. Second, after I looked through this book, it seemed pretty easy to understand hangul and read in hangul. They teach you vowels and consonants which I believe is the first step to read in hangul. Also, there is a glossary in the back where you can look up the words in English and Korean. I personally think that this book can be used by high school students and up. It's very easy to read hangul scripts if you follow the grammar rules which is also very easy. The one thing that I have a problem with is the Chinese character section. I didn't get any part of that which kinda got me confused. It doesn't teach you how to pronounce them. But in other ways to describe this book, yeah, it is a good recomendation for beginners who wants to learn Korean. I would also like to recommend the "Rosetta Stone: Korean" CD-Rom because it also teaches you how to pronounce Korean words using real sounds and pictures.

I read The New Money Masters after the Market Wizards and the New Market Wizards. When I saw "winning investment strategies of: Soros, Lynch, Rogers, etc etc on the front cover, I immediately bought it. Like any trader who jumps into the market without a plan or thorough study, I lost this trade. Train tried to portrait what's in the masters brains but he failed. Even worse, his writing skill had been quite bad to convince me to complete the whole book. Well, how am I supposed to expect something from a 379 page book that carries 147 pages of appendix?

If you want to read a concise book about the investment styles and philosophies of recent great investors this book might be the one for you. Any student considering asset management as a career should read this one as well as The Money Masters, its predecessor.

I would encourage everyone to understand the difference from this book and its predecessor. This book is primarily focused on investors that became household names in the 1980s such as: Jim Rogers, Michael Steinhardt, Philip Caret, George Soros, George Michaelis, John Neff, Ralph Wanger, and Peter Lynch.
The prior book, The Money Masters, deals with Golden Age investors who, for the most part, attained their reputations prior to the crash of 1973 and 1974.

Both of Train's books are in the form of interviews he has with them. Train's writing is crisp and entertaining, and his interviews uncover many pearls of wisdom applicable to any investor's philosophy.

The biggest brand name interviewed here, for most, is Peter Lynch who ran Fidelity's flagship Magellan fund. Lynch pioneered a consumer approach to the investing process and invested using a hybrid of the growth and value style that has come to be known within the industry as GARP, standing for Growth At A Reasonable Price. Both Soros and Rogers have fairly interesting ideas about the nature of investing and the sentiment behind it. Both of them worked at Soros' Quantum Fund, which was the largest and most successful hedge fund for decades and left both of them extremely rich.

If anyone is interested in books on the people behind the financial industry read Money Masters, New Money Masters, Predators Ball, Money Culture, Den of Theives and F.I.A.S.C.O. 25 Investment Classics and Goldman Sachs: the Culture of Success are other notable books. I gave the book 4 stars because, while it was very concise and well written I didn't find any information within the book that was of great help to me. It was entertaining and informative but not ground breaking or made me say "AH HAH" or have that light bulb go off in my head.

sorry if you expected a how-to in 25 words or less; the guys highlighted within could think- arriving at creative solutions, work obsessively or at least- with discipline [ check out Rogers' work sheet in the appendix..], and were rock solid in their convictions .....

good to see efforts like these highlighted in the newest go-go era, in which for a lucky few- monster payoffs, quickly, were more common than lottery winnings. [ I know more than a couple who've gone from 15 to 500 in a virtual heartbeat, sometimes with no more conviction than : 'Sure, why not!! ' That's not how these people scored. Nor how most of us ever will.]

Regarding, Train- I'd be inclined to buy a book of his blindly; can't imagine him disappointing.

I have to give all the short story novels 3 stars. There are some stories you won't like but they'll 2-4 really great ones that will make the books worth the price.

... I actually liked three stories in this book. The poem is worthless, and a few more were downright too hard to read and boring, but if I had the desire to stick with them they might have been worthy. Get this book! If not for the stories, get it for the last story written by Weis and Hickman. You will be surprised that a Hero of the Lance makes an appearance! I can't wait to read the next book. Even though the poem in this was horrible, it was better than most early dragonlance books I have read, but I must say Knaak finally has a good story. Unlike his Huma and Kaz books. Bravo Knaak. Maybe he should always write short stories, but he did leave me wanting more for once. GET THIS BOOK!

As I am not a huge fan of short stories, I was surprised to find most of these excellent. 'Colors of Belief' was an further insight as to how the Games of Istar worked after Caramon's experiences in the Legends. 'Kender Stew' was very funny and a nice little story. 'The Goblin's Wish' was my favourite, a saddening tale of how different races banded together to fight Istar. 'The Three Lives of Horgan Oxthrall' was not so good. The scribe's narration is just silly, I think Douglas Niles could've just told the story and got on with it. Far and away the worst story was 'Filling the Empty Places'. I find myself being more and more disappointed by Nancy Berberick's work. Stormblade was okay, but her writing style has definitely gone downhill since. 'Off Day' was hilarious. And finally, 'The Silken Threads' again showcased Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's wonderful talent which puts them at the forefront of the DL world.
Those disappointed by the other Tales books will find this a better one, with more information into a neglected part of Krynn's history.

There are 60 illustrations, excellent paintings, with the accompanying text that inspired it. The colours are very well down, and each painting is brilliantly done in terms of publication. There are nine artists represented. These are:

Inger Edelfeldt: 7 paintings

Tony Galuidi: 2 paintings

Roger Garland: 10 paintings

Robert Goldsmith: 2 paintings

Michael Hague: 7 paintings

John Howe:10 paintings

Alan Lee: 10 paintings

Ted Nasmith: 10 paintings

Caro Emery Phenix: 2 paintings

My personal favorite is John Howe. He brings out a lot of dark imagery. I don't know why, but Hague's stuff just does not appeal to me. I have seen him do Lewis's Pilgrim's Regress, and some other stuff, and I just don't like his style (also saw his illustrations for WIZARD OF OX). His are of THE HOBBIT. Galuidi has almost a computer generated quality, and his work is especially intriguing, although there are only 2 of his paintings in this collection. Lee is good. All in all, this is a fair book, collecting the paintings of artisits brining about their own vision of Tolkien's classic saga. Over all, a four star book (bumped up one star because of Howe's supreme quality).

This is a collection of 50+ paintings based on various works by Tolkien, which fans of Tolkien will no doubt enjoy. It may be of speial interest to those who watched the movies (and who hasn't, who read Tolkien...) as you can clearly see how some of these paintings are replicated in Jackson's movies; it takes but a moment to catch it in the film, but if you see the pictures enough you'll recognize it.

The quality of the paintings are uneven, and each one has its favorite. Like many people, I find Hague lacking, but also Edelfeldt, who isn't bad but whose style is not unique enough in my opinion.

My favorites, on the other hand, are Howe, Garland, Nasmith, Lee and Galuidi. Garland, my favorite, has a unique and glowing, almost 'mystical' style that does the book justice. Howe's pictures are also intriguing and beautiful, and feel true to the book (and thankfully, he seems to dominate the book in terms of the number of contributions). Nasmith has some splendid landscape pictures, though his vision of the characters leave something to be desired (especially of a fat, distorted Boromir!) Galuidi's sci-fi, computerized style may not appeal to some, but I find them interesting. Finally, Lee's soft watercolors are very appealing, and his vision of the characters is near-perfect (especially Galadriel and Gandalf).

"Tolkien's World" is a very handsome book: large, hardcover, sleeve-cover, fine print and paper. It consists on a serie of paintings divided by books (The Hobbit, LOTR, Silmarillion, etc.) printed in the largest scale possible and with great definition. Beside the picture there is the passage of the book which inspired the painting. In the end there are one-page texts about or written by each of the artists, explaining their influences and relation with Tolkien works. My favorite artist is, without a doubt, Ted Nasmith, that draws very realistic pictures. Second place is John Howe, with his dark and intriguin style. All in all, a pretty nice book. I was very satisfied with it and it helped me to figure the places and events of LOTR. Be aware that there's a book that is kind of a sequel to this one: "Realms of Tolkien: Images of Middle-Earth", which I'm planning to get. It is written on its purchasing info that the author is Ted Nasmith, so is the cover authory. Lucky me.

I used this book for a lavish party at my home and the results were terrible. Save your money!

As a neighbor of Martha Stewart's in the charming town of Westport, Connecticut, I have had the pleasure of being invited into her home several times. Granted, that ended around the time she became so well-known, but Martha is a truly wonderful woman who is an encyclopedia of entertainment know-how. Fortunately for the rest of the world, this book is *the* next best thing to having Martha in the kitchen and at the party with you. Creative recipies, table settings, and other ideas which help to enhance the environment of any party- large or small.

I feel that this book should be a part anyone's home library who can appreciate the fine art of entertaining and wishes to take their gatherings and functions to the next level.

This book is a staple in my kitchen. Do I cook all the upscale, gourmet recipes? I'd love to say yes, but in all honesty I haven't the time! I *have* tried the sugar cookies, and they went over well with my three little boys! The reason I love this book is that I can read a bit, look at the lovely pictures, and gain fresh inspiration to make my little home a lovelier place. Also, for any Martha-phile, this book is a good place to peek inside Martha's life and hear her thoughts for more than just a five minute segment on her show.

This is the only way to describe the diagramming efforts that have been shown here. It is almost ridiculous to see the attempt to find the golden rectangle in almost every building. Believe me geometrical nonsense as well as the "parti" was no where in the mind of FLW for Fallingwater. Similarly the critical agenda as well as the main "idea" of the building is a whole lot richer and important than seeing symmetry and axes. My million $$ question is how does the participant in any space percieve that axis shown when he is more immersed in the feeling of the architecture? I guess that this mumbo-jumbo stopped at Venturi as I havent seen any "analysis" (save critical and existential) of Holl, or HDM or Ito or Koolhaas or Eisenmann or anyone of the Avant Garde.

Stay away from this book if you want to learn anything about architecture.

This book does a great job at distilling essential qualities
of architecture through the analysis of exemplary projects.
It would be an ideal book for any student of architecture.
The "reader" from Princeton is a little demented if he or
she thinks that "geometrical nonsense" wasn't in the mind
of Wright at Fallingwater. I would challenge them to show
me a project of Wright's that is not full of such
"nonsense." Keep trying though, and the next time you feel
like saying something stupid, don't write it down...

As a first-year student, I didn't know a thing about building analysis. This book taught me. It has dozens of diagrams, covering dozens of buildings. It took me from looking at facades to looking at (and understanding) geometry, proportion and the components that make up the building as a whole. Basically, it changed the way I see architecture.