So begins this wonderful book which certainly tempted me! The magnificent Merchant of Marvels takes readers on a journey through a charming story, enhanced by various fairy tales, myths, etc. and adorned with Clement's lovely and original illustrations. This is a book that I was not content just to peruse--I HAD to buy it. A unique and beautiful acquisition for book lovers! I'm not sure if this is considered a children's book, but it seems to be one of those rare tomes that children and adults alike adore--share it with your child or your parent or your spouse or your hairdresser. Perhaps, too, it might be a good book for those who are reluctant to read (if you're a parent--this may apply to your child--particularly children interested in art, fairy tales, etc.--this book might "tempt" them!). Also, I think this is a good book to give to one you love as a romantic gesture.

What a wonderful flight for the imagination. One can just hope M. Clement continues to push us into our own worlds of make- believe. We're all children at heart if allowed to explore our whimseys, although this is not strictly a childrens book. It's a great read for bolstering the spirit of the young-at-hearts and for the young-at-heart wannabe's. A worthy gift for those one really cares about.

I bought this book for myself, and now I'm buying more copies to give to others, for Christmas. It's THAT good!

Don't be confused because it seems to be a "children's" book. It's far more than a cute story... the words and concepts are the sort of thing that inspire great art.

If I could create a billboard for this book, it'd be a take-off on that "This is your brain on drugs" series: I'd have a plain sheet of paper on one side, saying, "This is your creativity," and then on the right side, I'd have a picture of the Sistine Chapel, with the caption, "This is your creativity after reading '...Merchant of Marvels...' " ! *grin*

Yes, I love this book!

For those of us who bungle at the keyboard and can always use more guidance, this book offers a great start in understanding Chopin's music. Probably the most difficult piece to play in public is Chopin Ballade No. 4, and Chopin offers some incredible insight into how he wanted it played. As you know, the music notation on the sheet cannot cover every intention of the composer, much like writing cannot capture everything, but most of what we want to say. This book supplements your understanding of the music. I would not be surprised if your great piano teacher pulls material out of this book in order to advise you on how to play Chopin.

This book is wonderful for understanding Chopin's philosophies on technique and musicianship. One important thing you learn in reading this book, however, is that the piano has changed dramatically since Chopin's time. My main reason for reading this book was to gain valuable information about how to improve my technique for playing Chopin. Although I definitely learned a lot by reading this book, the issues relating to Chopin's advice about technique are unfortunately not as relevant on pianos today as I was hoping. In short, it's a great read, but will not solve all your Chopin technique problems.

This is an excellent and well documented work. Anyone who tries to play Chopin or has an amibition to do so, should read this. It goes straight to the heart of Chopins entire musical philisophy, and gives not only insight into the artist himself, but solid and sound advice on practicing, technique, and interpretation. Strongly recommended.

The book describes how you can easily stimulate one side of your brain and how this can affect your mood - and it works. After seeing Doctor Schiffer on 20/20, I tried for myself the simple test he described on TV and explains in the book. In less than a minute after covering all but my extreme left visual field, I was in tears. Trying the other side took away all my stress just as quickly and made me feel self-confident. The results of the two hemisphere theory Schiffer explains in this book worked for me. I've since shared the same test with friends and relatives. Without any previous explanation, they experience the same effects as the book predicts. This book outlines a real, practical and simple way to reduce stress. I highly recommend the book and encourage you to make your own pair of glasses as he describes. Just get a pair of $4 safety goggles and tape the lenses. My wife and I can really open up to each other by following the conversation techniques in the book, while wearing homemade pairs of glasses. I know we must look silly, but it works. My only complaint about Schiffer's book is that he focuses primarily on the theraputic value of his research. It would have been nice if he had explored the other possibilities of his discoveries. At least this book is not just another theoretical work. It has techniques in it that you can try yourself. Whether or not you believe his conclusions, you will experience the effect.

The ideas presented in this book is fascinating. If the dual-brain theory is confirmed, it will revolutionize the history of psychology forever.

This book takes the next step in converging the many theories about two brain psychology. Most books have mearly eluded to the fact that the two brains have a possibility of being two separate entities. Dr. Schiffer has been bold enough to take the logical next step, which is to face the facts, that two separate entities are the only real way to describe the brain, and it's two halves, for, the brain's two halves are really, two brains not one. Plus, he has tangible examples, with methods for each person to find a way that they can explore this phenomenon for themselves in their own way, and at their own pace.

Surprising, moving, magical. Brenner's photographs speak volumes. I was most moved by a picture that includes not a single Jew. It features instead a panoramic shot of the main street of Billings, Montana, the citizens of which had filled the streets, each holding a menorah aloft in protest against a violent attack on a Jewish resident's home. A book that claims to, and succeeds at, framing the diversity of American Jewish experience also succeeded in reaffirming my faith in the decency of humankind.

All stereotypes are broken with this unique view of a people and their eclectic influence on the American scene. The mostly black & white panoramic viewpoint maximizes the visual impact. The outstanding photo technique, large page size and strong composition make this a center piece of your home coffee table books to be enjoyed for years to come. I only wish several pages were devoted to the actual technical aspects of the shots

This oversize coffee table book caught my eye in the bookstore. With a price of $67.50, its gotta be great to sell -- and it is. The photographs are truly outstanding and many outlandish. Jews on Harleys in front of a synogoge in Florida, Holocaust survivors visiting LA's holocaust museum, and a family of persian, jewish immigrants seated on a flying carpet in their neighborhood. The best part of this book is not that the photographer manages to capture the diversity of jews in the states but that each of the pictures he presents is stunning in its own right. Brenner managed to gain access to an unbeliveable number of private, Jewish forums, from Jewish Civil War buffs who get together in costume to re-enact period battles to Lesbian Jewish families, the collection is fresh, provocative, and rich

In the first pages of this book, author Frederic Morton reveals the reason he has such an interest in Austrian history. His grandfather died in World War I and his father came to the United States from Vienna. If you read books such as Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, you can't help but hate the Habsburg monarchy that ruled for centuries over Austria and much of Eastern Europe. The Austrians shamelessly mistreated their subjects, using divide and conquer strategies to keep their client states in line. The Austrians also looted the distant reaches of their vast holdings for Austrian benefit. Many of the difficulties found in the Balkans today can be traced to the inept government of the Austrian Empire. That's one view. The other can be found in this exquisitely majestic book. This text is not a panegyric to Habsburg rule, however. Rather, it is a tribute to the fabulous city of Vienna during the waning days of empire, when World War I was looming on the horizon of time.

Vienna is presented as an international city that attracted numerous historical figures. According to Morton, within a period of months Vienna was home to Adolf Hitler, Josef Broz (known to history as Marshal Tito), Uncle Joe Stalin, Leon Trotsky and Sigmund Freud. These characters lived out their own private paths to destiny within blocks of each other. Morton really makes these people come alive with his narrative. We see Hitler in a homeless hostel where he has his own personal chair that no one dares to sit in and occasionally launches into oratorical tirades against Jews and foreigners. Tito works at a car factory and likes to scope out chicks on the weekends (which is much easier to do when you don't have a chest full of medals!). Trotsky indulges himself in French literature and lively debate at the cafes, where he has a brief encounter with a dour Stalin. Sigmund Freud engages in an intellectual war with Carl Jung and writes numerous papers in psychology that would come to form much of what the common man knows about that discipline. Stalin arrives to research a pamphlet before returning to Russia and a three-year stretch in Siberia. What all of these stories ultimately prove is that Vienna was truly a hub of Europe and an important city of the time. It's still pretty neat to think about all of these huge figures moving about in the same city at the same time, though. Morton shows us how almost all of these figures were influenced by their time in Vienna. Hitler talks about it in Mein Kampf and Trotsky wrote about it as well. About the only figure that doesn't seem to be changed is Stalin, who stomps and grumbles about in shabby peasant clothes. It was interesting to learn that Stalin beat Lenin at chess seven times in a row, though!

What Morton succeeds in doing with this book is humanizing history. Today we only see Hitler in old newsreel footage screaming his head off at rallies. In Vienna, Hitler often gave money to his fellow boarders who can't afford food or rent. Sigmund Freud, who always looks so stodgy in those old pictures, loved to hunt mushrooms with his children while wearing outlandish local garb. Even the Habsburgs are painted with a brushstroke of decency. Franz Ferdinand, the sullen heir to the throne who was assassinated at Sarajevo in June 1914, comes off much better here than in most history books. Morton paints him as a dove surrounded by hawks. Franz constantly tries to avert war, especially with Serbia. Of particular note is the relationship the archduke had with his wife, Sophie Chotek. Chotek, who Morton constantly refers to as "morganatic," was not of the right blood to marry a Habsburg heir. She rarely got to share in the royal activities, and when she did, courtiers of the archduke's father, Franz Joseph, belittled her endlessly.

The end of the book shows us the dramatic countdown to war, as the archduke and his wife drive to their deaths and into history. The account of the assassination is very interesting and well worth the read. I feel it rivals the Kennedy assassination in terms of sheer incompetence and idiocy. When someone tosses a bomb at the archduke's motorcade, these morons actually continue the procession! Franz Ferdinand's security detail should have been shot for this action alone. Of course, the procession wasn't stopped and the result was war. The whole mess reeks of conspiracy.

This is an excellent book that can really spark an interest in history. Morton uses lots of sources, such as newspapers, to convey the actual feel of the time. A few pictures thrown in helps to place faces with names. Often, Morton tells us what the weather was like on a certain day before he unfolds the events. This gives the text an insight often missing in scholarly accounts. We can almost see things happening. That being said, this really isn't a book I would use for research. It is more of an interpretative text to provide entertainment. If I were teaching a class on this time period, I would assign this book in conjunction with other, more serious books. Very nice, indeed!

A wonderful book written about the cosmopolitan city of Vienna before the outbreak of WWI. Morton's style of writing makes this an enjoyable read this is not dry history. In 1913 Vienna was host to men who would make an indelible impression on the 20th century. Just to name a few, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Hitler, Tito, Freud, and the Hapsburg Royal family all within one square mile of each other. Morton gives a good portrayal of the lives of these men during their formative time spent in Vienna. He also gives a good account of the tension between Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand who wanted to reform the Austro-Hungarian Empire to include the room for nationalist aspirations of the Slavs, and Emperor Franz Joseph who wanted to maintain the status quo. I t makes one wonder how European history might have been different if Franz Ferdinand had not been assassinated and was given the chance to reform the Empire.

As a retired Army officer and political philosopher,I recommend this book to all who are interested in history of WWI or to those who want to learn more about the "gilded age" of Europe.

An excellent and lovely book that reads almost like a novel, it is also an alarming book if you read it, as I did, in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. The diplomatic and military blunders that produced World War I seem, at this moment, to provide a kind of blueprint for starting a war that no one really wants to start. Some of the correspondences between then and now are startling--for example, the super-ultimatum given to the offending country with the expectation that the terms cannot be met. Altogether I would rate this book higher than Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August, though, to be fair, Tuchman's book is more of a military history and gives only a tiny look at the opening shots of WWI--the murder of the Archduke who was the heir to the Austrian throne--whereas Morton's book establishes the Archduke Franz Ferdinand as a major character in the narrative, then reveals that the Archduke was (ironically) a pacifist who was trying to avert a war in Europe, and then places the Archduke's story in the context of the larger story of Vienna, Austria and Europe. One of the many pleasures that the book offers is an evocative look at the old, whimisical royalty-besotted Vienna just as it was begetting the new Europe--Freud, Trotsky, and Stalin all figure in the story of pre-WWI Vienna as do a number of other major political and artistic figures. Vienna was a prosperous, beautiful, pleasure-loving city that perversely found a way to start a horrific and self-destroying war.

I grew up with Chapman's and I still have it close at hand...the latest edition is exceptional. If you only have one boating book, this is the one you need.

I was talking with a cruise ship captain in Key West, and he brought up Chapman's guide to piloting. We were discussing rules of the road, ie, under sail has right of way over ships under power. Being the captain of a large cruise ship, he said, "Ask yourself, is it easier for a sailboat to come about to avoid a collision or is it easier for a large ocean liner to stop before he hits you?" Therein lies the true wisdom of rules of the road: the bigger vessel will win every time. If your boat is easier to handle and can get out of the way sooner, be polite and make the first move long before it becomes an issue. Although Chapman's is the authority on rules of the road, common sense should prevail when rules come in conflict.

The quality of presentation of topics of interest to boaters is excellent. Good illustrations and clear explantions typify this latest edition. The sections on boat handling and navigation alone are well worth the price.

Ok, so you're in your first year Latin course, or perhaps you're taking one of the on-line Latin courses offered (as I did). You have your Wheelock's, and Wheelock/LaFleur's explanations are not quite clear. What do you do?

Professor Grote to the rescue! He picks up where Wheelock leaves off and often approaches explanations from another angle. Don't get me wrong - Wheelock's and (especially) LaFleur's experience as Latin teachers comes through in their explanations. But the great virtue of Grote's book is that he can assume that the basic explanation and vocabulary has already been given in Wheelock, so he can focus on explanations that may help those of us who "just don't get it."

To be sure, Rick LaFleur adds some of these to Wheelock too, but Wheelock's would have to be 1,000 pages long to give this much explanation, and not all explanations are needed by all students. I did not need some of Grote's alternate explanations - but I'm sure somebody did. As an example, Wheelock explains the imperfect subjunctive as being "essentially" the present infinitive plus personal endings (essem/esses/esset/essemus/essetis/essent). Grote explains what Wheelock meant by "essentially". Perhaps not absolutely necessary to know, but a good way of remembering it.

The only thing I would change about this book is to have more vocabulary explanations. There are many vocabulary puzzles in Latin or any other language, and Grote helps with some of these (I love his line "Wheelock gives 'thing' as the primary definition of 'res' - well, forget that.") However, the ones included are few and far between, and in some cases I am sure that better and more necessary ones could be chosen.

But this is only a minor nit. This book is great, and I highly recommend that anybody who really wants to learn Latin through Wheelock's should get it. If you are still not sure, you can download an early version of Grote's notes (just do an Internet search for "grote wheelock study guide" and you'll find them). These are good for getting the flavor of Grote's book - for example in chapter 7: "Many people consider the third declension to be a pons asinorum - but I disagree."

The on-line version will keep you going until your purchased version arrives. But do buy the book - the on-line version has typos, and is for an old edition of Wheelock's, and only goes up to chapter 35. Besides, with such great explanations, I want to do everything I can to encourage Professor Grote!

Not many Latin teachers would dare say (after a couple of chapters): "Face it, any nitwit can read the five-word sentences you've been getting so far." (Then he goes on to make sure you really understand what the word "declension" means.)

Dale is grate.

I have been lucky enough to take Dale Grote's Latin class at UNCC and am very impressed by the lengths to which he goes to teach his students Latin in a fun, easy-to-understand way. A lot of his easy-going personality and style -- not to mention optimism -- comes through in the book. He truly shakes the dust off the old Wheelock book and makes Latin human again, not just a dead language. His whole approach to teaching is wonderful. I think he is fabulous.

I first read lives of the musicians when I was about 7 yearsold or so. Then, I thought it was terrific. I still do. However, I amnow 12 years old, and now that I have paid more attention to it, I see several faults, but overall it is still a very good book. First of all, their choice of musicians is not the best. I would have recommended Debussy and Schubert, like the Kirkus Reviewer. Some of the composers I have hardly ever heard of, like Igor Stravinsky or Nadia Boulanger. And while Clara Schumann was a great pianist, I think they should have focused more on her husband, Robert, a prolific composer, whose works are among the very best. Also, some of the parts of the biographies are questionable. Frederic Chopin may not have actually been romantically involved with Aurore Dudevant (George Sand), but in love with the Countess Delphine Potocka. The book states that the Waltz in D-Flat, or Minute Waltz, was written for George Sand's dog, when in fact it was probably written for Potocka. However, the book was still very well written, and I enjoyed it, despite the possible mistakes. I recommend this book to anyone who likes music, classical or not. So sit back and enjoy!

I loved this book because it made those musicians seem like real people instead of great-all-star-super-geniuses. It is full of strange little facts about all the famous musicians like Bach,Gershwin,Beethoven and Schmann.

---Megan W.

This book provides interesting insight into the lives of composers. I teach music to elementary and high school students and I read this book to all of my students. They all enjoy learning the details of the composers lives. The book presents the composers in such a way that the students remember the information about the composers. The book does not provide information about what the composers' music sounds like, and that is something I also like to teach. A great book to gain kids'interest in famous composers.

This is a well-written and hard to put down history of the Bayreuth Festival. Thanks are due to Mr. Spotts for sifting through many works in German that are hard to find. However, there are a couple of curious statements that make me wonder about the veracity of the book as a whole. In his discussion of the 1951 reopening, he refers to Karajan as an up and coming young conductor from Aachen. Well, in 1942 Karajan left Aachen to assume directorship of the Berlin State Opera, and by 1951 his associations with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Philharmonia Orchestra had made him an internationally known recording artist. Hardly a young upstart from the sticks!

In the same chapter, he refers to a society that was organized around Hans Pfitzner to protest the radicalism of Wieland Wagner's productions. However, Pfitzner died in 1949, presumably without seeing the first of Wieland's stagings in 1951. No explanation is given for this statement.

In general, this is a book written by a well-informed and insightful fan, but perhaps one without a strong musical background.

I consider this book to be very informative, on a topic that may not interest everyone, but anyone who is interested in Wagner and his music should read this book. The links the author makes between the Bayreuth festival and Hitler help explain why Wagner's music was considered central to the National Socialist ideology. Another book which I have read and which I highly recommend for people who do not know much on Wagner but would like to know more is "Wagner without Fear" by William Berger. It mentions the Bayreuth festival, but also summarizes all of Wagner's operas (except "Rienzi"), something which is not found in "Bayreuth: A History of the Wagner Festival."

I will never forget the excitement of seeing this book on the shelf. Admittedly, the heavy emphasis on outstanding photography made me hesitant. But, having been to the Festival a couple of times (and having cut through many a book related to Wagner), I had to go with it. I was not disappointed. Indeed, I would be hard pressed to suggest a better written book on the festival, its relationship to Nazi Germany, the conflict of schools of interpretation, Wagnerism, or ... Wagner! This book sails and you are sorry when the trip is over. It also provides a serious, well-organized discussion of the development of Wagner's music and the characters who desired the association of the Wagner household. The musician, performer, historian, critic, biographer, and disciple will all be entertained.

Do we really need another book about "Der Fuhrer"? Surprisingly, if the book is this one, the answer is yes. Because this book looks at Hitler from a different angle- one that is pretty much unknown to the layperson: this book is about the "sensitive," "artistic," and "cultivated" Hitler. As you might expect when using such words in connection with Hitler, contradictions abound. The man who could weep while listening to the music of Wagner is the same man who, the moment he came to power, fired or drove into exile musicians and artists he didn't approve of: Jews, Bolsheviks, Modernists, etc. On the other hand, if he liked you personally and thought you were talented, he would sometimes look the other way- he supported, or at least didn't harass, several people who were Jewish or who disagreed with him politically. Some of you may have winced when I used the word "cultivated" in connection with Hitler. But, consider the following: he was very well read (and had a tremendous, possibly photographic, memory); he was a competent, though unimaginative, artist- he could draw and paint as well as your average art school student (and he was completely self-taught); he knew a tremendous amount about the operas of Wagner, and was a good judge of opera singers; he was knowledgeable about architecture, could make architectural sketches, and could intelligently discuss technical aspects of the craft, etc. Having said that, we must remember the flip-side- Hitler was very narrowminded. His love of art was pretty much limited to 19th century German Romantics and some of the painters of the Italian Renaissance. He thought all modern art- which for him started with the Impressionists- was trash, and decadent to boot. He loved opera, but only Wagner and Puccini. He didn't much care for other music- he wasn't really enthusiastic about Beethoven, Mozart, etc. He couldn't stand Brahms, although he eventually did develop a taste for Bruckner. He thought modern music, with its dissonances and atonality, was horrible. In architecture, he admired the Greeks and Romans- but in his building plans for the Third Reich everything had to be magnified to colossal size to awe people. Glass and steel structures left him cold, although he grudgingly realized he'd have to agree to build skyscrapers if only to show that National Socialist Germany could outdo America. Surprisingly, Hitler generally liked his culture "neat." He didn't want political messages- he wanted high-quality, beautiful, soul-elevating art/music/sculpture. Of course, he would tell you what qualified as high-quality, beautiful, and soul-elevating. It may seem odd, but Hitler was embarrassed by the crudity of his Nazi cronies. The vast majority of them had no interest in art, music and sculpture. They'd be dragged, although only silently kicking and screaming, to Bayreuth for the yearly dose of Wagner. They'd fall asleep and start to snore. No wonder the Little Corporal preferred the company of artists, musicians and sculptors. Perhaps the ultimate irony is that the man who wanted "art" with no political content- "art" that elevated people and helped them to get away from the problems, big and small, of everyday life, succeeded in politicizing culture to an unprecedented degree. This book is a brilliant achievement by Mr. Spotts. It forces us to look at Hitler not as a ranting, foaming-at-the-mouth, caricature, but as a fellow human being with, dare I say it, some positive qualities. Yes, the devil is given his due.....but Mr. Spotts never forgets who or what he is dealing with. Why did I give this review the title I did? Mr. Spotts mentions that it was agreed that, when the end of the "Thousand Year Reich" was at hand, the Berlin Philharmonic would add Bruckner's Fourth Symphony to the programme. On the night of April 13th, 1945, the symphony was finally played. As people filed out of the concert hall afterwards, Hitler Youth were in the lobby, hawking cyanide capsules to interested takers. Poor Bruckner probably turned over in his grave.

When I lived in Germany 45 years ago I simply could not understand how those decent and civilized people had allowed themselves to be taken in by Hitler. And amazingly in our many conversations they freely admitted that they still believed, up to a point, that Hitler had been "good" for Germany!

Since then I have turned over a whole library trying to find an answer to that question. Three books go a long way toward explaining the phenomenon of Adolf Hitler: Ian Kershaw's two-volume biography; "Hitler's Table Talk" edited by John Toland; and now Frederic Spotts' "Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics."

"Who is afraid of Adolf Hitler?" Frederic Spotts asks at the end of this extraordinarily revealing book. "Just about everyone," is his rhetorical response. Another question this book asks, tangentially, is "Who doesn't loathe Adolf Hitler?" Well, Hitler was personally responsible for the murder of millions of people and a war that destroyed Europe. All of this within living memory -- many of us were nurtured on the events of WWII. So how could any decent person admit to a shred of sympathy or even understanding for a monster like this Hitler? One would rather admit to sympathy for the Devil.

If you wish for any insight into a person's psychology, start with the music he likes and his taste in art. In this book Mr. Spotts makes the case that that these things were essential and central in Hitler's life and career and he does this convincingly. He also proves, to my satisfaction at least, that Adolf Hitler actually had some talent as a painter and an architect, not first-class by any means, but enough that he knew good stuff from trash and that he knew full well the "socialist" art produced during the Third Reich was trash. But one of the most revealing aspects of "Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics" is what it reveals about us, the readers. If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that much of the art and music and architecture Hitler liked, we like it too, and the stuff he didn't like, that turns us off also. Mr. Spotts concludes that Hitler's personality had many facets and the value of this book is that it forces us to look closely at them and open our eyes to the tiny glimmers of ourselves in there.

This is a thoroughly researched, and horribly fascinating, guide through the cultural interests and pretensions, and later the cultural policies, of Adolph Hitler. Spotts takes us through Hitler's mix of boundless ambition and lack of talent in the visual arts, through his interest in music, and his fascination with architecture. He outlines Hitler's attempt, once he'd gained power, to create a compliant community of artists in his nightmarish Reich, his efforts to get artists to produce what he wanted: the carefully controlled art-in-the-service-of-the-state, populist and uplifting, that Plato stipulated was the only kind of art that could be admitted into his Republic. (Was Plato a precursor of Nazism? Absolutely. An influence? Probably not.)

Though, as with any murderous tyrant, it pleased Hitler to grant indulgences. He allowed some artists in the Third Reich to get away with defiance that would have had anyone else killed. But these indulgences, Spotts observes, were not enough to inspire many of the artists who remained in Germany with anything approximating courage. Musicians like Richard Strauss and Wilhelm Furtwängler made huge accommodations and moral compromises with the Reich, relying on pathetically miniscule gestures to salve their consciences.

No-one who has not been in the same circumstances has the right to condemn them too easily, but at a time when extraordinary courage was called for they showed only human weakness. Though Strauss composed _A Hero's Life_ and Furtwängler conducted it, neither lived it. If we are tempted to believe that artists have special claims to virtue, or that interest in art is likely to lead a person towards virtue, then Spotts' book is an antidote for that sad illusion. Spotts is rightly hard on those artists who, like Karajan in particular, helped put a civilised gloss on Nazi barbarism.

It has been objected that to focus on the arts in the Third Reich instead of, say, the war in Russia or the Holocaust, is to trivialise the evil of Nazism. That view is mistaken. To focus on one part of a catastrophe where the horrors are more subtle is not to trivialise other, still more atrocious, aspects. Instead it is to show how its distinctive and chilling lack of humanity pervaded every aspect of Nazism. In focussing belated attention on the Third Reich's cultural politics, Spotts does not diminish our appreciation of the horror of fascism but enhances it.

Some information in Spotts' book may provide unwelcome news for vested intellectual interests. For example, Spotts exposes the rose-coloured portrait of Hitler in August Kubizek's _Adolf Hitler: Mein Judengfreund_ ("The Young Hitler I Knew"), showing it to be as fraudulent as the "Hitler" of Hermann Rauschning's imaginary dialogues. Hitler apologists have long clung onto "Kubizek's book", with - from their point of view - good reason given Kubizek's romanticisation of the young Hitler, but Spotts makes it clear that "Kubizek's" book was merely a ghostwritten hoax.

Another myth that is dying hard (though dying) is the one promoted by Köhler, Rose, Zelinsky et alia, claiming Hitler formed his political views and dreams out of composer Richard Wagner's operas and prose. Spotts shows that Hitler was indeed impressed at a young age by Wagner's opera _Rienzi_. But Hitler failed to note that in this early Wagnerian opera (Wagner himself dismissed _Rienzi_ as a "pecadillo of my youth") the Roman Tribune Rienzi becomes puffed up by the pride of his early successes, and is brought down by that unheeding arrogance. Rienzi fails to show compassion for those killed on either side, including his own, in Rome's brief civil war, preferring to spend his time and money on grand costumes and ceremonies, and he fails (eventually) to show mercy for those who fought against him. As a direct result of these failings he is overthrown by the Roman people: Wagner's actual message was obvious. It was Wagner's ill-luck that an evil lunatic, active a century after Wagner's opera was written, liked the sound his music made but failed to take note of his operas' meanings and messages.

But Hitler did eventually get Wagner's message, Spotts reveals, finding Wagner unpalatable after the defeat at Stalingrad brought home the lesson taught in Wagner's _Ring_ cycle: that pursuit of power destroys love and leads to moral degradation and downfall. From then Hitler could no longer bear to listen to Wagner, and in his last years turned instead to the schmaltzy operettas of Franz Lehar. There was no such person as "Wagner's Hitler", Spotts concludes; to Hitler, Wagner was only an opera composer. As an aside, Spotts noted that, Hitler excepted, the Nazi Party as a whole preferred Beethoven.

It would have been good to see more on the Reich's use of radio and film. Spotts hardly touches on Leni Riefenstahl's films, nor on films by other Nazi directors with similar amounts of artistic ambition, or pretension, but none of Riefenstahl's regrettable talent. The theatre under the Third Reich is also only barely covered. But in its central fields - music, painting and sculpture, and architecture including the abstract art of the autobahns - Spotts is comprehensive and authoritative.

Finally, it's important to note that Spotts is not being quite as ambitious as the book's blurb might suggest. Spotts does not "explain" Hitler, still less explain him away, by showing the extent of his artistic interests, and of his artistic disappointment. He writes only about one aspect of the great "catastrophe" (as Spotts called Hitler), but an aspect that contains considerable illumination on the whole.

Spotts provides a great deal of valuable information and insight on the arts in Hitler's Germany, with much that is (so far as I can tell) new and - mirabile dictu! - authoritative and reliable.

Cheers!

Laon