it is a good book to read and prepare for professional examinations

More than half the book is biographical materials on the individual artists and text regarding their involvement with the army. Actual reproductions of art work are fewer than I would have liked but are of good quality.

Ader sets forth an excellent directory of various practices of communism and how each differs from the original theory. The only shortcoming of the book is that it was written before the fall of the Soviet Union and therefore lacks a discussion on its implications.

A superb step-by-step account of how to win the hearts and minds of the voters in a small country town. An atmosphere of brooding menace pervades the book as a "creeping Jesus" of a priest is brought in to swing the forthcoming election in favour of the government party. The short chapters make the book highly readable and wind up the tension marvellously. The one person who sees through the priest is powerless to act as his house and his whole life are gradually taken over - until the final cataclysmic scene when .... but I won't spoil it all by telling you what happens. A merciless and meticulous portrayal of the intrigues in a small French provincial town that deserves to be much better known than it is, this early work forms a pair with the following volume (number five) in the Rougon-Macquart saga "La Faute De L'Abbé Mouret/The Sin Of Father Mouret". The subject matter may not be attractive, but Zola has made it compelling reading.

This is an excellent presentation of historical events by a contemporary.

CONTRARY TO A COMMONLY HELD VIEW THAT THIS NOVEL IS EXCLUSIVELY FOR HARD-CORE ZOLA FANS, IT IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE ROUGON-MACQUART EPIC. IT IS THE FIRST ROUGON-MACQUART NOVEL AND IT PORTRAYS THE RISE OF THE SECOND EMPIRE WITH THE SAME FORCE AS ZOLA'S RENOWN NOVEL "LA DEBACLE/THE DOWNFALL" (THE NINETHEENTH IN THE ROUGON-MACQUART EPIC) PORTRAYS ITS DEMISE. HAVING SAID THAT, ONE MUST ADD THAT IN THE FRENCH LITERATURE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, ZOLA'S ROUGON-MACQUART EPIC IS AS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTANDING THE FRENCH SOCIETY UNDER NAPOLEON III AS BALZAC'S "LA COMEDIE HUMAINE/THE COMEDY OF HUMAN LIFE" IS TO UNDERSTANDING THE FRENCH SOCIETY UNDER LOUIS-PHILIPPE, EVEN THOUGH THE LATTER CONSISTS OF 97 NOVELS, WHEREAS THE FORMER CONSISTS OF ONLY 20 AND FURTHERMORE, ONLY 19 NOVELS IN THE ROUGON-MACQUART EPIC DIRECTLY REFLECT THE PERIOD IN HISTORY BETWEEN 1852 AND 1870, BECAUSE ZOLA NEEDED THE NOVEL "DOCTOR PASCAL" TO EXPRESS HIS VIEWS ON THE HEREDITY THEORY.

UNLIKE THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF THE ROUGON-MACQUART NOVELS, IN WHICH EVENTS TAKE PLACE IN PARIS, A SMALL SOUTHERN TOWN CALLED PLASSANS IS CHOSEN AS A SETTING. IN REALITY SUCH TOWN DOES NOT EXIST, IT IS ONLY INTENDED TO RESEMBLE A PLACE CALLED "L'AIX", WHERE ZOLA SPENT MOST OF HIS CHILDHOOD.

IT SHOWS HOW PIERRE ROUGON (THE OLDEST SON OF ADELAIDE FOUQUE) MAKES A CAREER FOR HIMSELF, HIS WIFE AND TWO OF HIS SONS DURING THE COUP D'ETAT. AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF HIS RISE, WE WITNESS A TRAGIC FATE OF HIS NEPHEW SILVERE AND SILVERE'S BELOVED MIETTA. THEY DIE YOUNG FOR THEIR IDEALS.

THE SUBSEQUENT NOVELS WILL SHOW VARIOUS SIDES OF LIFE UNDER NAPOLEON III. ADELAIDE FOUQUE'S GRANDCHILDREN AND GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN WILL EITHER BE MAIN CHARACTERS OR AT LEAST PLAY A SECONDARY ROLE IN ALL OF THEM. MANY OF THESE CHARACTERS WILL POSSESS INNATE VICES OF DIFFERENT KINDS. FOR EXAMPLE, GERVAISE MACQUART'S ADDICTION TO ALCOHOL IN "L'ASSOMOIR/THE DRAM SHOP" TOGETHER WITH DIFFERENT KINDS OF NEUROSIS DEVELOPED BY HER SONS CLAUDE ("L'OUVRE/THE MASTERPIECE") AND JACQUES ("LA BETE HUMAINE/THE BEAST IN MAN") ARE ALL HEREDETARY. THE SAME GOES FOR THE DEPRAVED NATURE OF GERVAISE'S DAUGHTER NANA IN "NANA". ADELAIDE FOUQUE'S GRANCHILDREN FRANCOIS MOURET AND MARTA ROUGON ("LA CONQUET DES PLASSANS/THE CONQUEST OF PLASSANS") DIE AFTER GOING INSANE, LIKE THEIR GRANDMOTHER.

WE LEARN FROM THE SECOND CHAPTER OF THIS NOVEL THAT NOT ONLY ADELAIDE FOUQUE HERSELF, BUT HER FATHER AS WELL WAS INSANE. THEREFORE, ADELAIDE FOUQUE IS NOT THE ORIGIN OF THE VICES THAT RUN IN THE FAMILY. NONETHELESS, A GENEALOGICAL TREE OF THE ROUGON-MACQUART FAMILY INCLUDED IN THE NOVEL "DOCTOR PASCAL" BEGINS WITH HER.

The Purple War wages on, and Operator 5 (Jimmy Christopher) never tires. The Purple War books by Tepperman are the best of Operator 5 -- pure pulp action, without the annoyances of other authers who handled the character (no ridiculous secret indentity, no stopping the story to explain the magic trick of the month).

The material presented is great, well presented and easy to follow. Its a great companion for those who wish to better understand the workings of the inner mind.
Its great material to have; however, the quality of this book along with most books published by Kessinger Publishing is VERY POOR. They simply pass the original book through the the photo copier, assemble the pages and sell them as books.
I strongly recomend the material on this book, and if you wish to buy it don't this book or any other published by Kessinger as you won't like the quality of the product. I am very certain that there are other purchasers who will agree with me on this.

A much underrated work of Zola's, this book is a fascinating mixture of steamy sex and high finance, worthy of the best TV soap operas. It gives you all the tricks of insider dealing and how to take the risk out of real estate speculation. All this against the backdrop of the building of the modern Paris, the "City of Lights" we admire so much today. This is the world of "get-rich-quick" with a vengeance. Also possibly the first recorded use of a bearskin rug for illicit sex (between teenage son and father's second wife). A big improvement on Zola's first book, it deserves to be much better known than it is. A must for everyone who wants to be upwardly mobile.