One of his lesser known works, Shakespeare's Trojan play is also one of his most intriguing. Not quite a burlesque, 'Troilus and Cressida''s lurches in tone, from farce to historical drama to romance to tragedy, and its blurring of these modes, explains why generations of critics and audiences have found it so unsatisfying, and why today it can seem so modern. Its disenchanted tone, its interest in the baser human instincts underlying (classical) heroism look forward to such 20th century works as Giraudoux's 'The Trojan War Will Not Take Place' or Terry Jones' 'Chaucer's Knight'; the aristocratic ideals of Love and War, inextricably linked in this play, are debased by the merchant-class language of exchange, trade, food, possesion - the passionate affair at its centre is organised by the man who gave his name to pimps, Pandarus, and is more concerned with immediate sexual gratification than anything transcendental. The Siege of Troy sequences are full of the elaborately formal rhetoric we expect from Shakespeare's history plays, but well-wrought diplomacy masks ignoble trickery; the great heroes Ajax and Achilles are petulant egotists, the latter preferring the company of his catamite to combat; the actual war sequences, when they finally come, are a breathless farce of exits and entrances. There are a lot of words in this play, but very few deeds.

Paris, Prince of Troy, has abducted Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. Led by the latter's brother Agamemnon, and his Machiavellian advisors Ulysses and Nestor, the Greeks besiege Troy, demanding the return of Helen. However, Achilles' dissatisfaction at the generals' endless politicking has spread discontent in the ranks. Within Troy, war takes a distinct second place to matters of the heart. While Paris wallows in luxury with his prize, his youngest brother Troilus uses Pandarus as a go-between to arrange a night of love with his niece, Cressida. When one of the Trojan leaders is taken prisoner by the Greeks, the ransom price is Cressida.

There is only one character in 'Troilus' who can be said to be at all noble and not self-interested, the eldest Trojan prince Hector, who, despite his odd interpreation of the quality 'honour', detests a meaningless war, and tries to spare as many of his enemies' lives as he can. He is clearly an anachronism, however, and his ignoble slaughter at the hands of a brutal gang suggests what price chivalry. Perhaps the most recognisable character is Thirsitis, the most savagely cynical of his great Fools. Imagine Falstaff without the redeeming lovability - he divests heroes and events of their false values, satirises motivations, abuses his dim-witted 'betters' and tries to preserve his life at any cost. Written in between 'Hamlet' and 'All's Well That Ends Well', 'Troilus' bears all the marks of Shakespeare's mid-period: the contrapuntal structure, the dense figures, the audacious neologisms, and the intitially deferred, accelerated action. If some of the diplomacy scenes are too efective in their parodic pastiche of classical rhetoric, and slow things down, Act 5 is an amazing dramatic rush, crowning the play's disenchantment with love (with an extraordinarily creepy three-way spaying of an infidelity) and war.

The New Penguin Shakespeare is the most accessible and user-friendly edition for students and the general reader (although it does need updating). Unlike the Oxford or Arden series, which offer unwieldy introductions (yawning with irrelevant conjecture about dates and sources) and unusable notes (clotted with tedious pedantry more concerned with fighting previous commentators than elucidating Shakespeare), the Penguin's format offers a clear Introduction dealing with the play and its contexts, an appendix 'An Account of the Text', and functional endnotes that gloss unfamiliar words and difficult passages. The Introduction is untainted by fashions in Critical Theory, but is particularly good at explaining the role of Time ('When time is old and hath forgot itself...And blind oblivion swallowed cities up'), the shifting structure, the multiple viewpoints in presenting characters, and Shakespeare's use of different literary and linguistic registers.

Troilus and Cressida is one of Shakespear`s many romances, and, like most of his romances, is a tragedy. Since time immemorial, Shakespears` works have been used as plays, literature and (least often) just casual reading. While Troilus and Cressida is one of the less known plays, it is no less a good one. It is based in Troy(as the name might imply)during the much renowned Trojan War. The valiant Troilus, son of the Trojan king is enamoured of Cressida, also of Troy. Meanwhile, the Greek hosts have laid siege to the city, and the warrior Achilles refuses to fight, encouraging further interaction between the two sides. Cressida, however, is the daughter of a Greek sympathizer(if that is the correct word)and may not be able to honour her commitment to the Trojan prince...

I think this is one os Shakespeare's most underrated plays, probably because of all the uncouth characters. Based on Chaucer's rendition of the story, T and C are Trojan lovers, and she is then traded to the Greeks in exchange for captive soldiers. Aside from this, the women of Troy are wanton and lustful, and the men are prowess driven. If you can deal with this, you will really enjoy Shakespeare's ability to wrap this into all kinds of twists and turns. It delivers a mixture of satire, comedy, romance, tragedy, and a semi-historical (in that people at the time probably believed the Trojan War really happened). Interestingly, this mixture of laughs and tragedy is reminiscent of war novels I have read about Vietnam. The romantic dimensions give this play its edge, and somehow WS manages to make it plausible in spite of all the killing and deceit going on at the same time.

This book is written by small, established clique with association to the Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty. Individually, each researcher has turned out years of credible research. Unfortunately, they have a reputation for deviating from credible research results when arguing policy to the public and when making a case for specific reforms. The major failures of the current child support system are largely attributable to this crowd, which from the 70s have promoted the application of old Soviet Russian "welfare policy" in the United States. Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of this history, is that Congress was so willing to implement the reforms, forcing states to replace traditional Constitutionally based mechanisms for dealing with family issues.

I too, would like to rename the book. A proper title would be "Our Two Decades of Failure and the New Spin for the 21st Century: What We Want You to Believe Now".

I agree with the previous reviewer that lack of focus on the effects of child support reform at higher income levels underlies a basic failure of the book to enter current discussion in a rational way. The "success" of the authors in promoting policy reform is largely concentrated in the fact that federal "welfare laws" and welfare bureaucracy have now been extended to all income levels. Simply ignoring the most damaging effects of these reforms doesn't make them go away.

Each chapter of this book is a separate study looking at child support enforcement and its impact on nonresident fathers. The authors believe the biggest impact of enforcement efforts falls on low income and poverty level fathers, therefore virtually all of what they study focuses on that group alone. Consequently, it would have been more appropriate to include "Low Income" in the book's title. Unfortunately, the majority of nonresident fathers are not in this population, as enforcement activities impact them as well. Understanding the impact on the bigger population would help policy makers improve overall enforcement activities. One area that I was especially disappointed about in this book is the fact that none of the authors address the foundation for child support enforcement, and that is the basis that child support orders are determined. Statistics and figure abound on what nonresident parents (usually fathers) "owe" in child support, yet it seems to be simply accepted as a given that the guidelines used in each state are fundamentally sound in their philosophy and economics. If, as many argue, the numbers are overstated through lack of consideration of the expenses of an involved nonresident parent's "parenting", the impact on them can be enormous, creating a roadblock to involvement in their child's life. This creates enormous conflict of its own, and certainly can't help but contribute to the problem of father absence. As the US Census has pointed out, when a nonresident parent is involved in their child's life, compliance with child support is approximately 90%. One could argue, which this book fails to do, that for enforcement to truly work, we should do all we can to foster dual parent involvement. This book provides an interesting look at poverty level fathers within this public policy arena. Its usefulness from a practical point of view however, is limited to only that population. Focusing change based on this material would be dangerous as the data is "incomplete".

This book, unlike most other books which blindly focus on independent aspects of poverty and well being, succeeds in bringing together a pool of information on Fathers. I found the writing articulate and the information at worst a honed compilation of all research on the topic, and at best an excellent resource for all in the field of population studies.