Of course, one can't expect too much insight and theorizing on the part of Sturmer in this volume, due to the Modern Library's length limitation. However, I felt the book was just too hollow, a fairly dry rundown of European geopolitical strategy mixed with basic German interior numbers.

The German Empire of 1870-1918 is one of the greatest tragedies in world history. At one time, due to the German peoples impressive work ethic, it appeared to many that the 20th century would be "Germany's century". Unfortuanetly for countless millions, it was, in a horrific way. Sturmer takes you though a culture analysis, setting the basis for the nations ultimate degeneration and its nightmarish revenge under Hitler. It's fairly interesting, but at times it felt like one was reading a text book. Again, Sturmer can't get all the blame, but other Modern Library writers have added enough personal insight and detail to make their books more interesting than Sturmers.

To reiterate, this book is a good overview or introduction, but it is by no means a great read or very informative.

This compilation of short stories about libraries and/or librarians presents a mixed bag of the good, bad, and the ugly. A collection of stories about the profession is certainly past due. I agree with editorial comments that some of the stories penned by Bradbury, Borges, Boucher, and Brooks are true gems. The Koger story presented the entrapment of a person in a no advancement position; the Calvino and the LeGuin stories reminded me of good ol book burnin days; the Dabrowska story showed the advancement of ineptitude; the Kaufmann story reminded me of a Harlequin novel. I guess a collection of short stories cannot please everybody.

I like the way the stories are broken up into 10-15 minute reads. This is perfect for bedtime reading, unfortunately, when I read this to my 5 year old son, I have to say that I've felt the need to skip over some parts of the stories due to their graphic nature. I imagine a 10 year old is more ready for dead rats but why change the plot so far away from the intentions of the classical writer?

it amazed me that there are no novels in this book. it is a strange collection. don't know anything about the criteria the editor used. this collection contains an ok story by blackwood (the damned) and a great one by metcalfe (the feasting dead). other than that, just uninteresting stories

Bell's book is one that is extremely difficult to review in that many of his analyses of the realist texts are brilliant, whereas some of his other critiques seem completely obtuse. Bell is most brilliant with the works that he tends to like: His problematizing of past critics' idealization of Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of Pointed Firs is his best interpretation within his book. His links, also, between Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (a book he loathes) and Henry James The Bostonians are truly interesting. Finally, his analysis of the double voice that he finds in Dreiser's Sister Carris is an interesting analysis about a text that one would think nothing more could be said upon.

The problem, however, with the text overall is with some of Bell's assumptions. He tends to prioritize the Howellsian definition of realism that makes his own understanding of realism seem extremely limited. Although he does offer an understanding of James' contrary definition to Howell's realism, Bell seems to suggest that such realism is limited to James. The overall problem is Bell's simplification and dehistoricizing of the time into personal, psychological issues. Howells and Norris are bad writers because they were affraid to be linked with "femininity" and asserted a masculine type of realism, whereas James, Crane, and Dreiser did not either because of their closer proxmity to the working classes (the Norris and Howells fetishized) or because of a reliance on prioritizing aesthetics. But what Bell overlooks is Crane's and Jame's coding of the city as predominantly feminine, especially James' The Bostonians, that Bell never questions as sexist in itself. Nor does he question Twain's own link of feminization as something Huck Finn unintentionally mocks within The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. There are strange logical connections that Bell makes throughout the book. For example, he claims that Twain is not a satirist because he does not offer other moral imperatives for Huck Fin n to follow. I don't know why Bell assumes that satire must necessarily offer some type of alternative, and he doesn't really explain his reasoning to assume so. There are more problems that are too numerous to go into detail here.

Overall, the book is worth reading in that it allows one to think about issues that he/she has not usually taken into consideration. Similarly, Bell's more particularly frustrating arguments do force the reader to reconsider certain texts that she/he has taken for granted in the past.

From reading the back cover of this book I expected some stories with action, cheating, and other interesting plots. Its not that this book didn't have these things, but it didn't
have enough of them. In a sentence this writer should not have done short stories. His story reaches a quick climax but it doesn't seem to be resolved. For example in the first
story a 19 year old with his wife are traveling to Florida. However the 19 year old is sick of life, a little crazy, and is has a gun. At this point the story has got my attention. When
he reaches his destination he finally goes off the edge and kills someone. To not have to take the punishment he flies to Canada. So I'm thinking wow how's he going to live in
Canada when he has no connections and not much money. I turn the page and that's the end and a new story is starting. Maybe short stories aren't for me but that ended way too
soon. Overall I didn't really like this book. The other stories weren't very good. If you like short stories maybe this is one for you but if you've never read them this shouldn't be
your first.

I found this in a used book store, and bought it in on the jacket cover and design alone. I thought at first it was a novel, but it is actually a collection of stories. The twist is, every story has the same hero with the same name, but each story exists in an independant time of another. The stories span all sorts of different times and different genres, from thriller to drama to comedy to historical to sexual. I'm not really sure if it adds up to anything- the tone is very inconsistant from one story to the next- but the stories are individually riveting. It's a shame that the author has not written anything else. For a literary debut that came out nine years ago, it is remarkably fresh. If you can track it down, pick it up.

I purchased the "Vintage Book of Classic Crime" expecting it to be primarily a collection of crime and mystery short stories by classic authors. Instead it is primarily novel excerpts that are not in and of themselves self-contained stories. What exactly is the point when you can buy "The Postman Always Rings Twice" or "The Lady in the Lake?" What do you need a four page excerpt for? This collection is virtually worthless.

Michael Dibdin's "Book of Classic Crime" tackles more than a century of work in this field. It features many of the usual writing suspects, from Americans Raymond Chandler, Edgar Allan Poe, and Dashiell Hammett; to Swedes Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo; Frenchman Georges Simenon; Brits Julian Symons and G.F. Newman; and Japanese mystery-maker Masako Togawa. However, Dibdin has also wrangled into these pages some distinguished authors not generally thought of as purveyors of creative carnage. C.S. Forester, for instance, is represented by the tale of a common man discovering his uncommon homicidal talents. Emile Zola sketches an unexpectedly terrifying boat ride on the Seine River. And Hunter Thompson shows his macabre humor about human sacrifices in an excerpt from "Fearing and Loathing in Las Vegas." Unfortunately, none of the pieces in this book extends beyond 14 pages. Most of them reach barely half that length. Such limits work fine in a section that Dibdin devotes to critical wisdom about the past and promise of crime fiction, the snippets drawn from essays and stories by such notables as Bertolt Brecht, S.J. Perelman, and Northrop Frye (who contends that "In the melodrama of the brutal thriller we come as close as it is normally possible for art to come to the pure self-righteousness of the lynching mob"). Much less satisfying, though, are what Dibdin calls the "bleeding chunks" he's cut from full novels and printed here. How many readers, coming to this anthology expecting to receive a full helping of Ira Levin or Barbara Vine or James M. Cain will be infuriated to discover that all they really get is a tease, a Whitman's Sampler of literary accomplishments. If you want context for the obscenely suggestive episode from James McClure's South African cop drama "The Steam Pig," or you're dying to find out what happens to the kindly landlords in Marie Belloc Lowndes' "The Lodger"...well, you'll just have to locate the books yourself or be satisfied not knowing whodunit, why they did it, or

With a title like this, one risks unknown terrain. After some promising moments in Chapter 1, which looks at Lucifer's struggle with his own ego in conflict with his own love and reverence for God, the tenor of the work changes. This work contains overt anti-gay and lesbian messages, as well as labelling and limiting comments about both men and women. Twenty-five percent of this book is devoted to a new "constitution" that espouses incredibly exclusionary messages. I am disturbed by the "hate" content in this book. The "love story" that comprises a good part of the book is a utopian fantasy objectification of the female body, for the woman can only fall in love with a male angel (who bears the author's pseudonym). This book fails to ask intelligent questions about the stories of history, something it purports to do. Those interested in serious, alternative approaches to philosophical and theological questions ought to look elsewhere.

In case my first review didn't get through. Lucifer's Wish offered some great stories, for the first four chapters. Sunstar then gets into some serious theology. His New Constitution presents to us what a Christian government might look like, if the United States Constitution had the term: "Christian" on it. I disagree with the last customer review. I think the author was being artistic in his freedom of expression in voicing a Biblical opinion about those who live sexually immoral lifestyles and what rules should have been implemented in the first place to keep the Christian integrity of America intact. Yes, quite controversial, yet right on track theologically. The romance part was intriguing, giving us a good short story about what it might be like for an angel to fall in love with a woman. Also, giving the very nature of why Satan became Satan in the first place was thought-provoking. I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone who loves Truth, Justice, and God's Ways.

Wow! This dude really has an artistic viewpoint! I would have to disagree with the other customer. I think the author was not aiming for anti-gay agendas, although it pretty much puts them in their proper place from Heaven's point of view. The author's theology is right on track, extreme, and to the point. The first three chapters give a great analogy of the fall of Lucifer. Other chapters highlight some of the deceptions over history that the human race has bought into. The New Constitution really emphasizes what a Christian country might look like if one were to actually follow what the Bible says and respect the laws written in it. Basically when a person respects God they will want to follow His Laws and so I think that is what the author was aiming for - a real respect for the Constitution of Biblical Canon which fires away at the forces of evil with the Goodness of God's Words. This was absolute, funny, and I totally liked the author's no-nonsense approach at telling it like it is or ought to be!

Having read most everything published by Marryat, all of the Hornblower series, and everything written by Patrick O'Brian I must say this book was a terrible disappointment. There is no plot to speak of; not even the somewhat unevenly spaced episodes of the early Hornblower books. There is little to no character development; after 450 pages of this 508 page edition I gave up because I still didn't really know who was who (or even care!). There was no real discussion of life aboard ships of the time period, nor any understanding of hardships or life during the time period. All this author was able to do adequately, in my opinion, was act as a fashion critic wherein he discribed, often in unnecessary detail, the various clothing worn by the various individuals who floated like some sort of jettsom throughout his "novel." I cannot, after reading close to 100 novels of this period of life at sea, give a worse recommendation than I give to "Tom Cringle's Log." It truly is not worth the time or money.

The various chapters of this novel were published separately in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine from 1829 to 1833. They were reorganized into chronological order and published in the present book form in 1833. The author was a businessman in Jamaica during the time period of the story, and was familiar with both the area and the era. The book is of some interest to people studying that segment of history. On the down side, the novel (in narrative form) is written in the fashion of that era, and the fashion required by Blackwood's. It goes into excruciating details describing everything the main character observes. The story sometimes drags as Tom Cringle goes from one adventure to another. The main action takes place from roughly 1811, when Cringle was in his early naval career, to the point where he is promoted to commander and returns to England (possibly 1820 or so), and roughly corresponds to the time period when the author lived in Jamaica. The story starts in European waters, but quickly shifts to the West Indies where Cringle deals with Americans, pirates, and slavers. A considerable portion of the account is spent on land.

The real travesty is that reviews like the 1-star above should color people's first impressions of this landmark book. Unlike O'Brian et al., Scott lived the life and times he wrote about, and his powers of description were superb. Scott's style is a bit dated, but his book does repay the modern reader's attention.

Resnick's Alternates series is my personal favorite collection of alternate history stories, as editor Resnick has commissioned a wide variety of fiction writers in each to imagine alternate timelines and individuals. But Alternate Warriors fails where books like Alternate Kennedys and Alternate Presidents succeeds. While Mohandas Gandhi's evolution into a radical terrorist is plausible, many of the stories here -- Jane Austen captaining a warship? -- are just silly. Worse, they're not even interesting.