The first thing you have to realize is that this book is better performed than read. The amazing writing style makes you want to read it to the end. I recommend this book 100% to anybody that is interested in reading about a crazy village, a crazy family, a crazy man, an ofcourse a crazy tradition.

I loved the play. It it written with an ease and style that is not only pleasing to read, but also very smooth to perform. It is an eloquent statement about families and, of course, tradition. It offers us a view of the necessity of change and the importance that it has in society, not only then, but now as well. I would recomend that anyone interested in the Jewish way of life in the 20s and 30s in Europe, American musicals or simply in families, read this play; it will be well worth your while!

It was a great story. I recomend it to everyone. It tells about how the Jews go through there life with all maragies. It's a sweet book.

Fiddler on the Roof is in my opinion the best thing to ever to hit broadway. Joseph Stein has combined comedy and heartbreak in an inspiring story about Tevye, a humble Russian Jew, living in opressing times in Russia and his struggle to hold on to his tradition and the love of his family.

As a longtime devotee of Mari Gayatri I was eager to read "The Buddha Smiles". It is a great book - very funny - very enlightening. It is the kind of book you can pick up and open to any page and get just the right uplifting message you needed. I highly recommend it - very entertaining!

This is one of the best sttories I havde ever read. It is about a Jewish community in rural Russia trying to keep their traditional way of life durring thee russian revolution. I think the characters are very realistic and I think this story is one of the most imaginative books in the world. I esspecially like the way Tevye makes up quotaations from the Bible in order to teach his children a lesson. I also find the way the entire town of Anatevka acts. In short, i hearttilly recomend this book to anyone who likes a good story that is funny and an exiting read.

This is wonderful music from a classical musical

R. Conrad Stein begins his American Events book "The Great Red Scare" by making the allegory of Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible" clearly explicit in terms of American history. For those who are truly up to date on American Popular culture of the period, the cover photograph is equally interesting, for while we have Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) front and center we have in the foreground the figure of Joseph Welch, the lawyer who would finally call McCarthy to task during the Army-McCarthy hearings in front of the entire nation on television. Welch went on to play the judge in the Jimmy Stewart film "Anatomy of a Murder." Consequently, "The Great Red Scare" is able to put not only the major villain in this story on the cover, but one of the main heroes as well.

After looking at the history of Witch Hunting in the United States, Stein presents a brief look at Communism at Home and Abroad. This latter chapter does little to explain Communism as an ideology or political system, presenting more of an organizational history of Communism, especially as it relates to its presence in the U.S. Stein privileges the Rosenberg case as the spark that set off the firestorm, fueling the paranoia of Americans that the Soviets were devoted to taking over by any means necessary. The Feat Begins focuses on the Alger Hiss case, which rocketed Rep. Richard Nixon to national prominence.

However, the main focus of this book is clearly on McCarthy. In looking at What Manner of Man? was McCarthy, Stein sets the stage by showing how a lot of the demagoguery the Senator displayed on the national stage was clearly seen in his past life (e.g., more of a brawler than a boxer as a fighter, exaggerating his war record and the age of his opponent to win election to office). McCarthyism in Action shows the Senator in action, but focusing as much on his victims as on his buffoonish ranting and ravings to grab headlines. Young readers will be astounded, if not horrified, at what this man did to people. It is hard not to read about these times and not be outraged, wondering how on earth the American people could have embraced a man who never captured a single one of the Communists he was screaming about. President Eisenhower is one of several prominent political figures who fails to come out of this whole sorry mess looking good.

Americans Against McCarthy focuses on the Senator's fight with a couple of prominent national reports, Drew Pearson (whom McCarthy attacked physically) and Edward R. Murrow (who pretty much gets the main credit for destroying McCarthy on television). The Decline of the Red Scare is where Joseph Welch finally takes on McCarthy and drives the final nail in the coffin. After being censured by the Senate, McCarthy's alcoholism brings about his death.

"The Great Red Scare" is one of the most sordid chapters in American history, which makes it important to remember. Most American history textbooks do not give a sense for how bad things were, a problem that this book certainly corrects. Fortunately in the wake of September 11th we have not really seen a contemporary example of witch hunting involving Arab-Americans (if anything, some of the government's actions have been more reminiscent of what happened with Americans of Japanese descent during World War II, another dark episode that should not be forgotten). Perhaps the best evidence of Stein's effectiveness in this book is that by simply retelling the events of those times, he creates a sense of moral outrage in his readers, which is exactly the correct response to both McCarthy and the Red Witch Hunts.

A collection of essays by scholars of Apocalypticism. Good cites, interesting reading. Would have given it 5 stars, but the book contains no index, which would have been very useful to me.