Hey that's my sister on the cover, so I have to give it five stars. (I would have anyway.) pj

This may be one of the best textbooks about the topic. However, the translation is not done properly. The new edition is supposed to be published three years ago with corrections to the major errors, but the publication date has been postponed several times and it is still not available today. Anybody capable of reading German is recommended to read its original edition in German.

W.Stein was the first to discover young Adolf Hitler enthusiasm towards the occult mysteries of the world, especially his fascination towards the Spear of Longinus. Read this book and discover the secrets of the Knights of the Holy Grail.

Instead of Luc Tuymans, Anton Chekhov, Vratislav Effenberger, Milton Hatoum, Andrie Platonov, Victor Pelevin, Rebecca Solnit, I found in this issue of Grand Street (no 64) contributions of David Mamet, Suzan Lori Parks, José Saramago, Tony Smith, Tennesse Williams and Pablo Neruda

This was my first book I read by Gertrude Stein, and frankly, it will probably be my last. Her subject matter is bland and uninteresting. I understand her rejection of conventional prose, and she does have a unique style of writing, but I just don't like it. I can understand and appreciate why she wrote it the way she did, but it barely kept my attention. And her use of stereotypes was extremely blatant.

read the other reviews and youll be surprised by the violent reactions of people to this book. richard wright, black activist and author, praised this book as the "first true representation of an african-american in american literature" and yet another famous activist labeled it "senseless racist drivel"

What in the book provokes this controversy?

The question is complex. Though Stein in all three stories uses words like "black" and"german" as undeniable stereotypes, there is no denying that these categories get deconstructed by the narrative and the style.

If your read books for style, you cant go wrong here. Stein's experimental prose is poetry set to music, exploring all the auditory limits of the english language.

There are 3 stories, The Good Anna, Melanctha and The Gentle Lena.

The controversy is mainly about the second story. Not that the other stories dont have their issues. Eg: The Gentle Lena is probably one of the weirdest characters you will EVER see in fiction.

So, buy this book and treat yourself to some pleasure in the english language!

This is an important work of literature. The use of language to tell stories beyond what can typically be told in narrative was radical at the time. Students of early 20th Century American literature, students of gender studies, students of American studies should all be required to read it. Not an uplifting book and certainly not a book to recommend to your friends who spend more time watching TV and going to movies than reading.

There is a controversy surrounding the book's central character named Melanctha. It is unfortunate that television dominates culture in this era. It would seem that when a work of literature depicts a black person, a typical reader expects Cliff Huxtable to appear in one of his dandy sweaters to dispense advice to one of his children in DKNY clothing. Or readers of popular literature (books with bumpy covers) become offended when African American characters do not resemble one of Alice Walker's or Alex Haley's romanticized figures.

Melanctha is realistic. She is most likely a composite of many of the women with whom Stein came in contact while studying medicine in urban Baltimore. Melanctha's tragedy is that her intellect will go to waste because she is black and because she is a woman. Her sin (to some readers) seems to be that she talks like a black woman from Baltimore at that time would talk. So don't buy this book if you are offended by the way black people acted or German people acted (there is a story about German immigrants, as well) in Baltimore in the early 20th century.

If you are a fan of popular literature...Haley, Alice Walker, and the Cosby show are probably more up your alley. If you are interested in a very interesting experimental work from early 20th Century, by a woman who took her appreciation of post-impressionist art and tried to apply it to literature...this is it.