I could relate to nearly everything that Miss Waters wrote about in Crossing Highbridge, because I came from that Irish Catholic enclave, I knew the Waters family long ago, and I went to Sacred Heart with Maureen's sister, Agnes.

Maureen Waters is a gifted writer who combines history, philosophy, religion, and the socio-econimic conditions in a working class environment in the 1940's and 1950's, with utter grace, and at the same time, the reader can experience some strong emotions of saddness and joy.

I was able to identify with nearly everything Miss Waters wrote about her Irish Catholic upbringing in Highbridge, because I too came from the same place, and I knew her sister Agnes many, many years ago. However, if I had not had the privilege of knowing Maureen and her literary family, I would still have been able to appreciate the writer's gift of style where she combined gracefully, history, philosophy, religion along with the socioeconomic conditions of the 1940's and 1950's growing up in Highbridge.

This profoundly moving memoir of growing up Irish/Catholic/female in the midcentury Bronx began with the author's need to understand the loss of her son to accidental death by drugs and alcohol. As she puts it, "the drive to piece together cause and effect was a belief that I had far more power than I actually did for good or ill." She sifts the past out of psychological necessity, desperate, guilty, and finds ordinary treasure: in human characters - her father, an immigrant from Sligo, her mother from Mayo, a feisty and lovable little sister, Agnes, and, above all, in her beautiful and enigmatic lost child of the flaming red hair, Brian Patrick - and also in their brave and lonely human places (Highbridge on Hudson, Long Island). She looks back for clues to her loss from the perspective of a divorced single mother trying to juggle children and hold her own in academe (she's now a professor of English). Memory sifted through the prism of such luminous prose and honest emotion offers a gentle and moving consolation to this reader. The story of the author's Catholic journey, from insider - the parish was Sacred Heart - to outsider is told with devastating brevity. I'll never forget the final image of women's exclusion. It rings so true. The abyss is present in Waters' world, but to me this is a book of hope

Sanford Sternlicht's CHAIM POTOK: A CRITICAL COMPANION is part of the Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers series put out by Greenwood Press. Having worked at a public library reference desk, serving high school students in very real need of in-depth sources on modern writers, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It admirably and thoroughly fills a serious scholarly gap for students needing information on Potok, one of our greatest modern Jewish American writers. In addition, the book is an interesting and informative read on its own. What I found in the book piqued my interest and I plan to read at least three of Potok's novels.

The book leads the reader to an understanding of Chaim Potok and his works on many fronts. There is a short biography of Potok, an analysis of his literary acheivements and his sources of inspiration, and then an most helpful analysis of each of his eight novels; each novel is assigned its own chapter.

A most intriguing feature in Sternlicht's book is his explanation of various styles of literary criticism, followed by an application of that style of criticism to a Potok novel (i.e., psychoanalytic theory is applied to The Chosen, reader-response criticism is applied to The Book of Lights, feminist criticism is applied to Davita's Harp, etc.). Far from being a dry or dull, these discussions and analyses are clearly written and shed light on aspects of the novel that the reader may have never before considered.

Another fine aspect of the book is that Sterlicht provides the historical background of each novel as well as character and plot development and thematic and symbolic elements. Each of these aspects of the novel being discussed is laid out in a clear, concise, and logical fashion, making the book very easy to use for students doing research on Potok's novels.

I don't think that anyone could ask for a clearer or more balanced analysis of Chaim Potok's novels than what Mr. Sternlicht has provided in CHAIM POTOK: A CRITICAL COMPANION. It belongs in all secondary school, undergraduate, and public libraries, and in the private libraries of anyone who enjoys Potok, American literature, and/or just a plain old good read.

Sternlicht's qualifications as a prolific author and as professor of both English and Judaic studies at Syracuse University are very much in evidence in this volume. He has performed a great service both to Mr. Potok and to lovers and students of literature everywhere.

This is a book that evokes the broad spectrum of books that Chaim Potok has written, but most especially The Chosen. Beginning with a history of the author and then a history of the Jewish-American novelist, Sternlicht gives us the advantage of his teaching in the Jewish Studies program at Syracuse University. Each novel is then adressed, with a careful description that brings back the delight of its original reading, and then followed by a discussion in its larger historic and ideational context. It is a most enjoyable and informative book, reminds one of the pleasure from earlier Potok novels, and I hope for more of the same from Sternlicht.

This fascinating and engaging book is the only critical/literary biography about novelist C S Forester (1899-1966) in print. It stands up very well as both a biography and a work of literary criticism. Lovers of the Horatio Hornblower novels, always hungry for more insights into the great captain's life, will find in this book a treasure trove, for a fictional character can only be truly understood when one knows more about the actual source of the character -- C S Forester. But this book covers all of Forester's major works, not just the Hornblower series. Author Sanford Sternlicht spins the tale of Forester's paradoxical and complex life and personality with the engaging touch of the novelist himself, but with the distance necessary for a critical biography. Sternlicht provides compelling and thorough insights into nearly all of Forester's writings [the few exceptions being two plays, a children's book, and some non-Hornblower short fiction], which include his novels (The African Queen, The General, Payment Deferred, the entire Hornblower saga, Hunting the Bismarck, and many more), history (The Age of Fighting Sail, and others), biography (Josephine: Napoleon's Empress, and others), and two travelogues. Forester's appeal and great popularity as a writer of fiction is examined in detail by Mr Sternlicht, who clearly knows his subject matter well. This is a revised edition of the 1981 first edition published by G. K. Hall, one of the TWAYNE'S ENGLISH AUTHOR SERIES books. Having read both editions, I can say without hesitation that the revised edition is a fresh and informative as the first, and that it is indeed a "revised" edition, with considerably more detail provided about Forester's home life (Sternlicht acknowledges new sources of information, including the significant addition of Forester's oldest son, John).

Forester's writing has a tremendous true-to-life, "verismo" quality which transports the reader into the time and place of the novel in hand. He achieved this by having an almost encyclopedic knowledge of those times and places, and by being able to put that knowledge to brilliant use in the some of the most fascinating books I have ever read, books which bear many, many readings and which stand up so well to those readings that one is left wanting even more Forester to read. He was truly a giant of popular culture, not just in America and Britain but worldwide, from the late 1930's to the 1960's. Sanford Sternlicht provides a very welcome door into the life and works of C S Forester, and this new book will be a very welcome addition to your bookshelf.

Author Sternlicht has provided a concise yet thorough guide to the ever-changing story of modern American drama. Included is an overview of American theatre, stretching back to the nineteenth century, and reviewing trends and influences to the present time (2001). This is quite helpful as a basis for more thorough appreciation of the 78 playwrights discussed in the book.

Sternlicht has divided the eras of modern American drama into the early 20th century -- covering such playwrights as Eugene O'Neill, Maxwell Anderson, S.N. Behrman, Lillian Hellman, Clifford Odets, William Saroyan, and more; the World War II generation of playwrights, led by the great Tennessee Williams and including segments on William Inge, Garson Kanin, Arthur Miller, Carson McCullers, Ossie Davis, James Baldwin, Paddy Chayefsky, Neil Simon, and more; Post-World War II playwrights Edward Albee, Lorraine Hansberry, Jack Gelber, Imamu Amiri Baraka, Lanford Wilson, Terence McNally, Sam Shepard, and others; and the New Dramatists (also post-World War II, but with a different weltanschaung): August Wilson, Albert Innaurato, David Mamet, Marsha Norman, Harvey Fierstein, Wendy Wasserman, Suzan-Lori Parks, Migeul Pi~nero, and more.

Within each section is an overview of the historical/cultural influence of the times in which the playwrights lived and worked.
This background is quite helpful for understanding the playwrights' works; all of the major plays of each author are discussed. Short plot outlines for each play are provided, as well as a short critical analysis. This is true even for the lesser-known playwrights, who are not given short shrift, even if only one of their works has been a success on the stage. Audience and critical reaction to each play are touched on as well.

All in all, this is a very thorough guide; it would be particularly useful in college and high school libraries and drama/lit. classes, and could also serve as a reference for young adult students.
Sternlicht has included some lesser-known as well as some very recent playwrights who may not be covered as thoroughly (when at all) in other publications of this type. In addition, this new (2002) book is recent enough to include gay and lesbian drama and well as feminist drama.

The book is very readable in its own right. Sternlicht has a direct and concise style which never rambles. There's nothing superfluous or padded in it; it is pure information presented in a well-organized manner, and the treatments of the playwrights are sympathetic overall.

A selected critical biography and very good index round out the book.

Okay. I am slightly biased in my review of this book, for reasons which will become clear later on. First off, it should be said that it looks great; glossy and well-manufactured, on acid-free paper, it will last a good long while (though don't put it in your windowsill - I put my copy of the first volume there and it's paled noticeably.)

Judy Friel's short essay on Patrick Mason's tenure as artistic director of Ireland's national theatre is very good about Mason's sense of historical mission. He opened the theatre up to younger writers and actors, giving lucrative and welcome jobs to the many talented people that had arisen from the fringe theatre scene that exploded in Dublin in the early 90s. He also brought plays such as "Angels in America" to an audience that might never otherwise have seen them. (Not many saw "Angels" - scared off by the rumour of Gay People On Stage, they stayed away in droves and it bombed, which was a shame as it was a fine production, albeit only of Part 1.)

Michael Harding is an Abbey regular and "Sour Grapes" is his jaundiced look at the modern priesthood. Not entirely unexpectedly, he finds it riddled with cynicism, abuse of power and faithlessness. The play was intensely topical, because at the time it went on, the country was swamped with revelations (sic) about sexual abuse in the clergy. I find Harding's tone a bit dour and depressed, but there's no doubting the power of the piece, and it certainly reflects a changing attitude in Ireland towards the Catholic church.

Thomas Kilroy's "The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde" is an elegant meditation on the marriage of Oscar and Constance. It's a bit of a shadowplay, highly stylised, with masked puppetteers manipulating all the bit parts - the only speaking characters are Ozzie, his lady wife and his nemesis Lord Alfred Douglas, a handsome devil but by all accounts a truly appalling human being. (A recent biographer thought differently, but then said biographer was only 21 when the biography in question was published, so me may forgive him his youthful...well, ignorance.) Kilroy's conclusion is that Constance was a woman well and truly wronged, and it's hard to argue with that, although I don't know if this piece has the richness and conviction of some of his earlier work.

Alex Johnston's "Melonfarmer" is a sprawling monster of a piece that goes on much too long, but then it's a first play. (That's no excuse, mind.) I think the author spends a little too much time showing off his neat ear for the evasions and ellipses of youthful speech patterns, but there's a basic emotional honesty and a certain beady-eyed unsentimentality that readers may find refreshing. It has some moments of completely bizarre humour and an extremely nasty scene involving a bullet in the foot, both of which were thoroughly up my artistic street. If this writer worked a bit more on his stagecraft, he could get somewhere. I liked it a lot, but then, like I said at the top, I'm biased, cause - I wrote it.

Lastly, Marina Carr's "By the Bog of Cats" is a truly weird, slightly kitschy attempt to rewrite the Medea story as a domestic tragedy set in the Irish Midlands. This would be a great idea, except that Carr goes on to mess it up with a lot of musty sub-Yeatsian symbolism (black swans, ghosts, bogs) and a plot that is so plotted that you only really need to see the first scene to guess how it's all going to work out. But then, this kind of thing is just not for me. Carr is one of Ireland's leading playwrights, but the ends to which she uses her great gifts are getting increasingly obscure to me.

Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to have one of the writers review the book. All of these plays are eminently stageable, but I'll bet there's not a theatre out there that would want to do every one of them - except the Abbey, bless it.

NEW PLAYS FROM THE ABBEY THEATRE, Vol. 2, 1996-1998 is a welcome offering from editors Judy Friel and Sanford Sternlicht and from Syracuse University Press. Ms. Friel is a native of Derry, an alumnus of Trinity College, Dublin, and currently the literary manager of Ireland's National Theatre. Mr. Sternlicht is a professor of English at Syracuse University who also teaches Modern Irish Drama each summer at Trinity College. He has written extensively about English and Irish writers, and has many works in print, including A READER'S GUIDE TO MODERN IRISH DRAMA.

In NEW PLAYS... Vol. 2, the editors have provided a brief but informative introduction to modern Irish theatre. Ms. Friel gives an account of the revitalization of the National Theatre of Ireland in the 1990's by its artistic director, Patrick Mason, who examined the direction of the institution and returned it to its roots (those established by earlier Irish writers such as Yeats, J.M. Synge, and Lady Gregory), focusing on the responsibility of the Abbey Theatre to its Irish playwrights, who(to quote Yeats),
"bring to the stage the deeper thoughts and emotions of Ireland."

The book contains complete plays by four of Ireland's greatest modern playwrights - in this volume they are Michael Harding (SOUR GRAPES),Thomas Kilroy (THE SECRET FALL OF CONSTANCE WILDE), Alex Johnston (MELONFARMERS), and Marina Carr (BY THE BOG OF CATS). Mr. Sternlicht provides concise biographical information on each playwright as well as a brief overview of each of their plays. The copyright and contact information for performance rights is listed on the last page.

SOUR GRAPES (Harding) is a fascinating but very sad play about pedophilia, homosexuality and the abuse of power in a Roman Catholic seminary setting, and how it drives a young seminarian to suicide. The young man's case is defended by a sympathetic priest, but the priest, not adept at investigation on a good day, is thwarted by all the other priests in the play including the Bishop and the Canon. The reader is forced to think about the effects of enforced celibacy, and the unholy attitudes/actions of most of the clergy are upsetting. The play jumps around a good deal in a sort of Joycean style. Its realism is jarring(but not surprising, as Harding is a former Catholic preist). The plays powerful statements leaves this reader feeling rather beaten down and exhausted. It certainly speaks to modern issues.

THE SECRET FALL OF CONSTANCE WILDE (Kilroy), written by one of Ireland's most distinguished writers is a sensitive historical accounting of the tragic downfall of Oscar Wilde and his wife, Constance. She is brought out from beneath the shadow of her famous and brilliant husband, and the play clearly elucidates her grief -- over her own past (suggestions of abuse at the hands of her father); over her loss of Oscar to his lover, the cruel and unstable Lord Alfred Douglas; over Oscar's very public prison sentence and her own fall in society's eyes; over her own torment at keeping their own two children away from Oscar, who desperately wants contact with them. She died at age 40, a broken shell, and Oscar followed her in death two years after. The play is presented with a chorus of attendants, Greek-style, and with some scenes including puppetry and some Kabuki effects, as in Noh theatre. It is relentlessly honest in its portrayal of the love triangle, the ambiguities of sexual identity, and the pain caused when families are broken. It is a sad but very moving work.

MELONFARMER (Johnston) is not at all about melon farmers. It is a cinema-verite look at 1990's life in urban Ireland for eight young adults, all trying to find their way in our faster-than-light, information-drenched world. They are negotiating as best they can the new sexuality, the loosening hold of the Church and the old traditional values .. and getting by in life as best they can, which sometimes means just getting by. Sean Spencer, the central character, a would-be comedian, gradually descends into drink and depression. The play is fast-paced, and has moments of hilarity. The opening had me laughing out loud. The play is tragicomic, like life. Playwright Alex Johnston is the grandson of the O'Casey-era Denis Johnston,
and his talent shines through every scene. As in the other plays presented in this book, the realism is gritty and in-your-face.
It stays with you. As Sternlicht states, it's a revelation to a middle-class, middle aged reader such as myself. [Note: the script presented is the 1997 original version for the Peacock Theatre. It has since been revised for a 2000 production, and the latter is the definitive version, per the playwright.]

Last, but not least at all, is BY THE BOG OF CATS (Carr). Ms. Carr is Ireland's leading woman playwright, and a most successful one. After reading her play, I am not surprised. Its power was so strong as to be assaulting. I was horrified by the plot and the bloodiness, but mesmerized despite myself, and I quite literally could not put it down without finishing it.
I can only imagine how powerful this would be on stage, after having it jump off the page at me from a book! It gives you chills. I don't want to give the story away. I will say that it is as strong as a Greek tragedy, and is written that way. But the characters are so real!

This is a most welcome addition to the study of Irish theatre.

Sternlicht's book was, at the time of publication, just about the most up-to-date survey of 20th century Irish drama available. However, he had the bad luck to be writing it at a time when Irish drama was experiencing an astonishing increase in the amount of good new writing for theatre. As a result, his book suffers from significant omissions, as writers who had only had one play performed at the time of publication have since gone on to make significant contributions. The most notable absence is Conor McPherson, but also glaringly absent are Mark O'Rowe, Alex Johnston and Alice Barry. The author's lack of acquaintance with the sources and influences of many of the younger writers is also apparent, as he has difficulty in accounting for the peculiar achievement of (for example) Martin McDonagh, in fusing TV culture with a much older style of writing. He is also remarkably insensitive to the genius of Stewart Parker, whose premature death may have cut short a great career, but who had certainly not failed to achieve greatness in the meantime. A book of use only to total novices in this field; others will be disappointed by the shortness of the entries and the lack of sophistication in the criticism.

Sanford Sternlicht's _A Reader's Guide to Modern Irish Drama(ARGMID)_ is a gem of a book, designed not only to acquaint the general reader with the richness of Irish drama history and in particular the works of her modern playwrights, but also to serve as a textbook for a course in the subject and/or a reference work.

Sternlicht is adept at condensing the most pertinent information necessary for a study of this genre. For those who wish to delve further into the vast riches of Irish drama, particularly that of the twentieth century, he provides extensive citatations designed to guide to reader/student to even more information about particular playwrights and their works. Along the same lines, a lengthy selected critical biography is included.

ARGMID provides a thorough but concise overview of the history of Irish drama, going as far back as the days of the great monasteries of St.Columba's Iona and others; he reminds us that it was the Irish scribes who preserved the great works of classic Roman and Greek literature, and who, through the extension of the Irish monastic movement to Britain and the Continent, reintroduced classical culture to Western civilization. He then traces the roots of Irish drama from its earliest professional theater in 1637 to the present day. This historical overview in itself was quite fascinating, but the real treasures of the book lie ahead, with short biographies and analyses of the major plays of 35 Irish dramatists, beginning with Lady Gregory, Yeats, Synge, Shaw and other greats, right through O'Casey, Beckett, Behan, Friel, and concluding with entries on 19 very recent playwrights, including the likes of Sebastian Barry, Martin McDonagh, and Ireland's leading woman playwright Marina Carr. Although published just before the rise of dramatists like Colin McPherson (The Weir), future editions will surely include such artists. Hundreds of plays are discussed, with the most influential and groundbreaking analyzed in greater detail. The recurrent themes in Irish drama of racial strife, loss, emigration, violence, poverty, and the effects of constant war (including domestic violence) on the individual are brought to light insightfully and vividly by the author,one play at a time. The resilience of the Irish spirit through humor and through hope, including the recurring theme of the Irish woman's struggle against the destruction that surrounds her, is also illustrated.

All in all, this is quite an enjoyable read, extremely educational, and gratifying. It is also a tribute to the founders of the greatest national theater in the Western world, the Abbey, and to many other great Irish theaters and theater companies, past and present. Sternlicht, who teaches Modern Irish Drama at Syracuse University and the same at Trinity College, Dublin, for many summers, is uniquely qualified to author this useful book. His expertise in and affection for the subject matter shines through every page. It certainly fills a scholarly gap; one can hope that revised editions will continue to appear from Syracuse University Press and from the pen of Mr. Sternlicht.

.'U. S. F. Constellation' is a fine introduction to the history of this treasured relic of our early Navy. I read this book in preparation for a visit to the Constellation in Baltimore's Inner Harbor where, today, it greets visitors.

A precursor to today's weapons of retaliation against Islamic terrorists, Constellation was built in 1797 as part of a fleet intended to respond to the attacks of the Barbary Pirates. A smaller member of the fleet which included the U. S. S. Constitution (Old Ironsides), the Constellation boasts an impressive history spanning over two centuries. After exerting American power against the Barbary States, it served honorably in the War of 1812. Thereafter it alternated between the reserve fleet and active service on a variety of missions. After sitting out the Mexican War, the 'Yankee Racehorse' served in the Civil War, initially protecting American shipping in the Mediterranean and later as part of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron.

After the Civil War, Constellation served as a naval training vessel for most of the remainder of the 19th Century.

After its centennial, Constellation's historical value began to be recognized and she commenced her career as an historical exhibit in Baltimore harbor.

During World War II, Constellation performed its final active duty, serving as Flagship of the Commander-In-Chief, Atlantic Fleet.

Besides telling the story of a ship, this book also highlights the trials and triumphs of our early Navy. Disbanded after the Revolution, later debates focused on the issue of whether or not the U. S. should have a Navy. A peace agreement reached with the Barbary States almost forced cancellation of the construction project. Only the recognition of other necessary missions permitted the construction to go forward and the proud tradition of the U. S. Navy to begin. Over its life, Constellation would return its investment many times over.

I heartily recommend 'U. S. F. Constellation' to anyone with an interest in our early Navy or who is planning a visit to Baltimore Harbor.

I bought this book, sight-unseen, on the name alone. I was very disappointed to find that it read like a college term paper where the student has to fill up a given amount of space and spends most of there time stating the obvious. I feel this book just capitilizes on the Herriot name (a little irreverently, I might add) and nothing more.

I would just like to say that I have been a fan of the great James Herriot and his writings for many years. His books have transported me to places of green pastures and bittersweet memories of the English countryside and the animals that lived there. This book, "All Things Herriot: James Herriot and His Peaceable Kingdom" has captured the reality behind the man who had brought us down those craggy pathways to the sweet, heartwrentching stories of our animal friends. Thank you for this book and for helping us to better know the man behind it all.

All Things Herriot: James Herriot and His Peaceable Kingdom is just what its title implies: a comprehensive overview of all of the works of James Herriot (pen name of James Alfred Wight),skillfully interwoven with a biography of the famous veterinarian/writer. The book's author, Sanford Sternlicht, is a professor of English at Syracuse University and was for a time a Visiting Fellow at York University; his perspective on Herriot and on his beloved Yorkshire is informed and fine-tuned, and the tone of All Things Herriot is on the whole warm and appreciative. Sternlicht examines all of Herriot's major works, as well as his compilations and juvenile publications. He points out the unifying themes in all these works in a very clear and direct way -- the recurrent archetypal stories of birth, life, and death (which, as archetypes, will forever have universal appeal and will stand up well to repeated readings), and Herriot's message that suffering (animal and human) is "...the great, perennial challenge to all our humanity. Our response to suffering is ultimately how, as societies and individuals, we are to be judged." (All Things Herriot, p.76) Other facets of Herriot's appeal, which Sternlicht brings to the fore so well, include his beautifully-drawn and intricate portraits of the Yorkshire people, and of course, the animals, as well as Herriot's seemingly limitless store of heart-wrenching, gorgeous descriptions of the wild beauty of Yorkshire itself. This critical/literary biography never talks down to the reader, and more than once I pulled out my trusty dictionary to ascertain the full meaning of a passage -- but I enjoy learning new things and I'm sure that most readers will find this a stimulating read! Sternlicht's style is direct and immediate and colorful (not unlike Herriot's!), and I found it a joy to read. It made me want to re-read all the Herriot books, armed as I am with so much new understanding of Herriot and his world. This is a must for all Herriot fans and for those who have yet to discover his work. It is a fascinating and thorough portrait of not only a caring healer, a professional in his field, but (amazingly) a very gifted storyteller as well.

This is a very readable, if somewhat choppy, history of a fascinating warship. Most people are probably unfamiliar with the story of the Oregon's gallant cruise from San Francisco to Havana in order to particpate in one of the two decisive naval battles which helped bring the U.S. a relatively quick and easy victory in the Spanish-American War of 1898. Because of the length of the voyage, American leaders realized the necessity of a two-ocean navy as well as the urgent need for the building of a canal across the isthmus of Panama. Sternlicht's story seems to dwell somewhat on insignificant details (such as the hullabaloo surrounding the Oregon's launching) while glossing over some other important areas, such as the experiences of the crewmen on board. But overall it's a very readable, interesting history of a warship that was instrumental in defining the direction of growth and ultimate destiny of the American Navy during the 20th century.

This book gathers together some half-dozen plays presented by Ireland's Abbey Theatre in the early 90s. The title is somewhat misleading, as all of the plays were presented at the Peacock, the Abbey's new writing stage. Its main purpose is to make the plays available to readers and potential producers, and in this it succeeds admirably, although there are a couple of notable plays from the period that didn't get included, presumably because they were already available elsewhere. (This makes the volume somewhat unrepresentative.) The plays themselves are of varying quality. Michael Harding's "Hubert Murray's Widow" is an interesting, darkly funny tragicomedy (or comitragedy) about a dead gunman and the events surrounding, and after, his death; Donal O'Kelly's "Asylum! Asylum!" is a characteristically angry piece about the treatment of an African refugee, written some time before the number of refugees in Ireland skyrocketed, and thus anticipating a major current social issue. Tom MacIntyre's "Sheep's Milk on the Boil" is an impenetrable scrap of whimsy, and Niall Williams' "A Little Like Paradise" is a sentimental mood piece about the West, the kind of play that has since been stamped into a bloody pulp by the erratic genius of Martin McDonagh. Neil Donnelly's "The Duty Master" is dull but worthy, a portrait of an Irishman teaching in an English public school, and about as exciting as it sounds. There are some excellent production shots, but one is not told which actor played which role and thus identifying what scene is being depicted is not easy. Plus, the American editor suffers from a too-misty-eyed appreciation of Irish drama and the respective qualities of the plays, and tries to hard to fit them into the familiar canon. But a useful book, especially for those that want to put the plays on.