Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social distinction as predicated upon wealth, especially inherited wealth. Vickers, Work in Essex county page 98

A comprehensive study of fascism as it evolved in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.

Daniel Guerin's classic work, first published in French in 1936, shows how fascism, far from being an aberration of mass psychology, arose from the specific conditions of a social system in crisis. At first covertly, then increasingly openly, layers of big business financed and promoted the fascist movements in Italy and Germany.

Guerin contrasts the fascists' initially radical anticapitalist demagogy with their moves to shore up the capitalist profit system once they form the government.

"The profound causes that drove the Italian and German industrialists to bring fascism to power may produce the same effects elsewhere," Guerin concludes. (from the back cover)

Eckert's Fatal Encounter explains in great detail the interesting circumstances surrounding the deaths of three young members of the IRA in Gibralter, off the coast of Spain. The three young operatives were killed in a raid in 1988 by elite British commandos called the SAS. From here, an unbelievable chain of events are unleashed that involves pain, heartache, disbelief and anger. While arguments can be made for both sides on who was in the right, Eckert leaves that choice solely to the reader. He pays great attention to detail; and when these details are woven together objectively, it allows the reader to determine for him or herself what made these main players act or react. Even if you don't endorse the beliefs of one side or another, you at least had the rare insight that made you emphathetic. This is a solid and accurate piece of history. But as the reader gets more involved, it would be quite understandable if you thought you were smack dab in the middle of a Tom Clancy novel.

I would recommend this book for both history buffs, and those who just want to read a great thriller.

A FATHER FOR HER BABY is the second book in the LOST AND FOUND series (Amanda Stevens-Somebody's Baby and Carla Cassidy-A Father's Love), but it stands on its own as a truly wonderful story. A must read!

A great book for anyone interested in current taxation of partnerships with up to date examples. Recommended.

This is an excellent book. Don't be intimidated by the science. It's good as a reference for the fibro patient. I have fibro myself and it helped me to understand the disease and how to help myself.

An Indispensable Book in understanding German Idealism, particulary Fichte's Idealism. This Book is a must for students of Fichte's thought and readers of his "Science of Knowledge" and "Foundations of Transcendental Philosophy".
Ashraf Mansour, University of Alexandria, Egypt.

I hardly know where to begin. Like the Boys' and Girls' Handybooks, this hefty little book is full of ideas from a bygone era. Written in 1906, the activities are not always the kind of things our kids can do today...but this is a book of IDEAS! While you might not want to camp in a swamp, this book will tell you how. That information might come in useful for another project someday. The book also has historical value--the vocabulary is sometimes quite dated--but that's part of the fun!

Other ideas from the book, which is organized by season: Kites, herbarium, quail farming, bird houses, cages, aquaria, carts, rafts, boats, camping, indoor ideas, outdoor cooking, sleds, packs, and so much more. Oh, and DO learn how to cook a muskrat!

Educated persons will know at least something about such Jewish philosophers as Philo, Maimonides, Spinoza, Martin Buber, and Elie Wiesel. All of them have found their way into most major Western encyclopedias. This book offers much more. Cohn-Sherbok, a well-known writer of things Jewish, is an ordained Reform rabbi, and he naturally, and properly, concentrates on the religious aspects of his subject. Cohn-Sherbook devotes a two-page essay to each of the fifty thinkers included in this mini-encyclopedia. There are no footnotes, but numerous crossreferences. The author's deep involvement in his subject helps the reader apprehend the book as a unified whole. This becomes all the more evident if the essays are read in chronological order, which is easy to do, since the author includes a neat 2000-year chronological table of the names included. We thus get a fascinating view of how the Jewish religious landscape changed under the impact of several catastrophic events, from the Babylonian exile, over the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, to the Nazi Holocaust. The endurance of the Jewish people under such calamities is striking. So is the ability of the thinkers presented here to steer their philosophical and religious reflection into fruitful channels. This implies neither an easy optimism, nor a resigned submission to fate. Rather, we witness here a deep rethinking of the foundations of religion, obviously relevant to Jews and non-Jews alike.

Review by Jeff VanderMeer Jeffvan@freenet.fsu.edu

THE FINAL DREAM AND OTHER STORIES by Daniel Pearlman

268 pages/ Short Story Collection/ ISBN#1 882633-05-9 /Trade Paperback $14.95 list price /Permeable Press 47 Noe Street #4 San Francisco, CA 94114-1017

Daniel Pearlman writes science fiction stories in which the ideas are often so interesting that characters may seem secondary to his purpose. The key word is "seem" because I hasten to add that Pearlman's characters are rarely wooden, but, like Stanislaus Lem, Pearlman's fictions build on a foundation of crosshatching and cross-referenced ideas; often, very whimsical and playful ideas.

The three best stories in The Final Dream-- "Taking From the Top," "Megabride," and "A Moebius Trip"--demonstrate a dazzling ability to play with the conceptions and conventions of science fiction. In a better world, these stories would have won or at least been finalists for the Nebula Award.

"Taking From the Top," first published in Synergy, concocts a future in which senior citizens must gather "life points" by buying them or earning them through community service. If you need hospitalization and don't have enough life points (no one is sure of how many life points they have), the doctors put you to sleep instead of operating on you. The hero of the piece, John Cedars, a scholar of Robert Frost, needs heart surgery, but isn't sure he has enough life points. Without heart surgery, he won't be able to finish his book on Frost, excerpts from which are strategically placed throughout the novella for maximum thematic resonance. In Cedars quest to determine his life point status, Pearlman gives the reader a brilliantly satirical (and, frankly, laugh-out-loud) scene in which a life points adjuster tries to rate Cedars school of literary theory against more current schools. Cedars other life points come from community service, such as cleaning up trash. At one point, the adjuster tells him he needs "eighty- seven pounds of litter, or thirty-seven pages of the sort of literary criticism you've been producing" to bring him up to ten "LP's." A second remarkable scene occurs when Cedars tries to buy life points off a woman through a life points dealer. The pathos of this scene contrasts starkly with the story's satirical element; it is Pearlman's ability to balance such disparate elements that makes "Taking From the Top" such a marvelous work of fiction.

"Megabride" features the detective Merkouros and a case of apparent plagiarism. Merkouros is a magnificent creation--a dedicated, somewhat overzealous investigator from another dimension who tracks criminals from Earth to Earth. In less skilled hands, this concept might have made for a cheesy 1950s sci-fi piece, but Pearlman manages to create a work of real daring and precision. The experimental use of point-of-view, the magnificent conundrum of ideas, and some very playful misdirection, give "Megabride" the beauty of a mathematical equation. "A Moebius Trip," which also features Merkouros, shares these qualities, although "Megabride" is the more elegant story.

The title story "The Final Dream" postulates a future in which, to avoid nightmares, people plug in to dreams created by dreamspinners. Then the dreams start turning sour. The story is as ambitious as "Taking From the Top," but the plot falters toward the end as the reason behind the bad dreams lacks the imaginativeness of Pearlman's other fictions; in the absence of same, "The Final Dream" provides solid entertainment. Other stories of note include "The Defenders of the Golden Tower," "The Ground Under Man," and "And Baby Makes Five." Stories such as "The Heart of the Overchild" and "From Here to Eternitape," however, seem clunky by comparison, the satirical element completely overwhelming character; they also lack the playfulness evident in Pearlman's other fiction.

The majority of stories in The Final Dream work precisely because Pearlman's ideas are, unlike those of so many science fiction writers, firmly grounded in precise observations about human society and the human condition. When character and idea are in balance, Pearlman's stories positively shine; when this balance is upset, Pearlman's stories seem heavy-handed and derivative. Luckily, the delights of The Final Dream far outweigh the few misfires. In addition, Permeable Press must be commended for producing such a fine-looking book with a spectacular cover painting and design by Ellen Alva Hales.