How has a tiny island had such a great impact on world culture? With it's evocative and poetic photo essays and personal almost intimate written essays about Cuba, Cuba On the Verge goes a long way to making you feel in your bones the potent Cuban 'ajiaco' the mixture of cultures and the vibrancy of the life and art it produces. I particularly enjoyed the interview with Chucho Valdes and Cuban popstar 'el Tosco' which helps us move beyond the limiting view of Buena Vista Social Club as the only Cuban music that most people in the world are aware of. Cuba is not caught in a fifties timewarp as most articles and books you read these days would have you believe, and Cuba On the Verge shows that.

A huge & quietly engrossing collection of essays & pictures by leading Cuban & American writers & photographers, offering unique insights into life in this fabled island nation.

Each essay & photo series delights--thinking men & observant women--about rituals & revolution; of struggling for love & beauty; the music of Cuba, focusing on Chucho Valdés; sugar mills & tobacco farms; the faces of change; life among the ruins; the emerging middle class; of being born too late for the revolution; of landscapes & mythology; how a Cuban comes home; letters from exile.

From the pens of Jon Lee Anderson; Russell Banks; Avilio Estévez; Abelarde Estorino; Cristina Garcia; Pablo Medina; Ana Menéndez; Mayra Montero; Nancy Morejón; Achy Obejas; Susan Orlean; Hugo Perez; Antonio José Ponte; Eduardo Luis Rodriguez & Reina Maria Rodriguez.

From the cameras of Niurka Barroso; Ernesto Bazan; Virginia Beahan; Carlos Garaicoa; Kastia Garcia Fayat; Abigail Gonzáles; Andrew Moore; Inge Morath; Abelardo Morell; René Peña; Manuel Piña; Silvia Plachy; Adalberto Roque; Fazal Sheikh & Carrie Mae Weems.

William Kennedy's Introduction is written in the style of a Miami newsman, who has written about Cuba for decades & now at last he's going to the "incipient phoenix, an exotic ambiguity...one of the major social experiments of the twentieth century..." & his excitement is palpable.

Playwright Arthur Miller's Epilogue is rich in impressions & American points of view of an encounter with The Leader, President Fidel Castro.

We were drawn to the title of this book simply because of our interest in Cuba and its history and hardships. Hoping to someday visit, we were intrigued by the visual and literary representation of the story. The photography is provocative with components of sadness and pride evident in the faces that are looking back at the camera. What is remarkable is the tragedy of a once beautiful country. The destruction of Cuba and the hopelessness of its people are vividly depicted. Yet the pride and strength that is intrinsic to Cuba's culture fosters growth and change.

I am a new fan to Arthurian legends. I read this book and it hooked me. I have since read many books, fiction and non, about the life and legends of Arthur. This book provides detailed descriptions of all the players in the legend.

I have long had an interest in Arthurian legend and myth. This book, with its beautiful illustrations and wonderful recount of the myths that surround Arthur, was one of the most enjoyable texts on Arthur I have read. Not only did it include the myth, or legend, as it is told, but detailed how the myth came about and/or how it has changed through the years. Anyone who has ever been interested in Arthurian legend, history, or popular myth should own this book. It will become one of your favorites!

This novel is yet another classic by Schlesinger. I enjoyed it emmensly for a variety of reasons. First, Schlesinger makes his novel appeling to both the avid history fan, student of history, and teacher of history, thus allowing everyone to understand his work. Furthermore, Schlesinger explains his work in using his every present political shrewdness aswell as dry wit. This is a refreshing change from the dry unending style of many historians. The major points explained in this work are the cycling of American politics and its effects on the past, present, and future. This gives it an even more universal quality which even students of politics can appreciate.

This book deals with a series of very little-known murders in country Western Australia in around 1929. Arthur Upfield, who was to become famous for his fictional detective, Detective-Inspector Napolean Bonaparte, was discussing his latest murder plots. Snowy Rowles, who was present, later put the same plot into effect, and three men disappeared. Rowles later hung for the crimes.

Terry Walker has VERY thoroughly researched his topic, and though some very small parts of the book might make for dull reading, this is so only because he has left nothing out. It must be regarded as the definitive account of the case, and for anybody who is interested it is invaluable.

Parker's artistic details are marvelous. He shows the early drawings of Elsley, describes associations with other artists, and gives background information. As stated in the foreword, his book is not comprehensive. He left out works that he could not identify. Readers can be sure that his information is valid because of his association with Elsley's daughter. Many thanks to Parker for his work about an artist who has given many much visual pleasure.

This book was wonderful since the photographs and titles of the paintings helped me discover a painting that is now in the possession of Christies for auction in May, 2001. The painting was sitting in a dusty basement in South Dakota and since then has been loaded onto a refridgerated truck and deposited in New York.

King's book deals with the performance of Arthur Conan Doyle's short play "A Story of Waterloo" by eminent Victorian actor Henry Irving and a devastating review of this production written by George Bernard Shaw in 1895. The play is about an old and feeble soldier who has played a heroic role at Waterloo and pathetically dies while reliving his finest hour, thereby bringing the house down (in the theatre, that is). King uses this intersection of two remarkable theatrical careers to consider the Victorians' retrospective glance at the Napoleontic wars, the nature of Irving's performance, which by modern standards would be inconceivably sentimental, Irving's relation to his audience, Shaw's development as a critic and playwright, Irving's leading lady Ellen Terry and her son, the theatre director, designer and Irving acolyte Edward Gordon Craig. An instructive and entertaining read for anyone with a broad interest in the theatre and (cultural) history. Highly accessible, but marred by some unnecessary excursions into academic obscurities that the opening chapters had led me to believe were going to be avoided. Still, fascinating stuff.

i think that this is a very good book. its illustrations are quite helpful.