If you are a devotee of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad as I am, then you'll love this compilation of photos from earlier volumes dedicated to the work of noted B&O photographers Bob Lorenz, John C. Kelly, E. L. Thompson, Herbert H. Harwood, Jr. and Howard N. Barr, Sr. This book photographically documents operations primarily on the B&O East and West Ends during the days of steam, with a chapter each on operations in Pennsylvania and Ohio. The book concludes with an all-color section on CSX operations on the old B&O East and West Ends as far as Grafton, WV, and nearby branch lines.

Again, if you're a B&O fan, the price of this book is worth every penny and the wait for it to arrive.

BENCHLEY AT THE THEATRE It was the Golden Age of Broadway. Sandwiched between the two wars that would end all war, the American theater briefly blossomed into a thousand different colors, giving the world such immortals as Eugene O'Neill, the Barrymores, Lillian Hellman, George S. Kaufman, Fred Astaire, Helen Hayes, George M. Cohan, the Gershwins, Orson Welles, the Marx Brothers, and many more. Amid all this hubbub was Robert Benchley, famed humorist, actor, and boulevardier.

Known mostly for his urbane and often puckish essays, Benchley was also an ardent observer of the stage, first for the old Life magazine and then for the New Yorker. He wrote nearly a thousand reviews during his 20-year tenure as one of Broadway's leading theater critics. Those culled by Ipswich Press for Benchley at the Theatre represent Benchley at his wittiest and most revealing.

This garland of hitherto uncollected pieces touches on the great, the near-great, and some deservedly forgotten (but nonetheless intriguing) plays and actors of the twenties and thirties. For Benchley aficionados the book is a rare treat--the first new collection of the master's work in nearly 40 years. For both amateur and professional students of the theater, it's a chance to share an aisle seat with one of Broadway's most discerning critics. And if you are none of the above, no matter. If you love informed, literate, brisk writing, Benchley at the Theatre will be a welcome respite from the Siskel and Ebert school of criticism.

A night at the theater with Benchley is never dull, chock-full as it is with pithy asides, New England common sense, and occasional eruptions of pure Dada. Benchley deflates some enduring and cherished myths: "[Katherine Hepburn] is not a great actress, but one with a certain distinction which, with training, might possibly take the place of great acting in an emergency."

He reaffirms modern critical hindsight: "Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater Group...give ["Julius Caesar"] a reality which I think might fool the Bard himself." He measures the erudition on his side of the proscenium: "It has been estimated that the average powers of discrimination in a matinee audience would not quite fill a demitasse." And he disabuses the reader who expects High Criticism: "Sometimes the symbolism was so strong that it didn't seem as if it could be borne any longer. In fact, several people had to leave early. Others covered their eyes with their hands and had to be roused when the thing was over."

If you suffered through Shakespeare as a student, you have an ally in Benchley. The Great White Way of the twenties and thirties was paved with countless Shakespeare revivals, and Benchley, never a great fan of the Immortal Bard, took a dim view of the proceedings. Opined Benchley: "We remember seeing Booth at the age of four (when we were four; Booth was naturally older) and the memory of that performance has lingered with us ever since. After it we were taken to Maillard's and had our first chicken salad. Those were the days!"

Though Benchley bared his critical teeth when offenses on either side of the footlights were committed, he was quick to forgive and even quicker to reassess the professional cynicism that comes with the job of critic. On a jaunt to a P. T. Barnum circus with his son, Benchley notes that the "scales of sophistication are struck from your eyes," concluding that the experience, aided by the marveling of his five-year-old companion, helps "keep you in your place."

In short, Benchley at the Theatre is acute, devastating, and entertaining criticism, a model that Brendan Gill, Robert Brustein, and others would do well to emulate. --Robert Luhn

Bravo Of The Brazos: John Larn Of Fort Griffin, Texas by independent scholar Robert K. DeArment is the true life story of John Larn, a colorful Texas lawman turned frontier outlaw. No stranger to shootouts, Larn led a vigilante committee with widespread support and killed at least a dozen men before he turned 29. At first his killing of horse or cattle thieves on sight garnered approval, but then he started to kill for profit or revenge, and when Larn threatened to reveal the names of the people on his vigilante committee, a mob of relatives, former friends, and various associates ruthlessly silenced his threat and ended his life. Bravo Of The Brazos is a fascinating tale of power and corruption, as well as a welcome and appreciated contribution to academic American Frontier History & Biography collections.

An a amazing account of the birth to present day state of the Texas cattle feeding industry. This book is written by a very astute man who is also a cattle feeder, and offers proof that some things will never change in this industry that goes from boom to bust over and over through time. A must read for anyone in the in business or any hardy business person who enjoys challenges.

This book (149 Pages) was crammed with facts, keeping me on the edge the whole time. I never knew how cool Darwin was until I read this book. And like I said, if you need tons of facts on Darwin, this book has so many, its hard to record!

This is a most marvellous book by Ellsberg which explores the spirituality of father de Foucauld in a simple and easily understandable way.The preface is well researched and clearly written giving a solid base with which to enter the concepts that De Foucauld explores in his writings.A book to encourage the christian to form a more profound relationship with the Lord

Robert Orledge is a consummate musicologist working in Liverpool, and this work on the neglected French composer Charles Koechlin is a wonderful profile of his entire life's work. Koechlin was a contemporary of Debussy, and Satie, yet we seldom have heard his music. Even today there is scant recordings, and what there was in the past was inferior to our modern ears now. I recall an excellent early disc however with the BBC Orchestra under Antal Dorati with Koechlin's Bander-Log, with Messiaen and Boulez works included.Today however there are exceptions with conductor Simon Rattle, and David Zinman here. The Koechlin aesthetic followed a lifelong fascination with a full spectrum of conceptual complexities in nature, but also classical mythology, Roman civilization, the jungle, the night, starlit sky, dreams and fantasy, yearnings for distant shores, also the sea and water. Water in particular inspired the wonderful set of piano solos "Paysages et marines (1915-16) subtitled Landscapes and Seascapes.There you will find the piano evoking a fluidity largly by sustained sounds in the lower regions of the piano,shaped yet waiting for its full decay.Creativily Koechlin was a miniaturist finding genres(as the piano solo)as deep recepticles for these countless images,where one work could scour through some 40 images. The Chants de Nectaires is an example and has an unusual premise as well, it is a work for unaccompanied flute of some three hours,with an array of dances,prayers, and songs. The virtuoso Pierre-Yves Artaud has edited a performing version, after years of neglect.Koechlin's other side is the Sonatinas for piano which are childlike in their harmonic simplicity,yet not facile in their conception. Orledge identifies all of the genres in Koechlin's creative edifice with a deep focus on the elements of music at work here. Rhythm was not as important as harmony for instnace,yet in melody reigns supreme.He abhorred rhythmic excursion for the mere sake of it. If anything at all Koechlin's creativity utilized his innate gift for lyricism.And being lyrical implies a reduced focus on harmonic progression of rhythmic complexity. Orledge admirable covers each in succession. His life is treated in periods rather than genres, in that he wrote in each,however incomplete and at times immature that creative process proved to be.Also there is a look at his uniqueness as an orchestrator.There are wonderful vintage photographs as well as numerous musical examples, many being reductions and transpositions from the original source.

Only Butterick and Creely could have demonstrated the significance that Charles Olson imparted upon the world of post-modern poetry. For those familiar and unfamiliar with the works of this poet, this collection, although only a mere smattering of the magnitude of Olson, provides an imposing insight to the depth and mastery of modern poetry.

If you're looking for nasty, biting humor, don't look here. Mr. Benchley's charm lay in his--dare I say--kinder and gentler humor. Unlike his colleague Mrs. Parker, he never insulted or hurt people; he made fun of himself and examined foibles we all share. What a sweet, funny man, and what a wonderful collection of his works.

This book is an essential first step in the research of the Choctaw people and culture. Clara Sue Kidwell, herself a Choctaw Indian, has collected some hard-to-find but useful sources in the annotated bibilography