I saw this play in person, and just finished the book. Nothing better than great poetry made for our time. Highly recomend for those who who've seen it, or heard a review. Some of the plays are musical so they don't translate well to paper. One drawback.

Love's Fire embodies our perception of language. The spoken and unspoken voices of God, Love, Nature, and Humanity become the essential elements in this collection of one acts. Riveting and powerful, Love's Fire demands to be performed. Not only is the language spoken by the actors and heard by the audience, but the language of our contemporary masters blends with the master of language himself, William Shakespeare. As Love's Fire reinvigorates our grasp of language we come to an understanding that poems, sonnets, books, plays, spiritual songs, or body movements fuel the fire of love. An excellent piece of work by 7 masters who dedicated the collection to the Bard.

Shakespeare's inspired words talk to today's audience through the intriguing interpretations of master American playrights. Especially fascinating is John Guare's "The General of Hot Desire". These original works defy description...so read them...or better yet...perform them...and appreciate these unique literary gems in all their splendor.

I have found this book to be very insightful to the problems and challenges for not only those who travel but for the families of those travel. It gave me a new insight to BOTH sides. I am ordering more books to give to my co-workers!

I've always had pains of guilt when I would travel to some great place and have room service and maid service..... and leave my family behind. The cover of the book says more to the truth of trying to stay connected to our families than any human resource manual from work. When you take a job that travels... h/r doesn't tell you the effect on your marriage!

This book had such great insight to the biz traveler and the effects on their marriage! We BizTravelers think we have it hard while on the road but the family you leave behind is in a hard spot too! This book helps address the biz traveler's concerns as well as the family left behind.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to a new biz traveler. This book could save your patience and marriage! The author tells it like it is.

As I read this book, I kept thinking, how does this guy know all this? It's right on the money page after page! I gave 20 copies to friends who travel, and they all loved it!

This is not quite as good as 1 or 2, but it is still excellent! Shakespeare grabs us with the dispute between Henry VI and York. While it seems to end peacefully it does not, and the war goes on! York's death in 1.4 is another landmark in Shakespeare's writing. The scene (2.5) where Henry finds true terror is horror, sorrow, and yet beauty and yet another moving part of the play. (The son that hath killed his father and the father that hath killed his son.) The war pauses in disaster for Henry and some comic relief is offered. But the horror starts all over again when Edward IV and Warwick have a falling out. The war starts over again, and the King of France gets involved! The scene where King Henry VI is reinstated is a scene of beauty and hope. While all of this is happening, Shakespeare carefully prepares the monstrously satanic character of Richard III. From here, the play just gets more and more bloody. A final moment of horror is offered when the eventual Richard III proudly compares himself to the one who betrayed Christ. In part 4 "Richard III," the real terror begins!

This was one of Shakespeare's earliest plays. (possibly his third) Yet, there is nothing to indicate he was only starting out. Right away he grabs our attention with the funeral of King Henry V. Henry V's brothers Bedford and Gloucester help us to see the virtues and strengths of the deceased king. The Bishop of Winchester is well drawn as a comical villain who plots and plans, but never succeeds in doing any real damage. (Not until the next play anyway.) Talbot is memorable as the selfless hero of the play. York is memorable as the hero who defeats Joan of Arc. King Henry VI himself is interesting. First we see him as a helpless infant. By the third act, we see that he has both strengths and weaknesses. He makes the mistake of dividing the command between the rivals Somerset and York. But also, we see that he does not tolerate treason or neglect of duty. There are also many memorable scenes. The garden scene that foreshadows the War of the Roses is well drawn. The scene where York comforts his dying uncle is tragic beauty. Bedford's death in 3.2 has almost a divine tone. The death of Talbot and his son is very lamentable. York's sudden rise to power is captivating. Perhaps Shakespeare's greatest achievement in this play is that he simultaneously shows us England's war with France and the dissension with England itself.

Well written and with occasional engaging flashes of humor, Five Miles High gives a well-drawn picture of the large Himalayan expeditions of the past. At the same time as expedition members are having their food cooked for them and having their gear carried by numerous "coolies", they are walking a much greater distance, and in some ways subsisting in harsher conditions, than climbers do today. The contrasts with the present day are perhaps the most interesting thing about this book. "Boy's First Adventure Book"-ish illustrations at the chapter headings add a charming retro touch.

Five Miles high is an extremely interesting and very readable firsthand account of the 1938 American Expedition to climb K2, the second highest peak in the world. The book is a reissue of the original book describing the expedition and is authored by two team leaders with additional contributions by the other four team members. Of particular interest is their description of their trek through the Karakoram just to reach the mountain in the days when the primary hauling of supplies was done by ponies and porters. The contrast between the preparations and efforts involved in this expediton and the efforts described in all of the current Mt. Everest books is amazing. All in all, you'll find this a very enjoyable book to read. The same authors also wrote a second book describing their 1953 expedition - K2, The Savage Mountain. This one also has been recently reissued.

This is a wonderful volume. The love of Yeats for Maud Gonne is one of the defining characteristics of his life and the passion he felt for her powered some of his strongest poems. Reading these letters you get a marvellous feel for the strength of the woman and her respect and love for the poet, despite turning down many marriage proposals.

Maud Gonne was much more than the woman beloved of Yeats, she was also a political activist, a woman convinced of the need for Irish nationalism and prepared to work for the benefit of the Irish people. This comes through in her letters to Yeats through her mention of meetings and rallies.

I can almost forgive her destruction of almost all the letters she received from Yeats, which explains the one sided nature of this volume, almost all the letters are from Gonne to Yeats with only a few from him to her.

This volume is a superb addition to the library of anyone who enjoys Yeats. It is also gives a remarkable understanding of Maud Gonne, a major element in the Irish history of the early 20th century. It loses a star because of the shortage of Yeats letters.

First off, let me tell you I love reading letters so this book has definite appeal to me. And of course, Yeats was Yeats and Gonne, as you may or may not know, was a famous feminist in Ireland. That the relationship continued for so many years despite her contunual refusals to marry him says olumes about the personalities of these two people.
If you're interested in what made Yeats tick or how a feminist conducted herself without major media support, read this book.

This book is a great collection of different soups for different moods. They also all incorporate several similar ingrediants, but stick to a great variety. My only complaint is the lack of calorie, fat, protein and carb counts. That would be helpful.

I've had this cookbook for a while now and have used it to make soups over the past two winters. Many of the recipes within it have become family favorites that we make over and over. The split pea soup with ham and French onion soup gratinee can't be beat! Other favorites include: black bean soup with sausage, avgolemono and lamb and chickpea soup. Overall a great cookbook that will bring many hours of cooking and eating pleasure!

The book is good for anyone who wants a quick understanding of certain possibilities of why the North won. However, some of the essays(this is no reflection of the actual book) are not that well justified in my opinion.

Reissue of a classic collection of essays from the 60's...Currents's "God and the Strongest Battalions" is alone worth the price!...Economic, political, social, etc., aspects are all considering by the "big-gun" historians of 40 years past...Scholarly enough for the serious student, yet very reader-friendly for the novitiate...recommended in the strongest possible terms!

This is an excellent book which contains six essays on the various economic, miliary, diplomatic, social, and politiical reasons why the Confederacy lost and the Union won the Civil War. This book saved my butt

Norman Augustine and Kenneth Adelman hop on the Bard's very crowded coattails with this attempt to translate soliloquies into sales. Give them points for timing. 1999's Shakespeare in Love garnered seven Oscars. Now that everyone thinks Shakespeare looked like Joseph Fiennes, Will is hotter than ever. But do men in tights using words like "anon" and "whilst" really have anything to teach middle management? Perhaps. Shakespeare's genius was his ability to plumb the human psyche, dissect the motivations of his characters, and make even taking out the garbage sound like poetry. To the extent that business success is often determined not by who makes the best widget, but who understands the complexities of person-to-person relationships, the premise of this book is on target. Yet stuffing Hamlet and Henry IV into three-piece suits is a stretch, to say the least. Each chapter is a quick study of a different Shakespearian play; for instance, Julius Ceasar as a model of poor succession planning within an organization, or The Merchant of Venice as a lesson in risk management. The parallels drawn between these plays and modern case studies flow naturally and well. The authors, however, cram so many Shakespeare quotations into their little book, even in the opening credits, it is very nearly swamped. Many of these quotes are strained, discombobulating, and downright annoying. This reaches a laughable low when a case study opens with Victoria's Secret's sales going flat: "Leslie H. Wexner, the chairman of Intimate Brands, decided on a strategy posed by Posthumus in Cymbeline, who says, 'I will begin the fashion - less without and more within' and so changed the company by offering the best bras on the market." Taking snippets of Shakespeare out of context and hammering them sideways into a business case study does not make them wise proverbs for the CEO, they remain poorly packaged gimmicks for selling a book. In the Historical Figures as Business Gurus genre, read Donald T. Phillips' Lincoln on Leadership for truly useful advice. As for Shakespeare in Charge, you can get the same effect for much less money by reading the Wall Street Journal while watching a video of Hamlet.

If you want how many books about Shakespeare already released, please press index this site. Then you may surprise after this. Literary category for Shakespeare has been overflowed compare to others'. But you think about "What on earth is he talking about in the field of business and management?". Let's take a look at book with interest. This book consists of five parts the same as Shakespeare's five famous play. Mr. Norman insists us to read between the line from Shakespeare's various characters and picks their strong and advantage points up from them as follows.

1. Preparation in advance 2. Risk turns opportunity to challenge 3. Successful turn-over 4. Acceptance of risk 5. Useful information managing

The writer emphasized that both of outstanding CEO and second-rate manager should have strong risk management to be chance to new area. Namely, the important points of business administration of all industries are arrangement, risk acceptance, effective information management, Concentration with confidence. These factors can be able to more competitive among the various companies, in spite of temporary difficulties. That means this is the safest way to improve company benefit over a long period.

This slim easily-read volume organises and extrapolates Shakespeare's wisdom on modern business matters, particularly with regard to situational leadership, change, operations, risk and crisis management- all through managing people. Even several MBA programmes, a gauge of current business thinking, include 'Shakespeare management' courses.

The engaging, insightful and informative contents include:

* Act I- on leadership- relating to Henry V's intuitive inspirational leadership in beating the vastly larger French forces at Agincourt, with lessons for today including: be poised and ready to exploit opportunities, have courage and determination, have clear vision and goals, closely examine details, encourage straight talking and listen clearly, be competent in company's field of activity, and set example caring for team.

* Act II- confronting change- relating to Petruchio's search for fortune by taming the rich shrew Kate following personal tragedy- turn misfortune into opportunity, set a few clear goals and pursue heartily, don't diversify too far beyond core competencies and change one thing at time, establish change as normal, implement change quickly and boldly, and have a broad flexible plan to cope with future uncertainties.

* Act III- organising operations- relating to the assassination of Julius Caeser- recruit the best for key positions (determined by personal attributes, job skills, motivation, teamwork) avoiding boastful job-churning "assistant to, consultant or advisors", succession planning, manage complexity of a "thousand actions" towards goals, effective use of communications (know topic, preparation, be concise, avoid "no comment" or "off the record", go hi-tech, prepare for leaks), attention to detail and management of people.

* Act IV- risk management- relating to Portia's management of husband-created severe risk in Merchant of Venice- risk is necessary for success, analyse in light of alternative options, seek facts and be wary of validity, act toughly, do not risk all, and understand & manage consequences.

* Act V- crisis management- relating to Claudius and Hamlet- always be prepared for a crisis, assess customer verdict (good or bad), have crisis team in place in advance, report promptly appropriate information to the public, have a crisis centre, practice crisis plans, be quick, include an outsider in team, maintain operations during crisis without distraction, and let intuition & honour guide you.

* Epilogue- for life and corporate management- recognise and manage existing assets, assume responsibility, guard credibility, build strong and flexible mergers, select friends and colleagues carefully, recognise frailties and encourage development, prepare for crises and recover quickly, be fiscally responsible, and finally prize reputation.

The few weaknesses include the occasional typos and grammatical errors, and the lack of bibliography assisting further exploration of this concept. It could also be said that the lessons already exist in management texts, and that business often looks in the past for inspiration and guidance- but not so interestingly and ably illustrated. Possibly those who have already invested effort in trying to understand the many levels of Shakespeare's work will find this book easier to read.

The significant strengths include: the light-hearted, energetic, attractive writing style intertwining quotes from Shakespeare with global contemporary examples (e.g. Aerospace, Pharmaceuticals, and even dot.coms); solid contents with relevance to business with various "acting lessons" (many summarised above); and the credibility and experience of authors as senior global executives. A recommended refreshing look at business success for all levels within business.

Bogner's writing smacks of the forced sexual indulgence of the '60's. The construct is poor, the metaphors are absurd, and whole resembles the stylized rantings of a troubled teenager. I do not understand how it can have been given good reviews.

Former porno star Boy has left America to travel to Provence, France in order to join his girl friend Maddie Gold, daughter of a very successful TV producer. However, Boy is nothing like his name as he is a vicious person, who wrecks havoc wherever he is. While in France, Boy has brutally murdered two visiting Americans and has become a noted serial killer.

Adam has hired Jennifer Bowen to keep his daughter out of trouble, however, Maddie wants nothing to do except rejoin her beloved Boy and she will do whatever it takes to accomplish that feat. Meanwhile, suspended police officer Michael Danton tries to ferret out the identity of the evil killer, who has frightened the entire countryside before the death count is raised even higher.

TO DIE IN PROVENCE is a frightening novel written by the brilliant Norman Bogner,author of SEVENTH AVENUE. Like its predecessor, this novel is a great, but scary tale. The story line is typical serial killer fare except that the a! udience knows almost from the beginning who the killer is. However, it is the characters, especially the seemingly angelic first impressions of the evil Boy, who turn this novel into a first rate and refreshing sub-genre entry. Readers will welcome Mr. Bogner's triumphant return to fiction after a 10 year self-imposed exile with his latest novel.

Harriet Klausner

Former porno star Boy has left America to travel to Provence, France in order to join his girl friend Maddie Gold, daughter of a very successful TV producer. However, Boy is nothing like his name as he is a vicious person, who wrecks havoc wherever he is. While in France, Boy has brutally murdered two visiting Americans and has become a noted serial killer.

Adam has hired Jennifer Bowen to keep his daughter out of trouble, however, Maddie wants nothing to do except rejoin her beloved Boy and she will do whatever it takes to accomplish that feat. Meanwhile, suspended police officer Michael Danton tries to ferret out the identity of the evil killer, who has frightened the entire countryside before the death count is raised even higher.

TO DIE IN PROVENCE is the frightening sequel to Norman Bogner's brilliant SEVENTH AVENUE and like its predecessor, this novel is a great, but scary tale. The story line is typical serial killer fare except that the aud! ience knows almost from the beginning who the killer is. However, it is the characters, especially the seemingly angelic first impressions of the evil Boy, who turn this novel into a first rate and refreshing sub-genre entry. Readers will welcome Mr. Bogner's triumphant return to fiction after a three decade self-imposed exile with his two Danton novels.

Harriet Klausner

This play can be read as anti-semitic. In fact, it's pretty hard to defend it from such charges. Shylock is a pretty rotten character and the fact that he is jewish is difficult to overlook (particularly since the other characters mention it on pretty much EVERY page). However, I think it is important to mention that the "heroes" of this play do not necessarily have to be interpreted as heroes. They are by no means perfect and there are many subtle (and some not-so-subtle) instances within the text in which their biases against ANYONE unlike them is illustrated. If one reads the play this way, then Shylock becomes more of a tragic figure rather than an absolutely heartless villain. I don't know. My feelings about this are mixed. There are a few funny parts of this play and the language is, as always, beautiful. The theme of putting a price on human beings is one which has been explored numerous times since. Overall, it is enjoyable, but perhaps not so much so as some of the other comedies. Do not read this play without having read a few others by Shakespeare first. It is an excellent play, but not his best and not his most enjoyable either.

After reading most of the other reviews here, I am fully aware that most of the reviewers didn't read carefully enough (or watch carefully enough if they saw the play.) Now, I'm not saying its not open for different interpretations, but there is one thing I would really like to get straight.

I read MoV for a Bar Mitzvah project on Anti-Semitism. Naturally, my sympathies went to Shylock. However, even if i were Christian, i still would've favored Shylock. What many people believe is that Shylock is a cold hearted ruthless person and only wanted to get back at Antonio because Antonio was a Christian.

Not true. Shylock specifically says something along the lines off, "Why should I lend money to you? You spit on me, and call me a Jewish dog!" I'm not saying that Shylock was a good guy, but I am saying that he is not the villain.

In fact, the "Merchant of Venice," in this story is actually Shylock, not Antonio, contrary to popular belief. My thoughts on the story was that Shylock requested a pound of Antonio's flesh because he did not trust Antonio. Who would trust someone that spat on him? The fact is, Antonio doesn't pay him back in the end.

Now, there's always something else we have to put into consideration. Would the judge had given the "spill one ounce of Christian blood" verdict at the end if Shylock were not a Jew?

This is the mark of a great play. A play that really gets you thinking. But I encourage you, I beg of you, that when you read it or see it, please do not hold Shylock up to being a cold hearted villain. Hold Antonio up to that image. (joking, of course, Antonio's not a bad guy, he's just not a good guy.)

This is a wonderful play - and unless you have seen it or read it you don't know it at all. That's because everything the popular culture tells us about this play is false (for example; how many of you think this play is about a merchant named Shylock? ;-)

The Merchant of Venice is a lively and happy morality tale. Good triumphs over bad - charity over greed - love over hate.
There is fine comedy. Portia is one of Shakespeare's greatest women (and he ennobled women more than any playwright in history). There are moments of empathy and pain with all the major characters. There is great humanity and earthiness in this play. These things are what elevate Shakespeare over any other playwright in English history.

Plays should be seen - not read. I recommend you see this play (if you can find a theater with the courage and skill to do it). But if it is not playing in your area this season - buy the book and read it.