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It's the backstage stories that make the book sing. Practically every page has a at least one fascinating anecdote. And he doesn't sugar-coat their personalities--Rodgers's curtness, even cruelty, and Hammerstein's insecurity, tendency to swallow his pride.
It's hard to read the book without singing to yourself. My God, what songs these two wrote! But more than that, what dramatists they were; they broke convention again and again and mostly successfully.
Pull out your recordings of Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific and start reading!

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Richard Hooker
Hooker was alive and active as a theologian during a tumultuous period in the development of the Church of England as a distinct body. Politics entered into church affairs on a grand scale; the idea that church and state issues were one in the same was as strong in England in the sixteenth century as it ever was in any continental kingdom or empire. Religious tolerance was a new concept, imperfectly conceived; the idea that each kingdom must be united in religious practice was strong. Hooker was an active apologist for the Church of England, his main opponent being the Puritan factions. 'Hooker's magnum opus was addressed to Puritans who attacked the church of England in the name of a purer, more scriptural ecclesiastical settlement.' (p. 9)
F.D. Maurice
Maurice would agree with Hooker that prayer is social action. Working in the nineteenth century, Maurice was exposed to the social ills that befell England as an imperial power in simultaneous growth and decay. The situation in society was deteriorating. 'Maurice saw that this social breakdown was rooted in a theological breakdown.' (p. 50) Maurice was unique in that he lived a prophetic life (and, like many prophetic persons, was often disliked for his prophecy). He made 'Christology the starting point of all Christian theology and ethics' and made Christ the central focus of all he said and did. (p. 49) Maurice made the Gospel the centrepoint of his educational philosophy, as well as the call not for revolution, but for regeneration of English society upon a truly Christian foundation. (pp. 64-67)
Maurice's view of theology is, like Hooker and Temple, rooted firmly in the communal action of the Book of Common Prayer. 'The Prayer Book becomes the key for understanding the views of the Church of England on the six signs of the Catholic Church,' these six signs being baptism, creeds, forms of worship, eucharist, ordained ministry, and the Bible. (p. 61) This practical and tradition approach was in keeping with the general spirit of the English society. 'Maurice expressed both English empiricism against the conceptualism of continental thinkers and the Anglican's respect for historical institutions as points of departure for theological analysis.' (p. 72)
William Temple
Temple was, in the words of G.B. Shaw, 'a realised impossibility.' A man born and raised in the church, he rose to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury and made the broad church appeal for Anglicanism that renewed its spirit for the mid-twentieth century. 'The general tendency of his faith and theology was toward a more catholic or orthodox position. But this was always balanced by his concern for freedom in doctrine and by his generally liberal attitude of mind.' (p. 104) Temple saw an intimate connection with God through Jesus Christ, perhaps thinking in proto-process theological terms by believing that 'because of Jesus' perfect union and communion with God, it can be asserted that in him God has a real experience of human life, suffering and death.' (p. 112) For Temple, this communion and experience is worked out both individually and communally''the inner unity of complete personality and the outer unity of a perfected fellowship as wide as humanity.' (p. 117)
Temple felt it important to be open to new ideas and developments modernity (perhaps a reaction to having been raised in an era with the expectation of long-term stability and subsequently living in a world turned upside-down by warfare and other social change). Temple felt that freedom of churches and freedom of individuals for inquiry and development, with the guidance of the Spirit, was more important than a rigid adherence to tradition. 'Temple was quite open to the new truth and insights of the modern world and to the critical and constructive use of reason in Christian faith and life. this can be seen clearly in his commitment to philosophic truth.' (p. 133) This, coupled with his call to social action by the church and the working out of Christian faith in everyday life and action, made Temple a major ecumenical figure.
The Current Spirit of Anglicanism
A key word for the current spirit of Anglicanism is comprehensiveness. Anglicanism incorporates catholics and protestants, literalists and agnostics, high church, low church, broad church, in all ways these terms can be defined. 'The Anglican synthesis is the affirmation of a paradoxical unity, a prophetic intuition that Catholicism and Protestantism'are not ultimately irreconcilable.' (p. 143)
The current spirit of Anglicanism is largely based upon Scripture, tradition and reason, with definitions of these three varying a great deal. The authority of Scripture is important, but this does not mean a literalist view. The authority of tradition, best summed up by adherence to the Book of Common Prayer's liturgical forms, is locally adaptable. Reason is used to interpret both the authority of Scripture and of tradition, but must be held in restraint by these as well. 'The spirit of Anglicanism ought in its rich resources to find the wisdom to retain its identity and yet to develop through constructive change to meet the demands of the fast-approaching world of the twenty-first century.' (p. 187)

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The only man on earth capable of full filling their lust for vengeance is an anonymous, blond english man who calls himself -- The Jackal. Unknown to every police force and secret service on earth, The Jackal does not exist. With a price of half a million dollars The Jackal will assassinate the most heavily guarded man on earth-President Charles de Gualle.
With utmost precision and professionalism we follow the Jackal through his elite plan to kill his target.
This was a sweet novel. This book should be read by any would-be assassin and by every would-be writer who wants to write about Assassins...

This novel must rank as one of the greatest thrillers of modern times. I highly recommend it to those who enjoy thrillers.

The book is about an assassin hired by the OAS (nowadays, they would be called French terrorists, patriots, far-right extremists etc) to kill Charles DeGaulle, president of France. The OAS was composed of French war veterans who felt betrayed by the country they had served with enormous sacrifice to their lives. When Charles DG gave up Algeria, he became the symbol OAS decided had to be struck down. Events turn out such that a foreign professional assassin had to be hired to do the job, and of course, to ensure the balance, the French police had to be tipped off. Thus the game of cat and mouse began. As the author detailed the workings of both sides, readers are captivated and would actually root for both sides, nevermind the author did explicitly state CDG survived.
Of course, critical readers may find certain about of suspension of belief required. First, it was the repeated failed attempts of the OAS members to do the killing themselves that cost OAS its support. The cause of the failure was supposed to be sheer bad luck and silly oversight of the OAS, who were supposed to be experienced soldiers. They may not know much about politics, but to fail in such operations seem rather unforgivable.
Second, the serendipidity of the authorities getting on the right track to hunt the Jackal was also incredible. Whereas the Jackal, codename for the assassin had relied on careful planning and relied not on luck, luck was the only thing the authorities had. The message might be that detective work is long labourious and luck only favours the prepared.
Third, I guess there is no way the author can short change the Jackal's effort except to make the assassination attempt fail by the sheerest bad luck.
Nonetheless, the structures introduced by the author to the assassination and manhunt was wonderfully captivating. This novel definitely makes true the saying the goal is the journey, not the destination.

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When I purchased this book, I had hoped for a good floorplan of the home, instead I got a little sketch that could hardly be read with a magnifying glass.
Overall, very factual. It makes you realize just what went into the building process. Even if the paragraphs are a little too wordy.

Pictures of all of the beautiful rooms in the house are included in this publication. Also included are sketchs of the many details of the home, included are the east facade, the Gate House, the gates that set next to the house, the Biltmore Village Church, and sketchs of many of the statues from Biltmore's gardens.
Also included in this book is the histories of many of the principal players in Biltmore's creation, including Fredrick Law Olmsted the landscape designer, Richard Morris Hunt the arcitect, and of course George Vanderbilt the home's owner.
Included is many of the landscape designs of Biltmore's gardens, and beautiful pictures of many of them. Pictures of Biltmore's Conservatory are included which sits in Biltmore's Walled Garden, to the north of Biltmore House.
All in all, this book is great, and a great companion to a day long visit to Biltmore! If you loved Biltmore Estate, you'll love this book, I garentee it!

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My daughter very much enjoys performing the activities listed, however, I need to heavily supplement the material and description given in order to provide any scientific explaination of what she is doing. Additionally, the scientific method is completely missing from the 'experiments.' The simple activites are prsented in a "do it and observe" form, with no specific idea or result which is tested by the activity.
A good book for entertaining activities, but not for teaching science.



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The school's "principals" are Lady Sneerwell and a man named Snake, who like to collect gossip about their neighbors and others in London society; one of their cohorts is the brilliantly ironic character Mrs. Candour, who openly reprehends idle gossip but blithely participates in it anyway. One of their favorite subjects of gossip is the Surface brothers, Joseph and Charles. The popular perception is that Joseph is responsible and respectable, while Charles is a wastrel and a miscreant.
The Surface brothers' uncle, Sir Oliver Surface, returns to London after spending many years in India, hears the rumors about his nephews, and decides to verify them for the purpose of choosing an heir between the two. Since he has been gone so long that his nephews would not recognize him, he visits them incognito. Posing as a moneylender to Charles, and as a poor relative to Joseph, he discovers that his nephews are not quite of the natures he has been led to believe.
Sheridan employs some typical comedic devices like love triangles and hiding characters, but for the most part this is an inventive play that picks its targets well and hits the bullseye every time. Considering it was written at such a turbulent time in England's history, it's interesting that social satire still managed to break through greater national concerns and be successful and appreciated.


The Dover Thrift edition has no introduction or analysis. Intoduction and analysis are of course not necessary, but in some situations they are nice things to have.

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About half the chapters are by Stephen Murray, who has considered reports from many societies and done fieldwork in Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru. He is very critical of the romantic view of "tolerance" ("anything goes"/ "there's no sin south of the border") but includes chapters by the two main purveyors of that view (Paul Kutsche and Richard Parker). The book contains a multiplicity of scholarly views and data ranging from the usual literary texts to ethnography and survey research on sexual behavior of males who have sex with males in Latin America.

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It reflects the author's environmental/Japanese garden point of view, which is really an organic way of looking at landscaping in general.
Interesting to read, not many pictures [a few illustration] - a little dry in terms of food for fantasy...
and not really a how-to book for people who haven't done some fairly complex projects before.
But if you want to do some research on stone in the landscape this should be part of your process.

Locke's Moon Hoax is one of the most remarkable works of 19th century U.S. literature. Ormond Seavey's intro to the 1975 edition does a good job of placing the hoax in literary and cultural perspective. Seavey notes, for example, that the hoax appeared at "a time when the tall tale was first recognized as a characteristically American narrative" (p. xxiv). Seavey also makes note of the reaction of showman P.T. Barnum to the hoax, and draws a parallel between the Moon Hoax and Edgar Allan Poe's 1844 "Balloon Hoax."
The text of the hoax itself is a charming piece of literature; it could be seen as a pioneering work of science fiction. The text's flavor of authenticity is enhanced by the many technical details about the new telescope; Locke even names the glassmaking firm that allegedly created the lens for the device! Locke's descriptions of Herschel's bogus discoveries are delightful. We learn about the lunar oceans; trees; gigantic, obelisk-like amethysts; unicorn-like creatures; tailless beaver-like humanoids; and most wonderfully, "Vespertilio-homo," the winged human-like species alluded to in the book's title. "The Moon Hoax" is a marvelous book that deserves to be rediscovered by new generations of readers.