At the moment, educated consensus generally holds that a line of poetry seldom has one meaning. Denniston and Page's text plus commentary of Agamemnon apparently was written before this consensus formed. Denniston and Page are feisty, dogmatic, and insistent that they are right, and are largely reacting to Fraenkel's massive text plus commentary to the same play. They take issue with Fraenkel on a number of points while acknowledging his immense erudition. I have no reservations, however, recommending this edition. It was very useful and well-thought out. I give it a high rating.

There is a particular scene in "Agamemnon" that I always want to point to in order to show students the genius of Aeschylus as a tragic playwright. To really appreciate any of these ancient plays you really have to have an understanding the peculiar structure of the classic Greek drama. The better understanding you have of this structure, as well as the key elements of tragedy as delineated by Aristotle in his "Poetica," the more you can appreciate any of these plays, but "Agamemnon" in particular.

The play is the first drama of the Orestia trilogy, the only extant trilogy to survive from that period; of course, since Aeschylus was the only one of the three great tragic poets whose trilogies told basically a story in three-parts. Sophocles and Euripides would tell three different but thematically related stories in their own trilogies (the Theban trilogy of Sophocles is an artificial construct). In "Agamemnon" it has been ten years since he sailed away to Troy, having sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia in order to get fair winds (the tale is best told by Euripides in "Iphigenia at Aulis"). For ten years Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra, the half-sister of Helen, has been waiting for his return so she can kill him. In the interim she has taken Agamemnon's cousin Aegithus as a lover.

This brings into play the curse on the house of Atreus, which actually goes back to the horrid crime of Tantalus and the sins of Niobe as well. Atreus was the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus, who a generation earlier had contended with his own brother Thyestes for the throne of Argos. Thyestes seduced his brother's wife and was driven out of Argos by Atreus, who then became king. Thyestes eventually returned to ask forgiveness, but Atreus, recalling the crime of Tantalus, got his revenge by killing the two sons of Thyestes and feeding them to their father at a banquet. That was when Thyestes cursed Atreus and all of his descendants and fled Argos with his remaining son, the infant Aegithus.

This becomes important because Aeschylus has two people in the palace at Argos, each of whom has a legitimate reason to take the life of Agamemnon. But in this version Aeschylus lays the crime at Clytemnestra's feet. When Agamemnon returns with his concubine Cassandra, daughter of Troy's King Priam, the insane prophetess symbolizes all sorts of reasons for Cassandra to renew her desire for vengeance. However, it is also important that Agamemnon reaffirm his guilt, and this he does by his act of hubris, walking on the scarlet carpet.

Now, one of the key conventions of Greek tragedy was that acts of violence happened off stage, in the skene, which in "Agamemnon" serves as the place at Argos. Consequently, the Athenian audience not only knows that Agamemnon is going to be murdered, they know that once he goes into the "palace" he is not coming out alive and at some point a tableau of his murder will be wheeled out of the skene. However, despite this absolute knowledge Aeschylus manages to surprise his audience with the murder. This is because of the formal structure of a Greek tragedy.

Basically the tragedy alternates between dramatic episodes, in which actors (up to two for Aeschylus, three for Sophocles and Euripides) interact with each other and/or the chorus, and choral odes called stasimons. These odes are divided into match pairs of strophes and antistrophes, reflecting the audience moving across the stage right to left and left to right respectively.

After Agamemnon goes into the palace and the chorus does an ode, the next episode has Clytemnestra coaxing the doomed Cassandra into the palace as well. With both of the intended victims inside, the chorus begins the next ode. Once the first strophe is finished the corresponding antistrophe is required, but it is at that point, while the audience is anticipating the formal completion of the first pair, that Agamemnon's cry is heard from within the palace. The antistrophe is the disjointed cries of the individual members of the chorus, in contrast to the choral unity of the strophe.

This is how Aeschylus surprises his audience with the murder of Agamemnon, but using the psychology of the play's structure to his advantage. Because we do not have any examples of tragedy that predate Aeschylus, it may well be more difficult to really appreciate his innovation as a playwright. But while the Orestia as a whole is clearly his greatest accomplishment, it is perhaps this one scene that best illustrates his genius. While the fatal confrontation between Clytemnestra and Orestes in "Choeophori" has the most pathos of any of his scenes, there is nothing in either it or "Eumenides" that is as brilliantly conceived and executed as the murder of Agamemnon.

Literary criticism, especially Classical, may someday get better than this, but it has not happened yet. This work and the accompanying volumes provide us with a model of literary criticism without equal.

Oh, let's not forget the play iteslf. This is Aeschylus' finest surviving work, and is excelled only by Sophocles Theban trilogy. The translation, should you need it, is first rate. I especially love the opening scene describing the network of lights across the Aegean announcing the fall of Tray, and setting into motion the mechanisms of destruction for the house of Atreides.

This is a great book, detailed concise. It is wonderful from a Historical standpoint and for someone wanting simply to know the where and why of chickens. It is not light reading but it is the best fact filled book out there, most chicken books are too "ditzy". This is not the case here.Fact filled and entertaining, could use a few pictures but excellent just the same.

From egg to poult to hen to rooster to featherbed and deepfreeze, from the ancient Egyptians to neo-feudal Southeast Asia to the iconographic Petaluma chicken ranch to the modern industialized chicken culture, this book covers everything you could ever need, want or just happen upon with respect to the chicken---except for one thing: it totally ignores the Chicken MacNugget!! Nonetheless (or perhaps because of this), it is not just a manual for the chicken fancier, the cockfight afficionado or the backyard farmer. It is truly an examplary product of a "LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION", and deserving of much wider appreciation than it has received to date. Page Smith, a well-known popular historian, co-taught an interdisciplinary seminar with a biologist named Charles Daniel entitiled "The Chicken" for undergraduates at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in the early 1970's. No doubt some initially perceived the course title as a joke, but they were wrong. Somewhere along the line, someone injected some intellectual rigor and real insight into the course syllabus. With the aid of their teachers, the students performed a tour de force of research, covering every facet of the chicken from cultural, historical, religious, biological, agricultural and even epistemological points of view. The professors took the student work and fashioned it into a book that is a classic in every sense of the word. "THE CHICKEN BOOK" is a beautifully written minor masterpiece of historic arcana, zoological detail, small-scale poultry management, veterinary medicine, cultural anthropology, blood-sport historiography and culinary arts. Long out of print and hard to find, the book well deserves this new edition. Whether or not you have a specific interest in chickens, this is well worth reading. As an example of what an active intelligence can do with a relatively commonplace and mundane topic, this book was way ahead of its time!!

I live in a small, um, somewhat rustic village not far from Sacramento, California. In the sixties, there came to the town, so the local lore goes, artisans, who tended to live somewhat communally. They ultimately brought chickens to live with them, also communally. When the sixties were over, and the artisans moved on to state jobs and law school, the chickens remained. And were fruitful. And multiplied. And multiply still, as well as serving as mobile speed bumps, tourist attractions, points of political controversy (Chased and attacked chickens, particularly adults, especially roosters, have been known to retaliate in kind, to people who treat them fowlly: actions are afoot to collect ((nap?)) the current chickens and replace them with non-aggressive breeds ((Hey, it's California, after all))),and t-shirt and advertising icons. All in all, it's an idyllic little place that resembles nothing so much as say, the set for Murder She Wrote, if you happened to toss in some palm trees and some chickens along with the pines in the town square. Think Norman Rockwell. Think Norman Rockwell on nitrous oxide. It's a place where nobody sleeps very late, where nobody really has to go hungry, and where approximately every other resident is a chicken.

But I've lived there for a while, so I know these things. Paige Smith's book was out of print for a long while (But now thanks to U of Georgia P, the folks who brought back William Hedgepeth's The Hog Book--there's a pattern here), but now you can read and know these things as well.

The chickens will be grateful.

I have been a Christian husband for 29+ years and thought I was a very good husband. I read this book and it pinpointed my weakness as a husband, one item at a time untill I was exhausted - but had to agree with it. THE SCRIPTURE REFFERENCES ARE DYNAMITE!

This is an excellant book that will teach men why the are here and why they are married to their wife. It shares GREAT insight for men on HOW to love their wives and why their wife does the things they do and what she is expecting of her naturally as God intended. No other book that I have encountered teaches men the ins and outs of why they are where they are as this book does. It is a must read for all men looking to be what he is meant to be here on earth. It should be taught in school. The synopsis needs to be changed. Women benefit in reading the book to see where her husband maybe coming from, but MEN need to read the book to have a successful marriage and become the glory of God as God intended. It will do no man any good for his wife to read it untill he has read it himself.

"There is a way that seems right unto a man; but in the end ...." Most of us guys think we know what a woman needs from us and how we should treat the most important woman in our lives. Often we get left wondering what happened when this woman ends up gone or, at best, leaves us alone in our own house. Many such marriage let downs could be eliminated simply through discovering and using the practicalities of marriage which abound within this book. Every man could use a dose of this stuff on a regular basis. A great book for real men.

I am a hugely ardent fan of the movie... and I think I have to admit that is even better. It goes into a lot more depth- this is apparently what Pogue really wanted to do with the screenplay but couldn't. You get tons more about character here too and the whole story is somehow filled out. There are some very funny bits (Gilbert's first encounter with Draco par example...), and some haunting dark passages - a lot of Einon's thoughts...
And everything describing Draco and his thoughts is just beautiful... There's a bit near the end where he wants a last flight and sunshine which completely breaks my heart *sob*.
It's the sort of book I will gladly stay up all night reading... beautifully written... just amazing!!!




(Pls. note: this review was written by me about the BOOK - I don't know how much the tape has been abridged, but I strongly suggest you read the book anyway cos, as I said, it's brilliant!!)

I read this book because of an article I read in which Charles Edward Pogue claimed that his screenplays for Dragonheart & Kull were savaged by their Directors. To give the man a fair shake, I read his Dragonheart Novel. I can see why he was so upset! Wherever the film takes a wrong turn, the Novel goes in the right direction. Everything that is wrong about the film is RIGHT in the Novel. The writing, while now and then a little spare [which is better than overwriting] and a little too modern, is, overall, exceedingly literate [some of the dialogue is close to Tad Williams level]. The characters are believable and involving. The story explains itself and it's world. I HIGHLY recommend buying a copy of Dragonheart!

Ijust have to say that I love this book!! Also the movie is Awesome!!!!

If you want to build your first web site and you have no idea where to begin this is definatley the book to read! This book is very detailed and full of visuals that you will see when you are actually in the process of creating your web page. I find that the pictures are so much more beneficial than long drawn out explainations of what to do. The book is broken into 10 parts. Each part has a series of short, instructional lessons designed to help you create the best web page using your computer. This book starts off with the very first thing you need to do; it makes sure you have a web authoring tool and moves on to creating your web page. This book is like having your own personal professor teaching you how to create your web page. A very helpful glossary and index are also included that will help you understand key terms. This was definatly money very well spent. A stress free way to create a web page!

Easy Web Pages second Edition by Gina Carrillo is a great book for building your own web pages. It provides meticulous step by step direction on where to get free resource, and how to use the resource. I was surprised when I read this book, because it supplies so many good website resources, and it even show you places to promote your finished site. The book contain three catogories, which then divided into numerous chapters.(But they are really fun to read and easy to understand). The first one teaches how to use programs to build website. The second one teaches how to use HTML to build website. The third one provides all the general informations that a beginner should know for websites.

While the expectations of web page viewers has never been higher, it also has never been easier to build them. Software to semi-automatically create pages is available, efficient and often inexpensive. One of the packages that most satisfies these criteria is Microsoft FrontPage Express. Bundled free with many applications, including Internet Explorer, it is the package illustrated in this book.
The style of presentation is a series of screen shots with notational marks indicating where to click. These pictures are all in full color, closely matching what you will see on the screen. All of the fundamental steps of using the wizards to create a basic page are covered. Specific topics include: adding links, modifying the colors of text and background; embedding pictures, including tables and forms; posting the page online and announcing the page to the world. Throughout this, there is the occasional tip to help the appearance of the page. Presented at the level of the novice, the only prerequisite is the basic knowledge needed to point and click.
Realistically, the day is no doubt coming when your web page will be as much of your public persona as the job you hold, the car you drive and your place of residence. If you have a desire to have a web page and have no idea where to begin, this book was written for you. It is the best introductory book to building pages that I have seen so far.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission

This book is bangin'. Yo, my girl and I was on tha outs- you know? My uncle Jimmy was like "Stupid, why don't you make her a web thing that says 'Girl, you know you're hella fly. Come back baby.'" So i was all "Hell yeah." He gave some book, and I made this page that was like tiiiiiiight. She pretty much melted and I was all "Ahhh yeah girl, who's hella dope." And she was all "Yous is Leroy." And I was all like "Hell Yeah."

I've never done much with webpages until recently and this book has come in handy. Even if you dont like or use frontpage it covers lots of handy things like how to get search engines to find you and to make a user friendly and consistant webpage. Whats nice is that this book explains all the stuff about making a webpage like tables, forms, image positioning, and all the little things that make good pages that are a pain to work with unless you learn how to use a program like frontpage.

The only drawback is that sometimes the author doesn't go into enough detail on some topics, but overall this book will get you going with your own website.

The Effective Executive's Guide to FrontPage Web Sites starts from scratch. If you want a good reference book with a guide to building a web site within it, this will work for you. The book includes information on everything from a description of how the internet works, to choosing a domain name, to adding interactivity to your website. The only thing I would have liked more of, was more specific information on how to do different formatting by hand within my website, maybe an appendix with some of the basic html tags.

Part history and part dreamy reminiscence, this book is an account of a boy growing up in Southwest Saskatchewan in the early part of the 20th Century. The central portion of the book is pure history, and the long chapters on cowboys are particularly challenging because they require an intimate knowledge of cowboy terminology. Stegner does not mince words about the difficulties of life on the plains--extremes of heat and cold, wind, hostile topography, lack of cultural amenities--the result of which is that most who grew up there moved elsewhere. But he also shows a passionate attachment for the country of his childhood. The narrative often seems rambling because, like James Michener, the author tries to incorporate so much besides history--including the biology and geology of the nearby Cypress Hills, the biologically diverse area nearby--and even his poetic musings have elements of fact, as when he describes the wind, or the gophers, or his swimming hole, or his school, or his family's homestead, or the problems involved in the town's incorporation.

This wonderful collection of essays and fiction about the last Western frontier is both romance and anti-romance. Writing in the 1950s, Stegner captures the breath-taking beauty of the unbroken plains of southwest Saskatchewan and the excitement of its settlment at the turn of the century. Part memoir, the book recounts the years of his boyhood in a small town along the Whitemud River in 1914-1919, the summers spent on the family's homestead 50 miles away along the Canadian-U.S border. His book is also an account of the loss of that Eden and the failed promise of agricultural development in this semi-arid region with thin top soil.

Stegner is a gifted, intelligent writer, able to turn the people and events of history into compelling reading. The opening section of the book describes the experience of being on the plains and specifically in the area where Stegner was a boy. And it lays out the geography of that land -- a distant range of hills, the river, the coulees, the town -- which the book will return to again and again.

The following section evokes the period of frontier Canada's early exploration, the emergence of the metis culture, the destruction of the buffalo herds, the introduction of rangeland cattle, and then wave upon wave of settlement pushing the last of the plains Indians westward and northward. A chapter is devoted to the surveying of the boundary along the Canada-U.S. border; another chapter describes the founding of the Mounted Police and its purely Canadian style of bringing law and order to the wild west.

The middle section of the book is a novella and a short story about the winter of 1906-1907. In the longer piece, eight men rounding up cattle are caught on the open plains in an early blizzard. Stegner builds the drama and the peril of their situation artfully and convincingly. The final section of the book returns to Stegner's memories of the town and the homestead, ending with his family's departure for Montana.

Stegner lived at a time and in a place where a person born in the 20th century could still experience something of the sweep of history that transformed the American plains. I've read many books about the West, and because of his depth of thought, his gifts as a writer, and his unflinching eye, Stegner's work ranks for me among the best. I heartily recommend this book.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Wallace Stegner grew up on the prairie frontiers of North Dakota, Saskatchewan, and Montana, and in the mountains of Utah. As is indicated by the subtitle, this volume combines history, a memoir, and historical fiction. Readers who have spent significant time on the snow swept northern steppes may find a small part of themselves, and of this land, in Wolf Willow. ...
"On those miraculously beautiful and murderously cold nights glittering with the green and blue darts from a sky like polished dark metal, when the moon had gone down, leaving the hollow heavens to the stars and the overflowing cold light of the Aurora, he thought he had moments of the clearest vision ... In every direction ... the snow spread; here and there the implacable plain glinted back a spark - the beam of a cold star reflected in a crystal of ice." (The scene evokes in me a powerful memory, as I recall often standing alone on just such "murderously cold" snow blanketed prairies and gazing into those "miraculously beautiful" night skies.)

In America Enters the World, Page Smith recreates a masterful account of the Progressive Era. He does not follow a strict chronological path (though there is more or less a sequence of events) but once the reader gets accustomed, it flows pretty well. Smith makes clever use of colloquialisms ("skedaddled" "smashed"-meaning drunk, and "skulduggery" are but a few) which helps make the reader feel comfortable. Finally he states his thesis on page 140 (barely 1/10 of the way through the massive book) of viewing history as a part of a larger whole.

Smith often extols the virtues of socialism as the great counterbalance of industrial capitalism, which since this is a "people's history" makes some sense. He has the ability to enter the shoies of those he writes of, an admirable trait in a historian. However, at times he gets carried away with the socialist undercurrents, sometimes to the point of annoyance. He does give great leaders like Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson their just dues, and comes down hard on stupid leaders like William Howard Taft and Warren Harding, and this gives the book balance. Unfortunately by giving lengthy accounts of the doings of Big Bill Haywood and Emma Goldman Smith seems to elevate these people to the unwarranted level of greatness as well. The Roosevelt-Wilson rivalry is the most dominant political theme in the book. Smith admires them both, Roosevelt for his populism, Wilson for his vision, and he covers each objectively and fair.

Smith never cites his sources so it is difficult to verify, but the reader learns to trust Smith as an authority on his subject. He makes an un-stated advocation of how committees served the country well in winning World War One, then attempts to illustrate how the Soviet Union emerged as a model of efficiency ("soviet" is defined as a governmental council). He makes great progress in some chapters then takes one step back with his unwavering advocacy of the socialist state. He seems to fall victim to his own conclusion on page 642 that "obsessions make bad politics".

But Smith is able to recognize genius when he sees it. Wilson's vision was the apex of the Progressive Era. When the unqualified Harding assumed the presidency, Smith ends his historical narrative. It is clear to Smith that Harding did not represent "progress" (one could conclude Harding didn't represent anything). The final several chapters are dedicated to technology, arts, education, and religion. He covers the American scene. Racism, bigotry, women's rights, philanthropy, mainstream and side stream politics, war, peace, industry, and many other themes are all handled with equal care by this prolific, intelligent author. His conclusion is well supported and his mastery of English would impress any wordsmith.

It is a sad commentary on public literacy and civic awareness when a whole series of books so splendid, educational, and damned readable is allowed to go out of print, such as has the quite literate eight book series by noted historian Page Smith. This massive and spectacularly executed series is organized around the continuing themes of American History, and centers on our emergence into the larger world as a main player in the world community. This is modern history at its best; masterfully retold, entertaining and edifying to read, and organized around central themes that make the subject both approachable and more understandable.

The present volume, "America Enters The World: A People's History Of The Progressive Era and World War I", is the seventh of an eight volume series Professor Smith published, and represents the culmination of the series in approaching the entry into the 20th century and the modern era after masterfully threading through the mass of American history. Dr. Smith begins here focuses on two key figures, a dynamic and energetic Theodore Roosevelt, on the one hand, and an austere, professorial, and intellectual Woodrow Wilson, on the other. With Roosevelt's gravitation to the Oval Office, an incredibly turbulent and event-packed two decades of momentous change commences, marked for such tumultuous struggles as the battle between management and labor, and the emerging progressive political movement.

This was also the period of international reawakening that found the United States increasingly drawn into world events, culminating in our reluctant and begrudging participation in the First World War. Of course, initially it was Roosevelt swinging that 'big stick' of power and enthusiastic involvement, swaggering confidently onto the world stage that first opened our doors to increasing involvement in international affairs. Yet, it was much more Woodrow Wilson's intellectual thoughtfulness that led directly to our enthusiastic flag-waving yet fateful entry into the growing darkness of the world war. In due time, the enthusiasm flagged, turning to disillusionment and an increased national mood of isolationism. In twenty short years, we had seemingly come full circle. Yet things had changed, changed utterly, and would never be the same again.

As with his previous volumes, Professor Smith guides us masterfully through the particulars of the lives of a stream of extraordinary people, individuals who rose to the manifest challenges of the era with energy, imagination, and selfless enthusiasm. In so doing, they reshaped and redefined the meaning and possibilities for America, and eventually helped in the effort to transform the world in the process. As with each of his previous volumes, the author uses his narrative to tell the story of individuals both famous and anonymous, and in so doing helps the reader to better appreciate what it meant to be alive and involved in one of the most amazing periods in modern history, when America rose mightily and purposefully from the obscurity of provincial isolationism to greater international responsibility and involvement, spurring America onto the stage for the events of the twentieth century, where she has remained since.

In sum, this is a work of a great and singular historian, one offering a unique perspective on a most momentous, dangerous, and exciting time in our history, a period during which America came of age internationally. It is the story of two decades that did so much to define and forge the modern nation we are all so familiar with, and helps to explain how it is we have come to arrive at our present destination, and in the process gives the reader great cause for celebration and concern. I highly recommend you search out this book as a used commodity and then hang onto it for dear life. I do. Enjoy!

This is the 7th of the 8 volume history which the late Page Smith (he died Aug 28, 1995) wrote on the history of this country. I have not read the 8th volume, but it is not correct to say it is a 10,000 page history. The first 7 volumes only have a total of 6,823 pages. My comment on finishing volume 7 was "I'd say about 5000 of the 6823 pages were really interesting reading." One of these days I want to find volume 8 and read it so that I will have read the whole set. Nor do I agree that this work was what Professor Smith devoted his life to. He has a two-volume biography of John Adams which I am going to read some day, I hope. (I know exactly the library where I can borrow it and I have been planning to do so for years--and some day I will.)

Do not expect more than ID from the book. It is excellent at ID but that is all you will get for sure. I bought it for ID and it serves the purpose very well. One must also question the range maps since as explained in the text of the book they are compromised.

It might interest the reader of this review (since your looking at the book) to know that while fresh water only represents about 1% of the available aquatic habitat on earth over half of the known species of fish live in it. I'll leave it up to you to find out why. Peterson Field Guides have a winning formula, find an expert, set them up with a good illustrator and see what comes out. This book finishes the trio that covers all of the fishes likely to be encountered by a North American fisherman, diver or naturalist. Like the Fishes of the Atlantic Coast and the Fishes of the Pacific Coast it is well organized, well written, all inclusive (of species) and as informative as space will allow. If you are curious about fishes in general or encounter fresh water fish with any kind of regularity you owe it to yourself to find out what they are. And, if you live in North America you should have this book.

This book has informed me on the many fishes I catch ranging from California to New York. Every year when I go down to Arkansas I alwyas bring it with me on my fishing journeys so that I no whati am catching. It has over 700 illistrations and over 300 maps. In all of my searching for book this has been the most helpful book I have used. I recamend buying it for yourself. It will help you alot.