Translate the twelve labors of Hercules into the cultural climate of Northern Mississippi in the 1920s, and while you're there make some true insights into human society of any time--why, only Howard Waldrop would attempt such a thing, and only Waldrop could have the panache to pull it off. A Dozen Tough Jobs should have been written 200 years ago so that it could have received the treatment it deserves: that being carved into stone. Waldrop proves that less is more, by condensing magic, bigotry, love, checkers, guitars, romance, and everything else that makes life...well, life, into a novella that is easily read in one night.

I.O. Lace is a young black boy who works for Boss Eustis. Well, work is hardly right. Work for blacks in Mississippi at the time was only a step removed from slavery, and Boss Eustis is a man to be feared. Joining I.O. in his life-once-removed-from-slavery is a man who is a slave: a convict named Houlka Lee, remanded into Boss Eustis' service for one year.

This novella is both subtle and not at the same time. For those unfamiliar with the Greek myths and classics that this is based on, the novella is an interesting view into 1920s Mississippi life. But for most of us, it is filled with little treasures that would make some annotator leap up and click his heels. Waldrop works in every aspect of the Hercules myth with such ease that you wonder if he rewrote all the Bullfinch's Mythology of the world so that they fit his novella, instead of the other way around.

Waldrop is a special writer, and one who deserves far more attention then he's ever gotten. Unfortunately, he is not very prolific, so when a new Waldrop story arrives, it is indeed a time of joy. A Dozen Tough Jobs is a time of ecstasy. Missing this book will only make your life sadder.

I first became a Howard Brodie fan after seeing several of his WW II drawings along the walls of the Pentagon. I then started research on him and found several issues of Yank with his work. Finding this book was the ultimate. It is a "must" for anyone who wants to get a true feel of the troops on the ground in war.

This book is a secret gem full of delightful and wise tales - the first one is worth the price alone! I really recommend it - it's one of my favorites - and it's a lovely gift to the right person...

This book affected me profoundly. Quite unexpectedly, I found myself in tears often while reading it, not out of any particular joy or sorrow, but because it touched my heart so deeply. Universal truths are revealed in its pages, and the author demonstrates how we can walk our talk and be our authentic selves by following our inner guidance. It conveys how living transpersonally does not mean sacrificing anything about the personal. We learn that our personal experiences are actually enhanced and enriched when our focus is on more than the self. This is a must read, as it will take you on a journey of compassion, hope, truth and love.

This is a fun and exciting piece that exhilerates me in that funny name.

Very few high families in England have had so dramatic a history as the Fitzalan-Howards. All the first four Howard dukes were attainted, the 3rd duke escaped execution only because Henry VIII died that morning (though two of his neices who became queens of England were beheaded), the 4th duke was unjustly executed, the 5th duke went insane, the 6th duke was excluded from public life because of his Catholicism, the 7th duke's wife left him in a public scandal, the 8th duke died prematurely, the 9th duke was childless and saw the end of his branch of the family, the 10th duke died an alcoholic, the 11th duke lost two wives and produced no legitimate children, the 12th duke's wife left him shortly after their marriage, the 13th duke's eldest son died suddenly just before his majority, the 14th duke died young and painfully, and the 15th duke's only son was born blind and epileptic. As the leading Catholic family in England, they were aristocratic outlaws -- yet they were and are that nation's premier peers, hereditary marshals of England, and possessed of great wealth. The author (who is Fitzalan Pursuivant Extraordinary) makes clear that high title is no guarantee of success or happiness. And yet their dukedom has survived for more than five centuries. As Earl Marshal, the 16th duke was responsible for organizing the corona-tions of two sovereigns, the funerals of two more (as well as that of Sir Winston Churchill), and the investiture of the present Prince of Wales; with the advent of radio and television, this made him widely recognized to the public at large. Semi-scholarly (there are numerous footnotes) and heavily illustrated, this volume is most instructive to the general reader and of particular interest to the student of peerage pedigrees.

E.M. Forster appeals to many because of his early novels, "Where Angels Fear to Tread", "A Room with a View", and "Howard's End", the last which is included in this book. They seem like updated Austen novels, neat and well-structured, albeit more surprising, but still in all appearances novels dealing with social manners. However, "Howard's End" and "A Passage to India" deal with much more substantial themes of industrialization and imperialism as well as Forster's overarching idea of connection between peoples and ideologies.

"Howard's End" sets up the opposition between the cultured Schlegels and the industrious Wilcoxes. Simplistically, each family represents the division within society at the time, whether to embrace the outward form of change in motor cars and encroaching tenements or to hold onto the land and the responsibility and feelings contained within it. Forster also makes use of associations and symbols to further the reader's understanding of a greater meaning, such as the teutonic assocation with the Schlegels or the description of Mrs. Bast's photograph to suggest her occupation. Still, the theme of connection found in its famous epigraph "Only connect... (the prose to the passion)" is woven well throughout and sometimes surprisingly so.

"A Passage..." is Forster's greatest work, and rightfully so because in it he is most ambitious, adding elements of imperialism and religion to that of relationships between people. While the novel is not a political novel per se, it justifies the interpretation through its mostly sympathetic treatment of the Indians and the absurdity of British bureacracy in a culture beyond its understanding. I assert that this is one of Forster's more pessimistic novels with an appropriate ending, but my colleagues assert the opposite, that it makes claims to the hope of connection. I leave it to you to conclude for yourself. Forster also gives a good foretaste of the post-modernist technique, with his attempt to show that the "many-headed monster" of India or any culture cannot be adequately treated by a single perspective.

While Easy Design On Your Computer is intended for young audiences, its easy instructions will reach all ages: any who want to use Microsoft Word and Office 97 to design newsletters, leaflets, and projects on the computer. 48 pages of instruction include tips on everything from making stickers to producing newsletters. Young users with some Microsoft Word knowledge who want to fine-tune it for projects will be delighted with this easy approach.

Given all the books that have been written about the Tudor period it is extraordinary that none has covered Thomas Howard, the 3rd Duke of Norfolk. He lived through the reigns from Henry VII to Mary and played a major part in the maintenance of the Tudor grip on England. He even survived being sentenced to death for treason under Henry VIII, and spending Edward VI's reign in the Tower. Not bad for a staunchly conservative man of Catholic persuasions. (He avoided the block because Henry VIII chose the day appointed for his execution to die). Thomas Howard was released in the reign of Mary and died shortly afterwards at the age of 80. It is hard to think of any other aristocrat who was so fortunate. However, for once in the Tudor period, justice was done; he had backed his sovereign through thick and thin. Indeed, he has been much maligned as being no more than a 'yes-man' to Henry VIII and none too bright with it. But although he made no great claims to learning his contribution was immense. He communicated directly with diplomats, accumulated many works of art (preserving several of the Holbein portraits that are increasingly well-known today). He is perhaps best thought of as the last of the feudal lords, able to raise effective armies almost at will (though always in the interests of his liege sovereign).

David Head is apologetic about the length of time it has taken to produce this work, which has been gestating for over a decade, notwithstanding that it formed the basis of his doctoral thesis. However it is clear to the educated eye that a colossal amount of work has gone into it. It is increasingly rarely that one can read a history book and be sure that it is entirely the work of the person whose name appears on the cover. Possibly the reason no-one has attempted a similar work to this in the intervening period is that its reputation for excellence and academic rigour (sorry, I'm English!) travels before it.

This book is worth every penny to the serious scholar, although it may come as a bit of a shock to those who thought that Tudor History and Antonia Fraser were synonymous!

John A.W. Lock

Who's dont want to know what is inside our head? Another lifes?, Another remembers? We are really or just we are hidding ourselves? Fasciniting. Sorry the english (¿Quién no quiere saber qué es lo que hay dentro de nuestra cabeza? ¿Otras vidas? ¿Otros recuerdos? Somos en realidad nosotros mismos o sólo fingimos serlo y escondemos nuestra verdadera personalidad?