Although I am a big Nancy Drew fan, I'd have to say this was not one of my favorite books. Although parts of it are intriguing (as all Nancy stories are) Some parts are just downright boring. However, if you're a diehard Nancy Drew fan, you still have to get this book for your collection!

The is the greatest book ever!This is my first Nancy Drew book,
I've ever read and I really enjoy it!This is my favorite book ever!
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Nancy Drew books.
So you better go to the stores right away if you want action,adventure and fun.

It is surprising that there is only one readily available (or at least affordable) translation of Chushingura, one of Japan's most famous puppet/kabuki plays, at amazon. We are fortunate then that Donald Keene's translation is that particular one, for it is a vivid, elegant work, serving as both an entertaining read and historical document.

After Tokugawa became Shogun in 1601, Japan entered a long period of regimented peace. The Samurai warrior-class were forced to adapt therein, trading their swords for the pen, and many of the classic traditions fell into stagnation. The old ways were taught, but seldom practiced: to excel in Tokugawa's bureaucracy, skill with the tongue was more important than skill with the sword...at least in the long run.

But occasionally the Samurai spirit rebelled. In 1703, forty-six former retainers of the late lord Naganori burst into the grounds of lord Yoshinaka, the man indirectly responsible for the death of their master; they killed Yoshinaka and then marched to a nearby Buddhist temple to offer the severed head to their master's grave. Even though they knew it would mean death by ritual seppuku (disembowelment), the ronin fulfilled their pledge to their master regardless, thus gaining 'face' through the performance of duty.

Chushingura, a fictionalized account of this famous vendetta, emphasizes these aspects of honor and loyalty: the forty-six ronin are determined to see their course through to its end, regardless of cost. And the cost is, in places, quite high. Some have their wives sold to prostitution so that they can finance their revenge operation. Others deny their wedding promises, knowing death rests upon their shoulders. One ronin engages in all sorts of debauchery, destroying his reputation and staining his family name, so that suspicion is allied and he can plot in peace. Sacrifice for honor is prevalent throughout the play, and from it one can glean all of the qualities the Japanese revere most in their national character and heritage.

Though Keen's translation a joy to read, there are some essential elements missing from this slender volume, thus my rating of four stars. Specifically, a discourse on the music used during the play performance (so key, apparently, in influencing the audience mood), is missing, with a paltry excuse given; and a chart of names would have been very helpful in establishing the relationships between characters. Still, this is a great buy for anyone interested in Japanese history and culture.

Keene is an especially apt translator, making notes about puns, implications, etc... that do not translate well, in addition to notes about historical context. The play itself is a good read, and very interesting. It is important just due to its tremendous popularity and staying power in Japan. A must read for anyone with an interest in Japanese culture.

Close observers of the Iran have long puzzled over the paradox of the anti-Western Khomeini founding a republic based on a constitution that represents the nation via the decisions of a parliament which is chosen through popular elections-for these are all Western concepts. In a exquisitely detailed and revealing study of Iranian politics, Schirazi (a researcher at the University of Berlin) makes this paradox the center of his research and provides an important new understanding of the ideas that have dominated Iran for nearly two decades.

In particular, Schirazi notes two giant contradictions at the heart of the Islamic Republic: a government that supposedly rests on the pure principles of Shi'i Islam in fact draws heavily from Western secular sources entirely alien to the Shari'a (Islamic sacred law); simultaneously, its authority also rests on the authority that derives only from God but also from the will of the Iranian people. The author shows the historical roots of these contradictions (in 1906 the mullahs looked to a constitution to make the government more Islamic), then devotes the bulk of this fascinating book to the practical working out of the dilemmas they create and showing how these have molded contemporary Iranian life. In a word, secular defeated Islamic, God defeated the people.

Middle East Quarterly, Sept 1997

I admit it: I ordered this book on the basis of its title. I was researching the Republic of Iran for a comparative government class, and the university library is woefully short on books about non-Western civilizations.

Schirazi is the sort of professorial writer who needs an editor as good as his ideas. He is comprehensive, but not exhaustive, in explaining the contradictory origins of the written constitution that resulted in its inherently flawed nature (the very idea of a Republic is Western in origin, which is hard to reconcile with the "Islamic" nature of the Republic.) He writes like an academic, and would benefit greatly from having an outsider to reorganize his work and challenge him to pare down his ideas to make them more manageable. I don't think that the translation is his problem.

Schirazi certainly does bring up several points that were nowhere else in my reading (and I read A LOT of books for an undergraduate paper); a great example is "maslahat," the legal practice of meeting necessity instead of traditional or "feqh" law. Khomeini's attempts to press the clerics into using maslahat, in order to build a judiciary that could be both Islamic AND run a modern state, is emblematic of the picture of Khomeini that emerges from other authors. Abrahamian's "Khomeinism," for example, establishes rather well that he was not a fundamentalist at all, but a pragmatist; Schirazi ties this surprising truth to the actual CONSTITUTIONAL practices of the state.

Schirazi does not closely examine the parastate in this work, which I would argue is its main fault. One cannot understand the institutions of the clerical state without understanding that the real power has always lain in the bonyads, control of the paramilitaries, and the informal structures of the Majlis. I hope that the renewed sense of openness in Iran will spur closer examination of the parastate by political scientists, sociologists, and others.

Otherwise, Schirazi and his translator have done something sorely needed in America: they have brought a poorly-understood, under-studied government of great geopolitical importance to better light.

This Story is about Nancy working on a case that is about a fashion designer. When Nancy saw the two same dresses but one was made with cheap fabric and they stole the design from Beau. Nancy wanted to find out who stole Joanna's wedding dress and who stole Beau's designs and sold it with cheaper prices. Nancy found out that it was Angel that sold all the designs to someone. Angel was Beau's helper from his studio. Unfortunately Angel was murdered and Nancy thought that it was Mimi Piazza. Mimi Piazza was another designer who got the designs from angel and sold it for cheaper prices. Later, Mimi Piazza got caught and Joanna found her wedding dress and got married.
I liked the story because it was a mystery kind of book. Nancy gets to solve all kinds of fun mysteries. I don't like the book is because, when it has a mysteries it doesn't go too deep into the story, a person could just guess really easy who the mystery person is. I liked how the book described the studio and Joananna's father's home. I also liked the book because it tells the reader how lucky Bess is. She gets to be a model just in one day.
My favorite part of the story is when Nancy tried to sneak into Mimi Piazza's studio but the security guard sees her and she got caught and he told her that next time she comes in she is going to be really big trouble. Nancy didn't listen to him and tried to distract the truck driver and tried to sneak through the staris again but she got caught. She went back to Beau's studio and Beau told her that Mimi Piazza's studio is well secured ans no one can go in except that if she knows you. The next day Nancy sneaked in as one of the fashion design students. She tried to find Joannan's wedding dress but didn't find it and she had to leave.

This book is SO cool! It's perfect for any fashion buff, like me. You learn about so much in this book, and it's definetly one of the thrillers! I highly recomend it!

Kind of boring, if you ask me. I really was expecting some real romance and drama when I picked up this book, and couldn't be more disappointed with the way it ended up turning out.

When i picked up this book, I was expecting some real drama and action, but truthfully it was kind of boring. But good the way Peter and Nancy are in love with eachother, but won't admit it.

Well, the writing is passable, the plot has a few slightly interesting twists and I like the way Nancy is helping others in this book, but that's about all you can say for it. Nancy jumped to conclusions like a biased amateur instead of the teen detective extroadinaire she is supposed to be. The characters were all one dimensional: George was always athletic, Bess was always slightly overweight and trailing after boys, Dino was a cute little kid who wanted to be a detective...Maria had a shadow of a nicer side, but it was still predictable...
Don't waste your time with this book; read the originals instead.

This book was soooooooo good! I finished it within the 2nd hour that I started reading it! I just couldn't put it down!!! All Nancy Drew mystery books are good so it doesn't matter which one you get!

A disapointing,non-interesting mystery novel.However there are worse books and if you like Nancy Drew perhaps you will like this.

Okay First of all , it's a Nancy Drew book so of course its gonna be awesome , well it should be to all Nancy Drew fans.
And 2nd of all it includes , romance (4 you ppl that like that stuff), crime (DUH!), an old criminal who hid his latest theft stash (Hmm...now your thinkin this could be good. Right ?) Conflict between a whole lotta charecters ...and a whole lotta humour and fun!

I have heard some bad things said about The Nancy Drew Files.I honestly have to say some of the stories are better than the Mystery Stories.Rich and Dangerous is a typical Nancy Drew story.The only thing i dont like about this series is Nancy worring about fashion.She didnt make it a hassle in the original series.At least Bess and George are here in this to pick up the slack were the story tends to drag on.

In "Rich and Dangerous" (case #25 in The Nancy Drew Files series), 18-year-old Nancy Drew is spending the weekend in New York City with her lawyer father. While he's busy with an annual Interpol convention, Nancy is getting acquainted with her rich older neighbor, Sarah Amberly, who shares the penthouse floor with them in the Plaza Hotel. For the short time that she knows Sarah, Nancy is worried about the old woman's health. And she has good reason to be, because shortly after they meet, Sarah dies in her suite from an overdose of her heart medicine. At first, Sarah's death is considered a suicide, but when her expensive jewelry collection disappears shortly after her death, the hotel detective (Joe Ritter) considers it murder--and Nancy Drew the main suspect since she was in the suite when Sarah died. Well, of course Nancy didn't kill Sarah Amberly, so she--along with the help of her two friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne, who drop in for a short visit--decide to uncover this mystery themselves. Here's their list of possible suspects: Maximilian, the mysterious waiter who offers Nancy bits of gossip about Sarah's odd family, yet ominously warns her not to interfere so much; Alison Kale, Sarah's poor, mentally unstable younger sister who may be crazy enough to kill her sibling out of jealousy and rage; Jack Kale, Sarah's nephew who has a major problem with gambling and stealing and may have killed his aunt for the money; Pieter van Druten, Sarah's rich fiancé who may have an ulterior reason for marrying her; and Madame Rosa, Sarah's tarot card reader who foretells of death, possibly as a way to frighten the old woman to death.

"Rich and Dangerous" was a decent enough Nancy Drew mystery, but I thought the whole secret double-identity of the killer was a little too ridiculous and complicated. Still, this book is worth reading if you're a big fan of The Nancy Drew Files series.

Of the few books on Japanese literary history available in English, this volume is perhaps the best available. So much so that it inspired a widely acclaimed Japanese translation. However, the majority of the ideas presented keep within excepted standards, and when Keene's insight starts to become apparent the subject changes before a thorough explanation is given, even in places where such an explanation would be considered neccisary. This, however, is the only weak point of this book, although it is a major drawback.

Keene has written a book that, though using an immense range of Japanese scholarly sources, is easily accessible to the interested reader.
His narrative style is clear and appealing.
He not only describes the Japanese classical literary canon, and quotes large chunks of it, but also evaluates the poetry and prose he treats with a careful and cultivated aesthetic sensibility.
The book is a delight to read.
Nothing like it exists on Japanese literature in the English language.

Konishi Jin'ichi's literary history is designed for specialists, and Kato Shuichi's similar 3-volume history does not have the depth and breadth of Keene's book with its characteristic attention to detail as Kato wrote his study mainly with Japanese readers in mind.
In short, 'Seeds in The Heart" is the culmination of a lifetime's scholarship, and provides an extraordinarily moving feast for readers

[....] I liked this book but didn't love it. It was a little predictable as compared to the others in the series.

If you like camps you will like this book. It is one of those books that will keep you up a night reading. The "mystery" is not too hard for the recommended age group, but not too childish for an older child to read.