For all of the marquee races during this span -- the 1908 chases in both leagues; the 1920 American League battle between the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees; the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers-New York Giants tussle; the Philadelphia Phillies' 1964 collapse that created a heated four-team struggle; and others, Davenport gives us "close-up" graphs, that chronicle each day's scores over a period of one or more months. These closeups really give an insight into what was actually happening to these teams day by day, and in some cases, what effect teams outside the race were having on the final result.

In the regular, more broad-based graphs, we get a glimpse at interesting also-rans who were either on the rise -- like the Philadelphia Athletics of 1926-28, right before their domination of the American League over the following three seasons -- or on the way down. These are indicated by bolder lines in Davenport's graphs (as are the teams who won the race).

Perhaps the ideal combination would be this book's graphs and the pure numbers available in Neft and Cohen's "The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball." Having both books separately is good enough, however.

While on one level it's unfortunate that this book hasn't been updated, either by Davenport or someone else, for some people an update would only be valuable through 1993, in any case. After '93, the Wild Card was introduced, devaluing the pennant race for many observers. Of course, the real purists might point to 1968 as the last year of true pennant races (though neither was particularly close), coming on the eve of divisional play in 1969.

"Baseball's Pennant Races: A Graphic View" is a fine addition to any baseball fan's collection, its lack of updating notwithstanding.

The book itself covers grammar and verb forms up to the subjunctive case which I think is a good thing because when you finish the book you will have enough grammar and vocab to feel really good about what you've learned and enough to read a magazine or book or newspaper with a dictionary, which I believe is the best way to develop your vocabulary becuase you learn what you need to learn and therefore it's practical and interesting.

At the end of each section ( there are 10) there are interesting notes about different Latin American countries, proverbs, and word studies, and idioms. Finally I would say that the vocabulary and grammar you will learn is just about perfect for a beginner and if you truly learn it all and supplement it with a great grammar like "Spanish Verbs and Essentials of Grammar" (especially for the subjuctive case), which will cost you like 7 bucks, and a dictionary like NTC's "English and Spanish Learner's Dictionary" (note just because it's for learner's doesnt mean it's only good for beginning vocabulary) you will likely be more competant than most college students with 4 semesters ( 2 years) of study. And it will get you there without being mundane or overwhelming.

The only thing the book didn't mention is to double check the dates with everyone, especially the officiant, so there are no mix-ups. It is also somewhat localized, many of the examples come from the Northwest. However she does try to give general price ranges from around the country.

The birth of a reformation gives an insightful view of the founding of a major Reformation Movment. It shows us the trials and tribulations of early church of God ministers as they traveled about teaching the truth of the word of God. I would recommend this book as excellent reading to anyone.

If you are interested in etchings, drypoints, engravings, woodcuts, etc. this is a good book. Other books cover offset lithography in more depth.

Well written basic info, I enjoyed it.

Bill Warner