After hearing Pierce on NPR over the years, I looked forward to reading this book expecting to be entertained--at least a little. But, I was most disappointed by both the writing and the content. The book lacks the wit and the depth of insight one might expect from the title. I also found Pierce and Blount to be overly critical and harsh in many spots--almost irrationally angry and ornery--it left me scratching my head and saying to myself, what's their problem? So, this book is not recommended for the avid sports reader--maybe it's because these guys have no or very little experience with playing sports themselves--a common probelm with so many obnoxious sports critics! Overall summary: A waste of money I could have spent attending a good sports event!

I am a fan of the game behind the game when it comes to sports. I do like to watch the games, but what I find really interesting is stories of the individuals and the stories about what happens off the field. That is why I have thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Pierce's book.

I believe the reason sports fascinates us so much is not do to the game but the people who play the game, and how the "game" effects the rest of the world. Mr. Pierce provides that much-needed insight into sorts. He pushes beyond the box scores to bring reader to the heart of sports.

In this collection there is a wide range of topics and sports covered, each with Pierce's attention to detail and sharp wit. He goes from the back roads to the inner offices to find the stories behind the sports. He handles each subject with care, and though he may not handle each person or more appropriately ego with care it is done only to breathe reality into the Hollywood and marketing of sports.

Pierce has a writing style that is refreshing and each piece has its own flavor. Sitting down with his book is almost like sitting down with a collection of different authors. While Piece does have his own style he does not let that interfere with writing the story they way it needs to be written. He does not try to shoe horn events or people into his style instead he lets his subjects pick the tone and the pace, and he adds the frame and the lighting for us to better understand them.

But please do not take my comments about Pierce style to mean that his work is heady or inaccessible. In fact its quite the opposite, after all this is a man who likes to sit in the bleachers with a paper cup of beer in his hand and cheer loudly for the home team. Instead I offered my comments to point out that this book is not just for sports fan, but also for people who enjoy stories.

I am a fan of the game behind the game when it comes to sports. I do like to watch the games, but what I find really interesting is stories of the individuals and the stories about what happens off the field. That is why I have thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Pierce's book.

I believe the reason sports fascinates us so much is not do to the game but the people who play the game, and how the "game" effects the rest of the world. Mr. Pierce provides that much-needed insight into sorts. He pushes beyond the box scores to bring reader to the heart of sports.

In this collection there is a wide range of topics and sports covered, each with Pierce's attention to detail and sharp wit. He goes from the back roads to the inner offices to find the stories behind the sports. He handles each subject with care, and though he may not handle each person or more appropriately ego with care it is done only to breathe reality into the Hollywood and marketing of sports.

Pierce has a writing style that is refreshing and each piece has its own flavor. Sitting down with his book is almost like sitting down with a collection of different authors. While Piece does have his own style he does let that interfere with writing the story they way it needs to be written. He does try to shoe horn events or people into his style instead he lets his subjects pick the tone and the pace, and he adds the frame and the lighting for us to better understand them.

But please do not take my comments about Pierce style to mean that his work is heady or inaccessible. In fact its quite the opposite, after all this is a man who likes to sit in the bleachers with a paper cup of beer in his hand and cheer loudly for the home team. Instead I offered my comments to point out that this book is not just for sports fan, but also for people who enjoy stories.

Brinkley offers a fascinating glimpse into the politics of the Depression era. Often, Huey Long and Father Coughlin are glossed over in US history textbooks and are given the "extremist" or "radical" label. These might not be entirely incorrect descriptions, but using them misses the depth of the national movements that rose up around these two figures and ignores the many followers they had.

It is interesting to see who was supporting Long and Coughlin. Their movements were not, as one might expect, composed of the dispossed or the bottom-of-the-barrel poor. Rather, they usually attracted people on the lower fringes of the middle class--people who had something and knew what it was like not to have it, people who feared losing their new status. Long and Coughlin expressed a sense of loss, too. They bemoaned the death of community-based business and local trade and their replacement with a growing number of chain stores and big businesses. Cold, distant, impersoal relationships now replaced the personal ties that bound communities together. They focused on economic issues--such as old-age pensions and Long's Share Our Wealth program. They placed blame on and demonized the "usual suspects." They proposed radical change and yet distanced themselves from socialists and Communists--especially Coughlin. Ultimately, they failed to create an enduring ideological movement, but one still cannot help wondering what course the 1936 election would have taken had Long not been assassinated in 1935.

The picture of Franklin Roosevelt that emerges here is that of a cunning and shrewd political operator. He deftly maneuvered the political waters and co-opted both Long and Coughlin. He adopted pieces of their programs--never the entire thing, but just enough to siphon support from his potential rivals. He maintained an ambiguous relationship with Coughlin and played on the priest's desire for power and attention--frequently ignoring him but slyly using him, for example, to garner the Catholic vote. He similarly cozied up to Long in the 1932 election, since the Louisiana politician had growing appeal, especially in regions of the south.

Overall, this is a fascinating book, based on excellent scholarship and many insightful analyses.

A very good system book about some great men. Huey Long, Father
Couglin and the other heroes of the Great Depression who had the guts to stand up against the devil capitalist FDR.
It is an Iron Heel book, but it still has a lot of good info.
This book is a good buy.

Alan Brinkley makes a worthy addition to the study of America in the great depression with this short book. Previously, most annalysis has focused on FDR contending with the national forces to his right, in the press, in congress, and in the courts. Brinkley's work takes an entirely differnet approach, looking instead at the "radicals" who threatened the New Deal from the Left, arguing it did not go far enough. Moreover, he presents considerable evidence that in forming the New Deal FDR did not compromise to the right, as many have argued, but was actually moved leftward by populist forces.

Brinkley also does an excellent job presenting his subjects. His treatment of Long is a case in point. He does not seek to cannonize him and brush over his authoritarian leanings, as many have, but nor does he follow the current trend of going in the opposite direction and ignoring Long's acomplishments. By strikeing a balance, Brinkley gives the reader a greater understanding of the appeal of these men and why they failed.

For any reader trying to sort through this complex moment in US history, this is a very worthwhile read.

this book gives a basic overview of the worlds religions, but i found it a bit frustrating to read. in my opinion, anyone wishing to read the basic facts of each religion out of curiousity alone, will find that certian excerpts are highly opinionated. the section on buddhism, one part of it is titled, "the appeal of buddhism in the west", this is not problem, but do we need support why "people can live good lives only when given new life by jesus christ, otherwise they are powerless... and ...unable to escape the cycle of sin and death...." one other example is in response to a zen buddihist excerpt which the authors says, "this thinking is pushed to the absurd, it is useless to seek rational answers to them, the tension they produce must be borne to the utmost...." there are many other statments like these peppered throughout this book. on the other hand it does have some good information making it a useful introduction to the many religions. maybe the best thing would be a more appropiate title for the book, so that people who would like a nuetral yet informative approach will be better informed.

This is a very informative, "chunky" book. Excellent pictures and charts! A book worth having!

I am enrolled in a masters program where this is an assigned text for an elective. After having been force-fed literally hundreds of readings from hundreds of books - this book stood out as the only text that I purchased. It is a fantastic, impartial, overview which includes great illustrations and charts. It is equally rewarding to read straight through, only the parts that interest you or as a handy reference.

Aine O'Conner manage to capture the cadences of the various actors very well. While reading the text, I could almost hear the men speaking their words. I suspect that she didn't edit the tapes very much, save for verbal pauses (the usual "uhs" and "you knows") and for length. Ms. O'Conner also included several photographs (many were candid) that were sprinkled throughout the various sections.

While Ms. O'Conner asked many insightful questions, she didn't follow through on many. Indeed, at times I was a little disappointed that she failed to follow up on specific points; however, that point is trivial compared to the overall effort of the book.

If you are a fan of any or all of the actors listed, or simply are curious to see how contemporary Irish actors are dealing with the joys and disappointments of Hollywood, then you should enjoy this book.

_Hollywood Irish_ is a fantastic collection of interviews and photographs of six handsome and talented actors: Gabriel Byrne, Liam Neeson, Stephen Rea, Pierce Brosnan, Aidan Quinn and Patrick Bergin. The simple introduction provided by Áine O'Connor sets the mood for the rest of the book well. As she mentions, the interviews do reveal insightful, private information: "Liam Neeson reveals how he considered leaving acting and how he found the confidence to continue; Pierce Brosnan, simply and openly, shares the painful story of his wife Cassie's death; Stephen Rea discusses the relationship between acting and politics; Aidan Quinn talks about the Irish identity and its many paradoxes; Patrick Bergin reveals the temptations of an actor's life and the difficulties of doing love scenes; Gabriel Byrne tells us about the risks and illusions that surround fame." In a nutshell, that's the book. Each actor discusses his beginnings, both in life and as an actor. Each discusses, in some capacity, how being Irish has impacted him. Each actor's profile comes with several b/w photos from childhood, movies and family collections. At the end, one can find each actor's filmography. The only complaint I would have regarding the book is that the material is dated (only current to 1997) and I wish an updated version could be compiled. That criticism aside, though, this is certainly a title worth owning.

This book provides a facinating, indepth journey into the lives of six very capable and successful actors. Many humourous and sometimes tradgic tales of life in Ireland and struggles to make a name for themselves there and in America. Each actor tells of personal hardships that they have battled throughout their lives and how they have created such prominent status in today's Hollywood scene. Each story is spoken first hand which adds to the richness of these beautiful retold memories. This book provides a greater sense of who these men are by recalling tales from childhood, adolecence and adulthood which explain their journeys to becoming the great actors they are.

Although it's readable, it's not as good as T. Harry's classic

A slightly flawed account of the life of the Louisiana despot because it rarely takes account of the true feeling of warmth that many of his electorate felt for him. Focusing mainly on his political manouvering and manipulation of the media and the electorate puts his few good deeds in the shade. However, the wealth of sources and quotes are impressive - my favourite by Long's younger brother, Earl, talking about O.K. Allen who was governor when Long assumed his senatorship: "If a leaf blew in through O.K.'s window and landed on his desk he'd sign it."

I read and was mightily impressed by T. Harry Williams' 1970 Pulitzer-prize-winning Huey Long biography. but when I read it (July 5, 1970) I thought it was far too favorable to Huey. This book, fortuantely, corrects that and is far more chilling in illustrating the methods of Huey. We often wonder how the German people could have let Hitler attain power and even some wonder why he remained in power. Huey Long was not on the level of unmitigated evil that Hitler was, but in his disregard for the rule of law and the basic tenets of democratic government he was as frightening a phenomenom as has come across the American scene that I am aware of. And when one reflects how revered he is still in Louisiana--his statue is in Statutory Hall in Washington, anybody related to him got elected in Louisiana, etc.--it is apparent that his dictatorship was popular. Apparently most people thought his disregard for law and democratic behavior was ok because they felt they were better off because of it. In St. Bernard parish in 1932 Long's slate for state office received 3,152 votes. There were 2,194 registered voters in the parish. The opposition candidates received 0 votes. This kind of voter fraud makes Hitler's wins by 98%, etc., seem honest by comparison. This is a stunning book and should be read after reading Williams' book so that one gets the whole picture of a stunning situation in American history.

William Durrell's investigation of modern love in THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET announced the author's interest in blending geography and metaphysics, which probably originates in his Indian heritage.

The Corfu that the British author knew in 1936-7 might have disappeared already, yet his romantic portrayal of Mediterranean culture captures the spirit that despite inevitable historic changes and the ravashes of modernisation still prevails on the coasts of this historic sea. The bittersweet mixture of melancholy and happiness that is at the soul of everything Mediterranean, and even his philosophical reflections are impregnated with the soft sensualism in which the Mediterranean tradition of tolerance and antiquity is embodied.

PROSPERO'S CELL was published in 1945, four years after the author had left the island, and thus the nostalgia that pervades his writing further contributes to the beauty of this book. Some narrative chapters seem far-fetched in their anglicising romanticism, like the moonlight discussions on "Greekness" with the rich and bohemian Count D., but still Durrell's passionate portrayal of Greece should help enliven some rainy winter afternoons.

The English writer Lawrence Durrell spent four years on the island of Corfu together with his first wife Nancy Myers in the years 1935-1939. He has collected his memoirs on this period during his staying in Alexandria during the WWII.

Prospero's Cell evades genre classification. It is an autobiography, but not a particularly factual one - for instance, along with Lawrence and Nancy, the whole Durrell family - his mother, two brothers and sister - came to live on Corfu for the same period, a fact he only acknowledges in a passing remark or two. It is written in a form of a diary, but the story flows without paying any attention on the interpunctuating dates. It claims to be a guide to the landscape and manners of the island of Corfu, but is useless as such. It spends a considerable time discussing the history and myths concerning Corfu, but the material is not laid out in a systematic and scholarly manner, and is probably of low value as a historical text.

Apart from ephemeral characters, the four personae make out the main cast: apart from Lawrence and his wife, there is also a doctor, biologist and polymath, Dr. Theodore Stephanides, and a bohemian Armenian journalist, Ivan Zarian. (Both are actual persons, of course; apart from here, Stephanides also appears on Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals, and Henry Miller's The Colossus of Maroussi.) However, Durrell has taken the liberty to interrupt occasionally this chronicle of their living, their thoughts etc. with a treatise on the Saint Spiridon, the island patron; or Karaghiosis, the puppet theatre hero; or a long treatise on the island history and myths concerning it. Prospero's cell ends with "some peasant remedies in common use against disease", a "synoptic history of the island of Corfu", lists of places to see, things to visit etc., and finally concludes with an anthology of letters written by Edward Lear, an English painter who spent on Corfu several years in mid-19th century.

Durrel's language is like brocade: rich, heavy and very sophisticated. He is too serene and spiritual to talk humour, even when the topic is indeed funny, e.g. the accident with the Corfu fire brigade, the Zarian's obsession with "Mantinea 1936" and the Stephanides' confusion with the brain cutlets, he merely cites the narrator. Still, it is a nice holiday reading, an intellectual supplement to any *real* guide to Corfu you happen to take with you. And, while you are there, don't forget to get yourself Hilary Whitton Paipeti's guide, In the Footsteps of Lawrence Durrell and Gerald Durrell in Corfu (1935-39), which will help you connect the world of Durrells with the contemporary Corfu.

This is a memoir about Durrell's stay of several years on the Island of Corfu and about the delightfully intelligent and profoundly cultured bevy of lunatics who make up his circle of friends. There is an Armenian jounalist, a studious doctor, a member of the nobility of dubious origins. There are marvelous land- and seascapes, peasants, servants, drivers and fishermen. While the author maintains the kind of distance from his material needed for writing, he also shows the love he feels for all these people and for this island. He makes us curse our fate for not being present at the conversations he has with his friends, which are full of historical and literary references and novel interpretations of texts and events, not in the form of rarefied abstractions but all connected quite concretely to the island and its fascinating people. There is also light banter and refined teasing. The doctor comes into possession of a brain from a cadaver that he intends to use for scientific purposes but by accident it gets served to his guests for lunch. The Armenian discovers a Greek wine he finds exquisite (he has heretofore hated Greek wines) and buys 85 bottles of it, only to find that 84 are actually quite inferior, more like high class vinegar. Durrell describes many of the customs and attitudes of the local people and makes them seem a lot more honest and human than one would suppose. He treats us to a performance of the well-known Karaghiosis puppet theatre and describes the (mostly crude) reactions of some of the town luminaries. The show is ostensibly for children but the adults enjoy it as well, perhaps even more since they can appreciate all the thinly veiled political and religious references. There is a detailed description of the grape harvest with a subtly drawn Christ-figure clad only in a white shirt who treads the grapes with his arms outstretched as the red liquid oozes out from the bottom of the vat. This probably symbolizes the bloody crucifixion Greece would undergo in a not so remote future. Durrell describes a paradise but war is coming and soon all these friends will be evacuated to Alexandria, where the book's final words are written. It was very beautiful while it lasted and reading about it still gives pleasure.

The recipes in this book are easy to use and wonderful. They cover every topic, as a basic cookbook, without going into technique. I had been hoping to have the same format as the columns had been; a complete menu idea, but that is the only disappointment in the book. It is "one more" basic cookbook for my shelf, but certainly a good o ne.

When in doubt about a particular recipe, I always turn to this book. Litterally a thousand classic recipes that always turn out to perfection. A must have.

Well my review was that it was boring because it didn't make sense . It also wasin't scary just a little I just got scared when I was alone in my room and they just came in beacause it gave me shivers. Or I woul'd get scared when a part whene I think its scary and my sister or brother would just barge in and I would get scared.But if know one barge'd then I wouldn't get scared. I stillwould recomended to little kids beacause it would be fun and scary for little kids that belive theres monsters in there house or that mosters exist so I would recomended for little kids that do belive in monsters and that is it.

These stories were not as scary as others that I have read in other books. Although they were fascinating. Some of the stories were a little too long. This is a very good book so you should pick it up.

This collection of worksheets for couples to do together goes further than typical marriage preparation courses in covering issues like sharing household tasks, coping with aging parents, step-parenting, and forming strong interfaith marriages. Although this edition is specifically for Catholics, the book is remarkably unpreachy and would be very usable for couples where one or both are not Catholic. The Catholic wedding planning section at the back is an adequate overview but not sufficient for a couple who wants a personally meaningful ceremony.

This book is a workbook for an engaged couple to work through to help them discuss issues relating to their married life. Going through this book makes the couple discuss important issues and avoid future problems.

Check out the vi search and replace commands they use. The examples. Try using them on Solaris. Notice how they don't work & are completely wrong?

Well for the person who stated that the command line syntax in this book is incorrect, is completely wrong for the fact that Solaris is pretty much Suns's version of unix. She is correct about them not working on Solaris though. This book is excellent and well indepth. If you are looking for a great place to begin your foundation on unix, this is it. But I would recommend using it on FreeBSD, OpenBSD, HP UX, and a few others, Solaris is not recommended

I use this book to teach Unix Introduction at a community college.

It is one of the best books that I have found that teach the concepts of UNIX as well as providing a great overview of UNIX.

I would suggest this book to ANYBODY who wanted to get a firm foundation of the UNIX operating system.