American Dream is the author's fourth collection of stories. These ten stories are all related in some way to contemporary America.

Agape Among the Robots is a story of robots absorbing love through example. Her Own Private Sitcom is an extension of the idea that the world is a stage. Green Acres is an alternate history of the hemp plant in this country. Missing Time is a multiverse/time travel story in which the Mayor gets to second guess his actions. Graceland is a Riverworld tale about the immortality of rock music.

Jake and the Enemy is a story of a dog protecting his turf from a robot. Warning, Warning is an explanation, of sorts, for the TV show Lost in Space. The Fine Art of Watching is a tale of the difference between surveillance and perception. A Walk Across Mars makes a case for the media not always telling everything it knows. Tom Swift and His Humongous Mechanical Dude is an indictment of current parenting techniques.

I must admit that the author's short stories often unsettle me to some extent. He does have a way to approaching things from an unexpected direction, but that is an admirable trait in any author in any genre. However, he sometimes put an extra sharp edge to his scalpel that cuts a little too deep for my taste. His short works are not very pleasant at times, but makes good points.

Recommended to Steele fans and anyone who enjoys satire with a sharp edge and a bit of refined wit.

Any anthology that introduces the content as Mishegos (the Yiddish word for "a collection of things") can be looked upon as a warning for genre specialists or a delight for generalists. The AMERICAN BEAUTY consists of ten science fiction tales mostly from the last five years, but none earlier than 1992, that run the gamut of science fiction, but share several traits. The stories center on present or future America, but through a weird looking glass. Each contribution is fun to read and typically turns on its head via opening the jugular inside a value or a famous novel. Oy! vey! Alternate universes where marijuana flows legally, Tom Swift rides rockets again, and romantic robots courting aside, Allen Steele displays his chutzpah with this delightful book.

Harriet Klausner

There are, in general, two types of American history that one can be fascinated by. The physical (wars, homesteading, etc,) and the intellectual (creation of law, American philosophy, etc.) The second type of history is decidedly the lesser studied of the two. There have been few good books on America's intellectual tradition(s). Commager's is one.

Commager's 'thesis' is that pragmatism or variants thereof (not always explicitly so) is our nations motto. DeTocqueville, shortly after the founding, commented on American emphasis on practicality over the more European abstractions. Commager elequently backs up his thesis and gives us 450 pages of reading pleasure in the process.

The book is selective in that it tends to focus on the scientific and poltical reactions to social darwinism (which caught on like wildfire in the states, second only to the backlash it inspired). If I had to guess the thinker Commager most admires in his book, it would be Lester Ward, who developed devestating arguments against social darwinism, heightening the importance of environment to evolutionary thought. Commager is even more selective when, while rightly championing these developments, he doesn't talk much about its more extreme and ridiculous incantation in todays cultural relativism. So many subjects, so few trees!

Anyhow, if you are interested in exploring pragmatism, the rise of evolutionary environmentalism or American radicalism in politics (which is deeply connected to the previous two) then this is a great book.

The most dificult challenge is to understand what's going on, while it's going on (is George W. really President?). This book is a piece of work and well worth the effort. Make sure you have a good encyclopedia handy, time enough to stop and lookup the references, and the energy to stick with it. If so you will gain a wonderful perspective on who we are, how we got here, and the fundamental aspect of change in America. Go for it!

A beautiful development from vernacular desert architecture, Hassan Fathy is an architect that developed the concepts and solutions of desert architecture to a new era using traditional materials coolers and shapes a natural advance from old Egyptian knowledge to modern and simple solutions for the villagers on the Nile, seeing his work is inspiring to reach far with the most simple and traditional forms

This is a Thames and Hudson coffee table book: readable text, good photography, lucid groundplans, and the binding is strong. Hassan Fathy's most available major text is Architecture for the Poor (Univ. of Chicago Press). Here is an excerpt from a brief article in Al-Ahram Weekly (19-25 Dec 2002, Issue 617) written to coincide with a recent Fathy retrospective in Cairo:

"As American architect James Steele writes in his book An Architect for the People (1997), the standard work on Fathy, by "defining tradition as 'the social analogy of personal habit', Fathy intimated that it is the responsibility of each architect to develop a heightened awareness of such habits, and to incorporate them sympathetically into each design... [Fathy's] determined attempt to reawaken a sense of cultural pride among his countrymen, and to make them more aware of their rich architectural heritage," has led "many young people [to become] more informed about Islamic architecture in the mediaeval part of Cairo."

"This new awareness is no longer confined to Egypt alone, as Fathy's name has now become associated with the re-establishment of architectural tradition throughout the developing world," Steele writes. In addition, Fathy's early emphases on appropriate technologies, on local materials and construction techniques and on social co-operation chime with contemporary, environmentally conscious architecture, in which architects have tried to work with the environment instead of changing it, exploring the renewed use of traditional materials and techniques and having a more modest understanding of their social and cultural roles.

For Steele, "rather than believing that people could be behaviourally conditioned by architectural space, Fathy felt that human beings, nature and architecture should coexist in harmonious balance. For him, architecture was a communal art that should reflect the personal habits and traditions of a community rather than reforming or eradicating them. While he was certainly not opposed to innovation, he felt that technology should be subservient to social values, and appropriate to popular needs, ... [prefiguring] the current ethos of sustainability."

My Greek mother-in-law gave me this book soon after my marriage (I'm not Greek). I've found the recipes easy to use and accurate. It also includes information on superstitions and customs, which makes it fun to use.

The book considered the "classic" by the Greeks in this area is Nicholas Tselementes' "Greek Cookery." While this is a good book, "Can the Greeks Cook!" is easier to use and more reliable.

My parents migrated to this country from Greece early in the last century. I never paid much attention to my mother's cooking, but after I married I wanted to introduce my non-Greek husband to the marvelous world of Greek cookery. This book is the closest I have ever found to my mother's way of cooking. Both my parents were originally from Peloponnesia, and the recipes in this book reflect accurately their way of cooking. I am tired of giving my daughters these recipes, so I am ordering these books for them. I love this book.

Tim Steele has already proven his strength as a poet, and has quite a reputation for his work in meter. This collection only solidifies his reputation. The poems are well written (and Steele does some interesting things with meter and rhyme). Anyone interested in formal poetry should read his work.

Extending the range and depth of his two previous collections of poetry (available from the University of Arkansas Press as a single volume, SAPPHICS AND UNCERTAINTIES), THE COLOR WHEEL confidently establishes Steele not only as the premiere metrical poet of his generation, but also as one of the very best poets writing in English today.

THE COLOR WHEEL takes its title from one of the volume's central poems, "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Child," a witty and wise meditation that begins with a description of a small child coloring with crayons and segues smoothly into the poet's memory of first seeing a color wheel, a spectrum of choices not only for the budding artist, but also, on a metaphorical level, for the poet and reader. The poem ends with one of the most beautiful passages I've seen in recent poetry: "You're off and traveling through the wheel/Of contrasts and of complements,/Where every shade divides and blends,/Where you find those that you prefer,/Where being is not linear,/But bright and deep, and never ends."

This enticing invitation to choose freely from the world's variety extends to Steele's entire collection, which ranges from a mock-Stevensian anecdote about a sugar bowl to a sobering recollection of doomed Holsteins in "Georgics." The Horatian alcaics of "Luck," in which the poet confronts the good fortunes of others,complements the mildly brooding blank verse of "Pacific Rim," in which the poet hints at the luckless victims of 20th century brutality. Yet the tenor of the collection is decidedly hopeful, and perhaps no title (or poem) in the book better exemplifies this than the charming "Beatitudes, While Setting Out the Trash."

Steele's art, which frequently explores the interrelationships between nature and human nature, regards human consciousness as fragile and in need of preservation. His superb meditation on "The Library" draws upon and condenses some of the material to be found in his magisterial prose critique of the free verse movement, MISSING MEASURES, and yet the emphasis in this poem is on the wit of foraging squirrels as well as the cleverness of archiving humans.

The volume contains a number of exquisite lyrics, including the opening "Aurora" with its subtle echoes of Valery, and the delicate homage to Thom Gunn, "Vermont Spring." Readers who admire the poetry of Edwin Arlington Robinson will certainly enjoy "Cory in April," a poem about a drunken homeless man who was once a boxer, and admirers of Frost will be tickled by the humorous and moving "Fae," one of the most memorable poems in Steele's outstanding ouevre.

With his flawless ear, deft rhymes, and penetrating intelligence,Steele is already a poet for the ages. Read THE COLOR WHEEL and SAPPHICS AND UNCERTAINTIES to discover why.

This book is basically a collection of legal documents collected from the arrival in America in 1492 up until 1898, showing the growth and evolution of our country through those people who lived through it.

This book is definately not to be read through, but instead used as a reference source. No one is going to sit down and read this thing cover to cover, but it's a GOD when you need primary sources for a term paper.

The documents, while not always listed in absolutely chronological order, are, nevertheless put forth in a very logical manner. Also, preceding each one is a little bit of background on the circumstances under which it was written and the author of the piece.

This is the best book I've ever used for writing history reports. It has documents about every major event in the history of the United States, and many letters and speeches on topics you can't find in any other books at the local library. It contains 633 entries, starting with "Privileges and Perogatives Granted to Columbus. April 30, 1492," and ending with the "Civil Rights Act of 1957. August 30, 1957." Again, it's a must-have for history students.

If you love handbags, can never have enough of them and you are constrained by lack of cash, you may want to consider getting this book instead as it is filled with lots of glossy pictures of the most delectable bags. I certainly enjoyed the book and finished reading it in a day! In it, Steele explores the humble beginnings of this most essential accessory and seeks to uncover the reason for our continuing fascination with it. It is this obsession that has led to the handbag gaining iconic status and becoming even an object of art. The range of bags featured include the humble tote, whimsical and exquisite evening bags, the most coveted of status, luxury bags and the latest must-have fashion bags. It is a pity though that Steele did not include a directory of the stores where the bags are available as readers would have found that to be most useful if they want to not only look at the bags but to own them. Nevertheless, the book is highly recommended for those of us who are always thinking of adding yet another bag to our collection.

This book is a must have for handbag connoisseurs and girlie-girls. Beginning with the super-chic, boldly colored hot pink cover featuring a Louis Vuitton Damier bag, the book is beautifully illustrated with examples of the full spectrum of 20th century handbags from vintage Hermes to Kate Spade canvas to exotic art pieces. The text is comprehensive and intelligent, highlighting the origins and evolution of the purse, yet it is entertaining as well and never too staid. The book has a sense of humor.

Readers will learn the history of Gucci, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Coach, and learn about memorable bags such as the Kelly bag named for Grace Kelly. It's a handbag lover's dream book.

After reading no.3 in the series,it was immediattly one of my favorites.It leaves you on the edge of your seat,uh er chair until the last page.Join Joe,Wishbone and the rest of the gang as they search for clues to the strange happenings at Wanda Gilmore's new house.Is someone playing a nasty trick on them,or could it be a real,live ghost at the Hathaway House !

BOTTOM LINE:The suspense is great with that little Jack Russel Terrior that you won't put the book down until your finished.

O my god! This book left me terrified! I seriously could not get to bed after reading a chapter! My favorite in the whole series! They should make it into 2- episode show for tv!

Not exactly a commentary, but much more than just an outline. I have found this book to be an excellent resource to learn the structure and meaning of Paul's letter to Rome. The authors included many useful and extensive notes, charts, and appendixes related to major doctrines in the letter. Appendix D contrasts the teachings of Calvinism and Arminianism and was published as a separate work by the same publishing company. The book has a Preface written by Gordon H. Clark.

This book has been passed down in our family; it has been read so much, that I have had to purchase it again! The book is less a commentary than it is a compilation or synopsis of the doctrines contained in Paul's letter. In this book, as well as The Epistle to the Romans, the reader will come face to face with some of the most sobering and comforting doctrines taught in Scripture. A must have for any Bible student.

Wow!Dog days of the West was a great book.I couldn't put it down. It was so exiting, the suspense of finding out who actualy owned The Oakdale Chronicle was fascinating.

I think this Wishbone book is better than others of its kind because the story plot is better written and the book is longer. It introduces more younger kids, now that Joe is going into 9th grade (same as myself). My favorite part in this book was when Wishbone found the deed with the winning hand! Another part I enjoyed was the story where Wishbone is Long Bill back into the Wild West Days. It has inspired me so much that I'm going to read books by O. Henry, because this Wishbone book was based on one of his books. I really enjoyed this book, and I'm in 8th grade!

This is a good book for kids who want to know the story of the book it is based on, Heart of the West. It also has another story worked into it, switching back and forth every two or three chapters. It is also funny, and has a small dictionary of unfamiliar words and phrases with their meanings. I highly recommened this book.