Okay, let's get the central conceit out in the open: Arno Strine is this guy with the ability to stop time, which he uses to take women's clothes off. Yeah, I agree, sophomoric. Yet I dare you to find a heterosexually oriented teenage boy (or ex-teenage boy) who hasn't had this fantasy. Even so, why are we getting this from Baker, who publishes in places like The New Yorker not Penthouse. My guess is that it was an experiment--could Baker raise the concept beyond pornography by the style and manner of its writing? He even succeeds at times, finding a poetry of desire and curiosity in detail that goes beyond mere titillation, that somehow corresponds with basic human nature. However, the sections where he does not overcome the salaciousness of the idea are as--in my view--pornographic as anything posted in, say, alt.sex.stories, which posts have much, much less literary ambition. The ending redeems this dual nature only somewhat (the character does change and mature, something that I had not expected through a full three-fourths of the book), but I hesitate to suggest this to people unaccustomed to "adult" material. On the other hand, er, let me rephrase that...the innuendoes are dangerous when you have material of this type...The Fermata is much better reading than The Starr Report.

This is the story of Arno Strine, narrating his autobiography, as he writes it. Arno is a 35-year-old office temp who discovers he has a bizarre, unique ability. He can stop time, that is, stop everything going on around him, while he, alone in the world, can do what he wants, while time is stopped. What would you do? He uses this ability mostly to sexually molest women, although he has a certain honor about how he goes about it. For example, he won't do anything that constitutes rape. Nor will he do anything else that is illegal (except for a lot of groping and fondling).

A strange premise, but Nicholson Baker carries it off with humor and style. This is the funniest book I have read in years. Quite possibly I laughed more at this book than any other I've ever read. Beware though--this is not for the faint of heart or those who are disgusted by pornography. Parts of this qualify as hard core porn, but that's part of the plan. Just how far can a person's thoughts go before a line is crossed to depravity? Perhaps we all have our own answers to that. Read this book and find out your own answer. You'll probably have a great time!

I read this book and became a woman who would give her eye-teeth for a lover like Arno Strine. He is warm, witty, in love with women and even though I feel a little guilty every time I buy his rationalization that he's not really doing anything wrong if he returns the women he undresses to the same state of ignorant pristineness in which he finds them, I would still like to imagine that maybe I have been one of his 'victims'. Thank-you Nicholson Baker for writing so literary a piece of erotica.

The Face is Dean Koontz's second book in six months. One thing I immediately noticed was that the storyline seemed extremely quick. The book was typical of Dean Koontz, separate story lines for each character, then they all meet up in the end for a chase. However.. The chase lasts for for a few chapters. Most of the book is spent building up to the short chase. The Face is an actor. He is mentioned throught the book, but he is not a main character. His child, Fric, calls him the ghost dad. That's what the Face is.. A ghost character. Ethan is the former cop who is a bodyguard for the mansion in which Fric lives.

The story itself is somewhat confusing and complicated. There's a dead guy, who is not really dead. The guy is Ethan's best friend, but they haven't spoken in years because Ethan married the girl that the dead guy was in love with. And a man in a yellow slicker who wants to cause chaos in the world, even though he hates no one. Ethan dies, but he does not really. At first, Koontz gives a chapter to each character. Then, halfway, he switches into using a squiggly symbol to divide a page and start anew with a different character. The book is way too long for the story. He jumps around and just throws random things.

However, I appreciated the book when I finished it. The ending completely sums up the story. While the face lacks a strong body, the ending makes up for the confusing plot. The ending explains everything and satisfies the reader. There is a strong spiritual touch to the book, and overall the book is a pleasant read.

From the start, the stage is set for this unusual and original tale with the rain, pouring down incessantly over the city of angels. In fact, the grey, gloomy skies and rain are major characters in the book. (Koontz refers to them constantly, and to great effect) We have all the ingredients for the standard thriller genre: troubled and sensitive cops, a dazzling Hollywood star, an exceedingly intelligent and evil antagonist and the constant threat of doom, hanging over the reader like the sword of Pericles, ready to drop at any moment. But ~The Face~ gives us something more than the prototype: stereotypes are brilliantly combined with the paranormal. Throughout the reading, my rational mind continued to search for logical explanations for the many strange events that happen to the main characters. To my frustration, however, no rational answers came forth because, in most cases, there weren't any. This novel makes excellent reading because what you see in not always what you expect or get...

The strongest aspect about the writing itself is the author's skill for characterization. Even the apparent insignificant characters in the novel have certain depth, which invokes the feeling one gets when meeting someone casually for the first time. He devotes each chapter of the tale from the perspective of each major player, and we easily enter their minds, feel their thoughts and emotions. Particularly the ten year old boy, Fric, with his pubescent humor and loneliness...and, of course, the terrifying literature professor and his Deconstructive, post modern stance on the written word. As a ruthless anarchist, he could have no better or appropriate philosophy concerning literature. This guy is truly bad without being outlandishly comic-bookish, similar to many other serial killer types in the thriller market place. Corky Laputa is just plain wicked.

If you're expecting the stock-standard thriller with all the tired stereotypes, you'll be disappointed with this novel. Then again, it has all the successful ingrediants one might expect, but Koontz throws in an interesting wrench into the work, which makes the book refreshing and highly enjoyable.

Rather than write a plot synopsis in my review (which can be gleaned elsewhere), I will simply say that I consider "The Face" to be one of Dean Koontz' finest works. And that is saying a lot. I considered "One Door Away From Heaven" to be perhaps his best work a couple of years ago, and this is fully the equal of that. The prose is beautiful, the characters are sharply drawn and likable, there is enough humor and suspense to make the book marvellously entertaining, and the ending is superb. This is truly another masterpiece from Koontz, and I will go so far as to say that I think that Mr. Koontz, a hundred years or so from now, will be recognized as one of the great novelists of the late 20th and early to mid 21st century. Forget Stephen King -- compared to Koontz, he's a hack. VERY highly recommended!

I love this book. Rather than say what I thought of the words in this book, I'd like to say what those words did to change my life.

Through reading this book, Science & Health by Mary Baker Eddy, I gained an understanding of the richness and depth of the Holy Bible.

As I worked my way through Science and Health, I found myself using less medicine, enjoying better health and above all *ABOVE ALL*, I found a sense of peace I'd never known. The peace that passeth all understanding.

What a sweet and blessed relief that was for me and my family.

Since childhood, I'd suffered from frequent bouts of sinus troubles and sore throats. About two years after I began reading Mrs. Eddy's book, those troubles simply disappeared and never recurred.

Ever since I was young, a felt an intense, even insatiable longing to know "the meaning of life". I read countless books on countless religions and belief systems, but when I studied Science & Health, I remembered thinking, "This woman has got something here..." That longing to know more about life was satisfied by reading her book and digging into the Bible with new understanding.

Thomas Moore said "Earth has no sorrow, that heaven cannot heal." Science and Health proves Moore's statement and shows how heaven [God] *does* heal.

Rose Thornton

Science and Health isn't a quick read, by any means, but it is worth every ounce of effort to dig through each paragraph and chapter. My life has changed tremendously since I started reading and studying this textbook on healing, and I'm sure yours will too. The healing that takes place in thought as we read through each paragraph is FOR REAL!! The last 100 pages of this 700 page book, are stories and testimonies of healing, from those that read the book. Many of these individuals were completely written-off by the medical profession. There are healings from accidents, tumors, depression, stomach problems, blindness, you name it. No herbs, no massage, no witchcraft, all they did was read the book. Their understanding changed, and so did the physical manifestations. This book also gives us some wonderful wisdom about relationships and marriage, in the chapter titled, "Marriage". I especially love the first chapter of the book, "Prayer". It is a step by step instruction in how to pray more effectively, and can be helpful to anyone in search of a greater daily connection to God. As you can tell, I highly recommend this book, and also its companion, the Bible.

It is interesting how Mrs. Eddy answers some intriguing questions regarding Christian Science.

Have Christian Scientists any religious creed?
Mary Baker Eddy answers the question in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures p.496-97.
Her answer - They have not, if by that term is meant doctrinal beliefs. The following is a brief exposition of the important points, or religious tenets, of Christian Science: -

1. As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.
2. We acknowledge and adore one supreme and infinite God. We acknowledge His Son, one Christ; the Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God's image and likeness.
3. We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.
4. We acknowledge Jesus' atonement as the evidence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man's unity with God through Christ Jesus the Way-shower; and we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ, through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming sin and death.
5. We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eternal Life, even the allness of Soul, Spirit, and the nothingness of matter.
6. And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure.

War in a Time of Peace is a well-written account of several foreign policy challenges that faced the Clinton administration. The book has sparked debate both on the role of US foreign policy and popular interest in international affairs. To supplement understanding of this complex topic Robert Kagan wrote an excellent, and lengthy, review of this book- expanding on many of the issues Mr. Halberstam raised. Mr. Kagan explores the Vietnam Syndrome effect on policy makers, its resulting impact on military intervention during the 1990's, and the motivations of public support for military intervention. A combined reading of Mr. Halberstam's book and Mr. Kagan's essay is esential to understand the breadth and direction of U.S. foreign policy. The essay "When America Blinked" is available online (. . .)

Halberstam expertly chronicles American foreign policy after the fall of the Soviet Union. He starts with the end of the cold war under Bush senior, when the cold war ended, America no longer wanted to worry about foreign policy. Unfortunately President Bush did not realize this. Bush and his people ran his election campaign poorly and lost to Clinton.
Clinton believed that he could ignore foreign policy. He had no interest in it and he ended up with the wrong though very capable people, in the wrong places. Clinton did not specify goals or methods. He did not give any direction to his subordinates until the new administration realized that foreign policy could effect the all important image of the administration.
Halberstam explores in depth what happened when some people wanted to intervene against Serbia and the President did not want to. He details the decisions and relations between the people who made the decisions. He also describes the people and their background, explaining why the people made the decisions they did. Halberstam also spends some time discussing the disaster in Somalia and the events in Haiti.
Halberstam's book is a veritable who's who of Clinton's administration. He describes the strengths and faults of many people, some barely known in Bush administration as well as Clinton's , without favoritism to either party. Halberstam lauds Republicans such as Colin Powell as well as Democrats such as Bentsen. Halberstam's descriptions of the individuals does get a bit tedious at times, but it always is informative.

I had a professor who defined journalism as "history written in a hurry." In his sequel to The Best And The Brightest author David Halberstam uses the journalist's tools - personal interviews and background research - to explore how the shadow of Vietnam and the Cold War shaped the United States' foreign policy during the 1990s.

What emerges, is a thoughtful, portrait of the United States from the perspective of its foreign policy decisions. It is a book written for thoughtful citizens; a book that, clearly, was not written in a hurry; a book that unearths the struggles, egos and the political maneuvering among the key figures in The White House, the State Department and the military. Halberstam shows how the decisions of Vietnam War Veterans, like Colin Powell and Anthony Lake, and those who were not, like President William Clinton, influenced American politics and policy.

Lesser-known players who contributed to the picture were not overlooked. Halberstam notes that the irony of the Gulf War was the wrong branch of the service and the wrong military leaders were celebrated at its conclusion. Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell received ovations for their humiliation of an allegedly mighty, but now bedraggled Iraqi Army.

If one man was responsible, he notes, it was an innovative air force strategist, Colonel John Warden. At the time of the Gulf War, Warden was the head of a top-secret air force group working within The Pentagon and represented a group of younger military officers who were eager to adapt military thinking and planning to the uses of the new technological advanced weaponry.

The major opposition to his thinking came not from the army or even civilians, but rather senior officers in his service branch, especially three and four star generals attached to the Tactical Air Command. They believed the airpower was there to support the army on the ground. They despised Warden and his ideas. As luck would have it, when General Schwarzkopf requested an air plan for Desert Storm, Warden's senior officer was on leave and the request found its way to his desk.

Roy Gutman, an American reporter who happened to be in Yugoslavia in 1991 and was starting to write what would be a series of prophetic dispatches for Newsday, the Long Island, New York daily, is another unknown player. Stationed in Belgrade from 1973 to 1975 as a Reuter's correspondent, he had embraced what he termed as "the golden age of Tito", a Serbo-centrism that tempered the vision of many western diplomats and journalists.

On his return in 1991 he saw signs that Yugoslavia was becoming a different country. An interview with Vojislav Seselj, an ultra nationalist Serb who had once been jailed by Tito for his ethnic views and was known for his personal cruelty, convinced the journalist that something sinister was about to happen with its likely epicenter as Banja Luka, a city in Northern Bosnia, which time which prove to be the home of the Serbian campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Halberstam's search for the real story behind the headlines gives the reader clear insights into why events in the Balkans, Haiti and Somalia reflect American foreign policy and politics. He discusses the wariness of the U. S. military to ever be caught again in a ground war lacing clear objectives, the frustrations of political leaders who never served in the military and their effects on American commanders in Kosovo.

On the last page of the book, the author allows himself a glimpse into our future, which in light of the events of September 11, 2001 proves tragically prescient. Writing in May, 2001, Halberstam, allows himself to speculate about the need for a missile shield, what he terms "a high-tech Maginot Line, the wrong idea at the wrong time." He notes that intelligence analysts believe "the threat to an open society like America c[o]mes from terrorists, rather than the military power of rogue states" which themselves present an exceptional target.

The author has carved a unique niche for himself. His books are the product of four to five years of research, a luxury few, if any other journalists are indulged. The emerging portrait of the United States is vivid and full of human detail.

This is a really funny book.

It's not a classic but definately a fun and worthwhile read. Buckley's send up of the American proclivities of spirituality, self-help gurus, materialism, etc. still amuses me almost a year after I first read this book.... how much more people who fell into these traps would realize if they instead of reading Deepak Chopra and his kinsmen would only read this!!!

This is the story of a stockbroker who, tired of life, went to find seclusion in a monestary... only to find that the monestary was broke and that its product.... horribly made wine (which was why he went there...) was in dire straits... but eventually finds salvation....

If you find a copy of this book, definately pick it up and read it. It's a fairly quick book..... though I'm not sure that it'd be worth the cover price to me....

A few years ago Wendy Kaminer wrote a book, I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional, that took on self help books and programs. Now Christopher Buckley assigns himself the same task writing a fictional account of a monastery headed by an abbot who is a devotee of Deepak Chopra. It's a fluffy, hilarious, yet incisive probe that makes a lot of self help writers and their readers look silly. Its a slim book, but with about 3 laughs per page you get you're money's worth. Don't read it if you are a fan of Chopra, Robbins or Covey though, as I'm sure it will stunt your spiritual growth, and set you back on your path to make millions of dollars in this lifetime.

I enjoyed this book and on several occassions found myself laughing out loud! The plot was interesting and it was witty! But, what it really made me do is think about every self-help book either I or someone I know has bought and read without any success. Yes, law number seven has truth in it! I would recommend this book to my friends who would like to take a look at how sometimes opportunities stare us right in the face...and yet, we walk around them! Brother Ty's account of the happenings at the monastary made for real page turners, and I finished this book in two days. This book gets a thumbs up from me!

Harlan Coben has become famous for thrillers with twists and turns that keep the reader guessing. His latest, "No Second Chance," is about Dr. Marc Seidman, a successful plastic surgeon whose life is rapidly falling apart. An unknown assailant shoots the doctor and leaves him for dead. Twelve days later, Seidman regains consciousness and he learns that his wife, Monica, has also been shot and that his six-month-old daughter has disappeared. The police suspect that Seidman may have had something to do with both the attack on his wife and his baby's disappearance.

"No Second Chance" is mostly about Marc's attempt to find his daughter, Tara. Marc senses that his child is alive, and he will not rest until he finds out where she is. His investigation leads him in a number of directions, and he gladly accepts help from Rachel, an old girlfriend who used to be an FBI agent.

Harlan Coben made a major misstep when he wrote this illogical and far-fetched novel. The characters in "No Second Chance" are poorly developed, and the villains are simplistic stereotypes. The resolution is so convoluted that it requires about a dozen pages of exposition to explain it all, and even then it makes little sense. I do not recommend "No Second Chance" because Coben's plot is unfocused and bewildering instead of taut and exciting.

As a huge Harlan Coben fan, I will dutifully buy and read each of his new releases as they come out. At this point I think I appreciate the familiarity provided by each new novel. Coben's like the Kevin Smith of the literary world, tying the same characters into multiple books, while never really spending too much time away from the main characters.

Not to say that each book can't be appreciated on its own merits, but it always feels like Coben wants to go back to writing about Myron Bolitar (and I hope he does someday).

No Second Chance was a great, quick read. It has its quirks and downsides, but like his other works its a brilliant way to pass the time. However, if you've never read Coben before ... try starting with Tell No One or Gone for Good.

Harlan Coben (Gone for Good, Tell No One, the Myron Bolitar series) has written some fantastic thrillers, but his latest, No Second Chance, is far and away the best. I won't repeat the plot summaries above, let me simply say that this book was so engrossing I couldnt put it down. Make sure you start reading it early in the day, or like me you will be up to 4 am finishing it.

I am also drawn to Coben's books by his richly drawn characters. There are no stock figures or stereotypes in this book-every character is multilayered, with levels of good and evil, and yet each real in his or her own way. Figuring out who's helping the book's lead character Marc Seidman and who is not drove me crazy, but in a good, absorbing way that I wish other whodunit readers would learn from. My favorite characters of Coben in the past included Win, Esperanza, Lou and Nina, but this book has given me a couple (I wont name them so I don't spoil your fun) to move to the top of the list.

Great story, great characters, mesmerizing read. Dont miss this book!

Let me first echo the sentiments expressed by others and comment on what a beautiful edition the Univ of Nebraska Press has produced. The margins are indeed wide and the type very readable. This edition is easily held, the illustrations nicely complement the text and the binding is quite durable. The introduction by Joyce Carol Oates is helpful albeit pedantic. Also, those who've read the Univ of Calif Press edition of Frankenstein will notice some overlap between this introduction and the one that Ms. Oates wrote for that particular edition. Nonetheless, the introduction is valuable.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of those stories, like Frankenstein and Dracula, that seemingly everyone has heard of and believes they understand("mythopoetic " in the language of Joyce Carol Oates). Much like the aforementioned works, the actual details of the story may come as a surprise to those who assume they know the story based solely on the popular understanding. For that reason alone I think the book is worth reading.

Dr. Jekyll is a respected if somewhat reclusive London doctor who has, through the course of years of experimentation, managed to create a solution which brings to the fore his evil alter-ego. Unlike many gothic literary villains, Hyde is not imbued with superhuman strength or exceptional gifts of any kind. In fact he is of a smaller and less imposing stature than most men. What he does possess however is a complete lack of compunction with regards to others. Hyde for example ruthlessly runs down a small child who gets in his way. As others have pointed out, this book is about, at least in part, moral restraint. Mr. Hyde is a part of Dr. Jekyll. This part was heretofore kept in check by the mores inculcated by society through child rearing practices, education, laws, et al. An elixir that eradicates moral restraint rips at the fabric of society and reverses in one fell swoop what it has taken hundreds of years to create.
As is the case with Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll creates something that he can't control and which eventually destroys its creator.

Although not created by a potion, I think we see many sections in this and other societies that are are marked by anomie. The inhumanity that the fictional Hyde displays can, not surprisingly, be seen in the non-fictional world on a daily basis. As such, there is a realism to the story which is missing from many horror stories past and present. The fact that such a short and captivating work exists in an attractively packaged edition makes this one classic that will be a joy to read for all.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a clasic so, naturaly, I had high expectations. I certainly was not let down. It has a totally unique style with much detail and extensive writing. Yet, this novel is a very quickly read novel, unlike other excessively detailed books like Dracula. This book is not boring. This book is fun. It doesn't ruin the plot with too much detail like other books. Other fantasy books are usually not even close to realistic. Whereas Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is close to being conceived realistic. This book has a general morbid feeling to it where other fantasies are sometimes cheerful and happy. Robert Louis Stevenson is a realy good writer in my opinion.
He uses a very wide range of vocabulary. Stevenson uses many 19th Century terms that seem weird and different to me.
One thing bad about his writing is his punctuation. He uses way too many semicolons and comas. He makes one sentence out of six or seven sentences.
This book was not the best book I ever read, but was not the worst either. it was mediocre. however It was miles ahead of Dracula. Dracula is boring, whereas Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is fast paced, quick, and fun to read. its pritty morbid which is kind of a down side, but Since it is very short it is a good book on my list.

The University of Nebraska Press edition of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is beautiful! The illustrations by Barry Moser, woodcuts that progress chronologically through Dr. Jekyll's life as it is described in hints throughout Robert Louis Stevenson's story, are atmospheric and evocative; a picture of a boy being guided by his father, for example, echoes Dr. Jekyll's comments that he has a "fatherly" interest in his alter-ego, Hyde, while Hyde has a son's "indifference" to the father; the cover illustration is a portrait of Dr. Jekyll's father destroyed by Mr. Hyde on a rampage.

Joyce Carol Oates's introduction is worthwhile, especially for those readers who know the story, as most English-speaking people do, in its basic framework, but who have not yet actually traveled the dark road with Dr. Jekyll and his friends.

It is a pleasure to read a classic book in such a carefully crafted edition. Too often books such as this are printed in cheap editions with narrow margins and lousy type; this one fits comfortably in the hand and is easy on the eye as the reader is drawn into this allegorical nightmare.

This review refers to the University of Nebraska Press edition only.

When first published in 1948 in apartheid South Africa, Cry, the Beloved Country raised more than eyebrows as a powerful book about the power of unity and an author's unflinching hope of a future where segregation no longer exists. The book summoned feelings of pride, optimism, and anticipation of a long-desired goal. But Paton's lyrical, poetic prose is not your typical run-of-the-mill anger evoking story about discrimination. The story is a humanizing experience that evokes feelings of sympathy and understanding, not hatred for a system so blatantly wrong.

In Cry, the Beloved Country, readers feel an uncanny connection to three things: the land, an old black rural priest searching in a corrupt city for his son, and an old white rural man confronting the loss of his son. All three aspects of the book are connected by a common thread. And a great thing about the book is that Paton doesn't feel the need to build up to the emotional climax by setting the readers against a well defined antagonist, or even an antagonist at all; on a micro-scale, the story is a moving tribute to man's inherent dignity; on a macro-scale, the themes and plethora of symbols are applied to man's all-too mortal nature.

This book is also a can't-miss for any fans of poetry who want to read a good work of prose. As the New Republic puts it, Cry, the Beloved Country is "the greatest novel to emerge out of the tragedy of South Africa, and one of the best novels of our time." I would be inclined to agree.

I first read the book when I was in high school for our novel section of AP English. As a writer now, it is strangely thrilling to see how Paton's ideas and poetry influenced my own prose. "The Grapes of Wrath" by Steinbeck was good, but I felt that it lacked the words of the heart that Paton writes with. Never have I read a more simple and profound book, so lovingly crafted, so authentic and natural, that some fifty years later after Paton wrote the novel, it still has not been superceded. Kumalo's plight is everyman's plight; his burden our burden; his son our son. Dear students, don't read this book because your teacher tells you to, you will learn nothing that way. Read it, because you earnestly desire it, because it is well worth it.

Somehow, in my slog through high school English, I was deprived of the reading of Paton's "Cry, the Beloved Country". Unlike many things, though, this was a true deprivation. I first read this several summers ago; though Paton's novel is specifically relevant to an era that is now receding into the past, his prose remains haunting. So deceptively simple is his language, yet flowing, this is almost a book best savoured aloud (well-worth the reading of to a friend).

Though apartheid has now blessedly slipped the scene, leaving South Africa with its aftermath to struggle through, Paton's story of the Reverend Kumalo's search for redemption is enduring. Perhaps most significant though, is the very simple idea at the core...reconciliation...of father with lost son, lost daughter...of murderer with the victim's kin...and...in Paton's time, and still so in our own...of each of us with our fellow humans.

This is a book that moves me deeply every time I read it, and loses nothing in a rereading. Of the thousands of books I have read, encompassing a myriad of styles, of academic fields...this is still the one book that I recommend without hesitation, without prejudice, to any and to every. This is a truly beautiful work.

Baker's Dickensian epic history of turn-of-the-century New York captures the essense of our identity crisis...we are poor, rich, kind, ruthless, assimilated, ethnic...and we're all jostling for our place in the sun. The author ingeniusly links two major fires in the city's history: the fire that destroyed the Dreamland amusement park (a sign of our lost innocence), and the fire that killed hundreds of young immigrant seamstresses in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, a fire which (ironically) hardened the working poor's steely resolve to sieze their constitutionally guaranteed right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These are big ideas, communicated through the eyes and experiences of a huge cast of both real and ficticious characters, all well-rendered, and human in their foibles, heroic in their strengths. To read it is to see the fabled melting pot for what it really is, an immense collision of old and new, haves and have-nots, pure and corrupt, innocent and jaded, orthodox and iconoclast. A fascinating, touching, and well constructed diarama of America at her most volatile.

After I had read "The American Century" and found that Kevin Baker was responsible for the bulk of the research on that fine book, I wanted to read his new work of historical fiction, "Dreamland." I'm glad I did. Not since I read Caleb Carr's "The Alienist" a few years ago, have I enjoyed a novel as much as this one. Baker is able to bring the reader nearly to tears as he details the travails of young women trying to make it from day to day in New York, either as workers in one of the sweatshops on the lower east side or, unfortunately as one of the prostitutes every night putting her life in jeapordy in the Tenderloin or on the other mean streets of that heartless, corrupt, and sad, very sad city. The section detailing the days spent in jail by the striking women is especially chilling. The inclusion of Freud and Jung is compelling not so much for the interpretation of their work, but rather for the hint of progress that would be made in the years to come in the field of psychoanalysis. Other critics have harped on their inclusion in this work, but I found their conversations stimulating. How they end up in Dreamland at the end of the book with the other colorful and larger than life characters in this inspired work-Kid Twist, Gyp The Blood, the Mad Carlotta, Esther, Trick the Dwarf, Tim Sullivan-is deliciously presented. I thought that the inclusion of Frances Perkins as the sole upper class liberal fighting vainly with limited success to stem the tide of worker abuse allowed the author to speak through her character and graphically describe the carnage enveloping the poor young ladies of that era. No wonder FDR made her his only Secretary of Labor. I thought it ironic that a scant thirty years after the time of this novel, this same age group of women, imprisoned in 1912 for having the gall to ask for a 54 hour work-week, formed the nucleus of the manufacturing force that produced all the armament that saved our world from tyranny and made it safe for democracy during World War II. It is never fair to give away the ending of a book, and I won't. But, trust me, you'll love it!

With key characters named Trick the Dwarf, Kid Twist, Gyp the Blood and the Mad Carlotta, it is tough not to become enthralled by this book. The author does an outstanding job of placing you in New York at the turn of the last century and the sights, sounds, and smells of lower Manhattan, Coney Island, and the Bowery make this book come to life. Several key chapters are so compelling, I read them over and over to ensure I got every last nuance. The introduction of historical fact as part of the story is an interesting device that worked well and led me to do further reading on early theme parks, gangland life in New York, and the origins of the labor movement. This is one of the better works of fiction I have read lately and I am not the least bit disturbed that a film adaptation is already in the works.