As a fifty-something gay man, I have taken many "recreational" trips to Latin America. This book captures the spirit of forbidden love in a hostile world. I can't think of a better gift for the Latino in your life!

It seems it is the proper time to look at Richard Gluckman's career. If you wonder why very respected people such as theater-guru-director-trained-as-architect Peter Wilson has chosen Gluckman as the architect for his studies center, this is your book. It is difficult to capture minimal architecture in the printed page. Almost-nothing-projects such as --by now much copied art spaces-- New York's Gagosian Gallery or DIA Art Foundation or andy Warhol Museum get in this book a fair two dimensional presentation.

As a big Star Trek fan I love all the books. Including this one. I hope to see Alan Dean Foster write more Star Trek books. I really enjoyed this book because of the characters, the setting, and the plot. I would recommend it for all Trekkers or anybody who loves a good book. LIVE LONG AND PROSPER ALAN DEAN FOSTER.

This is the ninth of the "Star Trek Log..." series, a collection of adaptations of the animated Star Trek Series. The first six of the series were collections of three episodes to a book; the last three have been one extended episode per book. This is perhaps the best episode so far, "BEM", an episode in which the enterprise crew deal with a very alien intelligent life form, far more alien than special effects would have allowed on the original series. The aliens are "communal beings", collections of life forms which join symbiotically to create higher life forms, but which can still dissociate when neccessary into their component parts, so that a head, a torso, and a trunk can each be moving separately and performing separate functions. On the planet Pandro, all higher life forms have this capability.

It was an interesting concept, one that was handled well, and in general the story did a fine job of maintaining established characters. Further, the primary representative of the alien species is given a plausible, interesting personality, and the plot flows well. There was an interesting (but implausible) sidebar in that for a part of the story, Lt. Uhura is left in charge of the Enterprise; this would have been a nice touch, except that Sulu was neither incapacitated nor absent, and as ranking officer, should have taken the Captain's chair before she did; still, it was nice to see her given a bit more of an active role for a change.

All in all, a fine episode, even in spite of the fact that the author (not Foster, presumably, but David Gerrold, who wrote the script for the episode) couldn't resist the bad pun of naming the main alien character Ari bn Bem; for those of you not in the know, "BEM" is a term given to aliens in bad science fiction; it stands for "Bug Eyed Monster".

The Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson was overshadowed by the assassination of John F. Kennedy that began it and the Vietnam War, which effectively ended it by persuading him not to seek reelection in 1968. This Cornerstones of Freedom volume looks at what LBJ would have wanted his legacy to be, "The Great Society." Leila M. Foster explains how Johnson was able to use his many years of political experience, the lull in the Cold War that gave the new president a chance to focus on domestic policy, and the country's need to regroup after Kennedy's assassination to push through his program. Johnson's Great Society followed in the footsteps of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal and while FDR may be the father of modern "big government," LBJ's program probably had a greater effect on American society.

Foster explains how there was opposition to Johnson's plan to have the federal government involved in such a massive "government handout," but that Johnson ignored these critics and passed major legislation having to do with voting and other civil rights, health and school aid, programs like Head Start, VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), financial aid to economically depressed Appalachia, and community action programs throughout America. Foster focuses particularly on the Civil Rights Legislation, where Johnson demanded every American be guaranteed the right to vote and appointed the first African American, Thurgood Marshall, to be on the United States Supreme Court. However, the volume ends with the Vietnam War detracting Johnson from his domestic agenda and his death in 1973, just as Richard Nixon was beginning to dismantle many of the key elements of the Great Society.

The Cornerstones of Freedom series is an excellent collection of books for young readers that focuses on key events in American History, from the Alamo to Watergate. A lot of these topics are covered briefly in American History textbooks, but these volumes provide considerably more details along with historic photographs and illustrations. "The Great Society" has become almost a footnote to the Sixties, given the political assassinations, the rise of the counterculture, and the war in Vietnam. But Foster reminds us that there was a concerted attempt by an American president to fulfill the promise of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Reading this book was a nice reminder of that.

Storybridges to German combines well loved children's stories told in English with phrases and songs in German. The songs are simple with catchy tunes that are easy to remember. This has continued to be one of children's favorite German tape set!

If you are interested in the history and exploration of the western U.S., this is a fascinating book. It is also a wonderful resource for further study. The Notes section and Select Bibliography are very helpful. Scholarly and entertaining.

If you're even remotely considering on attending the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, SD and have never been there during the rally before, then you need this book as a reference. Even seasonsed veterans to the rally such as myself will find this an enojoyable read. There are some great stories and riding suggestions, however the real golden lining is the comprehensive listing of hotels/motels/cabins and campgrounds. Never before has such a list been compiled. The author also gives you an insight as to what to expect for weather.

In this bleak novel Elizabeth Gaskell deftly weaves a dark thread of history into her narrative tapestry. While war hovers on the margins of the novel, no one is left unaffected by its horror. After a sometimes painfully slow setup of domestic life in the seaside town of Monkshaven in the first third of the book, the sense of doom grows increasingly palpable. Sylvia, the novel's heroine, is isolated by her supposedly protective domestic sphere, but Gaskell shatters the delicate domestic circle that surrounds her. While Sylvia is left to bear emotional scars, becoming an impassive, hardened woman, Charley Kinraid, her true love, returns from war a ghost, haunting the margins of Monkshaven to hide his terrible physical scars. The full realization of the blight on Sylvia's life comes when the novel spirals down to its inevitable conclusion, where even reconciliation and understanding brings a powerful sense of loss.

Having recently finished The Taming of Corky, I was glad to suggest it to my students. Jane Nixon White has created a tender story of a young boy and the family who cares for him. It is a must read for anyone who wants to see the true meaning of the word family. Jane Nixon White captures it well. Good stuff, I say!