Aeschylus' trilogy is very enjoyable reading. It would be fun to see these plays performed. It's too bad that so many of Aeschylus' plays did not survive. The only reason this is not a 5 star rating is that the translation was awkward in just a few places. 4.5 stars is probably the correct rating.

All of the Grene/Lattimore translations I've read have been excellent, but this edition of the Oresteia stands out. Lattimore renders the chori of 'Agamemnon' so hauntingly that they hardly seem translated. The first chorus in particular, with its long sections punctuated by the refrain, "Sing sorrow, sorrow: but good win out in the end" is the best I've ever seen. It makes me shiver.

Greek similies are often tortured in translation, but not in this edition: "the sin / smoulders not, but burns to evil beauty. / As cheap bronze tortured / at the touchstone relapses / to blackness and grime, so this man / tested shows vain..." The poetry is an achievement in itself.

Aeschylus is recognised as the father of tragedy and achieves something new in the Oresteia trilogy which won him another first prize in the Dionysia 458 BC. Born some time near the end of the sixth century in Eleusis - home of the mysteries, he fought at Marathon and probably at Salamis too and died in Gela in Sicily.

Although written in the fifth century the play itself is set in the depths of Mycenean history at the time of the Trojan War (probably c. 1220 BC - the traditional date of 1184 being unacceptable in the context of LH IIIB archaeology. Unlike in Homer's Iliad (written some 300 years earlier) Agamemnon's Court is in the city of Argos. The play fits the traditional spark for the Trojan War in the affairs of Helen whereas in reality it may have had more to do with competitive markets in the weaving industry or disputed fishing rights. Lattimore uses some unconventional spellings and I have stuck with these.

The play recounts the curse of the House of Atreus which fell when Atreus slaughtered two of Thyestes' sons and fed them to him. The wife of Agamemnon's brother, Menelaus - Helen of Troy - is with Paris and Agamemnon plans to take an army to Ilium to recapture her. Before departing he sacrifices his daughter, Iphigenia (Iphigeneia) and then sets sail. Aeschylus now dissolves the next 7-10 years to the point of Agamemnon's return with Cassandra, the captive princess and prophetess of Troy - a reminder logic is almost constantly the subject rather than the master of divination. But Clytaemestra (Clytemnestra) now has Thyestes' only surviving son, Aegisthus as her lover and King and she bludgeons the victorious Agamemnon to death in the bath beneath a cloak which envelops him in the same way as the sustained conceits of entrapment and the coiled viper constrain the metaphysical dimension of the first two thirds of the trilogy. Electra, Agamemnon's surviving daughter has to hide her loyalty to her father "in a dark corner, as you would kennel a vicious dog" until Orestes (her brother) returns (in Clyteamestra's words) to "this swamp of death" disguised as a native of Phocis to announce his own death.

In 'The Libation Bearers' (Choephoroe) Orestes slays both Clytaemestra and Aegisthus and the genetic interlinkages metamorphose a revenge drama into a tragedy as in 'Hamlet'. The final play, the Furies (Eumenides) is the reconciliation of revenge and justice seen in the rise of Athens, civilisation, balanced thought, dissolution of irrational hatred and the Aeropagus Court. In this we also have to see the kairos of the triumph of the Olympians over the Titans but within a context of divine compromise as the Olympian gods are unable to completely bury the barbarism of their own genesis. In effect, the underlying motif here is the same as in 'Prometheus Bound' with the violent dynamic being reflected in the gradual change in Greece towards a more settled social organisation.

But the beauty of the trilogy is not merely in its recital of this piece of legend. Rather it is in its unique lyric quality and the power of its extended conceits. The play is riddled with images of animal entrapment and coiled vipers. Even Clyteamestra sees the vision in a dream in which she gives birth to a viper - an image in which Orestes clearly sees himself ("No void dream this, it is the vision of a man").

The first two plays are driven by 'philos-aphilos' and by a quest for justice or right against right. Helen acts as a substrate for all the evils committed in the trilogy - the sacrifice of Iphigenia to Artemis (no war but for Helen) - although Vellacott raises the issue of divine will here - Clyteamestra's 'godless' slaughter of her husband and rightful King, and Orestes' vengeance for his father's murder in the Eumenides. I feel the legendary context in which Clytemnestra's former husband is killed by Agamemnon in battle and Cassandra's hints at the King's brutality should be brought into play here. But the devoured ghosts of Thyestes's offspring also hang over the drama raising issues (alongside Iphigenia) regarding the sacrifice of youth. Offspring sacrifice was unheard of in the Mediterranean basin of the fifth century with the exception of Punic-Phoenician settlements. But this had not always been the case and again we see the birth of 'classical' Greece from its less than ideal parenthood, always slightly ashamed of its past - there is now plenty of evidence that the early worship of Artemis involved human sacrifice in some places. Delphi was also originally sacred to Artemis before being taken over by Apollo in the eighth century. And the sacrifice image also acts as something rather radical for Aeschylus - an almost revolutionary denunciation of the destruction of Achaean (by implication, also Attican) youth through unnecessary warfare. Goldhill has pointed out, there are also gender specific elements within the pattern of slaughter first noted in the text by Cassandra.

The Eumenides provides something completely new - an end to the ethos of attempting to ensure public welfare through private blood feud. As Lattimore puts it, by the Eumenides we are not merely to see, we are to understand. The role of Athens is emphasised by Athena's negotiated compromise between Apollo / Orestes on the one hand and the Furies - she becomes the symbol of Hellenism against the barbarity of the nation's roots. Even the Furies are converted from something hideous to something beautiful by this new, sanitised version of Athena. And we have to put the whole 'Athens section' in the context that the 'polis' was more than merely 'city'; it was the complete framework for everyday life.

In his day Aeschylus was known for adventurous stage set designs from which we have drawn the phrase 'deus ex machina' but it was Aristophanes who was wise enough to see that the playwright has also created "towering structures out of majestic words".

This book is really good. You can learn a lot about overclocking your pc by reading this book. I would recommend this book to everyone.

Collaboratively written by PC hardware enthusiasts and experts Scott Wainner and Robert Richmond, The Book of Overclocking: Tweak Your PC To Unleash Its Power is a vital and enthusiastically recommended guide to tweaking the processor of a personal desktop computer to run faster than originally intended by the manufacturer. Showing how to overclock and improve the speed and performance of a personal computer, as well as keeping older hardware viable and competitive for longer, The Book Of Overclocking also includes an overview of why the computer industry tries to discourage overclocking, how to overclock, keeping one's PC cool, overclocking specific to the hardware of Intel, AMD, or VIA/Cyrix, troubleshooting, benchmark testing, and more. The Book Of Overclocking is a unique and "must-have" do-it-yourself guidebook that should be careful read before opening up a personal computer and seeing what can be done to make it faster and better.

This is a well written and comprehsive book on overclocking that can help the beginner or the advanced person in getting the most out of their computer systems. There is a ton of info on how to work with almost every piece of overclockable hardware out there.

This book gives the same facts and tips about lowering cholesterol that most other books have. Recipes are o.k. but mundane (which I guess would be good for people just starting to change their diets.)

This book is a really good guide to lower cholestoorel w/ great recipes!

I don't agree with the first person who reviewed this book. I found the information on cholesterol to be very helpful and most of recipes are very good. The book was recommended to me by a friend who said she makes some of the dishes when she has company and always receives compliments.

I bought a used copy of this book a couple years ago but noticed an updated version at the library. The new version has twice the recipes of the book I have so I just ordered a new one. Another plus -- my cholesterol dropped 16 points within a short period of time and I attribute it to the Goors' recipes.

This is the first of Trent's cases that I have read and I am not sure how many there were previously, but this was an enjoyable read. The characters are developed nicely, the plot flows along at a decent pace, and there are enough twists to keep me guessing. Of course, the solution comes from left field, but was rather interesting based upon the characterization of the deceased. A definite old time mystery without much gore and [sexual content], but interesting nevertheless! Maybe I'll read some of his earlier cases.....

Trent makes a lasting impression in this, his first, last and only appearance. Appearing in 1913, "Trent's Last Case" is among the first classic English country murder mysteries. It's all butlers, country houses, motor-cars and dressing for dinner, sprinkled with wry observations on the manners of the wealthy, country folk, inn keepers, servants upstairs and downstairs, police inspectors, husbands, widows, American secretaries and French maids.

We begin with our man Trent arriving in town to investigate a murder. The plot is brisk, without enough clues to make it a whodunit. Trent's an established painter with a national reputation as an amateur detective and newspaper correspondent. An amateur sleuth would be incomplete without a nemesis, so we have a long-time friendly rival, Inspector Murth. The presumption of a long history and the effortlessness of the characters' interactions was drawn beautifully. All is revealed through what the characters say and do, not by long narrative descriptions. I rather wish this was only the beginning for Trent and not the end.

Actually Trent's last case is his first - and his last: E. C. Bentley didn't write another full-length novel (although there is a disappointing collection of short-stories entitled 'Trent Intervenes', I think; the only edition of this I have seen was in the green and white Penguin crime classics). The importance of 'Trent's Last Case' is that it helped to shape a new paradigm in British detective stories: witty, social acute, conservative (to the point of looking down on 'trade'), and flippant bordering on frivolous. We have Bentley to thank for Allingham, Christie, Crispin, Hare, Innes, and Sayers; the alternative could have been more tedious imitators of the Great Detective, Sherlock Holmes.

Fans of the best-selling author Carl Hiaasen (Striptease) know that he weaves his stories around slightly off-balance characters. In Artists Die Best In Black, Martha Mabey captures this somewhat zany approach, but tells her story on the stage of Richmond, Virginia, a proud old and very traditional confederate city. (Richmond is the setting for Patricia Cornwell's (Cause of Death) block-buster Kay Scarpetta series as well.) Mabey has created an unusual protagonist in Rosemond Wallace, the petite and funny owner of a trendy art gallery. She has a beautiful and haughty rival, Lila Hunt, whose gallery sells to the establishment trade. The young man who is killed in Wallace's gallery is the son of an eccentric artist, Lucy Moon. Add to this mix crazy Tyrone, Beverly and Jack, the homeless couple in the alley, and a wild assortment of characters, including some colorful gender-benders. I was captured by the characters and drawn in by the suspense of the lively mystery.

An art gallery used for a movie set is the stage one for this fast moving mystery. There are interesting characters such as the gallery owner and one of her artists whose son is the victim. The scenes are authentic Richmond and the story keeps moving as the scene moves from the riverfront to the govenor's office. By the end you are fond of many of the characters and want to know more about them

Tradgedy? Oh yes, that is exactly what to expect! Wonderfully written, and appealing for the time period, Euripides' work is as curious as marvelous. This book includes stories of cyclops and Greek heroes bound to make readers excited. Some of the stories are commonly known, but most are'nt. Helen, and Hercules are some of the included tales placed in this book. Know about Ion? Don't know? I suggest you read this book, because it is designed to insite the curiosity and engross most readers. The stories are all timeless and interesting, written by a man that was a genious for his time.

Volume I of "The Complete Greek Tragedies" of Euripides offers the playwrights rather unique view on some of the greatest heroes of Greek Mythology: Hercules, Jason, and Theseus.

"Alcestis' (translated by Richard Lattimore) is the oldest surviving play of Euripides and the closest thing we have to an extant example of a satyr play. Consequently, this play has more of a burlesque tone, best represented in the drunken speech of Hercules to the butler and his teasing of Admetus at the end. Alcestis was the model wife of Admetus, for when her husband is to die she alone agrees to die in his place. However, the key in this drama is how Admetus finds this sacrifice totally acceptable. Admetus is represented as a good and honorable man, but then his ethos is established in this play by the god Apollo in the opening scene, and even though it was written later it is hard not to remember the expose Euripides did on the god of truth in "Ion." Euripides adds a key twist in that Alcestis agrees to the sacrifice before she fully understands that her husband will suffer without her. She is brought back from the underworld by Hercules and restored to her relieved husband, but the play clearly characterizes Admetus as a selfish man.

'Medea' (trans. Rex Warner) is not really about infanticide, but rather about how "foreigners' were treated in Greece, best seen in the odes of the Chorus of Corinthian Women. The other key component of the play is the psychology of Medea and the way in which she constructs events to help convince herself to do the unspeakable deed and kill the two sons she has borne Jason. There is a very real sense in which Jason is the true villain of the piece and I do not think there is a comparable example in the extant Greek tragedies remain wherein a major mythological hero is made to look as bad as Euripides does in this play. The audience remembers the story of the Quest for the Golden Fleece and how Medea betrayed her family and her native land to help Jason. In some versions of the story Medea goes so far as to kill her brother, chop up his body, and throw it into the sea so their father, the King of Colchis, must stop his pursuit of the Argo to retrieve the body of his son. However, as a foreigner Medea is not allowed to a true wife to Jason, and when he has the opportunity to improve his fortune by marrying the princess of Corinth, Medea and everything she had done for him are quickly forgotten. To add insult to injury, Jason assures Medea that his sons will be well treated at the court while the King of Corinth, worried that the sorceress will seek vengeance, banishes her from the land. Within this context Medea constructs the fate of herself and her children.

"The Heracleidae" (trans. Ralph Gladstone) is usually been a minor political play by Euripides. It tells of how the children of Hercules were exiled by from their home by the murderous King Eurystheus of Argos. After their father's death the children and their mother fled from country to country in search of sanctuary until, of course, they came to Athens. At first, the Athenians are reluctant to grant asylum, since Eurystheus might bring political and military strife on the city. But Demophon, King of Athens, agrees to admit them. Indeed, the army of Eurystheus surrounds the city and the oracles declares that the safety of Athens depends on the sacrifice of a virgin. Macaria, one of the daughters of Hercules, offers herself as the sacrificial victim. The play has usually been considered to be nothing more than a glorification of Athens, but, of course, in more contemporary terms it is worth reconsidering this Greek tragedy as a look at the problem of political refugees; consequently, 'The Heracleidae' works well as an analog to 'Medea.'

"Hippolytus" (trans. David Grene) opens with Aphrodite declaring her power over all mankind and her intention to ruin Hippolytus, the son of Theseus and Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, because he alone has had the audacity to scorn love. Instead, the young prince has devoted himself to hunting and Artemis, the chaste goddess of the hunt. As the instrument of Hippolytus' downfall, Aphrodite selects his stepmother Phaedra, by making her fall in love with him. What becomes interesting in Euripides' telling of the tale is how Phaedra resists the will of Aphrodite, having resolved to starve herself to death rather than ever reveal her infatuation. However, Phaedra's secret is revealed when in a state of semi-delirium she confesses to her nursm who, out of love for Phaedra, tries to solicit an appropriate response from a horrified Hippolytus. Mortified that her secret is now known, Phaedra hands herself, but trying to spare the reputation of her children she leaves a note accusing Hippolytus of having tried to rape her. When Theseus returns from a long journey only to find his wife dead at her own hand and his son implicated in her suicide, he pronounces a deadly curse upon Hippolytus. Ironically, despite his fate, Hippolytus is not a sympathetic figure and it is Phaedra who becomes the truly tragic character in the tale. Another consideration is the portrayal of Theseus, generally accounted the wisest and best of the heroes of classical mythology. Yet in this story the man whose objectivity and sense of fairness made him give Oedipus a resting place indulges in an angry impulse worthy of Hercules. Again, the irreverance of Euripides towards the gods and their offspring remains the uniting theme of this collection.

All the information you'd ever want to fish on the Deschutes River. If you plan on spending any amount of time on this great Oregon River, you NEED to buy this book.

By reading this book you will learn more about angling than by actually fishing. I was a self styled "expert" and taught many people how to flyfish on the Deschutes. This book is unique in that the true expert (the author) is not condescending,omits the egotistical ranting found in other "how to" books and does a great job of explaining things without mystifying the process. Before I take anyone fishing (spin, bait or fly) they now read portions of this book prior to the trip. Now my trips to the Deschutes with novices are much more fun, more relaxed and modest in the style of Mr. Richmond. When does the year 2000 edition arrive?

Steve Richmond's poetry is probably the best "undiscovered" writing in America today. This reissued volume of old and new poems is good, but his best book is the long out-of-print tome EARTH ROSE. Regardless, or maybe in spite, of Richmond's relationship with American-icon Charles Bukowski, these poems stand up and holler on their own.

I decided to check out Steve Richmond's work after reading a line in LIFSHIN & RICHMOND, "...all I see is the enlarging face of bugs bunny laughing...unfunny unfeeling ungood in any way to me..." which intrigued me as a nightmare vision. HITLER PAINTED ROSES also displayed a fascinatingly dark imagination but was too slight a volume to give me much of an impression of his work.

Anita, Sandra and Eva did a wonderful job demonstrating the love between sisters and their concerns for each other when it comes to relationship with men.

This novel was so good to read it's been a long time since i had the privilege to read a romance novel and it felt good to get back into reading them again.This was my first time reading anything by these author's and their storie's were all good I really enjoyed Sandra and Anita's stories. Good work.They were heart felt stories about sisters and their every day life problems.

This is one of those special books that genuinely deserves its New York Times bestseller status. April 1865 is fresh, thoughtful, extremely well-researched, and exceptionally well-written. Jay Winik takes events we all think we know and suddenly makes us understand that there was nothing inevitable about Appomattox or the country surviving the Lincoln assasination just five days later. His portraits of the central players -- Lincoln, Lee, Grant, and Sherman -- and many others give you a powerful sense of the men and the era and what they all had to overcome. As a Northerner transplanted by work to the South, I have gained a far better appreciation and understanding of my country after reading this book. You can enjoy it if you are a devoted Civil War buff or a novice reader, like my wife. April 1865 is destined to become a classic, while at the same time being one of those rare books that is a true delight to read. If I had had professors like Jay Winik, I might have been a history major -- but this book almost makes up for that. Highly recommended.

A few years ago I read an account of the five days in May 1940 that may have determined the course of the second world war. It was a good book, in part because of the decision to focus on a few fateful days and the key decision makers that forged history. With "April 1865", Winik uses the same approach, covering a span of thirty days, and achieves a marvelous result. This is a great book.

Casual readers of history (meaning few Americans) are not likely to be fully cognizant of the slender thread that held the nation together in the last month of the war, with Lee's surrender on in early April and Lincoln's death a few days later. Even fewer Americans know just how delicate the situation became as the war came to a close. Other events stormed around these historic memories. The egos and decisions of generals Grant, Sherman, Johnston, and Mosby played a large part in the end of the war and the start of the peace. And the politicians, namely Lincoln, Johnson and Davis, had to work very hard that the peace was not more disruptive than the war.

Winik asks and adderesses basic questions about motives in the North and in the South. What role did emancipation play in the North and in the South? What plan for peace did Lincoln have? What made Lee fianlly choose to surrender? Why didn't the South extend the battle into a guerrila war? Why did President Davis decline to give up after Lee surendered? What might have happended had Lincoln survived?

Winik makes a compelling case that small events, basic decisions, and the character of people can color great events and make for a better world. A few good maps and integrated, thorough endnotes make "April 1865" easy to read. His 'thumbnail' biographies of the key players provide good explanations for the complex motives that produced peace at the end of four years of terrible war. And that color our national culture to this day.

Every American adult should be forced to buy and read this book. In developing his thesis that the manner in which the Civil War ended created modern America, Winik cites many historical events which we either did not learn in school or forgot. For example, who knows that the Confederates were seriously considering emancipating any slave who would serve in their army? Who knows that atrocities were committed in Missouri and Kansas that differ little from those in Rawanda and the former Yugoslavia? I was shocked to learn African-Americans from Louisiana fought for the Confederacy and one of the great Confederate armies and the last to surrender was Indian and Indian led. Winik leaves the reader with an appreciation for the complexity of American history. Ultimately Americans are fortunate that the United States made it through April 1865 even if there are a few skeletons in the closet.