This is a good, well-written novel about the life of a fictional Philadelphia Quaker during the American Revolution. It's well-plotted, filled with fascinating period details and wonderful character studies.

I first read this in an old (1895) copy of Century Magazine, and enjoyed it very much. I am re reading if, out loud this time, to my husband, who agrees with me. I was amazed to find it still in print, and look forward to having it in our library. I think this would be a wonderful movie, and good for our children to see.

If you're fascinated by English literature and language in general, as I was, but intimidated by the obscure vocabulary and inflections of "Old Anguish," this is your book. It's not a "for Dummies" manual, but it's more reader-friendly than a college text. It introduces all the fundamentals of the language, along with an overview of the culture that produced the tongue. It overlaps the more formal text, "Guide to Old English" (by Mitchell & Robinson) in some places word for word, but "Invitation" is much more chatty and fun. Mitchell's love for Old English is infectious, as is his conviction that it's not as hard to learn as it looks. By the time I was finished, I had a good beginner's command of Old English and a thirst to learn more.

As a student of various languages, but a newcomer to the study of Old English, I found this book an unintimidating but, nevertheless, comprehensive and in-depth introduction to the language. Mr. Mitchell begins by tracing the origins of our erstwhile obscure tongue, which has attained the status of a latter-day Latin in terms of its widespread use by native and non-native speakers alike in numerous environments. Unfortunately, many or most native speakers of English have little or no knowledge of the language in its earlier forms. I would recommend this book to anyone wishing to enrich his own knowledge of the language through the study of its roots. It is a study not only of language, but history as well, a point which Mr. Mitchell highlights in such a way as to make this "dead" language come alive. The author grabs the attention of the reader from the first page, more than I thought possible in a didactic book which, of necessity, must teach the rudimentary elements of grammar, and manages to keep it even through the introduction of paradigms. This is in part due to his success in introducing these paradigms in the context of the language in use, as opposed to in uninterrupted pages of dry, grammatical tables which I have found in many other books. Already in the foreword, Mr. Mitchell has begun to give the reader a feel for the language by quoting simple passages and providing literal translations for them. An excellent introduction, and invitation, to a fascinating language, foreign and yet strangely familiar.

A very good, simplistic, introduction for anyone who is just turning on to the internet. This includes myself -I'm 50- or my 9 year old daughter. The book has the "child" thoroughly examine the contents of a web page, write down what is found, and then goes on for greater, more intensive searches. This makes it invaluable for kids of all ages and abilities. In the end the student not only knows the screen contents,it's links,it's jargon, but also the whole connectedness that's hidden behind, in cyberspace. The work sheets for writing down what's been discovered; for written critiques of what is found is the joy of this book. It involves the student, at any level. Good job, Kim!

Ms. Mitchell has done an excellent job of leading children to instant gratification on the internet. This is a how-to guide that would be effective in a school, as well as a home setting. As an educator, I would rank this as a "must have" book for children. Price is also very affordable.

Centuries after a sudden ice age crushed our civilization, North America is divided into several kingdoms. New England, with strange mental powers and genetic engineering keeping alive amidst the great glacier, the Southern empire in Mexico, the Khanate in the Southwest, and a powerful but stagnant Middle Kingdom surrounding the enormous River that was once Mississippi. The small, fractious country in the North Mexico has little chance between the warring giants, except for their tradition of independence, and their leader, the reluctant general Sam Monroe.

The story of Sam, and his attempts to block the all-conquering, mongol-like Khanate from running over the continent, is entertaining, full of battles and human interest stories. The language seems a bit burdened at times, with constant references to Warm-times, and the topic familiar. However, the major characters are interesting, Sam himself sympathetic, and the battles, and the politics exciting and tense.

--inotherworlds.com

In the distant future a curtain of ice stretches from sea to once shining sea. To survive one must head south of the great wall of ice that has devastated what were once much of the United States and all of Canada. To endure, clans and kingdoms formed as people battles for control of the livable land left on the North America.

Years have passed since Monroe and Olsen led the Colorado Trappers south where they join forces with the Garden tree-dwellers (see SNOWFALL). Jack and Catania's son Sam now leads the army of North-Map Mexico, but knows that his people are on the easement and that the Khanate nomads led by Toghrul Khan will ravage the land on their way to war with Kingdom River ruled by Queen Joan. Sam knows his relatively small country has no chance though the never defeated army would risk their lives to prove otherwise. He needs an alliance with Joan, but worries that her much larger nation will gobble up his small country. To have some say in the confederacy, Sam marries the Kingdom's Princess Rachel. War remains inevitable as Khan and his barbarians sweep over all in their path.

The second tale in Mitchell Smith's apocalyptic future world, KINGDOM RIVER, is a very exciting look at people struggling to survive a harsh time, but in this novel (as opposed to the ice of SNOWFALL) it is from enemy forces. The story line escorts the reader to a changed realm where civilization almost totally collapsed. The audience will picture this frozen wasteland as a distinct possibility because Mr. Smith goes to extreme lengths through his strong characters and vivid universe to make everything believable.

Harriet Klausner

The diction in the tape are clear which is essential for an audio and language tape. The English version will be said first than the korean version. Containing essential topics for travelling like buying train tickets, numbers at the restaurant. So its very useful. Also it is really a phasebook without lenghy sentences that are too difficult to learn. But I do suggest anybody learning a new language to have two books/materials on hand at the same time to compare and compliment the information

I thought that this cassette was well worth my money because it gave me an insight to the basics of the korean language.

Boell's ability to describe very different character's points of view is excellent. This is a very good book for anyone who is interested in German anti-war literature.

Like Graves, Sassoon and Owen in the First World War, Heinrich Böll brought a mix of apathy and disgust to his writings about World War II as well as a literary sensibility that condemned him to this genre. Böll, along with Günter Grass, author of The Tin Drum, and Arno Schmidt, is considered one of the most influential German writers of the postwar period.

The Mad Dog represents the third extraction from material left by Böll at his death in 1985 and contains nine previously unpublished stories and a novel fragment, all written between 1936 and 1950. I think they represent the best introduction to Böll available. They also anticipate his best work, the novels, Billiards at Half-Past Nine and The Clown. The Mad Dog will probably have the most appeal to readers who are already familiar with these great novels and who want to listen to the source of Böll's recurring themes.

Youth on Fire represents the earliest work contained in this book and is a poignantly clumsy parable of Heinrich, a sixteen year old boy of Wetherian turn of mind. When Heinrich meets a woman, however, his life takes a very different course. In a demi-parable uttered by one of the characters there is a flash of the mature Böll's bitter humor.

The Fugitive and Trapped in Paris, composed ten years later, are the antithesis of Youth on Fire. These two stories are of a desperate and solitary soldier, in the former, an escaped POW or a deserter and in the latter a German soldier cut off from his unit during secret battles. In these stories, the iconic and discursive idealism of Youth on Fire is replaced by the naturalistic German Expressionism that became Böll's signature in the years immediately following the war and which reached its peak in one of his most famous stories, Stranger, Bear Word to the Spartans We.

The Fugitive is very close to the model of Böll's postwar work and consists of a dramatic narrative of claustrophobia and fear that concludes abruptly and violently.

The Rendezvous contains one of Böll's recurring themes: the difficulty of love. Böll was a writer whose sense of the absurdity of Eros was as highly developed as was his sense of the absurdity of Thanatos. Although many of his stories, such as the beautiful My Pal With the Long Hair, celebrate the triumph of love, most of them seem to center on love's impossibilities instead. Centering on a turbulent and mysterious affair, The Rendezvous contains an implicit riddle, much like Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants.

The Tribe of Esau is an unusual early experiment in the use of a female character's perspective and The Dead No Longer Obey, according to the translator's notes, reworks a passage from the draft of a play entitled As the Law Demanded. This story is yet another soldier parable with a characteristic poetic and rhetorical twist.

The Tale of Berkovo Bridge and the novel fragment, Paradise Lost stand out as the work of the mature Böll and neither is really heretofore unpublished material. The former contains the reflections of a German military engineer who rebuilds a Russian bridge to facilitate the retreat of 1943 and offers a piece of absurdity as an effective metaphor for the regimented chaos of war. The Tale of Berkovo Bridge anticipates Böll's greatest novel, Billiards at Half-Past Nine and also contains a manipulation of emblem that some of Böll's readers have found objectionably schematic.

The text of Paradise Lost was, in part, incorporated into Der Engel schwieg and Böll also published two extractions of it as Night of Love and The Gutter. As it is published in this collection, Paradise Lost is a returning-soldier story that dwells on yet another of Böll's recurring themes: the seemingly random and poignant stasis of solitary objects amid decay. Returning to the home of his lover after seven years' absence in the war, the narrator notices a section of a rain gutter hanging down just had it had prior to his leaving.

The most palpable current in all of Böll's writing, however, is sorrow. It is abundantly present in this collection and it seems to stand as an apposite elegy for the twentieth century. This collection is a wonderful introduction to the writings of one of this century's most talented German writers.

One doesn't have to be an astronomer to enjoy this book about an extremely gifted,intelligent and independent woman. This book is mostly from her own diaries and wonderfully edited and annotated. In order to pursue the interest in astronomy fostered by her father, she actually taught herself mathematics, including calculus. She spent clear nights, whatever the temperature on in the small observatory of her Nantucket home. At the age of 29 she became world-famous for discovering a comet, an accomplishment that brought her awards, recognition and even a gold medal awarded from the King of Denmark.
Her world travels are fascinating as are the many famous people she met. There's a very amusing anecdote about a trip in Europe with Nathanial Hawthorne and his family.
She became professor of astronomy at Vasser in 1865 and carried on a constant correspondence with the president and trustees of Vassar with her peppery, terse and
assertive letters requesting equal salary equal to male professors - a struggle still experienced by today's women.
Her contemporaries and friends were suffragists such as Julia Ward Howe and Elizabeth Cady, writers such as Emerson and Alcott and other famous people. It was a given that she would become President of the Association for the Advancement of Women and was in great demand as a speaker.
A woman reader will be constantly amazed to find so much in comman with this 19th century woman. However, men,too, will enjoy her achievements, intelligence and travelogues.

Many people know of Nantucket Island. To some, it has the reputation of a beautiful seaport with well restored buildings, cobble stoned streets, very active tourism activity, and a particularly affluent summer colony. Others know of its rich history, particularly the prosperous whaling industy that existed in the 1800's. A visitor soon finds out that there's much more. You don't have to walk far from the ferry landing to be aware of the outstanding museums, one of which has the collection of he Maria Mitchell Association.
The Mitchell family, William, Lydia, and their ten children, lived and were active in the prosperous whaling town, but had different interests. Maria, the third child, and her father became ardently interested in astronomy. Her mostly self education, particularly in science and mathematics, will amaze you as you read the Albers book. Few people know much of this extrordinary woman.
The book, a collection of Miss Mitchell's letters, diaries and other related materials, was edited by the fifth director of he Vassar College Observatory, Dr. Albers. Maria Mitchell was the first. She organized the astronomy department of the then new college, Vassar, in 1865.
Biiographies , and actually much non-fiction , do not have wide appeal to many readers. This book is truly refreshing and an enlightening read. In the background is the fascinating story of the island where she grew up and he status of women in 18th century America, although one doesn't have to be a history buff or a feminist to enjoy this book.

Interesting story, her first quilt at age 9 while living in Kentucky, in her lifetime she made over a 100 quilts, over 40 color pictures, and many black and white, also details the so called woman,s place such as her husband did not want her to wear bright colors, etc. in Kentucky all the civil service jobs at that time went to men, when she moved to Texas , she was able to go to work right away. The pictures, tell the story more as well as the text. The quilts are mostly traditional patterns, she had a very creative touch.

For anyone interested in quilt history or the history of quilters, this is a terrific book. Its focus is on an (in)famous Texas quilter named Martha Mitchell, who lived in Huntsville Texas, after 'emigrating' from Kentucky in 1939. The book is interspered with 'Martha-isms' that are both charming, witty, oldfashioned, yet surprisingly 'modern.' The book skips easily over time and place, sometimes discussing her background and childhood, and other times, her marriage, career and rebelliousness towards some of the expected womanly behaviors of the time. She was a naturally feisty woman, who only became moreso in her old age. The best part of the book, though, is the photography. In addition to photos of Martha at various stages in her life, it also includes over 30 full color photos of her quilts. Many are close enough to see her quilting stitches, and some include her beautiful hands as she worked on her quilts. This is a most charming book about a singularly charming woman. I heartily recommend it. As an aside, PBS did a documentary on Martha in 1985, which is still available on videotape.

Despite the fact that Mary Slessor was a (humanitarian) servant and not a queen, this book gave a good account of her life (and service).
Its pattern is concise and very direct. It is full of succulent stories: an enjoyable way of evaluating the life of this determined woman.
I only wished that it is a bit more elaborated than it is. The highly summarized 208 pages would have made a dynamic 308 pages with ease. Still, Sam did a good job here. It is a fine book.

A wonderful story of a dedicated young woman. It is a true story of how one person can make an incredible change in a whole nation of people. Mary Slessor traveled into the heart of Calabar (Africa) to witness to the natives, canibals though they were! It is an inspiring book which tells of the hardships and joys that she faced from her youth on.

"McSorley's Wonderful Saloon" is, indeed, a wonderful compilation of Joseph Mitchell at the height of his uncanny literary powers. But Mitchell fans should be aware that all of its contents are likewise to be found in a previous compilation ("Up In The Old Hotel")which also includes "The Bottom of the Harbor," "Old Mr. Flood" and "Joe Gould's Secret." Fortunate readers who already possess "Up In The Old Hotel" should acquire the other newly republished Mitchell compilation, "My Ears Are Bent," a terrific collection of newspaper articles written by before Mitchell became embalmed at "The New Yorker."

What a pleasure to see this classic returned to print. Mr. Mitchell had a wonderful ear in his time, and now almost fifty years later, the tone is still strong, and the places that he told us of are mostly gone. Thankfully, McSorley's is still with us, but the Beefsteak Party (The Second best of the stories) and the theater on Park Row are long gone, as is the Third Avenue El. No one rides that anymore in the summer to cool off. There is a reason why this was voted one of the top 100 pieces of American Journalism in the 20th century by New York University's journalism department. (it placed 84th)

Buy it to read the bit on McSorley's, "The Old House at Home," and buy it to read "All You can Hold for Five Bucks," buy it to read one wonderful story at a time. Its good to see it back.