This collection was the first of its kind when it came out in 1993. The three editors, all longtime advocates of queer scholarship, put together the Reader as an attempt to encourage new classes in queer studies. It was a resounding success, winning both a Lambda Literary award and notably being banned by Canadian customs.

The contributors to this volume are all well-respected names in their fields: John D'Emilio, Eve Sedgwick, Adrienne Rich, Judith Butler, Audre Lorde, and the editors themselves. There is impressive attention to including both people of color and strong lesbian voices, something many other similar collections have problems with.

The Reader is an excellent introduction to the field, although it is an academic text and can be a bit daunting for some. It works wonderfully for the purpose it was designed for, as a text for introductory classes. For those already immersed in the field, you obviously already own the book.

For an excellent compilation of essays, papers, and writings on what we now call "Queer/Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, & Transgender Studies," this is your book. It has practically everything, including works by people of color. If you want to get academic and intellectual, here's where you might start. If you are already academic and intellectual, this book will be a welcome addition to your library. I read many of the pieces in this book for a class in college, and they were all highly thought-provoking and important. I consider this book to be one of the basic, necessary groundstones in my library of queer/lgbt studies books and readings. Thank god for Henry Abelove for putting this together!

The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry, altho two decades old, stands out as fresh and relevant as it has always been for people -- policy makers, involved citizens, as well as researchers, who want to do, make, or understand cross-national comparisons. Although Note: their approach is by no means limited to the comparison of different countries. Comparisons across the 50 U.S. states also benefit from much of what the authors present (not so much about linguistic/foreign language equivalence, which is a different issue with which they deal).

The easiest way to describe the value of Przeworski and Teune's insights is to see how cross-national country studies can be used to emulate the experimenter's scientific approach to finding pattterns. The experimenter can "hold other variables constant" through statistical means or the selection of people or cases to study. When looking at countries (or U.S. states) a selection of "cases" can be fashioned that emulates in different kinds of experimental controls. In particular the authors describe a pair of strategies: The Most Different Nation and the Most Similar Nation strategies.

In the Most Different model the analyst selects cases (countries) which are known to be very different from one another: e.g., Korea, Australia, Germany, Ecuador, South Africa.... This model is best for the generation of hypotheses because one assumes that the variable of interest will vary widely across the different countries. On the other hand the Most Similar model is best for hypothesis testing, and it is here that the "hold constant" idea is seen: Sweden, Norway, Denmark are similar enough on many key variables, so that those variables are in a sense "held constant". Or Australia, New Zealand, Canada, UK -- for linguistic purposes. etc.

These models become even more valuable with the 50 U.S. states because there are many more opportunities to use demographic, economic, and historical variables in the selection of Most Different or Most Similar cases.

The book is well worth the investment of money and time for any who want to use the Nations of the world of the States of U.S. to explore or test questions and hypotheses about processes and linkages that are directly amenable to usual scientific analysis.

This is what you need to read if you want to do quality social research. The authors provide a systemic overview of the possible levels of analysis. To be sure, of all my M.A. Program in Political Science, there is only one book that I marked up, this is it. It is worth the effort.

Henry Mayhew, having created this delightful encyclopoedia of humanity, has probably been ripped off more frequently than any writer since Shakespeare. His characters are so animated they have jumped full-fleshed from the pages of his books into the works of many another humorist or novelist, and we all owe more to him than we can know.

While the living conditions suffered by the poor were truly deplorable, Mayhew might have enjoyed the company of street people more than that of his peers. He put so much life into his characters we can see them, hear them, smell them. I only wonder what the street people thought about Mr. Mayhew, the journalist who bought them beers,inveigled invitations to tea, listened tirelessly to their stories. Mayhew is neither sentimental nor brutal, but rather a true and tolerant humourist, and I believe that, for all the misery depicted, his work was undertaken with great, and contagious, joy.

Henry Mayhew, founder of Punch magazine, wrote this four-volume sociological classic during the 1850's. If you are at all interested in the Victorian era, in British history, in London, or in urban history in general, this is a must-read. The Penguin version is abridged and is a distillation of the "best" of the multiple-volume set. This distillation is itself over 500 pages, so imagine the impact of the entire set! The utter destitution of the London poor is set out in such vivid detail than one cannot help being shocked at the conditions human beings were forced to live in in the greatest city of its time. The only fault I find with this book is Mayhew's occasional lapses into preaching. Otherwise a fine book

Catholic University Press of America is coming out with the Works of Christopher Dawson. To my mind, this is one of the most important publishing events in recent memory. In addition, these works are reset and contain solid introductions by experts in the field. This is third in the series (following Progress and Religion; and Medieval Essays).

The Making of Europe: An Introduction to the History of European Unity is an important book, which came out in 1932. Dawson highlights the central factors and contributions in the formation of European unity - the Roman Empire, Classical Culture, Christianity, the Barbarians, the Byzantines and Islam. Although Dawson was a Catholic, the book is balanced and can be enjoyed by just about anyone. I liked in particular the fair overview of Islam. It's fashionable to say that history books of the past ignored the contributions of other culture and only contemporary (and leftist) historians rescued us from the evils of "eurocentrism" and "ethnocentrism." This is silly, as anyone who has read history books from the past knows. (In addition, take for example the success of books in the nineteenth century such as Salambo by Flaubert, or the exaggerated claims of Masons of the contributions of Egyptians, which rival the "Black Athena" crowd).

In particular, I enjoyed Alexander Murray's introductory essay, which updates some of Dawson's arguments in light of current scholarship and also places this work within his oeuvre.

So just what did happen in Europe between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Crusades? This famous overview is just as readable today as when it was first written. Dawson's prose flow effortlessly and will keep you engaged. He covers everything from Baghdad to Iceland.

He has the decidedly un-Marxist view that ideas and individuals do count in history. His pan-European sympathies probably sounded unrealistic in the '30's, but are back in vogue as we approach the introduction of the Euro coins.

This brilliant book is only for esoterica aficionados. Corbin, the foremost French (and, in all probability, world) authority on Sufism and Shiite esotericism, discusses in his familiar baroque and stream-of-consciousness erudite style three Iranian sages-mystics: Suhrawardi (the martyred founder of Ishraqi/Illuminative school of Islamic esotericism ), Kubra (the founder of an influential Sufi order) and Simnani (an orthodox Sufi master who left behind a voluminous corpus of esoteric writings). What do these men have in common ?

Well- at least, two things:

1. they all developed variants of highly imaginative multilayered metaphysics (especially Suhrawardi) and set up "theoretical" framework which was later used to interpret spectacular (one might blasphemically say "Cecildemillean" or LSD-like) visionary experiences.

2.another common "trademark" is the Man of Light (hence the title of the book), equated with Arch)Angel Gabriel, or Supreme Spirit (Ar-Ruh al-Qudsi), or perfect nature: in short, everyone's "True" or Higher Self.

One might add that the three mystics have been dualists (therefore, alien to Ibn Arabi's monist Wahdat-al-Wujud doctrine), and that the latter duo ( in sharp contrast to extravagant and highly original visionary genius of mutilated Suhrawardi ) remained impeccably orthodox. Their originality lies in development of Islamic version of esoteric physiology: latifa, the supposed organs/subtle centers of suprasensory perception, are essentially Kubra's and Simnani's spiritual legacy.
On balance, Corbin's "The Man of Light" is an intellectual and spiritual joyride and I highly recommend it.

A great book for anyone who wants to gain an in depth understanding of Islamic mysticism. There are many books out there on Sufism, but Corbin's books are most" scholarly". It is obvious that the author spent a life time researching this topic and learning it from those who know sufism well. Same can not be said about many other so called scholars who seem to write books on a daily basis and their research scope is no more than a few trips to the local library. No wonder there are so many books being published and yet so few of them are really worth reading. Many of them leave their reader feeling cheated. I am afraid that Scholars like Corbin should be classified under endangered species.

The Man Who Knew The Medicine: The Teachings Of Bill Eagle Feather by Henry Niese (who has participated in more than one hundred Native American ceremonies, including dancing in thirty-seven Sun Dances) showcases the Lakota shaman Bill Schweigman Eagle Feather who in the 1960s defied a U.S. government ban on Native American religious practice and performed the Sun Dance ritual with public piercings and continued on as a Sun Dance chief and instructor in the Lakota way of life until his death in 1980. Niese first met Bill Eagle Feather during a Seat Lodge ceremony preceding a Sun Dance on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in 1975 and now carries on the work and legacy of Bill Eagle Feather by performing healings and giving seminars and workshops on medicinal plans and Native American healing practices. The Man Who Knew Medicine is a unique and enthusiastically recommended addition to Native American Studies collections, and an invaluable contribution to Alternative Medicine reading lists as well.

It's a testament to the writer's humility that this book is not a how to in the Ways of The Lakota. More honestly it is a loving and skilled tribute to Bill Eagle Feather. I cried through much of this book..everything so vivid and real. I only wish it had been twice as long.

If you're looking for the "dixie cup" of knowledge this isn't for you. This is the fire hose of knowledge and not an overview. Limited to those who wish to deeply understand the arcane science of sizing pneumatic components, this work will increase anyone's understanding of how to make a given pneumatic cylinder move faster. The book is more than that. The author tirelessly explains individual pneumatic components (generically), educates the reader (from maintenance or professional engineer), and provides resources not found in typical overview texts. If you want to know how to optimize a pneumatic circuit there is no other text available. In a narrow scope there is tremendous depth. The author details how the US could reduce dependancy on foreign oil by just more efficiently applying his simple rules clearly supported by engineering logic. It is a cherished reference and testament to what was obviously his life's work.

Date: February 24, 1999 This book has been reprinted and is available from McGraw-Hill. It can be ordered from any book store.

Marguerite Henry's works, _Misty of Chincoteague_ being my favorite, stands the test of time very well. I read the book as a youngster when it was first released. It has been a book I have purchased for all my grandchildren. A magnificent work! I hope the book lasts as long as the ponies!

Marguerite Henry is a great author! I loved all of her books and thought that they were all wonderful. I thought that all of the books in this collection were wonderful, and worth reading over and over.

i couldn't say that you will "learn german" from reading this, meaning that you'll speak like a native...but it is quite the handy reference. for anyone who's studied german for more than a few minutes, you know it can be a bit tricky in places... this book helps distill the difficult parts into easi(ER)-to-understand charts, examples, etc.

I found this book a great starting point for learning German. I am learning the language for the fun of it, and this book is great for beginners. It covers all the basics thoroughly, but quickly, and proceeds on to more complicated subjects in grammar clearly and in a logical order. There are lots of tables, which I find very helpful in sorting new information. It also distinguishes all English text in black ink and German in red ink, also very helpful. So many books seem to jam a ton of information into a book in no particular order, basing chapters on real life situations. I found this frustrating because I wanted to learn WHY and HOW a sentence is structured, not just how to say popular phrases. I would definitely recommend this book for serious beginners.

A raw and gripping picture of the struggle between the fascists (not men) and the resistance movement (men) in Milan in 1944: assaults, arrests, interrogations, tortures. An atmosphere of terror evoked in short, dazzling, implacable, staccato phrases. A masterpiece.

PUBLISHERS REVIEW states that MEN AND NOT MEN emerged in post-war Italy as part of a neo-realist wave of literature and film promoting the democratic aims of a new, open society, but they only got it partly right. MEN AND NOT MEN is not a journalistic period piece nor 2 dimensional naturalism prevalent among socialist realists. This novel is readable, clear and resonant in a world still fraught with bloody civil strife and factional war. MEN AND NOT MEN depicts the struggle over political violence even for the most just of causes, against a murderous fascism. Certainly works by authors such as Elio Vitorrini, Anna Seghers of Germany, Jorge Semprun of Spain, Charlotte Delbo of France and others who lived through fascism on the continent speak with a veracity that second-hand pop literature from America hasn't even approached. MEN AND NOT MEN deals with the contradictions and struggles related to justifiable political violence on several levels by incorporating into the straightforward chronology of the novel dream sequences, the voices of the dead, interpolations of the author, and other techniques common among contemporary post-modern writers. Stylistically seamless, the novel is fluid treatment of people living and dying in a raw time when everything changed.