In this part of Anne's life she is off to college. She has an amazing four years, with a couple of new friends. She also has a lot of decisions to make about the rest of her life. This is definitely my favorite of all the Anne books! It also keeps up with the tradition of beautiful descriptions of the scenery, which isn't in Avonlea this time. I really urge anyone who liked Anne of Green Gables to read this book.

This 1962 book has a Foreword by Ian Fleming ("James Bond is not in fact a hero, but an efficient and not very attractive blunt instrument in the hands of government ... a highly romanticized version of the true spy") who first met William Stephenson ("A Man Called Intrepid") when he was on a mission to Washington in 1941. Stephenson was sent to New York in 1940 to protect British shipping of war material (and to gather information on enemy activities for appropriate counter-measures), and to promote public opinion in favor of American intervention on the side of Britain. Any offensive actions would have to remain secret. This was part of Economic Warfare.

Chapter 2 documents the important political decisions made at the time by President Roosevelt and others in 1940. Fifty coal burning destroyers were sent to Britain at a critical time. The Sperry bomb-sight was leased after they learned the Germans had the plans. Chapter 3 tells of the propaganda campaign to discredit isolationists and Nazi supporters, and the methods used to cripple or harass German officials. Censorship of the mails was used to track down spies and saboteurs. Chapter 4 tells of the intrigues with the Vichy French government. The personal secretary of the Vichy ambassador was recruited into a business to gain knowledge of his affairs. This was used to discredit the Embassy. A British agent was placed in close contact with the Embassy to gain information from her male friends.

Chapter 5 tells of the Special Operations of economic warfare: to manufacture evidence of the facts believed to be true but which could not otherwise be proved! They had a laboratory to fabricate letters and other documents. The imprint of any typewrite on earth could be reproduced faultlessly. It tells how letters were created to condemn a Czech collaborator! Another game was to subject Fascist sympathizers to petty persecution to waste time in confusion, and get them into trouble. It tells how a forged letter was created to cause the cancellation of the Italian airline franchise, an important Axis channel of communication. Brazil then broke with the Axis. Chapter 6 tells of the OSS during WW2. Stephenson did everything to help Donovan get the position. The new organization faced two bureaucratic rivals: the FBI, and the military intelligence departments. It was mainly through the assistance of BSC that they survived. Intelligence and other trained experts were put at Donovan's disposal. It explains how a short-wave station in Boston was used to broadcast propaganda.

Chapter 7 repeats various anecdotes from the war. They used astrological predictions for propaganda! The techniques to use polling to control voting and win elections was written in 1943 by David Ogilvy. Since then the US Government has used these techniques both overtly and covertly. It tells how stories were given to principal journalists and feature writers, and how columnist Drew Pearson acquired information. Chapter 8 tells how President Roosevelt sent a message to Stephenson on November 27: "Japanese negotiations off. Services expect action within two weeks". How this happened is a matter of history. There is a discussion on the use and value of double agents. He tells of the training given to secret agents at Oshawa. Sabotage to French locomotives alone nearly equaled the number disabled by air action. The information from a Soviet code clerk in Canada exposed their spy system. The final tribute was that the BSC helped to reduce the number of American casualties.

Does this book show how a small group shapes and controls the events that affect our lives?

This was published in America as "Room 3603" in 1963, with a forword by Ian Fleming (who worked for the British Security Co-ordination); this was one of the first books on the British secret service with official blessing.

The head of this operation was Sir William Stephenson, the man whose code name was INTREPID. It tells of his efforts to neutralize and defeat the Nazis in South and North America, before America entered the war. After "A Man Called Intrepid" became a best-seller in 1976, it was republished. It provides more history than the few pages in the later book. There are many interesting stories in this book.

One of them is how they forged a typewritten document to create a political scandal. The document was on microfilm; this prevents authentication thru fingerprints, ink and paper composition, etc. A picture of a thing is not the thing.

Another is the use of created gossip, and other dirty tricks, to harass the opposition. Watergate was an example of this: Nixon's agents originally broke in to plant forged documents; they were caught when they broke in a second time to retrieve these false documents.

Perhaps the most important is "how to use polling techniques to predetermine elections", a method used by our federal government "both overtly and secretly". Details are lacking in this book because this was still classified information. But you can read more in the "Propaganda At Work" chapter.

The most revealing fact is how Sir William Stephenson used these efforts to gain commerce for his own business.

I must confess that I had never even heard of Montgomery Clift before Amazon recommended that I should read something about him. It seems that he has been lost with time and is not as remembered as other actors of the same time period, i.e., Brando, Heston to name a few. It certianly did not help him that he was sexually deviant and this was at the time career suicide if Hollywood or the public had found out. The book, i.e., Montgomery Clift : Beautiful Loser by Barney Hoskyns , is clearly and well written with well done photographs. Highly Recommended.

Montgomery Clift was called, by Spencer Tracy, "the finest actor" of his generation. This is a truthful, candid, but respectful record of his life and times, from the constraints of his overprotected childhood, through his early theatrical and movie fame to his untimely death of heart failure at 45. It is illustrated with both movie stills and rare, previously unpublished candids, which show Monty's strengths and weaknesses as an actor and as a man. Barney Hoskyns has written an engaging, often amusing text. He does not try to provide any glib answers to Monty's decline and fall, but does share some wry insights. The book is beautifully presented. While it is obviously for the fans, it is no vacuous, "pop-star" style work, but a solid tribute to a great star.

Continuing story of the little red head known as Anne of Green Gables. The now older and occasionally wiser Anne has grown up; attending college, teaching the Avonlea school, and is being beaued home, despite the hip attachment she has by the name of Gilbert! Anne recieves several proposals in this novel, in paticular, one recieved by a girlfriend on behalf of her overly shy brother! Miss Lavender is introduced as are many other wonderful characters, and the final conclusion of the 'will she won't she' romance of Anne and Gilbert (she will!)A book to love and treasure always.

Josephine Roberts' work on Wroth sets the standard for scholarship in Early Modern English writers, both in depth of research and clarity of presentation.

Roberts' edition leaves any Renaissance scholar in her debt. Having tried to read Wroth's work on microfiche, I can attest to the near-impossibility of the task; that Roberts collated 27 copies of the book is astonishing to me. Her introduction is excellent, her research impeccable, her writing fluid.

In "The Ties That Bind" the good news is that the wedding day of Olivia King and Jasper Dale is finally approaching. The bad news is that the bride and groom are starting to crack under the pressure. Not caring about the wedding or anything besides marrying Jasper, Olivia tries to stage an elopement. But the surprise escape is foiled and things get immediately worse as Hetty King decides to take over and run the wedding the way she thinks it should be done, regardless of what Olivia, Jasper, Alec, Sara or anybody else has to say about the matter. Of course, things come to a head the night before the wedding when Olivia storms out of Rose Cottage, refusing to spend another night under the same roof with her sister. When Sara quickly follows her Aunt Olivia to the house of Alec and Janet King, Hetty is finally forced to face the fact that she has made a mess of everything. Not that things are all peaches and cream over at the King farm where the frazzled Janet is less than happy with Alec, his family, and their children.

Heather Conkie wrote the storybook for "The Ties That Bind," as well as the original teleplay. I have long noted that Conkie was undoubtedly the best writer on "Avonlea," both in terms of her adaptation of stories by Lucy Maud Montgomery and her original efforts focusing on the show's characters. One of the pleasures of reading this novelization after seeing the television episode is when Conkie explores the thoughts of her characters, going beyond the action and dialogue to show her complete understanding of the Olivia, Jasper and the rest of the King clan. In this story Conkie manages to remind me once again, not only how much I cannot stand Hetty King when she becomes an insufferable martinet and creates utter havoc in the name of familial love, but also how much the old biddy really does care about her family. Besides, the Awkward Man not only gets married but makes an eloquent and romantic toast that caps off the big wedding. In Montgomery's Story Girl sequel "The Golden Road" Aunt Olivia marries some doctor named Seton. However, whoever decided to put Olivia and Jasper together came up with a wonderful improvement upon Montgomery's original story.

This story is funny and touching as it follows Olivia King and Jasper Dales's wedding plans right up to the big day. It is filled with many hilarious antics including a wrong-sized wedding dress, a missing ring, and an attempted elopement. The book also portrays Olivia and Jasper's love for eachother, which is especially evident in Jasper's toast to his bride.

William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion

Though billed as a companion to "The Norton Shakespeare, Based on the Oxford Edition," "William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion" is a superb reference for any reader of Shakespeare's plays. The book gives the editorial principles and the explanations of editorial decisions made by the editors of the Oxford Shakespeare. The Textual Companion deals with the plays and poems is a systematic basis. This book will deepen anyone's appricaition for the Oxford editors' solutions to textual problems. The real value of this book goes is that it goes beyond just being an explanation of one edition. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the textual problem that any reader of Shakespeare should be aware of.

An example good editing comes from "The Merry Wives of Windsor" 1.4.88-9. The line appears "Ile doe yoe your/ Master what good I can:" in the 1623 folio. John Jowett who edited the play says that the "yoe" is suspicious and goes on the give his reasons. He belives it is a miscorrection. "Yoe" was intended for correction, but instead the compositor inserted "your" and left the "yoe" as is. The line printed in the Oxford edition is "I'll do your master what good/I can". I agree with Jowett's reasons and his correction.

Even though this book goes a long way in presenting textual problems and editorial solutions there are some editorial problems which have not been resolved. For example in "The Tempest" 4.1.123 we read this "So rare a wondered father and a wise". Tthe Oxford edition has "wise" but in the note to this line on page 616 they follow Jeanne Addison Roberts' 1978 article and say the word was "wife" in the first folio. Whether the word was "wife" or "wise" is not yet a settled question. Blayney in his introduction to the Norton Facsimile 2nd Edition (p. xxxi) takes issue with Roberts's conclusions, and for now this does remain an open question.

This book is one of the great books of Shakespearian scholarship. Though I do not agree in every detail, I can say that my appriciation and admiration for the Oxford edition of Shakespeare has increased because of this book. No critical reader of Shakespeare should go without this book.

This book accompanies the ground-breaking Oxford Complete Works of Shakespeare (1986) and explains the choices made by the editors in their selection of early printed texts and in their correction of errors in the earliest editions. Additionally, this provides the most recent thorough examination of the problems of editing Shakespeare, of establishing which plays he wrote and the order in which he wrote them, and the relation between the solitary reading experience and the social theatrical experience. If you need answers to questions like "how many quartos of Hamlet were published in Shakespeare's lifetime?" and "which one best represents the play as performed?", this book is the place to look for a thorough scholarly exploration of these topics. If you want criticism about Shakespeare's plays and their meaning, this book is not for you.

We all know about Shakespeare, so a review of his writing is not required. However, I would like to say that the Everyman's Library series are worth getting. Unlike omnibus editions (such as the Riverside Shakespeare), these are actually portable so you don't need a table to hold them up while you are reading. The Everyman's Library series have good hardbindings, are conveniently sized to carry around, and have illuminating and extensive introductions. The typeface used is old, but the letters are large and easily readable (something that is a concern with some other editions).

Tragedies, Volume 2 contains: Titus Andronicus; Troilus and Cressida; Julius Ceaser; Anthony and Cleopatra; Timon of Athens; Coriolanus

We all know about Shakespeare, so a review of his writing is not required. However, I would like to say that the Everyman's Library series are worth getting. Unlike omnibus editions (such as the Riverside Shakespeare), these are actually portable so you don't need a table to hold them up while you are reading. The Everyman's Library series have good hardbindings, are conveniently sized to carry around, and have illuminating and extensive introductions. The typeface used is old, but the letters are large and easily readable (something that is a concern with some other editions).

Tragedies, Volume 1 contains: Hamlet; Othello; King Lear; Machbeth

An immensely beautiful book. Awing in its sensitivity, delicacy, and completeness of language - "sculptured in the heavens," one thinks as one looks up. On every page, in every paragraph, there is caring for - more than caring, a love affair with - its subject.

But I can add little beyond admiration to Eileen Berton's fine little sketch of it below.

This book is remarkable for its breadth and depth, and for its fluid and totally enjoyable narrative. Montgomery brings a scholarly, well-organized, imaginatively catholic mind to his study of the moon, as mapped, observed, and imagined by Western minds. His enthusiasm for his subject is contagious. He discusses the early cartography so important to popular conceptions of the moon, the moon's complex and changing relationship to Christianity and Judaism, philosophy, mathematics, literature, and art. Importantly, he provides an orderly and very interesting history of Western conceptions of "the first modern planet." The Arab contribution to astronomy is detailed. The relationship of mathematics to astronomy is also explored, fluidly and appropriately for the lay person. Galileo, Copernicus, and scores of lesser-known astronomers and scientists come to life in this book. "The British Contribution," a chapter on sixteenth century lunar pioneers Dr. Wm. Gilbert and Thomas Harriot, is excellent. Montgomery also analyzes cartographic evidence - and provides commentary. This book combines scholarship with a fine and elegant narrative, the bibliography is terrific, and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in this subject, which becomes downright thrilling in this book.

I first read about Judith Paterson in the University of Maryland Magazine. An article described a new television program called "The Writer's Tale" with Judith Paterson as creator and host. I wrote to Judith about my book, "How to Find a Fella in the Want Ads," and she invited me to discuss the writing process on her show. As soon as we finished taping, she said she had to go to the metro to meet the next author she was interviewing. As she left she gave me a copy of "Sweet Mystery." I'd never heard of the book. That night at bedtime I opened her book and began to read.

Every night for the next week I read "Sweet Mystery." When I reached the next to last chapter, I went back to the beginning and began reading it again. I can't ever recall when I've been so reluctant to let a book go. It is enchanting, a brilliantly written story of love and so of-the-moment that I felt like I was there with her as she revisited her childhood.

As a writer, I am in awe of Judith's skill at weaving the culture of the south into her personal story. It is seamless! As a historian, it is exciting to experience the south's history from an insider's perspective.

The book is a series of gently told stories with space left for the reader's imagination. I suppose that's why I called all my friends. I am leery about foisting my taste in books on my friends because they are opinionated and choosy, but "Sweet Mystery" is the best book I've read in years.

Above and beyond its value as a superb read, I want to urge two other groups to read it: families coping with alcoholism and battered women and the children of both.

I heard the author speak at a conference in Washington, D.C. last week. Afterwards, I immediately ran to the closest book store to purchase a copy. The very large store was sold out! I finally located a copy when I returned home from the conference. I couldn't wait to begin reading it and once I began, I was entranced and couldn't put it down. I felt like she was writing my own story. Her successful life journey and her beautiful writing makes me yearn to write my own story.

This book by Judith H. Paterson should be in every library -- public and academic. It should also be required reading for every individual. It would be a wonderful book for class projects on family history in high school and college.

Sweet Mystery is about the author's personal life journey; it is about sturggle; it is about survival; it is poetically written; it is heart-rendering; and it is joyful.

Read this magnificent book immedaitely!