Wonderful, evocative account of old Peking before the mass destruction by the current regime. This book reads like the wonderful Blue Guides of Europe (before Blue Guide recently changed the format and gutted so much of the information). The extent of description is amazing - the Lama Temple's rituals, for example, involving canabalism in pantomine: the monks worked themselves into a frenzy and then tore to shreds a man-like figure made of dough and filled with red liquid jam - mess everywhere!. The authors also recommended that tourists of the day go armed in the temple because of the determined attentions (ahem!) of the monks.

I used this book as a guide in the 90's while living in Hong Kong and visiting Peking - it still had great value despite all the losses (the coverage of the Forbidden City is incredible) I found many interesting out-of-the-way spots I would have missed if I'd relied on my strangely (sadly) poor Blue Guide China. In Search of Peking is one of those books (like Austin Coates' Myself a Mandarin for Hong Kong) that will really make you glad you lived (or visited) in China, despite all the modern concrete.

this book describe the european renaissance and the new land america.. so we can know how effect to the new land from eropean renaissance.

Once you begin reading this book, you feel as if you are living with the Lee family. Harnett Kane as an uncanny ability to be able to make you part of history. The book is written from the perspective of before the War Between the States, during and after. What a wonderful way to get a true, historical perspective of life in the South, and the way it truly was in the Lee Family. I am a cousin of Robert E. Lee, so it was a wonderful experience to spend time with part of my family from the past!

"Last Man At Arlington" is a tightly muscled and unflinching thriller. Six low level Kennedy administration operatives are targeted for murder by a mad man on the tenth anniversary of the assasination. One of the intended victims, George Williams, now a justice department agent is locked in a life and death struggle to find the killer before it is too late. The book plays out like a deadly chess game and the superb author Joe DiMona takes the reader on an incredibly tense journey into the mind of the killer. "Last Man At Arlington" originally published in 1973, seems to have served as the inspiration for Oliver Stones' "JFK" and Clint Eastwoods' "In the Line of Fire". Arlington brings to life a swinging seventies world but terror is never far from the surface. Few books in memory sustain the same level of suspense and as intensely drawn characters and situations. The George Williams character, a sort of James Bond meets Blackford Oakes, appears in two other equally grand novels, "Benedict Arnold Connection" and "To the Eagles' Nest". "Last Man" is a big book replete with rather stunning insigths into a programmed killers mind. Think Sinatra in "Suddenly" or "Laurence Harvey in the "Manchurian Candidate" mixed with Joe DiMona's encyclopedic grasp of cultural detail, and you have a book of extraordinary reach. Really a must!

When I moved to Northern Virginia, from India, I found myself having to learn very fast how to motor around the area. In this, ADC's Street Map of Northern Virginia was a life-saver for me. I have lost count of how many hours I have spent poring over its pages to find out how to get to stores, offices and touristy places. The individual page maps are well laid out with colors used thoughtfully to contrast, without being garish. The text, by and large, is easy on the eyes, barring the smaller street names which require some squinting. Exhaustive index pages make finding streets and locations a piece of cake. Best of all, the maps keep in mind the differing perspectives of drivers as well as pedestrians. In fact, now that I am well familiar with the area, I often find myself flipping the pages just for the sheer peasure of it or to find something new. I must mention in particular the layout maps of the local airports, which are a great help for the unwary. For anyone who has just moved into this area or who wants to explore and discover the area better, there is no better book. Highly recommended!

Concise, but inclusive. Would make a valuable text for undergrad Music History or for general graduate study.

A Brilliant Book from a Brilliant Teacher...Saxe delivers a very adequate description of the politics of Arlington, Texas. Saxe is knowledgable in the field of Politics, and his book is a definate must-read if you are interested in the local politics of an average American city.

So you think the critics give unqualified adoration to our early moderns? Think again. Stanford, in elegant, tight, perfectly clear prose tells the story of the revolution in poetry at the opening of the 20th century from a different point of view, that of the Wintersian formalists. These are the followers and students of the great poet and critic Yvor Winters, whose radically neo-classical views cause a storm of debate in the first half of the century. (See my reviews of Winters books at my amazon site.) Stanford incisively explores the poetry of five great poets and makes a strong case for the stature of Robinson and Winters -- can you believe that? -- above that of the divinely canonized threesome also studied here. You will never read Stevens (who's the best of the remaining three), Pound, or Eliot the same again after you have studied them carefully with Stanford. This is a masterful work of literary criticism and one much needed in our chaotic times in the field of poetry. Moreover, it is a stirring treatise on the value of poetry to life and thought, a comment that would be the summit of praise coming from Yvor. I hope you'll give this great book a try if you love poetry. It might change your whole approach to the art. It's not that Stanford will induce you to leave Eliot and Pound behind, but open you up to greater vistas in the high arts of human language. Be sure to check out my other recommendations at my amazon.com personal site.

A thorough and entertaining story of the many incarnations of the University of Texas at Arlington. Many good photos. Recommended for anyone with a connection to UTA.

As a community theater actor myself, I was intrigued by the whole premise of this book. In part it is historical development of community theater in [a part of] America. It is also an entertaining account of one troupe's efforts to put on what many consider a difficult and controversial play, 'M. Butterfly.' All in all a good read; some of the history is a little stale at times but interesting overall and the accounts of play production open such fun [and not so fun] memories from my own experiences.

For anyone who has ever been involved in the theatre in general, but specifically for those special souls who have worked in community theatre, I cannot recommend this book enough.

Miss Cohen writes with a true love and deep respect for those people who are unable to work professionally in the theatre and have to hold down full time jobs to support their theatre addictions. "The Stuff of Dreams" illustrates the trials and tribulations of the unique community that becomes an amateur theatre company. It also touches upon the audience and the very society that spawns and supports an art form that is sadly beginning to quite literally die off.

Cohen possesses both the journalist's objective eye and the lover's passionate heart. It is so very obvious that she holds a great deal of respect and admiration for her subjects as they attempt to mount a production of "M. Butterfly". It could be too easy for a person of Miss Cohen's background and experience to use condescending language, but she avoids those traps completely.

This is a loving portrait of theatre people for theatre people.

Leah Hager Cohen's _The Stuff of Dreams: Behind the Scenes of an American Community Theater_ (Viking) tells the story of one production by one community theater, and if that strikes you as a preposterously unlikely vehicle to contain heroism and excitement, that is only because you have no idea yet about Cohen's lucid reportage or about the dedication of the Arlington Friends of the Drama. Cohen followed the company from its selection of a controversial play (involving serious cerebral themes and nudity) beyond the final cast party. She seems to have been everywhere, watching both on and off stage drama. She must thank her good fortune at reporting on just this troop. The people involved have plenty of humor; with all the stress in getting this production running, they had to. But they are truly serious artists; this is established by the choice of the play and the discussion group held before any rehearsal, in which are covered "everything from gender and sexual politics to Sino-French relations to ethnic stereotyping to the Chinese Cultural Revolution." Cohen could not have lit upon a more fascinating cast for her own work. They are headed by the ambitious director Celia, who is by day a manager of a Hewlett-Packard branch office. She has the extraordinary capacity to assign people to jobs at which they had no idea they could succeed. The Chinese opera star is played by Patrick, a self-effacing stranger she has picked and who seems at times a disastrously wrong choice. The main role is given to Jimmy, a veteran of the ADC who has ACTOR 1 for his license plates, and who undergoes terrifying, inexplicable lapses of memory for his lines even in the week before his performance. It is probably not giving anything away to tell that Cohen isn't reporting on a failure, but she builds up to a pitch of excitement in approach of the opening night that is delicious. The book's drama is sufficient that it is easy to imagine it becoming its own play.

This turns out to be an engrossing tale where one would least expect it. "No written contracts have been signed, no cash exchanged, no professional reputations put at stake to help ensure that the promises are kept, the goals met. All they can do for the moment is skate along on that sheer, fine surface of trust, waiting for a firmer base to form beneath it." The narrative of the formation of that base, the process of creating by a temporary family of amateurs (the word comes from the root meaning "love," and these people do love what they are doing), who in some cases jeopardize jobs and marriages in order to get their artistic dream realized, is an unforgettable and illuminating story.