This book would be more useful for those who are VERY frequent vistors to the Hamptons -- but I found it to be less introductory than I wanted as someone who doesn't care where to find a good chimney cleaning company.

This is, hands down, the best and most practical guidebook to the Hamptons I have seen! Chock-a-block full of really useful information--and done in an anecdotal style that is really easy to read!

Awful, amateurish plays. A complete waste of ink, paper and reason.

I love Aubrey Hampton's writing and think that he is a true American treasure. I have read much of his published work--both fiction and nonfiction and including his plays--and have had the great pleasure of being in the audience for several of his plays. His writing is always satisfying. His plays are wonderful. He is talented.

I was bowled over by Wolf Trilogy. It is a three-part play, based on Aubrey's experiences at the Wolf Park sanctuary in Battle Ground, Indiana.

I loved the opening play with three little pigs, Red and The Wolf. There's an English poet John Skelton whose sense of rhyme and rhythym Aubrey seems to have captured perfectly.

I loved the whole work. Wolf Trilogy is about people, some of whom live outside the law, who are ostracized, outcasts from society, much like the wolf. But these are people who need each other, much like the individual wolves in a pack depend on one another. Yet, although highly imperfect people--they are also sympathetic. But why do we fear such people? These same people talk about wolves, use sayings related to wolves. Aubrey, who cares about the ecological fate of wolves, helps us to see how we have branded the species with our own projections of evil. Perhaps it is our own projections of evil from within our collective being that has caused us as a society to hunt down wolves and try to eliminate them--as if in killing off wolves we are under the illusion that we are killing the evil in our own midst.

There are some books that we keep and to which we return to read again and rediscover secrets within our own being. Wolf Trilogy is that kind of book. I will never let it go and I will read it again and again.

My only regret is that Aubrey Hampton hasn't spent more time in getting more of his fiction and drama published and widely distributed. But what we have is wonderful and leaves us desiring more.

Thanks, Aubrey!

The chapter on Madonna and George Michael as Post Modern Stars was clearly written long prior to the publication date. It serves as an excellent primer on postmodernism for communications students and finds Madonna and Michael at the apex of their careers as taste-makers. Sort of quaint in a way.

Gender, Politics and Communication provides the reader with an intriguing look at the representation of gender in the popular media. This book highlights both American and Dutch culture and society. The political frameworks of both the United States and the Netherlands are introduced and gender roles are explained. Information about the society, culture, and political frameworks of other countries are also featured, however, in a limited fashion. This book is recommended for beginning to intermediate students of gender. Key points are clearly defined and the articles are relatively easy to read. Students searching for possible masters thesis's may find this text valuable. Readers interested in expanding their knowledge on gender and international relations will also find this text valuable. More advanced students of gender may find this book interesting but not compelling. It is recommended that advanced students use the text as a guide to find further, more expansive articles by the authors featured in the book. Sreberny and Zoonen have assembled articles by professors and students in the United States and abroad. Articles by Minna Aslama, Bernadette Barker-Plummer, Sonia Bathla, Mary Ellen Brown, Leonor Camauer, Darlaine C. Gardetto, Cheris Kramarae, Jana Kramer, Andra Leurdijk, Limor Peer, Elayne Rapping, Karen Ross, Annabelle Sreberny, Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, and Liesbet van Zoonen are featured. The authors provide a critical examination of gender representations in the popular media from the political debate to the talk show. The book favors articles concerning women, however, writings on masculinity are provided. This book provides the reader with twelve interesting and capable articles that feature topics which deserve further exploration in the larger culture. The political arena, often dominated by male names and images, provides an area to reexamine stereotypical gender roles. Two intriguing articles, Karin Wahl-Johnson's article, Constructed Masculinities in U.S. Presidential Campaigns: The Case of 1992 and Andra Leurdijk's article, "Should I Maybe Perform Striptease?" Gendered Representations of Race Relations and Multicultural Society in American and Dutch Talk Shows, feature interesting ideas and compelling observations. Leurdijk's article proves informative and clever for utilizing The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss and explore the topic. The articles, while interesting, do not provide nor explore any new or profound ideas. Do not expect groundbreaking statements - many of the ideas presented can be found in other well-known texts on gender. This book focuses primarily on women, even though, the ambiguous term, gender, is used in the title. Despite the use of this term, the majority of the book focuses little on the male gender and does not address the idea of a third gender. A more apt title for this set writings would be Women, Politics, and Communication. The book should be utilized if necessary, for a paper or a class on gender, otherwise - it should not be considered "fun" reading entertainment. The best thing about this book is that it combines different cultures and political environments to explore these issues. Gender, Politics and Communication can be seen as a decent book for researching and exploring communication styles in the Netherlands and abroad. The writers are competent and the articles are worth reading. However, the ideas presented are not necessarily compelling. ~ L.P.

This is the second play in Jones' A Texas Trilogy, and takes place in Bradleyville, West Texas. This three act play covers the life of Lu Ann, the title character. In Act One she is 17, in Act Two 27, and Act Three 37. In the opening scene we meet Lu Ann a young, spirited girl who dreams of leaving the small town and making something of herself. As the play continues we see many obstacles come her way- - such as a divorce, death, and an alcoholic family member. Lu Ann's spirit is eventually weakened and caves in. In this drama, the viewer is brought face to face with the struggles of failure in human life. The dramatic strength of the play is evident throughout, and therefore this play is a thought-provoking piece of art.

I listed to this book on audio cassette. The best thing I can say is that I finally finished it. Carol Higgins Clark should not read her own books. In portraying several characters, her shrill voice got on my nerves. Next time, get a professional actress to read.

Carol Higgins Clark's latest book, Twanged, is a light hearted, easy read, but without much depth. All of Carol's books star Regan Reilly whose life never changes...overworked and in need of a vacation (and a companion!). The main question of this book, what do the initials CT stand for, was never answered. So much emphasis was placed upon the "stalker" however, the ending was wrapped up so quickly that he was basically shuffled away. It was almost as if Ms. Higgins Clark was leaving for a vacation and needed to complete her book...the story ended quite rapidly and without much surprise or excitement.

Most of you people didn't even get it! Carol is not trying to be like her mother and shouldn't and doesn't deserve to be compared to her mother. They write totally different. Carol is an entertaining author with a good grasp on mixing humor and mystery. Not all mystery has to be deep, dark and foreboding and Carol is not trying to be. She writes well and Twanged is a great new edition to her Regan Reilly series. I caught myself snickering a lot. It is a thoroughly enjoyable good read and a welcome change from more serious fare and those who think it was bad or juvenile just don't know how to enjoy a funny book. Go back to reading something dark and gory and let the rest of us have fun.

What's with all the errors in this book? Mr. Hampton is a wanna-be singer who is now just a washed up, drug addicted, drag queen trying to make a buck off of Tina Turner. At least that's what the book says. This book isn't worth purchasing.

Based on the amount of date and fact errors (that aren't hard to spot by even a casual Tina Turner follower), I would be inclined not to trust the rest of the information in this book. While I am certainly not an authority on TT, I was present for a portion of one of her rehearsals recently and didn't see anything other than professional behaviour. Seems to me that the author might be trying to capitalize on Turner's recent popularity. Shame, shame!!

Some of the facts may not be right but Eddy dishes up some stuff that would cause any Tina fan to read the book cover to cover. Its like reading the Enquirer - read it just for fun - and fun it is. Don't take it seriously. One thing is undeniable, pictures don't lie. Tina looks like she was a real party girl in her old days. But weren't we all, so what. She still survives graciously and gets better even without the protection of her fans. She didn't need her fan's protection when Ike was pounding on her, so why does she need her fan's protecting her from this piece of prose -not necessary. If she was that upset about this book, I bet her management would have filed suit to have the book removed. Truth is its just more publicity. Most of us will never know the real Tina so this is just another "story" which is as good as any from someone who was closer to her than any of her fans could ever hope to be. And Tina fans - relax - Tina can take care of herself. She always has. And think of this, she may not even mind if Eddy made a little money from the book - I believe she is reported to be that generous!

Brady seems to think that a liberal amount of name dropping surrounded by his fantasy world of journalism makes for a good read. I still can't figure out whether the book was a poorly disguised attempt at kissing up to Parade magazine (we're to believe the narrator and protagonist of Further Lane has left Newsweek to write for Parade - supposedly a step up) or simply bad writing. The fact that Brady has chosen to write about the place where he lives (or lived) simply magnifies the fact that he has no imagination whatsoever. This book is nothing more than a collection of whodunit cliches and rip-offs. How ironic that one of Brady's characters makes the same criticism of Hannah Cutting, the victim of the "savage stabbing" that our narrator is out to report on.

Brady's characters are two dimensional at best, his story is unimaginative, and his writing would be hard pressed to challenge a fourth grader. If anyone seriously recommends this book, reconsider your relationship with this person.

Thankfully I borrowed, rather than bought, this book for the flight home over Thanksgiving. I should have known I'd made a bad choice when the owner told me I didn't need to bother to return it. I suspect she was embarrassed to even own it. Flights usually go relatively fast if I'm reading, however this made two relatively short flights seem like a transatlantic journey. Given a chance to do it over again, I would rather repeatedly read the airplane safety brochure than read Further Lane.

I grew up in New York and often spent summers in the Hamptons so I thought this would be a fun romp for me through my old stomping grounds with some moviestar names thrown about. Not only was this book tedious; it was DULL. It reminded me of Sander's McNally series but instead of Palm Beach, Florida as the setting, we have the Hamptons.....another place where old money or lack of old money rules. While Beecher Stowe and Alix Dunraven have some promise, the story didn't. I bought this book based on a People Magazine recommendation that it would be a "good summer read." It wasn't.

This is a real beach book. It is set on the beaches and villages of the East End of Long Island, mostly in the celebrity ridden Easthampton village. The protagonist is a descendent of the original settlers who thinks of himself as a local. He is really just a summer person who has contempt for the people who really live and work on the East End. The female character, Lady Dunraven is a one dimensional cartoon version of a woman as are many of the local people. The murder mystery, however is good and moves quickly. It is a pretty good choice for a beach read or to read on the Jitney on your way to The Hamptons.

THE BOOK WAS VERY SMALL,WITH VERY LITTLE INFORMATION ABOUT LOCK PICKING

The book covers nothing of lock picking, just the history of it. If I could go back in time I wouldnt have even borrowed the book from the library!

i would like to review the entire text. i found it to be much useful

The only reason I'm even giving this book 1 star is because as a Hamptons regular Brady transports me back to summer evenings at lawn parties and the beaches. Although I do not take these Hamptons books as high-brow literature, just fun casual reading I found this one to be absolutely implausible and preposterous.

It is always interesting how Brady takes the real and mixes it with the fictitous. However, this one was just out of control. It is true there is a huge house being built in Sagaponack ... which most people believe is to be a retreat or compound of some sorts... Brady uses this as his basis for the Kuwaiti backed mansion being erected in the book. But this is the only clever way he mixes it in this one. I'm not even going to get into the plot, but to use Howard Roark, the hero of Ayn Rand's fictitous The Foutainhead, as a character is just way beyond belief. The Fountainhead is not some obscure book that a few people have read. It is highly regarded and continue to sell 100,000 compies a year... Also in light of current events in the U.S. and Middle East it is so unbelieveable to have Beecher's father captured by the Taliban and let go because of some emails going back and forth. Which brings me to another point. How is Buzzy Portofino's character receiving emails over a computer while they are on a boat, running through the woods, in the hospital or wherever? This book was published in 1999 wireless internet services were not that good back then, and you can't even get good cellphone or "Blackberry" reception in the Hamptons in 2002.

All in all I felt as if Brady was taking his reader to be completely ignorant. Brady's other 2 Hamptons books that I have read, Further Lane and Gin Lane, are far better summer reading. This one seems to me to be Brady's way of quickly trying to capitalize on their NY Times best seller list status. I say skip this one.

This is a work of staggering ineptitude.

Too many words, in too flowery language, describe too many characters, engaged in too many irrelevant events, advancing too little plot.

Moreover, there is no attempt at subtlety. Hints of future developments go off like hydrogen bombs ... which is somewhat unfortunate for a "mystery novel".

Next to this, the average Victorian English novel looks like Raymond Carver.

This is a silly story, but it's great escape reading. All the escape elements are there -- the life styles of the rich and famous, an improbable story line, and a pleasant ending. This is a great book to take to a vacation cottage -- and leave behind for the next occupant.